Negro Please

The Nooner

"We loved each other like a bomb loves a body and it didn't have to do with the law." - Q and Not U, Wet Work

I'm not sure how I feel about Thief. I still haven't seen The Inside Man. I really should be packing up my shit but I'm too busy listening to Fishscale, posting on LAist again and figuring out my life.

It's the nooner, y'all:

People who were there: thebrotherlove and sour duck (amongst others that i've linked to before now).

People who should register, submit a panel proposal, show up next year and change the game: jimi, bakari, trula, stone.

Don't just suggest. Act. I'm down to help anybody who wants it.

Via Negrophile: Marriage is for White People. Hmmm, should I feel guilty for embracing my inner solitariness?

Grammar Check: Sure, The Game suing Koch is interesting but can't we all file a case for the criminal album title  "The Game: Untold Story Special Addition"? In brighter Billboard news, Prince is #1 with 3121. Inexplicably, High School Musical is #2.

Via Inane Asylum: MyDeathSpace.com. Just process how many young people are "shot". Can anybody define why this site feels as uncomfortable as it does? note to self: Time to stop calling my threats to delete my profile "MySpace Suicide". That phrase is officially not cute. Maybe never was.

Africa Today: 300,000 children in West Africa will likely die from hunger this year if the rest of the world doesn't step up. Meanwhile, South Africa's huge unemployment problem is starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel.

tags: africa | blogging while black | myspace | marriage | music

Trick Bag

"Far from a brand new kid in showbiz" - The Roots, Boom!

Jimi Izrael takes our Blogging While Black Revisited panel to task mostly for who wasn't there. George responds but I'll take it even further. As you may recall, there was a pre-emptive strike the day before the panel:

I heard the people talkin' and that there may be some blow back
coming about the same (black) folks being invited to conferences like
these. Most of us were invited back this year. True. The only reason,
however, is because we submitted a panel proposal to the conference in
2004 and they liked it enough to bring us in for the 2005 conference
and wanted us back again. We put in a whole lot of work to make this
happen. We stay connected and invested in the community and, damnit, we
are good at what we do both in this blog stuff and as web professionals.

You wanna get in the game? Get in the game. Step your game up and stop hatin'.

But the point is still valid. A hip-hop bloggers panel during interactive or music at SXSW would be excellent. A discussion of the differences between citizen journalism and MSM that included people of color on both sides of the topic would be hot. If there was more than a smattering of color sprinkled through SXSW and conferences like it both on stage and in the audience, I'd be ecstatic.

Blog[her] did big things for making that happen for female bloggers in just one year's time. If we could put things in place this year for people of color, and I'm a multiculti kinda guy so I'm not just talking black folks, to find their way that's exactly what should happen.

I'm not going to get into the personal jabs Jimi threw this way. There are 4 years of posts here at Negro Please. I stand by everything I said and did on that stage this year and last. My voice, my identity, my self-efficacy, my sense of humor, my background, my education, my paycheck, my bourgeoisie, well, you can take it or leave it.

But don't challenge my right to be there 2 paragraphs after you said you wouldn't even show up in the first place. How you goan ask me to man up when you ain't even in the building?

My squad doesn't sit on the sidelines.

tags: bwb | sxsw | sxsw2006 | blogher | race

Dave Chappelle's Block Party

"Yo, it's a beautiful day and everybody feeling wonderful" - Dead Prez, Happiness

Dead Prez take the stage about half-way through Dave Chappelle's Block Party and the whole thing changes. M1 and stic.man have some real shit to say and as soon as The Roots start playing that beat for "Hip-Hop" the 5,000 people in front of the Broken Angel house put their hands in the air and start head-nodding. The audience in the theatre does the same. Until that time, I was just enjoying myself. Dave had cracked many a joke. The people he'd interacted with were all interesting and enjoyable. The connection all these folks, all who have been the soundtrack to my life for the past 13 years or so, was very pleasant to see but it was just a flick. A cool doc showcasing a very special, yet incredibly low key, event. 18 months before Kanye West would lead a drumline onto the stage at the Grammy's, he'd do it on a little strip of Quincy in Bed-Stuy. John Legend would sing out the chorus Jesus Walks on stage just a few months before anybody would really know who he was. Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Common would do what they do and I would sit in my seat in this small movie house in a Burbank mall and just smile.

But Dead Prez hits the stage and somehow I'm transported there. I no longer wanted to sit. I wanted to stand in the darkened theatre and chant along. I wanted to dance. At that point, I went from watching Block Party to feeling like I was at the block party and it couldn't have been better.

Well, that's sort of a lie. Maybe hanging out at the rehearsals the two days prior to the show would've been better. Hanging with Dave and Mos and ?uesto and Jill Scott and E.Badu and the rest as they cracked wise and vibed would probably sit pretty high on my "best days ever" list. The fleeting moments we see aren't quite enough.

And, as Anna notes, Jill and Erykah sharing the stage to sing the chorus of You Got Me is just all kinds of special.

I've seen all of these artists live before. Erykah Badu and Jill Scott both at the Greek here in LA (and Jill once in the House of Blues); The Roots so many times that I've stopped counting and Mos Def, Common, Kweli and Kanye West in some mixture together several times over the last 5 years. I've been to a Dead Prez show once, early in their career, and the set was way too short. The Fugees came to DC when I was in school and they were fun and energetic but not especially memorable.

This time they hit the stage and pretty much fuck it all up. Wyclef and Pras come out and do their thing but Lauryn is just a shadow of her former self. Her voice cracks. She forgets words. She looks uncomfortable. It's kind of heartbreaking because she's the shine. That she's lost some of that makes their headlining performance far less than the tipping point moment it should be.

But it doesn't take the shine off the film. Like Dead Prez says, "It's bigger than hip-hop."

tags: dave chappelle | film | hip-hop | music | reviews

V for Vendetta

"You're burning both sides of the rope and just pulling." - The Roots, Water

V for Vendetta's futuristic England is an all caucasian country. Apparently the neo-conservatism masquerading as fascism in the film involved the complete white-washing of what is currently a pretty diverse community. Dark skin is no where to be found. It's odd for me that the Wachowski Brothers would make that choice (or allow that choice to be made by the director). One of the reasons I connect and enjoy the Matrix trilogy so much is that it's a world of many hues with the heroes, to a person, reflecting that multicultural aesthetic. I know that Alan Moore's source material serves to guide this choice but if they're going to gloss over the big picture concept of fascism vs. anarchism -- the two extremes that are the base of everything within the comic books -- and essentially bring it down to a question of neo-conservatism vs. revolutionary action, then maybe we could have had some brown people on the screen. Modern Day England has roots in the Middle East and Africa and those groups are growing. Surely, a near future UK would be even more culturally mixed.

But enough of my race hangups.

Or maybe not. It's interesting when we, as Americans, are confronted with revolutionary images we can sympathize with. After all, our country is built on the overthrow of one government for the creation of our own. Those images don't reconcile well in a post 9-11 America but V is compelling. He's seeking to overthrow a government who lies to its people, who institutes curfew, who seeks to keep order by opression and suppresion and the populace goes along with this very easily. My mind kept going to John Brown. How important were his "terrorist" actions at Harper's Ferry and before in moving the cause of abolition forward? Is he a hero or villain or something in between?

The same can be asked about V who uses violence and destruction to move his cause forward. The film is supposed to be raising the question of whether or not this push towards revolution, which is fueled mostly by vengeance, should be celebrated but doesn't really. Even at the key plot twist, we aren't really left with questions about V's "goodness".

There are some thought provoking elements to the film, however. Afterwards, there was a deep discussion about torture and terror, death penalties and revenge. For that I'll forgive the silly and unnecessary love story elements at the end, the sometimes ridiculous dialogue and the pacing of the flick. It felt longer than it should have and took far long to get to the hook of the story. But, for all its flaws, it's a good film and worth the money.

Just remember 2 things: In the future, the cool guys wear masquerade masks and speak in iambic pentameter and a revolution without dancing is one we don't want.

tags: movies | v for vendetta | john brown | race

Saturday Random Ten: The Reset Edition

"Start over, again. Everything happens for reasons..." - Outkast, Reset

Out of 2917 songs rated with 5 stars in my iTunes, we've got ourselves a

Saturday Random Ten

1. Truth & Rights - Zero 7 (Another Late Night)
   
2. Time To Get Ill - Beastie Boys (Root Down EP)
3. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us - Sufjan Stevens (Illinois)
4. Let's Go Crazy - Prince (Purple Rain)
5. Money, Cash, Hoes - Jay-Z (Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life)
6. Space Ho's - Dangerdoom (The Mouse and the Mask)
7. The Militia - Gang Starr (Moment of Truth)
8. Social Distortion (featuring MF Doom) - Prince Po (The Slickness)
9. Cleaning Out My Closet - Eminem (The Eminem Show)
10. Lost at Sea - Eisley (Room Noises)

Things to do the last week of March:

Quit your job; plan to move in with your parents for a month while you figure shit out; spend down all your savings; decide that this the perfect time to start dating again and joing consumating.com (speaking of which, you should join, too. I have never ever been down with online dating - all you internet people creep me out - but the internet rock star Ben Brown has created a totally not skeevy dating site. It just needs more color); pay all your lingering bills at the same time so you really, really have no money; have no real plan of action other than knowing that whatever you do next will be totally satisfying for you.

Settling is not an option.

Oh, and:

Have I hyped up Michelle's Consuming Indy here yet? The bloggers of the circle city have spoken and they love her startup met-blog. I'm not biased or anything but if you're trying to reach people in Indianapolis, you should totally buy blogads from her.

some environmental thoughts: at first glance, plenty makes being green seem very white (and kinda upscale) while grist seems to do a better job of being all inclusive but that raises a new question for me that I don't feel like researching: where are all the black (green) bloggers and environmentalists at?

bonus green link: environment california (I just started supporting them this weekend because I want to have even less money. Ladies love socially conscious broke negroes. LL SCBN is the name of my next album.)

My favorite recording artist of 2006 is...Nina Simone. The re-issues that RCA Victor has put out this year have been incredible. Cop Silk & Soul right now. It includes the Aretha Franklin penned "Save Me" which was the b-side to "Young, Gifted and Black" back before I was born and has never been released on an album or compilation before.

Also hot right now: I wish I knew how to quit Dilla's Donuts and Madlib's Beat Konducta 1-2. Just tons of hot beats for me to head nod too.

Now let me figure out what else in my life I can blow up so I can start the rest of my 31st year from scratch.

Reset.

tags: random 10 | music | nina simone | green | stones throw | consumating

6 of 52: The Colorado Kid

"Now if I live longer, you'll grow faster" - Sia, Little Man

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King (Hard Case Crime, 2005). Since I talked Walter Mosley, it's only appropriate I talk Stephen King. The Colorado Kid is more hit than miss. It is a tight, character-rich, crime mystery with no resolution, but satisfying none the less. Not much more to say, really. The lead character, Stephanie, is a fresh-out-of-J-School curious reporter working for a small-time, small-city paper who obviously is on her way to becoming a hard-boiled investigative reporter. She's the kind of character you'd want a good PI show to be based around. The mystery itself is told entirely in conversation between her and her mentors and loses none of it's intrigue because of it. Every time Stephanie asks a question, she's asking the one you want answered and the responses she gets are always worth it.

I think I'm going to try more of the Hard Case Crime series.

Recommended because good Stephen King is good Stephen King.

tags: books | stephen king | crime fiction | mystery | 52 in 52

5 of 52: Life Out Of Context

"You can run away as long as you choose but at the end of the day, you're gonna lose." - Breakestra, At The End Of The Day

Life Out Of Context by Walter Mosley (Nation Books, 2006). I think it is pretty well established that Walter Mosley and Stephen King are my two favorite authors, right? King has been much more miss than hit lately, for me, but Mosley is consistently strong. His fiction is filled with tight dialogue and atmosphere and settings I can envision crisply in my mind. I walk those LA streets with Easy Rawlins. I found my way in the world of tomorrow in Futureland.

I've had less success with his non-fiction. I'm still not finished with his very short treatise on world peace and while I blew through Life Out Of Context last Sunday on the plane, I still don't quite know how I feel about it. Maybe it's too personal. It is a lot like reading his diary or a workbook of political & social re-thinking and as he breaks down and builds up what matters to him and what he thinks can be done, I'm left feeling a little on the outside looking in. If this is a call for revolution, it isn't a very convincing one. I didn't get off the plane searching for my signs or my megaphone ready to march on Washington.

But Mosley raises some interesting points. He is outraged that more of us aren't outraged at what is happening in most of Africa. He suggests that America is no longer the model for which the world should seek to emulate; that contemporary South Africa is really the type of social and political benchmark that could guide other countries towards non-violent reform.

Those two ideas, at least, hold some weight with me. I want to know more about the current state of affairs in Africa (and this blog is going to reflect that) and my complete and utter disgust with our current political system (which is not working on a national level and which I'm less and less inclined to think can ever work again on a national stage) makes the idea of looking elsewhere for useful, positive and global action awfully appealing.

Alternet is running an excerpt from the book today.

Recommended for being thought-provoking.

tags: books | walter mosley | life out of context | 52 in 52 | politics | activism

The Nooner

"Shut your mouth." - The Clash, Clash City Rockers

The first and only video I've ever posted to youtube is:

40 seconds of "Shake That Ass" by The Lovemakers live at Eternal (I think) last week at SXSW Music.

The next Blognosis post will be on feeds, rss and the other goodies that make it easier for me to keep track of you.

But for now:

- I'm talkin' Square Biz to ya baby. Square square biz.
- A good interview with the new SNL kids over at the AV club.
- Laina Dawes, whose beauty was in pictures here just last week, is now the contributing editor for race & ethnicity at blogher.
- Okay. This is funny.
- I'm hoping against that one of my mom's outfits didn't just get fugged. I'm pretty sure she didn't make this one, though. At least I hope so.
- new blog of interest: ironic sans
- My former intern dave is ruining Simon Cowell's life and getting interviewed by Wired Magazine. I'm so proud.
- how many blog posts are sitting in the queue of my mind waiting to be posted? about 6 i think and half of them have to do with sxsw. ugh.

tags: blogs | american idol | blogher | teena marie | snl | youtube | the lovemakers

Blognosis - Poppin' Tags

"We goan stay hustlin' on that corner til we caught." - Jay-Z, Poppin' Tags

There are far better discussions of tags and tagging than you'll get here. I just want to break it down real quick for the blog fam who might not be up on it. Hell, I've been knowin' for a minute -- since last year's SXSW, in fact -- but have been real lax in using the technorati tags until last week. Lynne has been doing it for a while now and I'm tempted to go back in my archives a bit and do my most recent entries correctly but let's get to some basics first.

Have you been to technorati? Have you claimed all your websites? You really should. Technorati isn't perfect but it does keep a very expansive track of everything that's going on in blogs (not to mention other stuff that use tag conventions like flickr and buzznet). So, you know, head on over there, register, get the little piece of code and add it somewhere in your website (preferably the sidebar, header or footer so it is on every page) and see what people are saying about your posts. For example, here's what the blog world has been saying about negroplease.com.

But let's talk about tags. Do you use the categories feature in your blog software? If you do, you're essentially tagging your stuff. It allows you, or anyone else, to go through your archives and look for every time you catalogued something as "music" or "football" or "my very secret secrets" or maybe some mixture of all of the above. If you've used flickr or del.icio.us or buzznet or that new thing I've been working on, blognet, you've also been encouraged to use tags there. It's simply a way to categorize things so that you can search for them later, or in this case, so you can search for other people discussing the topic through technorati right now.

You've probably noticed that at the bottom of my most recent posts there has been a little something extra that looks like this

tags: tag1 | tag2 | tag3

For a really good explanation of what that's all about, read Technorati's discussion of tags. The idea is pretty simple: at the end of my posts, I insert some links that identify what I'm talking about and head to searches on technorati that are tagged similarly (or categorized similarly or have been found by technorati to be about that given subject). Inserting a tag is just like inserting a normal URL. You're going to write out the name of the tag -- like this post is all about technorati so I should tag it as technorati and then you're going to add the url http://www.technorati.com/tag/technorati to that word. So now we've got

tag: technorati

If you click on that, you'll see all the most recent discussion of the favored blog search engine. But, I also want people to know that I've talked about other services and tags in particular and blogging overall so I'll add the rest of my tags

tags: del.icio.us | flickr | buzznet | blognet | tags | blognosis | blogging

The cool thing about tags is that you determine the words you want to use. I've been using the tag bwb for discussions that I consider as "blogging while black" and I've added "blognosis" to this one even though I don't imagine that anyone else is using that tag. I'm creating my own context for all my writing and making my posts  more accessible for both old and new readers.

We be poppin' tags, baby. We be poppin' tags.

The Nooner

 "Remember, remember, you promised me." - Hole, Dying

I'm back home. I'm exhausted. I might, in fact, be smelly (I haven't washed clothes in 2 weeks). I'm at work. I haven't had the chance to talk to anyone who has called, emailed, texted or sent birthday wishes. Thanks y'all. Y'all will hear from me soon I'm sure.

Not the final word on SXSW 2006: It was, once again, a complete rejuvenation of my mind. It's time to do big things (big things baby!) with my life.

Miss Martini - The first in my series of blogging tips - Blognosis - is coming soon and, yes, it will be about that softly viral wonder and friend of archivists everywhere: tags.

But, for now, some stuff:

• last.fm doesn't have any music from The Gossip but I'm really enjoying their artist fan radio anyway.
• music filter, who I look to for the daily bullet on music news, is going on hiatus for a bit.
• I was just saying this weekend that I wanted private del.icio.us options and whoomp, there it is.
• Dwayne Wade would be my choice for league MVP. Nobody asked but Avery Johnson is my Coach of the year.
• Endangered Species?
• DJ Premier and Christina Aguilera? Really now?
• Brother J is in LA now? Is that a good enough excuse for me to talk about X-Clan on LAist? Maybe so, maybe so...
  

tags: music | lastfm | x-clan | nba | the gossip | black america
| del.icio.us