I am a huge Alice Coltrane fan. We talked about doing an Alice Coltrane Tribute to Weeksville but couldn’t seem to pull it together. Anyway I’m going to be listening to Alice while I work and travel today.
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From teaching in the middle schools I came across this dance battle style that the kids in NYC have been doing for a couple of years now called getting light. It’s kind of a combination of the Harlem Shake, Uprocking, Popping, and Vogueing. It’s interesting, it seems like the kids from the Bronx and Harlem are the most advanced with the Brooklyn and Queens kids lagging behind a little. What I also found interesting is that most battles take place without music; there is a standard hand clap to the dance that provides the beat.
It was Martin Luther’s first time performing at The Montreux Jazz festival; we had been touring all over Europe with a Trio that included Aaron Belamy on Bass, Nikki Glaspie on Drums, and Martin on guitar and vocals. It’s the same trio that you will hear playing on the Martin Luther Live at Arlene’s Grocery album that you can purchase on iTunes if you search Martin Luther. We booked the Montreux Jazz festival and every thing was set for us to go over there and kill it. The flight from JFK was at 9PM, we scheduled it at that time because our bass player Aaron had to drive from Boston so we didn’t want to give him any excuses. Well, the notorious AB, drove half way to NY before he realized that he had forgotten his passport at home. He had to drive back to Boston and then back to New York to catch the flight. Of course he missed it. Martin and Nikki were off to Montreux with no bass player and were faced with playing the world famous festival with a band configuration that they had not rehearsed. The show had to go on; they billed themselves that day as the Black Stripes and gave there all. Below are some videos to prove it. Nikki later admitted that he had to take a huge crap the whole time she was playing, that might be too much information but hey….it’s the truth 
My boy Christian Ericson who has been extended Rebel Soul fam for a long minute has finally launched his Bright Moments merchandise store, click here to check it out. Lot’s of lovely content coming your way on www.brightmoments.com as well. Cheers to brother Christjahn!!
I remember first meeting Shelby Johnson; it want to say it was at the Gibson Guitar showcase room not long before we were about to do a press showcase for the Rebel Soul Music album. I remember that the great bass player Pino Paladino was in town and we were all hinging during rehearsal. My first impression of Shelby was that she was REAL….real cool, real southern, and just a real ass sister. It wasn’t but a few weeks after meeting her that we were on the road with her singing with Martin in Vienna Austria and then the Jill Scott Tour. I really miss Shelby and Martin on stage together. Shelby has one of the most clean, clear, and beautiful voices I have ever heard live. Now she’s rocking with Prince and I cannot be mad. Here is a taste from one of the shows we did in Atlanta. Check it out and let me know what you think
I first heard about BLK JKS from my friend Knox Robinson; the first and former editor of Fader Magazine. He had just gotten back from South Africa and after fighting a bout with Malaria was back on the scene. I ran into him on the street in Ft. Greene; he was parked outside of a restaurant that I was having brunch in and he called me to the car. He asked if I had a moment to sit in the car with him and check out this new band that he found in Soweto. I said, “of course,” and what I heard blew me away. They were this hyper spiralling combination of Fela Kuti, Miles Davis (from the Dark Magus days), and Bad Brains; they were right up my ally. Months later they were on the cover of Fader magazine and introduced formally to the US. Soon after that I saw them do an acoustic performance at The New Museum on Bowery. I kept missing their famed amped up electric performances in clubs but this time I won’t miss it cause I’ve booked them myself for my summer series entitled REBEL SOUL @ WEEKSVILLE. I can’t wait to see them and everyone else there. Check out this new track from there upcoming release on the Secretly Canadian label. The details for the upcoming Weeksville show is as follows
BLK JKS
July 5th, 4PM, FREE!!
WEEKSVILLE
Hunterfly Road Houses
1698 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11213
between Buffalo and Rochester Avenue
We are about to put out a Martin Luther Mix tape before we release the album. It is full of rare jems like this Nirvana cover of “Heart Shaped Box.” Check it out below, it is a taste of what is to come
It is clear that media content at this time in our communications history is over abundant and cheap or free. User generated media has become as much a part of our daily lives as breakfast and bills. We are inundating with the expressions of our peers via our social networks and through the huge multimedia chat room that is Twitter. The amateur produced content is mashed up with the professionally produced content and often times it’s a blur of distraction. Every now and then you come across something that makes you stop and say whoa, that’s beautiful! The question is, how do we recognize that among so much that we consume and why is it often instantly recognizable?
The notion of quality is subjective; you can shoot a load of crap sitting on a Brooklyn curb in 1080i and have Christopher Doyle light it and it may be recognized as high quality video. The question is what makes something beautiful or art? For me the outcome of beauty and art is within the process of producing the product. For me there is a difference between conceptualization and process. Sometimes I will come across a great concept but it seems lacking in craft, work, and disciplined process. It’s kind of like the difference between a Jim Jarmusch film and “Raise the Red Lantern.” Now, being an intellectual who enjoys concepts especially those that are set to beautiful pictures; I enjoy Jim Jarmusch. I rarely leave the theater thinking that Jarmusch made a beautiful film, I think his films are intriguing. For me beauty is in the process, when you can tell that the creator took time to pay attention to the details of his/her intention. When you can feel the process even it you can’t see or hear it. It’s like an Alice Coltrane album..you can almost feel the meditative process that she went through conceptualizing the song and her relationships with the other musicians and the the philosophy of what she was trying to present to the listener. Listening to Alice Coltrane is an experience far beyond entertainment. When an artist pays attention to their craft and the intention of the details within the process of making their works, the work often transcends the medium that it is created in. It becomes an extension of the artist’s being; mind, body, and soul. It’s recognizable when you experience it.
In today’s media abundant culture I think that those producers that make recognizable art and quality are going to create the most attention and financial abundance for themselves. In the mess of abundance, what is scarce and not easy will go for a premium while the other stuff get’s lost in wishful monetization schemes based on attention. As we all wonder what has happened to craft and art in the a day of so much user generated amateur content; I think the creme will once again rise to the top and create a new standard of winners, it’s human nature. We shall see it’s just my guess.