http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Fri, 9 Jun 2006 08:10:51 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/06/09/081051.php KorantengAn open letter to those who run the Blogcritics communityFirst a question: what is wrong with these headlines?Satire: Partition - A New Solution For IraqSatire: Attack of the Killer ImmigrantsSatire: How to Write GoodSatire: No Mexicans, Get Congress On The Job!Satire: Take Cover, There's a Kennedy at the Wheel!In your mad rush to "professionalize" the Blogcritics community and "drive traffic" to the site, you are losing the plot. I have been fairly inactive in the community, but I have a few comments on the editorial changes that have been made in our joint.First, what's the deal with not allowing links in the body of the text? The link is the only currency of the web. If someone goes to the effort to punctuate a point, to explain with hypertext instead of footnotes, that should be celebrated. Instead it's a matter of style. Well, we have our style. It's the web style. You don't need a print style to become "an official Google News and My Yahoo! source," those folks are coming to you. Fetishizing search engine reach and arbitrage for attention in the current manner gives cause for concern. That style is not the native web style. You should know better.Which leads me to my second point, what's the deal with the titles? Why that big Satire prefix? Even The New York Times, and that lady is all about style guides, wouldn't label Calvin Trillin's wit and wisdom as "Satire." That goes under Opinion or Op-Art or something.And good titles are important to be sure. It's always worth spending a few minutes getting a good title, but then you spoil it all with that nasty prefix. It then becomes a case of This Boring Headline Is Written for Google or shall we say Snooze HeadlinesThe days of the catchy newspaper headlines full of wit and style and the occasional double entendre are fading to blah as a growing number of news outlets are bowing to the 'bots. Search-engine 'bots, that is, designed to scour online newspapers, magazines, and TV news headlines worldwide to rank and list news items for the likes of Google and Yahoo.News organizations have been rewriting or distilling the traditional eye-catching headlines with more subdued, logical ones for software to catch. One California newspaper recently renamed some of its sections to make them easier for 'bots to find: "Real Estate" became "Homes"; "Scene" became "Lifestyles"; and the dining out section became a bland "Taste/Food." Ironically, search engines often rework their algorithms to avoid self-serving manipulation by news outlets.I have been on a tear in recent months with lots of material that could well have been featured on Blogcritics. After I'd written each piece, I'd first worry that the title I'd chosen would be changed. If I got over that threshold, I would then compose the draft and prepare to hit submit. Out of habit, I'd check the Blogcritics front page and without fail would see another one of those "Satire:" posts on the site and lose heart. To the extent that I've "lost traffic" in the interim that is a shame. But my writing is about changing the perspective and I can't buy into the primacy of traffic and the disembodiment of my writing. Thus I've been conducting a quiet boycott for the past few months.I suppose if Jonathan Swift had submitted "A Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland from being a burden to their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public", you would have jumped in to make it more palatable. I can just see the title after after it passes through the Blogcritics satirical filterSatire: Irish Babies have nutitional value and should be eaten.Why have titles like these?Satire: How to Become an Onion Ring ConnoisseurSatire: A Deep Man Running for PresidentSatire: Q & A With the BookologistI haven't read the above articles, but really, why mess with the onion rings or the bookologist? In your current policy you seem to be conforming to the worst stereotypes of Americans as overly earnest people and the notion that it takes "Old World" decadence to appreciate irony and satire. That hogwash about Puritans, Salem, and such. At the very least fix the labeling of satire; categories are there for that, don't telegraph your intentions. Part of the shock of the best satire, the savage satire that I love, is that there is a sting of recognition and discomfort. We don't need to be protected from such things.I dug the notion of the Blogcritics tagline, that "sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, technology, and politics." That sounds very much like that well-known English word, toli. More broadly, I make a living worrying about community software, hence I can see the classic warning signs of community drift, and not just because I am currently drifting afloat in the brackish Blogcritics tide.The Blogcritics commons is important; it's a community full of people bursting with ideas and wielding their keyboards irreverently. We are the unwashed masses that the energy of the web has unleashed. I love engaging with editors but it strikes me that in trying to tame that horseless carriage, you might neuter it into bland conformity. Consider me part of the dark matter of said community, I'm surfacing for a brief moment to simply say "pay attention to the commons and don't lose your soul." You may claim it's editorial necessity, at the risk of being perceived as deliberately provocative, I'll say it's just the commercial imperative, it appears that it's all about gaming search engines for attention as evidenced in the breathless tones I read in the Blogcritics mailing list, "the traffic! the traffic!" echoes of that crazy baldhead known as Kurtz. Like that sign I saw on the subway in Boston read:Buy something, you stupid consumer.Needless to say I dissent.The founding mythology of the Ewes, the Ghanaian tribe, my mother's people, is that they were chafing under the reign of an overbearing chief who was restricting them in countless little ways. They aired their complaints in the normal manner in town meetings but were roundly ignored over the years. They made their preparations over months, gathered up their children and belongings, and one night they snuck out through a hole they had secretly dug in the thick walls of the town (a precursor to those walled garden things). They walked backwards so that their tracks in the dust would confuse those who were sure to follow in hot pursuit come morning. It was a long journey until they found their promised land but it was worth it. That is why they don't have chiefs any longer, of if they do tolerate one, why everyone sit on stools at the same level in village meetings.I am not so sure that clans as a means for social organization is effective -- witness the degenerate case of Somalia -- but it seems to work for the Ewes. Still, they sometimes look longingly at the Akans, my paternal people, with a lump in their throat at their riches and prestige -- you may have heard of the Ashantis. Things also work in the reverse direction: some of the other tribes look at their entrepeneurial spirit and fearlessness with a touch of wistfulness at the vibrancy that has been lost. And to pursue the analogy further, better financed and more "efficient" or organized sites may garner more traffic but they have far less soul and character. I wonder if you realize the depth of fortitude in your community and how important it is to husband its evolution. From another context, this was my take:It is in small insignificant items that the tribal instinct is articulated.Pagerank is not the reason we contribute to Blogcritics, despite what you seem to think. Being an "official Google News source" is beside the point. Our irreverent and informed voices are the point. In any case I've ranted enough, some editor will wordsmith this piece I suppose and make it fit the "official" style guide. I hope I picked a reasonable title, husbanding the commons sounds about right to me, but feel free to prepend some byline that fits the prevailing style (Rant, Nitpick, Satire, or something) or maybe this:Satire: Tempest In Teapot About Title Terminology and Traffic Tendenciesor perhaps:Satire: Boston Blowhard Boldy Blows Bile on Bubbly Blogcritics BehemothWith some tongue in cheek, you can consider this note as my raised hand at the village meeting in the blog commons; I've been making my own preparations. I do like the sinister cabal idea and wouldn't want to start walking backwards. Just recently I asked myself"Must everything be utilitarian? Is a country without whimsy worth worrying about?".Suffice to say that I'm wondering about Blogcritics in the same vein and those carnival things are looking more attractive. I miss the whimsy in our commons. So please, less of the breathless posturing, leaderboards and such. Chill a little on the traffic obsession, and above all don't mess with the satire. Culture48984@blogcritics.org Fri, 9 Jun 2006 08:10:51 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/02/27/200512.php KorantengI was recently re-reading Food Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa by Fran Osseo-Asare - a book I've been meaning to review since it came out last year. Briefly, it's nothing less than a comprehensive overview of the culture and history of food in Africa. It covers the continent, dipping into all the regional flavours. There's lots of historical insight about the types of ingredients used, the crops, animals fisheries etc. It's one of those books you can open at any page and find lots of to chew on (pun intended, tongue in cheek etc). Most culinary books concentrate on recipes but this goes beyond that into the culture and social significance of food (from who prepares it, traditions surrounding it, special meals etc). Anyway I'll return to it at length shortly, shall we say that it deserves a fuller digestion. I'm rather concerned in this note with rare groove.As normally occurs when matters literary and gastronomical coincide, my salivary glands began to do their thing after barely 5 minutes of reading. Much like that recent article on street food in Ghana, my immediate reaction was to think of smells, sounds and kitchens. Oh the smells! As my mouth started watering, my mind started wandering and I was thinking about Auntie Becky's roadside kelewele (fried ripe plantains) in North Labone which is the first place I head to when I land in Accra. Auntie Becky has been cooking outside a house for thirty odd years and has a devoted and international following. Indeed she married the owner of the house which is one way of romancing I suppose - Like Water For Chocolate as they say. The marriage got her the hookup to household gas replacing the previous charcoal fires. In any case, my lunch companions were twenty minutes away thus to distract the incipient hunger pangs, I dipped into my musical library and compiled the following musical menu of comfort food and rare groove. Hope you enjoy it. A Hungry PlaylistChef's SpecialsCommon - The FoodHerbie Hancock - "Cooking Session"Stephanie Mills - "Ain't No Cookin'"Amadou & Mariam - "Sénégal Fast Food"Omar - "Confection (ft Mica Paris)" (see also Tasty Morsel for bite-sized portions)Horace Silver - "Cookin' At The Continental"Charles Wright - "Cooking Session"Goodie Mob - "Soul Food"Miles Davis - "Steamin'" (Note: album sized, you may substitute Miles Davis - Cookin' if you prefer)SnacksCharlie Parker - "Salt Peanuts"James Brown - "Mother Popcorn" Main CourseCharles Mingus - "Eat That Chicken"Anthony Hamilton - "Cornbread, Fish & Collard Greens"Kruder & Dorfmeister - "Lamb, Trans Fatty Acid"Booker T & The MG's - "My Sweet Potato"Jimmy Smith - "Pork Chop"Musical Youth - "Pass The Dutchie"Cannonball Adderley - "Afro-Spanish Omlet"Freddie Hubbard - "Cold Turkey"Kenny Burrell - "Chitlins Con Carne"Lee Morgan - "Cornbread"Roy Hargrove - "Greens At The Chicken Shack"James Brown - "The Chicken" Soul Runners - "Grits 'N' Corn Bread"Miles Davis - "Fishermen, Strawberry and Devil Crab"King Curtis - "Memphis Soul Stew"Ohio Players - "Jive Turkey"Jimmy Smith - "Back At The Chicken Shack"Prince - "Starfish and Coffee"Main Source - "Live at the Barbeque"MC Serch ft Chubb Rock, Nas - "Back To The Grill"Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - "Crab Man"Rufus Thomas - "Funky Hot Grits"The Meters - "Chicken Strut"DessertSade - "Cherry Pie"Dexter Gordon - "Cheese Cake"Herbie Hancock - "Watermelon Man"Mtume - "Juicy Fruit"Duke Ellington - "Arabesque Cookie" (from the Nutcracker Suite no less)Charlie Parker - "Scrapple From the Apple"Charles Mingus - "Song With Orange"Dave Bruebeck - "Tangerine"Hugh Masekela - "Strawberries"The Time - "Ice Cream Castles"Billie Holiday - "Strange Fruit" (also available Cassandra Wilson or Nina Simone style)Wendy & Lisa - "Fruit At the Bottom"Erykah Badu - "Appletree"The Brothers Johnson - "Strawberry Letter 23"Prince - "Raspberry Beret"Secret IngredientsLoose Ends - "A Little Spice"Lizz Wright - "Salt"Booker T & The MG's - "Green Onions"The Time - "Chili Sauce"Lou Donalson - "Nice 'N' Greasy"Marlena Shaw - "Spice of Life"D'Angelo - "Chicken Grease"Count Basie - "Honeysuckle Rose"Booker T & The MG's - "Soul Dressing"SweetsD'Angelo - "Brown Sugar"Cassandra Wilson - "Tupelo Honey"Kool & The Gang - "Chocolate Butter Milk"Cameo - "Candy"Nina Simone - "I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl"Jill Scott - "Honey Molasses"Johnny Hammond - "Los Conquistadores Chocolates"Bob Marley - "Guava Jelly"Lo-Key - "Sweet On You"A Tribe Called Quest - "Butter"Parliament - "Chocolate City"Beres Hammond - "Sugar You Want"Ohio Players - "Sweet Sticky Thing"BeveragesFela Kuti - "Water No Get Enemy"Jimmy Mcgriff - "Blue Juice"E.T. Mensah & The Tempos - "Tea Samba"The Roots - "Water"Thelonious Monk - "Tea For Two"Kelis - "Suga Honey Iced Tea"Duke Ellington - "Chocolate Shake"The Manhattan Project - "Old Wine, New Bottles"Duke Ellington - "Sugar Rum Cherry"UB40 - "Red Red Wine"Tha Alkaholiks - "Only When I'm Drunk"Tony Rich Project - "Red Wine"Snoop Doggy Dogg - "Gin and Juice"Busta Rhymes - "Pass The Courvoisier"Bennie Maupin - "Water Torture"Lester Young And Oscar Peterson - "Tea For Two"SupplementsBaby Cham - "Vitamin S" (Fiesta Riddim)Booker T & The MG's - "'Mo Onions"A Few NotesDo not listen to this playlist on an empty stomach or you may have a case of jazz-funk Water Torture ala Bennie Maupin.On matters of etiquette, feel free to use your hands when partaking of toli comfort food, remember though that it is best to use only one hand unless it's chicken or ribs of course. The only other advice you'll need is Musical Youth's, namely "Pass The Dutchie 'Pon The Left Hand Side".Surpisingly there isn't much else on food culture and, no, Charles Mingus' "The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife" doesn't count. Neither does Scratch's hilarious "3 Barstools Away", might I add.From the evidence of this playlist, it is clear that the chicken came before the egg. The earthy music I tend to listen to tends to celebrate our hens more than their eggs, other than one Afro-Spanish omelette, the chickens rule the roost. (I discarded Disjam's Softboiled for being imprecise. The Time's "The Bird", The Roots "Duck Down", and Bob Marley's, "Three Little Birds" were disqualified for the same imprecision).Prince's "Starfish and Coffee" comes with "Maple Syrup And Jam, A Butterscotch Cloud, A Tangerine, A Side Order Of Ham", he is a special one. His Sticky Wicked collaboration with Chaka Khan and Miles Davis is only available on the adult menu as is R Kelly's Chocolate Factory, positive id is required. Oscar Peterson's "The Honeydripper" is discounted for reasons of messiness.Of course I've noted before that eating people is wrong thus with a track like Miles Davis's Fishermen, "Strawberry and Devil Crab", you don't get the fishermen. Sorry, but I believe in truth in advertising. I omitted The Coup's "Fat Cats, Bigger Fish" out of similar cultural sensitivity. Surprisingly for a playlist heavy on soul food, there aren't too many stews, gumbo or fish on the menu and unfortunately we're out of soup in the toli kitchen; as Troop would have it "I'm Not Soupped". You might also ask, where's the beef, goat or black sheep, for that matter? The answer is that my musical collection isn't that extensive.The artist historically most concerned with food is strangely unrepresented in this playlist; Jill Scott punctuates almost every song with lyrics about grits, collard greens and the like yet it's only "Honey Molasses" that I'm highlighting. However her "Family Reunion" song about barbecues deserves an honorary mention as does "Joy and Pain" by Maze featuring Frankie Beverley's which comes with most backyard grills. Memphis's finest band Booker T and the MG.s contribute the most tracks to the menu and no wonder, they live in a melting pot. Yesterday, after lunch of course, I listened to this almost 6 hour multi-course meal and it all fits together remarkably well, a balanced diet of soul, jazz and funk (metaphor overload: "a cornucopia of extra-sensory nuggets"). It put me in an anticipatory mood for dinner which I wolfed down voraciously - gusto was written all over my face. There's a lot of humour in all the music since food culture is mostly celebatory - the funniest track being Mingus' "Eat that Chicken" - what a chorus. I've been told that my musical obsession is far out, or as Eric Dolphy would have put it, "I'm Out to Lunch" but bear with me and, above all, enjoy your meal. As always menu suggestions are welcome.See also: "We Eat First With Our Eyes" her take on Ghanaian Cuisine. In my case, I eat first with my ears.You can eat more whimsical musical gumbo at Koranteng's Toli. Music44221@blogcritics.org Mon, 27 Feb 2006 20:05:12 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/11/16/072327.php KorantengMr Minister Playboy / You Better Seek To Cut All The Prices Down / (chorus x 2) / Prices Soaring Higher And Higher / I Guess That They Are Going To Reach The Moon / That's What I Call The Inflation Calypso E.T. Mensah & The Tempos - Inflation CalypsoI'm sure you don't need me to tell you that the US economy isn't in good shape, what with fiscal looting, cronyism, and the evident impact of high energy prices. E.T. Mensah, singing in the colonial Gold Coast 50 years ago, simply stated his observation in two sentences and let the lilting (and mournful) music speak for itself. A few years later, independence came and the Governor-General returned to England... A calypso is not quite the blues, and the current moment is not quite a recession, still I figured I'd add some verses to his song, a few observations from my lowly vantage point.Homeowners in northeast US have been told to expect spectacular increases in heating costs this winter - a doubling or tripling in some cases. Even those rustic types who use firewood instead of oil or natural gas have found that their costs have increased 60 to 70 percent. (After all, you need diesel to transport several tonnes of wood blocks). As someone who rents and who lives in an apartment complex, I've typically been shielded from these costs. I learnt a dear lesson a while back and always check that heat and hot water are included in the rent. You can hardly escape it though, when conversations with everyone around you degenerate into the shrinking pocketbook song.There's inflation in these here lands...I don't own a car, being a public transport afficionado, but even I am not immune to the chorus of petroleum despair. During my honeymoon roadtrip, I rented an SUV which turned out to not to be a particularly fuel-efficient specimen even for the genre. This was a replacement for the sedan I had reserved which on inspection was suffused with the overpowering odour of green chilis. The previous driver must have been transporting vegetables or something; the green chili is the symbol of New Mexico but that was taking it too far. But back to the subject, each time I had to fill the car up (and this was a shockingly frequent occurrence), I was appropriately shocked and awed at the dent that this was putting on my finances. Of course it's nothing like filling up in Europe but I was feeling the literal impact of Dubya's Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina in my wallet.I'll skip over the heart attack that is the annual almost-doubling of health insurance costs. Health care in the US is what it is and all corporations are shifting the burden of insane costs to employees - if indeed they do provide health insurance. But one wonders how sustainable this is. This is the time of year when the next year's benefits package is rolled out in corporate America and it comes with a certain dread as befits the seasonal gremlins of Halloween. When people with dependants anecdotally speak of 450% increases over three years, that starts to resonate.Still the most painful indicator of inflation was the discovery that the washer and dryer in the communal laundry room in the basement of my building now require 2 extra quarters. The price of dealing with one load of laundry has gone from $2.50 to $3. A 20% increase in price at a point when wages are essentially stagnant.Now don't get me wrong, I make a decent living and don't have children, so my belt-tightening should be relatively shallow. But the fact remains thatIf You Run Out Of Quarters, You Don't Get To Tumble-Dry. With Wet Laundry On The Line, You Can Sing The Inflation Calypso. Then they tell me that the price of stamps will increase next year... Blues or calypso? Bring on the chorus:Prices Soaring Higher And Higher I Guess That They Are Going To Reach The Moon An inflationary soundtrackE.T. Mensah & The Tempos - "Inflation Calypso" The early highlife bands such as E.T. Mensah's Tempos and King Bruce's Black Beats were all about celebrating the good times; the genre is called "high" life after all. But the griot tradition is deeply embedded in West African culture so you couldn't avoid some social commentary and canny dissent. The song is 2 and a 1/2 minutes of mournful saxophone and shifting drums. The lyrics are an economy of wit and the chorus is repeated almost tongue in cheek. Highlife music is said to come from the fusion of Caribbean and African rhythms with a jazz sensibility, thus it was always global in outlook. This is why you'll find many songs designated as calypsos. E.T. Mensah was keenly aware that if the good times ended, there would be little demand for his musical stylings hence here, he sounded the alarm.Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges - "Going Up" From the Side by Side album, this is perhaps a little too festive given the topic. A small combo band swinging and 4 propulsive solos provide a musical feast. The flute that floats around the other instruments almost induces the Duke to effusiveness.Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - "Wake Up Everybody" The Philly Soul of the 70s was always socially conscious, if it wasn't Nixon or Vietnam it was that beast we called inflation. This is a wake-up call for everyone sung with righteous indignation by one of the best voices in the cannon.I would add Gwen Guthrie's "Ain't Nothing Going On But the Rent" but that I'll save that for a recessionary soundtrack.You can sing the inflation calypso and other tunes at Koranteng's Toli. ed/pub:NB Culture39590@blogcritics.org Wed, 16 Nov 2005 07:23:27 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/20/090454.php KorantengThe Roots and Floetry. Live at The Roxy, Boston. Wednesday May 18 2005* Intro * The Scene * The Vibe Y'All * Outro * Intro I Shall... Proceed... And Continue... To Rock The Mic Everybody Is A Star "Go All Stars, Get Down For Y'all" The 'Notic, The Hypnotic = Floetry, Floacism All You Gotta Do Is Say Yes Illadelph Halflife Meets Ill London Flow Bring Some Money To Spend And Somebody To Lend And Some Worthwhile Money Not Some 20s And 10s Adrenaline Boom! They're Coming To Break You Off Duck Down Don't Say Nuthin' All Roads Lead To Apache With Thought At Work, It's The Next Movement I Don't Care As Long As The Bass Line's Thumping And The Drum Line's Banging Away Kool Herc Ain't Never Seen A Royalty Check Hip Hop You're The Love Of My Life The Legendary Roots Crew Stay Cool In The Melting Pot We Are The Ultimate (Rock-Rocking It) That's What's Happening In The Parking Lot. That's What's Happening On Stage. Din Da Da (Dun Do Do) Do You Want More? Somebody's Gotta Do It When The Guns Are Drawn The Roots Come Alive The Tipping Point Is Here And That's The Bottom Line Give The Drummer Some Keep the Beat Going Bring The Beat Back. Bring The Beat Back. The Scene You might sense a little exuberance, a little elation, a little plain joy in these parts and you'd be right. Wednesday night with The Roots and Floetry was even more reason to sport that wide smile that I've been bearing of late. It was a cheer that started in the long lines that stretched out for 2 blocks outside The Roxy. In downtown Boston, the Theatre District is very close to what is lovingly called the Combat Zone. Indeed during my first visit to Chinatown in 1991, there were gunshots and people scrambling as we walked out of the Boylston T Stop (200 metres from The Roxy) to try to get some Dim Sum. Most Harvard students tend to stay in Cambridge which has pretty much everyting they need thus each excursion to Boston and its environs is an event. With guns drawn, that outing certainly fitted the bill;it was a great Sunday brunch by the way, baptism by fire as it were. Now of course the city has cleaned things up since then. There was a concerted effort in this liberal bastion to husband the commons in a kinder, gentler mode than Rudy MussoGiuliani in New York. In the black community at least, the churches got everyone together and knocked heads around. There was one incident that was the last straw the community could bear in 1992 when teenage gang members came guns drawn chasing people into Morning Star Baptist Church and stabbed a kid during a funeral service for a teenager who himself had been killed in a drive-by shooting days earlier. Pastors and Samaritans everwhere started hitting the streets and patiently mentoring youths and forming a Ten Point Coalition that hasn't let ever since. With the Big Dig Irish/Italian/Federal/Mafia money to spread around for the past 15 years, a little dotcom boom and bust, the current biotech splurging, and a set of savvy universities around Boston with their 300,000 students in mind, it appeared that lots of things could go well for the community and economy. The notion was that it would pay for government and even Big Government to actually to manage the cultural and economic zeitgest so that social ties were woven together and one wouldn't end up like the anomic New Haven, to take an example of what social neglect can do. So now there are fewer porno emporiums or theaters in the Combat Zone. Whoever had the inspired idea of placing the Registry of Motor Vehicles next to that sordid theatre knew very well the power of shame in human affairs. Thus there has been considerable gentrification throughout the city of Boston and Developers With Vision™ have tried to clean things up. There are lots of gleaming and spiffy new buildings around, including the fancy Loews Theater at Boston Common outside of which the Star Wars tribe had camped out to buy tickets at the stroke of midnight for this Friday's Sith-like Revenge on office productivity everywhere.However the move up-market was done in typical liberal fashion, with much hand-wringing about gaining community consent and buy-in from those affected. This is why there is the occasional attraction for strong men and fascism, they make the trains run on time. Ghana, like Chile before us, could only be a poster child of the IMF and World Bank in the late 80s because it was ruled by vicious rogues who could run roughshod over the wishes of their populace. Things are not so easy when you have a case of the episodic ballot box. Thus Franklin D. Roosevelt's "He's our sonofabitch" theory of the Realpolitik of "vital interests" and the recurring marriages of convenience with noxious strongmen and Strange Bedfellows are played out in such a grisly fashion in Uzbekistan and other countries even today.With no dictator in place to press the issue, there is still a significant minority of people around Boston and Cambridge who haven't heard the word about the clean up program. Thus as you head for the opera or some fancy show, dressed in your finest tuxedo or shimmering dresses (Swan Lake was playing at the Boston Ballet which I must see at some point), you'll pass the 7-Eleven at the corner of Tremont and Kneeland and see a few (shockingly young) hookers and their rough but effete pimps, most just a few years older, casting a wary eye and assessing the likelihood of your disbursing cash money for The Game all the while speaking a patois full of puns, coinages and ghetto witticisms. Some of us were harried after long days at work or the minutiae of dissertation completion and were dressed down hence we glossed over these gritty urban fixtures. Our thoughts were all about the Sound of Philly and perhaps Brixton or Deptford.Others however had seen a late addition on the Ticketmaster web site about a purported dress code, "No Jeans, No SNEAKERS, or Atheletic Wear", which I suspect caused much gnashing of teeth and wardrobe deliberation. The notion that a low rent joint like The Roxy was ever going to enforce a dress code on an $18 ticket to a hip-hop show was hilarious to me but I suppose others took this seriously because I saw a fair number of people dressed up as if this were one of the summer concerts along the waterfront, or the adjacent Boston Ballet for that matter, instead of a hip-hop soul lovefest. People wearing uncomfortable shows plus a late start, 10:30pm on a Wednesday night, might cast a shadow on some of the enjoyment.One thing to note is that this one-off concert was sponsored by a cigarette company and there was a certain dissonance in seeing Surgeon General's warnings on the video screens above the stage right after a stream of "Kool" images (tagline: Be True and A New Jazz Philosophy) floated past repeatedly. Just in the past year, Angie Stone was sipping on Remy Red and Jill Scott's tour was sponsored by Alizé. I suppose the floodgates opened when KRS-One did the Sprite tv commercial to the sound of The Revolution Will Not be Televised. Gil Scott Heron must not own his masters. Ironies abound when companies in the guilty pleasure industries pick up all the "progressive" artists; one wonders a little about artistic integrity but maybe it's a matter of holding your nose and paying the bills (dollar, dollar bill y'all). Who else is going to sponser the next movement?Left-of-center artists like The Roots have a very diverse audience, they are musicians' musicians, and hip-hop's favourite jam band thus the crowd was a kind of Rainbow Coalition of neo-soul and hip-hop afficionados, the kind of people portrayed in candy like Brown Sugar. The addition of Floetry brought out a few more older african-american women to the table, intellectual poetry with harmonies, wit and the kind of groove that gave Michael Jackson Butterflies. Everyone looked good and expectant and harrased college students could escape their fears about the courses they had neglected all semester before buckling down for finals. This was the place to be if you weren't a George Lucas addict. The Vibe Y'all If you walked in to a joint to the booming sounds of A Tribe Called Quest's Electric Relaxation, you would know that everything was going to be all right. Like Earth Wind and Fire singing Keep Your Head to the Sky and Devotion live, it felt like a revival meeting so "Clap your hands this evening. Say it's all right. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah."With that dude from Living Colour guesting on guitar (I turns out that it was Vernon Reid and not "The Other Guy"), this was a performance that sometimes verged on the rock side of things. Well as rocked out as a hip-hop sensibility allows and with the good Captain Kirk Douglas also doing a mean Hendrix or more accurately a Kravitz impression, the rock and soul meshed well in the flow of things. The band always pay hommage to the greats with snippets of the obscure breaks thrown in every now and then and this time it was Ray Charles' What I'd Say that did the trick.Coincidentally this past weekend I had been in New York and passed by my favourite crate digging place Rock and Soul on 35th and 7th and, if I hadn't had a train to catch, would have spent a good couple of hundred bucks on essential breakbreats.In any case the musical territory covered was hip-hop, rock, soul (with a very soulful new backing singer who's just joined them and not mere eye candy too, she can sign), lilting reggae to straighten things out. Black Thought is completely in control of things these days and now that he no longer hoards up his charisma or turns his back from the audience, the love is plainly reciprocated. The way he started with the pyrotecnics of Web, that one verse drum-and-bass, old school raw adrenaline was astounding and there was no let up. The humour and verbal dexterity (the breath control) is about about as good as it gets, I'm reminded of Big Daddy Kane or Kool Moe Dee going to work on things but with a millenial flow. Kamal at times introduced jazz and classical keyboard breaks, he's still hip-hop's Ahmad Jamal and towards the end gifted us with an amazing church keyboard solo that hit the spot. Hub's styles himself as a cross between Michael Henderson who made Miles Davis simply Live/Evil when he pushed him to slickaphonics and foot-foolery in the early 70s and Miko Weaver who, along with Eric Leeds, pushed His Royal Badness into the zone.And the drummers you ask? Frankie Knuckles on percussion, in empathy with ?uestlove's mission, adding great effects especially when they tilted towards reggae, soul and funk. ?uestlove on the drums is simply scary and deserves his own paragraph. The frenetic and phonetic Brother Questlove is a perfectionist on his instrument, I now put him ahead of Kariem Riggins who got the nod last year because of his regular jazz moonlighting. Having listened to the Grover Washington-influenced Philadelphia Experiment, and heard the swinging I Am Music from Common's Electric Circus of which he was the executive producer, I knew he could do jazz and now with the kind of live performance that leaves you awestruck, there was simply too much talent to consider.There was a point when it felt like that moment in the Sign O' The Times concert during It's Gonna be a Beautiful Night, right after the band has worked out on the Detroit Crawl when Prince says "Night Train" and the band switches on the dime and Duke Ellington's chorus blares from the horn section fitting perfectly and dazzling the audience. Or when James Brown was In a Jungle Groove for those magical 4 years starting in 1969, or even the point in Curtis Live during (Don't Worry) If There's Hell Below We're All Gonna Go when Brother Curtis singsCat Calling, Love Balling Fussing And Cussing Top Billing Now Is Killing For Peace No One Is Willing Kind Of Make You Get That Feeling Everybody Smoke Use The Pill And The Dope Educated Fools From-Uneducated Schools Pimping People Is The Rule Polluted Water In The Pool And Nixon Talking About Don't Worry He Says Don't Worry But They Don't Know There Can Be No Show And If There's A Hell Below We're All Gonna Go Need I go on? At such moments, the music, audience and performers are in complete consonance. This is what I call virtuosity. This is life in a rarefied zone.In last year's Toli Music Awards, I wroteThey've certainly hit a groove. It's like Prince circa 1986-7 when the Miles Davis horns came into his arrangements on the Parade. They've done the kiss-off album (Phrenology as Around the World in a Day) to throw off fairweather fans. They are now going for the vituousic and this works perfectly. Could a Sign O' The Times be in the offing next? That was before hearing them on Giles Peterson and certainly before seeing them take it to the stage in the tradition of Funkadelic. I got my answer I believe.Suffice to say that the kind of music I heard live last night has blown the band way past The Tipping Point they proclaimed was their due. The Roots are so confident in what they are doing these days that they make it appear effortless. The elated audience felt it too. Floetry who are so versatile were similarly inspired in their performance. They weren't blown off stage as almost anyone else who had to follow The Roots would be, but did their own thing and got a lot of love and plain respect. Their vibe is one of great invention, harmonizing, operatic and sensual with some London Yardie and garage inklings. It's a White Teeth meets a Brick Lane Sense and Sensibility. The thing about such musical intelligence is that at times it can be too dense and overwhelming but both bands kept the Boom Bap factor in mind so they "Rock(Ed) It To The Bang Bang Boogie Say Up Jumped The Boogie To The Rhythm Of The Boogie, The Beat"The Roots closed out with a their usual 45 minute Hip Hop 101 tribute medley to those who have gone before them. They always choose different heroes to focus on and this time even went into more commercial club-banging territory (snippets of Biggie even turned up) intermixed with the exhilarating instrumental rare groove of Booker T and the MG's Melting Point that I pointed out earlier as the Jazz Funk in a Blanket of Soul. Outro Since the DJ who warmed the club up was utter early nineties nostalgia I'll close with this lyrical zinger from that same era, a golden era in retrospect, Chubb Rock's Yabadabadoo:From The Rustler Lyrical Hustler The Fat Lady Sang I Crushed Her. Word Up The Chubbster As we walked out at 2am to brave those denizens of the night who were still plying their trade in the combat zone, there was a little wistfulness about whether the car would still be there. It was hence highly appropriate that we were handed a couple of fliers for next weekend's Pimps and Hoes party.Iceberg Slim's hoedown aesthetic is now a commonplace with Don "Magic" Juan, 50 Cent and Snoop literally pimping the cultural (and financial) zeitgeist. Thankfully people like the more reflective Ice-T have stepped off that program (and never would I have dreamt of writing a sentence containing the words reflective and Ice-T but that is a sign of the times). Perhaps one should see this as just a bit of fun, the ascendancy of a culture of irrepresible irreverence and reinvention, a kind of poking your thumb in the eye of those in the august New York Times types who now write editorials about how hip-hop lost its way. What these grey ladies don't understand is that that hip-hop is vibrant enough that Ludacris and De La Soul can coexist and even feed off each other without dissonance. Even if I were that way inclined, I'm off to London next weekend and anyway what would Malcolm and Martin think? The commercial road is certainly a heavily travelled path for instant gratification. The Roots and Floetry aesthetic simply shrugs of such concerns and tries to win you over with musical dexterity, one performance at a time, and it pays off I think. As the Black Sheep (who were also played during the warm up) put it, The Choice is Yours: "You can get with this or you can get with that". In my book, The tortoise does beat the hare in the end and I might take Richard Pryor over Bill Cosby but I still love both aspects of the culture; Mission: Music.With a Philly groove still echoing in my ears, this was simply blasé blasé to me. I fell asleep with a smile on my face.The Roots + Floetry = Virtuosity equation is proven at Koranteng's Toli Music29800@blogcritics.org Fri, 20 May 2005 09:04:54 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/18/163823.php KorantengThe ever-insightful Brad Delong expounds thusly and deserves to be reproduced at length, my response follows:Our Twin Financial Puzzles: The Long Run May Come Like a Thief in the Night The optimists--inside the administration and out--about the current financial situation have only one economic argument: long-term interest rates are relatively low, and are not pricing the dollar-collapse and the U.S.-interest-rates-spike scenarios as having any substantial probability at all....The long run in which the dollar falls and U.S. long-term interest rates rise may come like a thief in the night as a very sudden shock. If it comes as a sudden shock rather than as a long, slow, gradual realization, it will come on that day when the gestalt of the players on Wall Street and elsewhere changes, and when they collectively regard holding dollars as the more risky rather than the less risky strategy in the short run, when they collectivley regard being long long-term U.S. Treasuries as the more risky rather than the less risky strategy in the short run. On that day the long run future will be, as football coach George Allen used to say, now. When will that day come? Tomorrow? Next month? Next year? On January 21, 2009? A decade from now? We macroeconomists who believe in financial market equilibrium have, today, a certain similarity to Millenniarists: our models of when The Day will dawn are not much better than the models of those who base theirs on a rule that transforms HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON into the number 666. Right-on Brad.You've spurred me to an admittedly meagre poetic contribution to the debate, my last poem was 16 years ago:The Long Thief in the Night # Estate Tax writ large as Death Tax Social Security painted as The Coming Crash No need for Health Care or Medicare War sans Galloway will prevent The Great Crash It's Our Time! Spend! Attack! All hail them: The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her LoverThe only question is who will have the starring roles in this straight-to-VHS B-Movie (DVDs aren't an option). Is Greenspan the cook? Ken Lay's role is obvious but between Dubya, Cheney and the faceless, but very serious, wonks who are re-writing regulations and policies everwhere, who will round out the cast?To the tune of Prince's Alphabet St No!I'm Going Down 2 Alphabet Street I'm Gonna Crown The First Girl That I Meet I'm Gonna Talk So Sexy She'll Want Me From My Head 2 My FeetYeah, Yeah, Yeah Yes She Will Yeah, Yeah, Yeah (Yeah) Yeah, Yeah, YeahI'm Gonna Drive My Daddy's Thunderbird (My Daddy's Thunderbird) A White Rad Ride, '66 ('67) So Glam It's Absurd I'm Gonna Put Her In The Back Seat And Drive Her 2... TennesseeYeah, Yeah, Yeah Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Tennessee Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Drive HerExcuse Me, Baby I Don't Mean 2 Be Rude But I Guess Tonight I'm Just Not, I'm Just Not In The Mood So If U Don't Mind (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah) I Would Like To... WatchYeah, Yeah, Yeah... Can I? Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Yeah, Yeah, Yeah (Can I, Can I, Can I, Can I)We're Going Down, Down, Down, If That's The Only Way 2 Make This Cruel, Cruel World Hear What We've Got To Say Put The Right Letters Together "And Make A Better Day" Ow!Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Better Days Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, It's O-O-K Yeah, Yeah, YeahIf you use a file-sharing network, try to get the Alphabet Street Blues bootleg version, there's also a hilarious hillbilly country version if your tastes are that way inclined. I think that the blues version is a better soundtrack to our current economic predicament than the devastating dancefloor funk of the original version.Lovesexy was a kind of spiritual rebirth for my favourite diminutive Minneapolis purpleness, a kind of metaphorical return to the Garden of Eden. He deliberately made the cd have only a single track so that you couldn't skip to the chicken grease snippets that you loved; he meant for the work to be considered as a whole. Artists get too self-important at times. It should be listened back to back with the Black Album which a fun party album but dark in it's own way, read Bob George and the threats to rappers, his managers and critics like Nelson George whom he hilariously shot verbal bullets at before his sociopathic persona killed himself before the undoubted hail of police bullets arrived, 41 shots to the dome but 10 years earlier. 2 Nigs United 4 West Compton has the best bass solo I've ever heard, the most hyperactive instrumental jazz funk I've had the pleasure of listening to.He cancelled the Black Album in a little crisis of conscience just as it was about to be released making it one of the most bootlegged albums ever and recorded Lovesexy in just a few weeks. This was at the time that he was working with Miles Davis and so there are polyphonous horns all over the place and the funk is dense psychadelia, cacophonous and ethereal. George Clinton and Sly Stone were proud of what he came up with even if it was less danceable than say Erotic City (the best B-side ever). As a work, it echoed the recurrent motif of black music througout the years, namely the dichotomy between the church and the earthy jook joint, love and sex as the title track puts it. On the whole, this was a turn towards heaven and religion, Anna Stesia and I Wish U Heaven are all pointers to that rebirth. The repeated chant is "This is not music. This is a trip"Still as with everything Prince does, it was all tongue-in-cheek, like the misunderstood naked title cover which damaged his prospects in the US market. Critics asked how could someone be so naive as to appear naked at a time when it was all about machismo and gangsta rap? Echoes of De La Soul in the Stakes is High video showing them doing laundry and rodeo-riding in a time of Bling Bling, guns and gold chains. But maybe that was the point.The line about "Put the right letters together 'and make a better day'" was about clowning the rock star economics of the USA for Africa We Are The World effort from which the "make a better day" part was a literal quote..Looking at the headlines, one wonders: Who has the single-tracked mind? Who has no clothes these days?In any case, cultural critique at its best.The Long Thief in the Night is cross-posted at Koranteng's Toli Music29708@blogcritics.org Wed, 18 May 2005 16:38:23 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/01/081144.php Koranteng18 years after my tape copy was stolen from me ("borrowed" and never returned), I've finally found a copy of Jerome Prister's magical 12 inch single, Say You'll Be. This is seminal soul funk. It was a massive hit for Ghanaians of a certain age one summer in the late 1980s. As I recall, it also did well in London clubs and was guaranteed to get people off the wall.Sidenote: it's always interesting what crosses over from the US or the UK and becomes popular back home in Ghana. Thus I raved about Nu Shooz's I Can't Wait when I first tried out at WHRB and was embarrassed by the consequent clowning that DJ Zik sends my way to this day.Jerome Prister is the definition of a one-hit wonder. He isn't even listed on Amazon or eBay. The entry on allmusic is pitiful: there's only a name. In recent years he has turned to the worst kind of euro hip-house and garage - the kind that throws in some allusions to Morocco in that "why can't we all get along" mode: so globalized that any authenticity or indeed musical integrity is lost. Unfortunately Say You'll Be hasn't shown up on any compilations (more precisely the one compilation is so rare that similar completetists bid it up to CEO salary heights). Thus it has been a long frustrating search, crate-digging in record shops, scouring eBay, Amazon and the like. Instead, ever since Napster, I fire up whatever file sharing program I can (my current favourite is Gnucleus) and type in those fateful words "Say You'll Be" and sort through lots of Peter Frampton and Christine Aguilera in the hope that there is a like-minded soul somewhere. Anyway that kind soul finally put it online and I managed to complete a download to my great joy. If you see 2 copies online, you'll guess who is sharing it.Now I've been known to spend $75 on a record, I write about musical obsession; you might see me embark on 12 step programs with fellow travellers like Nick Hornby as we work ourselves into frenzies arguing over the 10 best songs about irritation - I dare you to beat my list. I know all the dusty groove "wreckastows" that exist - that last is an in-joke from Under the Cherry Moon in case you were wondering, from which said $75 was spent to obtain the original version of Prince's Old Friends For Sale - not the later version with insipid synthesized strings that showed up much to my disgust on the $60 Crystal Ball compilation in 1999 - like Bono said, sometimes His Royal Badness needs an editor, someone in the studio to give the occasional choice words. The folks at BMG and Columbia House keep me on first name terms with the mail men and UPS guys. Surely record companies could leverage the Long Tail and make something like this available. There is no reason for such a great song to be languishing in virtual asylum in the musical ether.Next up on my crate-digging obsession list:Shaniqua by Oran "Juice" Jones (of The Rain fame) from 1989. I call The Juice a 3-hit wonder since he also did great work with Alyson Williams on the wonderful Raw which any soul singer ought to study before stepping out on stage (Just Call My Name, I Need your Lovin - especially if you can find the Soul II Soul mix, Sleep Talk and of course the other duets, We're Gonna Make It with Ted Mills from Blue Magic and I'm So Glad that she and Chuck Stanley take to church). The ballads alone might cause unwanted pregnancies and bring opportunist politicians into your bedroom.The Juice is the prototypical P.I.M.P that the rappers are now emulating although his ostensible misogyny was a humourous pose. Per contra, I suspect the 50 Cents of this world really mean it. (It was pointed out to me that writing per contra as I do reeks of Nabokovian pretensions but I digress - sue me)Now mind you, I not looking for the album version of Shaniqua - that would be too easy, rather I'm in the hunt for the 12 inch Marley Marl mix featuring Big Daddy Kane. I can just hear my friends and I singing the chorus much to the dismay of english teachers and parents everywhereShaniquaaaaaa You got me woked! Spank me with your love Yeah! right after the Big Daddy finished his exhilarating verse (it's right up there with I Get the Job Done or Just Rhymin with Biz but just below Wrath of Kane and Ain't No Half Steppin').I never quite figured out what woked meant. Was it a slang "hooked"? Perhaps someone can enlighten me. Anyway, ghetto soul nirvana nevertheless. It's been 15 years since I last heard it. Lastly since I didn't post any musical toli this month, I leave you with some eye, or rather some aural candy. The best album of 2003 was by the fine ladies who go by the name of Les Nubians.Les Nubians - One Step ForwardThis is the sound of virtuousity, of young Africa mediated by hip-hop, lush Philly soul, a post-folk French post-colonial vibe, soukous ala Koffi Olomide, exuberant Jamaican reggae and most of all an affirmative vision. This is Congo meets Jamaica meets France meets Phildalphia with a Cuban twist thrown in. Les Nubians not only had the best album, they also gave the best live performance by far that year; even Zap Mama, who are no slouches themselves, must have hated having to follow them on stage. Common's amazing Electric Circus which is an musical Jimi Hendrix experience was incredibly beaten by these soul sisters.Run to your record shops or do the Amazon or iTunes one-click thing and purchase (or as the case may be fire up whatever file sharing program you prefer). El son Reggae is priceless. I preferred it even to the magical combination of Roy Hargrove, Erykah Badu and Q-Tip on Poetry on Roy Hargrove's Hard Groove, the other major achievement of that year. See the Toli Music awards for further picks like Donnie and Dwele.J'Veux D'La Musique (Toute Le Temps...) reinvents The O'Jays I Love Music exquisitely. This is how you do a remake: don't be overly respectful but make it your own just like the did Sade's Sweetest Taboo. Talib Kweli gives us Temperature Rising, Morgan Heritage brings Caribbean flavour to Brothers and Sisters. The ballads are heartfelt and, how to put it, "nice": Amour a mort, Que Le Mot Soit Perle and Unfaithful/Si Infidele. And if you want some techno or sheer dance try La Guerre which aims for Missy Elliot and Timbaland stylings.And the title track, One Step Forward is African opera, unbelievable harmonizing and naked funk. Being sisters their voices really do mesh together. Add a little kora overtones and guitar ala Franco and they prove they are truly Princess Nubiennes descendants of Makeda. Hmm... Come to think of it, there's also my 10 year search for a complete version of Chuck Stanley's The Finer Things in Life("I want to show you the finer things in life / I want to show you that love can be so right") but that's another story (shoutout to Okoro). For now, I leave you with the head-nodding groove of Jerome Prister.Say You'll Beeeee. Say You'll Beeeeeeeeee. Say You'll Beeeeee. Say You'll BeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeFound! is cross-posted at Koranteng's ToliFile under: music, obsession, soul, One-hit wonders, funk, Completist Syndrome, history, Jerome Prister, Les Nubians, Prince, Big Daddy Kane, Oran "Juice" Jones, Alyson Williams Sci/Tech28876@blogcritics.org Sun, 1 May 2005 08:11:44 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/04/21/124819.php KorantengFurther nuggets for the Toli Scrapbook...This month's zingers post covers a lot of ground. There has been a veritable effusiveness of jaundiced (and flowery - as my MIT-educated co-worker put it) prose from this joint on all sorts of topics. I hope these proverbial zingers provide a concise counterpoint to all of that.A skewed outlook on life He liked his women freshly jilted.Martin Amis - Heavy Water and other Stories (2000)On the advisability (or lack thereof) of sending out withering emails to one's team ..like I just did this past week, and having to deal with the consequent fallout (consignment to the most menial system administration duties). Note to self: being right without being judicious is a fool's paradise. Words are like bullets. When you release them, you can't call them back.Gambian proverb An insolent tongue is a bad weapon.Senegalese proverb The tongue weighs practically nothing, but so few people can hold it.Ghanaian proverb It is a stupid dog that barks at an elephant.Ugandan proverbOn why I search Minds are like parachutes, they only function when they are open.Nigerian proverbA touch of quasi-religious optimism perhaps The sun will shine on those who are standing before it shines on those who are sitting.Liberian proverbAnd perhaps a desire for no regrets The stone that lies at the bottom of the riverbed, cannot complain about feeling cold.This one from my mother who had a little too much cognac (Christmas day 2003)On being careful If you want to improve your memory, lend someone money.Zimbabwean proverb When you are surrounded by vultures, try not to die.Proverb from Cote D'IvoireOn journalism in Africa For after all our business is not only to discover wrongdoing, it is our business to expose lies, to expose smears. Not only the lies that public officials tell but the lies that are told about public officials. Much of the instability that has dogged Africa has its roots in the inability of the press to clearly tell the public which of the many rumours are true and which are not true. There is this idea that has taken root that getting access to the facts and making them public will hinder and undermine government, I have heard the argument that much of government is so complicated and so delicate that it is impossible to portray all the intricacies in a newspaper article or radio programme. In an area where democratic practices are yet to take root, I will suggest that it is in the interest of government that things are exposed. There is a saying in my language that it is difficult for head lice to prosper on a bald man's head. If one were to take the saying further, even though I acknowledge it is dangerous to try to improve upon the sayings of the elders, head lice prosper the most in thick grown hair. Or to coin another phrase, the mould grows where the sun rays don't get to.In the Public Eye (November 1998) - Thoughts on the difficulties faced by African journalists in obtaining public informationOn The Importance Of Biting Satire I like my satire savage. It should be vicious, biting and deeply heartfelt. The targets should feel a sharp wound.The whimsical and comic artefacts of the best satirists are side-benefits; their purpose is really to serve as social barometers and canaries in the mineshafts of our communities.See also Bolton's Hair: No Brush With Greatness and 3 days later: Is John Bolton Going Down? On the prescience of the best satiristsWith apologies to Michael Froomkin, this is what I meant...Sir Edward cheered up... It was worth decanting a really good claret. Besides he had a theory to explain why Lady Thatcher was such a passionate advocate of arming the Bosnian Muslims. Her son was an arms dealer and by backing the Muslims so openly she was bound to help dear little Markie's standing in Saudi Arabia. It was in the discovery of real motivation in politics that Sir Edward Gilmott-Gwyre found his greatest pleasure.Tom Sharpe, The Midden (1996) Gotcha! Sir Mark Thatcher has pleaded guilty in South Africa to being negligent in investing in an aircraft said to have been used by people allegedly plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea.Equatorial Guinea 'coup plot' (January 2005)Ergo Strange Bedfellows and the Journalist ImpulseOn language Asankasa: noun. 1. a radio. From the Ewe language of Ghana, literally rendered it means "The bird who sings" circa 1930s 2. a later sub-sense, circa 1960-63, in which the words from the radio should not be trusted; said new meaning arising when Kwame Nkrumah's true colours were shown e.g. the propaganda of a one-party stateInept excess If you no for chop fufu before, you no sabi the sweeticity of life. Self circa 2000 - my licence to practice pidgin was thereby revokedCelebrating the beauty of the oral tradition and of the Griot Il était devenu le Maître de la parole incontestable, non par décret de quelque autorité ou d'action culturelle (seuls lieux où l'on célèbre encore l'oral) mais par son goût du mot, du discours sans virgule. Il parlait voilà... S'il y rencontrait une commère folle a la langue, disponible et inutile, manman! quelle rafale de blabla... Solibo parlait, il parlait sans arrêt, it parlait aux kermessess, it parlait aux maneges, et plus encore aux fêtes. Mail il n'était pas un évadé d'hôpital psychiatrique, de ces déréglés qui secouent la parole comme on se bat une douce...On s'assemblait pour l'écouter ... un silence accueillait l'ouverture de sa bouche: par ici, c'est cela qui signale et consacre le Maître. Solibo Magnifique, by Patrick ChamoiseauFor the french and creole-challenged, here's the english version, slightly less musical to my ears...He had become a Master-of-the-unanswerable-Word, not by decree of some folkloric institute (the only place where they still celebrate the oral tradition), but by his tast for the word, for speech without commas. He talked, voila... He talked to everyone, to a woman tattling tongue-crazy, available and useless, oh mama! what a gust of blah-blah..Solibo talked, he talked ceaselessly, he talked at fairs, talked by the ridges, and even more at parties. But he was not some runaway form a psychiatric ward, one of those loons who jerk out words as casually as they put their feet up.We gathered to listen to him... a silence welcomed the opening of his mouth; around here it is this that signals and anoints a Master.Solibo Magnificent, by Patrick Chamoiseau as translated by Rose-Myriam Réjouis and Val Vinokurov (with an adaptation by me: ward rather than hospital) A Manifesto of sorts We people who are darker than blue Are we gonna stand around this town and let what others say come true: we're just good for nothing they all figure, a boyish, grown-up, shiftless jigger. Now we can't hardly stand for that Or is that really where it's at?Curtis Mayfield - We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue - Curtis 1970Coalition of the Willing Le recensement de la coalition censée accompagner les Etats-Unis et la Grande-Bretagne a atteint, dans le discours que M. Bush a prononcé à Tampa, le nombre de 48 pays, dont les archipels doublement pacifiques de la Micronésie, des îles Marshall et de Palau, qui n'ont pas d'armée.Again for the french challenged... Le Monde's 2003 survey of the members of the Coalition of the Willing that embarked on the Iraq escapade simply noted that prominent members, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands for example, actually don't have armies. From The Wire Quotes from Season 2 and 3 of HBO's The Wire which thankfully will return next year. Hooray. "Damn Calvin! You know I got the bingo tomorrow!" - Caroline"Nigga is you taking notes in the middle of a f---- criminal conspiracy!?!" - Stringer Bell (wonderfully played by Idris Elba)"Bring me a Shrek2 slushie an' some Krispy Kreme!" - Squeek"Shine that up and put $7.50 on it... Shame to let a good toaster go to waste over a frayed cord" - Proposition JoeSee also On The Wire a blogospheric parable of sorts...How to get a feature deferred in the software world The state of the art is passive-agressive equivocation. I have only reached for those heights once.B and I discussed/brainstormed what we thought were the issues that the current approach that we have started working on needed to address. As to the issue of cost of some of these issues, I think others with greater experience in the Freelance architecture would be better qualified to say. On the other hand, with some measure of handwaving, we are reasonably confident to be able to get the feature to at least "demo quality" in a timeframe close to our current feature freeze date. I have listed below the new areas of code we need to write, the issues that we need to address and, if relevant, how our approach would deal with it. I also point out some of the potential risk. In essence this is the incremental cost that is incurred with going from a text-only approach ... to the current proposed scheme.From a missive to co-workers circa 1997. See also: sharp-elbowed bureaucratic maneuvering.Psychic Insights A look at the psyche of a people under stress, the Nigerians, as they took baby steps to emerge from 30 years of military rule - a life of depradations by Unknown Soldiers and the Coffins for Head of State they leave in their wake:Whatever happened then, I thought to the central Nigerian belief in CAN DO.The exploits of various preacher men and the extraordinary hold they seem to exercise on the lives of people was to amaze me throughout the three months or so that I spent travelling around the country. I am therefore not too surprised now that the whole of Nigeria has been seized by the "predictions" of another of these preacher men, who has pronounced that the hand over of power from the military to the elected government on May 29th will not take place. According to this particular Pastor, a certain Tunde Bakore of the Latter Rain Assembly, God had spoken to him that not only is General Olusegun Obasanjo the elected president, not Nigeria's Messiah, "he is a ram being kept for slaughter". This prophet speaks in particularly gory details about his vision. According to him, the axe will come down on Obasanjo's head and he will be hewed into pieces, right before our eyes. Two weeks ago, rumours swept the country that the General had died/been killed under strange circumstances.There were riots in Lagos, property was destroyed and many people were injured when youths took the streets because according to them, "they" have done it again... Who are the "they"? The same "they" that killed Chief Moshood Abiola had done it again. General Obasanjo had to go on television to assure the country that he was still very much alive. In the meantime, it appears the General is not taking any chances, he has gone on a fast and a prayer for good health and success in the job he is about to take on. The General who is said to have become a born-again Christian during his incarceration for alleged coup plotting under the late unlamented General Sani Abacha has not treated all these reports of visions about his impending death with the nonchalance one suspects he would have done some twenty years ago. For the past two months his farm has been the site of constant praying by various groups trying to neutralise Pastor Tunde Akore's vision. Everybody appears to be a believer. The difficulty comes when you try to pin down exactly what it is that people actually believe in. The Nigerian Elections - A matter of confidence (1998)See also: Tradition and Modernity These proverbial zingers are cross-posted at Koranteng's ToliFile under: zingers, satire, , humour, wit, proverbs, language, journalism, gotcha, wisdom, literature, toli, Nigeria, whimsy, Ghana Sci/Tech28474@blogcritics.org Thu, 21 Apr 2005 12:48:19 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/26/155941.php KorantengI'm weighing whether to spend several hundred dollars with a hard drive recovery service to retrieve some crucial data from my failed hard drive. With this in mind (and after receiving a quote for $400), here are this month's nuggets for the Toli Scrapbook. This time we have wistful zingers on the theme of war and a sense of ineffable waste - a sense which is certainly applicable to my current mood..."And as I was going, I was just thinking how the war have spoiled my town Dukana, uselessed many people, killed many others, killed my mama and my wife, Agnes, my beautiful young wife with J.J.C and now it have made me like porson wey get leprosy because I have no town again. And I was thinking how I was prouding before to go to soza and call myself Sozaboy. But now if anybody say anything about war or even fight, I will just run and run and run and run and run. Believe me yours sincerely"Ken Saro-Wiwa - Sozaboy A novel in Rotten English. 1985We were the leopards, the lions. Those who will take our place will be jackals, hyenas. And all of us - leopards, lions, jackals and sheep - we'll go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth.Delivered with gravitas by Burt Lancaster as Prince Salina in Visonti's Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) (1963)Aureliano doesn't understand "how people arrived at the extreme of waging war over things that could not be touched with the hand". He is like Gary Cooper or Humphrey Bogart, unmoved by abstractions but provoked by cruelty, by the sight of victimization. This is the way that American isolation, another long solitude, ends in film after film.Michael Wood ruminating on the lessons of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of SolitudeThe things which happen to men Happen also to God; But being of his own making He can cope with them Better.Kwesi Brew - Flower and Blood African Panorama and Other Poems. 1981."And anyway, what do you mean by 'historical'?" "Well, it's like this war that's coming... " "What war?" said the Prime Minister sharply. "No one has said anything to me about a war. I really think I should have been told. I'll be damned," he said defiantly, "if they shall have a war withought consulting me. What's a Cabinet for, if there's not more mutual confidence than that. What do they want a war for, anyway?" "That's the whole point. No one talks about it, and no-one wants it. No one talks about it because no-one wants it. They're all afraid to breathe a word about it" "Well, hang it all, if no one wants it, who's going to make them have it?" "Wars don't start nowadays because people want them. We long for peace, and fill our newspapers with conferences about disarmament and arbitration, but there is a radical instability in our whole world-order, and soon we shall all be walking into the jaws of destruction again, protesting our pacific intentions." "Well, you seem to know all about it," said Mr. Outrage, "and I think should have been told sooner."Evelyn Waugh - Vile Bodies 1930.-- See also some earlier zingersThese wistful zingers are crossposted at Koranteng's Toli -- Books27307@blogcritics.org Sat, 26 Mar 2005 15:59:41 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/16/193856.php KorantengOne of the most interesting issues in diplomacy is how to handle prickly characters. One thing that has always impressed me is the frequency with which a skillful and determined negotiator can arrive at a neutralizing accomodation. Often these gruesome types can be induced, bribed or coerced. In rare cases, there can even be genuine conversions and, by sheer argument, you may lead someone to their Road of Damascus. It's a mostly thankless task though, requiring patience, perceptiveness, a keen understanding of history, human foibles and an ever-optimistic outlook. There are exceptions of course that can cause even the most wizened diplomat to turn to drink. Sometimes, as say with the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda or the irascible clan warlords in Somalia, you're simply wasting your time. They never had any intention of settling and were just humouring you, if they were even persuaded to make it to the negotiating table. The prototypical case in the last decade was Milosovic.I recall people telling me in the 90s that having Charles Taylor of Liberia wearing suits and sipping champagne in hotels was better than anything. "Maybe he'll get used to it, calm down and stop causing trouble". Wishful thinking of course. In the end, Taylor held Liberia hostage, won a "free and fair" election - his campaign slogan: "you killed my mother, you killed my father but I will vote for you", and proceeded to loot at an impressive and unprecedented scale, a more savage Tony Soprano as it were. The timber forest and diamond mines in the sub-region will never be the same.The same was said about the Sierra Leonean lot, and here choice expletives need to be thrown at Reverend Jesse Jackson who intervened to force a disastrous settlement without making warring groups disarm. How the Country Preacher ever came to be seen as an expert and, more worryingly, as someone who could shape Clinton's foreign policy is still beyond me. Surely there should be more than racial affinity to make someone an authority? Or maybe, like those appointed to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, it was a case of who you knew. If you don't know what you're talking about, don't bring yourself: people's lives are at stake here. In the event, the Sierra Leonean catastrophe was a close-run thing and it took all of the efforts of ECOMOG and a judicious deployment of a battalion of British paratroopers to staunch the bleeding.In any case, the story of the almost incestuous relationship between otherwise notable african-americans like Leon Russell and Louis Farrakhan and miscreant african leaders deserves a fuller exposition at a later point. A brief sketch though: there's a two-way back-scratching that is at work here. On the one hand, there's the glamour of proximity to presidents that tickles the inflated ego ("Look here: a photo of me with President so-and-so. Did you know, he took the whole day off to chat with me!). And on the other hand, there's a aura of legitimacy that the african counterparts ("Running a country is so easy, why not get some facetime with with this guy, we can drink some fine wines"). Some have speculated there has been an element of monetary lubrication in these affairs whether it's plots of land, mining concessions or the ever-propitious perennial: flashy jewelry (blood diamonds anyone?). I'm not so sure that these shabby interchanges need much prompting since it's a perfect quid-pro-quo. The populace of these countries will show up for these affairs dressed in finery, sing and dance to puff up your sense of importance. There's a power imbalance of course, but when you're poor you'll take any entertainment you can. Once you've stuffed your suitcases with loot and finally returned to DC or Atlanta, you should know, however, that your contempt is fully reciprocated.What is interesting about the current situation in Congo is that many in the media are willing to go for go for the jugular to stiffen the spine of the 'international community' in how it deals with rogues and warlords. Take this recent piece from The Economist, The UN gets tougher:"In January, Congo's transitional government invited five of Ituri's militia bosses to become generals in the still-chaotic national army, in the hope that they would encourage their troops to disarm. The new generals all say they are looking forward to serving their country, but some appear to be carrying on as before, snapping orders into mobile telephones from their air-conditioned rooms at the Grand Hotel in Kinshasa, the capital.Little in the militia bosses' history inspires confidence. Your correspondent was once the unwilling guest of one of them, Jerome Kakwavu, a former traffic warden whose men control the town of Aru, on the border between Ituri and Uganda. During the course of a week, Mr Kakwavu publicly executed three of his own men, nearly flogged a ten-year-old soldier to death and kidnapped two Ukrainian pilots. He was hospitable to your correspondent, however, offering him the use of his sex slaves and the companionship of his pet baby chimpanzee." And I quite agree, I'm all for quiet negotiation, entreatments and face-saving accomodations, but that should be for the diplomats. The commenting class, and I am a proud, keyboard-wielding member, often has the strength of the moral high ground. Let's simply call a spade a spade and shame these bastards.-- Crossposted at Koranteng's Toli -- Politics26837@blogcritics.org Wed, 16 Mar 2005 19:38:56 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/15/141057.php KorantengSunday night at the Orpheum Theatre, Boston, March 13 2005. Jill Scott and her crack 13-piece band brought the Big Beautiful tour to Boston last sunday night. Ostensibly this was in support of the Beautifully Human album. As it turned out though there was a whole lot of the first album, Who is Jill Scott?, on display. As I've noted previously, I've seen her twice before, first when she was an unknown in a small club and then 9 months later at a prestigious venue pleasantly surpised by the double platinum plaques and critical acclaim that had started coming her way. She took an extended break from music "to attend to" her mariage but came back in a big way in the past year. She is fresh off winning a Grammy in that category designed for left-of-center artists who won't sell the tens of millions: Cross My Mind won Best Urban/Alternative Performance. There is no opening act and so she starts with a track appropriately called Warm Up in which a dancer brings some urban ballet flavour to the proceedings. The dance was a little off especially given that the Boston Ballet is right around the corner and that we in the audience were expecting earthy soul. Sadly also, us New Englanders were not be blessed with Common appearing on the same bill, something New Yorkers had enjoyed just days earlier. Still how often does every thinking person's favourite soul sister come to your town?They start out in church mode with Golden the first single and a welcome radio-friendly return. After the first chorus, they flip it house style (ala East Coast mix). It becomes hyperactive dance music and she wails away in the Gloria Gaynor mould to the accelerating beat. It's a canny way to make sure that the band has woken up and is ready to keep the sunday night audience moving.The Jill Scott aesthetic is interesting: if you've ever seen the movie Love Jones, you'll know all about it. There's an urban appeal and refreshing down-to-earth quality to her. She walks down the same gritty Philadephia streets. Her tastes are suitably proletarian. It's soul food from cheese steaks to collard greens. Her man is one step above FUBU but is not averse to the bourgeois stylings of Sean John. When she performs live, she aims straight for the heart. The idea is that of the unassuming girl next door: Jilly From Philly. There's so much love and good will in the building reciprocating to her. She's so warm-hearted and beams at being here performing for us. She looks good and there's that sense of vulnerability that can't be faked. The Girlfriend has a keen condescension detector and even forgives Jill the "interesting" high heeled shoes she's wearing. A mistake Jill laughing acknowledged when she came out for the encore wearing slippers.The subtitle of both her albums is Words and Sounds and as she informs those seing her for the first time, maybe two-thirds of the crowd, it's not just about the music: it's also about the talks. An integral component of a Jill Scott show is her spoken interludes. At times it's almost like a 1-woman musical theater show as she mimes performs these interludes, inhabiting the various characters - a cast that includes annoyed girlfriends, cheating men, and the breakfast disputes the hen-pecked and their demanding significant others.Exclusively is a spoken word song in this vein, about the early morning encounter at the grocery store with a nameless woman who is able to detect her post-coital posturings:She sniffed [...] She sniffed... She sniffed, and sniffed and sniffed then finally, "Raheem, right?"Gettin' In the Way is like a shot of testosterone and pure anger. Jill is prepared to take off her shoes to fight for her man. Like Pam Grier in Foxy Brown, she may even have razor blades hidden in her afro.Who is Jill Scott?A Long Walk demonstrates what an inventive wordsmith she can be and how easily she can deconstruct romantic liasons. Do You Remember is about nostalgia and as befits the theme is a sing-along around a camp fire.It's Love is a jam done go-go style. There are snatches of the bassline break from Minnie Riperton's Baby This Love, popularized and repurposed in A Tribe Called Quest's Check The Rhime. This is all just to let people know that she's down, that there's a sophisticated and funky musical sensibility at work here. The band is loose, the horns blow with abandon. The crowd is out of their seats. The one-two punch of The Way and Love Rain framed the turbulence that was at the heart of her debut. We all know the words and we made a beautiful sound with her if I may say so. The band has fun with what have become latter-day standards. The horn section is a standout and makes everthing worthwhile. It features Jeff Bradshaw on trombone. He was more subdued than in the past, apparently he proposed to his girlfriend on stage at the previous show, one wonders if there was a touch of apprehension in the air. The trumpet and saxophonist are excellent. The latter, Steve Something-or-Other picks up a flute that is the most welcome complement to the instrumentation and heightens the musical excitement in my mind. She's still obsessed with food, from barbecue sauce, "Put some on it even if you're vegan", to "Scrambled Eggs and Grits" which is the punchline in the former song. The latter features that all-time vivid metaphor: "Loose like bowels after collard greens."One is the magic # proves that she can sing opera in the latin mode. The mexican trumpet welcomes us to a fiesta. It's two months before Cinqo de Mayo but we are transported to latin america or is it spain. Plus there's the defiance of the chorus "There's just me / One is the magic number". It's clever and fun. Slowly Surely is again all about uplift, about recovering from that old desperate love, the maze of love. Every one who's had their heart broken can relate.Those were songs from the first album. Some of the best of the new songs were missing in action; teasing and feinting us with 30 seconds of Bedda At Home and 2 phrases from I'm Not Afraid are not enough. And not having Family Reunion isn't compensated by being her recounting of a funny story about her cousin, a barbeque and a woman in furs choking on her food and a surprise reinvention of the Heimlich maneuver. Those who burnished the grassroots appeal for you want to go on the trip with you. Sure she talked about the making those songs, but damnit, I wanna hear them too.Jill Scott - Beautifully HumanTalk to Me (Break it Down / Spell it Out) is lovely soul, it starts out reminiscent of any track from Stevie Wonder's Fulfillingess First Finale and then it goes firmly into jazz mode with cabaret swing. She's trying to show versatility, she swoons and scats like Ella Fitzgerald. The horns add accents to what becomes a big band tune. A few comments on soul singers doing jazz: Jill Scott has an awesome vocal instrument and can do almost anything she wants with it. However:When doing the jazz thing make sure your musicians can play in that idiom. The horn section was fine but the bass and drums stay in a funk pocket and don't swing. Her take on the jazz soul thing was better in last year's collaboration with Common on I am Music for his Electric Circus album. That was a dream team affair full of musical virtuousity; Nicholas Payton on trumptet, QuestLove on the drums and Common's syncopation and verbal dexterity in a hip-hop cadence melding well with her superior vocal stylings.Of this generation of soul singers, Bilal and Amel Larrieux have the purest jazz sensibility. Erykah Badu follows closely as a stylist who does a mean Sarah Vaughan or Nina Simone impression (see Green Eyes) and can embue her voice an emotion that is close to her core. The straight up jazz stylists, from Lizz Wright on, are more authentic. Rachelle Ferrelle would frankly embarrass Jill in a jook joint cutting contest. The Fact Is (I Need You) is the anthem to female affirmation with the background vocalists doing a slow and classically-influenced burn. I suspect that she will point to the lyrics as the Jill Scott manifestoI can be a congresswoman or a garbage woman or police officer or a capenter / I could be a doctor and a lawyer and a mother and a "good God what chu done to me?" kind of lover / I could be / I could be a computer analyst / The queen with the nappy hair raising the fist or / I could be much more and myriad of this Cross my Mind is an epic song that deserved the Grammy. Its wistful mood is that of reminiscing about old flames and relationships that didn't work out. Were they good for us?Only one song was off, Can't Explain. The musicianship was actually very good, the colourings by the horn section (especially the flute) were spot on. I suspect the fault in that particular song was the following: as a lyricist she's very wordy. It normally works well but sometimes brevity is the font of musical wisdom. Anyway it's far better on the album.Whatever is the emotional heart of the concert. Beautifully Human was essentially a celebration of married life, of monogamy and of a deep exuberant love. Whatever is consequently a pure celebration. Live, it is the best expression of where Jill Scott's journey has taken her. She's loving every bit of married life. I'll admit that my heartstrings caught a bit as I rose to my feet for this and did my shower singing with the entire audience. To top it off, the coda reinvented the tune as a salsa escapade and her percussionist took us all to Havana.For the triumphant encore she brought out Not Like Crazy, a new song that is simply virtuosic and full of flourishes including a great saxophone solo to punctuate things. She finishes with He Loves Me, and mimes the ingenue flashes of the first flashes of love. This was written when she found her man and we all sing along recognizing as we all do that emotion she well captured. We're all hopeful we've found our soul-mates.My only criticism of the concert is that she keept to a similar framework as the last album and tour. Having been there in the small clubs at the start when she wasn't known and evangelizing and spreading the word-of-mouth, there wasn't enough of the new album for my liking. A more adventurous artist would have changed the show. I can't imagine someone like Erykah Badu being that conservative, indeed Badu had to be forced to sing her old tunes. The patter of the old show serves as intimate and seductive introductions to mainstream newcomers to her vibe but I want to get a sense of where Jill Scott is at today on her trip. And we only got a partial sense of that in Whatever and Not Like Crazy. There are few appeals as direct and disarming as Jill Scott, someone who loves performing, an authentic wordsmith and perhaps soul music's warmest and most endearing and expressive voice. She aims for different vocal colourings, the keen sensibility of the horn section and now the flute augment things nicely. The production values though don't take her out of her comfort zone of traditional soul with a little gospel and spoken word thrown in for good measure. Labelmates and poetry auteurs Floetry are in much the same mould. I wish the Hidden Beach label would press for more experimentation but they seem to have a formula that works and gets broad appeal. Back when I was awarding the Toli Music Awards last year, I gave Amel Larrieux the nod over Jill Scott, noting then that my inclinations were for a more angular musicianship even though singer like Scott be sure to sell more records. That's still mostly the case but it's like the difference between Bill Cosby, America's sweater-wearing dad whose universal humour is that of the irascible curmudgeon, and Richard Pryor who fearlessly, and in his very personal way, reminds us of the pimps, hookers and drug dysfunction that are an integral part of the American dream. Last sunday night, the dynamic artistry of Jill Scott was a very appealing contender and almost made me want to join the mainstream. She has settled on something that will continue to have great success and has grown in a laudable way. In a very canny way also, she seems to have groomed a very loyal female cohort. Of course, in matters of consumerism, where the women go, the men will follow.As the show ends, the genuine warmth and humour show again and she reminds us why there's so much to love in Jilly from Philly. Instead of filing off triumphant and exhausted, she disarms us and stays on stage for a few minutes signing autographs and simply chatting and cracking jokes. She's just a girl from the neighbourhood after all, you may pass her as you walk the streets as you make your way to the grocery store. And for the final note, picking up a flier handed to her from the crowd, she announces the afer-party.-- Crossposted at Koranteng's Toli Music26771@blogcritics.org Tue, 15 Mar 2005 14:10:57 EST