Rodney Bradford aka One Lucky Mofo

The almighty Facebook has done it again.

Keep this in mind when you’re constantly updating to your favorite social networking sites. 19-year-old New York native Rodney Bradford’s Facebook status updates turned into much more than what’s on his mind: a rock-solid alibi after he was accused of a crime.

After confirmation of the time stamp on the update and the location from which it was entered, it became painfully obvious that he could not have been at the scene of a robbery in another part of New York City. After he had spent almost two weeks in jail, the case against him was dismissed.

Wow.

“That’s all I have to say about that.” -Forrest Gump

For the full story, read here.

So, in politics as usual, several members of Congress  are pissed about Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision Friday to try five suspected 9/11 terrorists in civilian court as opposed to military court.

Holder was accused of risking America’s security by treating the suspects like “common criminals” with a right to greater constitutional protections than they would receive in a military trial. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t condone terror in any kind of way, hell I hardly like scary movies; but isn’t that what America does? You know, giving people inalienable human rights and junk?

Holder announced Friday that five Guantanamo Bay detainees with alleged ties to the September 11, 2001, attacks, including the confessed mastermind of it all, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be tried in civilian court in New York. That’s when certain congresspeople got pissed.

“These terrorists planned and executed the mass murder of thousands of innocent Americans. Treating them like common criminals is unconscionable,” Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn said in a written statement. Don’t mess with Texas.

Senator Johnny boy continues:

“The attacks of September 11th were an act of war. Reverting to a pre-9/11 approach to fighting terrorism and bringing these dangerous individuals onto U.S. soil needlessly compromises the safety of all Americans.”

I can’t help but feel like these so called terrorists are anything more than a highly organized gang. These men aren’t warriors, they’re criminals. Them attacking us wasn’t an act of war, it was a really just a, really, really, really, really bad and tragic hate crime. Countries with legitimate armies commit acts of war. And last time I checked, legitimate armies didn’t teach flying commercial jets into civilian buildings in their boot camps. Come on people…

Warriors fight wars. Criminals commit hate crimes. So yeah, I feel like civil court is just fine for them. Bringing people like that into higher courts not only legitimalizes them, but it also empowers them and let’s them know, that they’re getting to us. Which doesn’t solve anything.

You know, I miss the days when war was simple. You know, when countries fought other countries, you knew exactly who you’re enemies were, and world’s greatest military power wasn’t reduced to playing a real life version of “Team America: World Police” in 3rd world countries… yeah… the good old days.

Read the full story here

Sammy!?!? Is that you?

Dominican baseball great Sammy Sosa has garnered a lot of attention as of late off of the field rather than on. Recently he spoke to Spanish station Primer Impacto regarding the dramatic lightening of his complexion.

Sosa, who is Dominican born claims that he suffers from Vitiligo, the same disease of the late Michael Jackson, and attributes his new look to a special skin moisturizer.

 ”I’m doing well, doing well, thanks to God. … I use a cream to keep my skin smooth and soft. I apply it before I go to bed. When I was playing for Chicago all those years, I was in the sun a lot for 1 o’clock games. The flashes (from the cameras) also made my skin look lighter.”

That sounds kind of so so, Sosa. While playing a time intensive game such as baseball during the height of sunny days can do a lot to darken the skin, as well as predispose him to a lot of different skin defects such as vitilgo, I feel that professional baseball would be well aware of this and expect players to take cautionary measures.

When asked about Jackson and whether he was following in his footsteps, Sosa replied, “Not at all, I respect him very much. I’m not a racist. I’m not like that. I’m just a happy person.”

Sosa has also been seen sporting green contacts, which he attributes to, “trying something new.”

In all, I’ll just go on record to say, it’s the new Millenium. Humans can change just about anything they want on their bodies thanks to science and modern medicine. Sosa, coming from the Carribean, most likely has much more moderate views about racism and black identity than many black Americans may have; the Carribean is a very racially and etnically mixed place. Besides that, few places have had the amount of racism, racial prejudice, and racial stratification between black and white than the good ole US of A has through out the years.

Although racism is dying (thank God) there are still social stigmas and forms of identification that comes from a person’s skin color. Being that Sosa is pretty much a baseball deity, many children and other impressionable minds may look up to him and this dramatic change in appearance would probably be confusing at best.

But at the end of the day, that just may not be his concern. It’s Sosa’s body, Sosa’s skin, Sosa’s money, and Sosa’s miracle cream (which he may be a spokesperson for soon) and he can do with them as he please. He may actually have something wrong with his skin. If that’s the case, I think we should get out of his now seemingly straighter hair.

There is always unseen and latent consequences to everything we do but at the end of the day, he probably really just wants to try something new. You know, like actually stopping a taxi after 6 pm.

Read More

Okay, so one of my first posts on this blog was a story pretty much shunning French Vogue for deciding to publish a photo shoot of a white model painted black, ala blackface.

Well, since then, a lot of new developments have been happening in the area of covert racism, one of which is me analyzing my views on the matter.

Tyra Banks, super model and all around estrogenized drama queen, recently aired an episode of ANTM in which all of the remaining models on the show were featured in photo shoot in which they were made up to look like another race. While Tyra intelligently didn’t do any white to black transformations, a few of the models did have their skin darkened to appear to be a certain nationality; the transformations were more country based than on actual races denoted by skin tones. Let’s also not forget that she took great pains to explain the shoot. Giving us both context and content (Ahem, ahem… French Vogue).

Another more recent occurance is “black people” inspired costumes being worn to a Halloween party by white students at Northwestern University in Chicago. One student painted his skin black, donned dreadlocks, and a shirt with “Jamaica” scribed on it and became Bob Marley. The other student appeared as a black woman with a tennis racket, presumably as one of the Williams sisters.

This is the story that got me thinking.

I will admit one thing, some of French Vogue’s photos were nice, and it wasn’t just the idea of the model being in blackface that upset many people. It was that there seemed to be no apparent reason for it expressed in the issue, giving people room to make their own conjectures. Also, given the fact that the modeling industry has a long history of racial discrimination, it doesn’t help their cause in seeming very PC.

I did say that it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. With that, I will say that I’m not totally against people of other races dressing up as black people, especially on Halloween. FAMOUS BLACK PEOPLE. I will say that people of other races coming to parties dressed up as black Gangstas, Pimps, and Ho’s are not as easily acceptable especially since the people portrayed could be of any color (including your own), not just black. This is what makes some blackface escapades stereotypical and seemingly racist, it’s not the act itself, it’s the context.

Since there is only one Bob Marley of reggae fame, and two Williams sisters of tennis fame, (not to mention the proverbial army of Michael Jacksons there were this year; black, white and of course, the “Puerto Rican phase” ) who all happen to be black, the costumes must be much more specific, and a white person dressing as these people would probably not get the point across any other way.

So, I alter my feelings a little. It’s not what you do people, it’s how you do it and the context in which it is done. I know that no matter what you do, somebody will be offended. Hopefully however, when something is done, it’s done with decent intentions. Without knowing the conduct of those two students, I will say no harm, no foul; especially if they weren’t defaming  or stereotyping the people they were portraying along racial lines. For all we know they could have posters of these people on their walls and love them more than we do.

Read more on the Northwestern incident here.

“That’s all I have to say about that…” -Forrest Gump

Apparently so. According to a story on AOL.com, “sex is one of the major triggers for the baffling medical condition called transient global amnesia in which patients lose their ability to retain immediate memory.”

Sounds like something out of a soap opera right? Well, if that’s the case, then 59 year old Alice (she declined to give her last name) is the star.

One August morning last year, Alice and her husband Scott did what most married couples do on average of two to three times a week, they had sex. However afterwards, instead of asking, “Was it good for you”, when Scott turned on the tv and the Olympics were playing, Alice looked at him perplexed and asked, “Is there an olympics?”

Scott asked Alice a couple of questions, including, ”What day is it?” which Alice did not remember, and ”Who’s the president”, to which she answered, “Bill Clinton”, in 2008. Fearing that his wife was having a stroke, Scott immediately called 911 and rushed her to the hospital.

At the hospital, for some time Alice continually asked the same few questions over and over, not being able to remember the answers. When she found out the… ahem… circumstances of her condition, she’d crack the same joke to her husband, “Let me get this straight. We had sex. I wind up in the hospital and I can’t remember anything? You owe me a 30 carat diamond!” That may have been funny the first few times, but each time Alice went through the sequence, Scott became more and more worried for her.

Alice was tested extensively until doctors found the culprit causing her memory loss. Eventually her memory returned and the couple have been living happily ever after. Alice still doesn’t remember that morning, or what happened, only falling asleep with a slight headache the night before. Because of this, she now refuses to have sex when she has a headache (sound familar?). Sorry Scott, stock up on some asprin, I guess.

Read More

Enjoy

Frenchman Street

Rue Bourbon

Photo by Zack Smith

 

Tigerweekly recently had the privilege to chop it up with DJ Soul Sister, the queen of the New Orleans underground DJ scene. A well-respected DJ artist specializing in “positive soulful vibrations,” she is a veteran radio programmer. Well known as a compulsive vinyl collector, habitual crate digger,  top party promoter and all around tastemaker not only in her native New Orleans, but worldwide.

 

TW: Describe yourself in three words or less.

 SS: Positive creative nuisance.

TW: How did you get started with DJ-ing?

 SS: I have no idea.  Seriously, I am a crate digger first, so I’ve been digging for crazy records since I was, like, 6, when my dad took me to the bargain bin at the old Sound Warehouse record chain back in the day.  Then there was that time when I was 5.  The legend has it that I asked my dad and his friends to buy me “Oops Upside Your Head” (a popular Gap Band song in 1979.)  During high school, I kept buying records - I’d hit up garage sales on the weekends and I’d dig wherever I could.  I started volunteering at WWOZ and doing my radio show straight into college, at around 18 or 19.  By the time I got to WWOZ, I already had about 1,000 records.  Around that time, a great friend of mine named Sarah Fritz really pushed me to try what I did live, in the club, so she promoted my first parties back in ‘97.  I’m a fan of the disco mix, so it was always important for me to blend and match beats back then, because I wanted to rock it as true as the disco pioneers did it.  It’s been on ever since, and I am still true to the music I love and to the mix.  And to throwing right on, free-spirited parties, the way Sarah inspired me to.    

TW: I understand you have a lot of influences. What or who are you really grooving to at the moment?

SS: I just bought a compilation of 1970s German funk & disco called G-Funk.  I’m forever listening to James Brown, my favorite artist of all times, so I’ve been wearing out his version of “When the Saints Go Marching In,” and you know why.  And, as far as new music, nothing is better than West Coast funker Dam-Funk, who just dropped his first release on Stones Throw Records called Toeachizown.  It’s all about the funk. 

TW: You have quite a following both in New Orleans and around the country. What do you attribute to your success?

SS: Well, I’m thrilled and blessed to know that people dig the original musicians and underground music I feature, what I’m about and what soulful funky music is about.  I’m just having fun and I think people vibe off of positive, fun energy.  I’m not for everyone - I’m not a request DJ or anything like that.  I call myself a “dj artist,” because I’m doing my thing and if you come to enjoy “DJ Soul Sister” or one of my right on party situations, then what you see is what you get.  So maybe folks vibe off the individuality part of my parties.  Or they just like to see someone gettin’ on down and not caring what anyone else thinks.  As long as they join in too, I love it.   

TW: So what’s playing on your ipod or MP3 player right now?

SS: Don’t laugh, but I don’t have an Ipod or MP3.  I’m so analog it’s disgusting.  I have 3 turntables set up in my house, plus one CD player that’s on the fritz.  So right now I’ve been listening to tons of my P-Funk records, cause those are my roots too - Parliament-Funkadelic, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, Parlet, The Brides of Funkenstein.  Speaking of the Brides, I just found out that I was blood related to one of the original Brides of Funkenstein, Dawn Silva.  How wild is that? Funkin’s in the blood for real.  I’m listening to so much P-Funk right now because I’m gearing up for a P-Funk Marathon that I will be hosting live on WWOZ this Friday night/Saturday morning (Oct. 31) from 12-5am.  As soon as I leave Voodoo on Friday night, I’m headed to WWOZ where I will throw down 5 hours of P-Funk power all night long.   Everyone can listen in at wwoz.org.   

TW: Okay. Well, as a New Orleans native, how does it feel to be spinning at Voodoo?

SS: I’m happy to bring my energy anywhere that is about having big fun, bringing people together and, especially in the case of Voodoo, getting into the nonconfirmist & underground side of things.  So, many of the New Orleans artists you’ll see at Voodoo are not necessarily the big name jazz & blues acts, but they are the creative artists that are really making stuff happen under the radar - people like Ratty Scurvics, the TBC Brass Band or Katey Red, Big Freedia & Sissy Nobby. I love that Voodoo is a showcase for the real underground of New Orleans.

TW: What is a typical DJ Soul Sister Show like? Anything special planned for Voodoo?

SS: The DJ Soul Sister Show or, as I like to call it, “right on party situation,” guarantees big fun with your behind in mind.  The stars of the show are the audience members who do their own thing while I do mine.  I’ll have my Booty Patrol Dancers with me to help inspired the party, plus I invite all the girls who are down with the Booty Patrol to join us.  My sets typically feature anything from rare groove & deep funk to underground disco to Afro Beat, classic old school, true school hip hop, punk rock, electro, boogie, loud sounds to wake up the neighbors and make them dance, and anything else I feel like at that time.  Saturday night I’m going to do a special feature, thanks to the help of choreographers Trixie Minx & Cynthia Garza and legions of Camel Toe Lady Steppers, members of Fleur de Tease & other dancing zombie friends.  We’re going to stage a live “Thriller” Dance-Along.  And on Sunday - well, anyone who remembers last year on Sunday night knows what surprises to expect.  Let’s just say that last year, I decided to break out my estranged alter-ego, DJ 17th Ward Hot Girl, and take it back to my early 90s high school time with that classic New Orleans bounce.  These days, I only do that set at Voodoo, so get ready.

TW:  How does it feel to be one of the few true female DJ’s holding it down in the 504 and beyond?

SS: The number one rule for me is if there’s no one else around to do what you want, then do it yourself.  I keep throwing the parties I do and spinning the sets that I do because, when I started, I didn’t see anyone doing it.  I hope I inspire others to only do what they love, but I really want to inspire other women because the DJ community, especially in NOLA, is a man’s world.  How does it feel?  1% exhausting, 1% frustrating and, the rest of the time, completely rewarding because I’m sworn to fun and loyal to The One, that being the funk.  It can also feel kind of hilarious.  Most of the time, on these big shows, like the one I’m doing this Thursday (October 29) at Howlin’ Wolf in New Orleans with The Knux, Biz Markie & Jay Electronica, I will be the only woman at sound check, trying to set up & take care of biz.  I love the confused looks from the fellas, checking me out setting up turntables & vinyl records!  Lots of cats don’t know what to think of me.  It’s very entertaining.      

TW: Do you feel that the DJ scene is easier to get into as a female now than it has been before?

SS: Well, it’s probably easier because lots of folks that call themselves DJs are just pushing a button on an Ipod player.  That’s human jukeboxing, that’s not DJing.  On the other hand, women who love the culture of DJing and have a real knowledge and love of music will have a very easy time to get in because people want quality and something different. 

TW: Any Advice to people out there new to the craft? Male, female, or both.

SS: Love music and know it inside out.  Learn DJ culture and history, not just of hip hop, but the origins of selectors in Jamaica, the disco and dance music DJs in the 1970s who pioneered most of the DJ technology we still use today.  Learn the history of the turntablists, but know where your strength is and what you want to contribute to the culture.  And do not settle to do anything you don’t want to do.  We need to return to a culture of dj artists who used music to uplift, motivate, inspire & energize.  The original underground hip hop & disco parties were built on that aesthetic.  There’s a crew of risky folks all around the world who are still doing it, but we need more in New Orleans and Louisiana.  There’s millions of DJs out here.  Be different from that and memorable and be a DJ artist, and let your individuality come through in your sets.     

TW: If people like what they hear at Voodoo, how can they get more? What’s next for DJ Soul Sister?

SS: I’m celebrating my 15th year of being at WWOZ 90.7 FM and wwoz.org in New Orleans.  I host the “Soul Power” show every Saturday from 8-10pm.  Also, every Saturday from 11pm-4am, I throw the “HUSTLE!” party, upstairs at Mimi’s in the Marigny (2601 Royal St.) in New Orleans, and that’s been going real strong for 5 years.  I’m throwing tons of additional, specially themed “right on party situations” at other locations, and folks can keep track of the jams at www.myspace.com/djsoulsis.  Other than that, I plan to keep having big fun on the one, hopefully for as long as the people dig the sounds and keep on getting down.

T-Shirt Design by New Orleans Company, Dirty Coast Press

 

As a member of a historically black Greek letter organization, I must say that “Stomp the Yard” did about as much for Black Greekdom and stepping as Spider Man 3 did for comic books movies. Yeah, I went there. Think I’m being too harsh? I don’t.

On one hand, “Stomp the Yard”, which is basically a dance flick with a black fraternity twist, exposed many people to the aspect of Greek Stepping, without any Greek stepping. I wouldn’t be so annoyed with this except for the fact that now the entire world thinks that what was done in the movie IS Greek stepping. Not at all. However, the movie was able to ride and exploit this to a cool 74 million at the box office… None of which I understand was credited to any of the organizations or their charities. That’s right, we actually do more than slide dramatically across stages on our elbows… We help the community.

Despite my ranting, according to THR.com, “Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming” has found a director and will go into production soon. Will Packer, from “Obsessed” fame, (if you want to call that fame) will produce through his Rainforest banner. Hardy was an executive producer on the original “Stomp the Yard”.

As far as credentials, he has a lot of producing credits, wrote and directed the features “The Gospel” and “Trois”, and has directed episodes of “Criminal Minds” and “ER.”

Based on the last one, which as far as I know, leaves a bittersweet taste in many NPHC Greeks mouths, I don’t know what to think. But since it’s already green-lighted and most likely will be made… Hopefully they will do better.

For more accurate depictions of Greek Stepping and Strolling, check out the Sprite Step Off. Click the picture below for more info.

Ever thought a chicken sandwich could kill you? The WTF moment of the day goes to a new class action lawsuit filed against Mickey D’s, stating that grilled chicken can be lethal. According to slashfood.com, the suit, filed by a group known as The Cancer Project, alleges that McDonald’s failed to warn customers that their grilled chicken contains the compound PhIP, which is considerd a carcinogen in the state of California (wait… isn’t the AIR a carcinogen in California???).

“Consumers deserve to know that grilled chicken from McDonald’s and other fast-food chains can increase your risk of cancer,” Cancer Project President Dr. Neal D. Barnard said in a statement. “Even a grilled-chicken salad increases the risk of developing some cancers, including breast and prostate cancer.”

Fair enough… I guess… But I think a Spokeswoman for McDonald’s said it best:

“Scientific research shows that PhIP is naturally occurring, and is created when chicken is grilled — whether at home — or in a restaurant. It may be present at low concentrations in oven-broiled, pan-fried, and grilled meats, as a result of normal cooking,” Cynthia Goody, McDonald’s nutrition director, said. “There is no scientific evidence to suggest the small amount of PhIP that can be created as a by-product of cooking methods humans have employed for thousands of years, poses a health risk.”

Touche Mickey D’s…. Touche…

I heard the Sun causes cancer too…  guess it’ll be getting a subpoena in the mail soon…

This kid’s got some moves. Four year old Miles Brown recently appeared on the daytime talk show “Ellen” to talk with the host of the same name and show off his prodigious dance steps. Few people are able to match Ellen in wit, but little miles seems especially precocious with his dealings with the media. He’ll need it with talent like that. I wonder if he can moonwalk.

Miles Brown on Ellen