Tamar Kali’s “Black Bottom”
Dang, I missed you! I hope y’all missed yourselves some Hotness. It’s been a very interesting time. Got hacked, but I’m back. Instead of starting off by venting, lamenting, celebrating and reliving the last six weeks, I thought I’d do what I usually do when jump-starting relationships, I talk about music– the communal salve that connects and instantly brings us all back to the middle again. While experiencing both online and offline challenges and revelations, Read more...
Nina Simone Tribute @Harlem Stage
Tonight at Harlem Stage, the Black Rock Coalition Orchestra presents one of their most captivating incarnations– their all-female tribute to the inimitable Nina Simone. I saw this tribute at the Schomburg and like The High Priestess of Soul herself, it was brazenly exhilarating. It was unmitigated Blackness! The 18-piece ensemble, which also performed in France is directed by Tamar-kali and features Imani Uzuri, Joi, Lisala Beatty, Latasha Natasha Nevada Diggs, Angela Johnson, Toli Nameless, Read more...
GROOVES: Hot Grrrls Cool Music 2010
(erykah badu, corinne bailey rae, janelle monae)
I’m so excited about the music that’s dropping in 2010! I really feel like, more so now than ever, the ladies are going to smash this year wide open, which after Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, I couldn’t be more pleased.
The Grammy’s, even though promoted as a Ladies Night, really played strongly for the fellas. Maxwell and Eminem ripped that sucka silly on just some old school Read more...
Tamar-kali: Afro-Punk’s Pink Side
Tamar-kali describes her music as “Hardcore Geechee Goddess Warrior Soul.” I simply think it’s bad-ass. Featured in Afro-Punk, James Spooner’s marvelous documentary about Black folk who punk-rock and up jumped the boogie to another level via Fishbone, Betty Davis and Bad Brains, Tamar-kali quickly became a face of a movement she’d fronted locally in NYC for over 15 years in bands like Song of Seven and Funkface.
What I love so much about Read more...
I Am Not My Hair!
I guess it was yesterday or maybe Wednesday when singer, Solange Knowles was snapped by paparazzi rocking a very short-cropped coif. And before this young mama could get back home, the Web was a’buzz about her buzzed cut. Of course the haters had their Yaki Platinums in a knot over the do saying she and others are allegedly biting “the bald look” of Kanye’s ex Amber Rose. And those were the sweet comments. Other Read more...