I love: the art in and of expression...
I hate: limitations of any kind...
I fear: never having been *felt*...
I hope: there is a Heaven...
I hear: Music, all the time...
I crave: human understanding...
I regret: ever hurting anyone...
I cry: for abused children...
I care: so damn deeply...
I always: breathe...
I feel alone: in my solitude & dig it muchly...
I listen: closely to the lyrics of jazz...
I hide: my deepest pain from others...
I drive: some people crazy...
I dance: with each stride of my walk, yo...
I write: because it lets my soul sing...
I act: like a gentleman... most times...
I miss: the people I’ve lost...
I eat: new KNOWLEDGE...
I drink: vodka martinis, str8-up w/ a twist...
I learn: that life continues presenting new lessons...
I feel: I am a work in progress...
I know: a Creator exists...
I sleep: with dreams as constant companions...
I wonder: why I don’t have wings to fly...
I want: to heal...
I worry: about the future...
I have: a cosmos in me...
I fight: my insecurities...
I need: to purge sometimes...
I am: a human being w/one beak of song...
I think: I'll sing.
I'd like to meet:
GOD.
Not before my time, mind you! But a serious Face to face, or Spirit to spirit conversation with The Creator would be very fly indeed.
Music:
My Personal SoundtrackEven if no one
Ever sees
My movie…
There oughta be
A soundtrack to
My life. A rhythm…
A rhythm,
To my walk,
Like Shaft’s
A cat-like grace,
Choreographed, by
Me.There oughta be some tom-toms
Pounding some
Urgent drums sounding
The long drawn
Song of my
Discontent.There oughta be some
Sad sexy
Saxophone thrown in
For tender moments…
Some strings
Played and serenades
Made to commemorate
Those Blue Moods, too…Even if no one
Ever sees my movie
There oughta be
A soundtrack
To my life…
A discordant set played to
The complex maze,
A cadence to this
Strut of Independence…If this day be my
Masterpiece,
My freak dance,
My movement,
Let the pace of
A Hip-hop beat
Speed thru my progress…Let the guitar’s wah-wah play
Me cool and
Ridiculous.
Let my lyrics be
Sweetened by
A ménage of flutes
And a mad marathon of
Trumpets...And let my adversities
Be accompanied by
Something like aSCREEEEEEEEAM!And let my adversities
Be accompanied by
Something like a
SCREEEEEEEEAM!
See, there oughta be
A soundtrack
Some mean-ass brass,
A ballsy high-hat…
And a crazy
Cry… of tenor sax
To accent it all.Even if no one
Ever sees
My movie
Ttere oughta be
Some music,
Some attempt at harmony
And some chords played
Finally, finally right…
To accompany … thisRiff, this flight,
This trip-hop scat bop
Doo-doo-wow
Jazz flop
I callMy Life.
My head, my heart, my memories are junkies, hooked on that transcendent drug called MUSIC. Music of all kinds, origins and genres compose the rhythm, the rhythm of my personal soundtrack. I don’t own an i-Pod (boo-hoo! Someone please hold a telethon, quickly!) but IF did, selections from the following releases would no doubt be blazing from it:
1. Songs in the Key of Life-Stevie Wonder ...
2. A Love Supreme- John Coltrane ...
3. What’s Going On- Marvin Gaye ...
4. Fulfillingnesses First Finale- Stevie Wonder ...
5. Sign O’ the Times- Prince ...
6. Kind Of Blue- Miles Davis ...
7. Dark Side of the Moon- Pink Floyd ...
8. Perfect Angel- Minnie Riperton ...
9. Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta ...
10. Black Ivory- Don’t Turn Around ...
11. Let’s Get it On- Marvin Gaye ...
12. Bitches Brew- Miles Davis ...
13. Last Days In Time- EW & F ...
14. Talking Book- Stevie Wonder ...
15. Rickie Lee Jones- (debut) ...
16. Blue- Joni Mitchell ...
17. My Favorite Things- John Coltrane ...
18. Holding Back The Years- Jimmy Scott ...
19. Rubber Soul- The Beatles ...
20. Song For My Lady- Jon Lucien ...
21. I Ain’t Never Loved a Man- Aretha Franklin ...
22. The Essential Nina Simone- N. Simone ...
23. Body Heat- Quincy Jones ...
24. Curtis Live- Curtis Mayfield ...
25. Led Zeppelin- Led Zeppelin IV ...
26. Innervisions- Stevie Wonder ...
27. Purple Rain- Prince ...
28. Rumours- Fleetwood Mac ...
29. Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway- self-titled ...
30. Mothership Connection- Parliament Funkadelic ...
31. Winter in America- Gil Scott-Heron ...
32. Breezin'- George Benson ...
33. Lost and Found- Jimmy Scott ...
34. Gaucho- Steely Dan ...
35. The Joshua Tree- U2 ...
36. Mysterious Traveler- Weather Report ...
37. Exodus- Bob Marley & The Wailers ...
38. Hejira- Joni Mitchell ...
39. Stop Making Sense- Talking Heads ...
40. Shaft- Isaac Hayes ...
41. Player of The Year- Bootsy‘s Rubber Band ...
42. Off The Wall-Michael Jackson ...
43. Hiroshima- (self-titled) ...
44. Reachin'- Digable Planets ...
45. 3 yrs, 5 mos & 2days in the Life-Arrested Development...
46. Who Is Jill Scott- Jill Scott ...
47. Music of My Mind- Stevie Wonder ...
48. One to One- Syreeta ...
49. Seal- self-titled (debut) ...
50. Nuff Said- Nina Simone ...
51. Urban Hang Suite- Maxwell ...
52. Nothing Like The Sun- Sting ...
53. Aja- Steely Dan ...
54. Salt- Lizz Wright ...
55. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill- Lauryn Hill ...
56. Everything is Everything- Donny Hathaway ...
57. The Black Album- Jay-Z ...
58. So- Peter Gabriel ...
59. Illmatic- Nas ...
60. Mandrill (self-titled) ...
61. Hot Buttered Soul- Isaac Hayes ...
62. Night and Day- Joe Jackson ...
63. Rachelle Ferrell- self-titled ...
64. So- Peter Gabriel ...
65 Odelay- Beck ...
66 Sketches of Spain- Miles Davis ...
67 Angel of the Night- Angela Bofill ...
68 The Horses- Rickie Lee Jones ...
69 3 Feet High & Raising- De La Soul ...
70. Superfly- Curtis Mayfield ...
71. London Calling- The Clash ...
72. Hot Comb- Digable Planets ...
73. Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys- Traffic ...
74. Nightbirds- Labelle ...
75. Speakerboxx/The Love Below- Outkast ...
76. Graceland- Paul Simon ...
77. Hounds of Love- Kate Bush ...
78. This is Madness- The Last Poets ...
79. Can’t Buy a Thrill- Steely Dan ...
80. Love Jones- Motion Picture Soundtrack ...
81. Rufus Wainwright- self-titled ...
82. Eric Burdon Declares War- War ...
83. Blunted on Reality- The Fugees ...
84. The Big Payback- James Brown ...
85. Lady Sings the Blues- Billie Holiday ...
86. Stay Free- Ashford and Simpson ...
87. Get Lifted- John Legend ...
88. Baduism- Erykah Badu ...
89. Love Deluxe- Sade ...
90. Try My Love- Tata Vega ...
91. Black Diamond- Angie Stone ...
92. Two Against Nature- Steely Dan ...
93. Bare- Anne Lennox ...
94. Floetic- Floetry ...
95. Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band- debut...
96. This Mother’s Daughter- Nancy Wilson...
97. Lovesexy- Prince ...
98. Midnight Marauders- A Tribe Called Quest ...
99. Take5- Dave Brubeck ...
100. Dance To The Music- Sly and the Family Stone ...
You got any *must-haves*? Holla... but please, don't sing! One.
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Movies:
Lady Sings The Blues... A Raisin In The Sun... La Dolce Vita... Carmen Jones... To Kill a Mockingbird... A Place In The Sun... Do The Right Thing... Love Jones... Eve's Bayou... An Imitation of Life... Notorious... Taxi Driver... An American in Paris... New York, New York... 5 Easy Pieces... East of Eden... The Color Purple... Detour... Scarface... "M"... Rebel Without A Cause... From Here To Eternity... Dial M For Murder... Lust For Life... A Streetcar Named Desire... Splendor In The Grass... The Rose Tattoo... Daughters of The Dust... Paris Blues... A Face In The Crowd... Witness... The Usual Suspects... Fight Club... Midnight Cowboy... Breathless... A Solider's Story... Sparkle... Murder On The Orient Express... Prizzi's Honor... All About Eve (mad literate script)... High Noon... The Miracle Worker... Cat On a Hot Tin Roof... Porgy and Bess... Blow-Up... Psycho... Fame... Westside Story... The Defiant Ones... Whatever Happened To Baby Jane... Suddenly Last Summer... Some Like It Hot... Lolita... Atlantic City... The Sweet Smell of Success... Cool Hand Luke... Invasion of The Body Snatchers (The Original)... The Bad Seed... The Shawshank Redemption... Mutiny on The Bounty... Night Of The Hunter... Claudine... The Godfather... Glory... To Sir With Love... Marty... Twelve Angry Men... Saturday Night Fever... Devil in a Blue Dress... Longtime Companion... Requiem For a Heavyweight... Play Misty For Me... The Conversation... 'Round Midnight... Raging Bull... Anastasia... What's Love Got To Do With It... Sounder... The Birds... Nothing But A Man... To Catch a Thief... The Deer Hunter... Memento... Glengarry Glen Ross... The Bad and The Beautiful... Last Tango In Paris... Bird... Total Eclipse... The Sixth Sense... Saving Private Ryan... New-Jack City... A Brother's Kiss... Antwone Fisher... The Omen... Pulp Fiction... A Soldier's Story... Basketball Diaries... Born On The 4th of July... The Talented Mr. Ripley... Sophie's Choice... Philadelphia... Malcolm X... Ray... Rize... Bring On The Night... Crash... The Pursuit of Happyness...
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Television:
"The Wire...""Weeds...""Prison Break""Oz...""King of Queens...""Everybody Hates Chris...""American Experience..."
Books:
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Go Tell It On The Mountain, Leaves of Grass,
Native Son, On The Road, The Auto-Biography of Malcolm X,
Soul On Ice, Slaughterhouse Five, Beloved, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, The Coldest Winter Ever, Jazz, Giovanni's Room. The two books I authored: The Long Blue Moan...AND...Manhood.
Get My Book Here! Soon to become a Major Literary Classic...This is the cover of my latest novel. It's called "MANHOOD... The Longest Moan." If you *feel* my writing here, I hope you'll support this mammoth effort. IT'S ON SALE NOW!!!* * * *And coming April 2008, the sequel:
Heroes:
First of all: my parents, because without their love, care,
there would be no me.Malcolm X...
Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr., Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, Sidney Poitier, Gordon Parks, Stevie Wonder, Amiri Baraka, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, The Beats.
