protools and mud

so, this past june was black music month.
this weekend happens to be the 40th anniversary of woodstock. so with those things mentioned, i would like to talk a bit about music...all while my itunes library is on shuffle.

woodstock helped launch the counterculture movement. if anything, it solidified the fact that throughout all of the tragedies, all of the assassinations, "the man" was not going to reign supreme. there will always be some type of competition/rebellion against whoever this "man" is.

i totally missed out on black music month. the month of june was pretty much a big blur for me. but black music month was initiated by jimmy carter in 1979. to some degree, i don't understand the necessity of it now, but i do understand the importance of remembering the past.

music today is definitely not what it used to be. today we have the popularization of auto-tune, protools, and other computer/electronic programs. our society feels more free to voice their opinion so we can say just about anything we please on a record, with exception of antavio johnson.

that is a whole different matter in itself.

anyway, with black music month (can we find something else to call this, something not so long?) we were supposed to pay homage to the greats from previous generations, particularly duke ellington, miles davis, ella fitzgerald, etc (these cats could really perform). do/did we really do that? not so much on black entertainment television, but when michael jackson died, the network felt compelled to change their june awards show practically overnight as a memorial/dedication.

granted mj was pretty much the biggest star in the world. but the question starts to sneak up on you. how is a network supposed to pay tribute to four plus generations of music, without playing 30 second biographies during commercial breaks?

in many ways you can't. and the one way you actually can is almost impossible because people (young musicians today) don't really know their history. some do, but a lot don't really know anything older than 1974. there was a lot going on before 1974. black entertainment television should really try to educate some of these performers on things earlier than mj and have them put on a show inspired in that vain. not to duplicate it, but inspired.

stuff like this has been done, but it's been with artists who are in the "twilight" of their career, simply because music nowadays is a "young person's game".

personally, i think that black people need to have our own woodstock in different regions (one in ny, chicago, detroit, los angeles, atlanta, new orleans...just to throw some cities out there) because we need no beef (whether's it's for record sales or not) in music festivals. and the proceeds should go to a charity of some sort, new orleans still needs helps after all this time for example.

since i mentioned woodstock...i'll only go a little bit into it and then tie everything together, hopefully. the summer of peace and love. there's been an attempt to duplicate it back in 99 i think, but corporate america and spoiled artists have a way of ruining things like that. one of the first things i think of when i think of woodstock is jimi hendrix. it's odd that black people in general don't necessarily listen to hendrix. but if it wasn't for artists like hendrix, santana, joplin, sly and the family stone and others, the fabric of music wouldn't be as diverse as it is today. racially speaking music is diverse. not all black people rap or sing r&b and not all white people play guitars and sing folk. musically speaking we may not have had the acid trip that was/is parliament/funkadelic for example.

bottom line, woodstock helped broaden the spectrum of music.

black music month and woodstock are two things that we shouldn't neglect the importance of because music will last forever. if we still refer to classic novels as having a certain relevance, then music from our past should still be remembered and celebrated because...

a)it's good music

and because of that

b)good music is eventually sampled

fyi: my shuffle list in reverse order
blackalicious, snoop dogg, j.cole, marvin gaye, sergio mendes, the roots, jadakiss, killer mike, willie nelson, oh no, mariah carey, young jeezy, ben harper, a tribe called quest, common, j dilla, jean grae