Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
>By "late '60s vocal group sound," you mean more 5th Dimension/Mamas &
>Papas than, say, Tempts or Miracles or Manhattans? 

oh god, yeah the association, mamas & papas and 5th D.
The idea of me attempting anything on the level of the Tempts or
Miracles has got me howling with laughter right now. No offence towards
the whiter groups mentioned but...uh...i'm trying to find the proper
way to phrase this...

for me, soul music singing is up there with jazz or classical singing.
you dont just wake up one morning and do that. and if you do you
better get down on yer knees and thank god for it. But for most mortals
it takes a whole lotta work to be good at it. At heart i'm just a rock
musician. Sure, I've got goals beyond that. But when yer sitting in a
rehearsal studio with a white guy from conneticut, 2  white girls from
from north dakota & pomona and a black guy whose still learning how to
sing, well, The Miracles aint exactly a realistic goal.
  

    
And nor is that combo exactly the Funk Brothers -- or even Booker T
and the MGs. 

But this does bring up the question of whether you get shit about not
being "black enough" or "betraying your roots" or whatever. My guess
would be that if you do get that kind of stuff, the majority of it
would be from the paler end of the spectrum, but... 
  

    
> for me, soul music singing is up there with jazz or classical
> singing. you dont just wake up one morning and do that. and 
> if you do you better get down on yer knees and thank god for
> it. But for most mortals it takes a whole lotta work to be 
> good at it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Beautifully phrased.

(The assumption that because one is black, one can sing automatically
soul is possibly one of the most annoying musical misconceptions on the
planet.)
  

    
>But this does bring up the question of whether you get shit about not
>being "black enough" or "betraying your roots" or whatever. 

this'll be a fun question. i've run out for a bit but i'll be back
soon.

and i'll address that jamaica thing as well.

and now that i've taped a song for BET no one can say i'm not "black
enuff" !!! but seriously, this BET relationship is an interesting
thing. more later.
  

    
>(The assumption that because one is black, one can sing automatically
>soul is possibly one of the most annoying musical misconceptions on
the
>planet.)

not to mention the "they're all good dancers" assumption. 
heres a life perspective changing moment:
i'm at a party thrown by nigerians in berlin. the party is
predominantly attended by africans from all over the map - from
ethiopia to SA - and its jumping.
I notice an ethiopian friend of mine laughing at some african guys
sitting in a corner nursing drinks. "What so funny?" i asked. "I been
teasing them to get on the dancefloor what with all these beautiful
women around, but they can't get their nerve up because they're all
such horrible dancers."  
  

    

I wouldn't automatically assume, Ed, that the majority of those 
assumptions come from the pale-skinned folk.  I know that my fiance [waves 
at <wren>!] has had to put up with plenty of shit from fellow black folks 
making all kinds of assumptions and judgments about her tastes and 
interests.
  

    <scribbled by scraps Thu 31 Oct 02 13:36>
  

    
the "is it/are you black enuff" static comes from both sides, black
and white, equally. my hobby for the last few years has been writing
about my personal experiences at the nexus where music and race have
met. this goes all the way back to my mom's raised eyebrows at my
"exotic" musical tastes. It continued in my predominantly black JH
school where your musical taste, if you were open about it, could get
you ridiculed at best and beaten up at worst. 

I know all of us here are familiar with the bizz of many white people
thinking that anything blacks do well must be because they are
"naturals." So anything outside the box may seem a bit disturbing to
those kinds of whites. Sometimes when we're playing gigs in front of
crowds that dont know us, i feel like alot of the time is spent with
folks just getting used to the fact that its me up there doing it. Paul
Simon, who i feel was distressingly out of his depth with his forays
in "world" music (in front of those amazing bands he puts together he
looks like some guy who wandered accidentally onto the stage while
looking for the restroom and was handed a guitar and decided to make
the best of it -- and the music SOUNDS like that to me as well) is
accepted and applauded for reaching
all the way over to africa and south america. Fey brits have been
trying to become Hoochie Koochie-men for ages now and nobody blinks. I
however am only reaching as far as the radio i grew up with and yet
thats been characterized as extreme.

but i cant get mad at journos for harping on that stuff cuz i guess
they need an angle and this country is still so twisted up about race
its an easy attention-getter. 

And lets face it, most americans, white or black, dont really know how
important, say, Hendrix was. And they dont even know that Arthur Lee
exists. I blame black people for that. Every fucking year Ebony should
have Hendrix on the cover. Black people should claim Hendrix. The big
secret about black folks in this country is that they are generally
DEEPLY conservative about things like clothing, grooming, language and
general taste. The most hardcore ghetto youth will call you on your
shit if your shoes arent matching your shirt. Within Black american
life exist extremely strict codes that would rival aristocratic
england. 
  

    
Jamaica: the Stew thing was invited to play this "Air Jamaica Jazz &
Blues Fest" in Montego Bay. Its in conjunction with BET and will be
filmed. Now before you freak, keep in mind that even before the
decidely unjazz/unblues moi got invited, this festival (and dozens like
it called "Jazz Fests") has presented acts that dont exactly fit into
what would be the average music person's definition of jazz/blues.
There will be reggae, r&b and who knows what else.

Now, besides the fact that I'm incredibly excited about being invited,
I think its really interesting that the folks at BET are dealing with
someone like me who is clearly not mainstream, black or white. And
while i dont expect you to be seeing videos of me and Chocolate Genius
in constant rotation anytime soon, I'm excited about entering that
world - even as a weird guest. I keep thinking about the Steely Dan
tune "Any World That I'm Welcome To." The indie pop world -- which at
various times folks working with us have tried to fit us into--, has
never been particularly welcoming. So we'll go wherever they'll have
us.

i think i mentioned earlier - but maybe i didnt - that i've recently
taped a song for "Lyric Lounge" (not to be confused with the NY thing
Lyricists Lounge) a BET show that usually deals in spoken word. I dont
know when it will be broadcast.
  

    
I just got an email: The Negro Problem opens for........Blondie?!?!

(11/16 at the Warfield in SF, and 11/18 at the Wiltern in LA.)
  

    
Let's go!
  

    
a late hey to Stew from a fan of a few years now, one of those middle aged
dads that you nailed in an interview recently.  wanted to ask about Peter
Jennings - not to get all heavy, but it's one of exactly three songs I
listened to a lot after 9-11.  (others were Watchtower by Hendrix, and Ten
Thousand Dancing People Sing with Submachine Guns by Jack Drag). The lyrics
are vaguely topical, and your harmonies so spooky, it just really spoke to
me on some kind of non-verbal level.  93 North also always struck me on that
way through suggestive, not quite hanging together lyrics.
  

    
>Ten Thousand Dancing People Sing with Submachine Guns by Jack Drag

tell me more about this. sounds interesting.

your comment takes me back to a strange afternoon shortly after 9/11
when this journalist called to interview me on the very subject of what
i was listening to at the time. the cat is a great writer but the
assignment seemed odd to me, if not a little pointless. he was asking
musicians specifically. i dont have anything particular to say about
this...your comment just triggered my memory.

Jennings is just one of those fever dream lyrics. Obviously its a song
about media or rather the media. Jennings both reports on and & sells
pornography then turns around and says meaningfully into the camera
"how sad." 

93 North is about a bus that goes thru all sortsa geographically
"desirable" & "undesirable" LA zip codes, from economically depressed
to "nice." it was kinda like a postcard from an Angeleno bus rider to
the typical LA motorist who never gets a close look at whats going on
on the street. When we sang "cellular phone in a cardboard home" people
used to laugh back in 97. Of course now theres nothing funny about it.
I see it all the time in downtown LA. 

And speaking of sadness, I'm feeling terrible about Jam Master Jay. I
have no idea what the circumstances surrounding his death are but
theres something so creepy and deeply depressing about how even 
millionaires cant escape the culture of violence that surrounds hip
hop. Theres is honestly no contemporary pop music i gravitate towards
more than rap. Thats where the best pop lyrics of today are being
crafted and even the music itself, sampling or no sampling, i find far
more compelling than anything else out there. I'll take even a second
rate rapper over all the Shanias, Celines, Creeds and Blink 182s.

i know this opinion isnt shared by many folks who like my stuff. And
i'm not trying to start a conversation about the merits of rap. I'm
just sitting here thinking about a guy getting killed in his own
recording studio and it makes me sick. 
  

    
 So what *is* the deal with this BET connection? Are they liberalizing
the scope of their offerings, or is it just that you have a
well-placed fan within the organization there? Did you do a spoken word
performance for this Lyric Lounge thing, or did you get some sort of
special dispensation to sing? 
  

    
What would Huey say?

(Boondocks, not Newton)
  

    
Just read your statement about Jam Master Jay after reading some posts in
tribute to him in the WELL's <news.> conference Obits topic.  I was struck
by the same sadness of the pervasion of violence in the hip hop world.
Not knowing who the shooter was, it is still distinctively less suicidal 
then a pattern of drug overdose deaths from the worlds of jazz and rock.  
  

    
And also, as has been noted, Jam Master Jay was just not a logical
candidate for this, having apparently never held with the thug stuff,
unlike others who lived and died by the sword.
  

    
Here's the man's story from Queens:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/01/nyregion/01HOLL.html

Walk this way!
  

    
regarding the BET thing i havent the slightest idea if its a subtle
switch or just an abberation or what. one imagines that having me on
would suggest "something" is up. but far be it from me to fathom the
subtle machinations of a big corporation. bottom line is that weird
shit always slips thru the cracks every once in awhile. and NDP sounds
just right sandwiched between Ja Rulz and Master P.

on lyric lounge i was the "special musical guest."
  

    
Jack Drag is the recording name of John Dragonetti - good melodic sense with
some interesting electronic effects and some affinity with noise - the
10,000 Dancing song was about a Bollywood movie(s), and the imagery captures
the complexity of foreign cultures like India that, in the wake of 9-11, i
feel way out of touch with - the more I learn, the more the answers recede.

re hip hop having the "best pop lyrics", who do you like in that vein?
  

    

I'd be interested to hear that too, Stew.

I had the incredible pleasure of meeting KRS-1 tonight. What an amazing mind
and energy.

Are you into his work?

I think the Blackalicious album "Blazing Arrow" would appeal to your
sensibility in a big way, if you haven't already encountered those cats.
Saul Williams' "Amethyst Rock Star" is another one to check out. Dr.
Octagon's "Dr. Octagonocologist"  might also pique your brainstem in a
warped way.

KRS-1 came into KPFK tonight to be on Fidel's show, in tribute to Jam Master
Jay. Terrible loss.
  

    

As I continue listening to WB, I'm getting a strong hit of Todd
Rundgren.  There's a similar playfulness with lyrics, oddball themes,
and arrangements, etc.  Were you ever into Rundgren, Stew?
  

    
For some very strange reason I've never been able to get really deep
into krs-1 even though i completely dig where hes coming from and
respect him big time. I used to listen to this weird bootleg mix tape
of him i picked up at a swap meet way back when - it was the stuff he
was doing with dj Scott LaRock at the beginning of his career. i was
really excited by all that he was about. But Public Enemy took me in a
way that KRS-1 never did. I really feel like for a moment there Chuck D
was as powerful as Dylan and a helluvalot more focused to boot. He was
saying concrete things and really speaking directly to the people.

Elvis was a hero to most/
But he never meant shit to me

God, that felt good when I first heard that! That was the last time in
my adult life when i felt like i really had something to talk about
with "the kids." for a minute there, young people really seemed on the
verge of something. But then the "Malcolm Look" just became another
campus fad.

I was also really into the Jungle Brothers. "I'll House You"
was mindblowing.

and how could I forget DeLaSoul? Dont even get me started - i could
write a book about everything they meant to me.  They really touched me
in a major way. It was the marriage of everything, really, urban,
urbane, psychedelic, unmacho, insanely eclectic, they were thinking
outside the black box...for godsakes they sampled THE TURTLES! their
music was brave and visionary and it represented a side of the black
experience that NEVER got dealt with. You gotta love any rap group with
a member whose stage name is "Yogurt" spelled backwards.
I felt like they were telling my story and the story of lotsa black
musical outcasts that i grew up with. 

Current rap that I like i think was the inital question. Well, truth
is i get most of my info from BET and the radio. Lotsa stuff i dig is
just stuff thats on the current playlists and i dont even bother
writing it down cuz i know i'll hear it tomorrow if not an hour later.
Alot of the stuff I like is pretty raunchy. The whole "conscious rap"
thing is cool i guess but i havent heard much. Some i have heard seems
to spend too much time explaining how its so much cooler than
UNconscious rap without delivering anything more. It ends up being
reactionary. What I like about stuff like Master P's "Oooohweee" is
that it has that funny/raunchy edge that reminds me of a good blue
humored black comdedian at a ghetto nite-club . I often watch BET with
the sound down awaiting one of my jams. I love Outkast ALOT (like
everyone) but i confess some of my favorite numbers on BET do sometimes
involve lots of cars being washed, gold chains and lots of women in
various states of undress. But its all about the music, dude. And while
I like alot of so-called gangter rap i dont think its appropriate for
kids. I used to only hear Redd Foxx in stolen moments when my parents
were away. Now any 8 year old can hear Geto Boys. But that aint Geto
Boys fault - its ours.
And speaking of them, Geto Boys "My Minds Playing Tricks On Me" is
easily one of my fave songs of all time. And respect must be paid to
Ice Cube. His best work is devastating. Missy Eliot - early stuff I
prefer. Early Timberland productions as well - his work with Magoo is
amazing. Busta Rhymes, pre endorsement phase, was crucial. The MUSIC
alone behind his "I got you all in check" tune is sick. Unbelievable
that it got on the radio. If Varese were a young man today he'd be
rolling with Wu-Tang.
  

    
Beyond Rundgren's hits I wasnt at all familiar with his work. Recently
someone bought me 6 of his records they found at a swapmeet (vinyl)
and i got all excited. But i've yet to find THE record that I can spend
alot  of time with. I seem to always really love 2 songs on every
record but thats not enough to keep me going. The one with "We gotta
get you a woman" and that one that goes "If you didnt believe in me" i
think i like the best. But i do respect him a great deal. 

And as a producer, while I've never in my life taken a clinical
approach to any music i've loved (i dont know all the beatles songs by
heart, for instance, a shocking fact for all my pop geek comrades) one
could probably learn a great deal from analyzing Rundgren's production
tricks when he produces other artists.
  

    

Indeed.  His "Can We Still Be Friends", by the way, is the tune that
comes to mind listening to WB.  There isn't anything that *sounds* like
CWSBF, but after listening to WB for awhile in the car, I find myself
humming it.

Another thing I noticed recently; the opening horn obligato is very
similar to the horn solo preceding the bridge to BLT.  Sweet! 
Something that might not even be noticed except for Repeat Play Mode
(in the car).