Writing is Fighting

EMP Conference in NYC

 I just got back from NYC to speak at the Experience Music Project / IASPM conference (EMP) which was awesome I presented Saturday afternoon, we got a decent turnout and it went well. Did it, at times, resemble a comedy act? Yes.........

As my fellow panelists were working on our presentation until the last minute, I didn't have the chance to see some of the panels I wanted to, but there has been a plethora of 'stars' at the NYU Kimmel centre.  Here were some of the people there:

• Chuck D
• Spike Lee
• ?uestlove
• Jay Smooth (Cute! and nice dude)
• Esperanza Spalding (meh)
• Santigold (interesting)
• Heen (from Das Racist)
• Angélique Kidjo (very interesting woman)
• Lots of 'rock star' journalists, authors and academics - Eric Lott, Robert Christigau, Jeremy Wallach, Greil Marcus, Scott Steward, Ned Ragget, Phil Freeman, Daphne Brooks, Devon Powers, and of course, Ann Powers and Eric Weisbard, etc.

And....I'm Back!

Sorry for the delay in posting. Life has been hectic and this winter weather has not compelled me to do much outside of some book administrative stuff........

Actually I shouldn't complain. Thanks to global warming, winter in Canada ( or at least in Toronto) has been awesome this year. Little snow, the temperature has been bearable, so I really can't bitch. Sure, Earth might implode soon, but at least I don't have to wear my bulky winter coat! 

Anyhoo, Happy New Year....so far it's been interesting. So many news stories that make my blood boil, but let's stick to music ( and self-promotion), shall we?

Random Thoughts and Musings Pt. 28: YOB, Revocation and Yes, Varg Again

Reviews and Interviews

Hey Y'all! 

First, I have a couple of new things up at Exclaim! this week: First, the new album by Revocation, which I enjoyed. It's good to work out to, as I reviewed it at the gym ( yes, I multi-task). I saw these guys play almost two years ago in Toronto and was impressed by their live show. The album though, really shows how talented they are. 

In July / early August I wrote a concert review, an album review and interviewed Mike from YOB - all three are now up. It's funny because I only really got into the band in 2009 and met him in person last March, and never thought I would have the opportunity  to have a chat with him. I didn't tell him I'd previously talked to him in person during our phoner, as I'm personally tired of the "omigodiloveyourbandyou'resocool" sthick and just wanted to get the piece done, as I had a deadline. But again, cool dude - he knew how to be evasive in answering his questions - but I still got a lot and it went a bit better than the In Flames interview I did a month ago.

I'm feeling really rusty, as I've been interviewing people for the book for the past year, and doing less pieces with bands who have albums coming out. Hopefully that will change a bit. 

Summers Eve's Douche-y Ads about my "Wunder Down Under"

This week, the third of a set of commercials for Summer's Eve Cleansing Wash (douche) were publicized via YouTube and other places. As with all three (which target women from various entho-cultural / social groups) this last one, which targeted African-American women, was what I like to call a 'race-fail.' See the video above for all three and commentary.

Random Thoughts and Musings - "Hit and Run" post, Pt. 2

Are you going to be in NYC this Thursday, April 28th?

If you are, come see me speak! I'll be at HousingWorks Cafe  (119 Chambers Street in Chelsea) with Daphne Carr, who is on a book tour for her awesome new book on Nine Inch Nails , Maura Johnson, who is the music editor at the Village Voice, and Raquel Cepeda at 7:00pm. There will be some readings and a discussion on music fandom. I think I'm going to read an early draft of a chapter from my book (without the parts that could get me sued, that is). But it should be cool. I'm really honoured to be included in this panel, and be with such talented people. I'm excited, but nervous as hell, as I tend to swear alot when I get nervous..........

Odd Future - Should We Be Scared?

(UPDATE: Sorry y'all, I realized this morning that the video is no longer available via YouTube so instead of starting at a black screen, I pulled it.)

When I was at SXSW I was talking to someone who had recently seen Odd Future's showcase. "It was crazy, a mixture of Hip-Hop, but the crowd was nuts," he said. "People were stage diving, moshing...there were people puking, blood....it was one of the craziest things I've ever seen."

I was intrigued. I had heard of the LA -based Hip-Hop group by reading an article in Spin a couple of months before, and even though I don't listen to much ( well, any) Hip-Hop these days, I thought that they might be a cool group. I liked the fact that they were young, and had this crazy attitude, even thought I wasn't a fan of their music. Too Eminem-ish, which I don't like (or get) at all. I was interested in their live performance, which to me seemed pretty righteous - a mix between the Hip-Hop scene and a real punk / hardcore aesthetic - Perhaps two cultures mixing together? Cool. 

After all, these are young Black kids who were  influenced by a myriad of music and culture, I hoped, so perhaps their crazy live show was a symptom of that. Who knows? If so, kudos to them, because I really promote the idea that just because you are Black, doesn't mean that you have to ascribe to a specific culture and / or musical preference. A sign of their generation / times? I hoped so.

Stay classy, Texas....well a few of y'all, anyway........*

So I finally decided to write about an incident that happened when I was at SXSW. At first, I really wanted to but then decided that I wasn't sure,  because there has been a bit more traffic here since the Festival that I didn't want new visitors to think that I was a nutjob...or a, ahem, "Victim" but in the past few days I've read a few awesome posts that made me change my mind. 

Here is one from one of my favourite bloggers, Womanist Musings.

And here is one from Depraved Mindset.

This is the one that really compelled me to write: This is Hysterical.

I've previously written about being a POC in the metal scene, not only here, (btw, that relationship is officially dead) but a few times over the years, and while thing haven't been so bad that I've packed up my leather and chains and decided to write about another genre of music, there have been times when I have simply felt so tired of dealing with bullshit, that I seriously contemplated my future. This particular experience isn't really one of them, but it has stuck with me since it happened, and I simply couldn't figure out whether to write about it or not:

Sharing Too Much Information on the 'Net

This was an interesting week. For a hot second, I almost shut down my blog......and then I thought about it, and said, "nah."

My blog has caused me some problems, recently. Here was the first problem:

1. People who can't mind their fuckin' business:  To make a long story short, someone with an axe to grind read something in an earlier post that I wrote and told a mutual acquaintance that it was about them.

It was not.

"Happy Black History Month, Motherfuckers"

Remember how in my last post I mentioned that someone copied by bank card and took out money? Well, the saga continued for almost two weeks and was rectified this morning when the money was returned to my account (and yes, this has to do with the title). 

I'll back up a bit: A couple of weeks ago, I went to a store in a crappy neighbourhood to buy some hair (or as I call it, hurr). Because the last batch I bought was what I thought pretty unmanageable, I let myself get talked into buying a pack of hair that was about three times' more expensive that the previous stuff. The salesperson, a bored Black teenager working in a all-black hair supply store that was run by non-Blacks, people who stood, arms folded,  glaring at the crowds of Black women customers whose hair was in various stages of disarray. They were lined up behind the cash registers that were positioned one level above the sales floor, presumably so they could get a better vantage point to target shoplifters - hence the massive security monitors at the entrance.  

Being a POC in the Metal Scene

Did I wish you a Happy New Year yet?

If not, I hope you are having a good one. I'm not. And I'm pissed.

Between work woes, someone copying my bank card and cleaning me out and then the bank accusing me of lying ( and then criticizing my finances, to boot) and then the following story, this month has truly sucked. Did I tell you that I have to have surgery in a few weeks and just went through a major cancer scare in which I had to have TWO biopsies? 

It's been great, I tell ya.