“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”
— Jimi Hendrix, singer/songwriter, guitar legend and Rock And Roll Hall of Fame Inductee
Posts published in “Music”
Gregory Issacs
The concept of the compilation Out of Many: 50 Years of Reggae Music is simple. 50 years ago, Jamaica won independence from the British-ruled West Indies Federation. Around that same time, popular music in Jamaica began solidifying into some of the many sounds we now think of as reggae. Out of Many tells those two stories in parallel, with one song selected to represent the sound of each year from 1962 to 2012.
Gregory Issacs
The concept of the compilation Out of Many: 50 Years of Reggae Music is simple. 50 years ago, Jamaica won independence from the British-ruled West Indies Federation. Around that same time, popular music in Jamaica began solidifying into some of the many sounds we now think of as reggae. Out of Many tells those two stories in parallel, with one song selected to represent the sound of each year from 1962 to 2012.
Nearly six months after Whitney Houston’s untimely death, fans will have the opportunity to view the legendary singer’s vast collection of memorabilia at a special exhibit at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit dubbed “Whitney! Celebrating the Musical Legacy of Whitney Houston,” will display items such as Houston’s bible, photographs and her famous white gown worn during the 1994 Grammy Awards will be among the many things.
Nearly six months after Whitney Houston’s untimely death, fans will have the opportunity to view the legendary singer’s vast collection of memorabilia at a special exhibit at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit dubbed “Whitney! Celebrating the Musical Legacy of Whitney Houston,” will display items such as Houston’s bible, photographs and her famous white gown worn during the 1994 Grammy Awards will be among the many things.
Doug E. Fresh and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer during the 2011 Soul Train Awards at The Fox Theatre on November 17, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images)
When hip-hop icon Doug E Fresh first graced the mic, he simply wanted to entertain the masses by doing what he loved. After building his career and subsequent fame, he decided that it was best to use his success to educate and empower others. As a father of five, and vegetarian for nearly 25 years, the 45-year-old believes that good health is essential for a fulfilling life.
“Health has always been an important thing to me. I exercise and try to take care of myself, and drink a lot of water! And I push that to my kids so that they can carry on that same energy,” said Doug E.
So when he partnered with Dr. Olajide Williams, a neurologist from New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, to join in the fight against childhood obesity, he merged two very important components of his life: hip-hop and health. The partnership produced Hip Hop Public Health, a program that uses hip hop as a way to educate African-American and Latino children about obesity and the resulting chronic and acute diseases. HHPH engages and informs students through music, videos, comic books and live shows that tour schools. As the program’s Vice President of Entertainment, Doug E. stated that he “felt like it was necessary to take what people love, which is hip-hop, and use it as tool to get kids motivated.”
Read the rest of this story on Ebony.com.
via Doug E. Fresh uses hip-hop to teach healthy habits to black and Latino youth with Hip Hop Public Health | theGrio.
In 1964, John Coltrane moved from Queens, N.Y., to a brick ranch house on a 31/2 acre wooded lot in the quiet suburb of Dix Hills. This bucolic setting — 40 miles east of the city — is perhaps the last place you’d expect to find a musician creating the virtuosic jazz that Coltrane is famous for. “I believe the solitude and the beauty of Long Island gave him something he had not had or experienced before,” he says. “Clearly it affected the way he conceived.”
But Ravi Coltrane, the son of John and Alice Coltrane, who was herself a noted jazz pianist and harpist, says the woods were part of his father’s creative process.
Ravi Coltrane was born in 1965 and lived in the Dix Hills house until he was six.
“This is my sister’s room over here. Michelle — this is her bedroom,” he says. “This was the boys’ room back here; this is the room I shared with my two brothers, John Jr. and Oran.”‘
But, Ravi Coltrane says, not all is as it was: The Coltrane Home in Dix Hills has fallen into disrepair in the 45 years after his father’s death.
Preserving The Property
Many, including Ravi Coltrane, are trying to preserve the historic property. The driving force behind the effort is Steve Fulgoni, a music store owner, amateur saxophonist and a huge Coltrane fan. He first visited the house in 2004.
“I was looking around, and I looked in the corner, which I think was in this room, and all there was was one newspaper,” Fulgoni says. “I picked up the newspaper, and I looked at the date, and the date of the newspaper was July 17, which was the anniversary of his death. And I said to myself, ‘I need to do something.'”
That same year, he founded The Friends of the Coltrane Home. Fulgoni petitioned the town of Huntington, N.Y., to declare the site a historic landmark, and two years later, to purchase the property and designate it a public park.
To read the rest of this article or listen to the story, click here: Making A Home For John Coltrane’s Legacy : NPR.
In 1964, John Coltrane moved from Queens, N.Y., to a brick ranch house on a 31/2 acre wooded lot in the quiet suburb of Dix Hills. This bucolic setting — 40 miles east of the city — is perhaps the last place you’d expect to find a musician creating the virtuosic jazz that Coltrane is famous for. “I believe the solitude and the beauty of Long Island gave him something he had not had or experienced before,” he says. “Clearly it affected the way he conceived.”
But Ravi Coltrane, the son of John and Alice Coltrane, who was herself a noted jazz pianist and harpist, says the woods were part of his father’s creative process.
Ravi Coltrane was born in 1965 and lived in the Dix Hills house until he was six.
“This is my sister’s room over here. Michelle — this is her bedroom,” he says. “This was the boys’ room back here; this is the room I shared with my two brothers, John Jr. and Oran.”‘
But, Ravi Coltrane says, not all is as it was: The Coltrane Home in Dix Hills has fallen into disrepair in the 45 years after his father’s death.
Preserving The Property
Many, including Ravi Coltrane, are trying to preserve the historic property. The driving force behind the effort is Steve Fulgoni, a music store owner, amateur saxophonist and a huge Coltrane fan. He first visited the house in 2004.
“I was looking around, and I looked in the corner, which I think was in this room, and all there was was one newspaper,” Fulgoni says. “I picked up the newspaper, and I looked at the date, and the date of the newspaper was July 17, which was the anniversary of his death. And I said to myself, ‘I need to do something.'”
That same year, he founded The Friends of the Coltrane Home. Fulgoni petitioned the town of Huntington, N.Y., to declare the site a historic landmark, and two years later, to purchase the property and designate it a public park.
To read the rest of this article or listen to the story, click here: Making A Home For John Coltrane’s Legacy : NPR.
Ms. Melodie, ex-wife of KRS-ONE and a prominent member of the Boogie Down Productions crew, passed away today according to numerous news sources. Ms. Melodie, born Ramona Parker, was a member of the influential Boogie Down Productions crew and released her first album, Diva, in 1989 on Jive Records. She is best known for her hit video, “Live On Stage” and her hit single “Hype According to Ms. Melodie.” Her most memorable performance was on the 1989 single “Self Destruction” and she also has a cameo in Queen Latifah’s video “Ladies First.”
Ms. Melodie was a native of Brooklyn, NY and is survived by two sons. At this time, her cause of death is unknown.
via Ms. Melodie, Ramona Parker, Of Boogie Down Productions Is Dead (DETAILS) | Global Grind.
Noah Stewart (pictured) grew up in Harlem dreaming of the day he would take center stage at Carnegie Hall in his hometown of New York and The Royal Opera House in London.
And while most of his musically-inclined childhood friends emulated Beyonce and D’Angelo, Stewart looked up to the legendary Black-American soprano Leontyne Price. If you have not heard of her, you are not alone. Blacks are not mainstay in the classical music world. But that fact never deterred Steward from pursuing his dream of being a world-famous opera singer. While studying at LaGuardia High School, the Harlemite honed his opera skills and worked side gigs singing backup to Mariah Carey and Hootie and the Blowfish. Though those fancy job assignments did not earn the respect of his peers because his penchant for opera made him something of anomaly.
“My friends at LaGuardia made fun of me,” says Stewart. “They used to call me ‘opera boy,’ because I was obsessed with opera. Everyone around me wanted to become a pop singer.”
With the help of a mentor, Steward attended The Julliard School in New York after graduating from LaGuardia. While there, he busted tables, worked retail and served as a receptionist at Carnegie Hall. Somehow, he thought working at that famed musical powerhouse would position him to be “discovered.”
It didn’t quite work out that way.
“That was the lowest point for me, because it felt like I was so close to music, but so far away,” he says. “I was learning a Russian piece and I was humming the melody, and my supervisor said, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Stewart? What is that noise? Were you just humming?’ I said yeah, and she said, ‘You can’t do that here. It’s very distracting. We can hear you all the way downstairs.’ And I just remember feeling like, ‘Wow. You can’t hum at the biggest musical institution in the world.’ “
His fortunes eventually turned for the better after attending a workshop for young artists at the San Francisco Opera three years ago. Stewart’s participation at the workshop lead to a steady stream of jobs that took him around the world, and eventually led to a contract withDecca Records. His album titled, “Noah,” topped the UK classical charts, the first for an Black artist!
via NewsOne.com