...::25 Joints To Get You Thru Black History Month

While you are going to all those talks and watching all those TV specials this month, don't forget the soundz, including Public Enemy and Queen Latifah. What would Black History Month be without music? From the one and only Davey D.

...::A Ton Of Pound

...::When A Tiger Turns Into A Cheatah

Read how the media helped turn Tiger Woods' image from Good Guy to Gangsta.


Did he just come off the prison yard??

Then read this insightful piece that puts Tiger in a larger media and cultural context. What’s striking about Tiger, the piece says, is the colossal gap "between this golfer’s public image as a paragon of businesslike discipline and focus and the maniacally reckless life we now know he led. What’s equally striking... is that the American establishment and news media... fell for the Woods myth as hard as any fan and actively helped sustain and enhance it."

...::Just One More Sign That This Is A "Post-Racial" World

As plain as the nose on her face: Shania Twain

An academic study, reported here, tries to describe female beauty, but it only looks at white women.

...::One Word, One Chant, One Great Musical-- "Fela!"

Outside the Eugene O'Neil Theater in NYC



Inside the theater, one wall caught the mood of Fela's shrine in Nigeria [photos by y.toure]


The taxi ride from New York's JFK airport to Brooklyn cost a huge $51.50. That was an awful re-introduction to the Big Apple after many years since my last visit, but hey, I was there from Atlanta to see the musical "Fela!", and no thieving taxi system was gonna ruin that.

The 11.Nov.2009 performance on Broadway got deep into the music and the meaning of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the creator of Afrobeat music.

I came to the performance with doubts that a musical on Broadway in New York would do Fela justice. His music and his politics and his personal life were radical by Western standards, and I was cautious. But--

I was blown away. The show was an uninhibited, unapologetic, unashamed celebration of all of Fela, and I highly recommend it.

Fela was born in Nigeria, raised on the streets of struggle in his country and forged by the Black Power movement in the USA.

I have seen Fela and his band of musicians and dancers perform live, back in the day in Los Angeles. His shows were always a driving, sweating, loud, non-stop, hypnotic high, and it was fueled by drums, horns, bass, sex, politics, the gods, his mother's love and lots of ganja.

And it all came across in this show, directed and choreographed by Tony award winner, brother Bill T. Jones.

The Eugene O'Neil Theater was made over to simulate The Shrine, Fela's club, community center and refuge in Lagos, Nigeria. Images similar to those in The Shrine hung not only from the stage, but also from the balconies and walls of the theater.

This was not just a musical, with some music-and-dance pieces strung together with some talk in between. This was a bold exposition of Fela. We see his mother's radical politics... the influence of the USA Black Power movement on his thinking... images of Malcolm and Garvey... when is the last time you were in a musical where the dancers held books about Black radicals?

Production values were very high. In addition to the walls of the theater decorated like Fela's own Shrine, the show was a multi-media extravaganza, with live video, historical footage from Nigeria, supertitles, and an image of Fela's mother that moved every time he spoke to her.

You were not just surrounded. You were engulfed.

The stage was extended into the audience, troupe members danced through the audience, performers danced on two levels of the stage, and some audience members-- me included-- talked back to the performers.

"Fela!" exposed his ganja smoking, his polygamy, his attacks on Nigerian corruption and dictators, his help of the poor. The influence of one of his wives, a Black woman born in the US, herself a political radical, was well done.

There was little or nothing about Fela's father, about any other members of his family, or about how he died [of Aids-related causes].

This production was funny, passionate, revealing. The murder of Sean Bell and the corruption of the firm AIG were highlighted briefly and well, showing that Fela, though he transitioned in 1997, is still current and relevant.

These lessons from the stage still resonate with me-- "We must take our destiny into our own hands... The future is now!... Music is our weapon... We are going to be here forever!"

Do what you can to bring "Fela!" to your city.

Fela Lives!

...::Shall The "Old South" Rise Again?

Ole Miss seeks to silence 'Rising South' chant

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...It Was In The Eve When It Finally Dawned on Him

We deal with serious issues here at In The Mix, but don't let anyone tell you we don't have a sense of humor... This is related to our work because the product's label is a part of media culture... But put aside the analysis-- this is funny!!

...::Crowns

...::One Hell Of A Shot, Serena

Serena Williams has posed nude on the cover of ESPN, the sports magazine.



Your thoughts?

...::God Says: "Not In My Back Yard"

The USA is getting ready to intentionally bomb the Moon! A satellite crash at 5,600 mph will equal 1.5 tons of explosives, kicking up 772,000 pounds of Moon surface into a dirt cloud. I hope God will get so p!ssed off that God will say "Not In My Back Yard" and stop these people!!

...::From Obama to Beyonce

Times have changed... Dancing Baby video a year ago...



... and a Dancing Baby video today...

...::Wrap It Up, South Africa Style

A great commercial from South Africa about condoms...

...::See Acorns, Ignore Oak Trees

I bet you were really outraged, weren't you, when you learned from the media recently about the group ACORN, which helps poor people find affordable housing, etc. Well, it's not just about media outrage at ACORN, it's also about perspective--


[Thanks to Brenda O'Bryant of Atlanta]

...::Serena Williams, Kanye West, Joe Wilson Kick Off National Outburst Week

What do a tennis star, a music star and a Congress member from South Carolina all have in common? Read here, see videos below

...::Obama's Books At The Beach

What are you taking with you to the beach to read?> Here is President Obama's beach reads.

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...::James Brown Schools 'Em

Quoting writer Ernie Suggs: "When your kids are talking about Usher, Lil Wayne and Justin Timberlake, sit them down, have a long talk with them, and Please, Please, Please, show them this." I hooped and hollered when I saw this after so many years; neighbors think I'm crazy, no doubt--

...::Call For Films: The Black Man And His Art And Style

An annual film festival is seeking films on Black men and their creativity.

The International Black Man Film Festival is in its eighth year. Films will be screened in November 2009, in Atlanta, USA, in 2009, and in Atlanta and Lagos, Nigeria in 2010.

Festival Director Yemi Toure says: "Our theme for 2009 is 'Creative Fire! The Black Man and His Art and Style'. So we are seeking films about Black men as creators, survivors, style setters, poets, visionaries, builders and ground-breakers, as well as graphic artists, painters, dancers or sculptors".

Features, documentaries, student works, short films, older works and works in progress are all welcome.

Because the Festival is international, films about Black men from anywhere in the world are eligible. Women and people of all races are equally welcome to submit works.

Films in any language are welcome. Submit works in DVD format. There is no submission fee.

Send to: Yemi Toure, IBMFF, 2165 Rugby Ave - 613, College Park GA 30337, USA. Two copies of your work must be submitted to that address. Phone 1-404-432-2194.

For 2010 in Nigeria, reach Tenisio Seanima, Festival Assistant Director-Nigeria, at 0703-477-8543. All films from anywhere in the world must be submitted to the USA address.

Deadline for 2009 was Sat.12.Sep.2009, but later submissions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The Festival will be held in Atlanta on Sat.07.Nov.2009. Festival web site is blackmanfilmfest.net.

...::Mr. President, Watch Your Back-- Part 4

A new book says Barack Obama faces 30 death threats a day. For more, click this word: assassination. Meanwhile, scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. is also facing death threats.

...::In Your Face, In Your Facebook

I have long contended that technology, including the Internet, will not bring an end to racism, but can expand and accelerate it. Some very old ideas will get a boost in new technology.

Example: Need to stop spam? There is an email application that will send your unwanted email to a "Black Mail" folder. That same program will send your "safe" email to a "White Mail" folder.

Now comes word of some bad things in Facebook's ad program. If you search for a friend on Facebook and the name you want is close to the word "Race," watch out. Facebook may place an ad on the right side of your search, an ad for "Ni**er Jokes." And I am not joking.

...::Chris Rock Keeps It In Perspective

Chris Rock was kicking back on a couch at the 2009 Sundance film fest in Utah in January when an interviewer asked him how hard he works--

"I work hard, but... it pales in comparison to real work... You do an interview, I do an interview, but somebody's gotta clean up this room tonight. That guy's really working."

[Thanks to Delia Carter]