A Brief Note: Power and Art and Renewal

I am contemplating the timeliness of Kanye's new song "Power"...not so much in terms of what it means to him as an individual artist/being but how the shift it speaks to represents the dawning of a new era of art and creative thinking and living. Power is being redefined as it tries to recover from all it has destroyed. Meanwhile, the artists and creators of the world are being empowered to make the growing pains of all of this transitioning a little more bearable for us all. Oh the irony...exciting stuff, no?!?!? I suppose it's why I have been suffering from insomnia all summer...the good kind...the kind that keeps me up...where I create and breathe in others' creations and...dream about them all day long...

Speaking of dreams...

Beyonce on the Desperate Housewife (w/ Grammy's to boot)

"Why Don't You Love Me" - Beyoncé from Beyoncé on Vimeo.

Is this another installment of B's brand of scantily clad, 21st century feminism?
Are we to be empowered by this display?
Not hating at all...this is a genuine question...
What are your thoughts?
I will share mine at length once I have lived with it a little longer. As for now, I think I am living for this video! This is of course minus my cultural critique hat as I simply tap into my inner drag queen. YE$ MS. BBBBBBBBBBB! LOL!

He's BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK! JAMIE LIDELL

So excited...
Check him out...he won't disappoint: http://jamielidell.com/

Woman of Interest: Ms. Jackson (if your nasty, of course)

I would be lying if I told you Janet Jackson was not a huge influence on me as a young performer. In fact, she was very much the prototype for a triple threat(behind Ms. Debbie Allen of course...more on her later) when I was a teenager. However, as I got older and became more "refined", I began downplaying the impact she had on me. Besides, she was "just" a pop icon and I had begun discovering greats like Sarah, Ella and Billie as a singer and Babs, Chita and Patti LuPone as a triple threat performer. Still, looking back I remember those days in the mirror "trying" to do all of Tina's choreography (especially the one in the video above! LOL!); not so much! Ironically, as a member of Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera's Mini-Stars, "Rhythm Nation" was one of my biggest solos; which gave me a chance to perform her dope choreography on a regular basis in front of people other than my Cabbge Patch doll! Although I was merely fifteen years old at the time, this solo is still a career highlight for me.

I could really go on and on about all of my JJ moments: the concerts, the DVDs, the cassettes then CDs...the first time I heard "That's the Way Love Goes" while sitting in the beauty salon getting my hair done for my senior prom! The bottom line is this: Ms. Janet is an icon who is very much her brother's sister...she has more than proven herself worthy of her last name...she can go toe to toe with the best of them because she resides among them in the Pantheon of American Performing Artists...I've seen her in concert...the woman is no joke....and she was Penny for goodness sake!

Unfortunately, as our pop icons get older they are forced to make decisions about their career that can either make or break them. Ms. Jackson has been no exception as she too has struggled to make the adjustment like so many of her predecessors and contemporaries. How do you continue to portray powerful and sexy at 40ish in a business that glorifies 20ishness? Who knows...no matter what...we can't deny the amazing body of work Janet has already given us. Though she continues to make the transition into her full womanly awesomeness, I am sure she has got decades worth of greatness still in her to give. I can't wait to see what she does next besides "Why Did I Get Married Too!" I aint hatin...I'ma be up in that show...#imjustsayin

30 somethin, Rich and Foolish: A Placeholder for Rage

The topic of this entry: 50 Cent...

I will leave it at that...I don't trust myself to write this piece now because I know I am going to go all the way in. Therefore, I am going to chill out for now. Still, I need to hold myself accountable and shame myself in to finishing what I've started. Here's the reference:

http://www.allhiphop.com/stories/multimedia__video/archive/2009/11/12/22026038.aspx

Feel free to look it over until I can get my mind right.

Deal?

This Is It!: A Revelation

Nothing much to say but...if I am not willing to work as hard as MJ did in rehearsal for his O2 run...then I should probably stop doing WHATEVER it is I think I am doing right now...be it academia, music, business or any other endeavor. MJ was a genius but pushed himself to the max and did so not just for himself, but the world. The film "This Is It" was for me an eye-opener...a revelation.

What shall I conquer now with this new found enthusiasm and zest?!?!! 2nd album? advance degree? a family? thriving business? peace? balance?

First and foremost, MJ was focused...thus, FOCUS IS MY CURRENT FOCUS! ;-)

A Day of Remembrance for MJ...

I am reminded by witnessing the outpour of love for MJ that you never know who you might touch with your gifts. You cannot let the haters and naysayers run you out of the game. Artistry is service to a dying world.
In life and in death, MJ has inspired me to carry out my God-given calling even when others try to make me feel less than...even when it hurts...even when I feel like giving up.
Only God can judge me...the same goes for Michael. May his soul rest in peace.

Michael Jackson
1958-2009

Our Little Girls: Where's the Outrage?

For the past few days, we've seen black community leaders rally around the Jackson family in their time of bereavement. Surely MJ will be missed so we understand their concern for the family and fans worldwide. We've also heard that some of them (along with a popular musician and executive) made it their business to have Chris Brown excluded from the BET Awards ceremony which was held in Los Angeles this past weekend. This is possibly a more debatable point. Sure Chris Brown was dead wrong...but I sense a bit of hypocrisy was even involved in that decision...but more on that later. Also in regard to the BET Awards, I want to know who thought it was okay to allow a half dozen pre-teen girls dance on stage with Lil Weezy and crew during their "We Like Girls" performance? WHAT MESSAGE OUR WE SENDING? Has anyone paid attention to any of the lyrics? I refuse to reprint any of them here but let's just say they would make your mama faint. Unbelievable...I say all this to say that I love a good Weezy or Drake song as much as the next girl in the club BUT where do we draw the line of decency and stand for what is right? I can't let this one pass...where's the outrage (check the below out at minute 3:35)? TALK TO ME?!!?!?!

WHY MY HEART SMILED THIS MORNING...

I often find myself on a subway packed with rowdy 6th graders headed to a field trip on my morning commute and I am far too often tempted to scream on them like I was their mama! They cannot seem to sit still and talk at a normal level to save their lives. Even worse is the scene I see some afternoons outside of my office building which is a block away from two or three NYC Public High Schools. I usually find myself witnessing the sad state of affairs surrounding our young people; huge crowds of teenagers who are lost, with no direction no consideration for ANYONE including themselves. I am sometimes so angry that it scares me.
BUT this morning was different. My heart was made glad on my commute into work when I saw a full row of Black and Latino boys on the train sitting quietly...reading...intensely. I literally almost cried. I snuck a picture (I called it "The Young Cornels")...I had to capture the moment so that when I see another group of BeBes I have a memory...some hope...a glimmer of possibility to get me through.
Why is this such an anomaly in this day and age? I will do whatever I can to make sure that this is something I see everyday...maybe not in everyone...but this MUST become the RULE and not the EXCEPTION. Any ideas?

The Real Housewives of NJ: A Critical Analysis

Oh My Lawd! Those RHNJ women are scary...the scariest yet. What they think is cute and classy is so...not. I cannot believe that they are just a few miles over the bridge from New York because they could not be more different then my NY girls.

I will say that the show can be entertaining at times. All of the RH casts have been in some way or another. However, this one is the most dysfunctional...at least it seems so based on what we get to see. These girls spend so much time in the plastic surgeons chair, tanning bed, and hair colorist salon that I am sure I would not recognize them in a picture from their high school yearbook. The only one that looks normal and has any damn sense is the self-proclaimed matriarch Caroline (I think that is her name). She's textbook Italian mom with a little money. I like her. Her sister Dina pisses me off because she acts like she's better than this other woman Danielle but she's just as "meshuganah". The other two have "Stepford" tendencies but I can almost handle them. Overall, they all could use a little Jesus in their lives. I can't really make my final judgment because the juicy episode where the girl Teresa turns over the dinner table and curses the kids out doesn't air until next week. STAY TUNED...

I really appreciated the RHNY because those women were REAL. Jill Zarin rocks! I don't care what anyone says. That heifer is who she says she is...unapologetically. The dynamic between her and Ramona was a classic NY girl love/hate friendship. Perhaps it is just because I live in NY but that show just felt so much more relateable. Even more so than RHAtlanta which had all of the black women. I got that one and enjoyed it but NY was more my speed.

Bethany was like the girl I went to college with who is so ambitious but is having a hard time finding a man because she feels like she has to be two different women...split in two. I can totally understand where she is...EXCEPT she needs to eat because the Skinny girl thing is starting to get out of hand. The Countess was at her best when she had her unexpected bouts with "down-to earthness". I think life is starting to humble her a bit. To the one who is married to the gay man I say, "you like it, I love it." They seem happy in a strange way. Leave them be! My only suggestion for the show's producers would be to ship that Kelly off to NJ before she gets her behind kicked in NY! Can you say nightmare?

So Mr. Bravo...what's next? The Real Housewives of Pittsburgh? "What are yinz doing?" Holla at your girl...