Monday, June 29, 2009

BET Awards '09: Disappointment and Coonery

The BET Awards has emerged to be the single most important awards show celebrating black entertainment accomplishment. And while I really don't watch BET on a regular basis, I have recognized the awards show as the preeminent show for black music and entertainment. I know that the show was hugely anticipated as parties raged in LA all week and stars converged from all points to the City of Angels to imbibe in the festivities.

And then we were all shocked by the news of the sudden death of Michael Jackson.

Now BET was front and center all over the world as THE place for a Michael Jackson tribute. CNN broadcast live from the red carpet.. All media, particularly those that wouldn't normally cover BET were providing anticipation for what the BET Awards would be in terms of a tribute to the fallen MJ. The entire world was watching, through BET, how the black community would celebrate the life and legacy of our beloved Michael Jackson..

And then, true to form, BET's show fell short, providing the world with a confirmation that our people... our culture is full of coonery and buffoonery. What was BET thinking??

I followed the preshow comments on twitter. Everyone, fans and industry heads, were wondering what in tarnation was happening. It was an utter joke. An gargantuan display of stereotypes and musical garbage.

Now, to be fair, there were some great moments in the show. The O'Jay's tribute: Tyrese, Johnny Gill and Trey Songz did a great job and they were followed by the O'Jays who were...well, the O'Jays.. pros, awesome pros...... the duet with Jamie Foxx and Neyo singing "I'll Be There"... The icing on the cake for me was to watch Janet Jackson sum up enough courage to come out and speak briefly to everyone. That took strength and fortitude... She was elegant, articulate and I pray for her comfort in this time of bereavement. Her grief will take a lot of time to stabilize from.....For me that pretty much summed up the positives.

The show was ruined by:

Lil Wayne and this new guy called Drake... What was up with the little girls dancing all over those grown men?

Ving Rhames: What was up with him? On the red carpet he was trying to explain to CNN that the Rollin 60's gang are misunderstood.. On the stage, he tried to contrast Michael with a gun..an analogy that went over everyone's head... this just after he tried to re-enact his role in "Baby Boy" with a shocked Taraji P. Henson and Tyrese Gibson. These antics ruined the presentation of Video of the Year, which I suppose is the highlight of this awards show...

Soulja Boy Tellem: To be fair, I already hate the song "Turn Your Swag On".. so I guess this is a jaded criticism... To me his raps smack of uneducated buffoonery. A fact even more exacerbated by the atmosphere of a tribute for Michael Jackson... They could have left him off the performance lineup.

Joe Jackson: I am sorely disappointed that he is using this tragic time to promote a new record label.

New Edition: As we get older gentlemen, we need regular exercise...

Tiny: Ghetto Fabulous at the highest level. And the gum smacking, southern drawl made her look really wack. Perhaps that's just her way... But I'm just sayin'

Frankie and Neffie: Couldn't BET find something more positive to promote? I'm just sayin'...

T-Pain: I already had a beef with this guy since I saw him at the Grammy Awards two years ago... Big Ass Chain and sipping from a red plastic cup??? Stepin Fetchit is a good comparison.

Jamie Foxx: Shameless plugs of his upcoming tour.... I get it. I'm speculating that Maybe BET was short on his normal fee and to compensate they allowed him to promote his tour.. I ain't mad, but it's the way it was promoted... it could have been promoted with much more subtlety and with much more class. Other than that Jamie was...well, Jamie... I ain't mad at the moonwalk!!!

In the end, I was really disappointed with BET. I have wondered for some years now if they are purposely promoting coonery to the world as a strategy to keep us dumbed down. I mean the shows and videos are proof in the pudding. But for the Awards I would think they would kick it up a notch. I understand that the suddenness of the times caused a huge re-write of things.. The Awards are a huge undertaking and have been in the planning for months... BUT it seems that they could have done a better job...

Or maybe it's not BET that we're shocked with. Maybe the reality of current African American Pop Culture is too much for us to bear. We are looking for a scapegoat in BET when maybe we ought to blame ourselves. We have not taken advantage of the times to promote more positive images of ourselves. We have allowed the pimp, the hoe, and the baller image to permeate our consciousness.. Being dumbed down, illiterate and ill-mannered is at the top of our consciousness while the well mannered, sensitive, cultured black person is pushed under the rug.

So in the end, is it BET that we should be disappointed with? After all, they just did what they do. Provide us with a front row seat to coonery.

Or is it our fault for allowing coonery and debauchery come to the forefront when showcasing or describing our people?

I'm just sayin'...

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Michael Jackson: Memories of a Cultural Pop Icon

To hear of the death of Michael Jackson has been a surreal and unbelievable circumstance... Michael's passing brings back so many memories and over the last few days I see how folk all over the world are paying tribute.. At the station, we have been playing all Michael and Jackson Five songs.. it has been quite the trip down memory lane.

I notice that a lot of the "General Market" only remember Michael from Thriller on out... This is a curious reckoning for the King of Pop, because for me and those of my generation he has always, from the very beginning, been an extraordinary artist.

I was in Jr. High when "I Want You Back" came out. I can remember all the girls swooning over the Jackson Five and debating which one would be there boyfriend or husband when they grew up... I can remember seeing them on the Ed Sullivan Show - an appearance that rivaled the Beatles' appearance on the program in terms of magnitude... Michael Jackson was the bomb...

I remember that the Jackson Five cartoon was a staple in my household....

I remember when I went on my first WestPac as part of a fighter squadron in the United States Marine Corps, that Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five were revered in Japan... I could not believe how HUGE they were over there.

I remember being stationed in Beaufort South Carolina.. At night, I use to take my radio and try to tune into stations around the land... I remember flipping through the static and hearing a station.... "W-W-D-M the big DM" .... and then I hear this enchanting keyboard line and a voice saying "it makes me feel like... it makes me feel like wooooo!...." I was amazed!!!!

I remember going to the Budweiser Superfest at the Pasadena Rose Bowl,,, Michael Jackson was one of the featured guests... He rocked that stadium to its core.. climbing up the lighting scaffolding and singing from the rafters of the stage... It was phenomenal...

I remember MJ's fascination with the imagineering of Disneyland.. I learned that he made regular visits to the theme park.. and a lot of his technical wizardry came from Disney-like innovations...

I remember We are the World...

I remember being a bit confused by Michael's turn to more Caucasian-like imagery.. The face surgery was a bit much for me, but like a lot of us I never put him down... because I don't care what you say about him... MJ was a baaaaaaad boy!!!!!

I remember his performance at the Super Bowl halftime... It was the largest halftime TV audience in history...

I remember the innovation of the music video... how he made so many mini-movies... Thriller was a 15 minute masterpiece... There are so many, but one of my favorites is "Remember the Time" where Eddie Murphy is the Pharaoh and my favorite Iman is the queen... Magic Johnson is in it too...

I remember sitting third or fourth row and seeing Michael Jackson on BET Awards with James Brown...

I remember seeing Michael Jackson up close and personal at Jesse Jackson's birthday party at the Beverly Hills Hotel...

I remember...... Michael Jackson...

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Father's Day - Musings about my Father

As I sit here and reflect on Father's Day 2009.. I realize just how much I miss my dad... I really don't need this holiday observance to acknowledge my love for my father. I never have, really... All I ever wanted to do in life was to make him proud of me... And so, I acknowledge the support and love he shared...

A lot if not most of my friends did not have both parents in the home during childhood. It is a rarity that I can discuss childhood in a two parent home with anyone in my camp... It's amazing. When I was younger, sometimes brothas would make it seem like this is a shameful thing to have come from a two parent family. Somehow, Dad being in the home was a signal that I was an Uncle Tom.... Just like reading and speaking well was a badge of selling out... boy, we have some work to do as a people...

I'm grateful that my father was in my life. I learned how to be a man from him. He exposed me to manly things as a boy. I know that in these days and times this could seem chauvinistic or whatever, but the truth is, I was raised by a mans man... He was a military man who's friends and inner circle were men's men... And so that's how I am... A Man's Man...

The most important thing my father taught me was to love the Lord... Shortly before his death, my mother gave me a letter sent to me by dad when I was 3 months old. He had deployed out to sea aboard the USS Eversole. It was a heartfelt correspondence that shared the whole of his wishes for me as his son.... The last line in the letter was implicit instruction for me to love the Lord with all my heart, soul and mind....

I have always kept this instruction in my heart. When I realize that he wanted this for me from the beginning of my life and to see it actually written, I hold it nearer and nearer to my being...

Dad has gone on now. May he rest in peace. I can only pray that I would be even half the man he was... I am not. He was an awesome man. A loyal man. A sober man. A loving man. A stern man. A disciplined man. A spiritual man. A man of ethics and principles.

He was a GREAT father. And I love him.... I miss him... I hope he was proud of me... I am proud of him....

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Jacquie Stephens: A part of LA's Black Radio Legacy

I am on vacation(sort of..) and checked my messages at the office... It was Jacquie Stephens... letting me know she had resigned....

wow....

Jacquie Stephens no longer a part of the KJLH landscape... In the final analysis, this is not a bad thing because life now requires her to focus on taking care of her mom back in Chicago... This is the circle of life...

The voicemail gave me pause and brought me back to a recent conversation Jacquie and I had.. We were talking about all the battles we have fought together... The exclusive view of our community that she and I shared... so many conflicts, so many issues, and there we were together on those Saturday Morning live broadcasts.. giving the community a front row seat to what we were seeing...

When I first came to KJLH, it was with Jacquie that I witnessed my first community protest up close and personal. Organized protest that is... I saw the Civil Disturbance of 1992, but I did not work at KJLH then... It was with Jacquie Stephens that I saw first hand the vital importance of KJLH to the inner urban community.

It was 1998. Police responded to a call from Tyisha Miller's cousin that she was asleep, locked in her car with a handgun... Police shot 23 times, 12 of which hit and killed Tyisha... after they thought she reached for the weapon... The community was in an uproar... Calls flooded the radio station...The early morning program Front Page as the immediate barometer of the community's angst... Jacquie reported all day long as statements and calls came in and listeners kept it locked to learn real news about the issue.

Although I handle the marketing of the station, I have a nose for news and journalism, just by virtue of my training. .And so I'm always in the newsroom sharing information with Jacquie, discussing perspectives, etc... We hear that a protest is planned in Downtown Los Angeles in preparation and mobilization to a protest in Riverside to be held later....

Jacquie says "Greg J., let's go down for a bit to see what's going on...." And so we went. I remember Dick Gregory, various politicians and community activists and even Kim Fields (who up until that point I only knew her television career, I never knew she was an activist or even cared for the community) all giving passionate speeches about police brutality and how we should take action to stop such aggressive behavior against the community...

We talked to people from the street to the pulpit, from corporate offices to the back offices, folk were incensed... another chapter in police brutality...

On the way back to the station, Jacquie mentioned the need for a townhall meeting and in the following weeks, the station fell into one of it's strong suits - providing a sounding board; a conduit to discuss and dialogue on important issues relevant to the community....
It was from that experience that I saw just exactly how this station is important to the community.

Here's a laundry list of movements, townhall meetings, and live broadcasts we have done together, providing a front row seat to the arts, news and culture of black Los Angeles...

Financial Townhall Meeting at Vision Theater

Financial Townhall at Black Business Expo


Support Chief Parks Townhall at Second Baptist Church

Donovan Jackson beating by Inglewood PD live at Morningside High (Johnny Cochran was there)

broadcasts at Derrick's Jamaican Cuisine

Live broadcasts in Leimert Park

All the live broadcasts California African American Museum (I remember the debates with Villaraigosa and Parks running for Mayor)

African Marketplace


Black Business Expo

Union Rescue Mission

We even did a movie screening on Saturday Morning...

The Women's Health Forum grew from 50 women in the sanctuary of Greater Bethany Community Church to 5000 in the Los Angeles Convention Center...LA Speaks Out and Jacquie right in the middle of it....giving back to our community...


There are just so many events and broadcasts....

And so, Jacquie moves on.. I understand.. There comes a time when the circle of life brings you back home to take care of business... very personal business....

Today I say: Jacquie God Bless you and be strong in this season.... it is a necessary, yet insightful experience.... Thanks for the memories...

"Count Your Blessings..."

Monday, June 15, 2009

The Soul of the Airwaves, Part Two

All this talk about saving black radio is very interesting. There are many bloggers, prognosticators and pundits announcing the impending death of black radio and imploring the public to step forward and save it. They say black radio has lost sight of what it means to the community. Black Radio is becoming almost irrelevant.

Now, as a black radio veteran I can tell you that the medium is certainly important - a conduit to culturally relevant music, news and information. , Black radio is all about lifestyle. This is the history. But real business conditions affect the art and legacy of black radio:

With consolidation, we saw the soul of black radio change and, in a lot of cases, evaporate. Corporations are able to own multiple properties in a market, giving them powerful leverage in the sales and marketing arena. Music choices are made from a central headquarters location, corporate creative elements enter the airwaves, homogenizing the sound of local heritage properties...

The advent of syndication has removed the local appeal from black radio in critical dayparts. This is a key ingredient in the essence of black radio. Listeners want to connect with their station from a community level. And while nationally syndicated shows find success across the nation and some of them do a good job of connecting with the market, the casualty is that local feel that is so important to the community.

No Urban Dictates is a longstanding battle fought by black radio for years. The war for advertising revenue parity is a tough and gritty conflict. If you are in black radio and reading this, you need to take this moment and give one of those account executives a high five...

Portable People Meter has just changed the advertising game and is the main challenge of a major market black radio station. We were already in the throes of the aforementioned advertising battle and now they throw this in. They have changed the paradigm of how the audience is measured. The PPM does not accurately reflect who and how many people are listening.. They are under-sampling in the community and that short changes us at the bargaining table.

Performance Rights Act is making its rounds through Capitol Hill and possibly could become Law. H.R. 848 is sponsored by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan and would require stations to pay performing artists for playing their music. This will severely exacerbate the challenges faced by black radio. The argument is that the station benefits from the songs they come out with, therefore the station should pay the artist. If that is the case, then the playing of a song is like a commercial, because artists are hoping that the consumer will like the song and that will translate into the purchase of their CD. Like a commercial encourages the listener to buy the latest widget. If its hot, sales will soar... if it's wack.... Speaking of wack, if the record is wack does radio get a refund???

These are just some of the real business issues facing the black radio station. The question is now how do we adapt and overcome market conditions in order to survive? The basic way we even operate as broadcasters has changed. The listener has so many more choices. And as we adapt to market conditions and changes in media consumption habits, our art changes...

Save Black Radio? Yes, Black Radio is in a state of strategic inflection. Change or cease to exist... And you know what? We(black radio) will survive.