The World of Reggae Music Collection: Roots and Cultrue

Political Reggae

Often reggae carries a strong political message wrapped inside its intoxicating vibes. Reggae superstars Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, Yellowman, Eek-A-Mouse, and Bob Marley and The Wailers have a broad knowledge of the plight of the poor people around the world. In turn these reggae artists have fashioned brilliant protest songs that bring attention to international social injustice. From Jimmy Cliff’s “Vietnam” to Ziggy Marley And The Melody Makersperforming “Namibia” decades of reggae artists have expressed their political viewpoints through music.

One of my favorite American musicians that often drenches his original music in reggae sounds, Michael Franti, leads the California-based band Spearhead with hard-hitting lyrics. His message of love trumps the political message, but his songs are filled with deep knowledge of social, economic, and political issues. Micheal Franti & Spearhead are a must in this edition of Roots and Culture.

From modern dancehall artists like Busy Signal, Mavado, I-Wayne, Perfect, Sizzla, and Alborosie to the classic reggae bands like the The Mighty Diamonds, Steel Pulse, and Black Uhuruthe mainstream political worldview often comes into question in these great reggae tracks. And there were strong positive-minded individuals from Jamaica like Hugh Mundell and Jacob Miller that pointed out the of the hypocrisies of these bad-minded politicians. Some reggae artists even called for social revolution in their music. Peter Tosh said it best in his song “Equal Rights” “I don’t want no peace. I want equal rights and justice. Gotta to get it. Equal rights and justice.”

1. Jimmy Cliff – Vietnam
2. Yellowman – Leave Iraq Alone
3. Bob Marley and the Wailers – Zimbabwe
4. Peter Tosh – Equal Rights
5. Michael Franti and Spearhead – Crime To Be Broke In America [Explicit]
6. Steel Pulse – Taxi Driver
7. Gregory Isaacs & the Upsetters – Mr. Cop
8. Dennis Brown – Revolution
9. Eek-A-Mouse – Politics
10. Michael Franti & Spearhead – Time To Go Home
11. Jacob Miller – Roman Soldiers Of Babylon
12. Horace Andy – Materialist
13. Horace Andy – Poor Man Style
14. Lucky Dube – Political Games
15. Steel Pulse – Global Warning
16. Alpha Blondy – Apartheid Is Nazism
17. Yellowman – CNN News
18. Bob Marley & the Wailers – I Shot The Sheriff
19. Barrington Levy – Soldier
20. Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers – We Propose
21. Culture – World Peace
22. Alborosie – Police
23. Papa Levi – Bush & Blair
24. I-Wayne – Politics And Religion
25. Yellowman – Aids
26. Mavado – We Need Barack
27. Cocoa Tea – Barack Obama
28. Hugh Mundell – Africa Must Be Free By 1983
29. Steel Pulse – No Justice No Peace
30. Black Uhuru – Youth Of Eglington
31. Big Youth – Political Confusion
32. Busy Signal – Politics
33. Gregory Isaacs, Soul Syndicate, & the Heptones – Black a Kill Black
34. Barrington Levy – Mandela You’re Free
35. Black Uhuru – Solidarity
36. Ranking Trevor & Wailing Souls – War
37. Perfect – Hanging Day
38. The Abyssinians – Forward Unto Zion
39. Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers – Namibia
40. Horace Andy – Leave Rasta
41. Bushman – World State
42. Michael Rose – General Penitentiary
43. Admiral Bailey – Politician
44. Hugh Mundell – Run Revolution A Come
45. Junior Delgado – Hypo
46. Buju Banton – Immigration Law
47. No 1 Station – Bush War
48. Sugar Minott – Nah Go To South Africa
49. Bushman– World Crisis
50. Israel Vibration – Racial Discrimination
51. Sizzla – Black Man In The White House
52. Israel Vibration – Natty Dread
53. Jacob Miller – Jolly Joseph
54. The Mighty Diamonds, Suga Roy, & Conrad Crystal – Police And Bad Boy Strap
55. Joe Higgs – Wave Of War

When the queer community went public with concerns over what turned into the Glenn Mills case, it was a pretty brave action.

Let’s face it, the screaming headlines over the next few weeks about “promiscuous” “bisexual” “homo” “raving lunatic” “bummers” – and that was just John Tamihere on RadioLive – had no problem in stereotyping queer men as murderous predators out to destroy the civilised world.

And just who is the target of that kind of bile?  Not only Glenn Mills of course, but anyone queer, especially anyone queer and male.

Watching John Tamihere justifying his hate speech would almost be funny if I didn’t know so many queer men who have been beaten up for their beautiful queerness.

So firstly, my hat goes off to GayNZ for exposing Glenn Mills’ actions in what resulted in charges for willfully infecting other people with HIV after knowing he was HIV+.

But I also want to consider Mr Mills actions.  One argument is that we should all take personal responsibility for our own sexual safety.  If you become infected with an STD, including HIV, even if the other person knew they had the disease, it’s your responsibility, because you didn’t have safe sex.

This would say that Glenn Mills is not responsible for the people he infected with HIV.  Because who knows how many other people those infected had had unsafe sex with?

I just can’t buy this argument, even though I do believe we all need to be negotiating safe, hot, consensual sex with our lovers.  I believe if I choose to have unsafe sex and I have an STD, it’s like choosing to drive when I know I am pissed or stoned – I take other people’s lives in my hands.

This has got nothing to do with sexuality – and it has everything to do with sexuality.  Australian researcher Michael Flood found that straight men don’t like using condoms because:

1. It means they have “negotiated” sex with women rather than taken control of sex
2. Male sexual pleasure in penetration is supposedly reduced with condom use – and if that’s all you think sex is, and you think your pleasure is most important…..
3. The male sex drive is “out of control” – using a condom kills the moment by showing how in control men actually are
4. Masculinity is associated with taking risks – safety is women’s work
5. You don’t need to take precautions with “good” women, only “bad” women

Michael argues that the best safe (male-female) sex involves men looking critically at their sexual practise:

We have to make consent the absolute bedrock of our sexual practises and relationships.  What’s more, this requires explicit verbal negotiation.

For many women in relationships with men, avoiding the pressure to have sex without condoms is a constant battle.  Don’t believe me?  Try visiting any community health clinic for young people and listen to the stories of the staff.  Or talking to women who have sex with men for any length of time.

Men may also try to refuse to use condoms when they purchase sex, especially when they are purchasing sex with women who have been trafficked into prostitution.

Now Glenn Mills is dead, on the eve of the court case that would have no doubt been plastered all over every media opportunity in Aotearoa.   It’s hard to blame him for that choice at least – who wants their sex life taken apart in court?

For those it seems he infected though, I wonder if it is enough, to know they stopped further infection.   The gay community continues to take responsibility for this issue in a responsible way, by offering counselling to those effected by Glenn Mills’ actions.

And the ever-delicious Michael Franti joins Michael Flood in my book as a pro feminist man-who-has-sex-with-women extraordinaire when he asks:

“Was it really all that magic, the times I didn’t use a prophylactic?”

Video Posted to YouTube by FrantiV.

Tell me why the grass was greener years ago, I swear it used to grow here.  But no more here.” Michael Franti and Spearhead, All Rebel Rockers.

Consistent message from this man and his group: peace, love, compassion for the earth and the peoples of the earth. Can’t argue with that. Sytle, evolving.  Good stuff.

Video post to YouTube by PortiaParker.

War is over if you want it.” Portia Parker.

Perhaps it lacks the polish and sophistication of  Vietnam era John Lennon’s song Imagine or World War One era Wilfred Owen’s poem That Old Lie, or the perspicacity of Michael Franti’s Power to the People, but you can’t fault the sentiment. Portia Parker is right: peace is a choice. Hooray for the younger generation.  :-)

A month or so back, when the national election was but only days from being held, Michael Franti & Spearhead wrote a new song – a political song – that wound up in many of their concert reviews:

Towards the end of Franti’s two-and-a-half-hour set, he paused to make his third comment of the evening about U.S. president-elect Barack Obama. “I hope this gives us some good change and that it spreads all over the world,” he said, before speaking about how it was “an incredibly emotional experience to be voting for Barack Obama” and launched into a song that he said he and Spearhead “just wrote.”

The song featured a chorus with only two words: Barack Obama. (Though we don’t know the title of this song, we can only assume it’s also called “Barack Obama.”) The verses, meanwhile, featured a mixture of lyrics about the president-elect and the usual “Yes we can” optimism that the Obama campaign introduced to the world. That might seem a little bit ridiculous, but the crowd loved it and Franti had them in his hand the entire evening.(Source: ChartAttack)

Well, that tune is now out and up on iLike as a free download. It’s called “The Obama Song,” and boy, is it catchy.

You can get that song as a free MP3 download here. Check it out!

- Say Hey (I love you) by Michael Franti (a great pick-me-up tune for the start of the week)

- The Rush by Dashboard Confessional

- Kountry Gentleman by Family Force 5 (this song makes me laugh so much ‘business up front, party in the back’)

- Forbidden Colours by Ryuichi Sakamoto

- Seasons of Love by the cast of the movie RENT

Shoes: They slide on, laces or velcro, hugging the parts of your body the very furthest away from your complex sensory organs. Your feet? If they work properly, you may not think about them at all, other than an occasional check to make sure that the nails are trimmed and that no odorous goo is accumulating in the weathered crevices.

Yet, there are a lot of people who spend a lot of time thinking about their feet. And I don’t mean marathon runners or those who fret about “toe cleavage.” And there are also a lot of people who think about your feet, even if you don’t have plantar fasciitis.

I have written before about Nike’s hilarious and absurd “Indian shoes” and how corporations can engage in eugenic-style biological determinism in order to create ethnic consumer identities. Fun stuff. But the corporate interest in creating customers is pretty obvious. What is also interesting is how people have taken shoes to become flourishes associated with their own identities. They don’t need a shoe-selling corporation to cause them to think about shoes. They just do it. Shoes. Uh Muh Gaw.

Now, I don’t know enough about Carrie Bradshaw and women’s fashion to talk about the python heeled Proenza Schouler. But I did read this super depressing piece in the Village Voice about the “Mayor of Sneakerdom.” It’s about a grown man who has 1,400 pairs of sneakers and the culture that surrounds the shoe collecting scene. People wait in lines for limited edition new shoes that are coming out. They trade them and sell them. They seal them in bags and don’t wear them. The “Mayor” estimates that his shoe collection is worth $300,000.

This article was not a shock to me. I have some familiarity with this scene by virtue of my time hanging out around Hip-Hop culture. The range of shoe fetishists there goes from actually impressive artistic creativity on the part of those who produce custom-made sneakers to mere industry whoring. And again, this is nothing new. There’s a famous story about the time that a shoe company exec saw Run DMC in concert and saw thousands of kids holding their shoes aloft during a performance of “My Adidas.” The link between Hip-Hop and commercialism was altered forever with Run DMC’s $1.5 million deal with Adidas in 1986, and the war between art and commerce has been welded to the soul of  Hip-Hop ever since.

But it’s still a little weird since the main things I want to know about shoes is, “Were they made in a sweatshop?” and “How much computing power do they have?“

I own a pair of the Adbuster Black Spots, but leafing through the pages of the numerous “shoe blogs” that are out there makes me want to take the advice of this gentleman (and this one) and just go barefoot.

It was after I first went vegan, which was the beginning of 2005. Unfortunately, due to some heinous food allergies, I’m no longer vegan. (The wheat allergy makes faux meats next to impossible, amongst other things). Anyway, I was a hard core vegan. Everything was animal-free, down to my toothpaste. I still keep as much of my life as vegan as possible because I really do think it’s a better way to live. But in 2005, I was a newbie vegan looking for veg literature and role models. You can’t really find a better veg role model than Michael Franti, who takes the principle of ahimsa into every aspect of his life. He lives peace. He breathes it. He was one of my first vegan inspirations. Then I heard his music and it was awesome! Here’s the issue of Herbivore where I first heard of Michael Franti.

I never thought I’d see the day a Michael Franti song would be on one of those “Now” compilations. I think it’s the “Now 32,” either the regular or the dance version. I guess there’s two now… It’s pretty cool, actually. I can’t even remember how I got into Franti now. But getting on a “Now” CD opens him up to a mainstream audience he wouldn’t have otherwise reached. Get your hands on some of his music, even if it’s just his awesome “Say Hey” song that’s on “Now 32.” I think I listened to that on song on repeat for weeks after it came out. I’ve never failed when trying to turn people onto Franti’s music. He’s just got great records and he’s a fascinating guy. I doubt he’ll buy a pair of shoes now that he’s “hittin’ the big time” of the “Now” compilations…but in the least, he can gain more fans. I couldn’t imagine my life without his music.

Wait, I just remembered where I first learned about him!

Be right back…

John Mayer will be hitting the road in February to support his upcoming album, Battle Studies. The winter/early spring tour launches February 8th and will make several Canadian stops:

February 13 – Toronto (Air Canada Centre)
February 16 – Ottawa, (Scotiabank Place)
February 17 – Montreal (Bell Centre)
April 1 – Vancouver (General Motors Place)
April 3 – Calgary (Pengrowth Saddledome)
April 4 – Edmonton (Rexall Place)
April 6 – Saskatoon (Credit Union Centre)
April 7 – Winnipeg (MTS Centre)

Michael Franti & Spearhead will be guests on the tour. Most dates on the tour will go on sale November 21st, with a pre-sale for Amex card holders Nov. 16-20.

Mayer will also be performing on The Late Show with David Letterman on November 19th.

I stated in a recent post that I while I am a John Mayer fan, I prefer his bluesy side with the JM Trio as opposed to his more introspective work. Here’s an example of what I mean:

I absolutely love this music video.  It reminds me of song and dance loving people of Rio de Janeiro (although this is most definitely not Samba or Bossa Nova, styles of music that the city is known for).

Back in the last century, a song arrived on the scene that captivated audiences for like, weeks.  That song: Lou Bega’s Mambo No. 5.  Here’s the backstory about how it entered my life…

I was backpacking through Europe with one of my sisters, and I met up with my other sister in Italy.  She told me above this crazy song she kept hearing everywhere, and I didn’t encounter it until arriving in Amsterdam.  As a joke, I bought the single to give to her upon returning home, but little did I know that while we were travelling, our place of employment (Circuit Shitty) started playing Mambo No. 5 on the in-house TV network.  Joke ruined.

Exciting, I know.  It’s taken me many, many years, but I might have found the predecessor to Bega’s catchy minor hit, but I’m not sure which one lives up to it more.  The options:

• Michael Franti and Spearhead may have saved the day by stopping by to Say Hey.
• Or maybe Pitbull (seriously, that’s his name) got a bite on the competition, and pooped out the earworm I Know You Want Me.

As refreshers, here You(Tube) go:

Mambo Number 5

Say Hey

I Know You Want Me

As I learned somewhere a long time ago, if you can’t figure something out, just make a chart.  Was it a friend?  A parent?  Or a math teacher?  We’ll never know.

Solved!!!!1!

If you’re looking for guidance or challenge in regards to yoga, I highly recommend “Power to the Peaceful Yoga” with musician, Michael Franti, and yoga gurus Sharon Gannon and David Life. Michael Franti is the creator and lead vocalist of a band called Michael Franti & Spearhead. He is also an outspoken supporter for a wide spectrum of peace and social justice issues, which is apparent in this DVD. Sharon Gannon is a yoga master, author, animal activist, and artist with a commitment to yoga as a path for spiritual activism and activation. Both she and David Life cofounded the Jivamukti Yoga Method, which emphasizes vinyasa, scriptural study, devotion, prayer, music, and meditation, as well as animal rights, veganism, environmentalism, and political activism as paths to enlightenment.

I’ve been following “Power to the Peaceful Yoga” for almost a year now and I still feel enlivened by it.  Although it’s at an intermediate level, it provides clear direction and insight. It treats yoga as so much more than a routine to burn calories or tone up. I think it stays true to the origins of yoga…a practice of cleansing and improving oneself internally outward; a discipline to attain a more considerate and inclusive perspective on that which is larger than ourselves.

Keep the Peace
C

I was talking to my guru-esque cousin Kathryn last night about life and stuff. We are Olympic-caliber life-discussers. I attribute about 92% of all the good advice I’ve ever gotten directly to her, typically while sitting on her couch eating popcorn and drinking baby Cokes, the kind in the 6.5 ounce returnable glass bottles. They’re the best. If they stocked baby Cokes at the UN, those clowns might make better decisions.

So I called Kathryn in the midst of a mild existential crisis, predicated by the end of my relationship with my boyfriend of the past four months (a spectacularly fiery blowout, really impressive) and onset of winter. Feeling stagnant and kind of frustrated, I longed for her brilliance. For clarity.

I’m torn right now between my responsible self (see previous post) and the part of me that wants to buy that pink RV I saw for sale by the side of the road. That part of me wants to see the sun rise over the Grand Canyon in the morning and set over the Pacific Ocean in the evening. The wanderer, ever restless.

The wandering part of me wants more than a safe, academic life. It wants me to be a writer, someone who eats cereal at 2am while pounding out a chapter, who rejects conventional ideas about an appropriate bedtime for a 37 year old adult.

At the same time, this scares the shit out of me.

Because by golly I could fail miserably after months of slacking off, end up living in my parents basement watching TV at 2am and wondering where my life went tragically wrong.

I tell Kathryn this and she gently says, “Have you ever done that before?”

Well, no.

“Do you think you’re a slacker?”

No, probably not. I have a PhD and I ran a marathon and wrote a textbook and everything. So just maybe I’m a hard worker. “So what do you think I should do?”

“I think you need to do the thing that scares the shit out of you.”

It’s powerful medicine, to think of life this way. To turn it upside down and realize that what excites us and what scares us are just two sides of the same coin.

I still don’t know what the next phase of my life is going to look like. I have it good here, and I like my job. But it’s an enlivening thing to be open to that which is terrifying, to know that that which threatens and scares us might actually be the path, the way.

So what about you? What scares the shit out of you, and what are you going to do about it?

And when you feel scared, why not turn to Michael Franti?

From: Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth!

Oct 3, 2009
AE911Truth Booth at SF Power To The Peaceful Concert
— Michael Marino and Scott Beery

AE911Truth joined forces with the Northern California Truth Alliance headed by Carol Brouillet at a rally for 9/11 Truth in the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park on Saturday morning, September 12th. We then marched up Ashbury Street to Haight Street and up to Golden Gate Park with the AE911Truth banner “Hundreds of Architects & Engineers Demand a Real Investigation,” where we entered into the arena of the Power To The Peaceful Festival. We set up the powerfully branded AE911Truth exhibit booth which drew a lot of attention throughout the day.

We distributed stacks of information about the evidence for explosive controlled demolition on 9/11 to a curious crowd.

I held a large banner that had printed on it “9/11 Truth Now,” and was asked by some young people “…what is the truth”? It was virtually impossible to hold a conversation over the blaring speakers that rattled one’s body even 75 yards from the stage, but shouting I did manage to convey the addresses of some websites for future reference and hand out the AE911Truth evidence-based “street brochures.”

It was a great day and thousands of people saw our banners: “Open A New Investigation Into 9/11,” “9/11 Truth Now,” and “STOP The Cover-UP.” The undercover cops were kind ⎯ asking if they could take our pictures.

Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney dropped in and made a rousing speech that brought a roar from the ecstatic crowd.

Although the event was a big hit and enjoyed by so many, there continues to be a large number of peace advocates who are not particularly interested in our message “9/11 Truth brings Peace.” This is the ongoing challenge we face in the struggle to open a real investigation, but progress is being made. Hopefully the sun will shine on us next year and we will hear some serious talk about the reality of the 9/11 problem that got us involved in the Middle East.

Sunday at Austin City Limits Music Festival 2009 ended up being the best day of music that I have ever seen at the event. Pearl Jam and Michael Franti and Spearhead ripped my face off. Clear skies prevailed overhead, but underfoot the trodden earth remained in a state of mud. Indicative of the diversity of the Austin music scene, the day progressed from dance pop to Texas rock to country to hip-hop-jam-band fusion to pure grunge rock.

The day began with the light-hearted dance pop of the Atlanta-based group the The B-52’s. From past punk pop classics like
”Private Idaho” to the new electronic dance hits like 
”Funplex” the The B-52’s covered tunes from all eras of their musical catalog.
The pop ballad “Roam” electrified the crowd, while fun songs like
”Strobe Light,”
”Hot Corner,” and
”Love in the Year 3000″ kept the crowd dancing. The The B-52’s pleased the audience capping the set with their mega-pop-hits
”Love Shack” and
”Rock Lobster.”

From the pop of the 1980s and 199s I transitioned to the alternative and grunge rock sounds of the North Texas-based rock band The Toadies. The sounds of the rock music of the 1990s and 2000s elicits memories about my teenage years. The new album No Deliverance has some chops like the tune “No Deliverance,” but I really like the tunes from the early album Rubberneck, such as “Backslider,” “I Come From The Water,” and
”Tyler.”
 And of course the song that took the cake at ACL was “Possum Kingdom.” The north Texas rockers played a very nice version of this hit song about murder behind a boathouse.

The Miami-based Raul Malo brought American roots music and the wonderful power of multiculturalism to ACL. Western Swing, Jazz, Country, and Latin rhythms collide in Raul Malo’s music. If Frank Sinatra, Bob Wills, and Freddie Fender had a baby, then it might look and sound a lot like Raul Malo. The former Mavericks front man opened with
”Every Little Thing About You” and played
the beautiful track “Lucky One.” The song
”Dance The Night Away” had people of all ages dancing in the mud. And finally
”It Only Hurts Me When I Cry” displayed the crooning ability of Raul Malo’s marvelous voice.

Michael Franti & Spearhead brought the house down. The set list included several songs from the new album All Rebel Rockers, which in my opinion is one of the best albums of 2009. New songs like “Say Hey (I Love You)” and
”A Little Bit Of Riddim” have been reggaefied and funkdafied and make for amazing live music. Franti pulled songs from earlier albums too like the fun song
”Hello Bonjour,” but the new tracks like
the “Rude Boys Back In Town” rocked the house.

The bass got louder with “Everybody Ona Move” and then Franti rocked us from the
”East to the West” before having us
”Yell Fire!.”
Michael Franti showed his sensitive side with two different heart-felt version of “Hey World (Don’t Give Up Version).” Then Spearhead set the stage on fire with the powerful message tune “Everyone Deserves Music” and the soul power ballad
”I Got Love For You.” The band concluded with their popular new dancehall track
”Say Hey (I Love You),” which little kids and old people alike sang together at the top of their lungs. People danced, sang, and cried. It was kind of like a spiritual revival. Michael Franti and Spearhead are a must see live music act. Their musical power cannot be understated.

After being awed by Spearhead I turned around to see Pearl Jam open their set with the 1990s power ballad “Why Go” from the legendary album Ten. We raced to the front of the main stage as the spectacular day of live music continued. The Pearl Jam set list included many well-known songs like “Corduroy” and my favorite tune “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter in a Small Town.”
From newer tracks like “World Wide Suicide” to old-school favorites like
”Even Flow,” Pearl Jam wailed and rocked and kicked out the jams. I had heard a lot of hype about Pearl Jam and it seems to all be true. These guys a true blood rock and rollers.

The set continued with sing-a-longs to “Daughter” and rip-roaring guitars over the
”State Of Love And Trust.” The new single “The Fixer” from the album Backspacer sounded as fresh as the older tunes, driving hard guitars over quality vocals and lyrics. Pearl Jam’s music making and song writing have stayed crisp and hard hitting. 
”Go” and then
”Red Mosquito” featuring special guest  Ben Harper on pedal steel kept the crowd in a constant state of awe. 
The hard rockin’ continued with “Do The Evolution” and The Who cover with
”The Real Me.”

Pearl Jam’s grand finale killed. “Alive” brought the crowd to a fevered pitch when Eddie Vedder invited a very special guest to the stage. Perry Farrell came to the stage in front of an astounded crowd for a rip-roaring cover of Jane’s Addiction “Mountain Song.” The kings of alternative rock aligned for an energetic cover a classic grunge-era tune. The boys from Seattle capped the night with an amazing version of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

With the cold & rainy New York weather bringing us quickly into the fall season, it is sad to think that summer is over & far gone. But this summer has seen some great music with many great bands & artists emerging..

Drake, a Canadian actor/rapper, saw his single, “Best I Ever Had”, enter the top ten on the Hot 100 Billboard chart in July. Affiliated with Lil Wayne’s, Young Money Entertainment, he has already collaborated with the likes of Kanye West, Eminem, Jay-Z, & Mary J. Blige. This is one rap song summer of ‘09 can say was the best it’s ever had.

Lady Gaga, heavily influenced by such artists as David Bowie & Freddie Mercury, has seen huge success this summer. Extremely unique & known for her interesting outfits (bubbles, bird nests, lace from head to toe..need I say more?), Lady Gaga is one of a kind. A pop artist who actually sings live & is true to herself on & off stage, her single, “Paparazzi”, is going strong in the top ten of several Billboard music charts. Did her performance at the 2009 VMA’s or her Best New Artist VMA help? Whether or not being soaked in blood hanging from the ceiling helped launch her single, Lady Gaga is going to be around for a while, I mean she isn’t bluffin’ with her muffin & that’s really important in an artist right?

Kings of Leon, the Nashville based band made up of three brothers & one cousin, has had their single, “Use Somebody”, consistently on the Billboard charts & on the radio. While not released during the summer, this song is one of the best of the season. It’s lyrics of longing for someone & hoping they notice you make it so relatable to people of all ages, and plus they have a song called “Sex on Fire”, & that’s just great.

This next band is one who has been around for almost fifteen years, but just had their first single break into the top 40 on the Billboard charts. Michael Franti & his band, Spearhead, fuse hip-hop, reggae, & funk to create a high energy message of peace. Their single, “Say Hey (I Love You)”, is currently sitting at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, & they just recently wrapped up a tour with the Counting Crows & Augustana. I caught one of their shows in beautiful Central Park & have never seen a more energetic & fun band besides Spearhead. Feeling like you are at a party when at their show, they suck you into their love & commitment to their songs, their music, & their global activism. They are an inspiring band, themselves inspired greatly by Bob Marley. Plus, Michael Franti himself never wears shoes EVER, & that’s pretty cool too.

Catchiest tune of summer ‘09 goes to: Miley Cyrus’, “Party in the USA”. Although she’s not many people’s music of choice, you can’t disagree with me. When she tells you to ‘nod your head like yeah’ & ‘move your hips like yeah’, I know you do it, how can you not??

So there you have it, some great songs & artists of the summer of 2009. There were many more great songs, these are just a few. Let’s hope the next summer gets here quick, & with it brings some more great music.

As a contender for the Democratic ticket for Mayor of Albany, Corey Ellis offered a glimpse of a leader who counted vacant buildings correctly, spoke of hard times honestly, demanded transparency in government, and presented the possibility of a real cooperation between regular people and city government.

Corey Ellis is a candidate with a huge groundswell of support below the radar. We don’t always see it, but it is there. Just ask around. And with the endorsement of the Working Families party, Corey Ellis is still in the race for Mayor of Albany: In for the win.

Along with long-time community champions Dominick Calsolaro and Barbara Smith, Corey Ellis has been a strong advocate for community policing. Ellis believes that community policing can bring our communities together and make our neighborhoods safer. Journalists such as David King for Metroland magazine know that for Corey Ellis, commitment to community is not an empty campaign slogan. It is his way of life.

Barbara Smith, the 2005 contender for the Nobel Peace Prize, appears to agree with Corey.

When a teenager was stabbed in the chest in South Albany this month, the police arrived after the incident. I wonder if community police might have already been there before the event? Could they have prevented it?

Rest in Peace, Edward Duffy d. October 16, 2009

Community organizers would say yes.

In a city now hollowed out and divided, Corey Ellis was Albany’s own slice of hope on the Democratic ticket. On the Working Families ticket, he still is. It is still all about Corey.

But the echoes of the Obama enthusiasm are more than skin-deep. Corey Ellis demands transparency in government and a meaningful relationship between city government and regular people. Corey Ellis is also part of a powerful movement in American culture that speaks to empowering each individual to call for peace.

As I write this the debate has been sparked as to whether Barack Obama has done enough yet to warrant the Nobel Peace prize. I don’t know. But perhaps the significance of Barack Obama’s honor is that Americans have remembered that there can be many Obamas: of all colors, shapes and sizes. Each one of us has within us the power to call for change, for justice, and for peace. Obama may merit the Nobel Peace prize simply for the ripple effects that occur when a powerful public persona calls for the audacity to believe in – and to hope for – change. It is this audacity that I see rippled around me in Albany. It expresses itself as love for Corey Ellis. This audacity is contagious, and can be seen in even the smallest of Albany’s residents.

We saw this in Albany this month when the smallest of community organizers knocked on doors, engaged the media and demanded peace on our streets.

With less than one tenth of the budget of the Mayor himself, there was no way Corey Ellis could compete with the glossy brochures and TV ads that kept business as usual the business of the day in Albany.

Corey Ellis should have counted himself lucky to get just one tenth of the vote in the Democratic primary.

But he didn’t get just one tenth of the vote.

Corey Ellis got almost half of the vote.

Corey got ten times more support per dollar than the Mayor. Without the frills. Without the bells and whistles.

A five year old in an inner-city cannot organize a peace vigil. And yet she did. A small community organizer should not be able to unseat an incumbent with more than ten times the connections and cash. And yet he can.

There’s something going on in Albany. Even if the major news networks don’t know it yet.

This near-tie, that seemed against the odds at the outset, bespoke of a change in tides. It was the groundswell that should not have happened. It was not bought. It was not expected. And yet it happened. Change has happened. And continues to happen.

Change has come to Albany. But can we see it?

As quietly as he entered the race, Ellis came back into the campaign on the Working Families ticket. Again, there were no bells or whistles.

I thought I would step outside and ask people today what they think of Corey Ellis, if they want him as Mayor, and why.

Corey Ellis, the man who could ease years of urban violence, vacant buildings, and financial corruption is still in it for the win.

Albany keeps talking about Corey. It is the talk of regular people who – recorded or not, seen or not – want Albany to change. It is the talk on the street before hope dares take hold.

For every few minutes I was outside in Albany, I found more people who want Corey Ellis for Mayor. It may be under the radar, it may be under-documented, but I know there’s something going on.

That new cat – you know the community organizer who became city councilman who gave the Mayor a run for it? He’s back. And it sounds like Albany has a whole lot of love for Corey Ellis.

Laura Hartmark is a writer and is glad you took the time to read this blog.

Do you know someone who thinks about God or religion or spirituality differently from you? How do you feel about that? Are you respectful toward their beliefs? Are they respectful toward yours?

Did you pray to Buddha? Someone asked me this today. I was sharing how I have been meditating and doing spiritual work to affirm and attract prosperity. I incorporate various precepts in my spiritual practice. I love the  Buddhist concepts of loving-kindness, that suffering ceases when we let go of our attachment to ideas, people, places, and things, and that we can increase our own peacefulness (thereby increasing the peacefulness in the world) by practicing mindfulness and allowing life to flow. For some reason, these precepts are threatening to my Christian friend and he often mocks me not so subtly as if to say “Do you think Buddha can hear you?”

Why do we do this? Isn’t there enough derision, separation, and I’m-better-than-you (and so is my religion) mentality in this world without mocking someone’s beliefs…and especially the beliefs of someone we’re close to? Each time I encounter this, I feel battered and feel a need to hunker down and redouble my meditation. I…and my brothers and sisters of the world…really need instead so much healing, understanding, acceptance, tolerance, love, kindness, and grace.

Here’s Michael Franti singing what I ask for right now. I pray for grace…for myself, for my friend, and for my brothers and sisters all over the world.

Thanks to Gerry Starnes for sending me the link to this wonderful video.

WHATZGOODMUSIC.?

Baba Zula (live)

This week we take live sets from 5 different artists from around the world. Starting off in Turkey with some psychobellydancemusic, moving to dub/hiphop/d’n'b in the UK, then to Algeria for some electronic/rock/rai, ending in USA with spokenword/jazz and Latin/hiphop.

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[Artist - Track]

[18:00]

Baba Zula – LIVE SET [TURKEY]

Baba Zula -Col Aslanlari (live)

Baba Zula -Kisaltmalar (live)

Baba Zula -Tilki Dansi (live)

Baba Zula -Dub Hakiki (live)

Baba Zula -Hipnoz (live)

Asian Dub Foundation – LIVE SET [UK/INDIA]

Asian Dub Foundation – Assassin (live)

Asian Dub Foundation – Black White (live)

Asian Dub Foundation – Naxalite (live)

[19:00]

Asian Dub Foundation – Dub Mentalitiy (live)

Asian Dub Foundation – Hypocrite (live)

Asian Dub Foundation – Buzzing (live)

Asian Dub Foundation – Taa Deem (live)

Rachid Taha – LIVE SET [ALGERIA]

Rachid Taha – Menfi (live)

Rachid Taha – Nokta (live)

Rachid Taha – Ida (live)

Rachid Taha – Ya Rayah (live)

Rachid Taha – Barra Barra (live)

[20:00]

Michael Franti - LIVE SET [USA/AFRICA]

Michael Franti - Red Beans and Rice (live)

Michael Franti - Crime To Be Broke In America (live)

Michael Franti - We Don’t Mind (live)

Michael Franti - Sometime (live)

Ozomatli – LIVE SET [USA/MEXICO]

Ozomatli – Intro/Dos Cosas Ciertas (live)

Ozomatli – Believe (live)

Ozomatli – (Who Discovered) America? (live)

Ozomatli – Eva (live)

Ozomatli – Saturday Nights (live)

Ozomatli – Cuando Canto (live)

Ozomatli – Chango (live)

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Studio Guests: None.

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