i'm sitting here in melville, the 'safest' suburb of jo'burg (aka jozi) writing this. i've got 10 minutes left on my internet time, so this may be short. anyway, i'm in a nice cafe overlooking the street in my nice pants and dress shirt, about to go meet with gallo and hopefully get them on board (finally). i'm a short walk from this nice little guest house i'm staying at where i have a small neat single room with breakfast for just about $60/night. and for the past 2 days, i've been haning out in Soweto. the south western township. THE soweto. soweto is about 20 -30 minutes drive from here, but a totally different world. it feels like the poorer parts of africa i've been in, whereas melville could be a neighborhood in california anywhere. little shops, galleries, cafes etc etc. whereas soweto is, well soweto. saturday, i got a tour of the township along with a few of the guys with the artist k'naan's group. hempza and his friend karrabo took us around. hempza is the lead organizer of this neighborhood group called "black sunday". basically, the tour was short, but we got to see the houses selling for over $350,000 in the neighborhood, hector peterson square (where the student uprising in 1976 started), the squatter camps where folks live in structures of 4 tin walls and a roof about 8x8 foot in size. and we also got to see black sunday's headquarters. (i'll get to what they do in a sec.)
yesterday, i took a public taxi (the sotrama of s.a. - vans outfitted to seat 10-15 people.) downtown, met up with hempza and his mom and took another taxi like that into soweto. then we went to hempza's house and started setting up for black sunday.
black sunday is a weekly event held on sundays in the townships around here that showcase the hip hop scene. djs, mcs, bboys, grafcats, etc all get together and it is basically an open mic, with new guys getting a break, established folks honing their acts, and famous guys dropping in. yesterday, a bunch of the acts that were at the global hip hop summit (which i was at on thursday, friday and it was pretty good - more about that later), were also at black sunday.
so, k'naan, postive black soul, emmanuel jah, gidigidi majimaji, and many others were there. tight! i've got some nice video, so i hope it makes it back and i can show you.
i've got to run now, so much love to all.
p.s. if anyone wants a "black sunday academy, soweto" t-shirt, let me know.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Monday, October 17, 2005
testing the email post . . .
testing the email post option to see if this works.
got to get the dust out of the system before this trip
. . .
headed south
getting ready to go south. sitting at this part time job i've got (for a couple more shifts) wanting to be home getting ready, or home hanging with akr. trying to use this time productively on my own stuff so that i'm more or less ready to go. the plane leaves in just over 12 hours, and although i'm pretty much packed and ready, i don't feel ready. this trip has been so fast in coming together, that i haven't had to time to think about it. but the 20+ hours in the plane will definitely provide that mind space.
i'll try and post as much as i can while i'm away. i've been told that public internet cafes and such are pretty widespread, so i'll try and get to them as much as i can. and i'll have my camera so maybe i can also get some photos up soon.
peace.
i'll try and post as much as i can while i'm away. i've been told that public internet cafes and such are pretty widespread, so i'll try and get to them as much as i can. and i'll have my camera so maybe i can also get some photos up soon.
peace.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
comments
so i had to turn on word verification for those of you who want to comment. i'm getting hit with comment spam. sorry about that. when it goes away, i'll turn off the word verification.
thanks.
e
thanks.
e
Central Square World's Fair
This sunday I stage managed the Central Square World's Fair and a bunch of acts performed. It was a great (if exhausting) day. I'll post the rest of of the acts in later posts. But first to Fellyko. I didn't know this guy existed 2 weeks ago, but he is sweet. Sweet guy with a sweet sound. Playing a sweet guitar given to him by Banning. wow. get up and dance!
Andy Brown Show
So I'm going to start posting pictures from the shows that I go to either for my own fun, for Calabash Music, or for Afropop Worldwide.
You can also see more info about these groups at
http://calabashmusic.com/
http://www.afropop.org/
http://www.afropop.org/events/boston/
http://globaldownloads.org/
My first post is about Andy Brown, a musician from Zimbabwe, who has had the interesting role of being FOR Mugabe's government. This despite all the horrific acts Mugabe is undertaking. But maybe it is a little too tough not to take the money, especially when you see opponents houses bulldozed, careers crushed, etc. I obviously have never been in that position, so I'll withhold judgement, and only say that he has been in an interesting position. I guess that Banning Eyre from Afropop had a great conversation with him before the show, some of which I bet will show up in his new book about Thomas Mapfumo.
Monday, September 05, 2005
america is great
. . . . . but the government ain't .
this whole katrina thing does seem to prove that America is great when you measure this country by the people who make it up. Everyone (well, almost everyone - i'll say more later) has pitched in and done something, or shown the willingness to do so. I say almost everyone, because apparently those in washington, starting with the big loser W, haven't done shit.
but out whole country: black and white; north and south; red state and blue state; Democrat and Republican; poor and not so poor; christian, jew, muslim. all have turned out with a willingness to do something and fix the situation in new orleans.
bob hebert, in the NYTimes today gets it right.
"After days of withering criticism from white and black Americans, from conservatives as well as liberals, from Republicans and Democrats, the president finally felt compelled to act, however feebly. (The chorus of criticism from nearly all quarters demanding that the president do something tells me that the nation as a whole is so much better than this administration.)"
he continues: "Mr. Bush's performance last week will rank as one of the worst ever by a president during a dire national emergency. What we witnessed, as clearly as the overwhelming agony of the city of New Orleans, was the dangerous incompetence and the staggering indifference to human suffering of the president and his administration."
he concludes: "Like a boy being prepped for a second crack at a failed exam, Mr. Bush has been meeting with his handlers to see what steps can be taken to minimize the political fallout from this latest demonstration of his ineptitude. But this is not about politics. It's about competence. And when the president is so obviously clueless about matters so obviously important, it means that the rest of us, like the people left stranded in New Orleans, are in deep, deep trouble."
and i conclude with a combination of things. first is bush's butchering of the famous phrase "fool me once". and second would be some pictures, but i can't get those right now. so here goes:
Fool me once [pictures of looters in baghdad] shame on you. Fool me twice [pictures of looters in NOLA], shame on me.
Looting in both of these cases is not about people trying to act malicious. It is about a failure of certain people to anticipate people's needs. Basic needs like food, water, electricity and medicine. And it is about people then attempting to meet those needs on their own. And in the absence of government and law and order, you get looting. So while these things could have been anticipated and alleviated or avoided, bush led us straight into the disasters that we now have to clean up and fix as best we can for the next generations.
this whole katrina thing does seem to prove that America is great when you measure this country by the people who make it up. Everyone (well, almost everyone - i'll say more later) has pitched in and done something, or shown the willingness to do so. I say almost everyone, because apparently those in washington, starting with the big loser W, haven't done shit.
but out whole country: black and white; north and south; red state and blue state; Democrat and Republican; poor and not so poor; christian, jew, muslim. all have turned out with a willingness to do something and fix the situation in new orleans.
bob hebert, in the NYTimes today gets it right.
"After days of withering criticism from white and black Americans, from conservatives as well as liberals, from Republicans and Democrats, the president finally felt compelled to act, however feebly. (The chorus of criticism from nearly all quarters demanding that the president do something tells me that the nation as a whole is so much better than this administration.)"
he continues: "Mr. Bush's performance last week will rank as one of the worst ever by a president during a dire national emergency. What we witnessed, as clearly as the overwhelming agony of the city of New Orleans, was the dangerous incompetence and the staggering indifference to human suffering of the president and his administration."
he concludes: "Like a boy being prepped for a second crack at a failed exam, Mr. Bush has been meeting with his handlers to see what steps can be taken to minimize the political fallout from this latest demonstration of his ineptitude. But this is not about politics. It's about competence. And when the president is so obviously clueless about matters so obviously important, it means that the rest of us, like the people left stranded in New Orleans, are in deep, deep trouble."
and i conclude with a combination of things. first is bush's butchering of the famous phrase "fool me once". and second would be some pictures, but i can't get those right now. so here goes:
Fool me once [pictures of looters in baghdad] shame on you. Fool me twice [pictures of looters in NOLA], shame on me.
Looting in both of these cases is not about people trying to act malicious. It is about a failure of certain people to anticipate people's needs. Basic needs like food, water, electricity and medicine. And it is about people then attempting to meet those needs on their own. And in the absence of government and law and order, you get looting. So while these things could have been anticipated and alleviated or avoided, bush led us straight into the disasters that we now have to clean up and fix as best we can for the next generations.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
playlist
So we are about to launch a new feature of our website which will allow us to do playlists. I've created my first top ten list - go check it out and let me know what you think. and soon you'll be able to create your own! and read, listen and buy other people's playlists.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
may day
so the snow is gone, my schedule is full, and i haven't posted in forever.
calabash is busy, though we've not been filling up the summer/fall with festivals the way we had hoped.
in any case, we've moved into a new office, and launched a new version of our website. all lots of work, and all good for the company and my state of mind.
calabash is busy, though we've not been filling up the summer/fall with festivals the way we had hoped.
in any case, we've moved into a new office, and launched a new version of our website. all lots of work, and all good for the company and my state of mind.
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