Wednesday, November 19th, 2003

Can’t Stop Won’t Stop Reading List, Part 1

SMELLS LIKE A READING LIST, A-K

I’ve been teaching a class on Saturdays at Media Alliance on breaking into music journalism. Came up with a list of books for folks to check out and thought yall would find it interesting…

Not to be confused with a canon, but certainly loaded.

Bangs, Lester. Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung

The classic collection of essays that has justly defined the legend. For most folks, this is where music writing begins. But for me it starts with…

Baraka, Amiri (Leroi Jones). Blues People

This classic survey of the development of black music from slavery through jazz works on a number of levels—as history, polemic, and finally, as brilliant criticism.

Barrow, Steve and Dalton, Peter. Reggae: The Rough Guide

More than just a record guide, this is something close to a definitive history of the development of Jamaican music from the 60s through the present. Peppered with reviews, oral histories, and useful chronologies.

Bowman, Rob. Soulsville USA

Four out of five music critics have recommended this 1997 history of Stax Records that was 12 years in the making. Beautifully written, exhaustively researched, the gold standard.

Brewster, Bill and Broughton, Frank. Last Night A DJ Saved My Life

A fine narrative history of the development of the modern DJ. Diggers love the classic club playlists which allow them to turn their own bedrooms into the Roxy, the Paradise Garage or the Loft.

Christgau, Robert. Grown Up All Wrong

The collected writings of The Dean, one of the two most influential critics alive and the curmudgeonly curator of the annual Village Voice Pazz and Jop Poll, which once was, before hip-hop arrived, the last word on critical consensus. Doesn’t include his explosive essay on Ice Cube’s Death Certificate, but the rest amply rep his ability to cut through to the hearts of icons.

Cross, Brian. It’s Not About A Salary

The definitive history of L.A. hip-hop lets the pioneers, the stars, and the street heads speak in their own voices. Spans three decades of black cultural production in the City of Quartz. Generously illustrated with his beautiful black and white shots of the scene in the early 90s, which now have historical, not just aesthetic value. Goes for $100+ on ebay. Will not be reprinted.

Ego Trip’s Book of Rap Lists

Somehow anticipated the Blenderized lists-as-journalism movement, and still did it 1000x better. Captures the sheer ambivalent, mixed-up, polycultural, middle-finger fun of being a hip-hop head like no other book except Upski’s Bomb The Suburbs. Will probably remain one of the top three books ever written about hip-hop when we’re old and grey and angry at the noisy young’uns.

Eshun, Kodwo. More Brilliant Than The Sun

Equal parts ornery, airy-fairy, and visionary. An Afrofuturist revisionist history that links Herbie Hancock with Kool Keith. Takes the position that “keeping it real” is the death of black music. Farther out than David Toop, though not as far out as Dave Tompkins.

Fricke, Jim and Ahearn, Charlie. Yes Yes Y’all

Replaces Hager (see below) as the definitive account of the old school, told in the pioneers’ own words. If the book lacks some contextualizing, it’s still hard not to take in the photos and flyers, read the excerpted transcripts, and not be carried away by the joy of the whole thing.

Frith, Simon. Performing Rites

A British cultural studies pioneer who has done more than any other academic to establish pop music as a field worthy of study writes a corrective to the current bland, overly celebratory excesses of that same field. Makes you hear the Pet Shop Boys and read Adorno differently.

George, Nelson. The Death of Rhythm and Blues

A relentlessly original survey of the tortured relationship between black music and America’s racial integration experiment from post-WWII through the dawn of Def Jam’s mid-80s crossover. By itself, his recounting of the forgotten history of black radio, from segregation to the origins of “urban” radio, is invaluable.

Gillett, Charlie. The Sound of The City

An expansive, enthusiastic and entertaining survey of the rise of rock from the end of World War II through the 60s, tracking the rise of the music, the artists, and the industry. Also indispensable for the footnotes that list rosters of indie and major labels through the decades.

Hager, Steven. Hip Hop

Fearless journalism and book one of the Old Testament of hip-hop. The book that established hip-hop studies, hip-hop journalism, and yes, hip-hop hagiography. Also the book that became “Beat Street”. After the movie came out, Hager gave up and went on to become editor of High Times. Original goes for $300+ on ebay. Mostly reprinted in last year’s Adventures In The Counterculture.

Kelley, Norman, ed. Rhythm and Business: The Political Economy of Black Music

Fine, if incomplete, recent effort to bring analytical tools back to the study of the economics of pop, a noble effort itself amidst the Blenderizing of music journalism. It’s incomplete because both hip-hop’s transformation of the music industry and media industry consolidation are events that are still very much in motion.

Kofsky, Frank. Black Nationalism and the Revolution In Music

Brian Cross’ favorite book. Written in 1970 in the flush of liberation movements, this is a scathing critique of jazz critics and a revisioning of jazz from a unabashedly post-Third World Strike, pro-Black, pro-Marxist point of view. Pretty fly for a white guy.

posted by @ 8:17 am | 0 Comments

Friday, November 14th, 2003

Peace yall,

If you’re in the Bay Area next week, come out for the New California Media Expo. From 2:30 to 4pm, there will be a special reception for youth media featuring Dr. Ben Chavis of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network. This will follow two special youth-oriented workshops.

More info on the day and the NCM Awards Banquet is below…

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NCM EXPO & Awards 2003

November 18 and 19 in San Francisco

The NCM (New California Media) EXPO gives you a unique opportunity to meet leaders of ethnic and youth media along with key decision makers from corporate, small business, governmental, mainstream media and non-profit sectors who want to expand and specialize their communication strategies.

NCM EXPO, November 19, 2003 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

San Francisco Exhibition Center, 635 8th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

A one day tour of ethnic and youth media and their leaders all in one place. Workshop topics cover issues from bridging the generation gap to how youth media cover America’s faultlines. A full list of workshops are available here.

Special guests and speakers include FCC Commissioner Adelstein, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Sean Walsh Campaign Spokesman for Governor-elect Schwarzenegger (invited), Dr. Robert Ross of The California Endowment, Jim Canales of The James Irvine Foundation, Tessie Guillermo of The Community Technology Foundation, and the nation’s leading multilingual pollster and NCM partner, Sergio Bendixen. Some of the youth media participating include Shout Out, Just Think, Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) and Youth Sounds.

Visit here for more information.

NCM Awards Banquet, November 18, 2003, 7:00pm

Westin St. Francis, 335 Powell Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

Celebrate the winners of the fifth annual NCM (New California Media) Awards, dubbed “The Pulitzers of Ethnic Media,” by The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Join us in honoring exceptional communicators Tavis Smiley, host of the Tavis Smiley Show; Sandra Hernandez, CEO of the San Francisco Foundation; and Bill Imada, Chairman & CEO of the I.W. Group Inc. and in-language and English journalistic excellence in ethnic media.

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Register online here or call 415-503-4170

Banquet tickets are $100; EXPO tickets are $25

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posted by @ 7:13 am | 0 Comments

Friday, November 14th, 2003

Here is a scathing analysis of Al Sharpton’s attacks on Howard Dean from The Black Commentator. A must-read.

posted by @ 7:05 am | 0 Comments

Monday, November 10th, 2003

Back from NYC. In a week there, I can do a year’s worth of work! (I’m killing myself now for missing Zulu’s 30th…that’s how rammed I was.)

I was in town to drop my first draft off with my editor Monique, and to do a convening on hip-hop at the Ford Foundation. OK, now I know I can’t just drop a nugget like that on you and be out, but I have to be right now. Like I said, a year’s worth of work to start up. More later, I promise.

Two things to finish up…

1) Lyrics Born killed it at SOBs on Wednesday night. Catch him on tour yall. It’s a must see. If you need specific info, check the LB website.

2) Re: talk radio for the hip-hop generation, I got this important correction from Jay Smooth at NYC’s WBAI. Let it be noted also that his website is a must-check. If you love this, you’ll love that fa sho.

“WBAI does have a politically oriented hip-hop show

that has been representing for 12+ years (now the

longest running underground show in NY), namely the

Underground Railroad on Saturday nights at midnight,

as seen on our website here:

www.hiphopmusic.com

Also worth a mention is our youth collective who produces Rise Up

Radio, on Fridays at 11AM:

wbaiaction.org/studentvoices

Peace,

Jay Smooth, WBAI”

posted by @ 1:58 pm | 0 Comments

Friday, October 31st, 2003

Here’s Mike Davis’ take on the fires…AlterNet: The Perfect Firestorm

posted by @ 9:55 am | 0 Comments

Friday, October 31st, 2003

Here’s an alternative take on the fires raging across SoCali. Homes ‘Should Never Have Been Built’. A more elaborate development of this very argument is in Mike Davis’ brilliant book, The Ecology of Fear, in an essay provocatively titled “The Case For Letting Malibu Burn”. Fires are as often as not, he argues, are man-made disasters.

posted by @ 8:33 am | 0 Comments

Thursday, October 30th, 2003

Whoa! The LA Weekly finally gets down and does a Dub cover story. Sure the piece (by Greg Burk) is coming years after I did all my shit for the Bay Guardian, and while he talks about dub and Rastafari being political, he doesn’t really go there (which may have a lot to do with his quaint, outmoded white-boy old-line notions of race and class, hmmm?) and I admit I feel some professional jealousy (which hey, I understand is NOT cool), but it’s mainly because this is a such a good piece. Definitely read it and tell all your friends. I am.

posted by @ 11:38 am | 0 Comments

Tuesday, October 28th, 2003

SEAN JOHN USES SWEATSHOP LABOR

This story, A Hip-Hop Star’s Fashion Line Is Tagged With a Sweatshop Label, should be huge news in the hip-hop community. We could speculate why it hasn’t yet taken hold…for now, here’s hoping that at the least, it’ll shake some folks up. At best, I’d like to see a hip-hop fashion designer’s code of ethics, and Sweatshop-Free labels on all hip-hop wear ads and clothes.

posted by @ 7:52 pm | 0 Comments

Monday, October 27th, 2003

Great event for a great organization for those of yall in the Bay Area…

GREG PALAST in A BENEFIT for MEDIA ALLIANCE

“Elections and the Media: From Florida to The Recall…

and on to 2004″

Thursday, November 6th at 7 p.m., Doors open 6:30 p.m.

King Middle School, 1781 Rose Street, Berkeley

Tickets are $10, *Advance Purchase Highly Recommended*

Students are $5 at door with valid ID

Buy tickets at http://www.media-alliance.org or

Call (415) 546-6334 x300

Greg Palast is a BBC commentator and Author of The New

York Times Best-seller “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy”.

He is generally recognized as one of the most important

investigative reporters working today and has uncovered

numerous scandals including the Florida purge of African-

American voters during the 2000 presidential election and

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s collusion with Enron’s Ken Lay

around California’s energy debts.

This event co-sponsored by KPFA 94.1 FM, The SF Bay Guardian,

New College’s Media Studies Department, and Working Assets

posted by @ 8:28 pm | 0 Comments

Thursday, October 23rd, 2003

TURN ON THE RADIO?

This month’s Harper’s Magazine features an article called “Turn On Tune In: Toward A Progressive Talk Show” by Thomas de Zengotita (which I can’t link to because these geezers are Luddites). But hey, it’s an interesting read–one dude’s take on how liberals can take back talk radio from the Rushes of the world (while championing the word ‘progressive’, natch).

de Zengotita argues that a progressive needs to be angry, caustic, ironic, and truthful. It needs to call right-wing liars on their lying lies and do it with glee. It needs to be hip (we’ll get to the hip-hop part below), interdisciplinary, and nobrow. I found myself agreeing with a lot of the points–even if the guy’s humor was a little too, uh, ah hell let’s say it, tea-and-crackers-at-the-Club for me.

Of course, there are issues. There are always issues.

de Zengotita is, like a lot of them are, another frustrated white boomer with white boomer frustrations. Like so many other heart-broken white boomers once did, he believes the future of progressivism lies with us, the young people of the world. (He’s a professor too, so there you go.) But, alas, like so many other frustrated white boomers, he is mainly looking for another young frustrated white post-boomer to take up his generation’s torch. Like Souls of Mischief liked to say, that’s when ya lost!

He’s ignoring the realities of the hip-hop generation: polycultural, post-white, and proud.

As usual, boomer liberals are looking for love in all the wrong places. They are searching for the next generation folks that look and think like them to tell them what they wanted to say anyway. Doesn’t that sound a little self-defeating and Gitlinesque?

Here are just a few of the shows led by non-white post-boomers that already fit de Zengotita’s proposal:

Davey D and Weyland Southon–Hard Knock Radio, KPFA (Berkeley)

Cedric Muhammad–Sirius Internet and Radio One (Washington DC)

Adisa Banjoko–Sirius and KNEW (San Francisco)

The Poetess–Reality Talk, KKBT (Los Angeles)

Fidel Rodriguez–Divine Radio KPFK (Los Angeles)

Harry Allen and Rosa Clemente–WBAI (New York City)

Frank Red–The Dungeon (Sacramento)

There are many more.

In any case, check out the Harper’s piece and if you agree with me, hell even if you don’t, hit them at mailto:letters@harpers.org

Here’s the letter I sent today…

To: letters@harpers.org

From: Jeff Chang

Subject: TALK SHOW WOULDN’T BE PROGRESSIVE IF IT WASN’T HIP-HOP

Re: “Turn On, Tune In”

As a loud and proud member of the hip-hop generation, who has spent years in activism and around community and commercial radio, actually subscribes to Harper’s, and has often admitted a throat-lumping nostalgia for the good old days of the anti-apartheid movement, I read “Turn On, Tune In” with great interest. I even agreed with most of Mr. de Zengotita’s points, especially his insight that progressivism can only be revived by my peers–the post-ironic, post-civil rights, post-political post-boomers.

So I found it amusing–in an Elvis Costello, “used to be disgusted” kind of way–that de Zengotita would, straight out the box, advocate for a SWM host, “an unmarked signifier”. Whoa. Doesn’t he realize that SWM-ness is just about the most *marked* signifier in the hip-hop generation? Do we need him to start picking up XXL along with his Harper’s down at the subway magazine kiosk? If he’s not proposing that Eminem be recruited, it certainly raises the question of who has any legitimacy with the hip-hop generation to step up to do this.

In fact, in the boomer liberal’s so-far-fruitless search to find someone just like them to say just what they want to say (inevitably, to people who look and think just like them), they’ve missed the fact that so-called urban radio is the dominant format for people under-30. Who does de Zengotita think young people are getting their cultural cues from? They’ve missed the fact that there are brilliant, witty, politically tough radio personalities like the Bay Area’s Davey D who already command passionately loyal young audiences. They’ve missed all the outrage young people have been directing towards ghettopoly radio–expressed, for example, in angry local boycotts of Clear Channel, and “Turn Off The Radio” campaigns led by hip-hoppers like Afrika Bambaataa and Dead Prez.

Same old same old.

Get with the program, yall. If you really want to get to us, you’ll have to get polycultural and post-white.

Peace,

Jeff

posted by @ 9:03 am | 0 Comments



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