The Mixes: DJ Dancing Diva

DJ Dancing Diva
Since I am a self-proclaimed wannabee DJ, I thought I would share a few of my favorite mixes. Enjoy!

Protest and Peace
1. For What It's Worth, Buffalo Springfield
2. He Got Game, Public Enemy
3. Fight the Power, Public Enemy
4. The Message, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
5. Many Rivers to Cross, Jimmy Cliff
6. Rivers of Babylon, The Melodians
7. What's Going On, Marvin Gaye
8. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology, Marvin Gaye
9. Living For The City, Stevie Wonder
10. Raining Revolution, Arrested Development
11. Give A Man A Fish, Arrested Development
12. People Everyday, Arrested Development
13. A Change Is Gonna Come, Neville Brothers
14. Sister Rosa, Neville Brothers
15. The World Is A Ghetto, War
16. To Zion, Lauryn Hill
17. Get Up Stand Up, Bob Marley & The Wailers
18. Redemption Song, Bob Marley & The Wailers

Bangin' Old School
1. For the Love of you, Isley Brothers
2. Let's Get It On, Marvin Gaye
3. What's Going On, Marvin Gaye
4. Trouble Man, Marvin Gaye
5. Where Are We Going? Marvin Gaye
6. I'm Still In Love With You, Al Green
7. Let's Stay Together, Al Green
8. Love And Happiness, Al Green
9. Knocks Me Off My Feet, Stevie Wonder
10. Love's In Need Of Love Today, Stevie Wonder
11. Pastime Paradise, Stevie Wonder
12. Ribbon In The Sky, Stevie Wonder
13. Family Affair, Sly & The Family Stone
14. Sweet Thing, Rufus feat. Chaka Khan
15. Turn Off the Lights, Teddy Pendergrass
16. I Want To Spend The Night, Bill Withers
17. Funkin' for Jamiaca, Tom Browne
18. Boogie Oogie Oogie, A Taste of Honey

Round the Block, Love songs
1. Cuz I'm Here, Ruthie Foster
2. Up Above My Head (I Hear Music In the Air), Ruthie Foster
3. Hail Mary, Nedra Johnson
4. Don't Know Why, Norah Jones
5. Carnival Town, Norah Jones
6. The Nearness Of You, Norah Jones
7. That Lady, The Isley Brothers
8. Secret Lover, The Isley Brothers
9. Summer Breeze, The Isley Brothers
10. Willow, Joan Armatrading
11. Waiting On the World to Change, John Mayer
12. Sexual Healing, Marvin Gaye
13. (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding
14. I'll Be Around, Randy Crawford
15. Joy Inside My Tears, Randy Crawford
16. Better than chocolate, Sarah McLaughlin
17. For My Lover, Tracy Chapman
18. Fast Car, Tracy Chapman
19. No Ordinary Love, Sade
20. Lovers Rock, Sade

Todos Chicas Caliente
1. Djin Djin, Angélique Kidjo Feat. Alicia Keys & Branford Marsalis
2. Salala, Angélique Kidjo Feat. Peter Gabriel
3. Senamou (C'Est L'Amour), Angélique Kidjo Feat. Amadou & Miriam
4. Gimme Shelter, Angélique Kidjo Feat. Joss Stone
5. Ear To The Ground, Ubaka Hill
6. Supermoon, Zap Mama
7. 1,000 Ways, Zap Mama
8. Bandy Bandy (Featuring Erykah Badu), Zap Mama & Erykah Badu
9. Sweet Melody, Zap Mama
10. Vivre, Zap Mama
11. Miss Q'in, Zap Mama
12. W'Happy Mama, Zap Mama
13. Sugar Cane, Les Nubians
14. Sourire, Les Nubians
15. Tabou, Les Nubians
16. Whenever, Wherever, Shakira
17. More Shine, Si*Se
18. Amiga, Si*Se

Rock On
1. Somebody to Love, Jefferson Airplane
2. White Rabbit, Jefferson Airplane
3. Purple Haze, Jimi Hendrix
4. Hey Joe, Jimi Hendrix
5. Sunshine of Your Love, Cream
6. White Room, Cream
7. Riders On the Storm, The Doors
8. Light My Fire, The Doors
9. The low Spark of high Heeled Boys, Traffic
10. Angie, The Rolling Stones
11. Beast of Burden, The Rolling Stones
12. Oye Como Va, Santana
13. Black Magic Woman, Santana
14. Wooden Ships, Crosby, Stills & Nash
15. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, Crosby, Stills & Nash
16. Nights in White Satin, The Moody Blues
17. I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band), The Moody Blues

Neo Soul, Ahhh!
1. I Can Change, John Legend
2. Number One, John Legend
3. Alright, John Legend
4. Stay, Brian McKnight
5. Stay Or Let It Go, Brian McKnight
6. Shall We Begin, Brian McKnight
7. How Come You Don't Call Me, Alicia Keys
8. Fallin', Alicia Keys
9. Save Room, John Legend
10. Ordinary People, John Legend
11. Funky for You, Jill Scott, Common & Bilal
12. God Bless the Child, Jill Scott
13. Minutes to Sunrise, Jill Scott & Common
14. Love Rain (Head Nod Mix) [Featuring Mos Def], Jill Scott
15. Bone 2 Pic (Wit U), Angie Stone
16. Just A Pimp, Angie Stone
17. Black Diamonds, Angie Stone
18. Next Lifetime, Erykah Badu
19. Rimshot (Intro), Erykah Badu
20. Georgy Porgy, Eric Benét
21. Dust In The Wind, Eric Benét
22. Loving Your Best Friend, Eric Benét
23. Can't Be Messing Around, Craig David
24. Fill Me In, Craig David
25. Promises, India.Arie
26. Strength, Courage, & Wisdom, India.Arie
27. Wonderful, India.Arie
28. Feel like making love, D'Angelo
29. When We Get By, D'Angelo

Blue Monday
1. Dreamin' Amos Lee
2. The Nearness of You, Dr. John
3. Woman I Love, J.J. Cale
4. Magnolia, J.J. Cale
5. After Midnight, J.J. Cale
6. River Runs Deep, J.J. Cale
7. A Song for You, Leon Russell
8. Things Have Changed, Bob Dylan
9. Blackbird, Dionne Farris
10. Find Your Way, Dionne Farris
11. A Child With The Blues, Erykah Badu
12. The Sweetest Thing, The Refugee Camp All-Stars & Lauryn Hill
13. Images, Nina Simone
14. In The Morning,Nina Simone
15. I Shall Be Released, Nina Simone
16. Suzanne, Nina Simone
17. Feeling Good, Nina Simone
18. Summertime, Nina Simone
19. Dance Me to the End of love, Leondard Cohen

Playing for Change

Playing For Change is a global movement for peace through sharing music. One love. Peace. Beautiful.

"Playing For Change: Peace Through Music" available soon on iTunes and on CD/DVD on 4.28.09 everywhere music is sold. About some of this music:

"From the award-winning documentary, 'Playing For Change: Peace Through Music', comes an incredible rendition of the legendary Bob Marley song "One Love" with Keb' Mo' and Manu Chao. This is the third video from the documentary and a follow up to the classic "Stand By Me" and the incredible "Don't Worry." Released in celebration of Bob Marley's birthday on February 6th, this tribute to the legend is performed by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it traveled the globe."

Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution


One love

Don't Worry

Stand By Me

Keep Dora Exploring!

Our beloved Dora and the "new model."

You know who I'm talking about. She's short, brown, spunky, Latina, bilingual. She has a sidekick named Boots, serious support from Map, Backpack, her cousin Diego, and a loving extended family. She is an adventure girl who cares about the rain forest (and the snowy forest), plays sports, and likes to solve problems and help people.

Dora the Explorer.

NOT Dora-what-color-headband-should-I-wear-with-my-dress.

Yet that's exactly what Nickelodeon and Mattel plan to do with our plucky heroine -- girlie her up to appeal to "an older demographic" of girls. Those vulnerable "tweens" leaving little girlhood and careening towards adolescence.

In an article in the April 11 Star Tribune, Kristin Tollefson says:

[The new Dora] is older, and her interests have shifted dramatically -- from travel and adventure to clothes and shopping. You can plug her into your computer to change her fashions, hair and eye color. Based on the new Dora, it appears that as girls age, they go from being intrepid, bilingual adventurers to superficial shopaholics.

I love Dora exactly because she is not about all that. She holds her own in a sea of Barbies and Bratz. She is a regular girl who is brave and bold, likes adventure, and cares about the world. Dora is not about how she looks (though how she looks is its own huge message). Dora is about what she does.

We need Dora. For every one message girls get about "being" there are 100,000 messages girls about "looks." One Dora for every 100,000 Barbies. One Ellen Degeneres for every 100,000 Paris Hiltons. You get my drift.

I'm not alone in my outrage. When Nickelodeon and Mattel announced the "new" Dora last March, there was such outrage from parents that they reworked the new image to be a little less "trampy" and a little more like a school-age girl. But still.

This is the first "rollout" of the "new" Dora Let Dora grow up Dora. Don't send yet another message to our girls that the journey from girl to woman means putting away your moxie -- that being rough and tumble and "free to be" is just child's play, and that a woman's work is to color coordinate her wardrobe, shop til you drop, and ultimately to back that ass up and show us what you're working with. Update 4/30/09 More on Dora: Renee from Womanist's Musings has a great post: Dora the Explore Matters to Boys Great image of the lame attempts at a Dora makeover from Alas, A Blog's post Dora the Explorer's Makeover: From Embrace your age cause you livin'!

Queer Voices: A Reading of GLBT Writers & Friends --April 22

Sherry Quan Lee, Ann Freeman, Lori Young-Williams

 
I've never doing a reading from my blog before so this is exciting!

Intermedia Arts in partnership with Hamline University 

presents 

Queer Voices: A Reading of GLBT Writers & Friends 

hosted by curators Andrea Jenkins and John Medeiros 

Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 7:00 p.m.

Hamline University
1536 Hewitt Avenue
Giddens Learning Center, 100E
St. Paul, Minnesota 55104

LORI YOUNG-WILLIAMS is a prose poet born in St. Paul. She comes from a working class family that believes in laughter, crying, and praying when times are good, bad or otherwise. She received her degree in Human Relationships with an emphasis in family relationships from the University of Minnesota, and works a 9-5 job in Human Resources and Finance, though her passion is her writing. Most of her poetry is about her family—family relationships and how they impact her life. She has been published in Interrace magazine, the Turtle River Press, the National Library of Poetry, Quill Books, Dust & Fire. She has self-published two chapbooks, and has read in various bookstores, coffee shops, and spoken word events throughout the Twin Cities. Lori recently was accepted as a participant for the Givens Black Writers Retreat, with Sonja Sanchez and Carolyn Holbrook.

ANN FREEMAN is an artist, writer, connector, wannabe DJ, mother, grandmother, queer girl, whitegirl in an otherwise brown family, and still dancing after all these years. She is an infrequent yet enthusiastic performer in the Twin Cities art scene. She will be reading from her blog, Embrace Your Age ‘Cause You Livin’! Ann is an interloper in tonight's reading. She is totally queer, once thought she was straight, but has never been narrow.

SHERRY QUAN LEE, author of Chinese Blackbird, 2002 (“an underground favorite”), and How to Write a Suicide Note, 2008, approaches writing as a community resource and as culturally based art of an ordinary everyday practical aesthetic. Currently she is the Program Associate for the Split Rock Arts Program summer workshops and the Online Mentoring for Writers Program at the University of Minnesota where she also earned her MFA in Creative Writing. Recently retired from ten years of teaching Creative Writing at Metropolitan State University, Sherry Quan Lee continues to mentor and teach community writing workshops. She was a first year participant of Cave Canem, a writing retreat for Black poets, and previously curated cabaret performances and edited journal anthologies for the Asian American Renaissance.

For more information, call 651-523-2047

The GLBT Reading Series, presented by Intermedia Arts and Hamline University, celebrates the rich diversity of queer voices that make up the Twin Cities community of writers, readers, and their audiences, offering public readings by both emerging and established local writers and poets.

Bootylicious is a state of mind

Below is a poem I wrote and performed numerous times between ages 48-50. I am dancing into 53 in a couple of weeks and still shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass, so it seemed worth a post!

Bootylicious is a state of mind

Here I stand
Facing down fifty

A grandma already

My body long past nubile honey baby
Give me some of your sugar girl

My breasts are gone –
But so’s the cancer thank the goddess

My hips widen year by year
I march up the pants size
Six
Eight
Ten
Twelve….
Who knows where this adventure will end?

My ass sags down and down some more
Lines on my face
And jowls
Jowls?!

My body redefining itself
Road warrior

Been there
Done that
Proud
Still here

I never thought I was a pretty girl
And used to be afraid to
Wear it
Dance it
Throw it out there

I worried that you’d laugh at me

Who does she think she is?
Bumping her grind
Shaking that ass
She can hardly keep a beat
And definitely she is not fine

But do you know what the problem was?

That was my perception of me
And I gave it to you on a silver platter
To believe

And you did.

But times have changed

Today I am dancing in the tropical swirl of my own sexiness
Oozing

My party… you can come if you’d like
It’s on my terms now.

Bootylicious is a state of mind

Mmm Mmm Mmm

Here I go, here I go, here I go again
Work it, baby work it, baby work it

I’m not your average girl on the video
But who is? C’mon now

Yes it’s getting hot in here
Erotic city can’t U see
I’m loving my own self
Independently

You can watch if you please

I know I miss a beat or two
And my dance style is nothing but original

But I can see
That you indeed do like
To look at me

On occasion
Younger, prettier women will ask me
What is it?
Give me a clue to your energy

It’s simple, I say

Bootylicious is a state of mind

Maya Angelou says:

It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash in my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.

Oh yes
Oh yes
Oh yes

Bootylicious is a state of mind

And
I
Am
Delicious