ohweeee. Motown TIME!

**please don't forget to turn off the music on the bottom of this page before listening to the videos below:) 

Here is something that I just discovered and i think it is magical.

I LA LA LA LOVE Marvin Gaye. Look at those stunnaz! He definitely one of the 1st, a trailblazer. I think he sings the National Anthem soo well because its the same octave as that one note in Sexual healing...you know when he goes, BAAAAAAAAAAABYYYYYYY! I can't take it much longer... HAHAHAHA Yay! Marvin Gaye! 

Here is another video I absolutely adore. I heard Nina Simone sing "Backlash Blues" for the 1st time about a year ago. I was watching her performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. I was taken aback by how radical her performance was. She sang about the same bullshit of today and it was eerie to see history repeating itself. The video isn't from Montreux I can't find that anywhere! It was on comcast last time...its incredible what kind of stuff they put on comcast. 

on another note. check out jazmine sullivan. She is a new artist that is dabbling into a little bit of that ol skool sound, I think it has the warmth that a lot of modern music lacks. Enjoy:)

Self Portrait

I decided I want to switch out the background photo. I think I'm going to frequently do this.
The photo that I changed it to is a scanned self portrait that I did when I was in high school.
I remember taking this with a film camera *gasp* that my grandpa gave me. I was happy with
the result and promised myself this will be the photo I will use in my opening of my 1st
gallery in New York City. I still want to make that happen:)
Friends, amazing people and things... keep checking back. you may be my muse/inspiration/
or pretty thang I might want to put up.

***so this is late

I don't know why its taken me this long to post this... So about 2 months ago i found out my entries into a contest called make history --an international contest...won! and today i found out another one was accepted as an entry so 5 of my photos have been selected. i'm elated. and I really hope you will all be able to see it published in many different international magazines.i'm happy to show my work in an honest way. sometimes i find it hard to categorize my photography but this contest seemed significant. I want people to know the sense of urgency in my work. its not just cause it looks good. there are real stories behind them. and hopefully stories that will mark this turbulent time we are in. Just like in that movie 1 giant leap. we are bombarded with a lot of imagery in today's society...mc donalds. nike. michael jordon...fuckin sean puffy combs *bastard 
"so I'm in the business of showing other dominate cultural images as well. and saying hey. let's not forget about these things because they are who WE are."
yayayaya. lately in my journey i've found that truth is what I need.
can i get an amen? :)
but seriously..

City folk***

An old friend from Valley, Megan Matthias contacted me 6 months ago about her friend who is in the peacecorp with her in St. Lucia.






 

She has gotten accepted for her graduate studies at The University of Maryland Baltimore. She is finally in town to look for a place to stay in Mt Vernon and has also brought along her folk-singing boyfriend and their super cool tortoise named stella. They are staying with us until they find a place. We took em around town and shared an Ethiopian meal at Dukem (the same restaurant down the street from Azizah in DC that she raves about) We went around fells point and looked for a bar to sit and have a beer at and got to know each other a lil better. They are a blessing to be around and its honestly a breath of fresh air to know people like Jennifer and Aj. Super Chill, into the Arts and have great things to say. Jennifer and I even share the same passion for things needing to change in our world and how living more simply could help with that. I even got to share with her some info on Baltimore's "Slow Food Revolution." that is definitely something that makes me proud of Baltimore. I'd even say they are two people that are living proof, if you follow your heart--it will take you places. Tonight we had the blessing to hear AJ play in our living room over a bottle of authentic Spiced rum from St. Lucia. It was the first time I wanted to taste the alcohol straight no chaser.We all were sipping carefully from our tea cups. AJ says it reminds him of Christmas and as soon as me and lucas put it to our lips we smiled and said "CHRISTMAS!" It was so flavorful and such a treat to have being that I hadnt ever planned on tasting authentic rum unless I visited the islands myself. so this was a REAL treat for us. here are some photos that i took from tonite. definitely a memory that i will keep forever. it was absolutely magical. Jennifer even told their story and how she fell in love with AJ when he was on tour with his first album. I finally mustered up the courage to ask them if they listened to Ani Difranco without sounding cliché but Aj mentioned that he used to share a pad with Tom Sickafoose, Ani's bassist and that Jennifer loves Ani. It was a great night. it is certainly an experience that has made me love my move to Baltimore that much more. oooh! and I soo have a video of the AJ singing but I gotta figure out how to get it off my phone. ** the song was about San Francisco and it was awesome. Cheers to new friends!