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Over the wknd MJ, Yego, Ekene and I connected over at the 21Trillion Collaboration Studio for a brainstorming session.
Ponchos, anyone? Im just as excited as everyone else.
Stay tuned, eh.
September 9, 2008 at 9:40 pm / No comment
Inspirational doesn’t seem like the word to sum up Clay. He’s funny, adorable, intelligent, thoughtful, a giant, a King, and a overall beautiful person. Jeremy and Clay showed me around New Orleans, and although it was a small dose, I’ve been hooked ever since. It is one of the most capturing and incomparable cities I have ever been to in the United States. I remember when I left I felt like crying because I knew I was leaving something behind. Sure enough, I was leaving behind Jeremy who is the brother and friend I’ve never had before, and it is always sad to leave someone you love. However, when I left I felt as if I carried something with me that has only recently opened up its doors and allowed me in. Its a very vague and overwhelming thing to describe especially for someone whose not good at expressing anything through words. Ever since I came back from New Orleans, I’ve felt a little bit more safe. I don’t feel someone is watching over me, though. I feel someone is with me. When I’m uncertain about my next move, their voice guides me to the path I should be walking on. When I’m angry, their voice is what causes me to clam down and collect the tiny pieces of patience that has shattered on the floor. When my creativity is diminishing, their voice points me to books or music that will spark that fire in my heart all over again. Whoever it is, I’m totally safe and content and I thank New Orleans for that. I thank Jeremy for that. I thank Clay for that. However, I need to go back. Every time I hear Nina Simone’s ‘You’d be so nice to come to’ - I think about her: New Orleans.
Recently, Clay wrote about New Orleans and the Preservation Hall Jazz band. I think you should check it out.. here is a bit from the piece:
‘One note of a New Orleans horn is a shout out to generations of a city’s collective experience. It doesn’t matter if you hear that horn in Paris or New York City, the first bars of old standards like “Eh La Bah” will put you firmly in the holy city of New Orleans. Drunk on every ounce of the history. Every moment of the experience. It’s an understanding that once this place gets in you, you will never be able to see, able to taste, able to hear a place quite like you did this one. Go anywhere else in the world, and the smallest remembrance of New Orleans will make your eyes light up. As sure and steady as jazz rolling through the night, that’s a promise.’
T-Sides B-Sides: Preservation Hall Jazz Band (click here)
September 9, 2008 at 8:17 pm / No comment
Following up from last week… I’ve got another couple of mixtapes for you all. Fresh & FREE!
This week it’s:
• TITLE RETRACTED by CAN’T SAY
• Filthy Friends: The Mixtape by Micachu
Enjoy!
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September 8, 2008 at 12:00 am / No comment
Sept 7th - 21MC x Brooklyn Arts Festival
Sept 6th - Salvador Dali at The MoMA
Sept 5th - West Indian Carnival Parade (Photo Recap)
Sept 5th - Hurricane Gustav Post-Script
Sept 4th - Ms. Kara Walker
Sept 3rd - Collaboration Sensation
Sept 2nd - Maroons on The Ellen Degeneres Show
Sept 1st - Live Hurricane Gustav Report via iPhone
Sept 1st - Sister Gertrude Morgan
Sept 1st - Mixtape Mondays
September 7, 2008 at 11:59 pm / No comment
Greetings from the Afro-Triangle!
Just a quick note to let you know what’s going down….
Who: Soul Summit DJs & Afrika Baambaata (The last event saw 1000+ patrons)
What: Brooklyn Urban Arts Market
When: Sunday, September 7th from 12pm - 7pm
Where: On Myrtle Avenue btwn. Grand Avenue & Emerson Place
Come out if you can. This will be the very last chance to get tees at this price!
September 7, 2008 at 12:16 am / No comment
This friday, my sister and I went to see the Salvador Dali exhibit, which is running at New York’s Museum of Modern Art until Sept 15th.
If you get the chance to see it… you should. Especially if you have a particular interest in either Impressionist art or early Film. It was a really interesting showing. Hella crowded too… but apparently if you show up at the MoMA a fter 4pm on a friday… it’s “Target Free Friday”.
Which means admission is free until closing and your free ticket is also good for free entry to P.S.1 (within 30 days). Not a bad deal if you can function in massive crowds of rude people (many of whom read rather slowly because english is not their primary language, and point their fingers way too close to the paintings.) : /
September 6, 2008 at 11:49 am / 2 comments
West Indian Carnival Parade
more on thatkidtexas.com
September 5, 2008 at 9:14 pm / No comment
photo by Clay Franks
So today, we’re posted up in Memphis, TN, because back home, shit’s still grimy as hell. Only about 2% of the city has power, so the city is pitch black at night. They put in effect an 8pm curfew, giving them free range to lock anyone they can catch up. Border patrol is everywhere, and it looks like my hood is about to get hit up on that tip.
The city is largely thrashed up. Most of my friends and family have trees down in-front-of or IN their houses. Lots of ripped up roofs, felled traffic signs and power lines and the weirdest thing about it all is how no one across the country knows about how badly the city was hit and how many people were actually affected by it. Georgia Bush stopped through to survey the damage, though. He hopped off the plane at the Baton Rouge Metro Airport and looked around and declared it a disaster area and left without actually making it to any of the sites where evacuees were being housed or where the storm was gnarliest. On second thought, it isn’t the least bit surprising that the rest of the country has no clue what’s going on in one of its largest port cities when the shining Knight of the White Camelia can’t even be bothered to leave the fucking airport to see what’s really up.
Tour of My Nieghborhood from jon rogers on Vimeo.
Also, one of the guys over at TBC (http://www.tbcparty.com) got some pretty telling footage of our city and some of our neighborhoods.
September 5, 2008 at 2:35 pm / 1 comment
Kara Walker, born in 1969, is known for her mansion-size tableaux of black cut-paper silhouettes that examine the ongoing racial and gender tensions in America. Her themes include, power, repression, race, sexuality, and history. She was included in the 1997 biennial exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC. Later that year, she became the youngest receiver of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s ‘genius’ grant, which is what launched the public controversy around her work. She currently lives in NYC, and is a professor of visual arts in the MFA program at Columbia University.
Kara Walker is a King.
Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love
September 4, 2008 at 6:54 pm / No comment
In the spirit of sharing some of our new developments… I wanted to quickly post about some of the work Yego and I have been doing for our new design collaboration studio, 21Trillion. We’ll explain more later, but here’s a peek:
![](http://www.21maroons.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/lgtw_12inch.png "Let\'s Go To War 12\\" Jacket")
12″ Vinyl Jacket for Let’s Go to War on Last Gang Records
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Muhsinah album art Photoshoot w/ photobytone.com
Check back soon for more sneak peeks.
September 3, 2008 at 3:08 pm / No comment
