I realize that some of you don’t consider internet radio to be “real radio.” If that is what you think, I would suggest to you that you might want to reconsider that perspective. Check out this article from Jennifer Lane and keep in mind that there
are LOTS of folks listening…
————-

Internet Radio Stations Play More Artists than Broadcast Stations

The number of unique artists played on Internet radio stations is more than 32 times the number of unique artists played on
broadcast/terrestrial radio. According to data supplied by streamSerf, a company that monitors and reports on music played on terrestrial, Internet and satellite radio stations, last month broadcast radio stations played 25,399 unique artists (US, including public radio stations) while Internet radio stations played 829,971 unique artists in the same time period!

“There is room for a more diverse, less centralized music scene in the world today – and this is being created and facilitated by technology and internet radio.” says Paul Mockenhaupt, Founder of streamSerf. streamSerf is an important tool that enables independent artists who are marketing their music on the Internet to track their success. “streamSerf.com is the ONLY tool available for these artists to measure their efforts, track their spins, plan their tours, validate their promotional campaigns, find stations that play [similar] music, check their royalty payments, etc.”

It’s not shocking to learn that Internet radio is more diverse. There are more choices for the listener, and more determination by the stations themselves to provide alternative music to the basic cookie-cutter formats and playlists provided on broadcast radio. It is stunning to learn that Internet radio’s list of unique artists is greater than broadcast radio’s by 3600%. (It should be noted that these stats do not even include stations that stream individualized channels,such as Pandora.)

Also interesting is the list of artists that get the most plays on broadcast stations versus Internet radio stations. While some of the top ten artists are the same on either list, others are very different:

According to Mockenhaupt, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. He says the real story isn’t in the top 10, or even the top 1000…” it’s the new, fresh, undiscovered, local, home grown music that’s filling the internet airwaves!” Internet radio gives voice to the long tail of music, providing entry for many musicians that have never had a platform before. That, he says, is the “magic” of Internet radio…

The quintessential soul songstress delivers the first single from her forthcoming album “Unexpected”, the follow up to 2006’s “The Art of Love & War”. “Unexpected” will be available on Stax this November 24th and is produced by Angie Stone and John McClain. “I Ain’t Hearin’ U” is a classic Angie track with her signature honey coated vocals, but the up-tempo production will have you rockin’ with Ms. Stone like never before. You will definitely want to “hear” this over and over again!

Angie Stone Unexpected – In Stores November 24th Stax Records

Listen To Angie Stone: I Ain’t Hearin U

Connect with Angie Stone: Angie Stone Online

Pre Order Here: Angie Stone’s Unexpected

ANGIE STONE EXPECTS THE ‘UNEXPECTED’ ON NOVEMBER 24
R&B Star’s New Album is 2nd for Legendary Soul Label Stax Records

R&B/soul luminary Angie Stone has never shied away from pushing her own limits and the limits of her music. With each new recording, with each next step in her career, she has consistently hit the world with something it didn’t see coming. Angie’s new album, Unexpected, set for release on November 24th from Stax Records (a division of Concord Music Group), encompasses a diversity of styles and influences that Stone has distilled over the years – rap, R&B, soul, funk and more – and weaves them together in a narrative that addresses life’s ups and downs, but ultimately strikes a redemptive chord.

Angie Stone - Click Here For Discography

“I wanted this album to be something different,” says Stone, whose 2007 Stax debut, The Art of Love & War, was her first album to top Billboard’s R&B/hip-hop chart. “I didn’t want to make the kind of neo-soul record I had made in the past. That would have been repetitive.”

But in the midst of mapping this new direction, Stone encountered a shock that even she didn’t see coming. Mid-way through the recording process, her father – Stone’s spiritual anchor and creative mentor since her childhood in South Carolina – passed away very suddenly. “It was totally unexpected,” she says, “and that’s where I came up with the title of the album. I really didn’t think I could finish the project, because I was so grief stricken.I had to do a lot of the vocals a second time. I had to lean on my dad’s wisdom and energy, and try to be open to what he would have wanted me to do in order to finish the songs. I can say that his spirit was literally there in the studio with me, and I’m grateful for that.”

Out of this tragedy comes Unexpected, the next step forward for Stone, a stretch beyond whatever limits – real or perceived – she might have been facing when the project began. From the get-go, the quick and funky title track – with its backbeat inspired by Sly Stone’s 1971 hit, “Family Affair” – warns the listener to “Prepare yourself for just about anything.” Equally energetic is the album’s first single, “I Ain’t Hearin’ U,” a song that decries rumor and gossip. The track is co-written by vocalist and songwriter Juanita Wynn, Stone’s collaborative partner for several years.

“I Don’t Care” is a proclamation of self-acceptance and self-assurance, based on sound spiritual advice that Stone received early on: “My dad always used to tell me, ‘Don’t worry about what people say. They can’t change anything. Whatever God wants for you is most important.” “Tell Me” settles into a techno groove wherein the dual vocals by Stone and Wynn – artfully co-produced by Kerrim “Ikon” King and Fitzroy “Art Teacher” Reid – create a wall of sound that’s augmented by an edgy delivery from rapper Dose.

Angie Stone

“Think Sometimes” is a poignant ballad inspired in large part by Stone’s late father. “It’s funny how people can slip away so fast, and suddenly they’re in your past,” she says. “You wonder about what you could have – or should have – done differently. It’ll make you think sometimes.”

Unexpected represents a turning point for Angie Stone – not just in her career, but in her life and her world view. And while the losses that triggered the transformation may be painful, the artist and her work are stronger because of them. “This album is something that no one would have anticipated coming from me. My father always encouraged me and everyone else he knew to reach out and make a leap of faith, and that’s exactly what I’ve done.”

I heard this Thursday from several sources, but I don’t have any further info right now. When I get more info I’ll pass it on.

Of course he was yet another of the big time DJ’s I used to listen to in NYC when I was a kid. But the rest of yall know Hank Spann too even if you never heard him on the radio.

WWRL Flyer f. Hank Spann.
Click For Larger View

He is the kinda “narrator” on the song SAME BEAT by the JB’s. In fact the song starts off with Hank Spann saying…

::THE JB’S LIVE AND BADDDDDDDD::

Followed by that NASTY GROOVE….
….then the infamous chicken (rooster???)

& Hank Spann says….

:::THIS IS SOLID FUNK::::

…..followed by the chicken (rooster?)….then more of that NASTY GROOVE

then…..Hank comes back in and says….

::::FOR THA PEOPLE::::::

And then out of nowhere

COMES…..THA….FUNK….BOMB

(that blew our minds the first time we heard it)

THE REVEREND JESSIE JACKSON

I am S-O-M-E-B-O-D-Y
I am S-O-M-E-B-O-D-Y
(crowd cheers)

I may be unemployed
But I am S-O-M-E-B-O-D-Y
(crowd cheers)

I may be unskilled
But I am S-O-M-E-B-O-D-Y
(crowd cheers)

I may be uneducated
But I am S-O-M-E-B-O-D-Y
(crowd cheers)

I may be in jail
But I am S-O-M-E-B-O-D-Y
(crowd cheers)

…and Hank comes back in and says

BADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

The title of this song may be a joke. A PLAY ON THE FACT THAT James Brown’s songs all sounded the same.

But it’s groove, message and it’s subversiveness are serious as a heart attack!!!

“Same Beat” is one of the greatest moments in the history of FUNK music.

…& mah man Hank Spann serves as our “tour guide” for the journey. Now we will have to get to the destination without him…

RIP Hank Spann

—————–
Bob Davis
earthjuice[at]prodigy.net
bobdavis[at]radioio.com
609-351-0154
——————

Co-Founder www.soul-patrol.com

Hip Hop and Soul Music Director
www.radioio.com
——————-

Links For More Hank Spann Information:

The Urban Network’s Comments on Hank Spann

Alan Furst’s Program Director Blog

Radio Facts

Listen To Hank Spann Open his WWRL show on this Power House Radio Frankie Crocker Tribute Page

NOTE: THIS BAND IS A GAME CHANGER FOR MUSIC

Homemade Jamz Blues Band

Here is the TWITTER REVIEW:

“Pay Me No Mind” & “I Got Blues For You” by the Homemade Jamz Blues Band are two excellent albums done by an amazing band. If you like Classic Soul, Classic Rock & Classic Blues, you will think that you have died and gone to heaven: www.hmjamzbluesband.com

Here is the TWITTER REPLY after being asked “Who in the hell are the Homemade Jamz Blues Band?” They are kinda like a genre busting combination of Elvis Presley,Jackson Five, The Beatles and Wilson Pickett. Their sound is like STAX, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters all rolled into one and they should be bigger than the Jonas Brothers & Miley Cyrus combined (but aren’t): ( Visit >>> Homemade Jamz Blues Band < << Website)

(well that last reply was more than 140 characters, but you get the idea)

As some of you all may recall, I first encountered the Homemade Jamz Blues Band about two years ago on a lazy Sunday morning while watching the CBS Morning News. The Homemade Jamz Blues Band consists of 3 young siblings from Tupelo, MS. (hometown of Elvis) Ryan Perry, 17yrs. old,Kyle Perry, 15yrs old, and Taya Perry, 10yrs. old. Here are the internet links to both the video and the story that I saw at that time.

READ >>>> CBS News Homemade Jamz Story

Watch >>> CBS News Story Homemade Jamz Blues Band

Needless to say I went ballistic after seeing them on TV. I immediately started writing about them. I went to their MySpace page and wrote a message to them asking if they had any recordings available. A few days later I got a reply back from them telling me that they were working on an album and that they would contact me when it was finished. And that was the last thing that I heard from them, till a few weeks ago when I got an email asking if I would be interested in reviewing their second album. I requested that they send me their first one as well.

I suppose that this is that review.

And my recommendation is that you pick up on both albums, not only if you are the least bit interested in Classic Soul, Classic Rock & Classic Blues, but if you are interested in owning a piece of the history of the future of Black music. This is the most compelling artist that I have had the pleasure of listening to in a long time. In fact I would put this music right up there with how I felt the very first time that I was exposed to artists like Jimi Hendrix or the Jackson Five. This is the type of thing that you don’t have to hear twice or wait for anyone else to validate it for you. You don’t need the mainstream media to tell you that this is an artist that you should be interested in. I’ll probably blow them up on BOTH the RadioIO.com Blues and Nu Soul Channels, simply because I find them and their music to be so compelling!!!

And that is also what seems to be so troubling about the Homemade Jamz Blues Band for me. In my mind, two years after I was first introduced to them via the CBS Morning News, tearing up the Blues circuit, producing not one, but TWO TREMENDOUS ALBUMS, with a group that not only features a charismatic 17 year old lead guitarist/lead singer who plays like Jimi Hendrix and sings like Wilson Picket and an 11 year old phunky azz drummer who is as cute as Raven Symonne was when we first met her on the Cosby show, with a backstory that is as American as “apple pie,” the question must be asked…

WHY AREN’T THEY BIGGER????

I mean, from any perspective that you might want to look at this, they are in fact the replacement for the aging (& deceased) Blues legends of the past. There is no doubt that they deliver the goods, both live and on stage.

IMHO the Homemade Jamz Blues Band should be HUGE right now. They should be at the level of Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers and other young artists who don’t have HALF of their talent!!!

It’s not because of a lack of mainstream exposure, if you go to their website, you can see that they have actually gotten quite a bit of that. Perhaps their parents don’t want them to be out there for fear that they might not have a “normal childhood?”

I dunno what the reason is, all I know is that my feeling is that there shouldn’t be a week that goes by that we shouldn’t see them on a major TV show. They probably should have played at least a couple of gigs at the White House by now. Maybe I shouldn’t even be concerned about it and just be happy that the quality of their music is do damn good?

However I can’t let it go. And the reason I can’t is because on multiple levels and for multiple reasons, the Homemade Jamz Blues Band is a GAME CHANGER:

-Not just for music
-Not just for culture
-But in ways that go way beyond anything that we would see in the mass media

They are one of those type of once in a while kinda artists that could literally define the culture of a generation and to re-define it if they stay around long enough. And I care about this so much because my feeling is that the generation that they come from so badly needs that type of an artist…

Anyhow, enough of that!

Here are the track listings for both albums. If you have read this far that means you will probably love them both and if you find yourself short of ca$h during this recession, and you are going to only buy 2 albums this year, you would be extremely happy with your selections if you brought these two.

Click CD Cover to Listen and Buy Homemade Jamz Blues Band

Pay Me No Mind (2008)

1. Who Your Real Friends Are
2. Voodoo Woman
3. The World’s Been Good To You
4. Right Thang Wrong Woman
5. Penny Waiting On Change
6. Blues Concerto
7. Time for Change
8. Pay Me No Mind
9. Jealous
10. Shake Rag 9
11. Boom Boom

Click CD Cover to Listen and Buy Homemade Jamz Blues Band Music available at www.earwaxonline.com

I Got Blues For You (2009)

1. Hard Headed Woman
2. Rumors
3. Dusk Till Dawn
4. Roots
5. Heaven Lost An Angel
6. Loco Blues
7. King Snake
8. Hobo Man
9. Alcoholic Woman
10. In The Wind
11. Grits Ain’t Groceries
12. I Got Blues For You

Homemade Jamz Blues Band – www.hmjamzbluesband.com

Homemade Jamz Blues Bands Music available @ EarwaxOnline.com

I am listening to this album as I am typing this. Anyone else here (besides me) a fan of George Benson???
———-

National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master and 10X Grammy-winning, legendary musician George Benson will release his new album on August 25th entitled Songs and Stories, his second for Concord Records / Monster Music. The album is a collection of tunes penned by some of the most prolific and enduring songwriters of the last half-century. Some
were written specifically for this new recording, such as Bill Withers’ (who came out of retirement to write “A Telephone Call Away” for George), Rod Temperton’s “Family Reunion” and Lamont Dozier’s “Living in High Definition”; while others, including James Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight”, Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We’ll All Be Free” and Tony Joe White’s “Rainy Night in Georgia” were hand-picked by Benson for their ability to convey simple but universal truths about the human experience.

Songs and Stories was produced by Concord’s Grammy winning, creative head John Burk and renowned bassist /composer / producer Marcus Miller. Benson, Miller, keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, guitarist Jubu and drummer John Robinson make up the core unit for the project. They were joined by special guests: guitarists Lee Ritenour, Steve Lukather, Wah Wah Watson and Norman Brown, vocalists Lalah Hathaway and Patti Austin, keyboardist David Paich, saxophonists Tom Scott and Gerald Albright along with several others. “Brother, with that team, you can do just about anything,” said Benson. “We recorded in the studio for three days straight, and everything we touched had something on it that made us all glad we were there. It was just the right mix of people and material.”

And yet, for all of the high-caliber musicians on hand, the most important guests are the songwriters, says co-producer Miller. “Smokey Robinson doesn’t perform on this record, but he’s still a guest,” he says. “Lamont Dozier is a guest. Bill Withers, Rod Temperton and James Taylor are guests. If you take great songs from writers like these, and you put them in the hands of George Benson and a great band, you’d better just get out of the way and let things happen, because the result is going to be something great.”

Indeed, the record captures the somewhat underappreciated essential brilliance of his storied career; the ability to simply touch people through authentic lyrics and beautiful melody. On Songs and Stories, George Benson’s musical artistry has perhaps never been on sharper display.

To celebrate the release of Songs And Stories, fans can visit the official Benson website, georgebenson.com and receive a free mp3
download of “Living In High Definition”, the new song written by legendary composer Lamont Dozier. Additionally on the website, fans can view “The George Benson Sessions: The Making Of Songs And Stories”, a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new record. The series will be updated with a new video each week leading up to and through the August 25 release.

Concord Records is proud to once again partner with Monster Music on presenting the newest George Benson album Songs and Stories on High Definition Surround Sound SuperDisc. The Monster version, also available August 25th, is a specially priced two-disc package that consists of Songs and Stories on compact disc mixed in traditional stereo and a bonus DVD, containing Monster’s High Definition Stereo and Surround mixes. In addition, the bonus DVD features behind-the-scenes video footage of the making of the record including an in-depth interview with George Benson. With its innovative High Definition Surround technology Monster Music is revolutionizing the listening experience. Mastered in the highest resolution possible, HDS SuperDiscs are specially engineered to capture the true harmonic depth and tonal richness of the music. THX certified HDS SuperDiscs deliver the music through a 5.1 speaker system just the way the artist heard it in the studio when it was recorded, the way they intended you to hear it.

Who would ever have predicted that Walter Cronkite would have outlived Michael Jackson?

Last night when I came in from the Chico DeBarge & Joe show @ the Keswick (Chico Debarge was off the chain btw, serious hard core combo Marvin Gaye/D’Angelo ultra phunky neo soul action), I flipped on CNN. And it was wall to wall Walter Cronkite as I sat & watched, I thought about several things…

1. How many people under the age of 40 even know who/ what/why Walter Cronkite?

2. The time I met Walter Cronkite (at the Ed Bradley Memorial Service) and how he seemed like such a tiny person.

3. Telling the “truth”

I also thought about a research paper that I had done for my High School AP Amerikan History class. We were studying the Army McCarthy Hearings. We did it “Our Town” style where we were given roles and had to act out each person. In order to be able to accuratly “act out each person,” we were also required to write a 10 page research paper on the person.

I was assigned to do Edward R. Murrow and I was pretty happy about that, since Edward R. Murrow was kinda the “darling of the liberal media,” since he was a journalist who was seen as a crusader because he did things like take on the evil Senator McCarthy and fight for humanitarian treatment for migrant farm workers and more. Murrow was a dashing figure who could also just as easily be seen on TV doing a fluff interview with Marilyn Monroe as challenging the evil Senator McCarthy.

In the course of my extensive research on Edward R. Murrow, I learned that Walter Cronkite was none of these things. Although Walter Cronkite had been a contemporary/colleague of Edward R. Murrow at CBS News he was the complete and total antithesis. Walter Cronkite gave you the news straight, he seemingly had no opinions on anything. I had no idea if Cronkite was a Democrat, Republican, Liberal, Conservative, Straight, Gay, Anti this or Pro that. The only thing that I can remember Walter Cronkite being in favor of was the Space Program.

I mean, with Cronkite you just didn’t know what he thought about anything. But you could pretty much be assured that he was giving you the “truth.” And therein was the power that Walter Cronkite wielded on our society.

People want the “truth,” to help them to shape their own “opinions.”

That is far different from today’s world where it doesn’t seem to matter what news outlet or who the reporter is, you will always get the news, but it is always filtered thru the “opinion” of the reporter. Which means that “the truth’ is always elusive. All of the TV news reporters of today are more like descendants of Edward R. Murrow, because we know what their opinions are about most everything. None are like Walter Cronkite, whose opinions we never knew. BTW….I have no problem with news people giving their opinions on things, just as long as I don’t think that their opinions aren’t “brought & paid” for by some corporation. In other words, I even want their opinions to be the “truth” (i.e.; what they really think)

People want the “truth,” to help them to shape their own “opinions.”

And once they become convinced that you are potentially a source for the “truth,” that is trust that will remain forever, as long as you ever become perceived as being a “sell out.”

And that was & is the perception of Cronkite, whatever he said was the “truth.”

That point was driven home to me last night during the Chico DeBarge/Joe concert @ the Keswick. At the concert, a dozen or more people came up to me @ the Soul-Patrol table, many of them brand new subscribers to the Soul-Patrol Newsletter who said to me; “Mr. Davis I just wanted to let you know just how much I appreciated you telling the truth in your review of last week’s concert. Dwele wasn’t worth sh*t and you told it like it was. I agreed with every word that you said.”

Earlier this week there were a number of people who were in “mourning” because of the announcement that VIBE magazine was going to be shut down.

I wasn’t one of those people. Personally I wondered how VIBE could have possibly lasted this long? I had long ago stopped reading VIBE, in any form (with the exception of Mark Anthony Neal’s blog), simply because as far as I was concerned, VIBE had long ago stopped “telling the truth.” In my opinion they had “sold out” to the very same people who had destroyed Black culture and had in fact become “part of the problem,” not “part of the solution.” Their financial support was coming from the very same people that we as
readers were looking to VIBE to provide honest commentary about. As a result even their opinions couldn’t be trusted.

When I attended the memorial service for Ed Bradley at Riverside Church a few years ago, someone introduced me to CBS newsman Randall Pinkston and he in turn introduced me to NBC newsman Lester Holt. They introduced me to CBS newsman Steve Kroft, who in turn introduced me to Walter Cronkite.

I am only 5′9″ so you can imagine my surprise when Walter Cronkite
extended his hand to me and I saw that he was several inches shorter than me. We shook hands and all I could think of was how it doesn’t matter how tall you are if you are a badd mf and tell the truth, you are a giant!!

I don’t think that there are many folks under the age of 40 who know or care about Walter Cronkite. If someone is 40 years old today, then they were about ten years old in 1980 when Walter Cronkite retired from the CBS Evening News. I wonder if they think that “AndersonCooper BillO’ReileyChrisMatthews” are telling them the “truth?” Can their “opinions even be trusted, not to be “brought & paid” for by some corporation?

Anyhow….

….both Joe and Chico DeBarge gave very good perfomances at the Keswick last night. Chico DeBarge in a “black bohemian, I just got outta jail but don’t worry cuz I still got it kinda way & btw I got a new CD” and Joe in a “vegas/ghetto ya may not like it but I’m just about as good as it gets for mainstream R&B in 2009.”

(& dat’s the TRUTH)

RIP Walter Cronkite…

As I sit here this morning watching the CNN of Michael Jackson I am swelling with pride in the accomplishments of “mah people.” These folks directed themselves towards excellence and were able to demonstrate that excellence on the world stage

–Michael Jordan (did it with a frown)

–Magic Johnson (did it with a smile)

–Colin Powell (did it with a uniform)

–Oprah Winfrey (did it with information)

–Michael Jackson (i’m not really sure how he did it)

–Barrack Obama (i’m not really sure how he did it)

These people of course (and others) achieved something that I will call “universal mainstream acceptance.” These great individual achievements of course did not occur in a vacuum, they were achieved on the back of those who came before them.

For example, Obama’s candidacy could not have happened, had it not been for Jessie Jackson’s candidacy 25 years earlier. Colin Powell’s success in the military and in government could not have happened had it not been for the careers of men like Gen. Benjamin O. Davis & Ralph Bunche. Magic Johnson & Michael Jordan’s “universal mainstream acceptance” wouldn’t have happened without the careers of Julius Erving, Earl Monroe & others.

My point is that these achievements happened because of the blood, sweat & tears of other people that created opportunity for talented/hard working people to use as a springboard for their own unique success.

I was discussing this concept with someone here yesterday and he reminded me that although this is quite true of Black American’s who are in the public eye, it’s also quite true of Black American achievement in general over the last 20 years.

The one thing that all of these success stories have in common is that these achievements all come from individuals who are born of something that I will refer to as “the civil rights generation.” That is people who were brought up in a manner and thus have a mentality that suggests that they have a role to play in the overall struggle. That somehow their success can quite literally be traced back to other people who sacrificed in order for them to have a chance to achieve excellence. These people are driven towards excellence and when you tell them that what they want to do can’t be done, they then proceed to accomplish the impossible.

I too am a member of this “the civil rights generation” and as a kid growing up in Brooklyn, the achievements and sacrifice of “local heroes” people like Jackie Robinson, Louis Armstrong, Elston Howard, Adam Clayton Powell, Spider Lockhart, Constance Baker Motley, Lew Alcindor, Bob Teauge, Willie Mays, Lena Horne, Gil Noble and others were certainly “rammed down my throat.”

In addition to those local folks, there were many others that my family made sure that I met and whose “secrets for success”, I internalized. Successful Black Americans who were teachers, artists, doctors, engineers, policeman, and more. These are people whose names would be unknown to the general pubic, but who all sought and achieved “excellence” within the scope that they were permitted to do so.

All of these people (famous and not famous) had an influence on me and my behavior as I moved forward in the world and tried to establish my own mark within it.

On a day like today I am reminded of that and I remember those people and their struggle.

But I am also reminded of just how much things seem to have changed.

It seems to me that over the past 10-15 years, we have moved from “the civil rights generation” and the pursuit of excellence to an era where we are in the “pursuit of mediocrity.”

And it seems that we are perfectly content to “pursue mediocrity” with a vengeance. In fact we aren’t just content with “mediocrity”, but we are overjoyed when we achieve “mediocrity.” It makes me sick when I start to dwell on it for more than a few moments, just how far we have fallen. Some folks love to dwell on the “self-mutilation” that Michael Jackson did to himself. I think that the “self-mutilation” that Black Americans have done to themselves over the past 10-15 years is far worse than anything that Michael Jackson did to himself.

In the work of Michael Jackson we saw the attempt and very often the achievement of excellence. That was a part of his make up, even when he was a little boy, it was there for everyone to see and of course we could all see it. And we can certainly see it in the work of others from his generation, both famous and not famous.

It’s clear to me that we went wrong someplace. It’s even more clear just when and how we went wrong.

“We have met the enemy and it’s us…”
–Pogo

This review also appears on my RadioIO.com Blog at the following link:http://www.radioio.com/genres/hiphop-soul/

This was a straight up spiritual experience today at the Apollo Theatre. It was the ‘Church of Michael Jackson” up in there today and it was something that I was quite unprepared for. You see I had been to the Apollo a few years ago for what was essentially the “wake” of James Brown. I had expected this event, less than a week after the passing of Michael Jackson to be much the same. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

There was no dead body on the stage, as there was at the James Brown wake.. Instead there was a lone barstool, with a familiar looking black fedora, a familiar pair of black shades and a single familiar white sequined glove resting on top of the seat cushion of the barstool. The spotlight shined on the barstool and the items resting on the seat cushion of the barstool glowed.

The crowd entered the lower level of the Apollo in an orderly fashion. They all seemingly had on Michael Jackson T-Shirts, Michael Jackson Baseball caps. Some carried handmade/store brought Michael Jackson banners and posters.

Jonelle Procope CEO and President of the Apollo then came out to speak. She talked about how folks came to the Apollo as soon as they heard about the news of Michael’s passing. Rev Al came out and talked about how the Jackson’s started here at the Apollo and he made the world recognize OUR CULTURE. Congressman Charlie Rangel came on and gave greetings from the Congressional Black Caucus. All of what they had to say was important and most fitting to the occasion. However what they had to say was nearly meaningless after what came next.

And what came next was an EXPLOSION. It was sheer joy.
It made me smile from ear to ear. And it made me understand perhaps for the first time, just why Michael Jackson is/was as big as he is/was.

What came next was indescribable using text. You really had to be there..

If I say something like..

“For the next 30 minutes the packed Apollo crowd was treated to a Michael Jackson MASTER MIX + VIDEO SHOW with legendary rapper CHUBB ROCK leading the crowd”

Then most of you will say “big deal.”

..and you would be correct.

IT WAS A BIG DEAL

In fact it was something pretty damn close to: ::::MAGIC:::::

It can’t be compared to being at any musical event I have ever been to. It was something like being at an amusement park and just watching the joy & happiness on the faces of the people. It was as though it didn’t matter that he had died. People singing.
People dancing. People screaming his name in unison.
The packed Apollo was turned into a house party, for sure.
People “freaking.”
People “moonwalking.”
Young people.
Old people.
Black
White
Hispanic
It was as though there was a “rebirth” right there inside of the Apollo.

NOBODY WAS CRYING

The vibe was incredible. The entire Apollo bonded together as one. I’ve been a Michael Jackson fan since 1969. But after today THE SONGS mean more than they ever did to me before.

When I took the subway back to Penn Station, I encountered two young white girls. They had on Michael Jackson paraphernalia, so I decided to interview them. One was 22 and the other was 23. Neither had been born yet when the “Thriller” album was released.

Later as I added up the sum total of the day, what I had seen, what I had heard, the people I talked with, the people I didn’t, plus the general glow surrounding the Apollo today, I finally came up with a person from the past to compare Michel Jackson to.

It’s not a musical artist. It’s Walt Disney. It occurred to me that Walt Disney was a visionary, who was all about the same kinds of things that Michael Jackson was about. I think that it’s fair to say that Walt Disney had a world view with respect to technology, culture, education and more was similar to that of Michael Jackson.

Except for one difference.

Unlike Walt Disney, Michael Jackson really did figure out a way to place himself into a state of “suspended animation.”

WE HAVE HIS SONGS, WHICH WILL BE HERE FOREVER.

…..And every single time someone spins a record.
Or

….Loads in a CD

Or

…..Clicks a mouse.

Or

….perhaps in the future, summons up a hologram

Over some object, physical or meta physical with the name

::::JACKSON::::

He is going to reappear, and it will be just as if he had never left.

And we are going to smile just as soon as we hear his voice.

Even Walt Disney can’t do that, from the great beyond….

Update: The music of Micheal Jackson live from the Apollo on 6/31/2009 emceed by Chubb Rock, Remarks from Rev Al Sharpton, Apollo President/CEO Jonelle Procope and Congressman Charles Rangel, On site interviews with Queen Mother/Mayor of Harlem, Devena + Two Funky White Chicks. Additional music by Norman Connors and Mellisa Forbes. Broadcast introduced by Joe Jackson, and hosted by Bob Davis

http://www.soul-patrol.net/mj_apollo.ram

Check it out and let me know what cha think?

RIP – Mike

This poem comes from our friend Paradise. A few years ago a few of yall will recall that Paradise was named as Soul-Patrol’s Jazz Artist of the year…
——

THEY JUST BEAT HIM!

by Paradise

They just beat him
Just yesterday
They Finally beat him
Beat him to death
Beat all the black off of him
Beat all the naps off of him
Beat all the song
And the dance
And the music out of him
Beat him like a pinata
Until they knocked
All the goodies out of him
Beat the Soul out of him
Like Rodney King
They just beat him
And beat him and beat him
For 50 years
This world beat him
Made fun of him
And made him their whipping boy
For making great music
For giving us a Thriller of a life
A Thriller of a time
For leaving behind an incredible
Legacy of music and love
And not a single curse word
On any of his songs
Nothing but great art
For the world to cherish forevermore
The number one selling album of all time
On planet Earth
And for this they beat him
Like Emmitt Till and Jesus
They just beat him, beat him
Put him on a cross and beat him
Another messiah bites the dust
For having a beautiful soul
For being too beautiful for this world
For trying to heal the world
And bring salvation back
And bring us together
A humanitarian, a vegetarian
Because he loved animals
Wouldn’t harm a flea
He loved us all
It didn’t matter
Whether you’re black or white
But whites and blacks
Just beat him
Assassinated his character
Blasphemed his name
Held him up against The Wall
And threw rocks at him
Stoned him to death
For trying to Rock With You
For singing about Butterflies
For being a Dancing Machine
They pulled him over
And gave him a ticket
For Moonwalking While Black
For having a Moonwalk
more shocking than NASAs
For being one Giant Step for mankind
They finally popped the King of Pop
And sent him back to Neverneverland
With Peter Pan
And all the other mythical
Mystical, magical creatures
He gave us
Billie Jean, The Love You Save
Never Can Say Goodbye & I’ll Be There
And we gave him creature features
We are the World
And we just beat him
Pulverized him into submission
Teased him to death
The world finally beat Michael Jackson
He’s Out of Our Lives
Are you happy now
Beat him off the planet
Beat all the ebony and ivory off of him
And yet he continues to stand
And he will forevermore be The Man
With the velvet touch
And the Sequined Gloved Hand
Michael Jackson
Invincible
Heeee hee!

(c) 6/26/09 6:30am by Paradise