vocalo.org
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Donny Hathaway: more than we could ask for.
A short piece on one of my favorite artists of all time. He was an amazing vocalist, as well as an expert arranger. In fact, the majority of songs on his Greatest Hits compilation album were popularized by someone else in completely different forms (i.e. “Giving Up” and “A Song For You”). Featuring audio from…
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Listen to Streaming Archives of my Radio Show: Reclaimed Soul.
Here in Chicago, Reclaimed Soul airs Thursdays 8-10PM (CST) on Vocalo.org 89.5fm. You can stream live at http://vocalo.org/player. Now folks can listen anytime to radio featuring sound rich interviews and an all-vinyl playlist (courtesy of host Ayana Contreras). Reclaimed Soul is about taking old materials (records, buildings, ideas, et al) to push us all forward.…
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Waxing Poetic at Dorchester Projects.
Above, a bit of video from my Artistic Residency last year with Theaster Gates’ Dorchester Projects, in which I wax poetic about Chicago’s own Mercury Records, Jerry Butler, and the Impressions. I love sharing the stories behind the music I love with the general public; and was reminded of that as I embark on Hosting…
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Announcing Darkjive on the Radio…
Coming this Thursday (and every Thursday) Darkjive.com’s Ayana Contreras hosts “Reclaimed Soul” on Vocalo.org (89.5fm in Chicago). The music you’ve come to expect from this site, plus stories from people moving forward with what’s been left behind. Below is an excerpt from the first episode. Jive on!
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Dear Michael….
What bothers me are bandwagon tributes. An Icon, they say. A Genius. The same cackling media outlets that refused to play Michael Jackson’s music for years, and affixed an implicit punchline to his name. Whatever. Artists are not perfect people. We can choose to accept the art without embracing the artist. In the case of Michael Jackson,…
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Blackness…Finally Forgivable?
from the Stop Smiling Blog…. A Pugilist’s Pardon, Once Unforgivable Posted on: April 1, 2009 at 1:48 pm // MARGINALIA It’s Jack Johnson, 1 — Scooter Libby, zero. Senator John McCain delivers some straight talk we can believe in with the announcement this week that he is seeking a presidential pardon for the late Jack…
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Vocalo.org: Live Radio Broadcast in North Lawndale
Vocalo.org (89.5FM), the community-based radio station/website, will be broadcasting live this Friday, March 20th (tomorrow) at Carter’s Barbershop in the North Lawndale community of Chicago. Their current tagline is: “Real Talk. Local Music. No Commercials. “, and they play a blend of user-generated audio (interviews, opinions) and music (with a heavy emphasis on local groups…
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Support Your Local Record Store @ Sonotheque (TONITE)
Nuff Said. …..wait, that’s a lie. One more thing to say. Click here for my interview with the folks from Beverly Records (a spot near Mr. Peabody’s shop, on 116th and Western, that’s been around since the 1960s).
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Sonari is Mixed
This is an interview I conducted for Vocalo.org some time ago, in which a Black man (NPR’s Sonari Rhodes Glinton) concedes he is “mixed”: Half African and Half African-American. At first listen, the categorization sounds almost comical, but consider his viewpoint: one major factor in Ethnicity is culture… and no one can argue that Africans…