Check out this event: Philly Flavor
Current mood: blessed

Hosted By: Quiet Rage www.soundclick.com/quietrage
When: Saturday Mar 15, 2008
at 7:00 PM
Where: The Nuyorican Poets Cafe
236 East 3rd street (btw B& C )
New York City, New York|33 10009
United States
Description:
Quiet Rage www.soundclick.com/quietrage

Click Here To View Event

12:50 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

I cannot wait!
Current mood: anxious
Category: Music

These are the kind of shows that I love doing the most. Because as much as I love to spit on stage for people who are really listening to what we have to say? I really love being a part of a show where being a spectator is even more exciting.

Lyraspect is a lyrical beast! Her passion is unrivaled.

My little sister Rienne is so hard and gritty she paints a sonic landscape of reality and pain.

Without a doubt, one of my artisitic heroes besides The Last Poets, Me'chel and Gil Scott HEron is the insane genious Bernard Collins. He is the epitome of artistry and pure talent.

Now...( drum roll please) RhapsodE? The Headliner of this show? I know that she is the future of the spoken word movement. RhapsodE is the perfect package. She sings as if the breath of heaven fills her lungs. Her spoken word poetry will move a rock to tears! I'm far from a woman but sometimes she makes me feel guilty for not being one! RhapsodE,  Yup..I don't mean to sound sexist but DAMN ! She is fine too! 

This show is going to make you cry, laugh, enraged, and every other emotion in between. Just like I said in the heading..I can't wait to see this show! Oh, and Quiet Rage will be there too..LMAO 

10:08 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

This show will be scorching
Current mood: cheerful
Category: Music

This show that we are doing with KOP on Saturday is exciting. It's one of the first successful "themed" spoken soul concert series. KOP in his freakiness/brilliance has come up with a concept that really works. Love and eroticism..two of the foundations of poetry and somewhere in time, politics, and hip-hop machismo it's been lost. I don't care what scholar drones on about, the first poems had to be about sex and love. Because the only thing that men think about is giving love to get sex and women think about giving sex to get love. Thus, the foundation and inspiration for the first poets. ( yup, I'm totally bullshitting right now, but I'm on a roll, so please don't interject any logic )

Love & Erotic poetry?

I know Quiet Rage is more than guilty of sometimes forgetting the Quiet part of our moniker ( although in our defense with all this crazy shit happening in this world it's really hard to sit back and reflect artistically on the softer things in life).  Although on the real? We've been to several of KOP shows and him giving us the opportunity to perform at one with Lamar Hill is a real blessing. I attached a copy of the flyer to this blog, just in case you are one of the few people who didn't hear about it. I hope to see you ( yes, YOU) at the show on Saturday. I'm not really a club kinda cat but the afterparty at Tragos sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. ( Well, my liver might disagree.. but hey?)

p.s. What the hell is a podcast enclosure?

A Sugar Bear & Dap Stallion Production

( A Valentines Day Special Edition)

Rahnda Rize

Hosted by: Mr. Sam I Am

Saturday, February 10, 2007 | 8 P.M.- 11:30 P.M.

Location: Rotunda ( 40^th & Walnut Street)

$20 cover|Sweet Treats by Denise Bakery

Vision-267-249-9926|Shuga Bear - 267-804-3544|Damali-267-241-1787

5:16 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

The frustration was worth it!!
Current mood: artistic
Category: tired Music

After busting our asses to find the right cats to play with, it has worked out great! These guys are super creative, dedicated, professional and grimy! Just like I imagined a group with my ignorant ass should be. We are having our first debut next week. We will be doing a small 3 or 4 song charity event in Wilmington DE. this Friday. The entire show will be insane and it is for charity so I really hope you can make it. ( You can check the details out on our page)  However the main show will be next week. I enclosed the press release so you can please RSVP and make it out for free. This will be the show that they will be talking about for some time, so I hope you will be there to make history with us.

Damali

World premiere of Quiet Rage's live band debut

Additional info: www.myspace.com/quiet_rg or www.phillypoets.com

10:37 AM - 10 Comments - 16 Kudos - Add Comment

I am so damn frustrated!
Current mood: frustrated
Category: Music

I think I am gettin frustrated.

I have been calling, begging, and pleading for some talented singers and musicians to join our family. Vision and I really want to take spoken word to another level by mixing our style with a live band. The problem is that most musicians lack the foresight, creativity or desire to mix spoken word with music. Neo-soul? Musicians cant wait to play that cliche boom..rim shot..boom boom boom...rim shot. Rock? Hey! Everybody on some level wants to be a rock star. But hardcore spoken word? Laugh after laugh after laugh. I know my vision ( no pun intended) for a hardcore spoken word musical group will be the shit! Rage against the Machine meets Public enemy with a Black Star & Dead Prez vibe? Even if we never made a dime, do you know how much fun creating that kind of anarchy would be? We are probably one of the hardest working ( ok well at least we used to be) fearless, balls to the walls tandems in this business and all we want is a talented band to be the same and Im getting frustrated.. We have a great drummer, Grant Whitaker with real ( not one of those home Pro- tools ass holes who just because they can tap a few beats on a MPC and play two chords on their keyboard they think that they are the next Neptunes) recording engineering skills and three hot singers Sherod, Chole, and Joy. We cant find a talented bass player or guitar player yet and its frustrating! My vision ( again no pun intended) was also to include a live DJ on the ones and twos but Im having so many problems just putting this part together, I think I might have to wait a while for that. I am getting frustrated!

Quiet Rage has lost their most important and unseen arm of their trinity, Nalani. Because of that our infrastructure has been decimated. The decimated infrastructure is why we havent been posting on blogs, boards, e-mails or making phone calls nearly as much as we use to. We are seriously sorry if we havent been as communicative as we used to. We lost everything and its like trying to drive a Lamborghini with no fucking brakes. We are going to be excellent, its just going to take some time and we appreciate all the patience that people have been showing us. Dont get me wrong, they are still a lot of you out there selfishly worrying about your shows, projects etc and giving me shit about it, but I still love all of you. Did I mention that I am getting frustrated?

I decided to start a huge project, although I have no infrastructure. ( No infrastructure means that we are about as organized as 12 retards trying to hump a door knob) I understand this sounds insane and completely stupid as unholy hell but I set goals for myself and I cant let myself down. I cant go into details yet but I promise you this will be the most talked about and ambitious project that my spoken word world has ever witnessed. In order to go ahead with this project I have to have this band created and functioning so I can make this project a reality. In order to pull this off, its going to be very time sensitive. Time just like my money is quickly running out. Did I mention that I am getting frustrated 

I havent touched a keyboard or guitar, or worked on a beat in months. All of those things were stolen from me when I lost Nalani. Im in total chaotic limbo artistically and I dont know how it is for you other artists but imagine all of your creative outlets stolen from you over night. Poets, imagine you lost your hands and couldnt write poetry anymore. Singers & rappers, imagine waking up and your voice was completely gone for months with no restoration of your voice foreseen for months to come. Dancers with a broken leg..Thespians with no stage...pot heads with all the marijuana fields burned up..that is what its like to be a musician with no instrument. I am getting frustrated!

Love life? It couldnt get more pathetic lately...

I AM FUCKING FRUSTRATED!!!

Damali

9:21 PM - 17 Comments - 22 Kudos - Add Comment

Atlanta Pt. 2 - The Prequel, Sequel & Miscellaneous stuff

I have to start this blog by saying Paul Mooney is the funniest person on the face of this earth. I'll follow that up by saying the Red Hot Chili Pepper's new CD is on another level. I mention both Paul Mooney, and the Chili Peppers because they helped us get to Atlanta and back.

Friday was a blur. After work (yes, I still have the flippin 9-5, damn you Damali . . . I'm mad jealous), I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get things set up for the trip. Had to hustle to get the rental car, make sure the room was still set up, and pack (yea, yea, yea I should've packed on Thursday but I was out at Dowlings with 5thL until about 1:30am). Time was of the essence because not only did we have to make sure we had everything we needed, we also had to hit the studio with Traycee Lynn (Damali is producing the album, and I'm featured on one of the tracks, Your Actions <---- Shameless plug) from 6-Midnight. After a great studio session, Damali and I set forth on a whirlwind adventure like Shrek and Donkey (I guess I'm Shrek since I'm taller, and Damali is Donkey since quite frankly he is indeed a jackass), with Reuben Jones and Cali Starks to the ATL! We left the studio around 12:15 a.m. We didn't actually get out of Philly untl 2:45 a.m. thanks to the roadwork being done right outside of the Philly Airport (Thanks PennDOT, we appreciate it!!!). But we can't give all the credit to PennDOT, there was more roadwork being done in Maryland right outside of D.C. which sent us the long way to Richmond through some desolate road. I admit, I did about 85mph the entire time. If a cop wanted to pull me over on that road, he would've been following me to Richmond because I damn sure wasn't pulling over on THAT road (I saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre, AND Mississippi Burning and I don't want to be a Homicidal Maniac's or a racist Sheriff's Christmas Ornament).

The trip to Atlanta has a nice stretch of cities that you have to pass through. Bmore, D.C., Richmond, Petersburg, Durham, Greensboro, Charlotte, Greenville, Atlanta... Next time, we'll have to stop through each city and spit (note to the blog readers that reside in any of those cities, hit me up and let's make this happen <---- shameless networking attempt which required it's own paragraph even though it has nothing to do with the blog).

(blog continued) We arrived in Atlanta around 3:00pm. I'd love to tell you how Cali and Reuben initiated mentally stimulating conversations through out the trip, but those bastards basically slept the entire trip. lol. They'd wake up in the middle of Damali and I talking, add 5 mins of dialogue, and dose back off into a coma. We dropped Cali off at his house, and went to the hotel. After getting about 12 hours of sleep, Reuben felt the need to take a shower, so he made a b-line to the bathroom in the room. Damali's triflin ass forgot to pack socks and underwear so I took him to Target which was right down the road. Immediately, we realized there was something about us that looked different because people were staring at us like we had Klan sheets on. It was cool though, because while I'm not sure why exactly they were staring, 90% of the women were fine so I'll take the attention and just assume it was for good reasons. At the checkout, Damali and I saw the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th wonders of the world. Please don't take this the wrong way because I don't mean to objectify, but the cashier at the checkout had the biggest butt I've ever saw on a human being. Scratch that, on any living being. Smarty Jones would've looked at her and got jealous. Damali and I just were in awe. I wanted to buy some trail mix and see if the ass would eat it. It was amazing. It looked like she had two Volkswagon Beetles jammed in her back pocket. I had to break eye contact with it because I didn't want the ass to see me looking at it and get mad at me.

After getting back to the hotel, we took a three hour nap, got up, got showered, dressed, and headed to the venue. I won't talk about that, because Damali summed it up really well (read previous blog). But I will say that it was an experience I'll never forget.

After the show, we linked up with a group from Orlando at the Waffle House but didn't stay long. We were gonna sit down and eat, but then saw a roach just chillin the counter. I wasn't sure if he was panhandling, relaxing, or getting ready to order. Either way, it was time to go. The group went to another Waffle House, but unfortunately we couldn't find it. We went to this diner instead, and get a mountain of seafood for really cheap.

We knew we weren't going to be able to get up and out of the hotel at 11am, so we got the checkout pushed back to 1pm. You would think with an extra 2 hours get the hell out, we would've been on time. But if you know us, you know that didn't happen & it was ALL REUBEN'S FAULT. Okay, so I'm lying.

From the hotel, we went downtown in Atlanta to check out the city. Let's just say, I understand why people go to Atlanta and never come the hell back. I'll just leave it at that. We went to Underground Atlanta. For Philly folks, it's like The Gallery and South Street rolled into one. For those that aren't from Philly, it's a really cool underground mall and social area with restaurants and clubs. You would've thought Damali was watching a tennis match the way his head kept swinging back and forth to look at the beautiful women. Reuben had to Tourettes Syndrome cause all you heard was "Damn, damn, DAMN!!" We chilled there for a while trying to figure out if we wanted to stay until the evening to hit up another poetry show, but ultimately decided to hit the road around 3:00pm.

The trip back was a lot smoother. We listened to the Chili Peppers CD, then followed that by listening to two Paul Mooney stand ups. Damali and I couldn't stop laughing. Paul Mooney for those who don't know him, is the guy on Chappelle Show who does Ask a Black Dude, & Negrodamus. He use to write for Richard Pryor, and his stand up almost made me crash since I was laughing so hard. Of course Reuben slept damn near the entire time back too (with the exception of thise crazy ass conversation we had about oppressors which was deep, and made us all look at each ourselves). We made a few pit stops along the way to get a grub (and Damali bought a few bottles of Cisco since they don't sell it in PA - no we didn't drink it... YET!) We got back to Philly around 1:30am (thanks to the guys on I-95 with the radar detectors who we followed).

I can't front, the trip was brutal. That was a long ass drive. But, it's a drive D and I will be making a few times of year now. Atlanta is incredible. From the culture, to the people, to the food (with the exception of the roach, egg, and cheese sandwiches they were making at the Waffle House). I look forward to hitting up I-95 and I-85 really soon. In fact, we've started making plans to come back down with Rhapsody to add more Philly Phlavor to the South. To our friends in ATL, be on the look out for Philly poets on the horizon.

9:15 AM - 5 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

Atlanta
Category: Writing and Poetry

Well, its around 9:00 A.M. and I am experiencing a weird mixture of feelings at this moment. We were featured last night at a poetry festival here in Atlanta. It was some of the greatest poets from all over the country all in one spot. They had poets coming as far as San Diego and Las Vegas to Florida and New Orleans. I believe that QR, Rueben and Taalam were the only north eastern poets in the place. It was really exciting to perform with Georgia Me, Queen Sheba, Tommy Bottoms, and The Abyss. Another really cool thing was sitting at the table and busting it up with God father of the modern spoken word movement, creator of the Nuyorican SlamMr. Keith Roach and his lovely wife Sheila. My favorite part of this festival was finally meeting a poetess named Felicious who has been showing us major love. The remarkable thing is that last night was the first time we actually met face to face and she has been supporting us and nurturing us off the strength of her beautiful heart via e-mails and telephone. She really is a remarkable person and a lovely spirit. All in all, it was about 3 hours of pure love and poetry and I loved every minute of it. It really helped me to realize how blessed that I am to be a part of something so culturally significant and spiritually cleansing.

Now, dont get me wrong. Most poets if you ask them if they were nervous would quickly say something politically correct like " nah man, its all about the art and being you". Bullshit! These cats all came out to prove how hot they were and push product. I swear that there were more people there selling CDs and books than there were consumers. So, if you wanted to push product and make some gas money to get home with, you had to be on top of your game. I saw my share of people get up on stage last night and crack under pressure. I cant say that I blame them because those who were hot like Taalam, Sheba etc. were searing hot. Those who were not? Had to find an ATM that dispenses five dollars for gas money. QR never really performed with that many nationally and internationally recognized poets before so it was an incredible intimidating. Well, at least until we went into the parking lot and Vision started breaking down the expenses and how we had better get up off of our asss and push some units.

I really thought that it was going to be an uphill battle because although we were featured, most people never heard of us. So a lot of the promoters were looking at us very skeptically. The fact that we pulled up in front of the event fashionably late in a hot ass ride (rented) music blazing (black star) and Im wearing sun glasses at night like some star( allergies and lack of sleep) didnt help matters. Taalam killed it as usual and was one the only one I noticed that was able to push units to this crowd. So, when we hit the stage, I didnt think we would have a snowballs chance in hell of making a dent in this crowd. Dont get me wrong, the crowd was fantastic but when you have that many artists and poets under one roof, they are only going to purchase their CDs from the best of the best.

The first piece we did was Camouflaged Cartels. This piece went over moderately because we went on directly after Tommy Bottoms and he had just finished saying something about " Fuck you..Pay Me!" Georgia Me and Sheba were singing praises to his name for 10 minutes after his performance about how he ( Tommy Bottoms) had been the originator of that quote and some rapper should be paying him for it. This is Atlanta and Tommy Bottoms is Mr. Atlanta so when we get on stage and the first thing Vision did was correct everybody that the saying originated from the movie "Good Fellas", they werent mad but definitely a little stand offish. So we ripped into the piece Yada... Yada... Yada...we got the polite poetry hand claps. Cool, we knew that we had to step it up a little to win the crowd back. So we tore into " I will never forget" giving them the full package of yelling, whispers, animation, reflection, standing on our heads, dry humping the hostess etc. and when we done we actually had a small standing ovation. Whew! Tough ass crowd...we usually perform " We Declare" A.K.A. (The nigga piece) as our swan song. However, the crowd consisted of about 85% women. So we decided to try our new piece " She wont speak" ending the set on a low instead of a high. We have a rule that we never perform big gigs with new material until it has been thoroughly tested, demographically categorized and proven that I wont fuck my lines up to all levels of unholy hell. So we have no money, no CD sales, tons of competition ( to sell CDs) and in addition, we have our mentor Taalam, the most powerful man in the spoken word movement Keith Roach, and for the first time seeing us perform Queen Sheba, Georgia Me, and The Abyss watching and listening intently. Yup, just a little bit of pressure...so we get started. First I see Georgia Me crying from the stage, and then Sheba having to leave. I see an ocean of big heads staring at the floor shaking their domes "No" with sadness and pain. This slow piece was actually working! Yada..Yada...Yada.. We finished up and received an enthusiastic standing ovation! ( It was like that last scene in Purple Rain when Prince sang that slow ass Purple Rain song that Wendy & Lisa wrote and won the difficult crowd over) Sooo we went on to push a mad amount of CDs, signed autographs, networked like a motherfucker, and generally had a great time. We tried to hook up with some beautiful poetesss from Florida who asked us to meet them at the Waffle house off the first exit. The problem is that in Georgia you cant swing a dead cat by the tail and not hit a fucking Waffle House. So we couldnt find them, my Long Island Ice Tea was making the dark side surface and I was hungry as hell. Besides, the only guys they were really digging was smooth ass Reuben from Renaissance Media and the pretty boy Vision.

Well, its the next day and the reason why I am going through so many mixed emotions is that I had to quit working on a recording project with the sweetest friend I have. I feel kind of stupid because I love her to death and she really only sees me as a buddy. ( I guess I do too) The only thing is, I dont know why it feels like I just broke up with a girlfriend? I should be feeling ecstatic and basking in the greatness of what I was blessed enough to experience last night but I feel really low and depressed. Thus the mixed feelings I was talking about in the beginning of this blog. I love being on the road but I really cant wait to get back to Philly and throw myself into my work again. I want to start producing some new artists and finish solidifying the consolidation of Dap Stallion Productions.

7:42 AM - 15 Comments - 26 Kudos - Add Comment

Cornell University
Current mood: contemplative
Category: Blogging

Its been a long time...such a long time....too long of a time..since we last hit up this blog. I wouldnt even know where to begin trying to catch things up. I guess I can recap a few major things before I begin pontificating about our week Well, the college tour came to an end at Cornell University. The turn out was modest because we were booked the same night as an explicit fashion show and fetish party. Now, I wont lie..a healthy contingent of the performance poets were a little pissed and disappointed that the students would rather see mindless bimbos prancing around in their draws down a runway than the mind altering nourishment we had to offer them. On the real? If I was still 19 I would rather see a bunch of hot half dressed women "working it" down the runway than a bunch of enlightened self righteous poets any day of the week my damn self. The show was fantastic due largely to the incredible ensemble and the new musical element fused into the show. RhapsodEs angelic vocals and Traycee Lynn actually showing her insanely incredibly talents by playing the piano while singing were show stoppers. Reuben pulling a gorgeous student from out of the audience and spitting a love poem gazing into her eyes while RhapsodE covered the Cindy Lauper classic True Colors bought many jealous women to tears. It was no shock to anyone that after the show during our reception dinner a large flock of nubile doe eyed college tasties invited us guys back to their rooms for booze and partying. Naturally since we are all enlightened brothers of the spoken word we politely declined. Yup, you guessed it, Im bull shitting you! Free booze? Poets are on the lowest ring of the artistic economic ladder. Hell, we have to steal the crumbs off of starving artists plates! Now, we have a saying on the road.."what happens on the road stays on the road". So I cannot divulge too much of what happened in the young ladies apartments. I will say that I met some seriously interesting characters, music that I thought was fucking incredible, and offers of the most vast array of hallucinogenic and narcotic based drugs I have ever seen in my life. (And that is seriously saying something) Well, these girls could really party and I was throwing back huge gulps of Belvedere Vodka with a champagne chaser and just enough marijuana to even me out. None of the ladies from the show came with us to this little after party soir. They all decided to go back to the hotel room and get some sleep. I felt soooo guilty that I tried to call them and apologize, b ut every time my head came up some girl was handing me a drink. The music kept getting louder and my boys were all in the zone. So, while I did feel guilty, I got over it relatively quick. In fact, I was having a really great time until a bunch of the young ladies wanted us to go out into the woods and continue the party out there. Now, I am far from being the brightest brother on earth but I sobered up quick as shit when they tried to get us to do that. Check this out, as a black man? Im not too crazy about the woods at night if I was ice cold sober with all my faculties and a G.P.S. system in my ass .Four black men a gang of drunken and stoned white girls and enough narcotics between them to stunt the 5^th Naval fleet in the middle of the woods in upstate NY at 2:00 A.M.? FUCK THAT!!! I made every provision for a hasty and immediate ghetto retreat. ( Gather up bottles of their booze and weed) and bounced the hell on up out of their. Damn, I had a really good time that night. Everything else was pretty uneventful with the lone exception of the roadside hillbilly gas station that we stopped at straight from a scene in Deliverance. Picture two good of boy hillbillies with fourteen teeth between them blasting some redneck song with the most memorable hook I had ever heard. " Well, I been drinking all day and drinking all night but my wife is still drunker than me" ( sung in pure inbred country folk melodies) I swear those redneck bastards charged us double for everything that we purchased. 7-11 on its worse night in Beverly Hills doesnt charge $3 for a pack of gum or candy bars. The look that the hill billy had on his face was pure unadulterated disgust. Almost as disgusted as Bernard Collins looked when we ran out of Jelly BostonKreme donuts..almost.

Well, we made it home safe and sound with little to no problems. It was a real learning experience for me. I was subjected to the most diverse tastes in Hip-Hop music ever and developed a few more grains of hope that there is still some good Hip-Hop music out there. I met some fascinating people from the party girls to RhapsodEs sweet grand mother. I learned that bunking with Just Gregg was hard because he snored. I learned that there a few things hotter than Lyraspect performing one of her fiery "Fuck the USA" pieces in her baby Tee that rides just enough when she pledges allegiance to the flag on her knees to catch a cool glimpse of her cute little belly button. I learned that no matter what my fellow poetic brothers and sisters say, Southern Crunk music is the worse rapping, dumbest ass beated ignorant topicd, redundant themed, crock of pathetic musical shit Ive ever been forced to listen to. I learned that I used to have a huge crush on Traycee Lynn until I found out about her violent streak and her abusive past towards other women. I learned that you should never let Vision be in charge of splitting the rooms because he gets his own room every time. I learned that sometimes I can be so fucking ignorant that it hurts. This was one of the greatest road trips I have taken so far and I learned that I love the hell out of everyone that I shared it with.

5:20 PM - 9 Comments - 9 Kudos - Add Comment

The Inevitable

I guess I should be mad because Quiet Rage has just been judged unfairly.  Actually, maybe I should be happy because this means we're really on people's minds and we're even closer to "making it" (whatever the hell that means).  Oddly enough, I'm indifferent.  For the first time EVER, we (Damali & Vision, the entity that makes up Quiet Rage) were called sell-outs.  And by another poet to boot.  (guys don't ask me to tell who said it.  Just know that he's no longer in Philly, and most of the younger poets wouldn't know him if I said his name anyway - ah f*** it, his name is Mike!).  I'll give the background, and then post what he wrote.

This Friday, we're doing a show at Hibachi for a good friend & supporter Chaka.  Chaka throws events for young adults who are tired of the same old same old club scene.  His events usually don't have the knuckleheads that like to start fights and shoot up the club, and quite frankly, for those who want to go out, it's a nice alternative to a lot of the Philly clubs and/or lounges.  Chaka is trying to incorporate spoken word & jazz into his events to broaden the horizons of his audience (kudos for that, he could just as easily lean with it, rock with it all night long).  Unfortunately, the event costs $20-$25 to get in.  We (Quiet Rage) were able to secure tickets to sell at a discounted rate ($15) for people who want to come, but can't afford the $25.  Is it a huge discount?  No!  But it's a start.  We've been pumping this event for a while now.  We've also been promoting another event we're doing that night at Lava Space for a friend Samantha Barrow who is an excellent poet.  The event is a benefit performance (Monica McIntyre and Felicia Webster will also be performing), and we'll be getting ZERO dollars from this event.  It's all love!

Okay, on to his email:

From:  poet
Date:	May 18, 2006 2:22 PM Flag spam/abuse. [ ? ]
Subject:	RE: Summer Eve Affair: Quiet Rage performance & After Party
Body:	This is silly. You guys will preach like you're for the people and still have no problems playin a show for 15, 20, or 25 bucks and shuttin the poor people out. It's a shame that more people these days don't back up what they preach.

Honestly, I was shocked when I received it.  Not really upset, or mad, just shocked.  It took me off guard.  So of course I had to reply:

Date:	May 18, 2006 2:46 PM
Subject:	RE: RE: Summer Eve Affair: Quiet Rage performance & After Party
Body:	Guess it doesn't matter that we're doing a benefit that night FOR FREE. Guess it doesn't matter that we're not getting a nickle for the performance at Hibachi (helping out yet another friend) either. Guess it doesn't matter that we were able to get discounted tickets for people who couldn't do $25. All you saw was EVENT, and $25. Maybe you should ask a few questions before you judge us next time.

I wasn't really happy with this response though.  After I sent it, I was mad at myself.  So I sent another:

Date:	May 18, 2006 2:55 PM
Subject:	and MORE
Body:	you know what, I laughed at this at first, but then it really made me think of the mindset of people. God forbid we play ONE show a year that charges this much, for a different crowd. Bringing our message to a crowd who will never hear poetry, let alone CONSCIOUS poetry. Nah, I guess we should just keep doing the same venues, that bring in the SAME people. Yea, preaching to the choir works really well. Furthermore, we're the ones doing shows in the MIDDLE OF THE STREET (be it 17th and Walnut, Broad and Spruce, South Streetor the Clothespin) for FREE taking the message TO the people. Nah, but we're not down for the cause because we're doing a show for $15. That makes a lot of sense. Dude, I can seriously go on, and on, and on about the things we do FOR FREE, FOR THE PEOPLE, but it's neither here nor there since you've pre-judged us for doing ONE show. No one volunteers their time like we do in classrooms, workshops, after school programs, Girls & Boys clubs, Big Brother clubs, or just finding kids on the street who need positive black men to look up to & inviting them to poetry events (and paying their way if there's a cover charge). But I guess it's better for the people if we just do poetry events in free venues for other poets who think like us. No way should our message be taken to a large audience. Mike, I have a lot of respect for you because of your no holds barred attitude. Besides that, you were the first person to ever feature me, and for that I thank you. But you are completely off base here, and flat out WRONG. Next time, ask what's going on before making accusations. - Vision

I didn't write this blog to try to get props for what we do.  I believe like Chris Rock said "stop bragging on shit you're suppose to do."  We never mention the volunteer work.  When someone asks us to do something, we're almost always there (except if Damali has gout, I crash and burn coming down off caffeine highs, or Nalani double books).  We come out of our pocket to support people constantly (gas is $3.09/gallon - and the NJT train to NYC is $15 bucks.  Then there's metro cards . . .) but get judge for one event.  If this is the case, I guess we'll never completely be "for the people" because I refuse to just spit for a select group of people who other artists deem smart enough to comprehend.  THAT is elitist in nature, and anti-for the people (okay I know, I just made up a word/phrase).

I just started a poem earlier this week and there's a line in it that I feel is very relevant to today's events.  "I'm not God's gift to poetry, poetry is God's gift."  It's time we actually take our message to people who need to hear it, and out of just poetry clubs.  If we're sell-outs for not having an elitist attitude, so be it.  But I thank you Mike.  Thanks for the inspiration.  I'm sure a real good poem will come from this.

12:05 PM - 15 Comments - 18 Kudos - Add Comment

Glory's Air, Harlem Air, Fresh Poetic Air, and Airing N*ggas out

"Funny how time flies when you're having fun" - Janet Jackson

The last few weeks have been a blur.  Okay, I admit, the last year and some change has been a blur.  We've partied with the Tiffany Bacon, Bunmi and the rest of the Headline Theatre squad, made a couple Spoken Soul Tour stops, helped a good friend highlight his visual art with some spoken word, helped out with a Teen Slam, and more importantly, Damali was able to get drunk at a couple of these functions without making a complete ass of himself (notice the word "complete").  The highlight of all of this may have been the trip to Harlem last night.  Let's rehash shall we (plays Masterpiece Theater music, sticks pinky in the air, and sips earl grey tea).

The two spoken soul shows we had were fun.  The show at GW started out a little rough since wires got crossed, & directions were screwed up (which led to a few new "How Comes" picking on Reuben who was driving - How come Rube can't follow directions no matter how much his map costs, How come we could give his ass a satellite and he'd still get lost).  The crowd at GW was intimate, and the energy was great.  The coolest part about the trip was the monitors in the room.  All through out the room, there were television monitors up displaying famous African American poets.  Talk about pressure.  We premiered a new piece with Paul Laurence Dunbar, Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes and Nikki G. starring at us.

From there we went to West Chester and rocked a show with Gab Guma and the Tangible Truth.  Honestly, there's not much I can say about this because words would do the show no justice.  When you get a bunch of talented writers, singers, and musicians in one room to perform, you get magic.  You'll just have to be at the next one.

One of the two highlights of the past few weeks was easily the Official Philadelphia Teen Slam hosted by Just Greg.  Talk about talent.  One by one, poets hit the stage ages ranging from 13-19 and ripped the mic apart, all for a chance to represent the city of Philadelphia in the National Teen Slam competition.  At the end of the night, three poetic gladiators were in the finals, Rienne (little sister), Ben (new little brother), and Mia (who I didn't get a chance to build with just yet).  All three brought the heat, and at the end of the night, Ben was the champion with Rienne coming in second.  Both of them get automatic bids to represent Team Philly in NYC this April.  All I can say about that night is DAMN!  There were several older poets in the crowd such as Shyster, Sam I Am, Rhapsody, Reuben, Traycee Lynne, and k.d. Morris who were all enthralled at what they saw that evening.  I now realize two things.  With young warriors like this, the future is in good hands.  Also, the future of Philadelphia spoken word, and art in general will be in GREAT hands.

Brother Earl is the man.  I met him a last year at the Red Bull Word Clash in North Carolina.  He hosts the Sugar Shack in Harlem, and we've (we meaning Me, Jake, Amun, and Just Greg) have been trying to get him to come to Philly for the longest.  This past Tuesday, I got a call from him saying he was coming through with his son, and did we have a place for him to spit.  It just so happened this was the same night as my dear friend, and neo-poetic matriarch Glory was featuring at The Heat (WHERE YOU AT????).  Talk about your ducks lining up in a row.  Glory did the damn thing that night.  She was so humble up on stage sharing her work, and I'm proud to say the Philly community came out in droves to support her.  I was glad that Brother Earl came down on a night like that, so he could experience the Philly love, and witness the Philly solidarity.  It just so happened he ripped his set.

Quiet Rage loves returning favors.  So since Brother Earl ripped The Heat, we saw fit we should return the favor.  So we rolled out Philly style.  QR, accompanied by Rhapsody, Traycee Lynn, and Lyrispect got our ass in Damali's Jeep, and hit I-95.  Initially, we were a little disappointed by the turn out at Sugar Shack.  The normal heavy hitters weren't there including Cetty, weren't there.  Nevertheless, the poets were dope.  Even Emma Benn, who's from Philly, but going to school in NYC showed up to absolutely wreck it.  Rhapsody went up to spit "Black Love," Traycee spit "Quietly Insane," and Lyrispect spit "Catch My Drift" (we got ripped from the banks of Africa, now I'm at the Bank of America trying to cash my reperations, and all I got was a reality check - WHOA!).  It seemed like as soon as we sat down, the vibe changed.  A few "hiphop" heads rolled through, and started getting loud in the crowd.  Brotha Earl did his best to quiet them down, and after a while it was their turn to spit.

It's funny how the Creator works.  As soon as the "hiphop" (take note of the quotation marks) cats started to spit, Cetty rolled in.  It was almost like divine intervention.  The emcee explained that he was just signed to Universal Records, and his entourage equipted with cameras, and their best dickeating compliments and gestures went nuts.  He opened his mouth to spit, and through two pieces, and 8 minutes, said absolutely nothing.  Words came out, sound was made, but honestly he didn't say sh*t for 8 straight minutes.  Of course all the cliche words were there including, but not limited to, "the block," "rocks," "ice," "bitches," "head," and "murk."  He totally f*cked the vibe up.  People started to leave, and the ones that didn't started to text message other people.  Brotha Earl got on the mic and in a nut shell, told them, we don't want to hear that dumb sh*t on the mic.  If you're going to touch the mic, have some skills, or at least a respect for the artform.  The crowd went nuts.  Brotha Earl then called up Cetty, who completely ripped into his ass artistically doing a piece on derogatory words, their impact, significance, and who profits from it. Basically, he made the "signed emcee" look ridiculous.

The "emcee" that followed Cetty, sadly, made the "signed emcee" look like KRS-1.  He proclaimed he was the savior of the east coast, and it just made me think of Mar Hill's quote in "Eyes Free," some people are so far behind, they actually believe they're leading. But of course, his squad went crazy.  Add the above words his friend spit, with no delivery, stage presence, or any inkling of talent, and perhaps you'll begin to understand how much he sucked.  As he was "spitting", I was itching to get back on stage to follow up on Cetty's vibe.  Quiet Rage has taken it to Destiny's Child for their bullsh*t message, so we were itching to get a chance to check this brotha.  Cetty smashed the other emcee, so we wanted to feast on his friend.  Brotha Earl called us up, and we did "The Thin Line," our dedication to bullsh*t hiphop.  I almost lost my voice spitting it because I was so hyped.  We took turns scanning the room, looking into the "emcees" eyes, and their entourage, and spit the piece with vigor.  The crowd went nuts.  Within ten minutes of us spitting the piece, the entire crew cleared the venue.  If any of you are reading this, make sure you go back to "the block" and let your followers know you got eaten up by a bunch of poets.  I'm sure that will do wonders for your street cred.

At around midnight, we hit the road to get back to Philly.  During the course of the trip, we managed to get on the wrong highway, get lost in Paterson NJ, yet had some ill ass conversations.  Topics included lesbians, the spiritual world, lesbians, the after life, lesbians, the Philly poetry scene, lesbians, politics, lesbians, gay women, geo-political corruption, homosexual women, cultural imperialism, heterosexually challenged women, bisexual women, and global thermo-nuclear war.  Somehow, Damali always managed to get the topic back to lesbians (good job D!).

I didn't lay my head down in my room until about 3am, and had to be back up at 7am so I could prepare for a staff meeting.  Thank God for Red Bull and ambition.  They drives us.

- Vision

11:58 AM - 12 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment