Sunday, July 27, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Day 60
When I was in first grade there were two African-American girls in my class. One was named Joakima and the other was named Michelle. One day, being a first grader who did not know any better, I made the casual comment that Michelle and Joakima were both black, but Joakima was blacker than Michelle. To my utter astonishment, Joakima broke into tears and ran to tell the teacher, who gave me a very thorough scolding on the matter. I was surprised and embarrassed and I still had no idea what I had done wrong.
This incident was probably my first conscious experience with race relations. I lived in middle-class Frederick, Maryland at the time. I knew black people, but not very many. I really did not think of them any differently; some people were black, some people were white, some people were short, some people were tall, and we all had different hair and eye colors. This didn’t seem like that big of a deal. (In fact, now that I am thinking about this incident, it occurs to me that I may have received similar flack one time for pointing out another seemingly mundane detail about the world: there are more white people than black people, but there are a lot of black people in Washington, D.C.) I knew about slavery and the Civil war; living on the Eastern Seaboard I had been to several battlefields. I had probably heard of Martin Luther King and had a vague knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement. But it had never crossed my mind that racism (or whatever my six-year-old mind would have called the concept of racism) still existed. And it certainly had never crossed my mind that Joakima, a fairly friendly acquaintance of mine, would get so bent out of shape because I simply pointed out the shade of her skin.
Of course, today I can see why Joakima reacted the way she did. I attended a discussion last year on racism in the public school system and Alex Kotlowitz, author of There are No Children Here, commented that black kids in the city deal with the effects of racism on a daily basis, while white kids in the suburbs think racism is something that ended in the ‘60s. This is more or less true. I could not have been held responsible for my comment to Joakima because I had no idea that I said anything wrong. I did not realize how much African-Americans were discriminated against and I certainly had no idea of the stereotypes that accompany darker and lighter skin-tones. Joakima, meanwhile, was probably all too aware of these things, even at her young age, and even living in our fairly tolerant town. I had never seen any of the white kids tease her for being black, but it must have weighed on her mind constantly to be in such a minority. Furthermore, outside of the classroom, living in a predominantly white (and somewhat rural) community, her family surely faced their share of racism, be it malicious or subtle or, such as in my case, naïve. And judging by her reaction, even at her young age she was familiar with the stereotypes of skin-tone.
I was six-years-old at the time so her reaction and my naivety do not haunt me. This was simply the first in a long line of lessons I have learned on race relations in our country. What does still bother me a little is the reaction of my teacher. I had a class last quarter where we were instructed to think of a negative moment, involving a teacher that stood out in our minds. This was not the story I related, but it could have been.
My teacher’s reaction was to simply give me a stern scolding. I also remember that there was another teacher present at the time and she also put in her two cents. There was no explanation of why my comment could have been misconstrued as offensive. Instead they simply yelled at me and left me confused.
Setting aside the shoddy teaching strategy in place here, I think that the teacher’s reaction is indicative of the way many in our country deal with race relations. There is rarely an effort made to open a real dialogue on racial issues. The only time the media really addresses race is when a public figure lets an ignorant or malicious comment slide. When this happens we simply vilify this person, or sweep it under the rug as a relic of a past age of racism. The discussion centers on a word instead of the attitudes and emotions behind it. If we hope to truly confront the racial divide in America we have to be willing to confront the subject on a deeper level, no matter how uncomfortable it may make us feel.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
This incident was probably my first conscious experience with race relations. I lived in middle-class Frederick, Maryland at the time. I knew black people, but not very many. I really did not think of them any differently; some people were black, some people were white, some people were short, some people were tall, and we all had different hair and eye colors. This didn’t seem like that big of a deal. (In fact, now that I am thinking about this incident, it occurs to me that I may have received similar flack one time for pointing out another seemingly mundane detail about the world: there are more white people than black people, but there are a lot of black people in Washington, D.C.) I knew about slavery and the Civil war; living on the Eastern Seaboard I had been to several battlefields. I had probably heard of Martin Luther King and had a vague knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement. But it had never crossed my mind that racism (or whatever my six-year-old mind would have called the concept of racism) still existed. And it certainly had never crossed my mind that Joakima, a fairly friendly acquaintance of mine, would get so bent out of shape because I simply pointed out the shade of her skin.
Of course, today I can see why Joakima reacted the way she did. I attended a discussion last year on racism in the public school system and Alex Kotlowitz, author of There are No Children Here, commented that black kids in the city deal with the effects of racism on a daily basis, while white kids in the suburbs think racism is something that ended in the ‘60s. This is more or less true. I could not have been held responsible for my comment to Joakima because I had no idea that I said anything wrong. I did not realize how much African-Americans were discriminated against and I certainly had no idea of the stereotypes that accompany darker and lighter skin-tones. Joakima, meanwhile, was probably all too aware of these things, even at her young age, and even living in our fairly tolerant town. I had never seen any of the white kids tease her for being black, but it must have weighed on her mind constantly to be in such a minority. Furthermore, outside of the classroom, living in a predominantly white (and somewhat rural) community, her family surely faced their share of racism, be it malicious or subtle or, such as in my case, naïve. And judging by her reaction, even at her young age she was familiar with the stereotypes of skin-tone.
I was six-years-old at the time so her reaction and my naivety do not haunt me. This was simply the first in a long line of lessons I have learned on race relations in our country. What does still bother me a little is the reaction of my teacher. I had a class last quarter where we were instructed to think of a negative moment, involving a teacher that stood out in our minds. This was not the story I related, but it could have been.
My teacher’s reaction was to simply give me a stern scolding. I also remember that there was another teacher present at the time and she also put in her two cents. There was no explanation of why my comment could have been misconstrued as offensive. Instead they simply yelled at me and left me confused.
Setting aside the shoddy teaching strategy in place here, I think that the teacher’s reaction is indicative of the way many in our country deal with race relations. There is rarely an effort made to open a real dialogue on racial issues. The only time the media really addresses race is when a public figure lets an ignorant or malicious comment slide. When this happens we simply vilify this person, or sweep it under the rug as a relic of a past age of racism. The discussion centers on a word instead of the attitudes and emotions behind it. If we hope to truly confront the racial divide in America we have to be willing to confront the subject on a deeper level, no matter how uncomfortable it may make us feel.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Day 57
Sunday was the final day of the Pitchfork Music Festival. And it was a GREAT day.
It started with me dragging myself out of bed at 10 AM. After a long day yesterday and getting home at 12:30 it was sort of tough. But I gotta be a rock star on Pitchfork weekend. And there is Sparks at Union Park!
So I was up. And I was going to fix a big breakfast. But there were no eggs in the house for just about the first time ever. So I ate these little link things that come in a can and taste good. Then I left the house at about 11:20.
I got down to the park a little after noon. Met up with friends and acquaintances and chatted and told everyone how awesome Rock the Bells was yesterday and how terrible the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre was. Then the show started.
I listened to the first few bands of the day from afar. I was just too tired and too hot to hang out up front for bands I am not really all that into. The first band to play was Times New Viking. I recognized one of their songs. Next was Dirty Projectors. They are those ones who do all those Black Flag songs all slow and quiet like. They sounded okay. Then was Boris. They played some Japanese metal and then they blew a speaker or something so the show ended early.
The first band that I actually got up and went to see was Apples in Stereo. This is a great band and they made me happy on a sunny afternoon. They opened their set with "Can You Feel It" and ended up playing quite a bit from that album, which is nice because it is the only one I have.
I decided to check out a little bit of King Khan's set. I listened to a couple songs and they were really fun. Then I left to go see Les Savy Fav, who were really high on my list for the day. For some reason I had a really tough time getting into them, which was odd because they put on a real energetic show. I guess I was probably just a little bit too far back to really appreciate it. I ended up going back to camp and wishing I had stayed at King Khan.
So after a little more chillaxin' it was 6:00 and time for the Ghostface and Raekwon set over at that small stage. Ghost and Rae were supposed to be on a main stage but for some reason they ended up having to switch times and stages. Biggest shock of the day was that they went on stage right at their scheduled start time. And they were predictably awesome. They played a TON of Wu-Tang stuff, mostly off 36 Chambers, along with a bunch of Only Build 4 Cuban Linx and solo Ghostface. And the sound was SO much better than any of the sets I saw yesterday. Plus, they played a FULL HOUR!
And they got done just in time for Spiritualized! I really thought I was going to end up missing Spiritualized but the stars aligned and thank goodness because this was probably the best set of the day. I had assumed they were going to do an artsy fartsy acoustic set like they did at Coachella, but instead they played with a full band with back up singers and everything! Full sound, very tight set. Just awesome...
And then I killed more time. Ate some food. Chatted. Listened to Dinosaur Jr. from afar. Then Spoon went on. I wandered forward and then wandered back because ONCE AGAIN I was not feeling Spoon's set. They just don't do it for me in a live setting. Then I walked through some mud. Then I decided to go check out the end of Cut Copy.
When I got to Cut Copy's stage I realized that Cut Copy was not on stage. Instead it was Bradford Cox from Deerhunter, King Khan, and Jay Reatard playing a bunch of rock songs all sloppily in their best superjam form. Turns out Cut Copy was stuck at the airport and these guys were filling in.
But then Cut Copy showed up. And holy hell did they ever show up! They ended up only getting twenty minutes but in that twenty minutes they melted everyone's faces. The whole crowd was jumping and dancing and singing, every single hand in the air.
LIGHTS AND MUSIC!
And then it was home.
It started with me dragging myself out of bed at 10 AM. After a long day yesterday and getting home at 12:30 it was sort of tough. But I gotta be a rock star on Pitchfork weekend. And there is Sparks at Union Park!
So I was up. And I was going to fix a big breakfast. But there were no eggs in the house for just about the first time ever. So I ate these little link things that come in a can and taste good. Then I left the house at about 11:20.
I got down to the park a little after noon. Met up with friends and acquaintances and chatted and told everyone how awesome Rock the Bells was yesterday and how terrible the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre was. Then the show started.
I listened to the first few bands of the day from afar. I was just too tired and too hot to hang out up front for bands I am not really all that into. The first band to play was Times New Viking. I recognized one of their songs. Next was Dirty Projectors. They are those ones who do all those Black Flag songs all slow and quiet like. They sounded okay. Then was Boris. They played some Japanese metal and then they blew a speaker or something so the show ended early.
The first band that I actually got up and went to see was Apples in Stereo. This is a great band and they made me happy on a sunny afternoon. They opened their set with "Can You Feel It" and ended up playing quite a bit from that album, which is nice because it is the only one I have.
I decided to check out a little bit of King Khan's set. I listened to a couple songs and they were really fun. Then I left to go see Les Savy Fav, who were really high on my list for the day. For some reason I had a really tough time getting into them, which was odd because they put on a real energetic show. I guess I was probably just a little bit too far back to really appreciate it. I ended up going back to camp and wishing I had stayed at King Khan.
So after a little more chillaxin' it was 6:00 and time for the Ghostface and Raekwon set over at that small stage. Ghost and Rae were supposed to be on a main stage but for some reason they ended up having to switch times and stages. Biggest shock of the day was that they went on stage right at their scheduled start time. And they were predictably awesome. They played a TON of Wu-Tang stuff, mostly off 36 Chambers, along with a bunch of Only Build 4 Cuban Linx and solo Ghostface. And the sound was SO much better than any of the sets I saw yesterday. Plus, they played a FULL HOUR!
And they got done just in time for Spiritualized! I really thought I was going to end up missing Spiritualized but the stars aligned and thank goodness because this was probably the best set of the day. I had assumed they were going to do an artsy fartsy acoustic set like they did at Coachella, but instead they played with a full band with back up singers and everything! Full sound, very tight set. Just awesome...
And then I killed more time. Ate some food. Chatted. Listened to Dinosaur Jr. from afar. Then Spoon went on. I wandered forward and then wandered back because ONCE AGAIN I was not feeling Spoon's set. They just don't do it for me in a live setting. Then I walked through some mud. Then I decided to go check out the end of Cut Copy.
When I got to Cut Copy's stage I realized that Cut Copy was not on stage. Instead it was Bradford Cox from Deerhunter, King Khan, and Jay Reatard playing a bunch of rock songs all sloppily in their best superjam form. Turns out Cut Copy was stuck at the airport and these guys were filling in.
But then Cut Copy showed up. And holy hell did they ever show up! They ended up only getting twenty minutes but in that twenty minutes they melted everyone's faces. The whole crowd was jumping and dancing and singing, every single hand in the air.
LIGHTS AND MUSIC!
And then it was home.
Day 56
Day 56 was Rock the Bells. Here is the review I wrote for CoS. It isn't up there yet so you get to read it first!
Rock the Bells is generally considered the premier North American hip hop festival, pretty much by default. The tour kicked off at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, IL last weekend with a full day of beats, rhymes, and all the confusion and technical difficulties that have come to define the festival.
Guerilla Union, the company responsible for Rock the Bells, gets a lot of play out of the “real hip hop” mantra. Whenever I hear an artist or a DJ or a writer talking about “real” or “true” hip hop I can’t help but get a little queasy. I understand the importance of respecting the ideals on which the genre was originally built. But the “real hip hop” rallying cry has become a cliché, beaten to death by a particular subset that pines for a bygone era that can never be duplicated.
So year in, year out the folks at Guerilla Union stack the Rock the Bells lineup with classic backpacker favorites that peaked a decade or two ago. On the one hand this is great. I paid quite a large sum of money for a pit ticket for the chance to be so close to so many legendary artists. At the same time, too much of an over reliance on nostalgia acts plays right into the hands of those who claim that hip hop is dead. Today’s commercial rap radio may be extremely repetitive and watered down, but this is more the result of the state of commercial radio than it is of trends in hip hop. (It is worth noting that the venue hosting the show is run by Live Nation, a spin off of Clear Channel Communications, the company largely responsible for the current state of rap radio. So take that into consideration before accepting the idea that GU’s goals are completely altruistic.) There are plenty of new artists around who would have both complemented the existing lineup well, and sent the message that rap music is alive and well.
Most of the buzz for this year’s tour centers around the two big reunion acts, A Tribe Called Quest and The Pharcyde. While Tribe is the festival’s overall headliner, The Pharcyde may actually be the more anticipated act since Saturday’s show was the first time all four original members performed together in eleven years. They did not disappoint the hyped up crowd, tearing through hits such as “Passing Me By” and “Ya Mama” with the assistance of a live band.
As for Tribe, they wore the headlining crown well, playing almost exactly what was expected of them. Despite an unfortunate decision to allow Q-Tip to spend the first fifteen minutes or so of the set performing his solo material (along with Tribe hits “Excursions” and “Sucka Nigga”), and a momentum-killing set change before the emergence of Phife Dawg and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, they were able to rebound nicely and work the crowd into a frenzy on “Scenario”, “Electric Relaxation”, and practically every other song they could have been expected to play. By the time the evening came to a close with a rollicking “Award Tour”, most of the baffling stage decisions and technical difficulties of the day had been forgotten.
None of the day’s artists embodied straight-ahead, no frills hip hop as well as Nas. Performing with just a DJ, on an empty stage devoid of musicians and hype men, the Queens rapper used his drastically shortened 25-minute set to hit some of the highlights of his prolific career, including “N.Y. State of Mind”, “If I Ruled the World”, and moving set closer “One Mic.” He also had time to open his set with two tracks off his new album, “N.I.G.G.E.R.” and “Sly Fox”, and give a shout out to his nemesis Bill O’Reilly.
But other artists who attempted to hold down the amphitheatre’s massive stage single-handedly did not fare quite as well. Mos Def certainly could have benefitted from an appearance by Talib Kweli, a live band, or anything else that may have perked up a disappointingly dull set that seemed to be made up almost exclusively of new songs. Time constraints affected Mos, as they did most of the festival’s marquee acts, and he had to beg the stage manager before being allowed to finish his set with a shortened version of “Umi Says.” Def Jux rapper Murs also suffered through a horribly disjointed set, though this was not necessarily his fault. During his set one of the turntables was not working and he was never quite able to get into a rhythm.
Never were the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre’s acoustical problems more irritating than they were during Rakim’s short set. The legendary Long Island emcee, known to many by the simple moniker of “God”, is known for being one of the most innovative and influential lyricists of all time. The fact that his words were nearly indecipherable was nothing short of the day’s greatest tragedy, and not even his and DJ Kid Capri’s stellar stage presence could make up for it.
Short sets and poor acoustics also sunk sets by usually great live acts De La Soul and Dead Prez. The former did a decent job moving the crowd, but had their set time cut nearly in half due to the time constraints. Dead Prez seemed to be lacking their usual stage presence, though it did come through on “Hip Hop.”
One act that was seemingly unaffected by the poor sound was Method Man and Redman. The show was stolen by the Wu-Tang emcee, who dove into the audience, crowd surfed, and even ended up at the back of the venue, bringing the house down on his signature hit, “M.E.T.H.O.D. Man.”
Also performing at the tour opening show were Immortal Technique, Jay Electronica, B.O.B., and Kidz in the Hall. With thirteen live acts on only one stage, it appears that Guerilla Union may have bit off a little more than they could chew for an eleven-hour festival. With all due respect to every artist on the bill, trimming the lineup a little would have allowed the festival’s higher billed acts to play their full set times. The introduction of a second stage, which GU advertised (and is continuing to advertise) on the festival’s website, would have also served to make the day a little more bearable.
Day one of the Rock the Bells tour was an eleven-hour day characterized by some very good sets by some of rap’s greatest artists. It was also characterized by shoddy clock management, technical difficulties, poor sound, and a whole bunch of self-congratulatory mumbo jumbo. I spend a lot of time trying to convince skeptical friends and acquaintances of rap’s musical and cultural relevance. All in all, as a hip hop fan I had an excellent time at this show, but I would not have felt comfortable recommending it to anyone still on the fence about rap music since it played straight into so many common, negative stereotypes of the genre. And this is a real shame because Rock the Bells has such a great opportunity to push positive hip hop forward.
Rock the Bells is generally considered the premier North American hip hop festival, pretty much by default. The tour kicked off at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, IL last weekend with a full day of beats, rhymes, and all the confusion and technical difficulties that have come to define the festival.
Guerilla Union, the company responsible for Rock the Bells, gets a lot of play out of the “real hip hop” mantra. Whenever I hear an artist or a DJ or a writer talking about “real” or “true” hip hop I can’t help but get a little queasy. I understand the importance of respecting the ideals on which the genre was originally built. But the “real hip hop” rallying cry has become a cliché, beaten to death by a particular subset that pines for a bygone era that can never be duplicated.
So year in, year out the folks at Guerilla Union stack the Rock the Bells lineup with classic backpacker favorites that peaked a decade or two ago. On the one hand this is great. I paid quite a large sum of money for a pit ticket for the chance to be so close to so many legendary artists. At the same time, too much of an over reliance on nostalgia acts plays right into the hands of those who claim that hip hop is dead. Today’s commercial rap radio may be extremely repetitive and watered down, but this is more the result of the state of commercial radio than it is of trends in hip hop. (It is worth noting that the venue hosting the show is run by Live Nation, a spin off of Clear Channel Communications, the company largely responsible for the current state of rap radio. So take that into consideration before accepting the idea that GU’s goals are completely altruistic.) There are plenty of new artists around who would have both complemented the existing lineup well, and sent the message that rap music is alive and well.
Most of the buzz for this year’s tour centers around the two big reunion acts, A Tribe Called Quest and The Pharcyde. While Tribe is the festival’s overall headliner, The Pharcyde may actually be the more anticipated act since Saturday’s show was the first time all four original members performed together in eleven years. They did not disappoint the hyped up crowd, tearing through hits such as “Passing Me By” and “Ya Mama” with the assistance of a live band.
As for Tribe, they wore the headlining crown well, playing almost exactly what was expected of them. Despite an unfortunate decision to allow Q-Tip to spend the first fifteen minutes or so of the set performing his solo material (along with Tribe hits “Excursions” and “Sucka Nigga”), and a momentum-killing set change before the emergence of Phife Dawg and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, they were able to rebound nicely and work the crowd into a frenzy on “Scenario”, “Electric Relaxation”, and practically every other song they could have been expected to play. By the time the evening came to a close with a rollicking “Award Tour”, most of the baffling stage decisions and technical difficulties of the day had been forgotten.
None of the day’s artists embodied straight-ahead, no frills hip hop as well as Nas. Performing with just a DJ, on an empty stage devoid of musicians and hype men, the Queens rapper used his drastically shortened 25-minute set to hit some of the highlights of his prolific career, including “N.Y. State of Mind”, “If I Ruled the World”, and moving set closer “One Mic.” He also had time to open his set with two tracks off his new album, “N.I.G.G.E.R.” and “Sly Fox”, and give a shout out to his nemesis Bill O’Reilly.
But other artists who attempted to hold down the amphitheatre’s massive stage single-handedly did not fare quite as well. Mos Def certainly could have benefitted from an appearance by Talib Kweli, a live band, or anything else that may have perked up a disappointingly dull set that seemed to be made up almost exclusively of new songs. Time constraints affected Mos, as they did most of the festival’s marquee acts, and he had to beg the stage manager before being allowed to finish his set with a shortened version of “Umi Says.” Def Jux rapper Murs also suffered through a horribly disjointed set, though this was not necessarily his fault. During his set one of the turntables was not working and he was never quite able to get into a rhythm.
Never were the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre’s acoustical problems more irritating than they were during Rakim’s short set. The legendary Long Island emcee, known to many by the simple moniker of “God”, is known for being one of the most innovative and influential lyricists of all time. The fact that his words were nearly indecipherable was nothing short of the day’s greatest tragedy, and not even his and DJ Kid Capri’s stellar stage presence could make up for it.
Short sets and poor acoustics also sunk sets by usually great live acts De La Soul and Dead Prez. The former did a decent job moving the crowd, but had their set time cut nearly in half due to the time constraints. Dead Prez seemed to be lacking their usual stage presence, though it did come through on “Hip Hop.”
One act that was seemingly unaffected by the poor sound was Method Man and Redman. The show was stolen by the Wu-Tang emcee, who dove into the audience, crowd surfed, and even ended up at the back of the venue, bringing the house down on his signature hit, “M.E.T.H.O.D. Man.”
Also performing at the tour opening show were Immortal Technique, Jay Electronica, B.O.B., and Kidz in the Hall. With thirteen live acts on only one stage, it appears that Guerilla Union may have bit off a little more than they could chew for an eleven-hour festival. With all due respect to every artist on the bill, trimming the lineup a little would have allowed the festival’s higher billed acts to play their full set times. The introduction of a second stage, which GU advertised (and is continuing to advertise) on the festival’s website, would have also served to make the day a little more bearable.
Day one of the Rock the Bells tour was an eleven-hour day characterized by some very good sets by some of rap’s greatest artists. It was also characterized by shoddy clock management, technical difficulties, poor sound, and a whole bunch of self-congratulatory mumbo jumbo. I spend a lot of time trying to convince skeptical friends and acquaintances of rap’s musical and cultural relevance. All in all, as a hip hop fan I had an excellent time at this show, but I would not have felt comfortable recommending it to anyone still on the fence about rap music since it played straight into so many common, negative stereotypes of the genre. And this is a real shame because Rock the Bells has such a great opportunity to push positive hip hop forward.
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