Thursday, June 18th, 2009

RIP Iz The Wiz

izthewiz02

Sad news today from KET: the great IZ THE WIZ has passed.

Here’s a moving excerpt from KET’s blog post:

For many of you that do not know, IZ TMB, was a subway god. From his beginnings in the early 70s he painted like there was no tomorrow and came up with one of the most iconic and recognized throw ups in subway writing history. It was by sheer will and determination that he became a true king of New York City. He was king of the lines and not only did throw ups but also whole cars and insides.

While many people count IN TOP as the throw up king of all time, in actuality that title belongs to IZ who out painted and out lasted IN and mostly every other writer in the history on New York’s movement. Read more

posted by @ 9:43 am | 8 Comments

Monday, June 15th, 2009

White House Briefing On Arts Policy

whpic
The strangest delegation of folks to be invited to the White House in recent memory. (…Yes that’s our man Wendell “Bunk” Pierce!)

As some of yall know, I was part of a delegation of social justice-oriented artists, arts activists and advocates invited to meet last month with Obama administration staff to be briefed on their efforts around arts policy. It was an amazing group, an amazing briefing, and an amazing day.

What seems important to say first is that hip-hop and a breathtaking front of other underdog arts movements got all of us there. And they let us in the front door.

The delegation included so many luminaries and s/heroes it’s impossible to do the group justice without coming off like a name-dropping Hollywood agent, albeit a very cool one. Check the pic above if you don’t believe… Read more

posted by @ 11:51 am | 0 Comments

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Still (De)Buggin’ From The Roots Picnic, Etc.

Here’s a warmup return post, eaaasing back into the thing instead of going full hog.

We’re still working out some bugs in the program here, but other than that, are gratified with all the love yall have been showering on us. Thank you too for the suggestions. We’re gonna keep working…

So I was out last week to NYC and Philly for a bunch of work, and got to spend some of that time following The Roots around, culminating of course in the mother of all picnics. (Roker’s got some photos here.)

The thing to say about the Roots organization is that everyone works ridiculously hard. On Friday alone, they taped two Fallon shows, and had a third rehearsal for the Picnic. Not to mention locking details for the picnic. And finishing the mix for their album coming this fall. All just hours after a rehearsal with Antibalas, Chuck D, and Griff that had ended stupidly late the night before (and featured Griff singing random Kenny Nolan-type songs). Plus, most of the crew still comes up to NYC in the morning on the bus from Philly, and goes home the same night.

Richard Nichols, the manager/studio genius/overall savant, really just call him the godfather, simply had to chuckle and shake his head when I asked him how the idea for the PE “It Takes A Nation Of Millions” set came about. As if there hadn’t been enough work to do already…

(BTW some of the intriguing ideas left on the table–a full performance of “Do You Want More?!?”, a Native Tongues reunion…)

What began as a homegrown affair in 2008 turned into a monster in 2009; it could be remembered as one of the live events of the year. (Check my old tweets for the play-by-play.)

All in a week’s work for the hardest working band in show biz…

posted by @ 3:41 pm | 1 Comment

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Back To Work

Can it be I stayed away too long?

So yes, this blog and website have been on a long hiatus. I expected it to be about a month, and that turned into three more, and so now here we are. Read more

posted by @ 1:01 pm | 5 Comments

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Open Thread :: What Do You Think Of The CSWS Redesign?

Leave your comments here on what you think of the website redesign. Let us know what you think is missing, and what you’d like to see more of. Read more

posted by @ 12:59 pm | 5 Comments

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

Coming Soon!

Cantstopwontstop.com V 2.0.
…

posted by @ 8:10 am | 1 Comment

Monday, January 19th, 2009

Notes On The Eve Of Day One

Barack Obama was born in Hawai’i only two years after my father’s generation voted for statehood, and that small fact illustrates the deep emotional cross-currents I am caught in over his inauguration. Read more

posted by @ 10:16 pm | 3 Comments

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

Students Occupy The New School

Last night students began what they call “an occupation” of the New School in New York City, demanding the ouster of university president Bob Kerrey and other school officials and direct student involvement in the school’s governance and investment policies. Read more

posted by @ 8:19 am | 1 Comment

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

Farai Chideya’s News And Notes on NPR Has Been Cancelled

NPR is announcing it has cancelled Farai Chideya’s brilliant African American-themed talk show “News and Notes”. Argh.

Aside from being a good friend and a brilliant journalist, Farai has changed the game for people of color’s media, regularly broadcasting a smart, topical, and witty show on a national level. She was the first hip-hop gen host on NPR. Her show, on the air since 2005, was axed along with “Day To Day”. In all 64 journalists will lose their jobs.

NPR leadership blamed the layoffs on a decline in corporate sponsorships. Ain’t that ironic.

The truth is that NPR has been fickle with younger audiences and audiences of color. Its audience continues to age. The median age is 48.

While NPR has experimented with bringing in a more diverse listenership, it hasn’t shown much willingness to commit. The list of casualties includes Tavis Smiley (News and Notes’ predecessor) and Ed Gordon (Farai’s predecessor at News and Notes), not to mention a long list of young producers and staffers of color.

The only remaining show for African Americans on NPR–never mind Latinos and Asian Americans–will be Michel Martin’s relatively new “Tell Me More”.

Farai and her team will be on the air until March 20th. Whether they will be employed after that depends on you. Jasmyne Cannick has already set up email forms and petition forms to the NPR top brass. Let em know…

posted by @ 8:01 pm | 3 Comments

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

I Am Nixon

Large up T.A. Negro for rocking the hardcore David Frost to my Nixon in one of the best interviews I’ve ever had the opportunity to be a part of. Unfortunately my negotiating skills are suspect–I didn’t get paid anything close to $600,000 for this.

posted by @ 10:43 am | 0 Comments



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