Racist fad feeds off rap's decay
By Annette John-Hall
Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist
Seems there's a funky new party mania that is sweeping college campuses across the nation.
The gatherings are such a hoot that proud partygoers have posted highlights of their high jinks all over Facebook.com.
The pictures speak for themselves.
The names of the parties vary - "Bullets and Bubbly," "Pimps and 'Hos" - but the theme is always the same. Gangsta. Black gangsta. Invitees come dressed as their favorite ghetto stereotype, the more outlandish the better.
You know, they stencil on some tattoos, wear a do-rag, sport a grill, even pad their backsides for an exaggerated look. Flash a gang sign or two and guzzle a 40 out of a paper bag for added effect.
And if they really want to get into character? They wear blackface! Oh, the fun.
This year alone, white students at Clemson University, Tarleton State University in Texas, the University of Arizona, and the University of Connecticut School of Law have hosted these kinds of racially offensive get-togethers.
The students apologized only after their peers erupted in outrage. We didn't realize our little soirees would offend, they said. It's just innocent fun. Why, it's a celebration of blackness! Aren't we beyond reading race into everything?
And to think these fun-loving masqueraders at UConn's law school are on the fast track to becoming our future lawyers and judges. No wonder our justice system is a mess.
It's not surprising that few, if any, actual African Americans attended these events. Maybe black students found better ways to commemorate a holiday weekend. Did I mention the parties were held over Martin Luther King's birthday?
All it takes is a read of history, a history loaded with racist stereotype - from mammys to coons - to discern what's insult by mockery and what's flattery by imitation, especially when those party pics don't in any way reflect the lives of the majority of black folks in this country.
Accurate images we seldom see. Distortions? We see those all the time...[READ MORE]
Al Gore loves the Snoop
Punknews.org is reporting that 10th Level Vice President, documentary filmmaker, environmentalist and former presidential contender Al Gore has organized a 24-hour concert series to take place on all seven continents with the aim of highlighting the dangers of global warming.
The event, called Live Earth, will feature 100 musicians on July 7th and aims to attract two billion viewers via the television, radio and internet. The concerts will be streamed live on MSN, Microsoft's information portal.
Gore explained:
In order to solve the climate crisis, we have to reach billions of people, We hope to jumpstart that movement right here, right now, and take it to a new level on July 7, 2007.
The event has signed up many artists including Foo Fighters, Fall Out Boy, AFI, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kelly Clarkson, Korn, Snoop Dogg, Bon Jovi and many others. The concerts will take place in Sydney, Australia; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Shanghai, China; London, England; Kyoto, Japan; Johannesburg, South Africa; and a U.S. city that has yet to be determined, Wall said. Gore added that the campaign even plans to stage the first-ever rock concert on Antarctica. Proceeds from the concerts will fund initiatives by the Save Our Selves campaign.
Somehow when I saw Al Gore I knew Snoop Dog was going to be involved, but Bon Jovi? Is there anything Bon Jovi isn't involved with? I mean, he's like the poor man's Bono of humanitarian efforts. Regardless, it's a great cause, and a fairly eclectic lineup if you take into consideration the major record sellers in the various genres out there today.
Related: A Terrifying Message from Al Gore (You Tube/Futurama)
Music
Featured Artist: Mason Proper
In a musical landscape that's more defined by geography and its accompanying aesthetics, Mason Proper are undoubtedly black sheep. While Detroit's renown is undeniable and connotatively defiant and eccentric, the area of Northern Michigan where more than half the band is from resembles a vast, frigid expanse of rural America. The groups' shrill layers of barren, beautiful white sonic indulgences might give you some idea of the home territory, but their compulsively unhinged backbeat, ecstatic guitars, and beautifully charming and surprising pop arrangements recall a more blissful and sharp disposition.
Jonathan Visgr (vocals/guitars/keys,) Matt Thomson (noise/vocals) and Brian Konicek (guitars) all grew up in Northern Michigan towns, about an hour south of the Upper Peninsula. “If you're looking at the palm of your right hand, we're where the first crease of your pointer finger is,” says Thomson. They began playing in musical groups together as youths, eventually forming what became Mason Proper in their late teens and early twenties. After moving from their wooden hometowns to Ypsilanti, a suburb of Detroit and Ann Arbor, the group met Zac Fineberg (bass/vocals) who eventually left his own group to join the band. After two years of writing and recording parts of what would become their debut LP There Is A Moth In Your Chest , the band split back to the woods, finding new drummer Jesse Parsons along the way. The group finished recording and pressed up the record, all by themselves, without the assistance of a label...[READ MORE]
Mason Proper's debut album, “There Is A Moth In Your Chest”, comes out March 13th.
Mason Proper - "My My (Bad Fruit)"
Mason Proper - "100 Years"
Mason Proper - "Carousel!Carousel!"
Feb 22 - The Empty Bottle - Chicago , Illinois ^
Feb 23 - KeweenAwesome Fest - Houghton , Michigan
Feb 28 - The Drake Hotel - Toronto , Ontario
Mar 2 - The Lizard Lounge - Cambridge , Massachusetts
Mar 3 - Water Street Music Hall - Rochester , New York
Mar 8 - The Intersection - Grand Rapids , Michigan
Mar 10 - The Blind Pig - Ann Arbor , Michigan
Mar 24 - The Subterranean - Chicago , Illinois #
Mar 25 - Mad Hatter Club - Covington , Kentucky #
Mar 27 - Lager House - Detroit , Michigan #
Mar 28 - The Horseshoe - Toronto , Ontario #
Mar 30 - The Middle East Upstairs - Cambridge , Massachusetts #
Mar 31 - The Gramercy Theatre - New York , New York #
^ = w/ Arbouretum
* = w/ Stars of Track and Field
# = w/ Birdmonster
Featured Artist: Nick Robin
Nick Robin in a Minneapolis artist whose album Living off the Land is set for national release March 1st. This record is loosely based on Mike Watt's "Contemplating the Engine Room." It addresses Nick's father's occupation, farming, as well as his own experiences as a struggling musician. Stylistically, says Nick, "Living Off the Land draws on Neil Young and The Beatles. In addition, I used Sparklehorse as my aesthetic 'keystone.'"
Nick Robin - "Skeleton Key"