Get To Know: Martin Russell

When I coached high school basketball, I always looked around for the tallest kids on campus. Working at an inner city school in San Diego, that also happened to be the most multi-cultural/racial school in the city, presented problems. Our school, Crawford High School, had incredible soccer, wrestling, and badmiton teams because of the abundance of Africans, Latinos and Asians, but our traditional sports teams, the ones dominated traditionally by Blacks had to work really hard and it didn't help that there really weren't any tall kids running around the campus. There were a few, but they liked soccer, not basketball. I remember one kid, a tall light skinned Black kid, that I asked to play and he responded that he didn't play ball. I told him I could teach him and I basically wanted his size on the court. That kid never accepted and it was okay with me, because he was a funny kid. I remember him being this really quirky guy that didn't stand out, he simply blended into whatever crowd he was around. That's the way Crawford was, well most of the time. The students there were kind of their own rainbow coalition in the middle of a city where the poverty line is 70,000 dollars and most of the people in our area were no where close to making that kind of money.

This morning I ran across a post on Facebook, by that kid/man, Martin Russell. He is beginning work on a documentary and if this is any indication of what is to come... Get To Know Martin Russell. Watch this:

It's Kind of A Funny Story: A review

The nuances of life become ritual and in adulthood, the experiences of the past are forgotten. This is what makes the coming of age story an attractive tome. In watching the uncomfortable maturation of the teen, or a child, the reality of being an adult is challenged. Often the reading of a book that deals with the struggles of an adult and their social issues can make the reader jaded and unforgiving. Adults no longer reach, struggle, or learn; they simply live. In their lives the mundane existence of routine becomes so monotonous that the adult no longer believes in the power of the mind. They no longer trust that a thought can influence the world. Inspiration can only be found in religion or financial success. In the teen self awareness, realization, is important and makes their lives a lot more complicated than they seem.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story has made the list of my favorite films. I sometimes think about the things that mother misses because she is no longer here. I wrote a poem titled, You Would Have Loved Ray. That poem forced me to analyze my mortality. This film, based on a novel of the same name by Ned Vizzini, shows the five day journey of Craig. Craig is a sixteen year old living in New York City. The standard items of youth are in place and could be seen as nothing more than pawns in the manipulation of the viewer: the cool best friend, his hot girlfriend (who Craig is attracted to), parents, and a sibling. What makes this film work though is that they are immediately removed from the equation by the director’s focus on Craig’s eventually admitted selfishness after he checks into a mental institution after considering suicide.

Get To Know: Rise Against

I have had countless discussions with artists about the responsibility of the creator of images and sounds. In these conversations, I have found the foundation for my understanding of the importance of art. I have also realized that my ideas about how art should be used, are very constrained. I think that art should serve a purpose and that the artists have to consider the audience, not to cater to the audience, but to promote discourse. The conversation does not have to be comfortable; on the contrary, it should be uncomfortable, but it should have a point. Right now, I can't say anything else about Rise Against. I need you to watch this video, amazing and powerful.

It's Complicated...Kind of a review

Okay that title is pretty vague and I will be the first to say that this blog does not get a crazy amount of traffic, so being vague is not a good thing. I love the blog: http://www.shadowandact.com/ . Not because the title derived from my favorite author, but because the blog has the most information on cinema that caters to a diverse audience. In other words, if I want a Black movie, or I want to know about a movie filmed, written and produced by those not of European ancestry, then I can find the info there. I tend to think I have a pretty good ear, for books, and an okay eye for film. What I have been looking for though from S&A is an article, or a summary on why is it that Black people can't create a film like It's Complicated. I've made similar comments after watching films like The Fountain, or The Notebook, but I won't rehash those discussions here. I will, but in a different way.

Writing is Just Different for a Black Man

Who will be the next Ralph Ellison?

A writer wakes up each morning, or at the end of the day, and begins crafting narratives. This is what writer's do. Traditionally, a writer would complete a manucript and purchase Writer's Market, or some other publication and begin looking for agents. I did this before and during graduate school. In graduate school I was told by my professors that I had what it took to become a "writer". What I failed to understand is that although they had christened me and given me all of the motivation I needed, my writing program failed to explain the realities involved in writing. They specifically failed to explain to me that a Black man writing is unlike any other person creating narratives.

The publishing industry used to be veiled in secrecy. A group of old White men decided the fate of a manuscript: slush pile or publication. Today, self publishing is as accessible as television stations to viewers. Basically anyone with a bit of savvy and computer literacy can put out a publication. I have had the "honor" of being signed by an agent, and having books "sold" under the premise that I rewrite. My problem was I didn't understand publishing and my MFA program did not explain to me that the writer makes concessions. I didn't want to change anything in the story. The editing I was okay with, but changing what happened with a character? Out of the question. Needless to say, my writing career with an agent, went south very fast and I did what most people do today, I self published.

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.

Section 4 Business and Entrepreneurship

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Section 3 Business and Entrepreneurship

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Section 2 on Business and Entrepreneurship

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Christopher D. Burns: Lecture on Business and Entrepreneurship at the University of Memphis

I was invited by Dr. Frances Fabian to speak at the U of M on business and entrepreneurship. I met Dr. Fabian after pitching to VCs at the Memphis version of the Shark Tank, the Catfish Tank hosted by Innova. While I am not an expert on business, I have taken the time to learn as much as possible in launching my footwear company ARCH http://www.arch-usa.com/, CB Publishing http://www.cbpublish.com/, and CCB Sports Network http://www.centercourtbasketball.com/. I also had the experience of launching a sports brand from 2005-07 that was sold for six figures. I learned from that experience that a license is not the same as owning a company, lol. Below is the first video of four sections. I hope that you will take the time to jot down the Key Points presented in each section and maybe it will help you to venture into your own projects. If you are interested in scheduling me for a speaking engagement please contact me at cburns@arch-usa.com.  Please make sure you respond to the video by liking it or subscribing to the channel. Thanks and enjoy.

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Dexter In The Dark: A review

The third book in Jeff Lindsay's Dexter series, Dexter in the Dark, takes a detour from the first and second novels. Upon being introduced to the dark hero Dexter, I found myself drawn to the simplistic nature of his horrible, handsome, hidden desire to murder. This created a paradox and an unsettling feeling for me. I thought, "If I respect and care for this character, doesn't this create a dark passenger within me?" How can a person laugh with and attempt to justify the vigilante nature of a beast who, while completely accurate in his decision to kill those who have committed heinous acts, is a killer himself? Does this make me a bad person, or am I simply reading horror and laughing at the absurdity involved in cheering on the antihero?

Stages: A Handbook On Men and Relationships Chapter Breakdown with Links

I had a friend who recently said he wanted to read Stages, but he couldn't find the first chapter easily. I am remedying that problem by setting up this post. Here you can click on each chapter and read the book from beginning to end. If you decide to buy the e-book or the actual book just go to the right and click on the link and the book will ship to you. Thanks for the support and enjoy.

The Legends of Hip-Hop Tour

Salt-N-Pepa: 25 Years in and Still Fly

I think in 1979 or 80 I first heard Punk Rock Rap by the Cold Crush Brothers. I've written about this before, but I have to restate it, kind of like the movie Brown Sugar, I knew I was Hip-Hop and Hip-Hop was me. At that moment everything kind of shifted. When we were kids we would stand on the porch and perform songs for the neighborhood and people would stop by and listen. My sister would be the lead singer, I'd play the piano, which were actually the bricks outside of the window and Lil Willie and his brother T would play the tennis rackets, I mean guitars. We would play songs like Call Me and random songs from Parliament Funkadelic, but then came Punk Rock Rap and Rapper's Delight and all of a sudden the guys got to be the lead.  Things changed. In the early 80s we moved out of the projects, into better...projects and I met guys that would go on to become best friends. Unfortunately we still didn't have much, but we had milk crates and music. Which basically means that we had basketball and Hip-Hop. But in the early 80s Grandmaster Flash and The Message was preaching and I wasn't quite getting the moral, but I did get a transmission from NYC that told me to grab some cardboard and try to do something called break dancing. I became our crews Mr. Wave, I was serious with the moves and respected. Beat Street became our movement and Hip-Hop was officially a part of everything we did. At this time I first heard a song called The Show and for the next 8 years one of my favorite emcees was Doug E Fresh, the human beat box.

Dearly Devoted Dexter: A Quickie

After reading the Millenium Trilogy (Girl Who Played With Fire, etc.) I needed a book to read. I read the first Dexter: Darkly Dreaming Dexter a few months back and enjoyed the first book which was so unlike the show that I actually forgot what the show was about. So I went back and began rewatching the Showtime series on Netflix. What I then realized was that, like the Millineum Trilogy, Dexter is a dish best served with prior knowledge. I watched every season of Dexter prior to getting the books. So I had a general understanding of disturbing Dexter. I knew that the writer seemed to be influenced by American Psycho, but probably pitched the book as, American Psycho with a conscience and a few very funny quirks, for a killer. I just finished the second book in the series Dearly Devoted Dexter.

Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson"

After teaching and working in schools for 16 years, I had an epiphany yesterday. Everything that is wrong with Memphis (insert your school system here) City Schools can be found in Bambara's highly anthologized short story, The Lesson. I've assigned and discussed this work of fiction a number of times over my last six years as a college professor. During a discussion yesterday my students, which consist of both traditional and non-traditional students, raised a number of interesting theories in regard to the main character Sylvia. If you've never read The Lesson stop reading this post, pull it up on the internet, and spend about 30 minutes with Toni Cade.

The Lesson on the surface appears to be a power struggle between a young person and an adult. In many lectures students state that it is a coming of age story that utilizes society as a means to understand how a teen learns about the world around them. The story certainly has elements that would lead a discussion in this direction. However, what I realized yesterday was that, while everyone in the country is attempting to throw money at the American Educational System, while everyone is attempting to create districts that improve by joining great school districts with mediocre districts, no one is truly addressing the true issues that exist in education.

Blogs I Like, and You Will Too

While anyone that knows me will tell you my favorite book is Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, it becomes obvious one of my other favorites is the collection of essays Shadow and Act by Ralph Ellison. The title of the LOC poetry annual is So Vividly Alive, an allusion to a lie of speech Ellison wrote in this collection of essays. In my attempt to be short I'm introducing a list of blogs I like. Visit this site: http://www.shadowandact.com/, you'll like it.