One of my more recent music adventures has been checking out neo-soul singer Bilal's small, but intriguing catalog of music. His sound is similar to D'Angelo, but oddly much less commercially successful, and less well known except to those of us who cannot get enough of that Philly soul sound.
The beauty of the web from a music lover's standpoint is that once you start digging into your faves, you "can" be instantly connected to a world of musical genius that you would probably hear on the radio next week may have otherwise never known about.
(I say "can" because I think a majority of people simply go to iTunes or Amazon or whatever, and download the stuff they heard on the radio or in some iPod commercial. A little bit of effort + Google/Myspace = really cool finds)
Today's Example: Many of my music buddies are really REALLY into Radiohead. While I've never really put the time into listening to their music, I've always liked the songs that I hear in passing. One of these enjoyable tunes is "High and Dry" which I feel like most people would know.
I know I'm not breaking any news here, this is a solid tune.
Ha, but THEN, I ran across a Bilal cut by producer and keyboardist Pete Kuzma who has had his fingers in a TON of cool stuff, including being Jill Scott's tour MD. (Pete pretty much blasted to the top of my research & listen list so be looking for more content on him). Check out Bilal's interpretation of the same Radiohead hit.
I shouldn't need to tell you that well done covers are cool, and this is one of them. (Do I hear a little Thom Yorke in the way Bilal sings this? Yes, yes I do.)
* - I also feel like I shouldn't need to tell you that a good cover song speaks VOLUMES to the quality of the original song and songwriter. I felt as though I didn't give Radiohead enough props -
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Dis An' Dat
- During my web-scavenging today, I ran across this opinion piece by Geoff Nunberg at NPR.org, discussing the inclusion of the phrase "under God" contained in the pledge of allegiance. Now, before everyone draws up battle lines, just wait. Geoff actually does a great job of asking the right question regarding why the words are there in the first place. He files the phrases "under God", and "pledge allegiance" as "...hapax legomenon, or hapax for short — an expression that only occurs in a single place in the language..." Point being, the phrase "under God" doesn't represent American values because it doesn't appear anywhere else in our language or culture outside of it's calculated placement in the pledge itself years after it was originally written. I'm sure Nunberg has plenty of bias in his ideas (I do not buy his arguments wholesale), but I enjoy his addressing the singular matter at hand. If you'd like to argue the merits of the United States as a Christian nation founded by bible-believing men, let's do that. It's just a different discussion is all.
- In other "I-wish-had-more-stuff-to-be-afraid-of" news, this post from the Freakonomics Blog speaks of possible new terrorist-favorite chili grenades supposedly packed with massive doses of the most potent chili pepper in the world. Apparently the most recent extremist weapons chatter is all abuzz on breast implants packed with explosives. (Insert adolescent anatomy joke here, if you must)
- Conspiracy theory alert! - Is it possible this "chatter" is coming from bored TSA agents who are tryin to get their grope on? After all, weren't they just claiming they needed to see folks nekkid to ensure "security"? I'm just sayin...
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Wreckage
The short story: 9 students (and potentially a 10th) have been indicted for allegedly participating in months of bullying and harassment which ended January 14, 2010, when Phoebe Prince (pictured above) hung herself in her apartment lobby. She was 15.
Wrecked.
Look, the statistics on teen suicide have been well-documented, and I doubt many people would bother to argue that this kind of story is really all that surprising based on similar stories and even personal experience, but this is tragic.
Tragic because a group of adolescents for some reason targeted the new girl from Ireland because they could. They decided amongst themselves that she was of inferior worth, and it seems took advantage of every opportunity to make her aware of their twisted perceptions.
Tragic because Phoebe believed the lie that her life held no value to anyone including herself. The absolute conclusiveness of her action exhibits a soul-deep conviction that the uncertainty of afterlife must be a far better perdition than yet another day at school. Nobody managed to convince her otherwise over the course of her 15 short years.
Tragic because "The bullying of Prince was common knowledge to most of the student body and to certain faculty, staff and administrators" according to Massachusetts Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel. Most of the student body? Well, kids will be kids won't they? Oh wait, faculty, staff and administrators? Adults? Yep, kids will be kids, but it's beyond obvious that adults in authority be able to at minimum, intervene and investigate details behind what MOST everyone knows is going on.
Tragic because 9 sets of parents had no idea what their kids were up to during the day. As much as I want to be angry about this, it surfaces a grim realization of how little I know of my own children's behavior and activity for at least 1/3rd of most days. My assumption is, like myself, these parents wanted to believe their children would never treat a human being this way. They still may not believe their children did.
Tragic because Phoebe Prince is dead.
Heartbreaking situations like this happen every single day, I know. When I randomly browse my various media outlets of the day, I don't gravitate toward this type of story because I love tragedy, or because I identify with being harassed and bullied, though I do. I gravitate toward stories of tragedy based on the depravity of the human condition because I feel compelled to never, ever forget what I am capable of, and more importantly, what I feel is my duty to seek out such people and offer up even a little of my being to show compassion and love.
I fail at this daily, yet my faith obliges me, second only to my worship of God, to attempt anew each morning my commitment to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.
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