BIG IDEAS

A cosmic victory for all funkheads upset about the deteriorating state of modern music.

From reports:

The phrase “bow wow wow, yippie yo, yippie yea” belongs exclusively to funk legend George Clinton, a panel of federal judges ruled this week.

Bridgeport Music, the company that administers Clinton’s work, sued Universal Music Group for copyright infringement over those words in 2001. At issue: the 1998 release of “D.O.G. in Me,” a song by hip-hop and R&B group Public Announcement, one of Universal’s artists. In the song, Bridgeport claimed, Public Announcement wrongfully used the words “bow wow wow, yippie yo, yippie yea,” as well as a repetitive use of the word “dog” in ways that infringe on Clinton’s copyright.

Clinton and two other songwriters first penned the phrase in 1982 while writing “Atomic Dog,” one of Clinton’s best-known works.

A federal jury agreed with Bridgeport and awarded the company about $89,000 in damages. The amount was based on the sales of Public Announcement’s album All Work,No Play, which included the song. Universal Music appealed the ruling, but this week the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the original decision.

Editor’s Note: There is no standard agreement on the spelling of “Yippee” or “Yay”

Blogging the BET Awards. ALL TIMES IN CENTRAL TIME when noted, so don’t fuss at me about inaccuracy.

5pm CST: Opening of the Red Carpet - Hey are my kids going to able to watch this. Booty shots from the jump. TIVO button. Kids, go work on your workbooks.

6:15 (or so): Arsenio Hall - Good to see. Good words. Important to hear of Michael Jackson’s sense of humor. Interesting that MTV has been very quiet about the fact that no Black artists got airplay before Michael. Even more interesting that it’s being said frequently by folks on BET, another child of the same Viacom corporate parent as MTV.  That actually speaks well, oddly enough, of Viacom in terms of creative freedom.

6:30 CST:  Debra Lee. Looking pretty hot. “Michael watched out for BET and made sure we got videos at the same time as MTV.”  Good for Mike.

6:46:  Who? More booty. Kids out of the room so I ain’t that mad at ‘em. Edited lyrics? Why put him on?

7pm: New Edition. Good to see. Performance? -Meh.

7:26: Ne-Yo. Good for you, brother. Well done version of Lady in My Life.

7:32: From reports - Michael Jackson’s father appeared on the red carpet before the BET Awards ceremony Sunday night, saying he has “a lot of concerns” about the last moments of his son’s life and personal physician.

“I have a lot of concerns,” Joe Jackson told CNN’s Don Lemon. “I can’t get into that, but I don’t like what happened.”

7:35: Jamie “Blame it on the Alcohol”. Really one of my favorite songs right now, and I’m not a huge fan of most of what I hear on regular radio, but it rocks undeniably. HOWEVER, Auto Tune does NOT translate well live. Also, noticing that Jamie Foxx, while a good performer, stalks the stage Chris Rock-like back and forth - the way a standup comic does.  Not as effective in a musical performance. Eyes need to focus when you’re listening.

8pm: Beyonce singing Ave Maria in a… hey, what is that anyway? Kinda Victoria’s Secret, kinda angelic, kinda slutty wedding dress, kinda Marilyn Monroe with the dress blowing up - cute

9pm: Tweet. Facebook. Blog. Tweet. Tweet. Vodka. Facebook. Wait. Blog. Why am I doing this again?

9:01pm: Jay Z. Death of Auto Tune. Guitar player plays like Bobby Womack on “Nobody Wants You When You’re Down & Out”. Thanks you, Jay for a real band and real music

9:15: Did somebody say Tevin Campbell?

9:20: Tyrese Gibson makes OJays tribute all worth it.

9:28: Passing around on Twitter: “I wish BET died and Michael Jackson was doing a tribute to it.” - Classic

9:29: Don Cornelius, love you brother. Sharper than a tack, but man, you gotta get off stage.

9:50: Idris Elba and Sherrie Shephard. How many women are hating on Sherrie right now?

9:52: Debra Lee thanking Joe Jackson on behalf of BET. Finally, it’s looking like an actual tribute to Michael. Oops, wait.  Maybe not. This is the Humanitarian Award for Wyclef and Alicia Keys.

10:30: Really? Seriously? Drake & Lil Wayne and a bunch of 12 year olds. Have you noticed the increasingly long breaks between posts? Switching back and forth to True Blood. Is is really worth it to put a group on live that you have to use the 7-second delay for?

10:37: Did I miss the Michael Jackson tribute? Or was that the opening act only?

10:38: You know what, I’m done. Life’s too short. Goodnight.

10:39: OK. I’m back. Janet Jackson in the house: ” My entre family wanted to be here tonight but it was too painful. To you Michael was an icon. To us he’s family. But he will forever live in all of our hearts…”

There were rumors earlier of a Janet performance, but not to happen.

10:40: The tribute starts: “I’ll Be There” sung by Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo to solo piano with a photo montage in the backdrop. Nice. Stop there. They did. Good. Now goodnight.

This is from a flyer for the nightclub, Park at Fourteenth, owned by Marc Barnes, the subject of the TV One documentary feature, PARTY BOYS.

I’ve seen many a posted dress code in my day, but none with this kind of subjective qualification. Call it broad bouncer flexibility.

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“

No telling yet whether these folks will make it as far as an interview with Matt Lauer, but apparently inspired by our call a few months ago to take back our culture, Black folk are starting flood YouTube with their own, uh, “culturally relevant” wedding dances. Is there a “Save the FoxTrot” organization out there that can stop all this?

Thanks to William Jelani Cobb for putting this thing on my Facebook page. Gee thanks, dude.

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.

Hailed by some as the “African alternative to Cirque du Soleil”, Afrika! Afrika! premiered in London recently to what’s being called a stunning success.

Organized by Viennese multimedia artist Andre Heller, the show is a culmination of several years of scouting the continent’s circus schools for recruits, with the final result being over 100 dancers, performing acts, gymnasts and acrobats.

Like Ringling Brothers, the show is performed in two distinct touring companies. Tour 1 stays in the UK through 2008 and hits the U.S. (no dates announced yet) in 2009. Tour 2 moves from Hannover to Vienna, Barcelona, Milan and Paris through 08, heading for Asia in 2009.

Given what will surely be a huge reception in the US for Afrika! Afrika!, promoters and investors should already be talking about a permanent home theater. But it remains to be seen if Afrika! Afrika! could break the virtual monopoly Cirque du Soleil seems to have in the States, at this point becoming almost synonymous with the alternative circus concept. Though let’s be honest, once you’ve seen one Canadian strongman act, you’ve seen them all. But are the Vegas hotels ready for an Afrika! Afrika!?

Then again, maybe a permanent home at The Apollo.

Hat tip to Timbuku Chronicles.

Some welcome relief from all things politics and a reminder of what else is happening in the world. Carolina Chocolate Drops stopped through the office for a tour and quick chat. They’re in the middle of a road trip that takes them from the Northeast through the West and on to France, ending up at the Kennedy Center in DC in late November.

Carolina Chocolate Drops? Que? Three young Black musicians recapturing and refashioning traditional down home banjo, fiddle and jug music into something with a lot more fire and intensity than the kind of bluegrass that people are used to hearing on NPR and Jack Daniels commercials.

A longer, deeper and more thoughtful essay on this very smart band is coming as a lead story, but don’t wait until then to jump on the train.

Check their MySpace HERE