End times??

An earthquake and a hurricane in the same week? Really???

Hustlin'...

It's been a second since I've written here...I've been sooooo busy since I got back off the road.  Being a mom, educator, composer, musician, business owner, administrator, kid whisperer, and wife has been so time consuming.  The baby is right outside my bedroom door right now screaming for mommy while I'm in here sick and trying to get some rest while I pay bills, book gigs, write out lesson plans, contact workman, set up after school activities, and find a way to PAY for all of it.  I'm always on the move, always hustling.  I think I wrote before that parents do the most hustling out there, I know that's true in my case.  At the same time I'm dealing with the fact that my mortgage is underwater and the bank won't re-fi me, I am also hustling to put food on the table and make sure that my baby has child care while I go to work to pay for the car seat that I need to purchase. etc, etc...and ya don't stop.

I don't think I'm alone. I know mothers who stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning doing work after they put their kids to sleep, only to get up at 7am or earlier to get their kids ready to go to school. Then they work all day in or outside the home only to start over.  Um, actually that's my life too....

Just how bad is bad (ie are we just f****d??)

After reading this article in Foreign Policy's online mag about a double dip recession, I feel even more confused.  Right now I feel like I'm living in a really good, suspenseful action movie.  I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen next, and no one in the media, or even regular people, does either.  It seems that we have no policy on tap that really addresses our short and long term future.  I was speaking with a friend of mine who is a real estate developer, and he is in flux.  He can't move forward in his business because of the situation with banks and loans not being given out.  The gov't hasn't put together any policy to deal with the MILLIONS of people who have foreclosing homes or, like me are underwater in their home values.  My friend is just hustling. If he was a drug dealer, he'd probably be rich because he is hustling so hard.  Shoot, the biggest hustlers are....moms, or at least parents...

The world thinks we're crazy

I've been on the road for a bit with the band Live Tropical Fish and it's been fun, but not just because of the music.  It's been really great getting to see people from outside of my little gov't town of Washington, DC.  When I was in Boston, there was a group of IT professionals from all over the world.  They were arguing just how screwed the US is, not IF it is screwed, but how much and why.  There were lots of  whistling noises where thumbs were being pointed down, if you catch my drift. They were from china, germany, japan, the good ole US of A.  All of them said, why can't rich people pay a little more in taxes?  Why can't we find ways of adding infrastructure?  What the hell is wrong with you people?  

verses

On tour, working out songs in a hotel room...ah, the joys of life on the road!

The Kids are alright...

I've been out on the road for the past week with italian soul-sters Live Tropical Fish (click for the tour schedule - come and see us/me!) on their very first US Tour, so my apologies for not posting for a few days. Before I left I came up with a couple of new songs for my album. Here's the bassline to one:

My big girl came in mid way through and helped me flesh it out a bit more :)

Here's another song I wrote earlier that day in the car, it's gonna be called "I Am A Million":

Both my lil' ladies chipped in on this one!

On my umpteenth revision!!

Song...Almost...complete....5th revision...Brother....never....satisfied....If I didn't love him, I would have to slash his tires.  Ahhh... it's all for the music.  Track is dope.  I think I should put a neon sign on my wall for when a track sounds good, I push a button and it flashes dope over and over.

Talkin' like they know...

I'm working on this new song that I think's gonna be about how difficult it is to find real objectivity and reliable information on TV (cough...Fox news..ahem...MSNBC...cough cough). And I was thinking about the whole Rupert Murdoch story that was going on a few weeks ago.  The fact that a portion of his news organization just decided to make up the news that it wanted and not call it a tabloid, but actual news is my real problem with news today.  I'm a political junkie and I consume news the way some people consume chocolate.  There are certain anchors that I become like a teenager worshiping justin beiber or something because I am soooo into them.  But I do expect there to be facts spoken about, not opinion.  I can't seem to find that easily and it's been happening for a long time and it's really getting me mad.  They speak like they know the answers and they don't even know the right questions.  They keep talking like they know something when they just think they have no idea about the subject and are using fact-like-objects to explain themselves.  Just stupid. There are actual problems and there are people who actually have solutions, but very few news organizations talk solutions because their ratings would go down if they weren't having the metaphorical Housewives of DC having spats and cat fights on their political "roundtables" everyday.

Working on a new track...

Teddy sent me this dope a** track from a jam session in the studio the other day: 

Goes back to our DC roots in gogo.  I went to youtube and went down memory lane to listen to some Little Benny and the Masters and Chuck Brown.  A couple of friends of mine work in Chuck's band...gotta take advantage of that and see his show....Thinking about Sardines and Pork and Beans and Cat in the Hat and Money, Money Money and stuff like that. Back when I was a kid, we loved those groups.  It was DC gogo against NYC hip hop.  Back when music was still regional.  

...and I came up with this in the car, I like it so far!

Debt Deal Reax

Now that the deal/deed is done and I have a chance to get past my frustrations and take a step back and look towards the bigger picture, this is what I think: This anger and frustration with people not doing they're jobs in gov't is making it difficult for people to come together and make decisions.  When Obama was running for president, there was a great feeling around of being able to accomplish things regardless of political ideology, cultural and racial background, age and sex. Now, what we need is a resurgence of community and brotherhood. We all want good things for ourselves and our children.

At least we didn't default...

So the debt ceiling has an agreement now, but congress has not voted on it yet.  The frustration I feel is not that it will or will not be passed; it's that both sides have their own set of facts and the media is deciding what it will cover and what it will hold up as "facts" or an"expert".  Fact: the Tea party has moved the agenda towards cutting the debt.  Fact: no one is covering the "real" story of job loss and the need for job creation.  I was watching fox, because though I lean toward the left, I like to have an understanding of what people who think differently than me think, and why.

Rhinos vs. Tea party

I just heard something that made me sad and angry and astonished. John McCain said in the senate that it would be disingenuous ans dishonest to tell your constituents that passing a balanced budget amendment in this climate and connect it with the passage of the debt ceiling will actually happen. If his colleagues who have been there (meaning in the senate or house) for only 6 months think that a balanced budget would pass, they are crazy and things just don't work that way.

So how does this piece of pretty angry wisdom get taken by the tea party republican radio talk show host Mike Gallager? McCain is now considered a RHINO - - Republican In Name Only.  Now as a black person I feel it's hilarious that now white people have a name for people they think don't fit with their cultural parameters. Once when I was a kid some stupid idiots called me an oreo. I'm just glad that blacks aren't the only people with these types of names.

But all kidding aside, the republican party is imploding on itself. Tea party republicans seem to think that they should take a principled stand about the budget.  What it seems like to me is that on principle they're willing to watch the country explode in order to prove a point. They're willing to cut the biblical baby in half rather than save the baby because they want it their way.This is what we get when good people don't take stands and do what is necessary, cause now the angry mob flashed and mobs don't think straight, they're just angry. 

Another for the album: Depression

Song is done.  I’m into these basslines.  Always have been.  I can’t play them well, but I sure do like them.  Changed the form of this song to kinda mimic how the mind thinks rather than about a hook.  People just feel; they don’t know what to call it all the time.  And they don’t say, “Wow, I’m depressed, anxious, frustrated, lonely and sad.”  They just feel like shit at that moment…maybe a lot of moments. 

Depression...

My life, or my thoughts, as I say always ends up as a song somehow.  I’ve started this thing about depression.  It makes me depressed just working on it.  I’ve been working on gratitude and thankfulness especially when there are hard times.  But I bet it's so hard to be grateful when no one calls to see how you are or calls back when you’re looking for employment.  We always say to keep your head up, but what about that moment when you just can’t and there doesn’t seem to be anyone around that cares enough about you to help you out and you gotta keep living, and sometimes it’s too hard to do that.  I’ve been there…man you know I been there….

A Tantrum??

Obama is having a Tantrum?!  Really?!  A Harvard educated, constitutional lawyer who is the epitome of the American dream is now a cranky 2 year old.  Well, then, I guess bush was just that spoiled 4 year old cousin you hated because he had to have everything his way and you just sat in stunned silence while he stomped all your toys and threw them out in to the street to be run over by passing traffic because you wouldn’t play the game by his rules.  Maybe I should write a song about the fallout from these politicians.

More Debt Debate Insanity

Today was nuts.  The debt ceiling debate in driving me crazy.  So many people say they want to cut spending, but that’s in the abstract.  WHAT do you want to cut, specifically??!  Just because McDonalds in changing their happy meal to be more portion controlled and healthy, I don’t want to pay the same price for less food.  That would be nuts.  You want to cut medicare…how?  That building project that will provide jobs in your district, you wanna keep that right, because that’s necessary to the health of your community, not pork.  Trying to figure out $2 TRILLION in cuts in ONE WEEK?!!  I can’t figure out how to deal with my family budget each month, let alone cut it in the equivilant of 30 seconds.  And what about the stuff that actually is needed?  How do you determine that?  Also, the lobbyists of all concerned(whether you think they’re good or bad) are gonna yell and scream and make many a commercial to make the public not really hear or understand the issue completely.

Can't Even Afford To Get High...

I was thinking about a friend of mine who was really “clinically” depressed and was thinking about her in the context of us being in a "lesser depression", as I wrote about in my previous post.  Life is so hard right now.  It’s a wonder a lot of people aren’t just lighting up all the time, getting wasted..maybe it’s because they don’t have any cash. Lol.  Can’t even go to the store to get liquor if you can’t afford to gas up your car or the cash for the bottle…

The REAL debt ceiling...

I’m a bit down today… Just heard that my girlfriend got laid off and she has two children.  There but for the grace of God go I… My other friend just got her hours cut down and she’s a single mom with an advanced degree.  It took her 18 months to find this job.  My other friend’s husband got laid off, and then a couple of weeks later, she got laid off; they just got a new house and have four kids.  My other friend has some food in my freezer because her electricity just got cut off….And all these muthaz can talk about is the debt ceiling.  I’m really working hard to make sure that I’m valuable enough to people so that I am not laid off.  I need to pay for daycare for the baby and know that in a year I will be paying the equivalent of 10 electric bills each month for said daycare.  I’m working my ass off by taking all work (fortunately for me they’re musically related) so that I can have a stash to pay for all this stuff coming up.  I got into an accident and my car has $1k worth of damage to it.  I don’t have time to be with my kids because I’m working so daggum hard.  I haven’t had a more than a day off in God knows when…The pressure is really getting to me…Life sucks sometimes…

Debt Ceiling...sigh...

This debt ceiling stuff is really getting to me.  I can’t stop listening to it.  I think the best word to describe politics now and politicians is my usual word: INSANE.  I’m actually kinda scared.  I was talking to my brother about it, as we have these really long political discussions about this stuff.  I was telling him that I think there are a lot of people who don’t really understand what’s at stake here.  It’s literally like the world is going to end and if the debt ceiling doesn’t go up so much shit will happen to the interest rates, America’s bond rating, and frankly the confidence of the world in us!  This country, financially, militarily, and economically holds up the world in so many ways.  If Saudi Arabia suddenly decides that the dollar is not stable enough and switches to another currency, that’s it for my dreams of being able to afford a mini van.  I could certainly buy it, but I wouldn’t be able to put any gas in it so it would run.

New song for my album! GENTRIFICATION

wow! this came together quick. That article really struck, um, a chord, I didn't realize how strongly I felt about this issue...

I love it when we work fast like this. instant gratification! OK, here's a snippet of the song pre-mixed and stuff. I love, love, love my musicians!

GENTRIFICATION (Snippet) by divablue