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Raymond
Myles, “Heaven is the Place”
A Gospel for Now on BOL
By Rudolph Lewis
"I know what it
means to miss New Orleans"
Let me be the first say I like gospel. I
was raised on gospel music. It is just as much a part of me as
the rhythm of my heart. It is not something that I can get away
from. Mahalia's voice/passion is my mother’s breast, my living
in the world. You see in a southern Virginia black church that
was the music—and Mahalia was the queen. So New
Orleans gospel is all mixed up with the blues and the people and
the freedoms of jazz. So New Orleans ain’t just in New
Orleans. It became an American music.
Now, let me say, I do not listen to a lot of
gospel these days. I don't care that much about the
sophistication and the jazz arrangements of popular gospel. Well
I still listen to James Brown. But he knows that the music—the
drum got to be true, how it really be.
When I saw him in B'more on Pennsylvania
Avenue at the Royal Theater, two times in one day – a matinee
and the following 8 o'clock show, it was then I understood what
the black preacher in that black church with a choir behind him,
what he was doing, in backwoods VA. I saw perfection in
"Please, Please, Please." A spirit man, an artist, an
actor, man of the people.
But that was the surface reality of the black
church. The real black church occurred during summer revival,
which lasted five nights, beginning Sunday with homecoming, when
your folk come from scattered places. They come home to thank
the Lord for his blessings, with their love ones, with their
peoples.
Well, that's the way it was done at the
country Baptist churches—the most independent of black
churches. These churches emphasized community. These are a new
people, a constantly renewing kind of people. Their faith is
caught up in their faith in the Lord.
Now when I was growing up there was no
hanging image of Christ. Of course, the fans and some of the
Sunday school material came from outside of the community with
the "classic" image of Christ made commercially
popular in the 50s. The true Christ came alive in the
pulpit—in the person of the preacher. Ours was Reverend
General Ruffin. black and stocky like he from Ghana, a shiny
chocolate, a beautiful set of teeth and about as serious a being
as a black boy ever feels from afar.
He commanded the elements. He had powers to
evoke the spirit and make it manifest itself in his person—and
in you, in the people, he could create, find oneness. That power
New Orleans music retains, been renewing for a century or more.
Let us say it's that African thing, that ancient man thing of
possession by the Spirit, by Being itself. Well, pop gospel gets
fancy, cute, sophisticated. And so the gospel this brother does
is different than all that. This gospel makes us special.
What is that us? Maybe it’s tribal. It sure
ain't upward mobile, trying to fit in where you can get in by
any deceptive means at hand. That ain't what New Orleans is all
about. That's why as a place, as a living thing, a little
experiment, it reminds us about who we are and what we be. What
is our promise and what is our gift to America.
Now, I ain't talking about these
million-dollar preachers we got now. Country Baptists are famous
for keeping preachers on the move. Because back then churches
were communities, families of achievement and all kinds and
levels, and we are all together, as one, worlds with their own
beginnings, ties, memories, working together, dying together.
And if a preacher couldn't truly bring the Spirit to sustain
that community then he got the boot. He is not the One. And
black folks are always on the outlook for the One.
During revival, before there was any
preaching, the congregation itself takes over the service, the
ceremony. Anyone can raise a song, and the congregation would
urge them on, responding, chanting his words out and if it’s
one of those spirited surging songs, they be moving their feet,
and they be swinging it, as natural and as steady as a day’s
work. Anyone can get up and speak, either to praise God or mock
bad behavior, and there would be amens, and clapping, too.
This vigorous congregation style is the true
black church. It is the black church at its most democratic, at
its most tribal, that is, with its emphasis on community and
compassion and responsibility.
In so much as the preacher, or a singer and a
choir, can evoke that and make it manifest itself in our hearts
and souls, he/she is one of us. New Orleans has this effect on
me, it refreshes, renews. That's what this brother's singing and
choir do, especially in the "I'm Gonna Shout About It" and the one
about Job and his faith.
He reminds me also of C.L. Franklin, who had much
more going on. Still I like what Miles does. It’s good
listening. . . . I know what it is to miss New Orleans.
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Raymond Myles
Website
Raymond Myles documentary teaser for A Taste of Heaven /
Raymond Myles and Yessa Nessa Vanessa Juliet Williams
Raymond Myles
Medley 1 /
Raymond Myles Medley 2 /
Raymond Myles Medley 3
Raymond Myles and The Rams—Jesus, The Baddest Man in Town
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Heaven Is The
Place I Want To Be
Excerpt by Kalamu ya Salaam
Raymond Myles is dead. He was
murdered during a car jacking. It was a terrible blow to the
contemporary New Orleans gospel scene, a scene that was, if you can get
to this, even stronger than the New Orleans rap scene, albeit not as
well known nationally and internationally. I say stronger because there
were many more people singing gospel in New Orleans than doing rap (even
counting those who did both).
Raymond was one of the most
flamboyant as well as one of the most talented of New Orleans musician.
Physically rotund, he was fashion conscious with a vengeance. He sported
a mane of curly hair which looked to be a cross between well-kept jheri
curls and a Goldilocks perm. Plus, he flashed gold. Personality-wise he
had some Little Richard in him. My man could be wild, as the second
medley cut demonstrates when he invites the church congregation to get
their groove on with Jesus instead of going out to the clubs. “Get up,
get up” he cajoles, urging them to slide and dip and do whatever else
they want to do, and, of course, the band is appropriately funky. This
is archetypical New Orleans gospel.
Those who think this a bit unseemly
for gospel music should remember that a similar criticism was leveled at
Mahalia Jackson when she started out with Thomas Dorsey before she
became celebrated as the world’s greatest gospel singer. Indeed in the
thirties, they kicked Mahalia out of some churches, saying she was
mixing the devil’s music with Jesus’ songs. Her reply was “that’s the
way we sing it” in New Orleans. And guess what? As Raymond so ably
demonstrates, they continued singing it that way, long after Mahalia was
gone.
As a vocalist Raymond reminds me of
a cross between Rance Allen and D.J. Rogers. As a musical director he
was superb, and though I am not a die-hard fan of gospel music, I loved
to hear his group The RAMS (i.e. The Raymond Anthony Myles Singers).
When they got amped up, they could out blow the Basie band while singing
with the finesse of Duke Ellington’s Orchestra at its finest. Though
there are a double handful of New Orleans gospel performers whom I
respect to the fullest, to me and to many others on the scene, Raymond
Myles was the pinnacle of New Orleans gospel. . . .—kalamu.
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Forgetting Isn’t the Problem
Americans have a way of forgetting.—Miriam
I have been thinking about that. Well,
whether there are any historical parallels, semblances to the
losing of, destroying, of an American city, and dispersing
a million people from their homes, there's something unique
about this time, even as our country preacher speaks of
slave ships. People speak also of the Oakies, as the
closest that is similar to this forced migration of people. I suppose blacks
would think of 1910-20 and 1940s.
But never, even if we take the Oakie example,
never have there been such a dispersion in a short period of
time, the only semblance is Reconstruction, maybe as confused,
which shows you how clumsy American governments are. But
not even Jubilee-Reconstruction has been so photographed and
images dispersed so thoroughly as the destruction of New
Orleans, my sweet woman abused and raped.
We were spectators—the whole global network
of cyber technology users. We too must conclude, even if I
exaggerate about the amount of paper spent on images and ink,
paper rots, and cyberspace is almost like a living thing that
goes on and on, like that bunny. There's no way this event can
be swept under the carpet. There are too many witnesses. So I
don't think "forgetting" is gonna be the problem.
This one we can win.
I think America is special. Maybe it's my
early training in a backwoods one-room framed school in southern
Virginia, home of Presidents and other great men, and greater
women. Maybe it’s that one teacher (pretty, beautiful hand,
Miss Trisvan), her seven grades, fifty or so students, a pot
belly stove in a sandbox. The American flag with the 48 stars.
Our pledge of allegiance. The nation's songs that spoke of we
the American people.
They say the earliest teachings one recalls
even in senility. So I admit I have been trained. But even the
poet Langston Hughes believes in America, in his poems. Black
folk have always believed in America. I can't recall a
historical time, now you may correct me if I'm wrong, that black
folk as black folk didn't believe in America.
So I'm gonna believe that the comfortable
middle-class of whatever complexion, believe that they are
Americans and Americans deep down believe in the we. Now they
may indeed forget or behave as if they don't know the we. That's
self-blindness. That's cynicism. That's loving comfort over
principle. That's deviltry. I think, nay, I believe, I don't
know it as hard evidence (because I been disappointed a many a
time), I have faith that Americans are greater than their
colors. America has a soul, an enduring soul. It has grown,
learned from its people and its others.
Now I ain't gonna say that many won't drag
their feet. And they got all kind of weights to hold a thing in
place. Not least among these are the corporate media and
academia. One thing we have learned in the last two weeks, most
people have concluded that one cannot depend on the corporate
media for all of the story, or to report the story with
objectivity, or photo or caption things as they really are,
were.
Reporters are moved too often by
sensationalism. The circus. That is what gets the public
attention. And, man, the ratings pay the bills. And you can
become a star if you got the appeal "right."
But as the politicos discovered in the last
presidential election the cyber-networks are powerful. We in a
new place. Many come to the table without being rich, without
being the Alpha male, and influence the course of American, or
channel of American, thinking and feeling -- partly because with
these cyber-networks we can bring the people of the world in as
our audience. Let them too have a voice, encourage them to
speak. What should America be doing in this particular
situation. If She can't deal with her most intimate
problems of social justice, who're they to be so self-righteous
with us, so Christian.
So no not again, there won't be any
forgetting. It's the doing that's the problem. Can we use these
cyber-networks to force people to do what they should do? That's
up for grabs now. How many can we bring into our world, feel
with us, work with us?
As ever and always,
Rudy (12
September 2005)
*
* * * *
burning
all four wheels.
It's the truest poetry, we need singers in
these times of the movement of people, these sojourners. The
Uptown Rulers don't want to be nowhere else. They want to go
home. And that's the way it ought to be. So we should make it
be. You telling me with all our technology we can't make it be
in the 21st century.
This is the time, my brother, this is, the
time of the separation. America's gonna be obliged to change her
way. America is before the court of world opinion. Which road
will she take? These questions are on the dock. How's America
gonna confront this first great crisis of the 21st century.
How shall she in we come to terms with the
visual relation of race and poverty, and the aural and visual
class racism as a sophisticated sport. Which way America—What
road will you take—Can you heal yourself America—Fulfill
your promise?
It won't be easy. But I believe we can talk
her into it. If we make the right appeal. White people are 70%
of the population and let's say the overwhelming majority of
them are middle-class or working class with money and want to
hold onto as much as possible. We need them, they need us. It is
a creative and dynamic combination.
I think that we as we can speak to these
people as we speak to ourselves in a language that they can
understand. Like they understand our dance, our music, our
songs. Maybe now is the time they can understand our words, our
reason, our hearts, and souls, and have pride in us, as we have
desired. A gift, a revelation. Maybe this is the now time for
America, the real America to be.
I we the wordmasters we say we with powers
from the Most High. This is not too great then a task for us to
bring forth when there are ears to listen, and a people open for
understanding. I say let it be and it be. Now all together. Say
amen.
As ever and always,
Rudy (13
September 2005)posted 13 September 2005* * *
* *
Audio:
My Story, My Song (Featuring blues guitarist Walter Wolfman Washington)
The Katrina Papers, by Jerry W.
Ward, Jr. $18.95 /
The Richard Wright Encyclopedia (2008)
Zippety Doo Dah, Zippety-Ay: How Satisfactch'll Is Education Today?
Toward a New Song of the South
Dr. Joyce E. King on Black Education and
New Paradigms
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music website >
http://www.kalamu.com/bol/
writing website >
http://wordup.posterous.com/
daily blog >
http://kalamu.posterous.com
twitter >
http://twitter.com/neogriot
facebook >
http://www.facebook.com/kalamu.salaam
Men
We Love, Men We Hate
SAC writings from Douglass, McDonogh 35, and McMain high
schools in New Orleans.
An anthology on the topic of men and relationships with men
Ways of
Laughing
An Anthology of Young Black Voices
Photographed & Edited by
Kalamu ya Salaam
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The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
By Ilan Pappe
It
is amazing, according to Pappe, how the
media had not managed to see the
similarities between the ethnic
cleansing that was happening in Bosnia
with the one that is happening in
Palestine. According to Drazen Petrovic
(pg.2-3), who has dealt with the
definition of ethnic cleansing, ethnic
cleansing is associated with
nationalism, the making of new nation
states and national struggle all of
which are the driving force within the
Zionist ideology of Israel. The
consultancy council had used the exact
same methods as the methods that were
later to be used by the Serbs in Bosnia.
In fact Pappe argues that such methods
were employed in order to establish the
state of Israel in 1948.
The
book is divided into 12 chapters with 19
illustrations in black and white, with 7
maps of Palestine and 2 tables. These
include old photographs of refugee
camps, and maps of Palestine before and
after the ethnic cleansing of 1948.
Pappe continues his writing as a
revisionist historian with the intention
of stating the bitter truth to his
Israeli contemporaries and the fact that
they have to face the truth of their
nation being built upon an ethnic
cleansing of the population of
Palestine. One
can sense an optimistic hope in Pappe’s
writing when he talks about the few who
are in Israel who are aware of their
country’s brutal past especially 1948
and the foundation of the state upon
ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.—PaLint
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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