I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: RARE ESSENCE-Tiny Desk Concert #637 (July 19, 2017).

I have learned of go-go music exclusively from Tiny Desk Concerts:

Dominated by drive and momentum, heavy on percussion and bass, go-go music is all about the beat. Live, “songs” can continue on for half an hour, as the percussion continues to simmer and punctuate between and across different pieces. “That’s why we call it go-go, because it goes on and goes on and goes on,” as guitarist Andre Johnson put it in a documentary film.

This visit by Rare Essence perfectly encapsulated the genre’s incomparable meld of soul, R&B and, most importantly, funk (with a dash of Afro-Cuban influence).

So that’s go-go.  What about this band?

Rare Essence emerged not long after go-go itself did, beginning as a group in 1976 in Washington D.C. Ever since the group has kept a steady schedule playing around town and around the world.

The band plays seven–SEVEN–songs in sixteen minutes.  Many of them are just riffs that go on for a minute or so like “Down for My Niggas.”  Whereas “Rock This Party” is a bit more of a call and response piece–with some good congas.  “Freaky Deak” is pretty much a riff or two before they start talking to the audience.

They thank Suraya for arranging the show and there’s a lot of shouts outs and hand waving.  And then they start with one of their favorites, “One on One.”

All of the songs more or less flow into each other as one long jam.  There are multiple lead singers and everyone participates in the responses.

After a spell of their name (R-A-R, Double E, S-S-E-N, C-E) the lead guitarist sings lead on “Bad Bad” (he’s the oldest looking guy but he still has the power in his voice).

As they segue into “Lock It,” We apologize we could play this song for ever but I know everyone got to go back to work.  We’re gonna play the short version  We could play this for at least an hour.  They keys plays a nice Cuban sounding melody–almost like xylophones.

“After three minutes, he says this ant even the first part of the song–we still got about fifty more minutes.” Then they segue into “Overnight Scenario” which everyone sings along t o.

Anthony Andre “Whiteboy” Johnson (guitar, vocals); James “Funk” Thomas (vocals); Charles “Shorty Corleone” Garris (vocals); Leroy “RB” Battle, Jr. (keyboards); Calvin “Killer Cal” Henry (vocals); Michael Baker (bass); Kenneth “Quick” Gross (drums); Samuel “Smoke” Dews (congas); Kym Clarke (trumpet); Derryle Valentine (sax, flute)

[READ: July 23, 2017] “Bonebreaker”

I find Nell Zink’s stories to be weird but compelling.  She writes about strange things in unusual ways.  The people are often peculiar but compelling.

But this story was especially odd to me because the two characters seem really stupid

Both Jed and Laurie are fleeing the States.  As the story begins they go to the airport with a lot of cash.  But they knew that the TSA would be suspicious of that.  So when they see the “money sniffing” dogs, they know the TSA is on to them.  They leave their stuff at the airport and return home–which puts them on the no-fly list.

After a few more aborted attempts, they decide to take a barge–a real refugee situation. Not only do they not get where they are going, they lose a lot of money and are mostly miserable.

Why are they fleeing?

Well a colleague of Jed’s wrote an article about Boko Haram (Nigeria’s militant Islamist group).  He traveled there and interviewed some girls who married Boko Haram men. One girl’s story was especially sad. A military excursion had left her with a broken arm.  She needed to raise money to go back to her village so the bonebreaker could fix her.

The journalist set up a fund for her which was immediately deemed abetting a terrorist organization.  He refused to give up any information and was sentenced for a year and day for “propagating fake news.”

So Jed believes that he is on the watch list (money was used from his Pay Pal account) and he wants to get out of the country.  It’s not entirely clear why Laurie is going with him–they aren’t dating it doesn’t seem, although she does like him.

Having no possession and being stranded in Miami, they booked a flight (with cash) to London.   There they had to decide–get in the tourist-visa line or apply for asylum.

They chose asylum and, after giving up just about all of their money the guy let them apply.  They just needed to find a place to stay and a way to make money until they heard whether they were accepted.

Many bad things happen to them and then finally the news comes in.

But it’s not the news they had hoped for entirely.  Will the stress of their lives drive them further apart?  And should these two really be making decisions for themselves?

I can’t tell if this is meant to be a serious indictment of Trump : “you did it for Donald fuckin’ Trump and his shit-ass administration” but it really seems like these two are too paranoid for their own benefit.  The threats to them always seem more in their heads.

As with most of Zink’s stories, the details are wonderful.  It’s just that this time the overall story seemed muddied.

But whether she was entirely serious about their fears, Trump’s rule is very serious and should b dealt with quickly.  #ITMFA #RESIST