I'm in the process of prepping for my SXSW interview with Death on March 20.  I'm doing background research as well as pre-interviews with the band, Bobby Jr. (Rough Francis) and some folks from the label.

But, I then thought it'd be cool to incorporate some of your questions into the discussion.  You can ask anonymously, but do include your email address in case I need clarification on something.

Thanks!

Thanks to Dburt over at Afronerd for reaching out and inviting me to join him on Sunday for a discussion about the state of black rock.  From the looks of his write-up, I guess I'll have a chance to expand on my comments on The BlakRoc Project.

So, the show will be airing live this Sunday, November 1 at 7pm EST.  You can listen by clicking here.

Additional link:

• Afronerd

The other event I'll be speaking at within the next few weeks takes place at Indiana University, home of the Archives of African American Music & Culture (AAAMC).  Not familiar with the AAAMC?  It houses one of the significant collections of African American musical idioms starting with the Post World War II era.

Last year the Archives presented a traveling exhibit called Rock, Rhythm & Soul: The Black Roots of Popular Music. In 2006 it produced a one-day event that focused on techno music.

This year, the focus is on black rock.  And while I'm excited to be part of this, I have to admit I'm a little nervous, too, what with all these great people with Ph.D's behind their names and other serious credentials.  I really have to thank the Archives' director, Dr. Portia Maultsby and its project manager Ronda Sewald for bringing me onboard.

It'll be great to see some longtime friends, folks like Stew, Greg Tate, Kandia Crazy Horse, Maureen Mahon, Tamar-kali, Netic, James Spooner and Kamara Thomas.  And I'm definitely looking forward to finally meeting Moe Mitchell, Ike Willis, Suzanne Thomas, Linda Tillery, Reebee Garofalo and Andrew Hollinden.

The panel I'm on is:

“The Face of Rock in the 21st Century” will explore
the status of rock in the 21st century—how rock is
conceptualized/defined and how has it been transformed and
reinterpreted; the role of African American musicians in this process;
current trends in rock; the use of technology for creative, marketing
and distribution approaches; the reception of Black rockers by the
music industry, mainstream, underground, and international audiences;
and African American communities, etc.

Other panelists are Kamara, Netic, Suzanne and Maureen (the moderator).

For those in the area (or making the trip in), info on the program, travel, lodging and registration (very reasonable rates!) is available here.

Additional link:

• Website for "Reclaiming The Right To Rock: Black Experiences in Rock Music"

The panel I'm on is:

Journalism As A&R
Friday, October 23 from 3:30–4:45 / NYU Kimmel Center, 8th Floor, Shorin, Room 802 or 905 (check when you get there)

60 Washington Square South, NY, NY 10012

What exactly is A&R these days and who are the real people
discovering new artists? This panel will branch outside the labels to
discover the discoverers, and will dissect digital credibility through
blogs and online (so called) critics.

I'll be joined on this panel by:

• Rev. Moose, Editor-in-Chief, CMJ New Music Report (moderator)
  
• Jeff Levin, A&R, Atlantic Records
• Tom Moon, Journalist
• Erica Ramon, Marketing/Artist Relations, Hits Magazine/The MGMT Company

Looking forward to putting faces to names I've seen around.

Today, folks from all over the country are converging on Atlanta to kick off the National Black Arts Festival, a celebration of the culture of the African Diaspora, which has been in effect since 1988.

There’s lots to see and do: Music, theater, literary events, film, dance, the visual arts and much more, including a keynote by motivational speaker Les Brown, a Robert Townsend retrospective and a tribute to the great Nina Simone featuring artists such as Dianne Reeves, Joi, Lizz Wright and Nina’s daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly.  And there's much, much more.

What’s even better (I’m biased) is that the festival programmers carved out an hour to have a discussion about Black rock.  I’ll be leading the discussion along with Farai Chideya, URB Alt’s Boston Fielder, and "Medicine For Melancholy" director, Barry Jenkins.

Here’s the description of the session, which will follow immediately after a screening of Barry’s film:

Some questions I’m throwing out to the panel:

• Alternative.  Indie.  Progressive.  What do any of these terms mean to you?
• What were the “indie” issues each of you are trying to explore and why?
• One of the big ideas presented in the film is this idea of the frontier.  What was it like for each of you to step out onto that frontier?  More importantly, how have you gotten others to follow?
• What’s the responsibility of artists/creators to ensure all of this matters in the marketplace?
• What’s the responsibility of audiences?

I’m sure I’ll come up with some more questions between now and Saturday.  But, what else do you think we should discuss?  All suggestions welcome.

In the meantime, sincere thanks to program director Leatrice Ellzy for believing in this topic and including it in the Festival's agenda.

Additional link:

• “Medicine for Melancholy” screening and Black rock panel info @ NBAF

Maya Azucena is a woman of many talents: Singer, songwriter, producer, and now video host! You may recall from an earlier interview I did with her that she is fiercely committed to the creativity on her own terms.  And she's been successful at it.  So, it's no surprise that she teamed with ThisIsRealMusic.com to produce the series, Conversations with Indie, where she sits down with people to talk about various aspects of the life as an independent artist.

We sat down recently to talk about branding, the pros and cons of being "alternative" and why there's a need to for a "black rock evangelist."

Thanks to Maya and to Terrance Wilmore for including me.

Additional links:

• More Conversations With Indie
• Maya Azucena official site
• ThisIsRealMusic.com

The panel takes place on Thursday, March 19 at 11AM CST in room 17AB of the Austin Convention Center.  I'm looking forward to meeting my fellow panelists.  In addition to Kandia, other scheduled panelists are:

• Daphne Brooks – Princeton University
• Wendy Fonarow – Anthropology
• Duane Harriott – Audio Archeology/OtherMusic

So, my big question is this: What do y'all think about the description?  Is this a realistic assessment?  Is it pessimistic?

I'm going to hold my comments for now.  Let's hear from the community.  I'll share my thoughts before I leave for Austin.

Anyway, have at it in the comments section.  I'll appreciate your feedback.

Last week, I got my official invitation to be on a panel at this year's South by Southwest Music conference.  I'm excited because this will be my first time at the festival.  The panel is being organized by my friend and music journalist par excellence Kandia Crazy Horse.  Originally, it was supposed to take place on Saturday, March 21, but now it's been moved to Thursday, March 19.

The working title of the session? White Music for Black People.  Nice nod to Apollo Heights, if you ask me.

More details to come, but if you're going to be down there, let's hook up!

Part of the kick off, in addition to a lot of notes and organizing stuff I’ve already done, is the development of a survey that I’d like to share with you all in the very near future.  What I’m going to try to capture is who you are and how you see Black rock today.

I strongly believe that community feedback of this kind will only make the project better.  I mean, I could ramble on for pages and pages, but I really think that to advance Black rock, a project like this has to be grounded in feedback from a lot of people.

So, thanks for your patience and ongoing interest and support.  Stay tuned.

So, I finally make a tentative step back to blogging.  As I wrote to some friends a few days ago, I’m just now feeling like I’m getting some equilibrium back in my life.  Yeah, life happens and even when you make preparations, sometimes you’re still not ready for the way change sweeps through and disrupts a basically orderly existence.  But, no, let me allay any fears you might be having at this point: This story doesn’t involve any sickness, divorce, abrupt layoff or anything with such thudding finality.  No this is a happy disruption.

The short version is that my wife and I recently adopted a little girl from Ethiopia.  It’s something that’s been in the works for the past year, but was only finalized at the end of March.  So we spent the last two weeks of that month preparing for my daughter’s arrival, and spent about nine days in Ethiopia, where we had to go to get her and bring her back.

And what a trip: Amazing, joyous, eye-opening, and deeply moving are some of the words that come to mind to describe it.  But after all of that dust settled and we returned, we found we had to task of integrating this new person into our family.  Three had become four.  Somewhat more challenging is the fact that she basically spoke no English and we had about 20 words in Amharic that we mispronounced much of the time.  And let’s not talk about how she won’t go to bed until her big brother, my 8-year-old son, does.  That certainly throws a wrench into any blogging plans you have!

But the great thing is my daughter, all three years of her, is fiercely intelligent, so she’s quickly making her wishes and her presence known.  Good news is that we’re all adapting.  That’s what you do, right?  So, yeah, the equilibrium’s finally starting to come back.  Some perspective: This Saturday will make three weeks that been here in the States.

Anyway, the picture above was a shot I took as we were leaving the village where my daughter was born.  Our presence, along with some of the other adopting families, was a big deal and the kids from the village crowded around us as we were on our way out.

It was a great trip and I’m actually looking forward to returning to see more of Ethiopia.  However, on  a lot of levels, I’m glad to be back.

Thanks for being patient.