May 25, 2007 by info.

The Herald and I give local reggae stalwarts Inner Circle and their studio Circle House the full multimedia treatment today: video, audio, radio report, photos, and yes a story. This is what it’s like being a reporter in the new media age: wearer of many hats.

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May 21, 2007 by info.

In today’s Herald, I report that the ACLU will be sending observers to South Beach to monitor the cops Memorial Day weekend, after last year’s record number of arrests. We’ll be providing more Mem Day coverage, including a Weekend guide and story on Circle House and Inner Circle Friday.

I also reviewed Saturday’s horrible Bebel Gilberto show, which was alleviated somewhat by Federico Aubele’s opening act and Friday’s fun Sidestepper show — all part of the JVC Jazz Festival.

After spending Friday afternoon at Circle House and night at the North Beach Bandshell, for Sidestepper, I had one of those moments where I really appreciate living in Miami — North America’s Caribbean city.

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May 10, 2007 by info.

the Pope.

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May 10, 2007 by info.

Verizon lost. Read my Herald review here.

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May 9, 2007 by info.

It’s not easy being a feminist pop music fan these days, what with right-wing TV pundits railing against black artists under the guise of paternalistic protection of women. I can’t side with someone against rap misogyny when they’re also anti-choice — which, make no mistake, most of the Fox News crew is. That said, it will be interesting to attend Gwen Stefani’s concert tonight in the wake of the Akon/Verizon controversy. There are a lot of layers to this issue. On the one hand, Akon clearly crossed lines of acceptable behavior in his handling of a female fan in Trinidad. It’s not the raunchiness of his behavior I object to; it’s the roughness, the way he pushed the 15-year-old around. The fact she has complained of the way she was treated is significant; this was not consensual. On the other hand, I don’t want to play into the racism of commentators who call Akon a rapper just because he’s black; Akon’s a singer. I’m tired of the media jumping on hip-hop for reflecting larger social ills. As tired as I am of casual pop misogyny.

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April 16, 2007 by info.

Imus was fired first and foremost because he’s a racist. If he had only called the heroic women of Rutgers ho’s, he might have gotten suspended, but I doubt — unfortunately — there would have been such a brouhaha. By adding the phrase “nappy-headed” to his producer’s “ho” diss, Imus went way way too far, in most people’s minds. He added a general, obvious racist stereotype to the merely racially inflected misogyny. Big mistake.

So it’s been somewhat amazing to see the dialogue continue over the use of the word ho’s, and Imus’s comments boomerang back to the rap community. On the one hand, I think it’s wrong to blame Imus’s racism on rap; in that sense I agree with Russell Simmons. On the other hand, not even Russell can deny that many rappers have long had a problem with sexism. And since racism, sexism, and all other prejudices are inevitably inextricably linked, I’m happy to see the discussion of hate language continue.

Meanwhile, black women are taking on and tackling hip-hop machismo in other ways. The Village Voice has a fascinating cover story this week on AGs, gay women who adopt thug styles. And in her great video for “Like a Boy”, R&B singer Ciara — a woman who’s been previously sadly known to do the usual on-the-floor video grovel — struts it like a G magnificently.

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April 12, 2007 by info.

Alanis Morissette has apparently had it with female artists’ capitulation to male objectification in music videos, judging by her hilarious and poignant spoof of Fergie’s “My Humps,” which is a You Tube must-see. I’ve never been a fan of the jagged little pill before, but this time, she hits the nail head-on. And I don’t think she’s just dissing the younger artist as a usurper to the pop throne she once held; I think she’s being self-deprecating in the scenes where she has a breakdown, making fun of her own generational histrionics.

Between this and the forthcoming Tori Amos album, the women rockers of the early ’90s may be staging a mini-comeback. You go grrrls.

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April 6, 2007 by info.

I took a little vacation and forgot to post my Herald profile of Gilberto Gil here. I interviewed the Brazilian minister of culture in Austin. He spent over an hour with photographer Susie J. Horgan and me; it was a generous and intimate encounter with an amazing man. His concert at the Knight Concert Hall March 30 was incredible. Enrique Fernandez reviewed wonderfully for the Herald. It’s not always that one gets to feel one’s job as a critic has world-historical impact, but every time I’ve interacted with Gil (or his colleague Caetano Veloso) — well, it beats talking about Anna Nicole on Nancy Grace, that’s for sure.

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March 29, 2007 by info.

Belated posts on these: Rachel Fudge did an incredible interview with me in the current issue of Bitch. The article’s not online, but the link will tell you how to get this worthy publication. And you can hear Doug Henwood’s WBAI interview with me here. Deborah Harper just did a great, long interview with me that you can listen to as a podcast at a few of her sites and which I will post here as soon as I figure out how.

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March 24, 2007 by info.

You’ve heard of bad hair days: Yesterday I had a bad mom day. First, when I picked Cole up from school, his teacher told me he had pulled his pants down in class, again, and kissed a girl, again. My son is a toddler letch. As Cole and I were riding away on my bike, perhaps because I was distracted by this news, I lost my balance and fell off the curb, with my son in the child seat. It was a very scary feeling knowing I was going down and poor helpless horny Cole was going with me.

Fortunately I managed to mostly break our fall with my hands (ouch) and we escaped with minor scrapes and a heap of embarrassment. But I felt like such a loser. It’s one thing to hurt myself with my clutziness, another to bruise my child.

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