Black Rock Abundance....Vote for Change...826 Valencia

Over at Bold As Love... while I was woodshedding, Mr. Fields was hosting his own Black Rock Coalition co-sponsored CMJ show at BAMCafé on October 25th. Dang! How did I miss hearing about this?

Plus there are a few new interviews over at Bold As Love as well, with the Hendrix loving headliners Red Lotus for one, and Chewing Pics , another act on the Bold As Love bill (I'm digging the latter's "The Matter of Glass" at the moment). After listening to the interview with Red Lotus lead singer/guitartist Rozz Nash-Coulen (who is also a personal trainer; unh-hunh, how do rockers keep working it night after night, um...they WORK IT...) and guitarist Jean-Marx Sentel (the name definitely gives you cause to pause), where they spoke about influences, creative process, and working on an inclusive sound that results in a rich melange rather than an indescriminate stew, I was really intrigued about their music. Plus they appreciate the melodic and timbral aspects of Hendrix's writing--which doesn't get as much recognition as it should in relation to the sonic pyrotechnics. Listening on their MySpace page didn't really do it for me, but then I found the track that had Mr. Fields trying to see them live for two years, finally he just had to book them himself (Mr. Fields is dedicated ya'all...). Anyway, then I got it, yep, "Firecracker" (I think that's the name, there's no credit listed on the post) it reminds me of Sophie Ramos' work, songs that need to be out there complicating the musical/songwriting landscape.

I'm still waiting to hear all about the Bold As Love CMJ event. I hope that report is coming soon...(paging Mr. Fields...)

Speaking of BRC events Burnt Sugar Arkestra is going to have a post-election celebration in Brooklyn (because, they're in "Yes We Can!" mode, and "Either way, we're gonna rise up and make some noise.")

Wed. Nov 5, 2008
10:00 PM
Zebulon Cafe
258 Wythe Avenue (between Metropolitan and North 3rd St.)
Williamsburg, BROOKLYN, New York 10012
No cover -just a pass of the hat


Also, courtesy of J's Theater, the cast of The Wire reunites to urge North Carolinians to "Vote for Change":



Lastly, in the "Six Degrees of Separation" category, writer Tayari Jones linked to a TED video of writer Dave Eggers talking about 826 Valencia, the San Francisco-originated non-profit he started which is "dedicated to helping children with their reading and writing." Eggers was received the 2008 TED award. There are now 826 chapters in Chicago, Boston, Seattle, NYC, Los Angeles, and Michican, about 826 National the website adds, "826 is especially committed to supporting teachers, offering services and resources for English language learners, and publishing student work. Several locations offer unique retail experiences as well." Earlier this week Tayari Jones's "Lunch Break Links" also linked to my previous blogpost on Toni Morrison's new book, the AACM celebration, etc. which included a list of short story collections I have enjoyed or am now considering reading. One of these is The Book of Other People, edited by writer Zadie Smith (White Teeth, Autograph Man, On Beauty). All of the royalties from this anthology are being donated by the writers to 826 Valencia. I have only just started it, so I'm not saying anything, OK, I will say I really like Edwidge Danticat's story "Lélé". Smith's only direction to the 20+ writers she assembled was "make somebody up."

Dave Eggers' TED Award acceptance speech, and TED wish, where he talks about the community changing effects of helping children with their homework, and supporting your community's teachers in the work they do to educate the nation's children. Basically as Jone's blogpost title puts it "Dave Eggers Wants to Change the World"(one of the best parts are the unique storefronts a number of the chapters have set up, based on the original 826 Valencia model, meant to fulfill the building's zoning requirement) :

Audio Geek Out...

So recently I've been letting my audio geek flag fly, and finding out there are more like-minded folks around me than I realized. The kind of folks who can sit around talking about different mics and compressors (outboard gear, not just digital plugins), the infinite challenges of EQ, and experiments in mic placement in the recording process while the hours fly by, and not even notice it the passage of time. But if you've popped in here from time to time you've noticed postings of video interviews with sound designers. I've been focusing on film sound designers, and realized I've been neglecting other areas of interest: radio, music, sound art (though I've added a "Sound/Sound Art" links panel to keep track of various sites).

Here are some sites that feature people talking about sound from different perspectives....


1. Bold As Love Vimeo Channel
Rob Fields puts his energy out there to engage people in, evangelize on, and document the subject of black rock in its various permutations. Lucky for us. Recently he put up some new video interviews with three music artists: Monica Arrington (aka Nerdkween), TreZure the Empress, and Maya Azucena. These artists have markedly different sounds, with the quiet, "ethereal," sometimes ambient sounds of singer/songwriter/guitarist and electronic musician Nerdkween; the vocal-based rock funk of TreZure the Empress, who sings with the easy knowledge of her title: she knows she doesn't have to explain; and the rich folk/soul/rock, afro-latin jazz inflected melodies of Azucena with her thoughtful instrumentation and fruitful musical collaborations. (pictured above, Bold As Love's Rob Fields)

2. WNYC - Radiolab: Making Radio Lab
Co-producer and co-host Jad Abumrad calls Radiolab "a science-y and ideas kind of program. Basically what we do is look for big ideas that are percolating up in the sciences, and we try and humanize those ideas..." This is a podcast from 9 November 2007 about the sound design for the show which is unusual for its level of production quality and innovation. Abumrad, the conceptual audio geek behind the show's sonic design, talks about it's technical particulars, while the other co-producer/co-host Robert Krulwich talks about the content editing issues that arise in relation to the sound design. You can also listen to Abumrad talk specifically about the use of music on the show as means to inact the humanizing of those "big ideas" at "Music A Force for Good (and Sometimes Evil)" one of the breakout sessions at Chicago Public Radio's 2005 Third Coast International Audio Festival. Listen to that audio archive here (scroll down to get to Abumrad's session). (pictured above, l-r: Robert Krulwich and Jad Abumrad; photo: WNYC Radio)

3. EM Cast: Producer/engineer/musician Joel Hamilton
Originally, I only knew about Joel Hamilton from his work with his band The Book of Knots, and then only because of violinist Carla Kihlstedt who I know from her own work. OK, but the thing is that The Book of Knots is made up of people who have worked as studio and performing musicians with Tom Waits, Pere Ubu, Bob Mould, Elvis Costello, Lou Reed, John Vanderslice, They Might Be Giants, Fred Frith. Hamilton has worked with many of those artists, has engineered and or mixed for too many artists to mention including, Ludacris, and Soulive, and is co-owner of the Brooklyn-based Studio G. For a full listing of artists he's worked with click on his name above. (pictured above, The Book of Knots; photo from Obscure Sound.com music blog)

The Book of Knots started out as a studio project, an opportunity for the musicians, producers and engineers involved to "do everything as wrong as we possibly could in the studio, it'd be our chance to go outside 'session musician' or 'producer' that's doing things the right way, and just start recording the entire band with one microphone in a corner, or three broken microphones on a three piece live in a small living room. Just going way outside the perimeters that people usually want to see in the studio." He also talks about experimenting with throwing out the rules in the mixing process. Definitely an interesting interview, and worth listening to The Book of Knots on their MySpace page to get a sense of the results.

4. Third Coast International Audio Festival//Chicago Public Radio - Conference Archives
The Third Coast International Audio Festival (TCF) conferences started in 2001, and they've archived conference sessions from that year to the present. This is a rich archival offering and worth the time to work your way through, if you have an interest in audio production and radio.

The next TCF Conference is October 9-11, 2008 in Evanston, Illinois, just a little north of Chicago. If you are a young person of color, 18-25, and have an interest in radio and/or sound this year the Conference is offering Minority Student Scholarships the deadline is August 15, 2008. Click on the previous link for complete info on the scholarships, below is the text description without links:

We're pleased to announce that the TCF is offering scholarships to help eight young people, members of ethnic or racial minorities, attend the 2008 Conference. Our hope is to encourage diversity in the radio profession among the up and coming generation of producers. Applicants must be 18-25 years old. Those selected to receive scholarships will have their registration fees waived and will receive a $250 travel stipend. They'll also have the chance to share their work and thoughts on the radio universe, during the session College: A Hotbed of Emerging Producers.

Complete and return the TCF Minority Student Scholarship Application (right-click to download PDF) by August 15, 2008. You will also need to send a work sample and a teacher/mentor reference, both are described in more detail on the application.

The TCF will make scholarship decisions based on application forms, potential abilities demonstrated in required work samples and personal recommendations. We'll let applicants know on a rolling basis if they’ve been selected.

Mail the application, work sample and reference to:
Third Coast Festival
Chicago Public Radio
848 East Grand Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611

Or fax it to 312-948-4899.

Please email us with questions, or call 312-948-4652.




(pictured above, shot of the all-important (SM58?) mic from a TCF Conference; pictured right, Public Radio Host and Producer Ira Glass offering a free consultation during the 2007 Conference's Audio Doctor Sessions; photo credit: TCF website)

Bold As Love: giving the freshness

One of the things I appreciate about Rob Fields/Bold As Love is he gets that Black Rock is a community thing. You can have all the innovative, off-the-hook performers and artists forging new territory, but it's fans and the community they form that supports the efforts. Fortunately, this is not a binary relationship--that's why I'm talking about community. Any musician is also a fan (if s/he is only a fan of him/herself that's a sad state of affairs) of other bands, of particular music promoters, of particular venues and sound and light people in those venues, of the fans that shout them out on Myspace, youtube, etc. So the world goes round...

Mr.Fields has started a vimeo channel and thusfar has interviews with Boston Fielder and Shena Verrett of URB ALT, and one of Verrett talking about being a black woman leading a rock band, Tenderhead, and her new album OOZE. There's also an interview with James Spooner, co-founder of the AfroPunk Film and Music Festival, and director of the Afro-Punk documentary. Right now my favorite video up there is an interview with Brooklynite Bryan Edwards a "Black rock fan," reportedly a part of an upcoming series of fan interviews. Edwards (aka Kaos Black) talks about growing up in Brooklyn something of a Cosby kid, with an interest in journalism and world affairs, and later discovering that there was a community of like-minded folks--and they had a name--when he saw Spooner's documentary. Watching the Spooner interview first gives some context on that aspect of the film's impact. Edwards also gives a run down of his current playlist. It's a pretty rich offering, particularly notable were rock bands coming from the African continent. I was listening and washing dishes, so didn't take notes.

Fortunately, Fields (ever considerate consummate fan) has listening posted about one of the bands, BLK JKS, out of Johannesburg, South Africa. They played Brooklyn twice this past April. Rob also thanked writer Sean Jacobs for alerting him to the Guardian UK article that recently profiled the band. Jacobs's blog is called Africa Is a Country. I believe the very dry humor is intended; Jacobs' identifies himself as "an African immigrant living in New York City (and Ann Arbor)" (sounds like an academic trek/track).

That put me in mind of a t-shirt I saw this weekend, the front of which had the phrase "Africa Is Not A Country...It's A Continent" and a map of said continent with every country identified. Of course, you know I had to find out where to get one. Where else but Africa is not a country.com where they feel your pain: "'Africa is not a country, it's a continent.'...Are you tired of explaining this fact? Let your t-shirt do the talking instead." The t-shirts in various styles are 100% cotton from American Apparel (yes, American Apparel has developed a yuck! factor now that they're attempting to compete with Calvin Klein and Abercrombie & Fitch using Lolita-esque advertising--however, they still make quality t-shirts without sweatshop labor). Africa is not a country also has "No, I don't speak African" t-shirts for those encounters with the even more atrociously misinformed.

Endnote:
• You can access most of Bryan Edwards/Kaos Black's playlist from his MySpace page friends list.

Yep, it's a MySpace world...click on it....

What I Missed, Someone Else Didn't...II + Black Banjo + Imani Coppola + Save 475 Kent Avenue

Bold As Love has been b-u-s-y folks, and with his own black rock progeny in tow he headed over to the Brooklyn Museum last weekend to check out Harriet Tubman apparently heeding an earlier "admonishment"--his words--found in this blog directed towards the talented Mr. Rob Fields. And yes, like many of us, he found that HT is no joke, and had a serious good time. You can read more about his take on that here, and check some nice photos as well (doesn't that glass window backdrop look great?). Apparently, HT indicated that their awaited album is coming out in 2008, dropped some science about black folk & the banjo and gave an update on the release of the Otis Taylor engineered Recapturing the Banjo album (Telarc, 2008--actually it's out now) and documentary (see video below) featuring Corey Harris, Keb' Mo', Alvin Youngblood Hart, Guy Davis, Taylor, and Don Vappie. This is hopefully gonna be a seriously deep year musically.

Excerpt from the Recapturing the Banjo: The Black Banjo Project documentary:





Bold As Love also hipped us to Imani Coppola's Little Jackie project, in month-long residence at Southpaw--through March 11. Did I know about this, dang, I did not. And I've been liking Coppola since 1997's underrated Chupacabra ("I'm A Tree," "Legend of A Cowgirl" oh yeah...). Looks like I missed guitarist/vocalist Honeychild Coleman's guest appearance on the bill, bummer. Plus, Maritri, whom I haven't heard of, is doing an interesting sounding monthly music series at The Cutting Room. All this and "Listening Post" yummies can be found this week at Bold As Love. Watcha waitin'for?

---

Passing Strange on Broadway

Mr. Fields reminded me that all of us in the NYC area, or visiting soon, need to get out to Stew's black rock musical, Passing Strange which has just made the trip from The Public to Broadway (aka the Great White Way--well not 100% thanks to Passing Strange among others--hee-hee, couldn't resist) where it's playing at the Belasco Theater. For those wondering at the title, no it's not a reference to racial "passing". More about the Shakespeare Othello reference of the title, and the show itself here. But that's not all, there's a Bold As Love brief write up (no spoilers), and a great podcast interview with Stew. Writer/anthropologist Maureen Mahon (Right to Rock) gives us an interview with Stew at EbonyJet.com (remember, if you can, when Ebony would barely include freaky Prince in it's pages?). Not to be outdone, not just one(with exhubertant endorsement by Spike Lee), but two hits from Bluegum on the show, with the classic quote: "Finally, a Color Purple for the rest of us!"

I concur, this was one of the best theater "experiments" I've seen in a long time. I'm using the word "experiment" because that what Stew calls the show and it's Broadway presence. But I don't mean "best" on the "experiment" continuum, but on the "theater" continuum. Although I do believe that theater is meant to be continually experimenting, reconfiguring itself, finding the best way to stage a story without always deferring to precedent--in this case rock musical theater precedent, i.e.: Rent, Hair, or Jesus Christ Superstar.

I was galvanized afterwards. I wanted more, more, more black rock, more black people exploring difference, and boundaries, and varied intersections with culture and creativity. The show just opens up your head, and your heart--to get all goofy and squishy about. Passing Strange makes you think, makes you groove, makes you shudder, makes you squirm, makes you laugh, makes you grieve, makes you hot, makes you holler, and then makes you do it all over again. Ain't nothin' but right about that.

For information on how to get discounted tickets go to this Bold As Love post.

---

Speaking of Supporting Artists...
475 Kent Avenue, Brooklyn: 200+ artists trying to keep their studios after City eviction:
•PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION•

Among the displaced artists from 475 Kent in Brooklyn, NY is master bassist Melvin Gibbs formerly of the Rollins Band and currently of the aforementioned Harriet Tubman. You probably know of one or more of the 200+ artists and their families who have been impacted by this situation, some who have lived there for a decade. Even if you don't, if you're an artist living in the NYC-Area it easily could you in this situation. For more from audiologo on the amazing and hardworking Mr. Melvin Gibbs check here, and on Harriet Tubman live at Joe's Pub in September 2007, check here.

The New York Times has been giving a solid amount of coverage to this situation (see links below) where the tenants are working with the landlords to bring the building up to code (a rare situation where the landlords are supporting the tenants). At this point only the sprinkler system needs repair, and the tenants are requesting permission to return to their homes while the work is done. To date this request has been denied.

Open Letter from 475 Kent Avenue resident & artist vibeke jensen:
Date: February 11, 2008

Dear Friends, New York-, national- and international arts community,

we are trying to save the building where more than 200 artists, my
neighbors & i lived and worked for 10 years!

for more information:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/nyregion/21loft.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/nyregion/22lofts.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/nyregion/10building.html

please sign our online petition to Mayor Bloomberg

http://www.petitiononline.com/475Kent/petition.html

please do so now. And PLEASE forward this to your friends.
We are trying to get thousands of signatures on his desk asap.


sorry for any cross postings.
vibeke jensen
www.thing.net/~vibekeie

What I Missed, Someone Else Didn't...

If you're like me and missed the Black Rock Coalition's show over at Brooklyn Academy of Music's BAMcaféLive this past weekend (chile, no!), part of the BRC and BAM's Black History Month, and officially #2 of 3. You can live vicariously through Bold As Love's write up, and wait with baited breath for Bluegum's take on it while they offer a Morrison-Obama moment. Plus Bold As Love has a great interview with Stew, newly of Broadway with his black rock musical Passing Strange, and a write up of the show (but with no spoilers).

• Friday, February 29th
Next up at BRC's BAMcaféLive series is Earthdriver (pictured right) and Swear On Your Life (whose lead singer, MilitiA's rasped howls on "Self Taught" remind me of Fetchin Bones singer Hope Nicholls' gutterals on the intro to 1989's "Love Crushing"). Interestingly, Earthdriver is a musical collective that considers itself "just as much a movement as it is a band." Read more about them here.
BAM
9pm FREE people.

Get your PIPING, HOT, FREE Black Rock over here.

And apparently there's more to be revealed on the URB ALT front for 2008; and what's poppin' over at the Bold As Live series for 2008? We're waitin', anticipatin'. The year's just getting started, but a lot's cookin', ma chere.

If you don't believe me look at the line up for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (April 25-27, May 1-4, 2008) including: The Neville Brothers, Santana, MAZE featuring Frankie Beverly, Stevie Wonder, Buckwhet Zydeco, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Burning Spear, Ozomatli with Chali 2na, Lizz Wright, Barbara Lynn (I'm A Good Woman, You'll Loose A Good Thing; Texas lefty guitar player), Golden Comanche and Chief Iron Horse & the Black Seminole Mardi Gras Indians, Irma Thomas, Cassandra Wilson, Elvis Costello & Alvin Toussaint, Al Green, Keyshia Cole... I can't list the whole line-up here, it's too dang long. But do check it out...

Put Your Records On
Meanwhile....father and son ya Salaam of breath of life are creating virtual musical calls to various actions, proffering the following jukebox bounty and conversation for the week of February 18th:

"The Isley Brothers give us 16 slow jamz. The Coup give us street reportage. And Obama gives us hope ;>). I couldn’t resist saying that even though what we get is three songs promoting Obama featuring The Mighty Sparrow, The Bergevin Brothers with Reverend Pat Wright & The Total Experience Gospel Choir, and Will.I.Am with a huge cast of supporting artists. Be inspired to act."

Well, don't you have some place to be? I know I do.

1950 - 2007: Elizabeth Amelia Hadley + Tom Terrell : Spirits Fly Home

Elizabeth Amelia Hadley (aka Elizabeth Hadley Freydberg) was a friend whom I've known for over 10 years now, although we didn't really connect until a Black Women's Health Project Conference where we staged a little intervention to address the lack of, well, address of queer black women's health issues. A little queer/straight alliance was born among some of the black women at that conference. One of the smartest people I have ever met, Elizabeth was (I can't believe I'm writing "was") a musician (she got her undergraduate degree on an opera scholarship), a costume designer, a painter, a writer, a theater director, a media commentator, and a serious computer geek-nerd before it was cool to be one. Elizabeth could take apart a PC and put it back together without hardly thinking about it. She was a black music connoisseur, a lesbian feminist, a community and national activist, and a scholar of African American film, theater, music, and literature, and earned her doctorate from University of Indiana at Bloomington, home of one the larger black film archives in the United States. Her life began in New York where as a little black girl she primarily grew up in foster care. She was a Rockefeller and Fulbright recipient, as well as an NEH scholar. Her last position was Chair of Africana Studies at Simmons College in Boston. Her biography of Bessie Coleman, the first woman and first African American woman aviatrix, Bessie Coleman: The Brownskin Lady Bird, was the first such study of Coleman and is considered to be definitive in its scope. Unfortunately it is currently out of print. Nevertheless, Elizabeth's lobbying was largely responsible for the United States Postal Service issuing a Bessie Coleman stamp.


Elizabeth was tirelessly curious, she had a singularly active mind, and an acerbic wit--she really didn't suffer fools very well. But she was also quite big-hearted, compassionate, and generous--to a fault sometimes. I had some of the best conversations ever with her. She could talk about anything, and was constantly surprising me with whatever information would follow the opening, "you knew I had been a ________ , didn't you?" When she became seriously ill with metastatic breast cancer, I wondered if I would find out all the things she had been.

Elizabeth is the primary reason why I am where I am now. One day when I was overwhelmed and frustrated, I called her. I said "I'm ready to let this go--I don't have enough time, it probably isn't even the right place for me," etc. I was tired, anxious, and car-less in Atlanta trying to prepare an application for deadline in about 5-10% of the time I would normally take to do so. Elizabeth, by that time having faced mortality repeatedly, tended to put things in perspective quickly and kicked my butt over the phone, backed that up with a healthy dose of verbal tough love and faith, and sent me on my way. I was fuming afterwards, but determined to follow through. As a result I got my second chance to do something, actually many things I love. Because not just that time, but always, Elizabeth believed in me. She was that kind friend to me and I'm sure to others as well. I was very fortunate to have known her on this plane. I will miss her always, though I am relieved that she is no longer existing in daily pain and uncertainty. Elizabeth passed away on Sunday, October 14th.

The Boston Globe obituary includes some recollections from her daughter Malika Hadley Freydberg, who is a choir teacher and a singer/songwriter. Here is my favorite:

"'She made my dolls until about age 7, at least,' her daughter said. 'When I was born, she could not find dolls of color that were soft, so she learned how to make dolls. My first doll was a black Raggedy Ann, and my favorite part was that she sewed on a heart that said, 'I love you.' If you looked under the doll's dress, there was the heart sewed onto her chest.'"

There is a memorial planned for Elizabeth in the near future, in her hometown of Harlem, New York.

* * * *

I never met Tom Terrell (pictured left, photo Jimmy Saal), but I'll always remember him because of the benefit organized on his behalf by Giant Step and others after Terrell, without health insurance, was diagnosed with prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. The benefit, "An Esoteric Night - A Benefit for Tom Terrell" was my introduction to the New York music community, and my first September 11th anniversary in New York City. This was not just any New York music community, but the community where I could imagine myself contributing, living, listening, and supporting other folks. That night the Canal Room was full of life, and love and some profound musical moments from a diverse cross-section of folks. Each and every musician had been selected by Terrell and was playing a tune requested by him as well (his personal iPod Show was the reference). Terrell had worked seemingly in ever part of the music business, alternative rock DJ, PR rep for Verve Music Group, road manager, and music journalist, and everyone loved him. Terrell's friend Harry Weinger told me Terrell called himself a "promosexual," because he was so committed to promoting people he saw as talented and whose work needed to be heard. (oops, I partially misheard Weinger's story, actually Terrell called himself a "promosexual" because he loved to get free promo materials. But the fact of his commitment to artists I got right. I guess that was the thing, the man was clearly a true believer in the transcendent and profound power of music to matter. That we as human beings needed these artists, and needed their music to touch us, to get us partying down, to bring us together, to grow our respective and collective consciousnesses, etc. For more on this aspect of Terrell you can check out Greg Tate's remembrance, with additional recollections of Terrell from various music folk, writers, and friends who knew him for the wonderful person he clearly was (thanks again to Rob at Bold As Love for the heads up on this).

That was the first time I heard and saw Toshi Reagon, Vernon Reid, Chocolate Genius (aka Michael Anthony Thompson) , Coati Mundi, Nora York, Randy Weston, and Angelique Kidjo live. And it was the first time I'd ever heard Harriet Tubman, and for that alone I could remember and treasure Terrell forever. But the whole evening was so moving and magical that it also was my first NY-area blog entry.* I often thought of Terrell over the past year hoping that he was doing well, in remission, happily doing some music-oriented something somewhere.


According to the Nedlist announcement Terrell died peacefully and without pain on at 5:05am on Thursday, November 29th. The family is planning a funeral service on "Saturday, December 8th in Washington, D.C. (all are welcome)." There are tentative plans for a memorial service in New York as well, and once I hear about those I'll post them here. Thank you Mr. Terrell.

Friday, December 7, 2007
"Wake" - 6:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M.
Stewart Funeral Home, Inc.
4001 Benning Road, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20019
(202) 399-3600

Saturday, December 8, 2007
"Celebration of Life"
9:00 A.M. Viewing
11:00 A.M. Funeral Service
Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel at Howard University
6th Street and Howard Place, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20059
(202) 806-7280

*Endnote I:
While writing this post I went to my blog to access the perma-link for that first New York city entry on the Terrell Benefit, and I noticed "1 comment" listed. I didn't remember having gotten one, but thought I'd read it and jog my memory. It was from Tom Terrell. I'd never seen it before just now (The entry was from before you could get blogger.com to notify you if someone left a comment--which I still don't have activated now that I could). I'm just stunned and moved. Fortunately, I found a photo that captures the salsa dancing he mentioned in his comment. (above right, Tom Terrell benefit, Coati Mundi holding the mic stand, and Terrell dancing in the middle from ZOOMZOOM)

Endnote II:
• Thanks to Rob Fields of Bold As Love (via Brian Tate and Full Spectrum) for citing this Washington Post obituary for Terrell.
• For more information on Tom Terrell check out Rob Fields' Bold As Love December 3rd and December 7th entries on his life and passing.
• Thanks again to Fields for pointing readers to the Bluegum culture & music blog entry on Terrell which includes a link to one of Terrell's richly thoughtful, emotionally and aesthetically layered Pop Matters columns. (This one is on the death and funeral of his aunt, the legendary and wonderfully human jazz pianist/arranger/vocalist Shirley Horn, and touches on the loss of vocalist Lou Rawls--he riffs memorably about my favorite album of the latter, Lou Rawls Live! with its great "Girl from Ipanema" rap). Also included on the Bluegum site is a link to the World Music Central notice of the loss of Terrell.

Q: What did we learn today? A: Sandra St. Victor is my Hero

Thank goodness for motivated visionaries, cause Rob at Bold As Love is making his happen with his Bold As Live Black Rock Series. For a mere $8.00 you got a mini-concert by The Family Stand (V. Jeffrey Smith (horns, flute, guitar), Sandra St. Victor (vocals), and Peter Lord (keyboard)), featuring past material and new cuts from their recent release (not yet available in the US) Super Sol Nova; a live interview with The Family Stand by journalist/urbanista Michaela angela Davis; and if you were fast on your feet, an answer to you very own burning question about the artistic vision, advice to emerging artists, thoughts on mentoring, etc. from members of The Family Stand. For an additional mere $10 you coulda gotten the abovementioned Super Sol Nova and possibly a free(!) Black Rock Coalition (BRC) sampler from the nice folks from BRC (thank you!).

Being that folks aren't foolish (playing the fool is different from being one), the place was packed. Ah, no pictures, cause I brought no camera today. I ran out the door to get there on time only to find the time had been changed and the event was at 4pm instead of 3pm. But hey, believe me, I was rewarded with a fantastic seat and the chance to see a bunch of black audio geek professionals set up for the event. That's always a good time as far as I'm concerned (yep, geek to the bone, and proud of it!). Fortunately Afrofuturist featured some as does the Bold As Love site.

This was the first time I had heard The Family Stand live (yes, I'm embarrassed, but why focus on the negative when there's so much positive in having remedied that situation?). They were really amazing, and yeah, why didn't I know about them before? I had albums by Hollywood Beyond ("we want to be the black David Bowie"), A.R. Kane, and Float Up CP, but, oh yeah, those were all black or multi-ethnic British bands. Black rock in the US, aside from Living Colour (originally isolated as a musical anomaly in accord with the famous Highlander syndrome: "There can be only one..."), was a rabbit hole of potential critical acclaim, limited/no radio play, with the resulting limited audience exposure leading to dismal sales and often losing a record contract.

Thankfully each of the members of The Family Stand is a skilled songwriter. While Sandra St. Victor made a point to say that they had never broken up (perhaps the change in lead singers with 1998's Connected caused folks some confusion on that point--but change is just a part of life. Peter Lord speaks with admirable frankness about the process of making that album on their website), it's clear that they also never stopped working in music in some form: writing and/or producing for other artists.

I could go on and on about how great they were; how the crowd gave them two standing ovations; how a friend of Smith's requested a live version of "I Thought We Had" on which Smith sings lead vocal; and the crowd quietly echoed this wish only to be politely deflected by the modest Smith (it's the first track on their MySpace site); how young guitarist Marcus Machado's playing almost set the concrete floor on fire; how special it was to hear V. Jeffrey Smith sing after only previously having heard him on horns and flute, especially with much of his family there showing him love; how honest they were in their comments on the current state of music, sometimes to each others' chagrin (!). But I really want to note why Sandra St. Victor is my hero. Below are the notes I made as the R train carried me away from Brooklyn (apologies to my future-reading-self for the occasionally cheesy tone of 12th grade s/hero worship):

Today I found out Sandra St. Victor is my hero. She's a woman with a beautiful spirit (and physically beautiful as well), amazing talent, with a multi-hued voice, and unafraid to make "da ugly face" when she sings. You know what I mean. I personally have a hard time singing without making the ugly face (and don't have St. Victor's chops), so I'm particularly sensitive to this having been trained in classical and jazz standard performance not to make the ugly face. I don't actually know if classical folk would even know what is meant by by "the ugly face." I think solo string players and pianists are allowed a grimacing visage onstage as a performative gesture, but I don't recall this benefit being extended to others.

In response to a joint question by Greg Tate and Davis, St. Victor spoke of the mentoring she received when she attended a high school of performing arts in Dallas (probably Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts) , singing back-up for Chaka Khan, and working with Smith and Lord, the latter two who wouldn't let her do a another take if they felt she'd hit an emotional truth, even if she felt her singing had been technically off. St. Victor started her vocal training in the classical realm and from there moved into jazz, singing with Roy Ayers, did a lot of back up and session work, and eventually emerged with the melange of styles she's pursued with The Family Stand and in her solo work. In her high school the vocalists were encouraged to find their individual style and voices, and also to be technically accomplished (aka perfect). In late night conversations with Chaka Khan (sometimes "enhanced," sometimes not) she found herself encouraged to do whatever it takes to get to that place of deep connection--the ugly face, "squeezing your buttcheeks," whatever--but fully commit to that vocal expression; don't hide. St. Victor communicated a profound sense of prioritizing that visceral element.

Many creative folk are at the crossroads of the visceral and the technical, as well as finding the perfect niche or packaging--that sound, that sound. If you're fortunate (or not, as the case may be), the one that's in your heart will also be the one that sells (or at least allows you to pay the rent), but well, it ain't always that kinda party.

* * *

The above doesn't wholly communicate my experience this past Sunday. For me it was one of those synergistic moments: I was in the right place, at the right time, and open to hearing some things quite important for me personally. From the luminous energy at the Brooklyn Lyceum, I can't imagine I was alone in that experience.

While there I found out about Brian Tate's Restoration Rocks 2 Festival, where everyone was rockin' out Saturday night. What??? How did I miss hearing about that?! Well, I'm sure bluegum will have something to say about what was apparently a blowout event of superlative talent, black rockers all. Bold As Love did some pre-fest coverage on Tate last week.

The Family Stand performing the transcendent (and goose-bump inducing) "Undiscovered Country" from Super Sol Nova, at Park Pop Festival, The Hague, June 2007. Get this album! You'll understand why Micaela angela Davis was proclaiming, "I now have an album I want to listen to every day!"




Endnote:
• Want more from Davis on The Family Stand?
• Want the Peter Lord and V. Jeffrey Smith pre-show interview with Bold As Love?
• Want more St. Victor? Check out the Daughters of Soul concert.
• More on Essence's Take Back the Music Campaign (Davis was involved in this while an editor at Essence Magazine.
• More on Black Girls Rock! Inc founded by DJ Beverly Bonds (Davis is on the board of this organization aimed at creating positive images for black women and girls in hip hop and popular media).