I am going to sound like an old fart, but I really don’t believe music is at all what it used to be. Just look at Billie Holiday.  Can you imagine this song being released today?  With a Lady Gaga remix? Ugh.  Talking about slaves hanging from a tree and how they look like very strange fruit.  No kind of fruit she’s seen before. Crazy stuff.

This video is provided by Idea Girl Consulting Youtube Channel.

The New Writers Handbook 2007 Authors and Contents Part One took me about six hours to make. I had one Hell of a time trying to find the authors pictures?

It shouldn’t be that way!

They are saving the files under 123xyz martin pic.

Do they have any IDEA how many PHILIP MARTINS there on the net?

I had to look up his blogs, and thankfully Philip has a bio on his Great Lakes Literary site.

But a lot of the authors in this first section were invisible on the internet.

They won’t be when I’m finished creating a marketing campaign for these authors and their publishers.

People will look them up, find out who is who and my next project will be what books they have written, all in one file.

But it’s a series of projects that are taking me hours and hours to do.

In the future though, when a reader wants to know about the author of a book and the titles they have written, it will be an easy find, here on my site.

It’s all a part of my strategy, remember I said I planned to revolutionize the way books are being marketed and how publishers look at the sales quotas?

I’m working on an add campaign to rock the book sales market, because I know there is an untapped market out there, and I want to find my niche, build it and they will come.

Just as the baseball diamond movie states.. build it and they will come. LOL

I know I have BIG dreams, but I’ve got loads of imagination and years of sales experience.

This little plan of mine should work.

If it doesn’t, at least we will know who our favorite authors are , what they look like and what books they have written.

That way when we finish a book of theirs that we enjoyed, we can google their name and see, oh goody!

You’ve got another book for me to purchase and read.

Always been a fan of Common.  Just got put on to his new song called “Strange Fruit” featuring John Legend and produced by Kanye West.  Still feeling it out but I must say I’m a sucker for lyrical content.  2010 might just be the year for “taking back hip hop”.  Until next time Brn Skn speaks…

PREVIEW: Listen to “Strange Fruit” on YouTube

Apparently “Strange Fruit” was spared from Common’s 2007 Grammy-winning album, Finding Forever.  But I don’t see why.  The discarded song which recently surfaced samples Nina Simone’s cover of Billie Holiday’s iconic “Strange Fruit” and her passionate cries as she sings, “Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze” will lure you instantly.

While the original “Strange Fruit” may have been a reaction to a lynching in the South, Common’s rhymes provide a more relevant spin as he insists that although as a society we’ve come a long way since Holiday’s time, we’ve still yet to scratch the surfact of what needs to be accomplished.  John Legend’s soulful choral accompaniment encourages listeners to persevere despite current inequalities and celebrate our progress.  Whether or not the rumors regarding Kanye’s involvement in the production of the song are true, “Strange Fruit” is a stellar track.

– Carly Wolkoff, Front of Book Editor

Here’s a cut that didn’t make Commons “Be” album…Don’t know where it came from…But I’m glad this found the light…
“Strange Fruit”

Common feat. John Legend – Strange Fruit - Click To Listen

Prod. By Kanye West

VERY VERY DOPE!

...Aww, You Thought I was Done?

Common blesses us again with a new and introspective gem called, “Strange Fruit” featuring the vocal stylings of John Legend and the production mastery of Kanye I’mma let you finish, but West. 

This is a really good listen and the production by Kanye leans it to the sound of the BE album (which I REALLY liked).  This is a definite boost for my arguments of Common’s greatness and a glimmer of defense against the wackness of Universal Mind Control.

…enjoy the freshness.

Common - Strange Fruit

AkShone – The Tennessee Volunteer

Thou said: Why didn’t this make it onto Finding Forever?

Common Feat. John Legend – “Strange Fruit” (Produced By Kanye West)

This song was scrapped from Finding Forever but it is still a classic track from the original G.O.O.D. Music trio. With Common on the verses, Legend on the hook, and Ye on the production, it really doesn’t get much better than this. Common is back in the studio with No ID and kanYe for his upcoming album The Believer, so expect some more classics in the future.

[Download]

check it out: “strange fruit by common feat. john legend“

Leftover from Com’s 07 classic, Finding Forever.  Kanye West on the track.

cuffed from Nahright

G.O.O.D. MUSIC IS IN THE BUILDING.

this is a leftover from the finding forever sessions with yeezy behind the boards and john legend doin’ the hooks? this is the type of shit i’m thankful for. also, this is my official cry for common to return to the soulful dealings of yesteryear. you had your fun with UMC, now it’s time to make good music. pun heavily intended.

download:

common – strange fruit f. john legend [prod. by kanye west]

-grizzly

Meant for 2007’s Finding Forever, but somehow Cassidy got his hands on the beat

Common ft. John Legend – Strange Fruit (prod. Kanye West)

Via: Marty

Pemberton’s Multifaith Messiah, scribe and The Pembertonian columnist Babar Javed quotes Margaret Vasser in one of his recent baubles of wisdom.

“There are two kinds of time. Road time is when we are standing at the roadside, with events approaching and then passing us by; river time is when we are in the flow of events, are in fact an event, and not just an innocent bystander; both types of time are needed to see the reality of existence; a parallel to the Vedic idea of there being two birds in our soul: one that feeds on fruits – the actor, and one that watches it – the observer; together creating action and awareness.”

Javed was one of of 23 Pemberton writers to take part in Strange Fruit: A Community Storytelling Harvest last winter, and has continued capturing polaroid-quick portraits of local characters. But it’s his ‘two birds in our soul’ snapshot that is the best moment-capture for me – a quick grab of what it’s like to be a writer, to stand simultaneously by the roadside and in the river, madly taking notes.

.The video was made by Florian Vermeulen.

Artist :Mayer Hawthorne

One of my favourite performances in this year’s Melbourne Festival was the music/performance piece by Strange Fruit, Ringing the Changes. It was created especially for the bell field of Federation Bells at Birrarung Marr. Each of the bells in the field has a specific pitch and sits at the top of a tall pole, and Strange Fruit perform mesmerising dance/visual/physical theatre pieces atop long bendy poles, so really, this was a match made in heaven. Composer Graeme Leak was commissioned to write the work, taking into account which bells the different performers would be able to reach within the radius afforded by their bendy pole.

The whole piece was masterfully conducted by Timothy Phillips. Here are a couple of photos:

I like the way Tim appears to be suspended in midair. It was quite a feat to conduct the work (including several sections of audience participation, which required him to swivel around to face the audience instead of the performers) without losing his centre of balance. I also like the iconic view of the MCG and its ring of lights, in the background of this photo.

The City Beats children were involved in the first performance, taking part in the audience participation sections which required them to play on tin cans with chopsticks and teaspoons. They were so thrilled by the whole event.

I was out walking the dogs at the Battleground Park, stumbling around near old cabins from ages ago when I came across what looked like lime green brains in the grass. Upon further review and research I discovered what they were. (Okay, the Old Lady figured it out)

Beyond OK and AK these trees are quite rare, I believe. And Osage Orange trees don’t get fruity unless they’re female and they’re 10 years old.

The Osage Orange, they say, was planted as a natural barrier to protect properties from poaching.

I have this cucumber air freshener in my car that’s powered by the cigarette lighter (I mean the power adapter) and it smells like this damn Osage Orange! It’s amazing. This crazy fruit has the skin of an old lizard, the guts of a coconut crossed with a kiwi, and the smell of a fanned, freshly-sliced cucumber in the hands of a beach-tanning Seth MacFarlane.

Native American warriors incorporated the Osage Oranges into their war clubs. These things are bad ass. When I was walking the dogs I feared gravity yanking one down onto the head of my little miniature dachshund. She would have been crushed by these lizard-skinned, lime green demon fruits. The Osage Orange is an awesome tree with skinny leaves that get yellow in autumn. You can also call them hedge apples, if you’re a pussy.