Articles by Tag

Ms. Dirtay Dog's new album

I always take heat for liking stuff like this, but I’m too damn cool to care what anyone thinks—I love Christina Aguilera’s new album, Back to Basics! There I said it. And I still like Nelly Furtado’s first record to—WHAT?! heh.

Never having listened to Ms. Aguilera’s previous records in their entirety, I can’t really compare one thing to the other. I will say though that the first couple of tracks on this one are just solid as hell. In her class of bubblegum teenage diva wannabees, she’s been the only one who can actually sing. That said, I’m constantly annoyed with all the Whitney Houstonesque, holding a damn note for three minutes kinda crap.

There’s a real old school feel the much of the record, scratchy vinyl textures, familiar beats, funky Motown horn samples, and other little tricks that makes me feel like I’m rediscovering a jam from pops’ LP collection. About half of this 2 disc set is fulll of songs like this. The other half are slow ballads about how she’s constantly losing in love because her sesame seed diet tends to be a turn off for her boyfriends and needless to say I’m not a big fan of this whiny crap.

Lastly, I need to give a shout out to my girl Cristina Black. If it wasn’t for her review of this record as well as our previous conversations about the “the music we’re not supposed to like,” I would have never bought this disc from the record storeillegally downloaded these mp3s.

date Wed, 30 Aug 2006 Bookmark comment Comments
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Pope condems excessive working, takes vacation

Pope Benedict XVI

“…watch out for the dangers of an excessive activity, whatever… the job that you hold, because many jobs often lead to the ‘hardening of the heart’, as well as ‘suffering of the spirit, loss of intelligence’,” Benedict said, quoting St Bernard.

I’ve been preaching this since I got my first summer job as a lifeguard at 15 years old, but finally the Catholic Church’s main man is standing up for the evils of an excessive work life. Full article is here.

date Sun, 27 Aug 2006 Bookmark comment Comments
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Dogs of War — Mr. Rand & Mr. Morris

beemo rand no shoot — art by Brian Morris
Art: Brian Morris

“Don’t shoot!” I cried. “Don’t copy!” exclaimed Mr. Rand. Unfortunately, they kept shooting and copying because evolution is a very slow process—you will most likely never see the benefits of it.

date Sun, 20 Aug 2006 Bookmark comment Comments
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Happy birthday Chaz!

Charles Mingus by Brian Morris

While most people in America “celebrate” Earth Day (think, neo-hippies in city parks, peace symbols, solar panels, and the color green), today I am celebrating the birthday of Charles Mingus. If it wasn’t for artists like him, as far as I’m concerned this planet just isn’t worth saving. I obviously never knew the man himself, but over the years have gotten to know him so to speak through his music and books. He seems to me one of those rare people who trancended his own discipline (a musician, a composer, a bandleader, etc.) and was is first and foremost an artist. Mr. Mingus has without a doubt left an indelible mark on everyone around him as well as many generations too come. He spoke out about the many injustices he faced in his life, stood firm in what he believed, loved more than he hated, and so on—a fantastic inspiration to anyone.

So, best wishes to you Charlie Mingus…happy birthday!

date Sat, 22 Apr 2006 Bookmark comment Comments
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"Girls just wanna…"pay $500 a month

Whoa Nelly! This tried, dyed, and laid to the side blast from the ass past is complaining because she doesn’t want to pay more than $500 a month for her Upper West Side apartment. Jez, talk about a penny-pincher!

(Via Metroblogging)

date Mon, 30 May 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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The Charles Mingus CAT-alog for toilet training your cat

Charles Mingus Cat-alog While I’m still reading Beneath The Underdog, I have to tell you I have Mingus Mingus Mingus on the brain! So, I was searching around and came across a really funny article, written by Mr. Mingus, on how to toilet train your cat. He goes on about how to do it as if he were a cat in his past life or something.

“It took me about three or four weeks to toilet train my cat, Nightlife. Most of the time is spent moving the box very gradually to the bathroom. Do it very slowly and don’t confuse him. And, remember, once the box is on the toilet, leave it a week or even two. The main thing to remember is not to rush or confuse him.”

I really loved this article. It was such an off-the-wall read coming from him. Hope you all enjoy it as well.

Update:
Apparently, CityKitty has a new and improved way to train your cat to crap in the toilet.

date Sun, 22 May 2005 Bookmark comment Comments [2]
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"My boy" Charles Mingus

So, I’ve been reading Beneath The Underdog by Charles Mingus on the train for the last few days. First of all I have to just say that his music stands on its own. I don’t have to know anything about him or whatever happened to him along the way to come to this conclusion. However, we all know that when we love art the stories behind the curtains make everything that much more fascinating.

Realizing how half-assed it is to write something related to a review while I’m only 1/3 through the book, I’m going to continue…

First off, his voice really seems to come through—similarly how Miles Davis’ autobiography (Milescheck out Miles Davis' autobiography at Amazon.com) reads. It’s not polished “academic” english, however, it isn’t gratuitous in the name of entertaining white folks either. I also dig how he spells out selected words so we can hear ‘em (schitt = shit).

Straight from the beginning, we get a taste of his struggles of being a (light-skinned) black man in Watts—neither black nor white, but both. These issues would follow him his entire life (judging from the several articles I’ve read on him in the past). Mingus was beyond these stereotypes, he seemed to see right through people. He talks about his carnal affairs with the lascivious Mexican girl in the neighborhood like Henry Miller talks about his lovers. That is, full of romance and poetry with plenty of four-letter words to back it up.

I think I’m gonna put the brakes on right now. He just got married and had a baby boy—let’s see where we go from here!

For now, feel free to check out the Official Mingus site as well as a site with several album reviews.

date Tue, 17 May 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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Lost Pollock paintings resurface

It appears that 32 previously unrecorded paintings from American painter Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) were discovered in 2002 after the late painter’s friend’s son was cleaning out his father’s storage facility in East Hampton, New York. Pollock Matters 2006 is a site set up concerning this recent discovery. (2006 will be the 50th anniversary of his death).

date Mon, 16 May 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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Henry Miller paintings for auction

Over 200 paintings will be auctioned off on eBay in four days. The paintings are mostly watercolors which were made between 1944-1963. The asking price is 1.5 million USD which breaks down to $7100 per painting.

If that’s too expensive for you, I’ll sell you a print of this one for $50!

date Fri, 13 May 2005 Bookmark comment Comments [1]
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Bone-breaking Segal rips guitar solos and sells bracelets for a living

In the great tradition of movie/film stars we love to hate, yet hate to love behind closed doors, the bone-breaking, locked-jawed, pony-tailed sensé of the silver screen Steven Segal opens his life up to us grasshoppas through his jam-packed site. Highlights include an official mp3 page full of Real Audio files, a webstore containing his “essential” oils, pashminas, bracelets, etc, as well as a slew of other fascinating click-a-ronis. Whoa! Nelly, pop culture weirdness, heeelp!

date Tue, 01 Mar 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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Hunter S. Thompson commits suicide


Art: Brian Morris

I once went to Amsterdam for a two week vacation and ended up staying for three months. One of those days, I bought a copy of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and devoured it (along with my fair share of beer). I couldn’t tell you a damn thing I remember from that book, aside from the fact that I adored it.

David Carr, of the NY Times, writes a nice article on Thompson.

date Tue, 22 Feb 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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Jazz Organist Jimmy Smith passes away at 79

Jimmy Smith was one of my favorite jazz musicians ever. He elevated the Hammond B, but more importantly, he did it with crazy style. You can Google him for all sorts of impressive details on his career. However, listen to me when I tell you he was just a cool cat. – The Incredible Jimmy Smith, The Cat, The Fantastic, and the list of his nicknames goes on and on.

I could kick myself in the ass for not checking him out at the Iridium last month. I really regret never seeing Jimmy play live. However, he left behind a massive legacy of recordings, most with Blue Note records, to keep any jazzophile happy for a long time to come.

One of the simple pleasures I had (have) are his album covers. Especially the Blue Note releases from the 1950s, these photos of Jimmy are just spectacular!

I got turned on to The Incredible Jimmy Smith back in college in 1992 through a roomate of mine whom I used to argue with all the time. About the only thing positive I got out of her was her father’s old jazz records, including Home Cookin’.

This inspired my radio show at the college radio station immensely. After this, I began to dig and dig, later discovering Jimmy McGriff, Kenny Burrell, and many more.

His music, his persona is just cool. R.I.P. Jimmy.

date Fri, 11 Feb 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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2004 New Yorker of the Year: Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis illustration by Brian Morris
Art: Brian Morris

The closing of a finished year and arrival of a new one yields plenty of “Best of” lists – from films, music, people, etc. (The most depressing would have to be Time‘s Person of the year). However, I was really happy to hear on NY1 today that Wynton Marsalis has been awarded the New Yorker of the Year for 2004. Wow, that’s hot! I think Mr. Marsalis is well deserving of this honor. As a true Renaissance man, he’s got his hand in every pot in the kitchen and still manages to cook it all up with raw talent and impeccable style.

He’s won eight Grammy awards for his jazz and classical recordings, he was the first jazz artist ever to receive the Pulitzer Prize for music, and countless other awards and honors from all over the world.

As a composer, performer, teacher, and leader, he’s always managed to display his true love of America’s most endearing form of art – jazz music. You can tell he loves his craft, that he honors all the greats of the past as well as helping to pave a path for young, emerging jazz artists. For his talent and commitment, I have to agree that he makes one hell of a New Yorker of the Year!

date Mon, 03 Jan 2005 Bookmark comment Comment
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Happy Birthday Mr. Miller

Henry Miller Illustration by Brian Morris
Art: Brian Morris

Today is Henry Miller’s birthday, so I thought I would wish him well with a quick illustration. So, from one Capricorn to the other, here’s to the tropics Mr. Miller.

date Sun, 26 Dec 2004 Bookmark comment Comments
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