BIG IDEAS

A milestone - of sorts, if you’ve been following the progression of digital entertainment projects launched at the web level first. DIGGnation is essentially a web show that discusses the top items shared on DIGG, the social sharing site and tool.

When I first saw this picture on an article about a Bush pardon, for a minute I was hoping it was Washington DC deejay Ben Amin (real name Benjamin), one of my former students at Howard. Last I heard about Ben he was in a Dubai prison for having two marijuana seeds in his suitcase. That’s no joke. Two seeds. Dubai don’t play that. For a quick second I thought Bush had intervened on Ben’s behalf since he’s dead ringer for the guy pictured above. I’ll still hold out on that.

The real news came as even more of a surprise. John Forte, if you recall, was featured fairly prominently in Wyclef Jean’s album “The Carnival”, one of hip hop’s best and most classic albums (in my opinion). If you know John, you know the story - cocaine smuggling, friend of Carly Simon, the whole nine. Well, famous connections in high places get you favors you might never expect, and I can guarantee Forte did not expect this one from GW.

Just when you were ready to get rid of the guy, Bush goes and does something pretty cool. Slap him next week when he pardons Scooter Libby and Jack Abramoff.

UPDATE: My boy Ben is now out of Dubai - so say my peeps in DC.

There are only a few sites and blogs that are absolute weekly must-visits for me each week. Always in the top 10 is Last Night’s Party [lastnightsparty.com]. [Not Safe for Work]

The kind of stuff you kind of want to turn away from but can’t stop looking.
Sure, the club kids are way too self-conscious. And Bronques - who used to have the occasional nude or topless photo taken in an empty bathroom - knows which side of the bread his web traffic is buttered on and the bits of nudity seem forced now. Even still,  it’s a window into nightlife that makes voyeurism a real art. It also makes you wonder who all these people are who are having more fun than you (or at least trying to make you think that).

The music world has obviously taken notice as well. Last week, the new music group, N*E*R*D* released the video for a new single, “Everyone Nose” which takes imagery from the LNP site and brings it to life.
Critiques have beem mixed about the song itself  (I dig it) but the video does a great job of capturing the Last Night’s Party energy.

Click to See the Full Video for “Everyone Nose“

You be the judge.

This performance of the Morehouse cheerleading squad is causing a ruckus on the campuses of Spelman and Morehouse right now. Apparently some people don’t think all that tuition should be paid to teach their daughters how to get a job at Magic City.

Now, aside from that fact that Magic City probably pays better than most jobs in this economy, I guess they might have a point. Does seem a bit hypocritical that the men’s college so directly related in spirit and history to its female counterpart, which famously rejected several rap acts for their objectification of women, would see fit to continue the cheerleading booty shake tradition. Then again, show me a college where cheerleaders aren’t objectified, burlesque-style performance or otherwise.

A few posts ago I mentioned that I did something that I had never done before, which was to buy something based on an infomercial. In this case, a 9-DVD set of highlights from NBC’s Midnight Special, a concert-style series that ran from 1972 until the early 80s and featured live music from the hottest rock and soul acts of the time.

So the first DVD of the series came in, a compilation of “Legendary Performances” featuring Roy Orbison, Fleetwood Mac, Peter Frampton, Al Green, David Bowie and a few others. For the heck of it, I let my boys -who are 5 and 3 - stay up late to watch it with me since they’ve already become die-hard rock fans. So here are my thoughts and theirs on this treasure trove of cool 70s music on video.

First Impressions

The background info that comes in the box had a few revelations about how the show got made. Most intriguing that despite its live appearance the show was actually taped at 10am. Not that interesting until you discover that in order to duplicate the kind of energy they had at concerts that were usually late at night, many of the bands (Aerosmith in particular) “fortified” themselves with various substances to ratchet up the groove a bit.

The other odd thing is that I suppose I forgot that the show actually aired on Fridays at 1 a.m. and I remember watching these when they started. Which begs the question, where the hell was my family when I was a little kid still up at 1:00am on a Friday watching TV? But that’s a question for my mama, I suppose. OK, off topic. On to the performances:

1. Roy Orbison (Oh, Pretty Woman)

Even though it was 1972, Roy Orbison was already pretty much over and done twenty years prior. Never been a fan. Still ain’t.

The kids’ opinion: “He has girl hair. Why?”

2. Fleetwood Mac (Rhiannon)

From 1976. Always dug this tune. Had then and and still have a serious crush on Stevie Nicks, the first rock chick that really moved me with her voice. She looks and sounds great here. The band does a slightly extended version with a bit more percussion and Stevie does her hot witch dance thing.

The kids: “She’s pretty, Daddy. Why do all the boys have girl hair?”

3. Peter Frampton (Baby I Love Your Way)

Great performance by a really young looking Frampton. Never realized his resemblance to Leif Garrett until now. Very underrated song.

The kids: “He really has girl hair. Did you have girl hair?”

4. John Denver/Cass Elliot (Leaving on a Jet Plane)

John Denver’s goofball hippy image (which would likely serve him well in today’s green environment) was really unfortunate. He really had quite a beautiful voice that this song was made for. Did not know that he wrote this song. I always attributed it to Peter, Paul & Mary, whose recording made it famous. A pre-ham sandwich Mama Cass adds a haunting quality to the background vocals. This is actually the standout on the whole DVD, to my serious surprise.

The kids: “We know this song! It’s on your iPod. We like this.”

5. The Bee Gees (Jive Talkin’)

I like the Bee Gees in general, but this is one of my least favorite tunes by them. Their performances of fast songs like this were always unimpressive, mostly due to the uncoordinated weirdness of that middle brother with the high voice. You know, Not Barry, or whatever his name is without the beard.

The kids: “What does jive mean?”

6. Linda Rondstadt (You’re No Good)

Can’t really say I ever got the Linda Rondstadt thing, either. But on this one she does a pretty good job. Strong voice, but heavily carried by her two background singers. Huge set of congas in the band. Whatever happened to congas in rock music?

The kids: No comments, but this was the first song that got them dancing.

7. The Guess Who (American Woman)

One of my favorite songs. But I realized that I never actually saw The Guess Who before. Not sure what I expected, but Burt Reynolds on vocals with Jack Black on guitar was not it. Seriously, lead singer Burton Cummings in a moustache and white leisure suit throws you off completely and makes the whole performance look like it could have been transplanted to a bar in the Ramada Inn. What a voice on that guy, though - for a Canadian.

The kids: “Lenny Kravitz looks funny.”

8. Al Green (Let’s Stay Together)

From 1972. Wow, all sweat, all energy, all talent. Al Green rocks it tough with his six pack abs hanging out of a too tight vest kind of thingy. An all black audience too, which was rare for Midnight Special.

The kids: “Daddy, does he have on his son’s jacket?”

9. Aretha Franklin (Respect)

From 1976. An alarmingly skinny Aretha belts out this tune in some weird feathered Big Bird costume with one arm out. Rocked it, though.

The kids: Boredom to my surprise.

10. David Bowie (Space Oddity)

Another one of my favorites. Bowie in full glam, silver striped body suit, sock in the crotch - the whole nine yards. In perfect voice. Didn’t realize a background singer was doing the high parts on that song. Given that this was 1973, it’s amazing how this song not only holds up musically but still seems futuristic. Bowie’s the man, but I couldn’t convince the kids of that.

The kids: “Who’s Major Tom? Why does it look like he has on eye polish?”

11. Blondie (Heart of Glass)

Deborah Harry was kinda sexy in a matching dress and headband sorta way.

The kids: “She’s pretty. Is she going to the gym?”

12. LaBelle (Lady Marmalade)

I’ve heard this song way too much in too many lame situations over the years for the live performance to have much impact, but it did remind me of how edgy LaBelle was as a full group. I remember always feeling a sense of something wild about to happen whenever they were on TV. And Nona was just badass. Maybe it’s just me, but either Patti LaBelle has grown into her nose or something’s been worked over there a bit. Maybe that’s old news, but I don’t follow these things.

The kids: Nervous fidgeting.

13. The Steve Miller Band (The Joker)

Crap song from a crap band. Pompitous of love, indeed. Can’t believe Miles Davis was once an opening act for this guy.

Kids: Snoring

14. Donna Summer (Last Dance)

Weird performance from Donna Summer who recorded it shortly before that awful movie ‘Thank God It’s Friday” came out. She introduces the song with this long drawn out snippet of acting from the movie. Super cheesy and so is the song. But she looks good singing it and an underutilized voice for the type of music she did.

The kids: Out like a light.

If I were running the Obama campaign, somebody on the Advance staff would be getting his or her head rolled today.
If you were watching Obama’s victory speech from Houston’s Toyota Center very very closely, you may have noticed that for the first time in a very long time, only Black people were standing in camera view behind Obama. Nothing wrong with that inherently, but despite the wonderful diversity of Obama’s supporters, you can’t always rely on people choosing to sit next to each other in a diverse way. White friends sit with their friends, black friends site with theirs and so on and so on.

That’s to say the visual image of diversity in the Obama campaign, while accurate, is still the result of well planned crafting of Obama’s TV image. Usually, the Obama stagecraft staff does the job pretty well.

Last night, they screwed up and forgot to plan that healthy and diverse mix.Fortunately, someone on his staff noticed the problem. Unfortunately, however, they tried to change it on live television.

Dumb!

Look at the MSNBC video above.

This version of the video starts a little late into the speech and at a slight different angle, but at about 0:12 into the video look closely at the curly haired white guy behind Obama’s right shoulder and watch him try to wrangle past a black woman for position into the camera shot. Seconds later watch the Black woman say “O, Hell no” and push another white guy back where he came from. White guy #1 works his was to the right shoulder of Obama and tries to be cool with the other Black people whose seats he’s taking (who also are not trying to move). At about 4 minutes in, watch White Guy #2 work his way back into the shot.

By the end of the speech at least 4 white people who were not there before miraculously find their way into camera range. Pretty funny.

As a former media consultant, I can tell you this is done all the time. It was perfected by Ronald Reagan at his State of the Union addresses. But note to the Obama camp: Make those adjustments before the camera comes on.

Yesterday morning I did something I’ve never felt compelled to do in my life - I bought a product off the TV after seeing an infomercial. Not just any something in my estimation, but a 9-DVD collection of live performances from the old TV show, Midnight Special hosted by Wolfman Jack. I’m not quite sure why this show resonates with me so much.It was part of my essential Friday night viewing which started with Love American Style, then Carson, then Midnight Special. And after that the decidedly weaker Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert.

It was one of those shows, along with early Saturday Night Live, that spoke for its time. For many, it was the TV version of really good radio - good rock one minute, good soul another. No lip syncing, not too many dance moves, just real live music. These days, you can’t even count on the Grammys to give you live music all the way through reliably.

Anyhoo, for those feeling nostalgic, here’s Tom Jones and Sly Stone absolutely butchering Everyday People. Maybe there’s something to that lip syncing after all.

We get all kinds of stuff over the transom. Today, we got a press releases from Judge Leslie Isaiah Gaines, “The Godfather of Justice”. Did we know there was Godfather of Justice? Did you?
Anyhoo, the judge sent us some poetic musings on the Democratic primary race that we thought we’d share.

A side note: A bit of a background check shows that the Judge is not only really a judge, but also was one of the most prominent criminal attorneys in SW Ohio throughout the 80s. A new career in literature, Judge?

Current TV, Al Gore’s seldom seen but still kinda good cable network, is running a mini-doc focused on the exploding metropolis that is Lagos, Nigeria. It’s a fascinating subject by itself, but the vid gets even more interesting about half the way in when the almost giddy young host gets all excited about offering a bribe to a neighborhood “Big Man” to let the crew film a street scene. Later, she bubbles with the thrill of adventure as she gets jacked for her cash by a roving band of thugs while sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. How cool is that.

If he were smart, Rep. William Jefferson would use this video as part of his upcoming defense. Seriously, if you can’t walk down the street in Lagos without giving someone a bribe, how exactly was he supposed to convince the Nigerian government to cut a $50 million wi-fi deal with an unknown American company?