Other Music from a... Different Kitchen

"WHEN Douglas Martin first saw the video for Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as a teenager in High Point, N.C., “it blew my mind,” he said. Like many young people who soothe their angst with the balm of alternative rock, Mr. Martin was happy to discover music he enjoyed and a subculture where he belonged.

Except, as it turned out, he didn’t really belong, because he is black.

The Internet has made it easier for black fans to find one another, some are adopting rock clothing styles, and a handful of bands with black members have growing followings in colleges and on the alternative or indie radio station circuit. It is not the first time there has been a black presence in modern rock. But some fans and musicians say they feel that a multiethnic rock scene is gathering momentum.

There is even a new word for black fans of indie rock: “blipster,” which was added to UrbanDictionary .com last summer, defined as “a person who is black and also can be stereotyped by appearance, musical taste, and/or social scene as a hipster.”"

MP3: "I See the Sun (featuring Tye Tribbet & GA)" [YSI | zshare stream/download] - really nice track from Duplaix's criminally-overlooked Bold and Beautiful album.

On the net:

website | MySpace | BUY Bold and Beautiful

Click here to read more.

BONUS CONTEST:

A free copy of the Stimulation EP by Duplaix featuring "I See the Sun" to a random winner who can name any of his previous full length (i.e. album) releases. Entries to the email address at the top left, subject line: "Duplaix contest." A winner will be selected at random. Contest closes tomorrow (Monday night, 1/29/07) at 11:59:59 EST. Please remember to include your mailing address in your email.

Aloe Blacc:

MP3: "Gente Ordinaria" [YSI | zshare stream/download] - check this track out, it's a really nice Spanish language remake of John Legend's modern soul standard, "Ordinary People." As I just noted in the comments to this post, this album is a must-check out. Click the link below to my review at The In Crowd to learn more....

On the net:

website | MySpace | BUY Shine Through

Click here to read more.

"Carlos Lezama, who transformed the West Indian American Day Carnival from a five-block affair into one of the city's biggest events, died yesterday. He was 83.

Lezama, a retired machinist for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, died at Kings County Hospital after a brief illness.

"Throughout our lives, my siblings, as well as my mother, have been privileged to share my father with the millions who are part of the carnival family," said Lezama's daughter, Yolanda Lezama-Clark.

"I am grateful that he has left an impressive legacy of which we all as Caribbean people can be proud," added Lezama-Clark, president of the West Indian American Day Carnival Association."

"A suicide bomber crashed his car into a central Baghdad market crowded with Shiites just seconds after another car bomb tore through the stalls where vendors were hawking DVDs and used clothing, leaving 88 dead Monday in the bloodiest attack in two months.

The bombings, along with a double bombing that killed 12 people in the town of Khalis, battered Shiites during one of their holiest festivals. The attacks were the latest in a renewed campaign of insurgent violence in advance of a U.S.-Iraqi security operation.

In all, 137 people were killed or found dead across Iraq, including a teacher who was gunned down as she was on her way to work at a girls' school in a mainly Sunni area of Baghdad. The toll also included the bullet-riddled bodies of at least 30 people, apparent victims of death squads largely run by Shiite militias."

"Four U.S. soldiers and a Marine were killed during combat in Anbar province, the Sunni insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, the military reported Sunday. The five newly reported deaths on Saturday raised that day's toll among American forces to at least 24, the third deadliest single day for U.S. troops since the war began in March 2003 [emphasis added].

The military gave no details on the Anbar fighting and said the identities of the dead were being withheld until family could be notified.

Before the latest deaths were announced, Saturday's carnage had included 12 soldiers killed in a Blackhawk helicopter crash northeast of Baghdad, five killed in a militant attack in Karbala and two others slain in roadside bombings."

"Never before has there been such a comprehensive documentary about the art of beat making. DJ Mathematics (of the Wu-Tang Clan) reveals the science behind the origins of hip-hop music with the genre’s greatest producers in the all new DVD, BEAT KINGS: The History of Hip-Hop (Nature Sounds) available on January 23rd, 2007.

Beat Kings is a 66 minute film that gives the viewer an exclusive look into the architects behind the rhyme. Hear it first hand from the musical legends that shine light on Hip Hop’s brightest stars like Jay- Z, Biggie, and Nas. Beat Kings brings the public into the producers private studios as they reveal the secrets behind making hit records. Mathematics interviews stars like Kanye West, Just Blaze, Havoc (Mobb Deep), Trackmasters, Swizz Beatz, RZA, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Marley Marl, Alchemist, David Banner, Easy Moe Bee, Prince Paul, and more as Beat Kings chronicles the history of beat making from its early beginnings into the 21st century.

Producers provide information on the equipment they use, how they learned how to use it, and how they developed their style. Veterans will take a look at this milestone DVD as a breath of fresh air, while newcomers will be able to learn the ropes from the legends themselves. Viewers will also have the privilege to hear the producers’ opinions on the current state of Hip Hop music, where hip-hop came from, and where it is going. Respect the Architects, respect the Beat Kings."

"The President's troop build-up -- already taking political fire from both Democrats and Republicans -- came under withering attack on Thursday from a panel of retired generals on Capitol Hill, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.

"The proposed solution is to send more troops and it won't work. The addition of 21,000 troops is too little and too late," former Marine Gen. Joseph Hoar said.

Hoar once commanded all American forces in the Middle East and has nothing good to say about the war.

"This administration's handling of the war has been characterized by deceit, mismanagement and a shocking failure to understand the social and political forces that influence events in the Middle East," Hoar said.

Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who commanded a division in the first Gulf War and was consulted by the president in drawing up the new Iraq strategy said, "They're going to try to muscle this thing out in the next 24 months with an urban counterinsurgency plan that I personally believe, with all due respect, is a fool's errand.""

Image courtesy deviantART Shop

"More than four-hundred uniforms and identification cards issued to security screeners have been reported lost or stolen from a National-Capital area airport.

The disappearances have been reported at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport since November of 2001.

The Washington Times reports that losses at B-W-I were second only to losses reported at Los Angeles International Airport during the same five year period.

According to Transportation Security Administration records, 128 uniforms and 31 identity badges disappeared during the 12 month period ending September 30th, 2003.

The federal agency reports that 97 uniforms and 35 I-D cards were reported lost or stolen from Ronald Reagan Washington National during the five year period while only seven uniforms were reported missing from Dulles International."

"The United Nation reported Tuesday that more than 34,000 Iraqis were killed in violence last year, a figure that represents the first comprehensive annual count of civilian deaths and a vivid measure of the failure of the Iraqi government and American military to provide security.

The United Nations report said an average of 94 Iraqis died every day in 2006, with about half the deaths occurring in the capital. A majority died from gunshot wounds, in execution-style killings that are a common method for death squads, both Sunni and Shiite. The report registered the most lethal month as October, with deaths declining slightly in November and December.

An Iraqi government spokesman called the count exaggerated, and said that it had been obtained using “incorrect sources.” Though the government closely tracks deaths through the Interior and Health Ministries, he said it did not have a system in place for compiling a comprehensive figure.

Despite the criticism from the Iraqi government, the United Nations said it used only official sources, most of which relied on counts of death certificates. A vast majority of Iraqi deaths are registered, at least to local authorities, so that Iraqis can prove inheritance and receive government compensation. Some deaths still go unreported, however, and the United Nations tally may in fact be lower than the true number of deaths nationwide [emphais added]."

"A chunk of ice bigger than the area of Manhattan [emphasis added] broke from an ice shelf in Canada's far north and could wreak havoc if it starts to float westward toward oil-drilling regions and shipping lanes next summer, a researcher said on Friday.

Global warming could be one cause of the break of the Ayles Ice Shelf at Ellesmere Island, which occurred in the summer of 2005 but was only detected recently by satellite photos, said Luke Copland, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa's geography department.

It was the largest such break in nearly three decades, casting an ice floe with an area of 66 square km (25 square miles) adrift in the Arctic Ocean, said Copland, who specializes in the study of glaciers and ice masses. Manhattan has an area of 61 square km (24 square miles)."

The break went undetected when it happened due primarily to the remoteness of the northern coast of Ellesmere island, which is only about 800 km (500 miles) from the North Pole."

"The United States was right to invade Iraq, but choices made after the initial invasion have eroded security in the country, President Bush said in a television interview to be broadcast today.

"I think history is going to look back and see a lot of ways we could have done things better," Bush said in the interview, which will be aired on CBS' "60 Minutes" program.

Questioned about the current instability in Iraq, Bush said, "Well, no question decisions have made things unstable."

But he maintained that invading Iraq in 2003 was the right thing to do.

"My decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the correct decision, in my judgment," he said. "We didn't find the weapons we thought we would find, or the weapons everybody thought he had. But he was a significant source of instability."

"Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude," he said."

"The federal government wants your Internet provider to keep track of every website you visit.

For more than a year, the U.S. Justice Department has been in discussions with Internet companies and privacy rights advocates, trying to come up with a plan that would make it easier for investigators to check records of Web traffic.

The idea is to help law enforcement track down child pornographers. But some see it as another step toward total surveillance of citizens, joining warrantless wiretapping, secret scrutiny of library records and unfettered access to e-mail as another power that could be abused."