There is something unreal in the world of fiction. Now get me right; I’ve written fiction, so I understand that unreality is kind of the point. However, it sometimes leaves a plastic sheen that the producers of the work didn’t intend. Writers write too hard. Actors try to hard to achieve the beneath-the-nail grit that…
I’ve always held to the radical belief that writers should be able to write, painters to paint, and singers to sing. Now I’ve had the fortune of marrying a woman who can do all three things, and let me tell you, even for the talented, it’s damned hard to be discovered. Being remembered seems impossible.…
I’m not going to tell you about Angel Haze. Instead, I will let her speak for herself. Down is a direction, not a destination. Don’t live there. If you don’t know Haze, here is one of her big hits, performed with Sia. Now, fuck that. Here’s Haze. Out.
On May 15, 1961, Melvin Glover, aka Melle Mel, was born in the Bronx, NYC. After a brief stint as a B-boy break dancer, Mel took up the mic, as the back spin had become popular, a move the lanky Mel couldn’t do. At that time DJs were popular, but let’s not get it twisted,…
Emeli Sandé, born Adele Emily Sandé (SAN day) is a Scottish songwriter and singer who first came to prominence in 2009 after being featured on rapper Chipmunk‘s first UK Top 10 Singles song, “Diamond Rings.” That was followed by another Top 10 appearance on “Never Be Your Woman,” by rapper Wiley. Her first single,…
I could write pages on my favorite deejay, Christian Winston Foster, aka, King Yellowman, but I’d get too emotional if I were to burrow to deep below the surface layer. Suffice it to say that the shit you’ve dealt with is no larger a pile that what Yellowman has faced his entire life. He grew…
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born 100 years ago today, 25 April 1917, in Newport News, Virginia, in the Tidewater area. She had a difficult childhood, born to a mother who was a laundress and shipyard worker. Ella’s father, William Fitzgerald, eventually left, leaving the two to fend for themselves. Ella’s mom found a new beau,…
There’s something pure about mainstream jazz in combination with street photography. Back before I began going on shoots with my wife, I used to wait until I was in a dark shitty mood, load up with a couple of Nikons, plug jazz into my ears, and go on a shooting spree. My favorite shooting opus…
After my recent “discovery” of Ashley Stevenson, I’ve been thinking a lot about Ed Sheeran’s song “The A Team.” Coincidentally, which is to say, in the Universe’s divine, randomized, perfect organization, I’ve also been mounting my life’s portfolio of street photography and encountered the photo, shown below, of a young woman who was seemingly living…
Viviremos juntos o moriremos separados. Only a fool allows himself to be separated from another based on a third party’s beliefs. Like stone walls, we stand through leaning on one another, absorbing each others’ weight as others absorb ours. Walls built from uniform stones require mortar to stand. Walls built of rock in disparate shape…
Raw, Naked Art 