When It's Properly Used, It's Almost Invincible

Gabriel Urist piece!

I'm the skinny girl behind you in line at Starbucks actin like it's still '93.

Not Fade Away

Show some goddamn respect, kids!!! This wouldn't be a story about a legendary Black musician if there weren't details about the industry doin' dirt. Bye-bye, Bo Diddley.

from the LA Times:

He circulated various explanations for the name over the years, but by most accounts, neighborhood kids started calling him "bow diddley" -- slang for "bully." The name also recalled the diddley bow, an African single-string guitar that was seminal to blues music.

By 1954 he was married and a fixture on the local music circuit when he decided to cut a two-song demo of his original songs "Uncle John" and "I'm a Man." Although he usually adhered to the restrained blues style of his hero, Muddy Waters, Diddley based his recordings on the exultant, frenetic music he had been exposed to in the Pentecostal church as a child.

Diddley's panache and swaggering stage presence influenced musicians on both sides of the Atlantic, among them Jagger, James Brown and Jimi Hendrix. Diddley's early use of amplified electric-guitar effects -- including reverb, echo and distortion -- also played an important part in the evolution of the sound of rock music when they were taken to further extremes by Hendrix, the Doors and others.

Blues singer-songwriter Duke Robillard, who covered "Who Do You Love" on an album he released last year, recalls being impressed when the two performed on a bill together 11 years ago. He noted Diddley's mad-scientist approach to tweaking his sound with a customized guitar.

"His guitar had effects and delay built into it so when he'd play a line it would repeat in time with the music," Robillard said last year. "That's pretty futuristic. You wouldn't think of Bo as a guy who could do that electronically. But he had more to him than his one beat."

Until the end, Diddley remained embittered about both his musical legacy and being exploited by the music industry -- he received no royalties from his classic songs until 1989 -- becoming a vocal champion of fair treatment for veteran blues and R&B musicians.

"Have I been recognized? No, no, no," Diddley told the New York Times in 2003. "Not like I should have been. Have I been ripped off? Have I seen royalty checks? You bet I've been ripped off."

The Bo Diddley sound

10:02 AM PDT, June 2, 2008

Here's a list of songs that have the Bo Diddley beat:

The Who, "Magic Bus"

George Michael, "Faith"

U2, "Desire"

Bruce Springsteen, "She's the One"

David Bowie, "Panic in Detroit"

Duane Eddy, "Cannonball"

Buddy Holly/Rolling Stones/Patti Smith (and the Dead!), "Not Fade Away"

Not Fade Away - The Rolling Stones

Johnny Otis, "Wilie and the Hand Jive"

The Stooges, "1969"

Shirley & Company, "Shame Shame Shame"

The Strangeloves/Bow Wow Wow, "I Want Candy"

The Blues Rockers, "Callin' All Cows"

Steppenwolf, "Magic Carpet Ride"

The Guess Who, "American Woman"

The Grateful Dead, "Man Smart, Woman Smarter"

Talking Heads, "Ruby Dear"

Guns N' Roses, "Mr. Brownstone"

- Link

You, Donovan Leitch, Are An Idiot

Every Thursday in the LA Times there's a feature called "My Favorite Weekend," consisting of some jackass famous or about-to-be famous actor/musician/restauranteur/club owner (you get the idea; it's never a dude named Jose from North Hollywood) with what they like to do on an ideal weekend. There are frequent mentions of amazing, life-altering bougie/yuppy things like breakfast spots, independent movie theaters, the beach, wine, music shows at Largo. It's stupid, but what can you do. Anyway, the "musician" (??) Donovan Leitch (who I only know as being Ione Skye's brother, which I only know and care about due to Ione Skye once being married to Adrock) was apparently deemed relevant enough in 2008 to be chosen for last week's edition. He says "cool hang," and it's all downhill from there:

"NATURE BOY: On Saturday morning I'd head to the art gallery at Pomona College. One of my favorite exhibits was there recently, James Turrell's "Skyscapes." He manipulates celestial beams and the color of the sky within a controlled environment. It's far-out stuff. Or maybe we'd try Descanso Gardens.

HIP TRIPS I'd grab lunch at Dusty's, a cool hang (?? ugh) in Silver Lake. I like the décor, and the produce is organic. Later I might grab a coffee at Intelligentsia, and next door is Lovecraft Bio-Fuels, where you can get your turbo-diesel Mercedes converted to run on bio-diesel.

ECHO PARKING There are great scrap yards around Echo Park, where they have doors and windows and wrought-iron candelabra. It's fun to wander around. And there's a shop called Han Cholo where they have cool jewelry and Hispanic-customized Nikes. Nice stuff."

Ohh Lawd. The use of the word "Hispanic." Describing something as "Hispanic-customized"; even if he had said "Chicano-customized," the ridiculous factor would not be lessened. You, Donovan Leitch, are an idiot.

- Link

Negative.

"Jesus, Logan. You must have a thousand hip-hop nerds stalking you."

-Jim, non-hip-hop nerd

Ummm, no. This is the greatest compliment ever (honorable mention goes to "I like your contours" guy at The Dime*). I do enjoy nerds of various ilk so it would be lovely if some stalking did occur; however, if these individuals exist they have yet to identify themselves. Until then, I'm still the skinny quiet girl at Amoeba looking for that Idris Muhammad on vinyl (unlikely, but still).

* joke. I'm joking. I'm not a Buick.

I Got A Castle In Brooklyn, That's Where I Dwell

Wild Sugar, "Bring It Here"

Auto-Tunerrrrrr

"by T-Pain: The Remix (feat. T-Pain)"

Aural Intercourse

Portishead & me, Coachella

"The fuck you mean, is he fuckin dead?"

Wu Tang is fun.

3 Stacks, "Royal Flush" verse.

"Styles will change. They say change is dang-erous
As a King standing on the terrace
While his partner pointing up at the riflemen
Coward shooter, never know when your life will end
Then live like there ain't no 'morrow
And if one come then this the motto
Now I put message in bottle
You go to the nearest beach and open your car door
And walk to the place where the sea meets the land
Yeah, it's easier to run the street than walk in the sand
Hey, I'm talking young man. As if chalk in my hand
I will take y'all little ass to school
It's cool when the kids call me Sunny, the hood calls me Stacks
The B's call me honey, Hollywood calls me back
Crack and I have a lot in common
We both come up in the 80's and we keep that bass pumping
That's a nega-tive comparison, embarrassing
Unfortunate that if you come up fortunate the streets consider you lame
Ha, I thought the name of the game was to have a better life. I guess it ain't. What a shame
I don't slang. Never slung but I'm one with the slum that has a name well fitting
Plenty cheese getting. No wonder why they call it the trap
So watch your tail and I'm not kidding
The rats and mice will give advice, they say, "you can paint and draw
Get out of here. Go show them that we're more than slanging raw."
That's when I broke into my Big Rube impression
And I tried to enlighten but that night I learned a lesson
That the morals that you think you got go out the window
When all the other kids are fresh and they got new Nintendo Wiis
And your child is down on her knees praying hard up to God for a whopper with cheese
Do you B) hit the street hard with a flair
Or do you A) go to school for heating and air?
Dare make an honest living or make a crooked killing
Or do a bit of both until you're holding on a million?
Brilliant. You got one foot in, one foot out
You put your left foot back in and then you shake it all about
You do the hokey pokey til you turn your life around
That's what it's all about, 3000 out."

!

Act Like You Know My Steez

The Purple Line To The Red Line

Bernard taught me how to take the subway and it was great! I saw Gino in line at the re-sell counter at Amoeba and he hugged me and it brought me much mirth. I inadvertently hurt the delicate feelings of a young man who started talking to me about a record in my hand and then I, of course, had to be a joker and kick some sarcasm. I can't help it; playfulness is delightful. I didn't make the rules. But see, the problem is that he didn't get my joke and I therefore cannot allow him to see me naked. Sorry, dude with glasses and brown shirt at Amoeba. Thanks for playing.

Ahhhhh. Saturday Morning.

Play loud!

I Am, In Fact, Alive

I didn't realize anyone actually looked at this, but I've gotten a couple questions lately regarding when I'm gonna post again. Awww. I feel loved.

I'm here, alive and well. Hold on a sec, lemme find something interesting and fresh to post and please you...

Speech to the Young: Speech to the Progress-Toward

Say to them,

say to the down-keepers,

the sun-slappers,

the self-soilers,

the harmony-hushers,

"even if you are not ready for day

it cannot always be night."

You will be right.
For that is the hard home-run.

Live not for battles won.

Live not for the-end-of-the-song.

Live in the along.

-Gwendolyn Brooks

(she once said, "I am a writer perhaps because I am not a talker." Wordemup.)

"I'm Low-Key Like Seashells, I Rock These Bells"

from Pitchfork:
Attention, San Diego, L.A., and San Fran: the head to the Wu-Tang's Voltron body, GZA, is coming to your city to perform 1995's classic Liquid Swords in its entirety.
This trio of Cali dates finds the Genius swinging Swords and cutting clowns much as he did last year at the Pitchfork Music Festival, in London, and a couple times in New York. Bodies will drop, heartbeats will stop, and rhyme thoughts will travel at tremendous speed as the GZA tackles the 1995 classic in full. Come to think of it, that line about "natural blends of weed" will probably apply to the proceedings as well.

GZA (performing Liquid Swords):

03-28 San Diego, CA - Canes
03-29 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
03-31 San Francisco, CA – Independent

- Link

Best Line, 01/29/08

"Here, listen (pause, pointing her finger in my face): You're so nice because dudes don't talk to you, Lo-Lo. Listen, it's good. You don't think you're beautiful and I hope you never do because you're so sweet and it would ruin you. Plus you're built like a cartoon character so you should be a complete fucking bitch, but you're not and that's why you're dope."

Courtesy of Maker's Mark and the Cha Cha. Thanks, Nadia!

What I Look Like At Amoeba & Rockaway, v.2.0

Where's. The. Hip. Hop. (I'm Still Going, But C'Mon...)

Queen Latifahs & Will Smiths??

Yesterday the tenants of 1520 Sedgwick, Kool Herc, and Senator Schumer held their press conference to unveil their plan to keep rents in the building affordable to residents. It turns out that the owner is asking $14 million and the tenants, through a private lender and city subsidies, can raise about $11 mil. So where’s the rest of the money going to come from?

Campbell [Kool Herc] called on "all the Queen Latifahs and Will Smiths" to step up with some financial help Tuesday.

"We’re asking all those guys you see in Forbes magazine that are living hip hop to recognize this building," he said.

Link

Eskay's right--what makes residents of this building any more deserving of affordable housing than any of the other people in the Bronx? Also, how 'bout actual Bronx-bred people ante up (Bambaataa, KRS, Kool Keith), rather than a New Jersey-an and a Philadelphian?

The Birthplace of Hip-Hop On August 11, 1973, in the first floor recreation room of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, hip hop was born. It was on that day that DJ Kool Herc, known as the founder of hip hop, and his sister threw the first hip hop house party. Scholars, musicians, and the media widely recognize 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, aka General Sedgwick House, in the Bronx borough of New York City, as the birthplace of hip hop, a uniquely American musical genre and culture that has taken over the world. In recognition of its important place in American history, in July of 2007, 1520 Sedgwick was declared eligible to be listed as a state and federal landmark. Congressman Serrano of the Bronx honored Sedgwick and Kool Herc in the Congressional record. Now 1520 Sedgwick is at risk of converting to market-rate housing! 1520 Sedgwick was built in 1969 under a state program to provide quality affordable housing for New Yorkers. This affordable housing helped revitalize the Bronx and made it possible for working families like DJ Kool Herc's to thrive and create the communities that gave rise to hip-hop. The owner of 1520 Sedgwick plans to remove the building from this affordability program by February 2008! The owner of Sedgwick intends to sell the building to a private equity investor who has already taken several buildings out of the affordability program in the Bronx. As gentrification sweeps through New York City, the low and moderate income families who have lived in these communities for decades are being pushed out. You can help! The tenants of 1520 Sedgwick refuse to be swept aside! They are organizing to preserve their building and they need your help. The 1520 Sedgwick Tenant Association has been working with the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) and Tenants & Neighbors to preserve their buildings and help them convert 1520 Sedgwick into a permanently affordable, limited-equity cooperative. UHAB has entered into negotiations with the companies who control 1520 Sedgwick and they have offered to sell the building to UHAB and the tenants. Using money from the State and City of New York and your contributions, we hope to reach a fair purchase price and save 1520 Sedgwick as affordable for the next generations of New Yorkers!