When Memphis is At It's Best

I'm not writing much here because the individual websites speak for themselves. Memphis in May is an annual event that features a multitude of tasty, entertaining treasures. What is even better this year is that the Memphis Grizzlies are in the second round of the NBA Playoffs bringing an extra amount of flavor to the city. This is a chance for Memphis to shine, even through the rough weather. Visit both of these sites and get into the spirit of the city.

Beale Street Music Festival

Memphis in May International Festival

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown: A review

Dan Brown has crafted several novels that resulted in a massive number of sales and in all honesty created an industry in tourism. His novels Angels and Demons and The Davinci Code sparked tours and ignited a fascination with symbols, myths, conspiracies and controversy. The Lost Symbol, released in 2009 has not generated the same type of interest.  People have not decided to devote time to setting up TLS tours in the nation's capitol. Ironically, it seems that Dan Brown has an effect on the rest of the world through his literature, yet in America where The Lost Symbol is set, this same passionate response is non-existent. Possibly this speaks to the point of this text. Which is how apathetic the American society has become. Actually, there isn't one point in The Lost Symbol, this book is an arrangement of facts, and storytelling that lends itself to dialogue and the generation of a conflict which actually has the power to destroy an industry, or support it. That industry is the big business of the church. Then again that isn't the only point of the book. Confusing isn't the word I'm looking for to explain why America hasn't created the same fervor for The Lost Symbol as it did for the other books. The United States is the youngest nation in the world and with youth comes the inability to focus. Americans have simply added TLS to a long list of to do items. I happen to think it should be in a short list of must do, must understand, must implement.

Get To Know: Lenny Kravitz

My favorite Lenny Kravitz album is 5. If you don't have 5 buy it simply because of the song Mama. I can't hear that song without crying. Yeah, I'm man enough to say that. While Lenny has always pushed the boundaries and I can consider him one of the best entertainers of my generation, this album goes back to his funk roots and the way this sounds, I think I'll have to play this and the Black Keys at the same time when I run. Okay, you already know Mr. Kravitz, but it's been a while. His upcoming album Black and White America, will release soon and if this video is any indication of what he's dropping, I'm copping. Thanks to okayplayer.com for keeping the updates rolling on all of these various projects.

For Colored Girls: A review

The For Colored Girls reinterpretation by Tyler Perry has seen countless analysis and criticisms. I even took the time to discuss the film after watching the original play. Click here to read that analysis. My original discussion was that this play should not have been recreated. I made this decision because after watching the original play, the level of frustration I encountered as a man watching a film obviously written for and by a Black woman at the height of the Black feminist literary movement, (Do not look up Black Literary Feminist Movement, this is something that I am working on to analyze the writing that was created in the late 60s to the early 80s by women like Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Toni Cade Bambara and obviously Ntozake Shange), was difficult to understand. In its original form the narrative has a clear, calm, powerful, poetic voice, that enhances the emotional attachment to the women who encounter different men who create their frustration and push them towards the thought of suicide. These women are also aware enough to understand that it is their own lack of power which generates the negative energy that promotes their inferiority and mistreatment. This duality existed in the original performance by an ensemble that included Alfre Woodard and Lynn Whitfield, due to their inspired performance. The actresses took a complex, jarring narrative and after watching the original, I knew I didn't have any desire to see Tyler Perry's film and my primary question was why this story, again, now?

Get To Know, Again: Lou Slugga of MLS

A couple of months ago I reviewed a cd here named Sharpshootaz which was a new release by MLS. If I had to give a cd a rating out of 10, that album would have grabbed an 8 primarily on the strength of lyrics alone. This is a solo performance by Lou Slugga, a third of the group MLS.  Whenever I talk Hip-Hop I think about Guru of GangStarr and what he said about an emcee, it's mostly the voice. While there isn't anything that literally distinguishes (barks or whines) Lou Slugga from his peers, there is a consistency to his flow; like I've said about other artists on this site, sincerity is in his words and tone. Check out his solo live performance where he pulls a Q-Tip 'Dance on Glass; type acapella flow for about 40 seconds before jumping into a track that sounds inspired by some of that speed it up type sample by Kanye. The song is called Together. Lyrics!

Get To Know: Singa Bromfield

I recently went on one of my weekly excursions to buy a bunch of kicks to resell and standing in front of the store was a man with a guitar in classic NYC street musician style. His foot was against the wall, his guitar was held across his stomach and his fingers strummed the strings with agile movements, but it was his voice. His voice was a calming force of melodic, soulful gravity. I typically fail to find the sincerity in today's singers. Most people sound so polished and packaged that they fail to really resonate with me. In my mind I still live in a time where music was more important than the video and the sound connected you to a memory. Now musc simply ties you to a dance move and the memories are worth keeping. This man leaning against the wall played. It didn't matter if people thought he was homeless or hustling or keeping his guitar case open to just take the dough that people tossed in the box. He just played and I thought to myself, incredible.

Get To Know: Emilio Rojas' Right To Stay

I had a great conversation with Prof. Gee Joyner about the responsibility of the emcee. (we should have recorded that one) We finally got to a point in the conversation where we basically analyzed the problem of the Black artists and if there is a responsibility that inherently exists because of the skin we are in. Very good talk that should occur more often and in detail. If you follow the Get To Know posts on this blog, you realize that my taste and your taste aint' the same, but it really should be. Hip-Hop has not losts its outspoken edge in regard to social commentary, you simply have to look for it since there are so many forms of media available and a ton of new outlets. I say right now, Get To Know Emilio Rojas. Take a few to visit his myspace page here and download something. In today's era a download is support and so is a listen.

Dexter is Delicious: Kind of a review

I have finally reached the fifth installment in the Dexter Series. Last week my wife showed my a gif on Tumblr. In this rotating gif a man was dragging himself from his living room sofa with his legs laying behind him like a wounded seal. The man's face was a twisted canvas of satisfaction and pain, is that possible? Beneath the picture was the caption: What it looks like when your favorite show airs its episode finale. Jeff Lindsay, I have entered Dexter Morgan's dark, delightful, devious, demented, decadent domain. In it I saw images of blood moon inspired heroics. Yes... heroics. Dexter is a living and breathing almagamation of my frustration and anger in a society where justice is the simple execution of time and who has the best connections. In Dexter is Delicious, this is the problem and in this narrative I actually found myself questioning the realisim in the characerization of the villains. While I questioned, I still wanted Dexter, who I have finally come to the conclusion that he is not as intelligent as I thought he was, to be okay. In Dexter is Delicious he is not okay.

Commentary and thoughts on the film Skin

Racism creates a vast array of emotions when presented in American society. It seems that the US has the need to own the divisive treatment that is created by people and their personal,social, and learned hatred of other cultures. The US however finds it difficult to actually analyze, and create narratives discussing race. People in America want to forget the past, move on without acknowledging the inherent conflicts that skin creates. Entertainment in America tends to make its stories and movies that deal with racism about popular individuals. While the stories that are beginning to fade away, with the passing of grandparents and elders, are becoming lost in time; other societies that have also progressed from segregation and racism are taking those stories and generating films that attempt to understand the psychology behind skin.

One such film that takes the challenge of bringing light to the absurd nature of superiority is the flim Skin. Released in 2008, Skin is the story of Sandra Laing a woman who was born into the apartheid era of South America. The immediate thought generated by this is in regard to Nelson Mandela, however this film does a very good job of focusing on the people who are affected in their day to day existence by apartheid. The film does not stray into a homage to Nelson Mandela and he is only shown in one scene, on a sheet of paper listing the people running in the first free election of 1994. This is important because the narrative created allows the viewer to feel a connection to the family of Sandra Laing, who is important because she is a black child born to white parents.

Dexter by Design: A review

In the fourth book in the Dexter series, Jeff Lindsay continues the struggle of the forensic blood spatter analyst/serial killer Dexter Morgan. After reading the previous books, I expected to get back to fireworks, or better bloodworks in the fourth book. In Dexter In The Dark, the author decided to utilize the creation story to lend description to the foundation of evil. While the creation story missed its mark, it was a compelling analysis of Moloch's influence on chaos and death in today's society. The third story never really moved towards the core of explaining the deviant Dark Passenger of Dexter, but as I completed that book I felt okay with it. In Dexter by Design, the author uses flashbacks to further cement the code of Harry on Dexter's state of mind.