Russerted out

Lookit, I enjoyed and respected Tim Russert’s work like most TV news junkies. And I made known my shock and sadness when Mr. Russert died last Friday.

But goodness gracious... MSNBC is still devoting hours upon hours to memorializing the man.

After Russert’s funeral today, perhaps the cable news network will return to doing news. I think Tim would have wanted it that way.

I mean, wow... they really gave him the “full Reagan.” Johnny Carson didn’t get this kind of love when he passed. Walter Cronkite probably won’t either.

I hear that Pope Benedict XVI saw MSNBC’s funeral coverage today, then he told his College of Cardinals, “Don’t make that kind of fuss over me when I go.”

Too much, I tells you!

It’s left to me to restore some cosmic balance.

If you watched the “Meet the Press” tribute on Sunday, you saw one of Tim Russert’s greatest hits – his withering interrogation of David Duke about the scope of Duke’s knowledge of the Louisiana economy. (Duke was running for governor at the time.)

Let me tell you, David Duke, America’s best-known bigot, was quite delighted to receive some attention during NBC’s shivah.

Duke talked about it Monday with his friend and fellow ex-Klansman Don Black on Black’s Internet radio show.

I’m streaming a 6½-minute edit on my Vox blog. (You ain’t surprised, are you?) Click here to listen, if you can tolerate the sound of two neo-Nazis sucking each other’s ding-a-lings.

Duke actually boasts that “I beat Tim Russert!” in a “Meet the Press” rematch. And Don Black is all like, “They scareda you, man! They can’t fuck wit’ no David Duke!” Or words to that effect.

Anyways... R.I.P., Mr. Russert.

More cowbell, Sheila! *

I’m on a music binge right now – more so than usual – and you guys are gonna have to ride it out with me.

So please check out the video clip below: Marvin Gaye, live at the 1980 Montreux Jazz Festival. (DVD is here.) Marvin jams the hell out of “Got to Give It Up.”

What really tickles me is seeing Sheila E. rock the cowbell! *

Ever wonder what’s up with Sheila E.? Last I heard, she was making music in a genre known as “Christian smooth jazz.”

But she also leads a charity called the Elevate Hope Foundation, dedicated to abused and neglected children.

The Elevate Hope Foundation will have a fundraising event tomorrow night in Hollywood – a special performance of the stage show “The Who’s Tommy.” (With Nona Hendryx as the Acid Queen!)

Did you know Sheila E. was raped at the age of 5 by a babysitter? And molested by relatives? I didn’t. But that’s what she told Tavis Smiley on his radio show last Friday.

On my Vox blog, I’m streaming her full 10-minute appearance on “The Tavis Smiley Show.” Click here to hear it. (And try not to laugh when Smiley repeatedly refers to “The Who’s Tommy” as “Who’s Tommy?”)

You can download the podcast of Smiley’s June 13 show by following this link.

Go Sheila!

* UPDATE (06/19/08): Aw hell, I think I made a mistake, people. My thanks to Craig Belcher for commenting that Marvin’s percussionist at Montreux is listed as Sandra Akaka, not Sheila Escovedo.

Studying the video again, she doesn’t look so much like Sheila E. after all. She looks Asianish.

But I have a lingering doubt. Because when I Google the name “Sandra Akaka,” the one and only thing that keeps coming up... from across the whole wide Web... is Marvin Gaye’s Montreux gig, either the album or the DVD.

You’re telling me this chick Sandra was bad enough to back up Marvin at Montreux, and she never played on another record... ever? Not one?

Plus it’s a known fact that Sheila E. had toured with Marvin Gaye. (Pete Escovedo did too.)

So I appeal to my musically astute readers. Is the woman in this video Sheila E. or not? (Reggie Hudlin has already weighed in; he don’t think it’s her.) And did “Sandra Akaka” do anything else in the music business expect play this one show?

I don’t mind admitting to a mistake... but is there a mystery here?

UPDATE (06/19/08): No mystery.

A Hawaiian percussionist named “Sandra Lee Akaka” (pictured left) does turn up on Google. That must be who the woman is.

Oh well... she did rock that cowbell, though.

Bonus freebies: Lalah Hathaway

I just stumbled on a couple of FREE MP3s by Lalah Hathaway (daughter of the late, beloved Donny Hathaway). She’s got a new CD out called “Self Portrait.”

Click here to hear the single “Let Go” on my Vox blog. To download, follow this link to Amazon.com.

Another tune comes courtesy of SoulTracks.com; follow this link to download “That Was Then.” It’s a lesser-quality sound file than that Amazon freebie... if that matters to you. To stream it on my Vox blog, click here.

A free Benji Hughes download

Here’s something cute from singer- songwriter Benji Hughes, who’ll be performing tonight at L.A.’s Greek Theatre, opening for alt- rockers Rilo Kiley.

Click here to hear “You Stood Me Up” on my Vox blog. This track is from Benji’s upcoming debut solo album, “A Love Extreme.”

“You Stood Me Up” is available as a FREE MP3, courtesy of Toolshed.biz. To commence downloading, hit this link.

Stevie Wonder, Dr. John on Letterman tonight

Just to let you know: Stevie will be sitting in with Paul Shaffer and the band. Dr. John is the musical guest. Tonight on CBS at 11:35 (Eastern and Pacific time).

UPDATE (06/18/08): Well, one outta two’s not bad. Stevie Wonder was nowhere to be found. But Dr. John and his “Lower 911” band jammed “Time for a Change” off their new CD, “City That Care Forgot.” Worth staying up for.

(And it’s no coincidence that the word “Change” is also prominent in a certain presidential campaign.)

To stream the album version of “Time for a Change” on my Vox blog, click here. Eric Clapton is featured on guitar.

Obama-Haters Against Obama

I wasted an hour or two today commenting at Larry Johnson’s No Quarter blog... birthplace of the vicious “whitey” smear against Michelle Obama.

There you can peek into the dark souls of Hillary Clinton’s most ardent supporters... a pack of irrational haters who seem proud that their most important decision as citizens – their choice for president – will be determined wholly by spite.

They’re childish, often vulgar, and without shame. And they call themselves Democrats. They’re an embarrassment to Sen. Clinton.

Here is a sample of the give-and-take at No Quarter today:

ROSEERITER: ... Hillary doesn’t tell me or many others how to vote. We can think and see with our own eyes how bad the Democratic Party is right now. All they can see is win at all costs and supporting the puppet, Obama is not the right thing to do.

Party loyalty and oaths are for bots.

UNDERCOVER BLACK MAN: But I don’t understand. Won’t a Democrat in the White House be CRUCIAL to attaining Sen. Clinton’s most important goal… health-care reform?

McCain in the White House means no health-care reform.

So how is that being true to Hillary? I don’t get it at all. Do the issues mean nothing? Is it all about runaway emotions, personalized politics and grudge-holding?

CLINTON FAN: No, not at all.

A vet0-proof Congress can force McCain to do damn near anything, save wear a purple tutu and dance on his toes.

Clinton can herd that health care package through the legislative process without too much trouble, and a majority legislature can override any McCain veto.

Another bozo who slept through that civics class…

UBM: Ahhh… I get it now. And you attain that veto-proof Democratic majority in Congress by trashing and sliming the top of the ticket!

I’m so glad I can come here and get educated. (And called names to boot!)

NY STILL LOVES HILLARY: I supported Hillary because she is true to me and issues that are important to me, not the other way around. I don’t do anything because she tells me to. She is paid to represent me, not vice versa.

You guys keep missing the point – it’s not about Clinton anymore. It’s about saving America, democracy, and the Constitution.

If you have been called names here at NQ, you must realize that many Obama supporters have been coming here for months calling us every name imaginable, slinging mud and epithets, and doing whatever they can to aggravate us. If you find this behavior offensive, we’d all appreciate a word from your candidate asking people to stop “for the sake of party unity”. So far, it’s been pretty quiet….

* * *

KEVIN: FUN OBAMA FACTS:

When he farts, it smells like roses

When he takes a dump, nothing comes out, it just magically appears in the toilet, call it the immaculate defecation.

he is the only male to experience multiple orgasms

when he smiles, god smiles

when he cries, god kicks a puppy

HE liberated auschwitz, HE gave his uncle credit because his uncle was sad

A lot of kids wear superman pajamas, superman wears Obama pajamas (from the chuck norris facts page)

he can calm the hulk down with his melodious voice and a scratch behind the ears.

UBM: First time being old enough to vote, dude?

KEVIN: CARTER
MONDALE
DUKAKIS
CLINTON
CLINTON
GORE
KERRY
CLINTON
MCCAIN

dude?

UBM: Cool. So you’re used to voting for losers.

KEVIN: Best part of you ran down the crack of your momma’s ass and wound up as a brown stain on the mattress, you’ve been cheated!

You went back for seconds of the koolaide didn’t you?

Your psedonym makes one think you’re one of those suburban hip hop white kids, size 8 hat with the stickers on it, sean jon top, baggy pants hanging round your ass, wearing whiter than white air forces unlaced.

What’s the word I’m thinking of?

Somebody help me out.

Something informative from Orrin Keepnews

I love jazz history. Plus, you know, June is Black Music Month.

Now, thanks to Concord Records, we can hear jazz history straight from the mouth of record producer Orrin Keepnews, whose Riverside label in the 1950s showcased the likes of Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery and Cannonball Adderley.

And the magnificent Thelonious Monk.

Embedded below is an 11½-minute video in which Mr. Keepnews recalls the making of a modern-jazz masterpiece – Monk’s 1956 LP “Brilliant Corners.” (The sessions included Sonny Rollins, Max Roach and Clark Terry.)

The composition “Brilliant Corners” was so structurally complex, the musicians could never play it correctly from start to finish. The final track is stitched together from various takes. (Click here to hear “Brilliant Corners” on my Vox blog.)

Orrin Keepnews says cutting that track was his “most debilitating experience in a recording studio.”

If you’re a jazz fan, you’ll like this:

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘Livin’ It Up (Friday Night)’

This one takes me right back to my senior year of high school. Autumn of ’78, to be precise.

R&B music made you feel so good back then. “Livin’ It Up,” recorded 30 years ago, still sounds fresh as a daisy.

Bell & James were a one-hit wonder as recording artists. But they had a career as Philly songwriters behind them. (Leroy Bell’s uncle was the legendary producer Thom Bell.)

Bell & James wrote “Mama Can’t Buy You Love,” which was a Top-10 hit for Elton John (and produced by Thom Bell).

Anyway... cheers to the Vinyl Morpher for uploading this:

Bonus freebie: Lipbone Redding’s new album

And whom might Lipbone Redding be, you wonder?

Lipbone Redding used to perform in the New York City subways for tips. Before that, he was an avant-garde performance artist.

Right now, Lipbone Redding is a guy with a brand new CD out, and he’s touring the Carolinas and the Mid-Atlantic with his own brand of blue-eyed funk ’n’ soul.

And also with a mouth effect that earned him his nickname.

Dude blows air through his lips to sound like a trombone.

Which is cute and all, but Lipbone can also straight-up sing. And swing.

Now guess what? His new release, “Party on the Fire Escape,” is available as a FREE download – the complete album... or individual tracks of your choosing.

Just follow this link to Lipbone’s official website, and follow the simple instructions. You can also stream any and all tracks on that website’s audio player.

I wish to recommend two tunes in particular, which I’m streaming on my Vox blog:

Click here to hear “Ghetto Girl,” which is Redding doing his most earnest neo-soul thang, complete with wah pedal and cungas.

Then click here and check out “Voodoo Cadillac,” a heaping helping of New Orleans-style jump blues... with an ideally situated lip-trombone solo.

If you dig the boy’s stroke, do take advantage of the freebiosity. Cheers to Lipbone Redding for giving this music away. It’s a damn good way to spread his name around.

UPDATE (06/17/08): Oh shnap! Just that quick, they changed up the whole Lipbone.com website; the free album is no longer available. Sorry about that. Too good to last, I guess.

If you like that “Ghetto Girl” joint, though... you can download that one for free by clicking the title below:

“Ghetto Girl” (MP3)
More on this album

Random Japaneseness

A free Danny Aiello download

Yes, that Danny Aiello.

Like most Italians, he wishes he was Frank Sinatra. But he ain’t.

Some of you might remember my post last November showcasing the vocal stylings of Billy Bob Thornton, Russell Crowe and other actors.

Time to add another hambone to that soup of vanity. Because Mr. Aiello is most definitely trippin’. I’ve got a FREE MP3 to prove it.

Click here to hear “Pennies From Heaven” streaming on my Vox blog. If you want to download it (?!), click the song title below.

The track is from Danny’s upcoming CD “Live from Atlantic City.” Let me just say that, as an interpreter of standards, Mr. Aiello is no Bruce Willis.

“Pennies From Heaven” (MP3)
More on this album

Barack Obama’s Father’s Day speech

Delivered today at the Apostolic Church of God on Chicago’s South Side.

(At 13:05, he drops a little Chris Rock on ’em.)

D.C. represent!

Boris Willis likes to dance. I mean, he really likes to dance.

Now on the faculty of George Mason University, Boris spent the past year doing something cool. From May 2007 to May 2008, Boris Willis made a short video every day... of himself dancing around Washington, D.C. And he posted those videos to YouTube.

Below are three of his “Dance-A-Day” vids, with Mr. Willis busting modern-dance moves outside of Union Station... under a blossoming cherry tree in Malcolm X Park... and on 18th Street in the heart of Adams Morgan.

Playlist: Happy Father’s Day

1. “Patches” – Chairmen of the Board

2. “Papa Don’t Take No Mess” – James Brown

3. “Daddy Could Swear, I Declare” – Gladys Knight & the Pips

4. “Dat Dere” – Oscar Brown, Jr.

Obama as ‘sock monkey’

A free RZA download

Something new from the RZA (performing as his alter ego “Bobby Digital”)...

Click here to hear “Straight Up the Block,” featuring David Banner, on my Vox blog. To download it as a FREE MP3, follow this link to Spinner.com.

‘If you can’t deal widdit, then move out the way!’

Never let it be said that I ignore dissenting opinions.

Tim Russert (1950-2008)

I’m stunned by the death this afternoon of NBC newsman Tim Russert.

I paid attention to every word he spoke during this campaign season. We have lost a source of wisdom and great passion in American journalism.

To remember the quality of his game, please watch this 3-minute clip of Tim Russert moderating a February presidential primary debate.

A free Imani Coppola download

Imani Coppola – Brooklyn-based, biracial and babelicious – is about to make noise as the vocal half of a duo called Little Jackie.

Instrumentalist Adam Pallin constructed some campy, retro grooves to suit Imani’s sassy lyrics. The result is the album “The Stoop,” which will drop on July 8.

That very night, Little Jackie will perform on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.” (I’ll remind you again.)

The track “Crying for the Queen” is available right now as a FREE MP3. Click here to hear it on my Vox blog. (Sassy, I tells you! I assume she’s dissing Amy Winehouse.)

To download “Crying for the Queen,” follow this link to Download.com.

Extra vibe: Below is a cute clip of Imani Coppola shooting a Little Jackie music video... in zero gravity.

Coming attraction: ‘CNN Presents: Black in America’

On July 23 and 24, CNN will present a six-hour “television event” – “Black in America” – hosted by undercover black woman Soledad O’Brien.

A 3-minute trailer is embedded below.

To be quite honest, I’m leery about these huge, quasi-comprehensive “race” projects. Seems kinda 1970s-ish.

Number one, if you’re black, you don’t need a TV show to tell you what’s happening. So from the gate, this seems to be about explaining black America to non-black America. (Check the final words in the trailer: “You Have No Idea.” Who has no idea?)

Number two, how deep will it go? I’ll be shocked if “Black in America” deals frankly with the great crisis of our day: homicide.

But... we shall see.

Medgar Evers speaks

Civil rights activist Medgar Evers was assassinated on June 12, 1963... shot in the back by a rifleman outside his Mississippi home.

A former Ku Klux Klansman was convicted of the crime... in 1994.

The murder of Medgar Evers shocked white America. Young balladeers wrote songs about it... most famously Bob Dylan’s “Only a Pawn in Their Game.” Phil Ochs wrote “The Ballad of Medgar Evers,” and Dick Weissman wrote “Medgar Evers Lullaby.”

Black activist Matthew Jones, a leader of the SNCC Freedom Singers, also wrote a “Ballad of Medgar Evers.”

My earliest recollection of hearing the name Medgar Evers was an episode of “Good Times.” (Young Michael Evans, the “militant midget,” kickin’ the knowledge.)

I never heard Medgar Evers speak with his own voice until last year, when I found a minutelong track on the album “Sing for Freedom: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Its Songs.”

Click here to hear “Medgar Evers Speaking.” This recording was made shortly before his assassination.

A free Homemade Jamz Blues Band download

The Perry siblings from Tupelo, Miss., are billed as “the youngest blues band in America.” Singer/guitarist Ryan is 15, bass player Kyle is 13, and drummer Taya is 9.

They’re the Homemade Jamz Blues Band. (Aren’t they cute?) And Ryan Perry can really play.

Their debut CD – “Pay Me No Mind” – just came out. It’s downloadable from iTunes, eMusic and Amazon.

One track is available as a FREE MP3. Click here and check out “Penny Waiting On Change” on my Vox blog. To download it, just click the song title below.

Homemade Jamz will be playing festival gigs throughout the summer... including Lollapalooza. I bet they’re fun to watch.

“Penny Waiting On Change” (MP3)

Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, cont.

When I was a kid, I sometimes stayed up late to watch “The David Susskind Show.” Never understood what anybody was saying... but was intrigued by the notion of serious, grown-up conversations.

So it figures that I’d enjoy the variety of talking heads at BigThink.com.

Below are two openly gay scholars – Princeton philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah and Yale Law professor Kenji Yoshino – pondering complicated questions of identity politics and minority rights.

Ummm...

... I’m gonna need help with this one. Wrong? Or hot?

Random hotness

The hippest white boys in America

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘I Love Music’

Guess what? I’ve found a new favorite YouTube vinyl freak. He’s in London. His name is Dave, but he goes by “vinylmorpher.” And he is rocking the 12-inch dance records. Big time.

Which means he’s spinning the music of my high-school and college years. (Still got your 12-inches? I’ll never get rid of mine.)

So... just like I used to do with my Wednesday 45 Flashbacks, I’ll be pulling choice jams out of vinylmorpher’s digital crates and embedding them here. For us old people to enjoy.

What better way to kick it off than with some funky Philly soul from 1975? Ladies and gentlemen... the fabulous O’Jays!

While supplies last

Friends, it’s not too late to purchase some official Hillary Clinton gear from HillaryStore.com. (A bitch got bills, ya heard?)

Wouldn’t you like to own a souvenir of Sen. Clinton’s historic 2008 campaign?

Such as the “Got Experience?” T-shirt. (Black, of course.) Only $20.

Or the “I’m Your Girl!” campaign button. (Girl?? Is that the “sexism” Dianne Feinstein and Geraldine Ferraro were talking about?)

There’s also the “Wellesley Women for Hillary” lapel pin. (Not for sale in West Virginia.)

And the “Hillary for President” breast implants. (Okay... now that’s sexist.)

D.C. represent!

Here’s one for the home folks.

Come August, a Washington institution will celebrate its 50th anniversary... Ben’s Chili Bowl.

Coincidentally, I just returned from Indiana, where I met a guy called “Punk Rock Don.” When Don found out I was from D.C., the first thing he asked me about was Ben’s Chili Bowl.

I never hung out at Ben’s. But back in the ’80s, I was one of a group of reporters who interviewed Bill Cosby inside the restaurant. Cosby is a famous fan; he used to take Camille there on dates.

Among others who’ve eaten at Ben’s Chili Bowl: Martin Luther King, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Marian Anderson, Dinah Washington, Miles Davis, Redd Foxx... on up to the new breed: Denzel Washington, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Chris Tucker, Dr. Dre, Allen Iverson, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton...

So I say “Happy Anniversary” to the Ali family.

Below is a 2½-minute video recently done by the U.S. government’s Voice of America service. If it doesn’t make you hungry for a half-smoke, there’s something wrong with you.

Bury these buzzwords

Now that the Democratic Party primary season is over, here are some words and phrases I hope never to hear again:

“game-changer”

“delegate math”

“under the bus”

“in the tank”

“metric”

“optics”

“full-throated endorsement”

“Operation Chaos”

Unfortunately, we may be facing a new batch of buzzwords. Such as:

“purple states”

“veepstakes”

“McCain Democrats”

“terrorist fist jab”

Random wrongness

A Taser is not a toy.

Playlist: White singers, Prince songs

I was out of town yesterday, so I wasn’t able to do a post in honor of Prince turning 50.

I hereby wish Prince a belated “Happy Birthday” with this assortment of covers of “Purple Rain” songs. Click the titles below to stream the music on my Vox blog.

1. “Take Me With U” – Marshall Crenshaw

2. “When Doves Cry” – Patti Smith

3. “Darling Nikki” – Chum

4. “Purple Rain” – LeAnn Rimes

Condi Rice on Barack Obama’s victory

“The United States of America is an extraordinary country. It is a country that has overcome many, many, now years, decades, actually a couple of centuries of trying to make good on its principles. And I think what we are seeing is an extraordinary expression of the fact that ‘We the people’ is beginning to mean all of us.”

– Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (June 4, 2008)

“Under liberalism, only the ideal of a perfectly equal and inclusive America is good. America the actual country as it has existed up to this moment is no good. ... That’s the at least implicitly accepted view today, and not a single conservative other than at this website has ever criticized the vile Condoleezza Rice for using her position as Secretary of State to put down this country....”

– right-wing blogger Lawrence Auster (June 4, 2008)

Random Japaneseness

Hillary’s bitter-enders

Hillary Clinton gave a gracious speech today endorsing Barack Obama, thus ending the Democratic Party’s nomination drama (with minimal trauma).

Sen. Clinton may have run a chaotic campaign, but she did hit an impressive stride near the end. She departs the battlefield with dignity.

Yet some of her most fervid supporters on the World Wide Web are whining, spitting, cursing, screaming, bawling, and otherwise showing their hineys.

I swear, it does not reflect well on Hillary that her candidacy attracted so many nasty, hysterical freaks. Some of those walking embarrassments are refusing to lay down their weapons... because they hate Barack Obama with the white-hot heat of a million suns.

I’m talking about folks like blogger Larry Johnson (who continues to push the “whitey” rumor) and YouTube nuisance Paul F. Villarreal.

Here are some of the 371 comments posted today on the pro-Clinton blog Hillary Is 44:

“Our movement must stay strong to keep Hussein out of the White House .. him and his ugly ass wife.”

“NObama in NOvember.”

“I have been puking ever since she mentioned the name obama for the third time.”

“I hope Donna Brazil and the whole DNC get ass cancer. That’s mean but they have tried to smother Hillary and kill Bill with vile remarks for the whole campaign. I will NEVER support obama...”

“I am even more disgusted and disillusioned after visiting HRC’s site. ... If she’s raising money for that Prick I will have lost ALL respect for her!”

“For her to now support that disgusting, woman-hating, sexist, racist POS and what’s worse, scrounging for financial contributions on his behalf is nauseating.”

“we’ll get through this by taking action and standing firm against the ‘unity’ shit. for starters, i signed on to citizens for McCain this morning.”

“Look at a vote for McCain as insurance for a Hillary run in 2012.”

“The way I see it, the B.O. camp is treating us like an abusive boyfriend would. So if the McCain camp calls offering some warmth and understanding and wants to go on a date, I think I have enough self-respect to say ‘yes’ to that.”

For real... these geniuses probably ruined Hillary’s candidacy through the sheer karmic toxicity of their own stank vibes.

The Republicans’ official bash-Obama website

If you wanna know how scared the Republican Party is of Obama, just check the homepage of the Republican National Committee’s official site, GOP.com.

One name you won’t find on that homepage is... McCAIN.

Seriously. John McCain is the Republican candidate for president of these United States. Why doesn’t the RNC want McCain’s name or face on its website?

Oh, wait... something just popped up on that GOP page. It’s a link to the “McCain Climate Change Plan.” But within a minute, poof, it disappears. It is one of a variety of rotating links.

Wow. There is not one standing link to JohnMcCain.com anywhere on the Republican Party’s homepage!

Why? Because that would take up valuable digital real estate that’s better used bashing Barack Obama. As in:

“Obama’s Bad Week in Review”

“Obama Lobbyist Hypocrisy”

“Obama’s Iraq Backtrack”

If you thought Team Hillary threw the kitchen sink at him... the Republicans are throwing the bathtub. And probably the toilet too, before long.

Matter fact, the Republican National Committee today launched a new website – MeetBarackObama.com – totally devoted to attacks.

To me, that means the contest is already over. The Republicans aren’t even selling their own candidate!

Now what about the Democratic National Committee website, Democrats.org? They’ve got a big ol’ picture of Obama on their homepage. (They must be proud of their guy.) And there’s a prominent link to BarackObama.com.

Democrats.org also takes a subtler approach to negative propaganda. You gotta click a link like “McCain Myth Buster: John McCain and the Truth” to get to the attacks.

Two different approaches, that’s for sure.

This date in Beatles history: 1965

In the early years of their fame, the Beatles recorded a bunch of special live performances for broadcast on BBC Radio.

Their final custom-made BBC program was called “The Beatles Invite You to Take a Ticket to Ride.” It aired on June 6, 1965.

The highlight was a version of “Ticket to Ride” taped on May 26 at London’s Piccadilly Theatre.

Click here to stream that performance on my Vox blog. I like it. I really, really like it. Especially Ringo’s drumming, which doesn’t usually command a lot of attention.

The Beatles radio performances were gathered up for a 1994 double-CD release, “Live at the BBC.”

A free James Brown download

The new CD “Verve Remixed, Vol. 4” contains an old James Brown track (“There Was a Time”) remixed by Kenny Dope. And it’s available as a FREE MP3.

To hear it streaming on my Vox blog, click here. To download the track, follow this link to Spinner.com.

Coming attraction: ‘The Express’

I am so fed up with those “inspirational” Hollywood movies that combine dreamy celebrations of African-American athleticism with paint-by-numbers evocations of old-timey racism.

The whole formula just reeks bullshit. It’s a kindergarten simplification of American history, human social dynamics and black protest. (Yaaay, dark athletes! Boooo, pale bigots!)

Add an early death by cancer, and what... I’m supposed to cry too?

Coming in October is “The Express,” the story of Ernie Davis, the first black winner of the Heisman Trophy.

The trailer is below. Tell me... doesn’t it seem like you’ve seen this flick before?

Friday Concert: Lightspeed Champion

A reminder for those who dig the “eccentric blackness” and the British indie pop:

Recording artist Lightspeed Champion will perform tonight on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”

If you wanna see what Dev Hynes is about – besides rocking that sick fur hat at all times – there’s a complete 15-song Lightspeed Champion concert streaming on the Dutch website Fabchannel.com.

The whole thing is embedded below, and you can skip from song to song if you want.

Random hotness

Random wrongness

Remember this tune?



It was a long way from her world to Barack’s.

‘I shocked the world!’

Barack Obama has just sewn up the Democratic Party’s nomination for president of the United States, ending a six-month primary season that blew the world’s mind.

His Republican opponent, John McCain, is talking shit about him right now on a campaign stump. Yeah, boyee... let the contest begin!

If Obama and Hillary Clinton say anything interesting in their speeches tonight, I’ll blog about it here.

9:24 p.m. (Pacific Time) – I find myself without much to add tonight. And not because I’ve allowed a malicious rumor to harsh my buzz.

One of my sisters phoned me tonight during Obama’s speech, and she was totally giggling. She attended segregated public schools in Washington, D.C. She says she never thought she’d live to see a night like tonight.

The only thing I want to mention has nothing to do with that. It has to do with a conversation we had here several months ago... about black slang that crosses over into the mainstream.

On MSNBC a short while ago, the esteemed journalist Howard Fineman pondered the question “What does Hillary want?”

And Mr. Fineman said: “She wants her props from him.” (From Obama, that is.)

Hee-hee-heeeee... “props.”

Okay, Howie. You best be addin’ a lot more of that flava to your vocabulary, homebwah. There’s a new sheriff in town, nawm sayn?

June is Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.

You know how I do. Every tile in the American mosaic gets acknowledged and appreciated up in here. So let us not ignore Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.

Embedded below are living glimpses of three prominent musical artists who are openly gay: folk/blues performer Toshi Reagon... legendary jazz avant-gardist Cecil Taylor... and old-school vocal stylist Andy Bey.

Please enjoy them.

Rush, Fox News and the ‘whitey’ rumor

The satanically clever thing about the “whitey” rumor – and other such instruments of political sabotage – is that you can’t even analyze it and condemn it without spreading it.

But dammit... I can’t ignore what’s happening with this poisonous gossip against Michelle Obama.

The Internet rumor of a “bombshell videotape” has crossed another species barrier; Rush Limbaugh just mentioned it on his radio show.

Which might give other unscrupulous media folks (like Sean Hannity) a license to talk about it on their air. (Even though Limbaugh says “I have not spoken to anyone who has seen the tape.”)

Limbaugh presented a sound bite of “Fox & Friends” from earlier today. It was a Democratic political analyst – Bob Beckel – referring obliquely to the “whitey” video, without mentioning the words “whitey” or “video.”

Instead, Beckel said there’s a rumor of something devastating that’ll drop on Michelle Obama “tomorrow.”

Beckel said he has heard this from enough people that “I’m worried about it.”

Reminds me of those end-of-the-world rumors. “The world will be destroyed on December 31, 1999!” Then, when it isn’t, they just push the date back.

Fox News is in the political sabotage business, plain and simple.

Saddest thing of all: We who have been caught up in the optimism of Barack Obama’s campaign have no weapons to fight this kind of witchcraft. We’re just letting it happen.

We need “Hellboy” on our side or some shit...

UPDATE (06/03/08): If you wish to hear exactly what Rush Limbaugh said this morning – plus the Bob Beckel soundbite – click here. It’s a 3-minute audio clip.

The new Black Kids single

The fun young pop group Black Kids – which I’ve blogged about here and here – released a new video last week.

“Hurricane Kids” is the second single off the band’s debut CD, which won’t be out till July (and only in the U.K. at that).

Black Kids are a crazy success story. When I first wrote about them last November, they were a Jacksonville, Fla. band just getting ready to visit England for the first time... because the British music press had written some nice things about them.

Well, they rocked the U.K., and now Black Kids just went back over there for six weeks of steady gigging. (Nine shows are already sold out.)

As for the new video... it’s not as amusing and endearing as their first one (which has racked up nearly 600,000 views on YouTube). But the “Hurricane Kids” hook is my favorite of their hooky little hooks.

Random Japaneseness

Nice cans.

Bo Diddley (1928-2008)

Bo Diddley, a rock ’n’ roll originator, died this morning. He had been in failing health for the past year.

Tributes to Bo are flourishing across the internets... from NPR and MTV, from the BBC and Voice of America...

I blogged about Bo Diddley on the occasion of his last birthday. And I streamed a very cool 11-minute live version of “I’m a Man.”

Now let me stream something else. In 1965, Bo Diddley was interviewed by disc jockey Jim Pewter for U.S. Armed Forces Radio. Click here to hear a 1-minute excerpt of that interview on my Vox blog.

The full 9-minute track is downloadable from eMusic.

RIP, Bo Diddley.

Arrested in Zimbabwe

Arthur Mutambara, an opposition leader in Zimbabwe, was arrested yesterday at his home.

Mutambara’s crime was writing an essay in which he accused President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party (Zanu-PF) of running a “terror campaign” against political opponents.

You can read that essay – “A Shameful Betrayal of National Independence” – here. It was originally printed in April.

(The newspaper editor who published “A Shameful Betrayal” was arrested several weeks ago.)

Arthur Mutambara is supporting Mugabe’s opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, in an upcoming runoff election that will determine the future of Zimbabwe.

The Big Think website uploaded a series of Mutambara interview clips six months ago. I blogged about one of them in February.

I’ve embedded another clip below. In this 4-minute piece, Mutambara – who holds an Oxford Ph.D. in robotics – describes his hope for Zimbabwe to become the “Singapore of Africa” in terms of economic prosperity.

But he details the grim realities of Zimbabwe that keep such a hope far distant.

UPDATE (06/03/08): Arthur Mutambara was released today on bail. The amount of bail was 20 billion Zimbabwe dollars... which is literally worth $34 in U.S. currency.

Targeting Michelle Obama

I mentioned two weeks ago that Larry Johnson – a pro-Hillary blogger and former CIA man – was spreading a rumor about Michelle Obama. A rumor that Michelle is caught on videotape using the term “whitey” at Trinity United Church of Christ.

I thought it was bullshit then. I think it’s bullshit now.

Well... the rumor was spoken aloud today on national television. Would it surprise you to know that it was... Fox News?

Absolutely sickening. Even more sickening is the man who uttered it: the notorious Republican “dirty-trickster” Roger Stone.

Stone’s career as a saboteur goes back to 1972, when he worked for the Committee to Re-Elect the President (Richard Nixon).

Here’s what Roger Stone told Geraldo Rivera on Fox News this afternoon, according to a poster at the liberal forum Democratic Underground:

“Some indelible record exists of public remarks that Michelle Obama allegedly made which are outrageous... including some reference to white people as whiteys allegedly.”

Stone went on to say: “I believe a major network now has this tape.”

A poster at Larry Johnson’s blog also wrote about Roger Stone’s Fox News claim.

Supposedly Geraldo told Stone: “I will give you a hundred bucks if it is true. I don’t believe it is true.”

True or not, this poisonous gossip has now seeped from the malarial swamps of the blogosphere into the quasi-legitimate corporate media.

Fox News must be dealt with. Plain and simple.

While I cogitate on that, let me remind you that Roger Stone, apart from being a famous political knife-fighter, is also a renowned sex pervert. He resigned from Bob Dole’s campaign in 1996 when the National Enquirer discovered an ad that Stone and his wife had placed in a swingers magazine.

Here is Roger Stone’s “INSATIABLE COUPLE” ad:

“We are hot, athletic and very fit. We are seeking similar couples or exceptional muscular, well hung, single men. She’s 40DD-24-36 and bi. She loves to fuck hard and deep. He’s 195 lbs., trim, muscular and 8” +. She prefers jocks, military men, and body builders. No fat people or smokers need respond. Send photo and phone. ...”

The photo below on the right was published with this swinger ad. The one on the left is Roger Stone as he looks today.

Sickening.

UPDATE (06/01/08): Larry Johnson has uploaded the actual Fox News footage to YouTube. Now I’m even angrier.

This wasn’t something Roger Stone just blurted out, with Geraldo trying to shut him down. Stone’s entire appearance was built around this so-called “incendiary prediction” about Michelle Obama. Geraldo teed it up for him... even as he pretended to be offended!

By the way, hearing it from his own lips... Stone’s shit sounds extremely weak.

Random hotness

Follow this link, then press play. (Hat-tip: Harry Allen.)

A free Yomo Toro download

In honor of today’s presidential primary in Puerto Rico, here’s one for the boriquas.

Yomo Toro is a master of the cuatro, a guitar-like instrument. He has recorded with Latin superstars Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe... as well as Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon and David Byrne.

He was also a member of the Fania All-Stars.

Toro’s album “Funky Jibaro” – originally released 20 years ago – has been digitally reissued. The track “Raging Toro” is available as a FREE MP3.

Click here to hear “Raging Toro” on my Vox blog. To download it, click the song title below.

“Raging Toro” (MP3)
More on this album