Labi Siffre - "I Got The ..."

Normally during PRIDE month (June) I do my best to post only or mainly LGBTQIA+ Artists. In light of the civil unrest around the nation and the injustices that have been forced upon the Black Community through years of enslavement, systemic racism, widespread oppression, and a set of generational socioeconomic traps, I thought this year it would be important to spotlight just how many QUEER BLACK ARTISTS changed and shaped the world through music, arts, culture, and activism.

So this June I will spotlight all Queer Black Artists to show you one more way in which we should be grateful for to the Queer Black Community and how without them we would not have the world or nation that we love so much. We should be grateful and proud.

BLACK LIVES MATTER + PRIDE (LGTBQIA+ Allies)

Claudius Afolabi "Labi" Siffre (born 25 June 1945) is a British singer, songwriter, musician and poet. Siffre released six albums between 1970 and 1975, and four between 1988 and 1998. He has published essays, the stage and TV play Deathwrite and three volumes of poetry: Nigger, Blood On The Page and Monument.

Siffre played jazz guitar at Annie Ross's jazz club in Soho in the 1960s as part of a Hammond organ, guitar, drums house band.

He released six albums between 1970 and 1975. In the 1970s he released 16 singles,[citation needed] three of which became hits: "It Must Be Love" (No. 14, 1971) (later covered by and a No. 4 hit for Madness, for which Siffre himself appeared in the video); "Crying Laughing Loving Lying" (No. 11, 1972); and "Watch Me" (No. 29, 1972). In 1978, Siffre took part in the UK heats of the Eurovision Song Contest. He performed his own composition "Solid Love", which placed fifth of the twelve songs up for consideration at the A Song for Europe contest. Additionally, he co-wrote the song "We Got It Bad" performed by Bob James, which came tenth.

Siffre came out of self-imposed retirement from music in 1985, when he saw a television film from Apartheid South Africa showing a white soldier shooting at black children. He wrote "(Something Inside) So Strong" (No. 4, 1987) and released four more albums between 1988 and 1998.

The 1975 track "I Got The..." was released as a single in 2006, and was sampled in the Eminem track "My Name Is" in 1999. Which is ironic to think years later with all the controversy around Eminem and Homophobia. 

Siffre met Peter John Carver Lloyd in July 1964. They remained together until Lloyd's death in 2013, having entered a civil partnership in 2005, as soon as this was possible in the UK. In 2014 Siffre appeared on the BBC Radio 4 series Great Lives, championing the life of British author Arthur Ransome. Siffre said that the Swallows and Amazons books had taught him responsibility for his own actions and also a morality that has influenced and shaped him throughout his life.

So, today with a little love and a look to the future, I choose Labi Siffre's "I Got The.." as my, get it gurl, go on with your bad self, be just exactly who you are, song for a, tell me again, side eye smile, back off buster I’m making waves, Tuesday.

Bessie Smith - "I Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl"

Normally during PRIDE month (June) I do my best to post only or mainly LGBTQIA+ Artists. In light of the civil unrest around the nation and the injustices that have been forced upon the Black Community through years of enslavement, systemic racism, widespread oppression, and a set of generational socioeconomic traps, I thought this year it would be important to spotlight just how many QUEER BLACK ARTISTS changed and shaped the world through music, arts, culture, and activism.

So this June I will spotlight all Queer Black Artists to show you one more way in which we should be grateful for to the Queer Black Community and how without them we would not have the world or nation that we love so much. We should be grateful and proud.

BLACK LIVES MATTER + PRIDE (LGTBQIA+ Allies)

Bessie Smith was the greatest and most influential classic blues singer of the 1920s.  Nicknamed the Empress of the Blues, she is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and was a major influence on other jazz singers. Her full-bodied blues delivery coupled with a remarkable self-assuredness that worked its way in and around most every note she sang, plus her sharp sense of phrasing, enabled her to influence virtually every female blues singer who followed. During her heyday, she sold hundreds of thousands of records and earned upwards of $2000 per week, which was a queenly sum in the 1920s. She routinely played to packed houses in the South as well as the North and Midwest. By the time the decade had ended, Smith had become the most respected black singer in America and had recorded a catalog of blues that still stands as the yardstick by which all other female blues singers are measured.

Since her death, Bessie Smith’s music continues to win over new fans, and collections of her songs have continued to sell extremely well over the years. She has been a primary influence for countless female vocalists—including Billie Holliday, Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin—and has been immortalized in numerous works. A comprehensive, acclaimed bio on her life — Bessie, by journalist Chris Albertson — was published in 1972 and expanded in 2003.

Often overlooked is her proud Bisexuality. She was brash, bold, and never shied away from the fact that she liked women. Adding that to list of her "eccentricities" was an easy write off for most, but it was a personal struggle for most of her life, trying to balance her husband and her female relationships.  It was widely known that she would have affairs with women while being married to Jack Gee, who knew of his famed wife’s dalliances. The biopic staring Queen Latifah is said to explore the queer world of that era, and not tiptoe around the issue of Bessie Smith’s bisexuality.

So today I choose Bessie Smith’s “I Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl” as my, become your own legend, start your story now, no one can tell you how bright you can shine song for a, let nothing stand in your way, no hill is unclimbable - no obstacle unconquerable - no battle insurmountable, remember your own divinity, Monday.

Janelle Monae - "Make Me Feel (EDX Dubai Skyline Remix)"

Normally during PRIDE month (June) I do my best to post only or mainly LGBTQIA+ Artists. In light of the civil unrest around the nation and the injustices that have been forced upon the Black Community through years of enslavement, systemic racism, widespread oppression, and a set of generational socioeconomic traps, I thought this year it would be important to spotlight just how many QUEER BLACK ARTISTS changed and shaped the world through music, arts, culture, and activism.

So this June I will spotlight all Queer Black Artists to show you one more way in which we should be grateful for to the Queer Black Community and how without them we would not have the world or nation that we love so much. We should be grateful and proud.

BLACK LIVES MATTER + PRIDE (LGTBQIA+ Allies)

She may be the newest out musician on the block, but she's been on the block making music for a while, and now that she's opened up her whole heart to her fans, I'm excited to see what she does next and how the world will open up to her. This album called back to Prince and Bowie and other queer music makers and again pushed the musical envelope.

Now admittedly I was resistant to this song, this album, these videos, just the whole darn thing. I'd given all her previous records a chance, buying them and listening in the hopes that they would click, and they all felt rather disjunct to me; I couldn't get all the way into them. I loved her single "Tightrope" and her duet with Fun, and I could see and support the talent, but it's almost like she was a fruit that hadn't ripened yet. But it is here, in this most recent album where all of her splendor arrives. Like a mango at it's sweetest, ripest, and juiciest on a hot summer day. Her artistry shines, and she IS an artist. An incredible artist at that. 

She has since been the first queer black artist to open the Academy Awards, and has spread her talent across stage and screen.

As an LGBTQ musician myself, I have to believe that somewhere in the breakout performances from Midnight and Hidden Figures, and in breaking those barriers she was able to stop "performing" and come out of the closet. Of course I would never say that this is the sole reason she's lit up the way she has, but I can't help but imagine, now that she isn't wasting anymore time or energy hiding part of her away, how that energy might be focused into her incredible artistry. She's finally able to invite her fans all the way in, into the honest and true parts of herself, and we are eating it up. 

Welcome to the world Sister. It only gets better from here. 

Janelle Monáe Robinson is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, actress, and model. She is signed to her own imprint, Wondaland Arts Society, and Atlantic Records. After her first unofficial studio album, The Audition, she publicly debuted with a conceptual EP titled Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase), which peaked at number 115 on the Billboard 200 in the United States.

In 2010, Monáe released her critically acclaimed first full-length studio album The ArchAndroid, a concept album sequel to her first EP. It was released by Bad Boy Records and reached the number 17 spot on the Billboard 200. Monáe featured as a guest vocalist in "We Are Young" by fun., which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, her first appearance in the chart. In August 2012, Monáe became a CoverGirl spokeswoman. Her second studio album, The Electric Lady, was released in September 2013, to critical acclaim. In 2016, Monáe had roles in two feature films, Hidden Figures and Moonlight.

Monáe's third studio album, Dirty Computer, was released on April 27, 2018, preceded by the singles "Django Jane", "Make Me Feel", "I Like That", and "Pynk". Monáe has received six Grammy Award nominations.

So today, with truth, light, and passion abounding, I choose Janelle Monáe's "Make Me Feel (EDX Dubai Skyline Remix)" as my get your groove back, find the light, with nothing to weigh you down you’ll take flight, song for an, the fight is just begun, there’s more work to do so we may as well dance while we’re doing it, it's a time to get this $#*! started, Friday.

Lil' Nas X - "Old Town Road"

Normally during PRIDE month (June) I do my best to post only or mainly LGBTQIA+ Artists. In light of the civil unrest around the nation and the injustices that have been forced upon the Black Community through years of enslavement, systemic racism, widespread oppression, and a set of generational socioeconomic traps, I thought this year it would be important to spotlight just how many QUEER BLACK ARTISTS changed and shaped the world through music, arts, culture, and activism.

So this June I will spotlight all Queer Black Artists to show you one more way in which we should be grateful for to the Queer Black Community and how without them we would not have the world or nation that we love so much. We should be grateful and proud.

BLACK LIVES MATTER + PRIDE (LGTBQIA+ Allies)

From a meme connoisseur to a Grammy-nominated paradigm, Lil Nas X fiercely became an internationally recognized phenomenon. With the Billy Ray Cyrus-featuring remix of his "Old Town Road," Lil Nas X climbed the charts with relentless speed. "Road" broke an abundance of records, notably becoming the longest running No. 1 in Hot 100 history (a record previously held by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's "One Sweet Day," recently equaled by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's "Despacito"). With a 2020 Grammy nomination for album of the year, Lil Nas X's 2020s are looking bright as well.

Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), known as Lil Nas X (/nɑːz/ NAHZ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He came to international attention for his country rap single "Old Town Road", which first achieved viral popularity on the micro-platform video sharing app TikTok in early 2019, and was diamond certified by November the same year. The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, following the first of several remixes, and remained at the top for nineteen weeks, the longest for any song since the chart debuted in 1958. Nas X also came out as gay, becoming the only artist to do so while having a number-one record. "Old Town Road" earned him two MTV Video Music Awards including Song of the Year; the American Music Award for Favorite Rap/Hip Hop Song; and Nas X is the only openly LGBTQ artist to win a Country Music Association award. He won two Grammy Awards, for Best Music Video and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, along with being nominated for a total of six, the most for any male artist in 2019 ,  Time named Nas X one of the 25 most influential people on the Internet in 2019. Nas X was also named by Forbes on their 2020 30 under 30 list.

His debut EP, 7, was released in June 2019 with its second single, "Panini", peaking at number five on the Hot 100 and three on Rolling Stone's Top 100. Its third single, "Rodeo", also proved successful on the charts. As of September 2019, his songs have been streamed over 2.3 billion times

So today, blazing trails down old roads I choose Lil’ Nas X’s “Old Town Road” as my, be the brightest version of you, show them just how bold you can be, dare them to tell you otherwise, song for a, rise up, break out, burn them down, Thursday.

Billy Strayhorn - "Chelsea Bridge" & "Lush Life"

Normally during PRIDE month (June) I do my best to post only or mainly LGBTQIA+ Artists. In light of the civil unrest around the nation and the injustices that have been forced upon the Black Community through years of enslavement, systemic racism, widespread oppression, and a set of generational socioeconomic traps, I thought this year it would be important to spotlight just how many QUEER BLACK ARTISTS changed and shaped the world through music, arts, culture, and activism.

So this June I will spotlight all Queer Black Artists to show you one more way in which we should be grateful for to the Queer Black Community and how without them we would not have the world or nation that we love so much. We should be grateful and proud.

BLACK LIVES MATTER + PRIDE (LGTBQIA+ Allies)

Today is a tough day, but will be one with a beautiful ending ... no one could understand that more than Mr. Strayhorn, who fought valiantly for equal rights both for the black community and the LGBTQ community.

An extravagantly gifted composer, arranger, and pianist -- some considered him a genius -- Billy Strayhorn toiled throughout most of his maturity in the gaudy shadow of his employer, collaborator, and friend, Duke Ellington. Only in the last decade has Strayhorn's profile been lifted to a level approaching that of Ellington, where diligent searching of the Strayhorn archives (mainly by David Hajdu, author of the excellent Strayhorn bio Lush Life) revealed that Strayhorn's contribution to the Ellington legacy was far more extensive and complex than once thought. There are several instances where Strayhorn compositions were registered as Ellington/Strayhorn pieces ("Day Dream," "Something to Live For"), where collaborations between the two were listed only under Ellington's name ("Satin Doll," "Sugar Hill Penthouse," "C-Jam Blues"), where Strayhorn pieces were copyrighted under Ellington's name or no name at all. Even tunes that were listed as Strayhorn's alone have suffered; the proverbial man on the street is likely to tell you that "Take the 'A' Train" -- perhaps Strayhorn's most famous tune -- is a Duke Ellington song.

Still, among musicians and jazz fans, Strayhorn is renowned for acknowledged classics like "Lotus Blossom," "Lush Life," "Rain Check," "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing," and "Mid-Riff." While tailored for the Ellington idiom, Strayhorn's pieces often have their own bittersweet flavor, and his larger works have coherent, classically influenced designs quite apart from those of Ellington. Strayhorn was alternately content with and frustrated by his second-fiddle status, and he was also one of the few openly gay figures in jazz, which probably added more stress to his life.

Classical music was Strayhorn's first and life-long musical love. He started out as a child prodigy, gravitating toward Victrolas as a child, and working odd jobs in order to buy a used upright piano while in grade school. He studied harmony and piano in high school, writing the music for a professional musical, Fantastic Rhythm, at 19. But the realities of a black man trying to make it in the then-lily-white classical world, plus exposure to pianists like Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson, led Strayhorn toward jazz. He gigged around Pittsburgh with a combo called the Mad Hatters. Through a friend of a friend, Strayhorn gained an introduction to Duke Ellington when the latter's band stopped in Pittsburgh in 1938. After hearing Strayhornplay, Ellington immediately gave him an assignment, and in January 1939, Strayhorn moved to New York to join Ellington as an arranger, composer, occasional pianist, and collaborator without so much as any kind of contract or verbal agreement. "I don't have any position for you," Ellington allegedly said. "You'll do whatever you feel like doing."

A 1940-1941 dispute with ASCAP that kept Ellington's compositions off the radio gave Strayhorn his big chance to contribute several tunes to the Ellington band book, among them "After All," "Chelsea Bridge," "Johnny Come Lately," and "Passion Flower." Over the years, Strayhorn would collaborate (and be given credit) with Ellington in many of his large-scale suites, like "Such Sweet Thunder," "A Drum Is a Woman," "The Perfume Suite," and "The Far East Suite," as well as musicals like Jump for Joy and Saturday Laughter, and the score for the film Anatomy of a Murder. Beginning in the '50s, Strayhorn also took on some projects of his own away from Ellington, including a few solo albums, revues for a New York society called the Copasetics, theater collaborations with Luther Henderson, and songs for his friend Lena Horne. In 1964, Strayhorn was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus, aggravated by years of smoking and drinking, and he submitted his last composition, "Blood Count," to the Ellington band while in the hospital. Shortly after Strayhorn's death in May 1967, Ellington recorded one of his finest albums and the best introduction to Strayhorn's work, And His Mother Called Him Bill (RCA), in memory of his friend.

Billy was a visionary, and true vision is often disregarded as silly, misunderstood, or simply not believed. We are lucky to have had him at all. 

So today I choose Billy Strayhorn’s “Chelsea Bridge” & “Lush Life” as my, just breath, time will tell the story, walk on, songs for a, find every new beautiful thing, we will rage & we will shout, keep fighting the good fight, Wednesday.

Frankie Knuckles - "You Can't Hide (Feat. Teddy Pendergrass)"

Normally during PRIDE month (June) I do my best to post only or mainly LGBTQIA+ Artists. In light of the civil unrest around the nation and the injustices that have been forced upon the Black Community through years of enslavement, racism, systematic oppression, and a set of generational socioeconomic traps, I thought this year it would be important to spotlight just how many QUEER BLACK ARTISTS changed and shaped the world through music, arts, culture and activism.

So this June I will spotlight all Queer Black Artists to show you one more way in which we should be grateful for to the Queer Black Community and how without them we would not have the world or nation that we love so much. We should be grateful and proud.

BLACK LIVES MATTER + PRIDE (LGTBQIA+ Allies)

Although EDM has become the dominant genre of mainstream pop, the lack of historical perspective held by the notoriously white and straight fist-bumping fans of the style is often apparent. House music’s popularization (traveling a tortuous route from underground, inner-city warehouse parties to the 1990s rave scene to Jersey Shore to the stages of Coachella) has had some significant cultural consequences, one of which is the erasure of the queer, black origins of the music. With that in mind, it’s hard to underestimate Frankie Knuckles’ influence on our contemporary sonic landscape. Transforming the tropes of disco into a futuristic sounding, lifelong thesis on love and desire, Knuckles’ music – equal parts sultry, political, licentious, and earnest – is so widely beloved that his death in 2014 prompted personal letters to close friends from President Obama. With the city of Chicago serving as the setting of his immaculately produced tracks, the spirit of the “Godfather of House” lives on in the thumping, seductive sounds providing the backdrop for a new generation of escapist party goers. Eric Shorey

Knuckles made numerous popular Def Classic Mixes with John Poppo as sound engineer, and Knuckles partnered with David Morales on Def Mix Productions. His debut album Beyond the Mix (1991), released on Virgin Records, contained what would be considered his seminal work, "The Whistle Song", which was the first of four number ones on the US dance chart. The Def Classic mix of Lisa Stansfield's "Change", released in the same year, also featured the whistle-like motif. Another track from the album, "Rain Falls", featured vocals from Lisa Michaelis. Eight thousand copies of the album had sold by 2004. Other key remixes from this time include his rework of the Electribe 101 anthem "Talking with Myself" and Alison Limerick's "Where Love Lives".

When Junior Vasquez took a sabbatical from The Sound Factory in Manhattan, Knuckles took over and launched a successful run as resident DJ. He continued to work as a remixer through the 1990s and into the next decade, reworking tracks from Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Diana Ross, Eternal and Toni Braxton. He released several new singles, including "Keep on Movin'" and a re-issue of an earlier hit "Bac N Da Day" with Definity Records. In 1995, he released his second album titled Welcome to the Real World. By 2004, 13,000 copies had sold.

Openly gay, Knuckles was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1996.

So today, listening more than I’m speaking, I choose Frankie Knuckles’ "You Can’t Hide (feat. Teddy Pendergrass)" as my, break the mold, shake the derby, crack the skies, song for a, Sing out Loud, it’s all around us now so act up, be the light you need and the beacon for those to follow, Tuesday.

Josephine Baker - "Voilá"

Normally during PRIDE month (June) I do my best to post only or mainly LGBTQIA+ Artists. In light of the civil unrest around the nation and the injustices that have been forced upon the Black Community through years of enslavement, racism, systematic oppression, and generational disenfranchisment I thought this year it would be important to spotlight just how many QUEER BLACK ARTISTS changed and shaped the world through music, arts, culture and activism.

So this June I will spotlight all Queer Black Artists to show you one more way in which we should be grateful for to the Queer Black Community and how without them we would not have the world or nation that we love so much. We should be grateful and proud.

BLACK LIVES MATTER + PRIDE (LGTBQIA+ Allies)

Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald, naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French entertainer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted France. Baker was the first African-American to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 silent film Siren of the Tropics, directed by Mario Nalpas and Henri Étiévant.

During her early career Baker was renowned as a dancer, and was among the most celebrated performers to headline the revues of the Folies Bergère in Paris. Her performance in the revue Un vent de folie in 1927 caused a sensation in Paris. Her costume, consisting of only a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace, became an iconic image and a symbol of the Jazz Age and the 1920s.

Baker was celebrated by artists and intellectuals of the era, who variously dubbed her the “Black Venus”, the "Black Pearl", the "Bronze Venus", and the "Creole Goddess". Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she renounced her U.S. citizenship and became a French national after her marriage to French industrialist Jean Lion in 1937.  She raised her children in France. "I have two loves, my country and Paris", Baker once said, and she sang: « J'ai deux amours, mon pays et Paris ».

She was known for aiding the French Resistance during World War II. After the war, she was awarded the Croix de guerre by the French military, and was named a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur by General Charles de Gaulle.

Baker refused to perform for segregated audiences in the United States and is noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. In 1968, she was offered unofficial leadership in the movement in the United States by Coretta Scott King, following Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. After thinking it over, Baker declined the offer out of concern for the welfare of her children.

Although based in France, Baker supported the Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s. When she arrived in New York with her husband Jo, they were refused reservations at 36 hotels because of racial discrimination. She was so upset by this treatment that she wrote articles about the segregation in the United States. She also began traveling into the South. She gave a talk at Fisk University, a historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee, on "France, North Africa And The Equality Of The Races In France".

She refused to perform for segregated audiences in the United States, although she was offered $10,000 by a Miami club. (The club eventually met her demands). Her insistence on mixed audiences helped to integrate live entertainment shows in Las Vegas, Nevada. After this incident, she began receiving threatening phone calls from people claiming to be from the Ku Klux Klan but said publicly that she was not afraid of them.

In 1951, Baker made charges of racism against Sherman Billingsley's Stork Club in Manhattan, where she had been refused service.  Actress Grace Kelly, who was at the club at the time, rushed over to Baker, took her by the arm and stormed out with her entire party, vowing never to return (although she returned on 3 January 1956 with Prince Rainier of Monaco). The two women became close friends after the incident.

When Baker was near bankruptcy, Kelly offered her a villa and financial assistance (Kelly by then was princess consort of Rainier III of Monaco). (However, during his work on the Stork Club book, author and New York Times reporter Ralph Blumenthal was contacted by Jean-Claude Baker, one of Baker's sons. Having read a Blumenthal-written story about Leonard Bernstein's FBI file, he indicated that he had read his mother's FBI file and, using comparison of the file to the tapes, said he thought the Stork Club incident was overblown.)

Baker worked with the NAACP. Her reputation as a crusader grew to such an extent that the NAACP had Sunday, 20 May 1951 declared "Josephine Baker Day". She was presented with life membership with the NAACP by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Ralph Bunche. The honor she was paid spurred her to further her crusading efforts with the "Save Willie McGee" rally after he was convicted of the 1948 beating death of a furniture shop owner in Trenton, New Jersey.[dubious – discuss] As the decorated war hero who was bolstered by the racial equality she experienced in Europe, Baker became increasingly regarded as controversial; some black people even began to shun her, fearing that her outspokenness and racy reputation from her earlier years would hurt the cause.

In 1963, she spoke at the March on Washington at the side of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Baker was the only official female speaker. While wearing her Free French uniform emblazoned with her medal of the Légion d'honneur, she introduced the "Negro Women for Civil Rights." Rosa Parks and Daisy Bates were among those she acknowledged, and both gave brief speeches. Not everyone involved wanted Baker present at the March; some thought her time overseas had made her a woman of France, one who was disconnected from the Civil Rights issues going on in America. In her powerful speech, one of the things Baker notably said was:

I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens and into the houses of presidents. And much more. But I could not walk into a hotel in America and get a cup of coffee, and that made me mad. And when I get mad, you know that I open my big mouth. And then look out, 'cause when Josephine opens her mouth, they hear it all over the world ...

After King's assassination, his widow Coretta Scott King approached Baker in the Netherlands to ask if she would take her husband's place as leader of the Civil Rights Movement. After many days of thinking it over, Baker declined, saying her children were "too young to lose their mother".

So today, with humility and gratitude, I choose Josephine Baker’s “Voilá”, as my, act up, speak up, stand together, song for a, be brave, be bold, now is the time for guts and guile, Monday.

Billie Holiday - "Strange Fruit"

It’s strange times we live in, where people are dying at the hands of police officers. Then again, this type of brutality isn’t new the black community. People of color have been historically enslaved, oppressed, and dismissed. People are rioting in the streets in Minneapolis and Dallas. We’re in the middle of a pandemic, and I pray that these strange days will lead us to better times. I cannot help but think of this iconic song and the dark story that it tells as it illuminates the racism that was born and bred in the country and continues to be brought to light. As Will Smith said “Racism isn’t getting worse, it’s just being filmed.”

Billie Holiday remains (four decades after her death) the most famous of all jazz singers. "Lady Day" (as she was named by Lester Young) had a small voice and did not scat but her innovative behind-the-beat phrasing made her quite influential. The emotional intensity that she put into the words she sang (particularly in later years) was very memorable and sometimes almost scary; she often really did live the words she sang.

While Armstrong changed jazz trumpet, Holiday changed jazz vocals.  Her delivery – the way she would play with the phrasing and tempo, singing behind the beat, sculpting the words – was so radically original that it spawned an entire generation of singers in her wake, including people like Frank Sinatra, who credited Holiday as a major influence.  But, Holiday’s importance cuts deeper than music.  First and foremost, she was a strong female presence in an era where black women were mostly forced to occupy the lowest rung of society.  Holiday, along with other legends like Ella Fitzgerald, was a different kind of black woman – one who could command a room and demand respect with the sheer power of her talent and personality.  But, unlike Fitzgerald, Holiday was also political, singing a song that foreshadowed the Civil Rights movement, “Strange Fruit.”

Today, in the wake of a tragedy and riots, I choose the Epic, Amazing, and Incomparable Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” as my be the change you want to see, let them follow the sound for your voice, and so your light shall lead them from the darkness, song for a, violence shouldn’t be the answer but you have to speak the language they understand, only Love can push out Hate, stand strong - stand together, Friday..