As Ugandan folk musician Haruna Walusimbi states in the film: “There is this negative thinking about Africa. There is nothing good in Africa. They are beggars, there is HIV/AIDS, they are at war all the time. But that is just a very small bit of what Africa is.” Béla’s trip provides a glimpse into the incredibly rich and diverse musical traditions of Africa.
At first glance, it might seem odd that the banjo is the catalyst for this journey. But in fact, the banjo is originally an African instrument. And Béla Fleck’s passion for the banjo runs deep. In his trailblazing 30-year career, Béla has brought the instrument into jazz, pop, classical, and world music settings, and won eight Grammys along the way (not to mention the 20 nominations, in more distinct categories than anyone else, ever).
1. New Math: Walken’s Poker Face Reading > Kid Cudi & Kanye West & Common Make Her Say (I Poker Face)
2. Halloween brought too many women dressed as Lady GaGa this year. And I mean they were dressed as the regular Lady Gaga and not the one covered in blood.
Oh yeah! It was when Oprah told the world what The Secret was all about! Thanks for letting us in on it Oprah! Master people cooker James Arthur Ray knows how you can be a smashing success!
Oprah Supports cooking people. (Shh. It's the Secret)
“They couldn’t come back into their bodies because their bodies weren’t alive” -Beverly Bunn, Sweat Lodge Survivor. Yes she said that. She really said that. Want to know how gung ho James Arthur Ray was about “self help”:
“I can’t get her to move. I can’t get her to wake up,” Bunn recalled hearing from two sides of the 415-square-foot sweat lodge. Ray’s response: “Leave her alone, she’ll be dealt with in the next round.”
Loose lips sink ships. Keep that secret to yourselves. I hope they can charge and convict this quack and get these people some real help. One can hope can’t he?
Or their fantasy football lineup. Or the back of their eyelids. All this while I have to turn my laptop WiFi and mobile phone off? Damn that. Passengers revolt: hell no, my cell won’t go!.
The airline is happy to let their pilots slide with a suspension and/or license revocation for being negligent while trying to avoid further public relations nightmare that would be associated with pilots being too tired, hungover and/or drunk to stay awake while flying a plane full of people.
the crew could be pretty bad pilots, got lost and tried to regain their bearings without contacting the control tower and admitting they screwed up?
or airline work schedules are so damn complicated they take two pilots and an hour and a half to review
Either way, these seem like two dunces. I am sure the flight recorder, debit card receipts and their mobile phone records will be reviewed to see what these two stooges actually did before they screwed up at 30,000 feet.
To me, the two kinds of sports commercials that work best either highlight the art of the near impossible in athleticism so its damn near mythical or let the athletes make fun of themselves. The Adidas 2009 ad campaign showcases its stable of spokesmen demonstrating every move under the sun. Real sharp. (h/t RxFresh). Continue reading
The pageant has been declining in popularity for years and is seeking to cater to a limited but dedicated audience. The move from network TV, a telecast with less star power, and the inclusion of a reality component all speak to a changing media product. Limbaugh has that. I hope this willingness to pigeonhole their appeal for Limbaugh’s fans shows how relevant pageant’s are to most American’s today.
The Miss America Organization says Rush Limbaugh will be a judge for the 2010 pageant in Las Vegas.
No need for confusion or outrage: a pageant is the perfect place for an unabashed sexist’s judgement. Now if this was a science fair Limbaugh was being asked to judge, I would freak out. In addition there may be a GOP VP nominee in here somewhere.
Letterman, like any late night talk show host, had some zingers for Clinton:
“Well, President Clinton has gotten himself a new dog. You know, I think it’s changing his life, kind of brightening him up. He’s teaching the dog to sit up, to beg, to roll-over, you know, just like he did with the interns.”
Now that Letterman has his confessed his own intern f*cking issues to stem any speculation due to his grand jury testimony against and the successful apprehension of his would be extortionist, the decade plus of Clinton/Lewinsky jokes like the ones chronicled by Gawker are laughably hypocritical.
Thankfully Letterman took 10 minutes to lay it all out there, and his trysts should be fair game for other comedians, but outside of Bill Maher, Chelsea Handler or Jimmy Kimmel, I doubt any of the other late night hosts would take it there. He also gets somewhat of a pass from many folks because all this came out in the context of Letterman being victimized. The bigger worry for Letterman, now that his extortionist has been caught, is probably concerning sexual harassment claims that may be filed as a result of his behavior with these woman during, before and after his affairs with them.
Also, Letterman’s current employees were not aware he was going to confess to TV land.
“Only the show’s producers knew what was about to go down,” adding that many “Late Show” staffers learned of the situation watching off-stage monitors in real time as Letterman weaved his tale. So the routine in which the audience was prepped, which usually involves a heavy emphasis on laughing and applauding often and loudly, was not altered in any way.
No one my age, who listened to hip-hop, could forget that line from Biggie Smalls single “Juicy”. He was paying homage to a legend who has passed away Friday, Oct 2nd.
DJ Mr. Magic, one of hip hop’s conduits to radio, died Friday of a heart attack.
Before Torrents, MP3’s and iTunes, these mix tape shows were the source of new music. Growing up in Harrisburg, we had no hip-hop radio stations and I didn’t have BET until late junior high school. My only recourse was to take blank cassette tapes whenever we visited anyone in Philadelphia, New York or New Jersey and record a hip-hop mix-tape show so I could take it home and learn all the latest. Mr. Magic pioneered this format of Radio show and the “mix-tape” hip-hop tradition.
Conan O’Brien makes a joke about Newark. Newark Mayor Corey Booker, who shines in the excellent Sundance Channel documentary Brick City, bans Conan from the Newark airport. Conan says…whatever…see me in Burbank!
It ain’t over. Booker makes it clear: Ain’t just the Bricks, but the New Jeruz rolls deep, son! Uptown Anthem, Brick City Stand UP!
DJ AM, Adam Goldstein, was a DJ of high esteem in the DJ/hip-hop/club communities. DJ AM was a Philadelphia native who had opened a successful club in Atlantic City so his impact is doubly felt by those who promote, attend parties or listened to his custom mixes. Dr. Drew Pinsky hosted DJ AM on his radio show Loveline and asked him to walk the audience through a crack binge to typify drug addiction.
And here is a video, courtesy of TMZ.com, of his last gig in Atlantic city before his subsequent drug overdose and death hours later.
SS United States docked on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, Pa
Every Philadelphian has seen this ship hundreds of times. We may see it for the last time soon.
That would be the SS United States — the fastest ocean liner in the world. Bigger than the Titanic and fast enough to water-ski behind, she’s a steamship so sophisticated, her capabilities remained a Cold War secret for decades.
She transported royalty and starlets. Her crew served frog legs in first class. Before the dawn of the jet age, the SS United States was the Concorde of her era.
TIME magazine posts tennis tips from Novak Djokovic. John McEnroe impression is a bonus.
Djokovic stresses the importance of footwork in the lesson above. A few weeks ago, The New York Times had a great interactive feature breaking down Federer’s footwork.
Herbert was born June 10, 1905. His hearing is going but his mind is sharp. Zelmyra was born Dec. 10, 1907. She uses a walker to get around the house and yard. The two of them can still give their reasons for marrying on May 13, 1924.
“He was not mean; he was not a fighter,” Zelmrya said. “He was quiet and kind. He was not much to look at but he was sweet.”
It matters. You may want to tighten up your privacy settings:
Facebook was the most popular site for researching job candidates this year—no surprise there, since Facebook has exploded in popularity as of late. “Professional” networking site LinkedIn came in second at 26 percent, MySpace came in third at 21 percent, 11 percent read blogs, and seven percent followed candidates’ updates on Twitter. Paranoid yet about any of your recent tweets?
Update: Roxanne Shante is apparently lying about everything and the Daily News didn’t check their sources. So f*ck this story! Thanks for the follow up Slate.com.
Shanté’s claim to be a “doctor” also fails to check out. She’s not a medical doctor, and she admits (and Cornell confirms) that she lacks a Ph.D. And a search of the New York Office of the Professions licensing database fails to reveal licenses to practice psychology or in any related field for either “Lolita Gooden” or “Roxanne Shanté.”
More rookie athletes should try and work in contract clauses like Roxanne Shante’s Rap as student aid:
After two albums, Shante said, she was disillusioned by the sleazy music industry and swindled by her record company. The teen mother, living in the Queensbridge Houses, recalled how her life was shattered. “Everybody was cheating with the contracts, stealing and telling lies,” she said. “And to find out that I was just a commodity was heartbreaking.” But Shante, then 19, remembered a clause in her Warner Music recording contract: The company would fund her education for life. She eventually cashed in, earning a Ph.D. in psychology from Cornell to the tune of $217,000 – all covered by the label. But getting Warner Music to cough up the dough was a battle. via Rapper behind ‘Roxanne’s Revenge’ gets Warner Music to pay for Ph.D.
“We came here tonight to get started, To cold act ill or get retarded…”
– Roxanne Shante & Biz Markie – “The Def Fresh Crew”
