Tuesday, May 18th, 2004

Got this sad news just today…we got to interview her for ColorLines in 1999 in Santa Cruz and were just floored by her brilliance and generosity.

Internationally recognized cultural theorist and creative writer, Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa, passed away on May 15 from diabetes-related complications. She was 61 years old. A versatile author, Anzaldúa published poetry, theoretical essays, short stories, autobiographical narratives, interviews, children’s books, and multigenre anthologies.

As one of the first openly lesbian Chicana authors, Anzaldúa played a major role in redefining contemporary Chicano/a and lesbian/queer identities. And as editor or co-editor of three multicultural anthologies, Anzaldúa has also played a vital role in developing an inclusionary feminist movement. Anzaldúa is best known for Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987), a hybrid collection of poetry and prose which was named one of the 100 Best Books of the Century by both Hungry Mind Review and Utne Reader.

Anzaldúa’s published works also include This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color

(1981), a ground-breaking collection of essays and poems widely recognized by scholars as the premiere

multicultural feminist text; Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras:Creative and Critical Perspectives

by Feminists-of-Color (1990), a multigenre collection used in many university classrooms; two bilingual children’s books–Friends from the Other Side/Amigos del otro lado (1993) and Prietita and the

Ghost Woman/ Prietita y la Llorona (1995);Interviews/Entrevistas (2000), a memoir-like

collection of interviews; and this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation (2002), a

co-edited collection of essays, poetry, and artwork that examines the current status of feminist/womanist

theorizing. Anzaldúa has won numerous awards, including the Before Columbus Foundation American Book

Award, the Lamda Lesbian Small Book Press Award, an NEA Fiction Award, the Lesbian Rights Award, the Sappho Award of Distinction, an NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) Fiction Award, and the American Studies Association Lifetime Achievement Award.

Anzaldúa was born in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas in 1942,the eldest child of Urbano and Amalia

Anzaldúa. She received her B.A. from Pan American University, her M.A. from University of Texas, Austin, and was completing her doctorate at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

She is survived by her mother, Amalia, her sister, Hilda, and two brothers:Urbano Anzaldúa, Jr. and Oscar Anzaldúa; five nieces, three nephews,eighteen grandnieces and grandnephews, a multitude of aunts and uncles, and many close friends.

A public memorial will be planned at a later date.

posted by @ 6:55 am | 0 Comments

Sunday, May 16th, 2004

MORE SEPARATE, STILL UNEQUAL

My man Greg Winter on the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education.

Also, please read this extremely important report from Harvard on the resegregation of American youths.

posted by @ 7:05 pm | 0 Comments

Sunday, May 16th, 2004

DON’T CALL IT A THROWBACK

I know I’ve been jocking here, but for those of you who didn’t get it: Nominee for funkiest, most poignant and moving intergenerational hip-hop dialogue ever: B+ and Eric Coleman’s Keepintime DVD. Brasilintime? Even more wow and flutter.

Nominee for best liner notes for a hip-hop record ever: Egon in The Third Unheard. Certainly one of the best hip-hop albums of the year. Don’t front, ’cause I’ll bet you probably never heard the stuff the first time around.

posted by @ 1:31 am | 0 Comments

Sunday, May 16th, 2004

Big up to Carlos Mena for two great release parties in the Bay this weekend. Super sorry I missed Gab’s release party. Both albums are out–cop ’em!

Spun Saturday night at Carlos’ party. Great vibe, great crowd, the Oakland Box is just a great vibe place. So is I rusty? Ohhhhh yeah. It was lots of fun, tho’ I had so much fun spinning 45s I still didn’t get to bus the whole go-go set. Soon come, I’m sure.

By the way, if anyone reading this is working Tanya Stephens’ 45 “Power of A Girl” (Pow Pow), you’ve got a hit on your hands.

Out of town again, and probably off the grid for a minute. Work for peace…

posted by @ 1:24 am | 0 Comments

Thursday, May 13th, 2004

STILL SWEATIN ME FOR MY DRESS CODE

For the record, there has been no confirmation to the rumor that this New Orleans legislator is having an affair with old C. Delores “Why Can’t I Get None? Gangsta Rap!” Tucker. All apologies to Dub C and The MAAD Circle–hey that’s how Coolio spelled it.

posted by @ 8:31 pm | 0 Comments

Wednesday, May 12th, 2004

Four words of advice for Simon Cowell (and everyone else): NEVER. FUCK. WITH. HAWAI’I.

Jasmine deals with her self-doubts. Diana settles into her entitlements. Fantasia and LaToya–God bless the children who’ve got their own. You always have home.

posted by @ 9:08 pm | 0 Comments

Wednesday, May 12th, 2004

Here’s a piece I did on my man Carlos Mena, in today’s BG. The full disclosure is kinda embarrassing but the story isn’t. If you’re at either of the shows this weekend, come holla.

posted by @ 12:37 pm | 0 Comments

Tuesday, May 11th, 2004

IDOL MIDOL, OR ESTHER PHILLIPS’ REVENGE

Well clearly they want a Fantasia vs. Diana final, avoid all the messy race stuff which they’ll be happy to sweep under the table. So Simon and Randy mowed down Jasmine, and raised the “personality” question again with LaToya.

In fairness, Jasmine looked great, looked great, but sang poorly. Her song choices–“Everlasting Love” and the Gay National Anthem, “It’s Raining Men”–were meant to bring her out as a diva. But interpretation is always a tricky thing, and that’s where she missed. You don’t just burn the high notes to become Martha Wash, and she knows that.

If she’s leaving, she seems to have reconciled with it before the world through her tears, that terrible feeling of hitting the wall when you’re just 16. If she stays, and I’ll be doing my part as a Local Boy with the redial button, maybe she’ll sing more loose next week. Either way, I pray a lifetime of smaller stages doesn’t defeat her. World, welcome to Asian American reality.

LaToya–no personality? Just cause she’s cool-headed doesn’t mean she’s a mystery. She’s not trying to put on some stereotypical edge. She’s older and wiser than all the other folks here. She’s not trying to get all twisted over some TV show. But apparently Simon and Randy have decided that they want her gone.

Diana did sing her heart out. Yes, she’s grown up onstage. And no, for everyone still coming here for her ethnicity, she’s not Asian either. I’m back to thinking she’s corny as fuck. “No More Tears”–the parenthetical “Enough Is Enough” says it all–was easily the most pathetic song of 1979. Give me “At Home He’s A Tourist” (down on the disco floor they make their profits) or, more to the point, “Death Disco”.

And that’s the thing. This week’s repertoire was uniformly terrible. This wasn’t disco as entertainment, much less disco as liberation, this was disco as desperation. Some old yikes-let-me-throw-on-my-Members-Only-jacket-and-overemote-cause-there’s-only-three-more-shows-type-shit. Even Fantasia went bonkers with her Bonnie Tyler cover. VH1 Classic won’t even touch that shit.

Upside is that her performance of “Knock On Wood”–while not that interesting–reminded me of who she reminds me of at her best: the late, great, beautiful, tragic Esther Phillips. Her voice can have a weary coronet tone, a whiskeyed hush that discloses to you that she’s lived some life; it’s the thing that George never tapped, that LaToya has moved beyond, and that Jennifer wore on her silver spacesuit.

There’s where Simon and Randy come in–they don’t want someone who will really sing the blues, or someone who won’t give up the soul, or someone who has grown through it, they want just the hint of danger, the fist in the velvet glove. Pop. The balancing act, that tiptoeing on the end of the blade. That happens to be what makes Fantasia the real artist in the competition.

Maybe in one of these last few shows, Fantasia will get to cover Esther’s best song ever, “When Love Comes To The Human Race” (cause they’d never let her touch Toussaint’s “From A Whisper To A Scream” or Scott-Heron’s “Home Is Where The Hatred Is”), and I’ll be crying some tears myself. Aw hell, Clay Aiken’s on next week.

posted by @ 8:49 pm | 0 Comments

Tuesday, May 11th, 2004

Armond White on Jay-Z and P-Diddy, growing up in public.

posted by @ 9:11 am | 0 Comments

Tuesday, May 11th, 2004

Have I mentioned that since EMP, Josh Clover has been just wrecking it with his blog? Amazing commentary + all the Critical Karaoke me and you missed…

posted by @ 8:56 am | 0 Comments



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