BALTIMORE MAYOR LOST IN ISMS AND SCHISMS ABOUT RIOTS

It appears that Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is lost in her isms and schisms over what to call the small fraction of the thousands of protesters who burned and looted parts of Baltimore in response to Freddie Gray’s death at the hands of the police department. Mayor Rawlings-Blake first called the firestarters kids in need […]

IN 20 TWEETS, BALTIMORE ORIOLES’ EXEC SCHOOLS JOURNALIST ON WHAT THE FREDDIE GRAY PROTESTS ARE REALLY ABOUT

First, Freddie Gray dies while in the Baltimore police department’s custody, followed by protests which turned sufficiently chaotic where fans attending a Baltimore Orioles game earlier this week were not permitted to leave Camden Yards. Then, sportscaster Brett Hollander began to beef about the rights of commuting Orioles fans being violated by the inconvenience of […]

THE OBAMA APOLOGY REFLEX

Once again, the US government got it wrong in a big way, and President Obama donned the hat of Apologizer in Chief. The transgression this time around is the US drone missile deaths of two American civilians during a rescue operation in Yemen. Before that, the President gave a speech during the Selma march’s 50th […]

11+ QUESTIONS MICHAEL ERIC DYSON WOULD NEVER ASK OBAMA

With Dr. Michael Eric Dyson’s long-winded attack on Dr. Cornel West via New Republic still fresh on my mind, I kept saying to myself this evening that hundreds of Libyan migrants recently drowned at sea because they tried to escape the country they deemed home—until President Obama’s policies turned Libya into a bloodied, failed state. I then asked […]

MANGIEDI MAWANGU, EDM PIONEER, IS GONE

It’s sad to hear that Mangiedi Mawangu, the innovative Konono N°1 founder from Congo who demonstrated to the music world the sonic possibilities of a proto-Techno electric likembé plus ensemble, has left this planet. Konono N°1’s four decades of “Congotronic” music undoubtedly fits in my personal Afrofuturism soundtrack, but the style has also grabbed the […]

WHEN YOU BREAK THE NYPD’S ‘NO SNITCHING’ RULE

Forget about any so-called Hip Hop Nation’s version of the No Snitching campaign you’ve ever heard – the NYPD’s version works so lovely where the only successful prosecution from Eric Garner’s asphyxiation death at the hands of the NYPD 269 days ago has been Ramsey Orta, the citizen who digitally snitched on the police when […]

AURAL DIVE: “BELIEVE” BY ANNABEL (LEE)

By the sea, annabel lee, aural dive, music reviews, independent music, electronic music, aural dive

AN ALBUM (OR TWO) IN MY HEAD (0062)

JOSÉ JAMES YESTERDAY I HAD THE BLUES: THE MUSIC OF BILLIE HOLIDAY BLUE NOTE 2015 An interesting personal but peripheral observation: I couldn’t immediately come up with a list of male baritone Jazz vocalists whom I listen to on a regular basis. My personal prejudice probably relegated baritones to R&B or Country-Western music, I’m not […]

ANOTHER MIND-MELTING DETAIL ABOUT THE MLK ASSASSINATION

Wrongful Death Since today marks the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s assassination, I want to bring up a highly intriguing detail from court transcripts of the King family’s 1999 wrongful death lawsuit against the federal government, City of Memphis, and State of Tennessee. The next sentence will likely blow the minds of the […]