FOR THE BROTHAS: CULTURE AND INTELLECTUALISM: October 2017

FOR THE BROTHAS: AN INTRODUCTION

It must have been about 20 years ago when I first began thinking about creating a "Cultural Salon" as a reaction to the mundane social circles In Washington D.C. The richness of intellectual and artistic interchange had died, college friends had moved, the internet had not yet become the phenomenon it now is... I romanticised about the Salons of the mid to late 1800's in Paris, London and Berlin and the cultural dynamo of the Harlem Rennaisance. I was fortunate enough to meet a gentleman, an artist who lived and traveled with James Baldwin... Jimmy he affectionately called him, and he spoke often of their small cottage in southern France and of the many Artists, Poets and Luminaries that dropped in to chat and relax. Well, the impressionists, cubists, modernists, etc. all hung out together famously in those days and shared their ideas with one another creating a creative greenhouse in a world that was rapidly changing. I longed to have lived in those times, to have met Cassat, Rodin, Ellington, Fitzgerald, Baker, Balwin, well I did finally meet Baldwin and others purely for the joy of intellection upon the arts. This was in the late 1980's and by the mid 2000's I happened to run into a friend of mine from Hampton University who had been living in New York since he graduated in the early 90s. Well, I was surprised to hear him comment that in all of the wonder that is New York he never met anyone who ever really had anything interesting to say about art, literature, architecture, science, fashion or anything... I was so surprised to hear this since it had also been my experience. Well here I am in 2011 attempting the Virtual Salon...

Saturday, October 14, 2017

THE BLUES TRADITION LIVES IN BLACK AMERICANS

Over the centuries that Black Americans have struggled to achieve equality dignity in a hostile nation the blues has continued to be a powerful vehicle for the dissemination of wisdom and consolation in the face of unimaginable adversity. It has used the lessons of love, life and spirituality to document the black man's journey here.

I often write in what I call, "Traditional Southern Black American Vernacular Dialect". which is a actually a euphemism for what some call "Slave-English". There is no shame in the art of communication. I find the many variations of TBAD to be fascinating and whenever I am fortunate enough to actually encounter someone who still speaks variations of the old-language it captures my imagination.

I have written a poem of love, a Blues Poem in Traditional Black American Vernacular Dialect" or TBAD. It is called "MAN I GOT'S THE HIDE-OUT BLUES". Please check it out at my Blog, Opening A Twentieth Century Kind Of Love:

http://twenty-firstcenturylove.blogspot.com/2017/10/man-i-got-hide-out-blues.html

BIGDADDY BLUES