Rachelle Ferrell!

I am going to see the amazing Rachelle Ferrell tonight at the Dakota Jazz Club in downtown Minneapolis, one of the most intimate venues to see this eight octave woman! Review coming tomorrow*! For now, a taste...



* May 6 Review:
Imagine yourself in an intimate night club full of music loving folks -- including a good representation of local music talent. The crowd is hip, brown, many ages, and in noisy adoration of what is unfolding on stage -- or more correctly, what is unfolding onstage and with the audience.

Rachelle Ferrell, her first time in Minneapolis, "brang it" in spite of a cold. Her off the chain multi-octave voice, playful engagement with the audience, and smooth band of brothers on guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums, transformed the Dakota Jazz Club in downtown Minneapolis from a place to an experience.

The music was a conversation between Ferrell, her musicians, the audience, and the universe. We were of the music, in the music, together. From amazing turns on classics like "Summertime" to a bluesy song whose title I missed about someone getting off her neck and off her back, the air we collectively were breathing was infused with music created, interpreted for that moment only, for us, for her. Simply breathtaking.

Rachelle Ferrell at the Dakota Jazz Club

Do I Look Illegal?

May Day mug shot. Do I look "illegal?" I could be. (Actually my ancestors are the original "aliens.") Think about the privilege in action here. Would I be stopped in Arizona? Audre Lorde said, "Your silence will not protect you." Some day your/our skin color privilege will not protect you/us. In solidarity against AZ SB 1070 and immigration rights protests planned across the country today.

Related post: "By the Time I Get to Arizona," Toki Wright Style

"By the Time I get to Arizona," Toki Wright style

Toki Wright, long time local emcee, activist, and rising hip-hop star is mad as hell about Arizona Senate Bill 1070 (SB 1070) that essentially legalizes racial profiling. He's turned his rage into art by creating an amazing remake of the Public Enemy classic "By the Time I Get to Arizona," called "By the Time I Get to Arizona 2010." He wrote and mixed the track just last night and released it this morning. You can listen to it here.

The song pays homage to Chuck D and the social and political activism he inspired in rap music through PE and much more. His activism continues today. Read what Toki says about his relationship to the original PE classic (about Arizona's refusal to recognize the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday), Chuck D, and the all-night process to create the remake here.

Video for the track will be shot this Saturday on May Day at a protest against SB 1070 taking place right here in South Mpls. at Martin Luther King park. Very fitting as Toki is a child of this city and has worked tirelessly on behalf of our city's youth (Yo! The Movement being one example). (And, well you know, the name of the park and all that, too.)

I met Toki when he was 15 and was part of a youth organization where I worked. Since then, I've watched him (from the sidelines) grow from a youth activist to an activist for youth to a community activist and emcee and hip hop artist who is now making a national name for himself. I couldn't be prouder even if no personal claim to pride is due me.

The seeds for this protest song were sewn in part when Toki asked, "What would Chuck D do?" When I read that, I thought, "This song." So maybe a better question is "What would Toki Wright do?" Because the answer is "This song."

Related post: He Got Game and Fight the Power: Lovin' PE

Imagine if the Tea Party was black

Read this AMAZING post by Tim Wise, a white man who is an anti-racist activist and writes frequently about white privilege. Below is a link to the whole post and a couple of excerpts:

Imagine if Tea Party was black
by Tim Wise

...Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s political leaders if the need arose.

Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington...

...Imagine that black protesters at a large political rally were walking around with signs calling for the lynching of their congressional enemies. Because that’s what white conservatives did last year, in reference to Democratic party leaders in Congress.

In other words, imagine that even one-third of the anger and vitriol currently being hurled at President Obama, by folks who are almost exclusively white, were being aimed, instead, at a white president, by people of color. How many whites viewing the anger, the hatred, the contempt for that white president would then wax eloquent about free speech, and the glories of democracy? And how many would be calling for further crackdowns on thuggish behavior, and investigations into the radical agendas of those same people of color?...

...And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.

Game Over.

Then and Now

I've noticed that many of my forty-something friends don't like it when I lumped them into "middle age." They are in their final years where they can claim being on the older side of young, and are not yet ready to face (claim?) what's ahead. Here's why:




And one for the guys:
Now each of these celebrities looks great, then and now. But those of us who are their age just have the hardest time admitting we are that old, too. Even though we are glad to be alive. Even though we look good, too. It's a thing. In our heads we think we look how we did then. Celeb photos like these shock us into reality. If you are there, you get it. If not, wait a few years and you'll understand.

And let's keep it real. My own then and now:

Age 24
Age 54
And last fall for a drag show I channeled what's coming in a couple of decades:
(All of these examples show the wrinkly-prone aging of white folks, thanks to our lack of melanin. The comparison of aging across skin color -- now that's another post for another day.)

Related posts:

I feel bad about my neck, too
P!nk is my inner doppleganger
Dory is my new hero but I can't remember why
Why did Dove's Pro Age campaign fail?
I wanna be like Nikki Giovanni when I'm 65
I forget to remember I had breast cancer
"It's Complicated" -- A plausible romantic comedy for aging baby boomers