Southside with You: Obamas' love story opens this month

I was so deep in the academic hole for the first six months of the year that I completely missed news about the movie Southside with You, the story of Michelle and Barack Obama's romance. The film pays homage to the president and First Lady's initial courtship and opens in limited release August 26. I.must.see.this.movie. So, I'll be scouting websites, Twitter, creating a Google alert, whatever I can do so I can't miss the film when it comes to New Orleans.

Produced by singer/songwriter John Legend and written and directed by Richard Tanne, the movie premiered with good reviews at the Sundance Festival in January. Based on the trailer, I'll say it's a winner already.

I remember one of the first times I heard a story about the first couple's courtship and said, "Sounds like a romance novel or a romantic comedy." I believe at least one of those times I was watching the Oprah Winfrey Show. Their love story made me happy because we don't hear enough, read enough, or see enough stories about healthy, black, romantic relationships.

Tika Sumpter, a young actress who became much more visible after appearing in Tyler Perry's soap opera on OWN, makes a wonderful Michelle Obama based on what I see in the trailer. I don't know much about Parker Sawyers' work (He plays Barack.), but I do recall him in The Assets TV show. He also is believable in the trailer.

The first couple was not consulted about the making of the film, but according to Tanne, they're aware of it, are excited about the movie, but "baffled by its existence." In a Vanity Fair interview, the writer/director says he gathered all his information from public domain sources, probably the Oprah show and other interviews with the Michelle and/or Barack. He thinks his script is mostly accurate. From what I 've seen, he's caught the warmth and humor of the stories as I recall them.

I've already subscribed to Fandango news to make sure I get a ticket. I mean, Southside with You better show here.

So, will.I.am, Prince, and Michael Jackson walk into a Vegas bar . . .

Having gotten into several debates about who's the greater genius, Prince or Michael Jackson, I love this story will.i.am tells Ellen Degeneres on her show in the video above.

The public's always been curious about the tension between Michael Jackson and Prince, which is why I've posted on the topic of their intriguing relationship in the past. Notice I did not say that the two were friends and neither did I say that they disliked each other. I only say that there was a tension, which is a little different.

According to Prince, there was no rivalry between the two of them. In any case and for whatever reason, Prince seemed to raise an eyebrow more at Michael than vice versa, particularly at the story people would tell about Prince turning down being in Michael's "Bad" music video.

Aside from the effective comedic timing and impersonations will.i.am shows in this video, his representation of Michael as childlike also sticks with me. The Black Eyed Peas star quotes Michael as saying, "Oh, rats!" which is so old-school-kiddie that it makes me think again about the allegations against the King of Pop. It's still possible, as I've told others before, that Michael simply behaved with those children as though he were a child and nothing more.

Prince, however, never seemed to be a child, just playful and funny a times, sexy most others.

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Yes, I'm still a bit weepy over Prince's death. That's a pain that will probably never go away, but I'm also dancing and laughing much of the time because I've always appreciated Prince's sense of humor and his eccentric nature, which is one of the reasons I appreciate the will.i.am story. Another amusing Prince story I love is Kevin Smith's tale of trying to talk to Prince about using his music in a documentary. And then there's Prince himself shaking his head at his audience singing "Cream" off key during his Musicology concert. He tells them later that he wrote "Cream" while looking in the mirror.

 I so wish he had released a totally acoustic CD. Of course, maybe he does have the makings of one in his infamous vault of unpublished music. According to ABC news, there's enough music in Prince's vault to release a Prince album every year for the next century.

H/T to my writer friend Max Reddick for sharing the Ellen video on Facebook.

Steven Hart: Star Wars does not draw on literary classics but on classic pulp SciFi

I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens on New Years Day with my daughter, her boyfriend, and their friends. Yes, I enjoyed it. Director J. J. Abrams and co-writers Michael Arndt and Lawrence Kasdan have crafted a wonderful balance between the wit and action of the first movie released in 1977 and fresh material that old fans and new can appreciate. But this post is not a review of this latest entry of the franchise.

This post revives Steven Hart's 2002 essay at Salon.com, "Galactic Gasbag" that slams any promotion of the original Star Wars movie as inspired by Joseph Campbell's works on comparative mythology. As I watched the new movie, I thought often of Steven, an investigative reporter, brilliant man, critic, fiction writer, and friend. He died last year on January 20, a shock and great loss to me, his family, and all who knew him.

According to Steven, Lucas never said anything about basing Star Wars on classics such as The Odyssey or consciously tapping into mythology and archetypes Campbell studied until the franchise had become "a pop culture milestone." The belief that Lucas had created Star Wars with ancient mythologies and literary classics in mind grew as increasingly more critics shoveled similar analyses, and Lucas pushed it further when time came to promote the prequels, Steven argues.

After turning Lucas over a gentle flame about his box office flops, which Steven perhaps implies do not reflect the mind of an scholarly thinker, Steven turns up the fire on Star Wars itself as being not original but a bricolage of old Science Fiction novel images and figures. "More damningly, the real roots of 'Star Wars' are obvious to anyone not blinded by snobbery or the need for self-inflation," he writes:

They lie not in “The Odyssey” or the “Upanishads,” but 20th century science-fiction magazines such as Astounding, Amazing Stories and Galaxy. The “true theology” of “Star Wars” was written not by Virgil or Homer, but Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Frank Herbert, E.E. “Doc” Smith and a host of other S.F. writers.

The original “Star Wars” and its sequels are echo chambers of tropes and images from literary science fiction, used in ways that strike a careful balance between affectionate familiarity and outright plagiarism. The first glimpse of Luke Skywalker’s desert homeworld, Tatooine, evokes the setting of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel “Dune”; Lucas even throws in a shot of a skeletal desert serpent reminiscent of Herbert’s gigantic sandworms. The amazing visuals suggest an eye nourished by the magazine art of Frank R. Paul, John Schoenherr, Kelly Freas and Chesley Bonestell.

Even when he was alive, I didn't argue with Steven, so I won't start now. You may read the rest of Steven Hart's article, "Galactic Gasbag" at Salon.

Black Woman at the Intersection: Sean Penn vs. Lee Daniels

This is not going to be some super thoughtful post such as one Tammy Winfrey Harris would write. This post is just me saying, "What the hell!" Sean Penn has filed a $1,000,000 defamation lawsuit against Lee Daniels, the man behind Fox's saucy, ground-breaking, hit show Empire. And as a black person who is also a woman, here I am squished at the intersection of being female and black. To whom should I remain loyal in this situation, a wealthy black man pointing out the plight of black people or women who are also opppressed? What is my opinion and why did Daniels and Penn have to go public with their jackass behavior?

On one side we have Penn pulling a typical white male of privilege move. He's suing a black man for millions of dollars for saying something numerous white-owned magazines have reported for decades.

And on the other side we have Daniels, a successful black man who seems to be more concerned about defending a man who's admitted to beating women than he is to finding a better way to tell reporters, "Stop asking us about that." He instead said something that gives the impression that it may be okay for Howard to beat women because white men do it all the time and get away with it. I know that's not what he meant, but it feels like he's in the ballpark of that poor logic.

The Penn-Daniels feud began with Daniels's statement in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter regarding one of the Empire stars, Terrence Howard. In an effort to defend Howard against constant questions about his domestic violence incidents, Daniels called out racism and brought up Penn's name along with Marlon Brando's in a "white guys have all the luck" kind of way. (He should have gone for Sean Connery, too, while he was at it.)

"[Terrence] ain't done nothing different than Marlon Brando or Sean Penn, and all of a sudden he's some f—in' demon," says Daniels. "That's a sign of the time, of race, of where we are right now in America."

See what Daniels tried to do there? But his deflection game is off.

He's alluding to the the double standard to which black men are held versus white men. And it's true that black men are berated and punished more harshly than white men for the same crimes. But Lee, really? Who writes this man's talking points, and why didn't he follow the advice given to everyone else working on Empire? If asked about Howard, say nothing.

I can possibly understand why Daniels, as Empire's co-creator, thought he should speak out, but he definitely said the wrong thing because:

1. Howard has beaten women.
2. It's never a good idea to defend yourself or others by saying, "Well, Johnny over there is also guilty."

Here is what Daniels could have said, "Terrence knows he was wrong. He has admitted to his deeds, and he's trying to change. How does constantly bringing it up help him work through this?"

Let me stop here a moment and say, "It is wrong for men to beat women." And "It is wrong for men to beat women."

But Penn, you also have a lot of nerve.

Multiple entertainment and gossip news sources, such as Huffington Post and TMZ, report Penn's lawsuit claims:

Daniels' statements are "egregious," as well as "reckless and malicious," as Howard has "reportedly, and publicly, admitted to physically abusing at least one woman and reportedly been arrested approximately five times for violent acts against women." As such, Penn finds the comparison to the "Empire" star to be untrue, claiming that while he has had brushes with the law, "Penn (unlike Howard) has never been arrested, much less convicted for domestic violence, as his ex-wives (including Madonna) would confirm and attest.'

It may be true that Penn was never arrested or convicted of domestic violence, but Daniels's statement was neither "egregious" nor "malicious." Reckless? Maybe -- but not for the reasons Penn says. It was a reckless statement because Daniels should have avoided saying anything that sounded like he was defending a man who's admitted to beating women.

Maybe Penn's suing because he is hard up for cash and craves the spotlight again. He also claims that Daniels mentioned him to get publicity for Empire. Again, really, Penn? Who's riding high right now, you or Empire? Didn't your last film, The Gunman, lose money?

As far as malice goes, that's probably just lawyer talk. Unless Penn's attorney can prove that Daniels has some seething beef against Penn, it's hard to argue malice. The lawsuit is probably just blowing smoke, too. A cease and desist letter telling Daniels that Penn has never been arrested or charged with such an act and maybe a public statement saying, "I want Daniels to stop it" would have sufficed. All the lawsuit is doing is reminding a new generation that Penn used to be extremely volatile and violent. I mean, how many people under 30 would know that Penn spent time in jail for assault without this lawsuit spotlighting him?

It's even difficult to argue that what Daniels said was egregious because Daniels is only slightly older than I am, so we're of a generation that recalls Penn's former life as Hollywood's bad boy.

About 30 years ago or so, I recall, stories that police had to go to Penn's home because his then-wife, Madonna, accused him of domestic violence. As that screen shot shows, the Associated press reported the story in 1989. Did Penn sue the AP wire? Has Penn been suing every publication and news show that's repeated the story since then?

Madonna's accusations may have been purely her speaking in anger because the pair was going through a vicious divorce, but it's also true that due to Penn's repeated run-ins with police for punching people in the face and hitting at least one guy over the head with a bottle, it's reasonable that Daniels and everyone else who read an article like the AP story back then to have believed that Madonna was telling the truth.

That the superstar dropped the charges against her husband later means nothing. Any divorce lawyer will tell you that women are pressured to drop domestic violence charges all the time, and many do. "Do you want him to have this on his record? This will ruin his career. He won't be able to bring in any income." That's usually the kind of thing women are told. So, some of these women decide not to see a prosecution through, especially if they feel guilty about their part in the fight or split. They know the American justice system prefers pure victims.

Did Sean Penn hit Madonna? I don't know, and if he did, he's probably not that man now. I think that he's matured and has learned to control himself. He's also tried to help people and do more good in the world. Still, is his getting in a huff and suing Daniels is a sign that Penn is regressing?

I believe that like anyone else Penn, as well as Howard, wishes people will stop bringing up his past misdeeds whatever they may be. Nonetheless, my questions to him are: Why doesn't that 1989 AP story say something like, "Penn denies ever hitting his estranged wife?"

Also, Daniels didn't start the rumor that Penn has beaten a woman. Madonna did that. Why isn't he suing her and the many publications that have since then reported the accusation? Why is Daniels his target?

Quaint Magazine Interview with Nordette N. Adams

And so this happened: I was interviewed by Quaint Magazine about the big poetry and music event I coordinated for this weekend, Born to the Beat.

I am grateful to Quaint for interviewing me about Born to the Beat because I am trying my best to promote the mini-festival so the poets have an audience. And I.do not deny that I can be so corny that I would make a Poet Tree for a poetry event because I did, That's what you see above. I've been tweeting that and other graphics to get the word out that this Saturday is the big day, 2:00 p.m., at Morning Call in City Park.

As they say in the old church, "Those of you who know the word of prayer, please pray for me." I need all the help I can get.

Kia Groom, the publisher and editor of the literary magazine asked me a question about the list of impressive poets lined up for this event in honor of the Beat Generation. Here's the full list here with the most recent addition, Nigerian poet and University of New Orleans professor Niyi Osundare, Ph.D. And it is an impressive group. I think I may have intimidated myself. Every one on the list has been published and many of them have won award for one of their poems or for a collection of poetry, even the emcees are literary stars, Megan Burns, a poet, and Alex Jennings, a fiction writer. The Shiz band is playing, too, and it has a poet as well.

What I was thinking pulling together all these gifted people in one spot? I've scared myself.

William F.DeVault
Dennis Formento
Gina Ferrara
JohnGery
Tyler Gillespie
KiaGroom
Kelly Harris-DeBerry
Carolyn Hembree
Julie Kane
Kay Murphy
Biljana Obradovic
Niyi Osundare
Valentine Pierce
A Scribe Called Quess?
M. E. Riley
Kristina Robinson
Mona Lisa Saloy
Terri S .Shrum
Clare Welsh
and our emcees,
MeganBurns
and
AlexJennings 

I love Michelle Obama laughing in this picture

Right now I'm doing something that people on the Internet used to do a lot more of, informal reciprocal linking. An example of that would be Bob links to one of Susan's post for good reasons and without any prompting from her, and when Susan finds out that Bob's linked linked to her post, she finds something of Bob's she'd like to link to at her blog. People used to do that automatically back in the day.

And I'm not talking about link farms, web rings, etc. I'm talking about the honest exchange of links without one party pushing the other to do anything. But as more people came online and more marketing schemes came about to formalize reciprocal linking, people began to do it less. Also, I think as more people came online, the web became less about community building and information providing and more about trying to get hits at your blog or website to become famous. JMO.

Checking my stats (the lowest they've ever been because I don't post enough), I saw a lot of hits from Parade Magazine to my article about the music industry and the California band Gooding. It turns out a Parade writer interviewed the band, which is a good thing since Gooding deserves attention.

While poking around at Parade afterward, I discovered this great photo of Michelle Obama. It happens to be in a post by the same writer who linked to my music article.

This picture is from one of the White House Nerd Proms, the one last year. It shows here genuinely laughing at something Jimmy Kimmel's saying. The article at the Parade link, however, covers an amusing exchange between the First Lady and Kimmel in a PSA about her program FNV, (Eat your Fruits and Vegetables) a campaign to brand vegetables the same way junk foods are branded to sound cool to youngsters. The FLOTUS appeared on Kimmel's show last week.

Stop don't talk to me from Orange is the New Black's Twitter trending (Video)

This video of the Orange is the New Black song "Stop Don't Talk to Me" is trending at the moment of this post on Twitter. I can see the humor even though I have not watched the Netflix hit since season one, but I guessed the cast song must have been based on a scene from the show. Well, yes it is, this one here.

I tried the second season, but I opted not to continue because I had too many other things to do. Actually, I was a scaredy cat. I sensed it would be darker than season one and didn't want to experience the heart-pounding state of suspense the show puts me in sometimes.

Fast Company has the details on how this song came about with a push from "Vine stars," such as the one below, Lycia Faith, who has more than a million followers on Vine.

Yes, Pharrell, subconscious plagiarism is a thing (Video)

My better post the "Blurred Lines" case is this one: "Borrowed Grooves: Electric Guest, the Clash, Katrina & the Waves all did what Robin Thicke over-did," but Google keeps sending folks to my old post about Pharrell Williams's hit "Happy." That post answers whether "Happy" sounds like another song, but I also mention "Blurred Lines" in it.

I realized my blog had a bump in hits this morning and figured the rise in visits was due to yesterday's ruling against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams. The judge decided that the duo's big hit of last summer copies from Marvin Gaye's 1977 hit "Got to Give it Up," and awarded Gaye's family nearly $7.4 million. The judge was right, but anyone who's read my old posts knows that I've said that since I first heard "Blurred Lines."

In my post on "Happy," I said that mega hit from the movie Despicable Me 2 sounds familiar because Pharrell captured one of the sounds of an era, the 1960s. I applaud him for that because he did it well. However, he and Thicke continue to claim that "Blurred Lines" merely captures the sound of the late 1970s. They claim among other things that it's a tribute to Marvin Gaye, but they are wrong, wrong, wrong there. Perhaps they are even lying to themselves.

Unlike some people who think Pharrell knowingly copied Marvin (meaning he didn't change the main groove of "Blurred Lines" enough from "Got to Give It Up"), I allow for the possibility that Pharrell fell to subconscious plagiarism. In other words, he didn't realize how much "Blurred Lines" sounded like "Got to Give It Up."

Pharrell actually wrote "Blurred Lines" (Thicke gets a courtesy credit that pays him cash). But I'm annoyed that Pharrell seems not to even consider the possibility that he plagiarized subconsciously or at least that he borrowed too much of Marvin's hit. I guess his ego is much larger than he'd like to think it is with his namasté  bowing and the talk of humility he affects on The Voice. 

However, the judge ruled against Pharell and Thicke not only because of the similarities between the two songs but also because of the various stories the duo's told about how the song came about. Thicke probably did the most harm there.

In my old post, I wrote:

Thicke admitted that he wanted "that [specific] groove" from that specific song. Anyone who's old enough to remember Marvin Gaye's musical evolution knows that the Motown singer later veered away from the standard Motown beat to do his own thing. As one of his later releases, "Got to Give It Up" was very different from other songs we listened to on the radio in the late 1970s, and even though it was the disco era, "Got to Give It Up" didn't feel like common disco.

All Thicke had to do was pay the copyright holders of "Got to Give It Up" for sampling Marvin's "groove" before he released the song, and he would have been legally covered, but he didn't.

They didn't just pay up; they did a preemptive strike against Marvin's family and sued them in advance. How tacky can you get? And Karma really wasn't having that tackiness. So, as someone punned on my Facebook page, now they have to "give it up." (Sam Smith settled with Tom Petty, and Smith really probably never heard Petty's "Won't Back Down." It's unbelievable that Pharrell would keep claiming "Blurred Lines" is 100 percent his genius when we all know he's probably listened to "Got to Give It Up" a lot.)

All the so-called professional songwriters and producers up in arms over this ruling, declaring it sets a bad precedent, need to give it up, too, give it up and have their ears checked.

Is Justin Guarini supposed to be a Prince figure in this Dr. Pepper commercial? (Video)

Okay, so you may recall Justin Guarini as the runner-up to Kelly Clarkson in the first season of American Idol, and then, unfortunately for him, that horrid movie called, From Kelly to Justin. But did you recognize him in this Dr. Pepper commercial featuring him as "Li'l Sweet"?

I'll tell you who I thought of when I saw it, especially when you throw in the falsetto singing Li'l Sweet uses; I thought of His Royal Purpleness, Prince, and I wondered if this was Dr. Pepper's way to leverage Prince's appeal without having to pay the mega-star. Of course, Prince would never do anything as silly as the Li'l Sweet commercial. Silly, but cute, too, I add.

I'm happy Justin has some work.

What do you think?

Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus Parade: Crazy fun in New Orleans plus the raunchy satire of Krewe du Vieux (Video)

The Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus rolled Saturday night, February 7, in New Orleans. It is one of city's many Mardi Gras clubs.
Relatively young, Chewbacchus is unique for its focus on science fiction icons and tropes. This year's parade's theme was “The Cult of the Sacred Drunken Wookiee,” and so billed itself as a "satirical space cult."

Lots of fun! The Krewe has more than 1000 members and the parade felt like it, too.

My daughter was one of the parade escorts, so the first time I went and found a viewing spot with friends on the corner of Frenchmen and Dauphine Streets in Faubourg Marigny adjacent to the French the Quarter.

Anybody can join and march. This year the fee was only $42, and both people of all ages paraded. It was wild and family friendly. I think next year, if I'm still alive, in decent health, and have a few extra dollars, I'll get a tricycle and ride in it myself as sort of a bucket list item.

I think that I prefer some of the looser, more home-spun parades, to the fancier ones that have been rolling for decades. A few weeks ago I also attended the raunchy, political satire Krewe du Vieux for the first time. As its name suggests it's a French Quarter parade. While much older than Chewbacchus, it's also a homespun spectacle of fun-loving rabble-rousers.

I probably would not have gone but I was invited to watch from a French Quarter balcony. Despite having grown up here, that was a first for me, too. Here's the video I took of Krew du Vieux.

Teacher Dances with Students to Hot "Uptown Funk"

As friends and family know and as my previous blog post confirms, I adore Mark Ronson's hit "Uptown Funk" featuring the lovable Bruno Mars. I watched the video the same day it dropped, immediately fell in love with the its "tip of the hat" to old school jams, and saw "hit" all over it.

I can add to my adorable list this performance of the song by theater students at A. Maceo Smith New Tech High School in Dallas.

The school's theater arts teacher, Scott Pankey, who's front and center dancing with his students, organized the project, according to the Today Show and other news sources. In the video, he leads students through the school's halls shaking to the infectious tune. The Dallas Fox affiliate adds, ". . . the video was all done in one take and it culminates with a large number of students and Pankey dancing together . . ."

In an interview posted below with Pankey and some of his students, he says that he's not a dancer but he told the kids if they would do it, he would do it. He also says that the student filming them was on a library cart. They say they didn't expect the video to go viral, but so far it has more than three million views on YouTube.

Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com

I've seen comments on Facebook about this video such as, "I wish I had a teacher like that when I was in high school." Don't we all?

Hat tip my friend and fellow blogger Babz at A Life In Transition for sharing this video on her Facebook page.

Bruno Mars Performs Uptown Funk on The Voice (Video)

If you saw The Voice finale, then you know that Damien came in fourth, Chris Jamison came in third, Matthew McAndrew second, and Craig Wayne Boyd won. Now, on to the performance I enjoyed most: Bruno Mars, of course. Although I definitely enjoyed seeing Jennifer Hudson performing with Damien and Fall Out Boy with Matthew as well.

Bruno Mars and his band cut up with his latest hit "Uptown Funk." He wore gold curlers in his hair taking us back to the days of black men wearing their hair "processed" (conks) and later Gheri curled.

Actually "Uptown Funk" is a Mark Ronson release featuring Mars. So, I guess both of them channel an old school mix of funk and soul into new jams. Obvious influences that I see and hear are James Brown, Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 (mostly in the dance), KC and the Sunshine Band, Kool and the Gang, Earth, Wind & Fire, etc., basically any older group with a great horn section. The look of the band is also reminiscent of Morris Day and The Time, but The Time also referenced back to Motown groups and James Brown when they performed in the 1980s.

For those of you who have not seen the official video for that neo-soul jam, I'm posting it after The Voice performance video.

Official Uptown Funk musical video.

If you were around in the 60s and 70s loving the soul and funk of that era, you'll fall in love with this song and video. It doesn't make me wish I were "young again." It makes me smile a lot and wish I were out dancing right now at a retro club.

The Voice: Usually I Can Call the Winner, But Not This Time

I have no clue who will win tonight on NBC's The Voice, and that says how talented this group is. I can usually call it, but not this time.

I bought Damien Lawson's original "Solider" and his rendition of Donny Hathaway's "A Song For You," but honestly, I enjoyed every performance. Craig Wayne Boyd (Blake's country singer) is not just talented but also damned sexy when he's performing. Chris "Adam Levine Jr." Jamison is hot and gifted. Damien's got this sweet spot in his voice that can bring a woman to tears, and Matt McAndrew is special, definitely an artist. Anyone of these young men could win and deserves to win.

So, I'm just going to post their original song videos, the ones that were produced separately from their live performances tonight.

Damien, "Solider"

Matt McAndrew, "Wasted Love," which he wrote.

Chris Jamison, "Velvet" (the young ladies on Twitter seem to have lost their minds over him.)

Craig Wayne Boyd, "My Baby's Got A Smile On Her Face," my least favorite of the original songs, but I really enjoyed his other solo last night about being a father away from home.

And of course, you can watch last night's episode at NBC if you missed it.

Pharrell's subtle Ferguson message on The Voice Results (Video)

Last night during live results on NBC's The Voice, singer songwriter Pharrell Williams, best known for the hit "Happy" these days, gave a quiet wish for justice in Ferguson, for Mike Brown's family. Performing Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" with his team, DaNica Shirey and Luke Wade, he changed the last line of his performance from "And I think to myself what a wonderful world" to "And I think we need justice to unfurl."

His team was safe tonight, btw.

You can watch the whole video performance of "What a Wonderful World" on the YouTube video at the end of this post, but I took a Vine of it once I realized what had happened. Within minutes the Vine loop count was up to more than 1000. So, I guess other people noticed the entertainer's quiet activism as well or did not notice it and that's why so many people looped it.



On Monday night, after Ferguson prosecutor McCulloch took forever to tell us why the Ferguson Grand Jury had decided not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the killing of unarmed teen Mike Brown, Pharrell posted this tweet expressing disappointment in the decision.

I'm heartbroken over the news of no indictment in Ferguson. Let's all pray for peace.
— Pharrell Williams (@Pharrell) November 25, 2014

His #Ferguson tweet has been retweeted more than 10,000 times and received replies of both support and a little anger. Some of the anger was about the tweet itself and some came from people who just don't like Pharrell.

Then tonight, about two hours before The Voice went on the air, he tweeted a post that echoes the thought of his lyric change for "What a Wonderful World." Perhaps that was a hint to fans about what he planned to do.

As we enter into the holiday season, all I wish for is a wonderful world where equality reigns supreme.
— Pharrell Williams (@Pharrell) November 26, 2014

The Voice: America saves Damien, Pharrell saves Sugar

When America didn't save Sugar Joans (Pharrell's team) on NBC's The Voice, I became concerned that people may not vote for soul singers this year, including the talented Louisiana native Damien (Adam's team). But the votes came through for the natural.

As far as Sugar goes, Pharrell saved her, so cool. But despite being a tad surprised that America didn't, I admit I had some concern for her safety.

She slayed Aretha Franklin's version  of "I Say a Little Prayer for You," but it may have been the wrong song for the show's demographic. That and I think wearing that Pharrellesque hat the week before made her look like the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz. People may have shied away from her unusual look.

Also, while Pharrell may be trying to bring back the 1960s in music ("Happy") and fashion (He had on love beads, even, and kept talking with his hands together and bowing his head like any minute he was going to say "Namaste."), the old school song he assigned Sugar plus the flower-child styling made her performance look dated.

One more thing, Pharrell may not have noticed, but the voting crowd seems to like a competitor less when a judge makes over her excessively, which he does with Sugar.



All that said, that girl Sugar can sing. But so can her teammate DaNica Shirey, and it's possible the vote was split between the two soulful singers, giving DaNica a slight edge. She sang Joni Mitchell's "Help Me," and really did it well. Of course, Mitchell's lyrics and music are fantastic, too. I'll always love Burt Bacharach and Aretha, but Joni Mitchell's "Help Me" has transferred better across the years than Aretha's arrangement of "Say a Little Prayer."

Shock of the night, Blake said he'd never heard "Help Me" before. Say whaaahhhht!



Some viewers may have been shocked that Elyjuh Rene went home because he did a wonderful job with Sam Smith's "Latch," however, he may have exhorted the audience to support him one too many times, interrupting an otherwise lovely performance with "Come on!" I find that annoying, and maybe other people do, too. I also think people don't vote against braces.



America also saved Anita Antoinette of Jamaica (Gwen's team), who has a really high lovability factor. She performed Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass," with the reggae revved up. But the first person saved on Gwen's team was Taylor John Williams. That did not surprise me at all. That boy has star all over him when he's performing, and he put his own spin on "Stuck in the Middle with You," the Stealers Wheel classic.

Marvin Gaye's family wins first round in "Blurred Lines" Case

The judge ruled against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams in this first leg of the "Blurred Lines" case, rejecting the duo's attempt to have the Marvin Gayes family's case thrown out of court.

"Defendants have made a sufficient showing that elements of Blurred Lines may be substantially similar to protected, original elements of Got to Give It Up," Judge John Kronstadt of the US District Court for Central California said."

As a result of the judge's ruling, Thicke and Pharrell will have to face Gaye's family in court. Get out your popcorn, folks.

The judge also ruled that the case against Thicke and Paula Patton may move forward. Gaye's family has charged that the pair stole elements of Gaye's "After the Dance" for its tune "Love After War." I didn't know about that one. Damn, Robin, write your own stuff, please!

Read more at ABC Australia or at the Chicago Tribune, and yes, I'm one of the people who thinks "Blurred Lines" sounds too much like Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up." I also discussed it with a friend of mine, a professional musician and songwriter, and she too said the song's are obviously too close for copyright comfort.

Macy Gray at Tipitina's, great show

On Wednesday, October 22, thanks to a friend with an extra ticket, I got to see Macy Gray at Tipitina's in New Orleans. It's a standing-room-only intimate venue with quite a colorful history, so by the time we walked back to our cars my feet were on fire. But seeing Macy was worth the pain. She is not only talented, but funny and down-to-earth. She's also 6 feet tall in her stocking feet. I didn't know that.

Near the beginning she sang one of my favorite's of hers, "Caligula," as well as some others such as "A Moment to Myself." But she also performed new material: "Bang Bang," for example. Closing with her greatest hit, "I Try," she led the audience in a sing-along, which you'll see in the video. But I'm not sure we needed her to encourage us to sing with her, as you can see.

Macy also told us a funny and creatively embellished story (I'm sure) during the middle of the concert about why she and her band came "all the way from Los Angeles" to New Orleans. Her guitarist, she said, played an instrumental part in their decision. I wish I had recorded it, but one of the reasons they came, other than New Orleanians party and drink a lot, was "the women in New Orleans have the best vaginas in the world." The audience cheered both the drinking and the vaginas.

That statement brought back memories of V-Day 2008 held at the Superdome. Eve Ensler declared then, "New Orleans is the vagina of America!"

Cary Nokey opened for Macy. I was unfamiliar with him, but he is also gifted. He has a great voice, great hair, and he definitely gave the crowd its money's worth in entertainment.

The Blacklist: Now 'No Sugar in My Coffee' is stuck in my head (Video)

Yes, I did watch the season two premiere of The Blacklist on NBC last night, and naturally, it was only predictable in its hotness, but now I've got "No Sugar in My Coffee" by Caught A Ghost stuck in my head. You may, too: "Don't want no sugar in my coffee. It makes me mean, lawd! It makes me mean."

It's not a bad earworm to have. The song is from the Los Angeles trio's debut album/CD Human Nature.

The group, fronted by songwriter/producer Jesse Nolan, features singer/percussionist Tessa Thompson. Now, that was a surprise for me. I loved her in the BBC's Copper as Sara Freeman but had no idea she could sing.
On drums, Stephen Edelstein.

 Nolan says group's name reflects the idea of "being filled with the spirit of the past." That's appropriate. Something about its sound reminds me of the group War and other 1960s and 70s R&Bish rock bands.

  

The Blacklist was not the first TV show to feature "No Sugar in My Coffee," however. Apparently, The Vampire Diaries, which I do not watch, used the song last year.

I will not be doing a recap of tonight's episode; however, in case you missed this NY Daily News article about the show, James Spader (Red Reddington) says his character's true motives for inserting himself into the life of Agent Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) will be revealed this season. I'll believe that when I see it. The show is a notorious tease, and I suspect Spader is as well.

I've taken the Paper.li plunge with Bell, Book, and Scandal

Having run an actual newspaper/magazine before, I was fascinated when I saw the first Paper.li paper tweeted to me on Twitter. I don't remember who tweeted me all those months ago, but before long it seemed that every other day someone sent a tweet directing me to his or her Paper.li paper.

Since I had already been thinking about narrowing my focus to books, publishing, entertainment, and politics, in that order, I began to toy with the idea of creating my own Paper.li paper that curated just those topics. Now, I've done it.

My paper is called Bell, Book, and Scandal, a play on the name of a movie I loved in my youth, Bell, Book, and Candle starring Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart.

The movie is about a witch (Novak) falling in love with a mortal (Stewart) after casting a spell on him to make him fall in love with her. She initially goes after him, however, because she doesn't like his fiance. The spell backfires, and as a result she falls in love and loses her magical powers. Her mind-reading cat plays a big role in the film. You can see how she uses him to cast her spell in the video below.

The movie's title may itself be a play on another use of the phrase. According to multiple sources, an obsolete ceremony for excommunication from the Roman Catholic church was also called "bell, book, and candle" because those three items were used during the the ritual. Phrases.org.uk says, "In the excommunication ceremony officials close the book, quench the candle and toll a bell, as for someone who had died. The phrase is old and first appears, in Old English, circa 1300." The entry adds that the phrase appears in Shakespeare's King John: "BASTARD: Bell, book, and candle shall not drive me back, When gold and silver becks me to come on."

I've found a few articles on the excommunication ritual, which was done in secret, but here's an overly-dramatic video with graphics that explains it, albeit with sensational music.

While my paper, Bell, Book, and Scandal, may occasionally curate articles on paranormal activities and events (I live in New Orleans, so how can I resist?), it has nothing to do with witches or secret religious rituals. The bell in its name represents the Liberty Bell (politics),  the book, all things literary, and the scandal, arts and entertainment coverage that happens to favor ABC's Scandal. But I will also have my eye out for news of How to Get Away with Murder and science fiction and fantasy-oriented shows such as SyFy's Helix and HBO's Game of Thrones.

It's my hope that by narrowing my focus, I'll hunker down, read more books, and devote more time to creative writing.

This father-son rap time will melt you're heart (2-year-old Khaliyl Iloyi video) - Hope for the future.

Khaliyl Iloyi - 2 year old rapping with his daddy on MUZU.TV.

FEROmedia presents Khaliyl Iloyi rapping at 2 years old with father Femi aka Smooflow of Hip Hop group Royal Priesthood.

Yes, the kid, only two years old, is so cute. I mean sooooo cute rapping with his father. But I am equally happy (smiling ear to ear) to see another example of a young Black father spending time with his child. At the end they start counting, so he's modeling other things than rapping, in case you're wondering.