fox had something going on back in the day

November 10th, 2008

working on the weekends has fueled my nostalgia for fox’s new jacked thursdays since the shows are in syndication during weekdays. fox has had a pretty good record of giving shows creative license and then jacking everything up through mismanagement (see arrested development). it’s a shame because the awesome line-up of martin at 8, living single at 8:30, and new york undercover at 9 was probably the highest level of black programming that has ever been reached. i think that all of the “clinton was the first black president” rhetoric is just noise. however, something was definitely was going on by 1996-1997 that brought the fringe african-diasporic aesthetic of the early 90s (e.g. kente cloth, spike lee movies, a different world, the OG arrested development) into mainstream american popular culture. can we hope for a resurgence of quality black/latino/asian tv programming in the next couple of years?

martin was a little racy for me as a kid, but now, i can see why all my friends and their parents lived by this show. i am pretty bored by the vague moralism and “family values” rhetoric of all the newer black sitcoms (everybody hates chris, house of payne, etc). actually, that goes for sitcoms in general. do they put childless couples on tv anymore?

the oxygen network shows about 8 episodes of living single a day midday afternoons. just saying. i live by myself. how often i watch this show is between me and time warner. readers of this erratic and practically defunct blog know how much i admire smartness and sassiness. this show makes girlfriends look like “the girls next door.” max and kyle were the original blair waldorf and chuck bass. ok, maybe that analogy is stretching it a little, but i don’t care. i also don’t care what other people say, LS was the greatest thing that queen latifah has ever accomplished.

this was my show. the ultimate urban crime drama. i remember in grad school, we had to brainstorm about the term “gritty” in an urban context. the nyu theme song just ran through my head. i can’t believe my mom wholeheartedly or whatever. i know there are a lot of law and order stans in the world, but though both shows share dick wolf as a creator, i don’t think i can really say that l&o is better. check this out via nyu’s wiki:

Each episode of the first three seasons of New York Undercover featured several hip hop and R&B songs for its soundtrack, with noted musician-producer James Mtume serving as musical director…At some point during each episode, one or more of the principal characters would end up at Natalie’s, a popular New York R&B café owned by Gladys Knight’s character Natalie, where a popular artist would perform a set. Among the artists featured on the show during its run were Aaron Neville, New Edition, Johnny Gill, Levert, The O’Jays, Montell Jordan Aaliyah, Erykah Badu, The Temptations, Gladys Knight, George Benson, Boyz II Men, Mary J. Blige, Xscape, The Notorious B.I.G., Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, 112, Monifah, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, George Clinton, the P-Funk All-Stars and others. The two exceptions were a first-season episode, where The Notorious B.I.G. performs at a rap concert, and the two-episode third-season premiere, where Kirk Franklin and the Family portray a church choir.

was anyone else a little disappointed when malik yoba guest starred on the previously mentioned arrested development?

oh and just for the hell of it


black president jokes

November 10th, 2008

black comedians have pretty funny ones

via gawker

via ebogjohnson

where the hell is dave chappelle?


September 26th, 2008

aretha franklin’s “a deeper love” exemplifies all that i love about diva house.  some people may find it too literal, but i really am moved by the uplifting aspect to it.  i love hi-fives and fists in the air and throwing graduation caps.  because you know what, there’s nothing wrong with a little pride and proclaiming that “we did it!”

these are scary, depressing times.  i have personally had to deal with a number of crises in the past few months.  some of us may prefer to just drown our sorrows, exemplified by this bingo drinking game for the presidential debate tonight.  oprah may suggest for you to distance yourself from a given situation to gain perspective.  i prefer aretha’s message of looking inward and taking stock of all you have to offer the world.  i am kinda aware that this is just a cover of an earlier song.  i wish that i knew the backstory behind both songs, but i am going to stick with the aretha version because she’s the queen.  there’s also the fact that i am used to listening to this version, because my mom used to blast the entire sister act 2 soundtrack every morning before we headed off to work/school back in the day.


September 2nd, 2008

i made a resolution a few years back to improve my articulation. sometimes it’s really hard for me to express myself. taking into account how poorly i have fared in foreign language classes, i think the verbal part of my brain is a bit underdeveloped.

i decided on the bus trip back from cape cod that i would like to improve my communication skills through the art of letter writing. i have quite a few friends now who are living across the country or abroad who i miss on a daily basis. it would be nice to be able to tell them how much i think of them, tell stories, and share some of my general thoughts on life. it also seems very mature. i remember when i was a child, my mother would exchange letters with her best friend, who lived in LA. she would write on yellow or purple notepad paper in really alien-yet-feminine handwriting and sign each letter with a symbol… something she and uncle tony got from prince, i guess. whacky stuff, but i really looked up to their friendship.

additionally, letters are delightfully old-timey.

via a. lammer, i’ve found the perfect model of an outstanding letter:

To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

Sir: I got your letter and was glad to find you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Col. Martin’s to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again and see Miss mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville hospital, but one of the neighbors told me Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here; I get $25 a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy (the folks here call her Mrs. Anderson), and the children, Milly, Jane and Grundy, go to school and are learning well; the teacher says grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday- School, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated; sometimes we overhear others saying, “The colored people were slaves” down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks, but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Col. Anderson. Many darkies would have been proud, as I used to was, to call you master. Now, if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.

As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free- papers in 1864 from the Provost- Marshal- General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you are sincerely disposed to treat us justly and kindly- - and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty- two years and Mandy twenty years. At $25 a month for me, and $2 a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to $11,680. Add to this the interest for the time our wages has been kept back and deduct what you paid for our clothing and three doctor’s visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams Express, in care of V. Winters, esq, Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night, but in Tennessee there was never any pay day for the Negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.

In answering this letter please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up and both good- looking girls. You know how it was with Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve and die if it comes to that than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood, the great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits. P.S. — Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.

From your old servant,

Jourdon Anderson

—Jourdon Andersen, ex-slave.

Letter for former slave master declining invitation to return to plantation in Tennessee.

Dayton, Ohio, August 7, 1865


good-for-nothing… tanning, maybe

September 1st, 2008

i drunkenly rediscovered how awesome the internet is tonight.

maggie says that she is close to executing the blogs of baxter, fred, and i for sullying her domain with our negligence.

i wonder about the fate of cyborg memoirs now that she is in osaka, japan for the year.

i don’t have much to show for myself during the month of august except for posed photographs readily available on my flickr page:

hmm. maybe a fancy chart of my beach experiences next? fixing tags vs. categories?


R.I.P K-Swift

July 21st, 2008

DJ K-Swift, born Khia Edgarton died this morning in a swimming pool accident in baltimore, maryland.

well, i feel like a failure for missing my last chance to see the club queen spin in baltimore this past weekend. this is totally shocking. my heart goes out to her family and loved ones.


possibly the most legendary weekend ever

July 18th, 2008

on sunday night, the mad decent central park summerstage after party featuring my favorite yung bol dj sega is going to be upstairs at the same venue as nicky siano’s new weekly party. i expect my soul to ascend to another energy level around 2am.

july 3rd beats in space podcast with guest dj nicky siano.


choices…

July 16th, 2008

how do i follow up a casual saturday sunning on fire island?

zizek @ sob’s? I saw them last week at the LAMC showcase and it was phenomenal. heard cumbia versions of “baby, i like it raw” and “bongo bong.” had to peace out at 2am so i missed it when the party moved to check out the kumbia queers. clearly, my loss.

foreal people @ the lucky cat? I have a great time everytime i go…

turntables on gowanus? close to home and its been a minute since i’ve been to this party.

we’ll see!


July 16th, 2008

dirty south joe roots of baltimore club mix for mad decent radio

no need no say no more?


July 15th, 2008

pmjawn muxtape 4

highly influenced by the awesome dj set by fred falke on sat night at the tribeca grand. it was the first time that i’ve worn heels to a venue this summer and it was the only deciding factor in bowing out at 3:30am. i had also hiked for three hours earlier in the day, but the undeniable power of the filter effect kept me on my feet.  ff killed it with the live bass accompaniment. you can read about it at showtrotta. ned and chris c also held me afloat with their raw emotion.

uh, who has a beach house? i’m trying to make a beach house/french house beach party happen this summer.