Stand Up NOLA...JAzz feSt is back in a BIG way!!!!

Harry Connick Jr., Rod Stewart, Steely Dan, Norah Jones, ZZ Top, John Legend, Van Morrison, Brad Paisley, Jill Scott, Ludacris, Dr. John, Bonnie Raitt, New Edition, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Irma Thomas, Jerry Lee Lewis, Counting Crows, Allman Brothers Band, Allen Toussaint, George Benson, Pharoah Sanders, George Thorogood, Stephen Marley featuring Jr. Gong, Better Than Ezra, Joss Stone, Banda el Recodo, Calexico, Taj Mahal, Johnny Rivers, Lucinda Williams, Branford Marsalis, Richie Havens, Soulive, Cowboy Mouth, Percy Sledge, Tony Joe White, Gillian Welch, Bobby Jones & the Nashville Super Choir, T-Bone Burnett, Rebirth Brass Band, Galactic, Mose Allison, Marcia Ball, Roy Hargrove, Chuck Leavell, Arturo Sandoval, The Holmes Brothers, Snooks Eaglin, Dr. Lonnie Smith, The New Orleans Social Club, James Carter, The Radiators, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Lucky Peterson, Darrell McFadden, Sonny Landreth, Danilo Perez, Ivan Neville, Dottie Peoples, Davell Crawford, Ba Cissoko of Guinea, George Porter, Jr., Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste, Tab Benoit, Les Amazones of Guinea, World Saxophone Group, John Mooney & Bluesiana, Buckwheat Zydeco, Anders Osborne, Elder Baab & the Madison Bumble Bees of Winnsboro, Eddie Bo, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Rosie Ledet, Amanda Shaw, The Iguanas, Marva Wright, Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Deacon John, Donald Harrison, Nicholas Payton, Terence Blanchard, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews & Orleans Avenue, Bob French, Elysian Fieldz, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, Ellis Marsalis and over 500 more groups.

http://www.nojazzfest.com/

February 20, 2007...it's going down

When I say Mardi Gras thoughts of under da bridge, lafitte projects, treme and mardi gras indians probably don't get mentioned or come to your head.

mardi gras is more than a marathon of showing titties and ish

it's a celebration of the perseverance of a community of the systematically oppressed

Racial autobiography

Who are you?

No really, who are you?

Name 5 things off the top of your head that describes you.

finished?

Did one of those answers refer to your race or ethnicity?

What is your race?

How long did it take you to answer that question?

How did you know how to answer that question...??? Clearly you know, without doubt what race you are...so how'd u know? Did someone ever sit you down and tell you, "Yes my dear, you're _____" I'm sure 9.9 times out of 10 this didn't happen. So how do you know.

What's your racial autobiography?

Woke up this morning...got yourself a gun

Where ya at Tony???? Huh????!!???!?!

dance like rudy huxtable scoring a touchdown, hands in the air, knees in knees out

I ought not to be allowed to talk on the phone...seriously. I just called someone and had a whole conversation with them...after i hung up I realized that I wasn't talking to who I thought I was talking to...The two people had nothing in common with each other. He doesn't even live in Louisiana?!?!

yeah, allow me to reintroduce sleep to my life

finished my books, now only my brief remains...so let me be (brief)

i begin my venture in the nonprofits tomorrow.

the more homework i have to do, the more i think of other things i could be doing

and the more i venture off into those "things" but don't fret...i'ma "Watch out" i ain't gonna let dem thangs get all up in my way. Okay, so something is wrong with my return key. It won't return to the next line...ain't this bout a b*tch. One book down...2 mo' 2 go. i'll get started on the brief tomorrow. damn, i really hope the Saints win tomorrow. Cuz drove to the Chi for da game....Don't forget the Garretts popcorn Garrett's caramel popcorn is the ish!!!!!

ooh..da return button has returned!!!! so that means i better return my ass to da next book so i can watch da game tomorrow

Step into the bad side, step into the baaad side

School's in!

Social life's out!

Saints are gonna kick ass this weekend!

Sheed, Purple, Black & Gold!!!!

Can't wait for Mardi Gras Break. I was gonna do the travel thing but it's going down in da city.

damn...i forgot all about spring break

i opposite heart tyra banks...and her little show too

ooh my guilty pleasure is on...The Best Week Ever!!!!

Eff what Paula said...she was on something "I'm a dancer"

Just in case ya'll are interested...these books are on it

i think i heart this man in a way that would be discribed as disrespectful to some LMAO...

MLK Convocation - Lecture
McAlister Auditorium
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
07:00 PM - 08:30 PM

21st ANNUAL MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. WEEK FOR PEACE ACTIVITIES JANUARY 15-19, 2007
Theme: "Defining Our Citizenship: Uniting Communities"

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Cornel West
One of America's most gifted and provocative public intellectuals, Dr. Cornel West's writing, speaking, and teaching weaves together the American traditions of the Black Baptist Church, progressive politics, and jazz. Dr. West graduated from Harvard in three years, magna cum laude, and Martin Kilson, one of Dr. West's professors, recalls him as "the most intellectually aggressive and highly cerebral student I have taught in my 30 years here."

Also
-- Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award recipient announced
-- Student Community Service Award recipients announced

Admission is free of charge. This event is open to public. For more information, call 504-865-5181. The event is being hosted by: Multicultural Affairs Office, and is sponsored by: Dillard, Loyola, Tulane and Xavier Universities.


Event Status: Confirmed

eh??? "b4 steve jobs made the ipod" (c) hov

ya know, just incase ya'll wanted to get me a june/july '07 middle of da year gift




and Stop callin me...I know The Wire comes on BET tonight...I signed da contract!!! I'm on my bring Avon back for season 5!!! holla if ya wit me

Heavy, heavy. You got so heavy on me.

I know I'm not the only one that breaks into songs from Dreamgirls at random times throughout the day "step into the bad side. step into the baaaaad side"

omG, school starts next tuesday...that means it's going down this weekend!:::does the zoom zoom:::

"what about what I need? what about what's best for me?"
In the midst of the funniest pedicure I caught a glimpse of the nightly news that featured a section on New Orleans. Brian Williams began to report New Orleans had more deaths (by murder) in the last week than in Iraq. Wow.

interesting

i guess this is the part where i go on and rant and rave on how effed up life really is down here. how some things haven't changed. how people are Pissed off down here. how we are still facing the same problems pre-katrina but with the added adversities of rebuilding, shitty, ruthless, theiving contractors, family members scattered throughout the U.S., and now 14 murders and we're only 7 days into the new year.

it's not that i neglect to blog about these issues b/c i'm ignorant to the facts and choose to focus on something else worth writing about.

it's just that

this is life. this shit here is real. this is what I'm walking out my front door to. it's surreal at times.

but i guess that's why i'm looking forward to school starting. talking and working in a setting that directly has a positive effect my community is the dopest part of the m.a. program i'm in. working with professors and faculty who are Really out in the community (pre and post katrina) making a difference

shit, don't let the blog fool ya. my crew is unfucwitable

"look at me. look at me. I am changing"

speaking of...isn't that the dopest song

All of my life I've been a fool
Who said I can do it on my own
How many good friends have I already lost?
How many dog nights have I known?
Walking down that wrong road
There was nothing I could find
All those years of darkness
Looking for some light
But now I can see


girl testify!

today was indeed better

today sUcked. Tomorrow will be better

curse u with 1 less finger than oprah, to danny glover in purple, ya purpose is over

Over a post midnight girls talk Peaches told me a was a borderline gangsta. I was laughing my AO as I thought of this today. She said my tattoo on my shoulder is close enough to my neck to consider me one. LMAO. I'm so glad for the people God has allowed to become a part of my life...at least for the present season. If ya'll don't know, Peaches is one of the Dopest poets outta New Orleans. She's also has one of the dopest spirits I've ever encountered. Thanks for being my friend, my sister, my buddy who I can email all the day long...and she'll reply even longer.

So I've officially sold out and joined blogger beta, and look what I get...an unjustifiable margin blog...SOmeoNe, AnYonE HElP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes I keep it simple, f*ck what da nerds say; I ain't trying to impress you with the intricate word play

If we call this one "deaf"



Should this one be called "blind?"

LMAO

Wow. Happy New Year!!! didja do everything you set out to do in 06?

Me, well I never make New Year's resolutions...why? eh, doesn't really make sense; they're not too practical to me. trust, I don't mean to go all army on ya'll and say "be the best you can be" but hey, daily choices lead to those long termers and well, I gotta focus on the present and I just gotta be, be, be, be ...dun nun nun nun nun nuun.

I brought in the new year with da fam again. it's cool. Damn you katrina, teaching me lessons on how to appreciate my time spent with da fam. Naw, for real, I'm blessed. I thank God for blessing me with another day that just so happens to be the beginning of a new year.

School starts in 14 days...Eek!!! Alas, the grind is about to begin again. I was just suppose to take a semester off to recharge the batteries, but uhhhh well, if ya'll been reading, ya'll know the story. Things don't always go according to the plans...or do they?? I don't really question the order of things over the last year and a half...kinda just lived life while the motions were happening. I wasn't even suppose to be back in the city after the storm. Plans were to move to the Chi and begin grad school there. Cold feet, homesick, unclaimed responsibility...I had decisions to make. I'm satisfied and confident with the decisions I've made.

My gosh, I turn 26 this year eeekkkkkk!!!! naw, I'm kidding...no I really turn 26, it's just that I don't get turned off by the numbers game...and No, Jiggaman's "30's the new 20 anthem" didn't give me this confidence...Life and wisdom begat that ish!
Speak on it, speak on it...and i'll get back atcha when I wanna LOL

"You gotta work hard if you want to win"

awww eff that!! that shit ain't always true most of the time.

it's been a bad day...and reading Janine's blog don't make me feel so good about some people

I mean damn, some people's priviledge gives their vantage point a 00/00 vision. The shit is ridiculous.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok, i had to get that outta my system so what up??


Oooh the roots r coming back....ooohhh and they bringin a lil lupe haha!

i can risk my hearing for one more nite!

Hope ya'll had a very merry christmas. I spent majority of the weekend sick as a dog eating taco bell's green onions lol. but it was cool. I had to drug myself up to see Dreamgirls...which i must say is the most phenominal movie this year...well a close tie with The Departed...but you get what i'm saying. J. Hudson ROCKED da MIC...ya heards me!

After enjoying a weekend a home it was time to get back to the city. Instead of driving, I ended up with THE WORST scheduled flights to and from new orleans. For all ya'll who don't know, Houston is too damn big to be talking bout "yeah, I'm 10 min away"...no u not. ain't nothing 10 min away in houston. So needless to say, leaving the house at 5:10 am was not gonna guarentee time to check in baggage and make my 6:30am flight out to n.o. Soooo....my luggage is supposedly on it's way via some three letter parcel service. lol

Oooohhh thanks cuzins for the ipod speaker/radio...dat bass be bumping lol. Time to teach the neighbors a lesson lol.

got sum work ta do

holla

just looked good enough to blog

Ummmm, need I say more than "WHO DAT????"

I stay long winded like sayin' George Papadopoulous

I've been up since 4:30 am...why???!?!?!??!?!?! sheeed, cause i couldn't go back to sleep

too much on my brain.

gotta stop worrying about people

can't change them

gotta work on me

Acceptance

I thought about having a productive night, chaknow, wrapping gifts and all. I was smart in buying this gift wrap pack from target, paper, ribbons, cards..ya know...everything but TAPE!!!!! i put that ish to the left, to the left and now i have to do it all tomorrow.

i gotta pack.

i hate flying at night :(

i still have a couple more things to buy.

i don't think ima make it to the cathedral tomorrow night

when my lease is up, i'm moving back uptown...that's the way my blood runs lol

the architect came to visit the church a couple of weeks ago. it'll take $800k to get the church in pre-katrina condition...around $3 million to get it to where we are headed for

interestingly enough...u some people don't find a connection in the lack of return of black churches and the rise of crime, drugs, domestic violence & suicides in New Orleans post-katrina

I'm thinking about starting a lil side hustle for the new year!!!!! I'll let ya'll know once I've finished praying on it...oh and finish getting the legal ish straight...then I'll let ya'll know

it's raining???? damn, well i hope it brings some cool weather for christmas...remember the Christmas before Katrina when it snowed. For all ya'll who ain't from N.O. ya'll wouldn't understand but it was dope. we was all outside actin like we was really building snow men and making snow angels lol. memories.

ah

2006. not so bad of a year. traveled a lot! didn't think i'd be back in New Orleans. it's home...at least til i graduate. the fam's still all over. back living on my own. every aspect of my life has changed. i still haven't seem some loved ones since katrina. this is still the city that care forgot...love's trying to heal that though. people are literally dying from heart ache. strong people are trying to commit suicides. public school system is returning back to normal aka promoting a pipeline from education to the hospitality industry to perpetuated the tourism industry in New Orleans. some haven't started rebuilding. some are still waiting.

waiting

waiting. to see what the city's gonna do. the city's still waiting.

waiting

waiting...just waiting.

families still living in FEMA trailers. have you ever been in a FEMA trailer????? u know the bathrooms on an airplane? that's the size of a fema trailer bathroom...I AM NOT exaggerating

people need counseling. we're all trying to survive. mentally. it's hard. financially it's hard. spiritually it's hard.

u gotta trust. have faith.

2005 was a breakthrough.

N.O. we can do it.

i love my city. i love uptown. i love downtown. i love NOPS. i love canal st after school. i love st. aug's talent show. #35 explosion. the plaza. the lake on sundays. red beans on mondays. catfish and potato salad on fridays. second lines. da indians. super sunday. under the bridge on mardi gras. christmas in the oaks. walks in audubon park. house of blues on thursday. bally's casino on ya birthday. shopping at lakeside after a long work day. essence weekend. bayou classic. sugar bowl. loni on the radio. gumbo on christmas. fried turkey on thanksgiving. everybody in church on easter. the way i walk. my twang when i talk. the way i go "make" groceries. ooohhh dat brown beat on any song.

i love it all

that's why I'm here

who knows if she'll continue to reciprocate this love

one could only hope

but

for right now

i'm not giving up

I love you in a place where there's no space or time
I love you for in my life you are a friend of mine
And when my life is over
Remember when we were together
We were alone and I was singing this song for you

©Donny Hathaway

Now that's love


Birds of a feather flock together
But chickens don’t fly
They eat they own sh*t and die
Don’t be affiliated
©Nas

oooh now that's love 2. lol

"...now they call me crazy Joe"

Can I get an updated version of Lean on Me...I know it exists


let's see...

there's Mrs. Ina Gex Who saw potential in the midst of everything. Rest in peace.

Ms. Stephens who started the spark in History

Coach Green who challenged me to think

Ms. Dennis who gave the time to nurture my spirit

Mr. Richard who taught me the meaning of "oh what tangled webs we've weaved. When first we practice to deceive" well not really. after the school year he joined the clergy...lol but u know what i mean

Ooh Ms. Cassimere who taught me discipline...she had my ass in lunch detention almost everyday lol

haha Mr. Stewart. i still don't know where that accent came from

so yeah, I had a couple of Michelle Pfeiffer and Hilary swanks through out my days...but oh, if it wasn’t for Mr. and Mrs. Joe Clark.


Thanks