Fishbone on Soul Train vintage performance clip!

Enjoy! Fishbone on Soul Train performing "Freddie's Dead"

Grace Jones Performs at Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert

Team Dark Skin does it again!!! Miss Grace Jones performs with a hula hoop at the young age of 64 at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert! There is no substitute for authentic black beauty. Bravo Grace!

Nile Rodgers and Chic live in Curaçao

Nile Rodgers and the Chic Organization live in Curaçao May 17, 2012

Meshell NdegeOcello on the importance of arts education

from PBS NewsHour
 

Watch Musician Credits Arts Education; Redefining Path to Success on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

special thanks to @PaulaRogo for the heads up

visual optimism; daily fashion fix: cut to the chase: joan smalls by patrick demarchel...

visual optimism; daily fashion fix: cut to the chase: joan smalls by patrick demarchel...: vampirehorde @ fashion scans remastered

RIP Belita Woods of Brainstorm & P-Funk

check this interview, one of her last...RIP to a legend

Frankie Knuckles on BBC Radio 6

link expires 4/8/2012

Frankie in conversation with Nemone
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01f812t

my first film prize - Sony Innovator Award for Documentary

amazing what you find on the internet. packed in a box somewhere are all of the trade magazines that featured this photo. my first documentary of found footage on the Haitian refugee crisis focusing racist policy of how the U.S. forcibly returned those seeking political asylum after the democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was illegal removed from office.

at the time, i was just a TV major at Columbia College concerned with the social issues of the day. it won 1st place in the documentary category, my first ever documentary clocking in just under 23 minutes - edited on a Sony RM-450 linear controller, cuts only - for all my fellow TV geeks.

there were 7 categories in all - 3 film, 4 music. news of my win was well received by my alma mater and by the Haitian community with the Chicago Haitian Consulate Generals office hosting a screening and reception for me before I could collect my prize.  Sony Corp. flew all of us to New York for the awards ceremony at Lincoln Center presented by Louis Gossett Jr. and Nancy Wilson.

please check my fellow Innovator, saxophonist Teodross Avery who won the Jazz Prize that same year. in addition to his mind-blowing solo work, his credits include playing for Lauryn Hill, Amy Winehouse and Leela James.

click the link or scroll down to see the entire photo
my Sony Innovator Award photo in Billboard Magazine

Happy 38th birthday J Dilla

happy birthday J Dilla. he would have celebrated his 38th today.
Rest In Power (1974-2006)

 J Dilla audio interview in 5 parts on youtube




also please check my Detroit turntable brother DJ Mr. Scorpio's 2012 Dilla tribute show!
http://twitter.com/mr_scorpio

MrScorpio's HOUSE FIRE Podcast #24 - J Dilla Saved My Life by Mr_Scorpio on Mixcloud

RIP Don Cornelius - a Chicago original

a pre-Soul Train Don Cornelius interviewing Dr. King for WVON-AM Radio Chicago
(courtesy of Nile Rodgers)

RIP to a Chicago legend. Don Cornelius. My parents would always tell me about how he started his career on Black-owned radio station WVON-AM in the 60s (VON=Voice of the Negro) that eventually evolved to Soul Train on Channel 26 & later syndicated nationwide. Reading Questlove's post on Okayplayer made me remember the times I met the man himself. The first time was at the Monkey Bar in Los Angeles. Imagine a group of Black college kids with a chaperone in a room full of white guys in suits. We were on break from AFI (American Film Institute) seminars we'd won in a Sony Film college contest. We got bored & decided to leave & who was near the door inviting us in a familiar midwestern accent to stay was Don himself. "Y'all leaving? Y'all just got here." Starstruck, we all chatted briefly with the legend before moving on to a restaurant.

Years later, while working in production at a local television station, a dear friend of mine had in his possession, a VHS copy of 2 vintage episodes of Soul Train airing on the NHK TV network. He had a friend on tour with Chaka Khan and had acquired them during a 1 month stay in Japan. There they were, 2 presenters, b-boys dressed head to toe in urban gear - baseball cap, large sunglasses, one even sporting a gold tooth - that introduced each episode in Japanese. He gave me a copy & I treasured it as a family heirloom. A few months later, I found myself at the National Association of Television Programming Executives conference in New Orleans. On my way back from a lunch break, who do I see in the hallway but Mr. Cornelius speaking to one of the affiliate TV station reps airing Soul Train. I waited patiently until he finished his conversation & said hello & asked him the burning question that my peers and I needed to know. "Sir, when are you going to air old episodes of Soul Train like you currently do in Japan?" He smiled and laughed "Now how do you know about that young lady?" You see it was either 1999 or 2000, years before youtube was born. I told him jokingly about my "informant in Japan." Of course, after sharing how much the show meant to our generation, he told me to "wait patiently, it's coming soon." Well of course now you can catch re-runs in syndication & order clips from Time-Life video.

Don Cornelius was a pioneer. Without him, you wouldn't have the many facets of Black music and culture on television. Clearly he paved the way for many of us. RIP and thank you. I've found a youtube clip from NHK, sans our Japanese b-boy presenters but you can clearly see the NHK logo in the upper-right hand corner at the 23 second mark.

Four Tops - Keeper of the Castle



WGN-TV 9 newscast reporting his death

 


Chicago viewers! Watch WCIU, Saturday, February 4th....WCIU and BounceTV will air a 7 hour Tribute to Don Cornelius with some of his best and most memoriable episodes of Soul Train. This Sat, 6pm-1am, WCIU, Channel 26 The U.......Tell a friend....and DVR it. Plan a Soul Train Party at your house.......