Black Music Matters Too

Hello everyone,

I've been thinking about doing another music post for a little while and the current events have given me a bit of a theme to work with ! But first ... thumbnail pic ...

The formerly unnamed Dwagon Rock Band has another member. Actually it's had another member for almost two weeks now but I haven't felt up to doing any more on that project just yet. The name is likely to be Chromatic Fever, cos you know ... metal and dragons ! May need to draw more colours of dragons and not just the green ones.

Actually, that digression takes me to mention another fella who uses dragons for his avatars, Aavak of the lovely voice that owes a lot to Welsh heritage. Great voice, lovely fella. Here's a link to his Youtube, which will take you to the rest of his accounts.

But this isn't supposed to be about streaming people, it's about the great music. One issue I've always had with my music posts is that they always go to the same groups and singers. Like The Cardigans, All About Eve, Bat For Lashes, Tori Amos. Let's have some different people who are just as awesome.

First up is Seal, who's song Future Love Paradise was essentially the catalyst for this post when it took its turn on my iTunes. Seal has an amazing voice and he's an expert at using it. This song is one of his best.

Next up is Massive Attack, a local band to the Bristol area. When I first heard Teardrop as a song (I think I'd heard it on adverts), I thought it was amazing. Pure magic.

Morcheeba's been a fun band to listen to as well. Sometimes it's ballad type songs, sometimes it's more like rap, sometimes it's lyrics that are there for fun. It's diverse, it's interesting. Here's The Sea, sung by a wonderful Skye Edwards.

You can't discuss artists of colour without going back to the classics and the originals. Nina Simone's music will be unforgettable, timeless and always guaranteed to draw on the emotions. And get you singing along to songs like Here Comes The Sun.

And then there's Aretha Franklin with Respect.

(Are you chair dancing while listening yet ? I am)

Ella Fitzgerald with another classic, Lets Fall In Love.

We have Nat King Cole with more Unforgettable songs. The older singers had a wonderful way of standing there and letting that music flow out for them in just a wave of beauty.

You're probably noticing that these are tending to be older songs instead of current artists - that's just me and the style of songs I like. Am old and like the older styles :-D. Nicki Minaj has added a lot to some recent Madonna albums but her usual stuff is too fast, too attack, not calming. So while I have some Beyonce in the library, she's not someone I listen to much.

Not forgetting those utter wizards with their instruments, Lenny Kravitz had a string of amazing songs on Are You Gonna Go My Way and then there's the legend that is Jimi Hendrix with my favourite of his, Voodoo Child.

I'm a lucky owner of a Sammy Davis Jr collection as well, now there is an incredible voice and apparently an even better dancer. This legend's song can only be Mr Bojangles. Oh and The Impossible Dream which I remember first from when it was adopted for a fantastic Honda advert.

You have to mention Michael Jackson here too for his innovative contributions to dance and dance music. Smooth Criminal is a classic.

Moving on to Prince, who was a brilliant singer and an even better songwriter. You'll have heard his songs sung by other bands and singers including Sinead O'Connor, The Bangles, Kiss, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Kate Bush ... Here's When Doves Cry.

I love Roberta Flack's voice as well, here is the original Killing Me Softly With His Song.

I'm gonna finish on Seal again because he's just so good. Another topical one to end on, Don't Cry.

Actually no - this is the perfect song to close on. It's Louis Armstrong with What A Wonderful World. Because despite all the trouble and strife, this is a wonderful world to have you, yes you reading this, in it.

Stay safe, be well and I hope you enjoyed these wonderful songs as much as I have while collecting them together. There are so many more songs too ... but only so much room in a post. Find them, enjoy them !

Black Lives Matter

Hello everyone,

Scary world being scary at the moment ... I've been seeing what's been happening, reading and listening to the various people and thought I had to Say Things.

This is important. I have that loose rule of not talking about politics or other -isms but I thought I should break that one this evening.

There's really scary things happening at the moment, not just virus related ! I'm very privileged. I'm a white male from a good background. I can walk the streets with very little fear. I rarely have to worry about suspicion that I'm up to no good. I can be out after dark on my own with no fears of being molested.

I am utterly shocked to the core when I hear that people will be subject to Stop and Search because of the colour of their skin. I'm devastated when ladies report how scared they are to be in situations where they are alone and a group of men suddenly appears. I don't have to be cautious with my body language when it comes to seeing people in enforcement, in case a sudden gesture ends up in an altercation.

What's terrible at the moment is the amount of racism (and many other isms) there is in the world at the moment. Our differences make us strong. They should not be something that sets us apart. And it's been going on so long, the shock factor has gone out from it.

We are no longer surprised when we hear that someone of colour has been shot or otherwise lost their life in a situation that should most definitely not have arisen. Like Breonna Taylor, the lady who was asleep in the apartment she owned when she was murdered by Police. Like George Floyd.

That's a terrible, horrible thing to contemplate. It means the -isms have gotten so deeply enrooted in a rotten society.

And that's not just America. It's over here as well with the bias in Stop and Search, in Windrush. It'll be in other countries too. It's probably in the country that you live in. Perhaps not as visible ... but I'm always sad when I see similar situations being reported in other countries.

People have been responding to the Black Lives Matter with All Lives Matter. And they do. My life matters to a few people. Your life matters. It matters to me. The lives of my family matters, the lives of my friends, colleagues and acquaintances. All of you matter.

But the Black Lives Matter cause is the important one at the moment and it will be until something changes. Until I heard the stories, I had no fears about traveling on public transport alone. I had no fear of being stopped and searched or thought of as a gang member up to no good. I can own my fancy car without someone thinking I stole it.

A person with black skin has to think very carefully about doing all of that and has had to for the last few hundred years.

That's wrong.

And now we hear the tales of how the Police over in the USA are handling the resulting protests. You'll have seen those stories as well, I'm not going to repeat them here except to say that it's not just over the top, they appear to have been inciting escalation as well.

There is no accountability.

I'm no particular fan of my own privileged background. I believe we should all be judged equally according to our merits on a level playing field. I don't see my background being the thing that opens the door. My knowledge and skills should be what does that. Similarly, I hate to see doors being shut for people on the basis of their colour, gender or upbringing.

We all have our own -isms. What we have to do is look inside ourselves. How do we react to other people. Are we giving them that level playing field. Have we assumed something that we shouldn't have, like do we think their merits are based on gender, orientation or colour.

I know I have my own unconscious biases that affect my thinking. You will too.

I could go into a few cases from my own life but the end thing of that is while I have helped in the past, I can help better in the future. We can all do better. None of us are perfect, we should always see if we can improve.

Like meeting someone at their place instead of a meeting halfway which would mean they're going to be walking the streets after dark. Yep, could have done that instead of hurriedly arranging a different meeting place (I like to give people the chance to rely on themselves - self reliance is very important). Like standing up for the lady at work who was being bullied (situation resolved now) but my honest thing there was that I was in a deep concentration tunnel and was completely oblivious to what was going on over the other side of the divider.

There was an incident where I was having a meal with someone in an open air place and across the way were two youngish men having a bit of a handbags fight. This was making the person I was with incredibly nervous. What I should have done was told her quietly that I was keeping my eye on what was going on, I wasn't going to do anything that provoked an escalation, I was trusting the (very beefy) security guy to control the situation and my last resort would have been to put me between her and them. I think saying that would have done a lot to ease her anxiety. I stayed quiet. I'll say something next time.

What happened in the past though isn't important though. You can hold up a flag and say "I helped there !" but that's not enough. It's how we go forward, that's what counts.

Help people.
Support people.
Ditch your -isms.
Recognise difference as strength, not a root for your insecurity.

I think I've run out of steam there. Back later this week with something more like normal service but I will leave with a couple of things :

If speaking up makes you anxious, stay quiet. I'm seeing a lot of "If you don't post with us, you're against us" at the moment which I am vehemently opposed to. Some people are very anxious about speaking up because it can make them a target. I don't want to be a target and I bet you don't either. People who know you should know you well enough to know where you stand on issues like these, without having to shout it from the rooftops every time a cause comes along.
If you can change things by voting, PLEASE VOTE. Things like this don't happen on their own, they happen with direction from above. Get someone in place who will hold these people accountable.
Offer support, not judgment.
Judge people on who they are, not what they are.
Be calm, not aggressive.

Stay safe, be calm, be well.