John Coltrane of Giant Steps
Here’s a nice little animation of a 5-minute snippet of an interview by John Coltrane. Check it out.
“The Message,” Duke Bootee, Melle Mel & the Furious Five
On May 15, 1961, Melvin Glover, aka Melle Mel, was born in the Bronx, NYC. After a brief stint as a B-boy break dancer, Mel took up the mic, as the back spin had become popular, a move the lanky Mel couldn’t do. At that time DJs were popular, but let’s not get it twisted,…
Days of Art 2017-20: Actresses, Photographesses, & Paintresses
This week Emma Watson became the first actor to win a major gender-neutral acting award when she won MTV’s first award of the night at their 2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards (see story at MTV.com). Watson claimed the trophy for “Best Actor in a Movie,” a peculiarly gender-neutral award that failed to recognize the…
Born This Day, 3 May
Born this day 3 May: James Brown, singer-songwriter, innovator and creator of funk music Born this day, 3 May 1933, singer, songwriter, inventor of Funk Music, Soul Brother Number 1, James Brown, in South Carolina. pic.twitter.com/a9zAHvNcGm — Raw Naked Art (#RNA) (@RawNakedArt) May 3, 2017 James Brown performs "Please Please Please" at the TAMI Show…
Days of Art 2017-19: Emeli Sandé
Emeli Sandé, born Adele Emily Sandé (SAN day) is a Scottish songwriter and singer who first came to prominence in 2009 after being featured on rapper Chipmunk‘s first UK Top 10 Singles song, “Diamond Rings.” That was followed by another Top 10 appearance on “Never Be Your Woman,” by rapper Wiley. Her first single,…
Do They Care If You Shoot?
The one comment that people always make, when I tell them I’m a street photographer, is, “I don’t think I could ever work up the nerve to photograph people like that.” Often, that statement is followed up with, “Don’t they ever get mad at you?” Since I first started taking candid photos in the street…
Days of Art 2017-18: King Yellowman
I could write pages on my favorite deejay, Christian Winston Foster, aka, King Yellowman, but I’d get too emotional if I were to burrow to deep below the surface layer. Suffice it to say that the shit you’ve dealt with is no larger a pile that what Yellowman has faced his entire life. He grew…
Days of Art 2017-17: Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born 100 years ago today, 25 April 1917, in Newport News, Virginia, in the Tidewater area. She had a difficult childhood, born to a mother who was a laundress and shipyard worker. Ella’s father, William Fitzgerald, eventually left, leaving the two to fend for themselves. Ella’s mom found a new beau,…
Days of Art 2017-16: The Story of Women and Art 3
Here’s part 3 of BBC Two’s The Story of Women and Art, a 3-part series detailing the history of women and art in the western world, starring Professor Amanda Vickery.
Buñuel: Brilliance or Bollocks?
I’ve spent over an hour of my precious life viewing two important Luis Buñuel films: the 1929 short film Un Chien Andalou, and the hour-long classic L’Age d’Or. The former film was a collaboration between Buñuel and Salvador Dali, who intended the piece to anger the young bourgeoisie, but to their horror, one cannot easily…
The Artists' Sanctum 