One of the Various: On Thomas Sayers Ellis [The Nation]

thenation.com Most poets are still just finding out about their stories in their second books, but Ellis is not most poets. The Maverick Room came in at 121 pages, twice the length of the average collection of poems; so Skin, Inc., which is 181 pages long, might be considered Ellis’s third through fifth books. Raised “in a so-called single parent household in Washington, D.C.,” and educated at Harvard and Brown, Ellis came to national attention as a literary community organizer. With fellow poet and Harvard grad Sharan Strange, he founded the Dark Room Reading Series out of their rented house … Continue reading One of the Various: On Thomas Sayers Ellis [The Nation]

Chris Blackwell of Island Records Gives His Account As To Why He Feels Go-Go Has Never Broke Nationally

Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, who is also given credit for turning the planet onto Reggae music by helping launch the careers of Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff, as well as U2, Grace Jones, Roxy Music, and Nick Drake, is also the same Chris Blackwell who is responsible for the 1986 go-go movie entited “Good to Go”. Recently, Chris sat down with the Washington Post and gave his explaination on why he feels that Go-Go Music never took off nationally quite like the way Reggae has. WP: When did you first encounter go-go music? Chris Blackwell: I would … Continue reading Chris Blackwell of Island Records Gives His Account As To Why He Feels Go-Go Has Never Broke Nationally

RARE ESSENCE LIVE AT THE CAPITOL CENTER – 1986 [FULL SHOW]

Watch this rare video footage as Tricky Rick brings on the Inner City Groovers Rare Essence who performs hits such as “Hold Your Head Back” –  – “One On One” – “I Must Be Dreamin” – “Do The Mickey” and “Shake It But Don’t Break It”. **The video footage is not of best quality, but the crank still exists nevertheless. WATCH VIDEO CLIP BELOW: Continue reading RARE ESSENCE LIVE AT THE CAPITOL CENTER – 1986 [FULL SHOW]

Chuck Brown Goes Grammy For The First Time In His Career

For the first time in his long career, Chuck Brown is a Grammy nominee.  Chuck, who was both surprised and happy about the nomination, talked about it briefly while at the Reeves Center attending a Christmas toy drive for HIV families. The song nominated is the single “Love”, in which the 74 year old Go-Go legend shared a duet with soulful songtress Jill Scott, from his recent album release “We Got This”. So without a doubt, on February 13th, when the Grammy go on the air, there will be a lot DC area folks pulling for The Godfather. WATCH VIDEO … Continue reading Chuck Brown Goes Grammy For The First Time In His Career

The TMOTT Check-In – Session #1: Nena Takes On Scooby

Session #1 Nena checking in with Scooby “Frank Sirius” Marshall while backstage at the Cedric The Entertainer Concert – 1st Marina – Baltimore, Maryland. In the session, Scooby speaks about Lissen, Pandora, the Cedric tour, the go-go awards, and opinions being like assholes… or something like that. WATCH AUDIO/VISUAL CLIP BELOW: Continue reading The TMOTT Check-In – Session #1: Nena Takes On Scooby