Two In The Morning, Got The Fatburger...

The guys at Soulbounce posted a new track by Marsha Ambrosius (the Songstress from Floetry). The song, “What’s Going On”, has a nice vibe to it. Songstress 2.0 lays some nice vocals over an inventive sampling of the The Isley Brothers “Footsteps in the Dark.” Plus we get a pretty good intro from The Game. All in all, a pretty solid track. Check out the new song here.

And while you’re at it, check out both the original “Footsteps in The Dark” and the definitive sampling of the song – Ice Cube’s “It Was A Good Day”.

The Isley Brothers - "Footsteps In The Dark (Pts 1 & 2)" [Download]


Ice Cube - "It Was A Good Day" [Download]

New Watchmen Photos!!!

I just came across the first photos from Watchmen - this movie is going to look better than I imaginged. I've included a Nite Owl photo below (and if you don't know the Nite Owl, then you are missing out on the greatest graphic novel ever written.

Porgy and Bess: Real Black Acting and Singing

Please don’t go see the new Tyler Perry coon-o-rama (Meet the Browns, due out in Spring 08). I’m not trying to hate; I just believe that if we settle for movies like this then we’ll never get to see really good movies/shows/theatre with Black actors.

Case in point: last week, Porgy and Bess was in town. Porgy and Bess is probably the greatest American Opera ever created – and it’s always acted out by an all-Black cast. Of course, none of the urban radio stations bothered to mention that Porgy was in town - though they were sure to let their listeners know that My Baby’s Daddy Can Dunk On Jesus (featuring Lenny Williams, "Shug" from A Color Purple, and Kim Fields) was playing at the Academy of Black “Arts” and Sciences.

Anyway… for those that have never heard the music of Porgy and Bess, I’ve included some interpretations from Gershwin’s classic.

“The Buzzard Song” is the opening track off of Miles Davis’ Porgy and Bess. This album is Davis’ third partnership with Gil Evans – and arguably their greatest collaboration (for more on that, read here).

The next track is Billie Holiday’s “I Loves You, Porgy.” Lady Day really captures the melancholy of the song; she sounds like she really IS Bess.

The final track “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” is sung by opera greats Leontyne Price and William Warfield. Price and Warfield performed in a 1950’s Broadway revival of the show; they recorded “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” along with other highlights from the opera, in the early 60s. Beautiful and moving, their version is the gold-standard for this duet.

Miles Davis - "The Buzzard Song" [Download]



Billie Holiday - "I Loves You, Porgy" [Download]


Leontyne Price and William Warfield - "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" [Download]

Fight The Power (That Means You, Hillary)

Once again, I’ve taken a long hiatus. This time, I had a crazy few months on the J.O.B. Just as that calmed down, I turned to volunteering with the Barack Obama campaign.

Volunteering for the campaign was exciting. I worked with a small team in from my neighborhood – black, which, Hispanic; young and old; single and married. Despite our differences, we worked together to get our man elected. And even though Obama didn’t win the primary, I still take pride in what the grass roots volunteers across Texas accomplished.

So here’s a little “Fight The Power” (The Isley Brothers version).

The Isley Brothers - "Fight The Power" [Download]