Jason Toney

music is like gravy...

"He says I know you, you know me/one thing I can tell is you got to be free." - The Beatles, Come Together (Abbey Road)

Now, before I go sit like a lump in front of my parents giant tv for the rest of the day, I thought I would present the music I'm most thankful for in 2002. Now, I know it's a month or so early and that it's entirely likely that Common's Electric Circus is going to sneak it's way onto this list but URB already did their essential albums of the year so why not me too?

Exactly.

gratitudes and platitudes

"Remembering all there is is love and all I am is all that I am. There is no death, there is only...life." - Tre Hardson, Four Minutes and Counting (Liberation)

I am thankful for this food that I am about to receive, may it nourish my body.

I am thankful for The Native Tongues, The Heiroglyphics and The Okayplayers.

I am thankful for Fastlane moving to Fridays at 8 so that I can have a back to back action power hours instead of going out spending money I shouldn't.

I am thankful for Bailey. Everytime I put the key in the lock, I get a tinge of anxiety wondering what havoc you have provided to my home. Everyday with you is an adventure.

I am thankful for Asian, Mexican, and Ethiopian cuisines.

I am thankful for the fleeting days of rain in Southern California. I love them when they are here and ready for them to be gone when they go.

I am thankful for The Honky Slut Warrior and The Actress, The Lechtastic and The Diva Living. My experiences and excursions with them are all different and they are all wonderful.

I am thankful for The Lovely Miss Mahoney and The Lovely Miss Anna Baby. Anna Baby for being my road dog, Miss Mahoney for being close even though she's far away. And both for being hot, sexy beasts with tasty minds.

I am thankful for The Trues. My second family. They are home.

I am thankful for The Toneys. Mom, Dad, and the Crazy one. Their zest for life and passion for the arts reminds me where I get it from.

I am thankful for Pen. When I need truth, I need her and she always brings it.

I am thankful for KCRW. Music is my life's blood.

I am thankful for Aaron, George, Monique, The boys in the D. I. C., Ronn, Hanne, Dru, kd, and Michelle. For challenging, infuriating, and entertaining me with your words.

I am thankful for Michelle and Monique for being real friends in this weird etherspace.

I am thankful for Lynne. For the opportunities and aspirations she provides me. I still want to be her when I grow up.

I am thankful for this space and all that it has brought me.

And I am thankful for me. Thankful for being my own best friend, being comfortable in my own skin, for the mistakes I've made, for the things I must learn, for the world I have created, for the life I lead, for the challenges I give myself, the accomplishments I've achieved, the people I surround myself with, the joy in my heart, the smile on my face, the dreams in my head, and the fears that reside right there with them. For who I am and for who I will become, warts and all.

Alright, get your grub on. Get your motherfuckin' grub on.

they say i'm hopeless

"Hello morning/Now when does the fun begin/Goodbye morning/sorry it had to end" - Dionne Farris, Hopeless (Love Jones - The Music)

I was getting ready to go to the grocery store. Just about to print out the weekly list and line through 90% of it so that I'm not tempted to buy black olives when I already have 3 cans and totally forget the toilet paper when I can't spare a square. As usual, I'm easily distracted and something about a Jazzy Jeff track coming through my itunes library made me visit Giles. Now, I'm compelled to write something, inspired by one line in an article that he quotes from. Inspiration is a bastard sometimes. What if I have to wipe my ass, tonight?

oh. my. god.

"This world is full of love, we still have hope. " - Zero 7 featuring Mozez, This World (Simple Things)

The plan for today was to have Dim Sum with the cool cats, visit my folks, steam clean the carpets, launder some clothes, buy some groceries, watch a little Sopranos and then a little girl talk over yogurt with The Actress. Dim Sum yes, Sopranos and girl talk probably but everything else? Yeah, no. I'm sitting here a little high on Midol (what? No shame in my game. Drugs courtesy of The Trues), filling up a hot water bottle so that I can attach it to my back and attempt to make my muscles all better. Used to be a time when I could dance for hours on end with only my feet the worse for wear. No longer. I'm sucking wind a lot sooner and my body doesn't respond kindly.

But I don't care.

Ummm, Shadow. He rocked it for an hour at the after party and I rocked right along with him. From the dancehall to the hip hop to the classics to the trance remixes. It was pretty much over from the moment he dropped in Eric B. and Rakim's Juice (Know the Ledge). At that point, I had to bring the hot sauce. I was already rocking some high class b-boy gear and my new frankenstein boots so I had to bring it to them. The circle grew, I heard the whispers, I knocked my glasses off, I got the thumbs up from the cute ladies and nods from the dudes too scared to wreck shit and it was on and on and on. By the time he was closing with The Roots Break You Off (which is mad hot in a club setting) and a cut off Common's upcoming album it was 2:30 A.M, I had done bad business to my body but I was the happiest man alive.

But let's begin at the beginning.

best. show. ever.

"Tomorrow never comes until it's too late..." by ?? (a little help here)

oh. my. god.

more on this later...

introducing...the first black man to pilot an aircraft

"I'll be the crouching tiger, you be the hidden dragon." - Jazzanova featuring Ursula Rucker and Hawkeye Phanatic, Keep Falling (In Between)

Since Aaron claims he won't be buying it, I figured I should focus a little on Truth: Red, White and Black. Issue 1 is out this week. The Kyle Baker artwork gives it the right feel. It looks like old newsreels, like how you imagine the 40s were. The vibe of it reminds me of Spike Lee's Malcolm X during the Detroit Red years. This first issue is an establishing point for the four major characters. It's very odd reading a comic focused on decidedly not "super" men and women of color. It's been a while since I've read the old Milestone books, so maybe I just can't remember the universe that they populated well enough, but this is a very segregated America that these people are living in and it feels like it. 2 white characters in 32 pages. The denials and mistreatment and "differentness" is just as palpable and unsettling in comic art as it is in film and books that attempt to recreate the time.

It's interesting to look at this story in contrast, or perhaps in consort, with the current Marvel Comics series, and most interesting area of it's universe, The Ultimates. In this version of the Avengers, Captain America has been suspended in time and brought back to life. His "All-American" lifestyle has been corrupted by current day realities. His old NY apartment building has been overrun by gangs and poverty, his boss is a Black Nick Fury, his possible love interest is an Asian Wasp, and the evils of the world aren't so clear cut.

Neither book presents the kind of America that the protector of Truth, Justice and the American Way would want to risk his life to save. It's not even the America he knows. But it's an America that exists and the telling of those stories is what's important. I appreciate the effort.

feel the rush

"This morning I woke up feeling brand new/ I jumped up feeling my highs and my lows/ and my soul and my goals/ just to stop smoking and stop drinking and I been thinking/ I got my reasons just to get by" - Talib Kweli (with some serious background vocalists), Get By (Quality)

*much thanks to the Dark Haired Vixen (née The Honky Slut Warrior now that she has deep dark curly locks) who hooked me up with a copy of the Kweli disc before I had to drop bones on it. It's for the headnodders, although 2 or 3 tracks are definite bangers. Get By, Shock Body and Good to You are killing me on these early listens.

Wanna know why I'm not posting regularly, check thebrotherlove. We're not going through exactly the same stuff but, just like brother J., real life is gettin' in my way. Not that I'm complaining really. This is just the first time in 10 months that I haven't been posting here on a more regular interval.

since i left you

"...I've found the world so blue." - The Avalanches, Since I Left You (Since I Left You)

Been doing more readin' than writin' this week but folks have me thinking about things. About paradigms and archetypes and whether or not things have changed or things simply remain the same.

Or perhaps that's just the copious amounts of tequila I consumed yesterday talking...

steal this entry!

"This just isn't right/I don't want to have to fight" - Boomkat, Wasting My Time (8 Mile Soundtrack)

I know people who got their orders and shipped off today or will be shipping off soon in preparation for an assault on Iraq should it come to that. They don't want to be there. It's their job so they are going. They'd rather be at home with their wives and husbands and sons and daughters. They joined the armed forces because it was one of the few options they felt open to them. Almost to a person, they didn't join out of some greater sense to protect this country or it's ideals or whims. They'll do it. They are honorable people and have jobs to do but they don't want to. They didn't much expect that they would actually have to go fight in a foreign land for real. They needed paychecks that were regular, housing that was decent and something to do when they turned 18 and the American Dream didn't quite happen as planned.

I know that they made that choice. They went in that recruitment office and completed that training and that in exchange for the training and pay they've received that they are obligated to defend this nation should it ask. But you know, I watch those army commercials and what are those ads selling? Adventure, College, comradarie. Perhaps, but it didn't inform them about death and injury and killing. Didn't inform them about deserts and gunfights in the darkness. Didn't sell to them that they were exchanging their lives for that education and opportunity.

It's not lost on me that those that I know that are preparing for war are all men and women of color, that very few of them are officers, that most will be on the front lines (whatever that means in contemporary warfare). It's not lost on me that thse men and women are family. Cousins and aunts and uncles, their wives and husbands, heading into a battle that everyone is saying should be easy.

Easy for whom?

So, yeah, I'll be protesting. I'll be counter-culture, counter-war, counter-military aggression like a motherfucker. It's not a question of whether or not I support our troops. I support them more than you will ever know. I support this country. I would be willing to die for it and it's ideals. I really would. I just want to be sure that we are fighting for the right reasons the right enemy at the right time. I want that for my brothers and sisters at arms. I want that for my family on the front lines.

I want it for yours, too.

I want it for those nameless faces over there as well.

I have an uncle. Left for war in Vietnam a smooth guy who could play a mean horn. An intelligent man that people saw a whole lot of promise in. He returned from Vietnam crazy. Certifiably so. He's been on disability for 30 years. He is often homeless. That's what a war that we probably shouldn't have been in brought him.

I'm counter-military aggression on this like a motherfucker.

You want to come yell at me across the picket line, bring it on.

It's your right.

It just happens to be my right as well. And maybe a left and an uppercut.

Just kiddin' with ya.

I'm about peace.

notes to you

"Believe it or not, I started to wonder if I had enough class" - Prince, Little Red Corvette (1999)

Lately, when I visit certain blogs, I can't get Sir Mix-A-Lot's Posse on Broadway out of my head. Visit Melly.

It wasn't until this very week that I understood why Aaron has dubbed George Giles. I get it now. He will be referred to as such from now on. Read him.

Oliver's been fiesty lately. Check him out, yo.

Me? My mind is filled with music. Today it's a lot of funk. Not kd's funk, mind, but the kind that gets you on your good foot.

If you're looking for social commentary from me, you should probably spend time in Aaron's comments. Any commentary here would probably just come out as lyrics.

I should also have some stuff up at getunderground.com and snarkfest later this week.

It might be time for some fiction in this space. It's been a while. What do ya think?