The Light of the Sun

 In the wake of the digital age and auto-tuning (I'm guilty) it's refreshing to go see an artist perform live and get a better performance than the recording.
Jill Scott brought the sun to shine on a rainy night in Newark with her "Light of the Sun" tour. With 8 albums under her belt and a string of hits like "A Long Walk," "Golden," and "Hate On Me,"  Ms. Scott has something to offer everyone.

Ms. Scott's music is some of the most emotional and heartfelt music being produced these days. "I'm a storyteller first!" she confessed. "Most of my songs are 97% true." she joked.
The Light Of The Sun album touches on the loss of her baby's father while still pregnant which produced the painful yet healing song "Hear My Call."  Then falling into the trap that many of us go through on "So Gone (What My Mind Says) she deals with the catch-22 of a former lovers "diamond chip dick" *not my words*
Singing through most of her catalogue with an all male band and three male back up singers. I could not help but notice that Ms. Scott is a woman  who is in control and definitely not afraid to show that she is running thangs. She own her flaws and admits to not having it all as most people might assume she does.
Yet she remains "Blessed" as she sings "Woke up feeling fresh to def, I'm so blessed."
That's why we love her. Jill Scott has been through the pains of life and remains optimistic about what tomorrow may bring and keeps that faith so that we can bask in the light.

Do What Matters

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.- Steve Jobs, 2005"

1. I will die someday.

2. When that day comes what will matter to me?

At this moment all the material stuff seems to not be as important. What matters is that the people in my life know that I love them and am there for them. That I support their dreams and hope but nothing for the best for them. Death is a reality we all will face and while we are alive it is important to not dwell on this reality but to use it as motivation to make the most of our time and energy. 

Steve Jobs didn't solve all of the worlds problems but he did create a smarter way for us to work, listen to music, and communicate. 

If you don't know why you are alive you will never figure out what you need to do. 

I've made up my mind that for better or worse I am an artist. I'm not a suit and tie, nine to five type of guy and whatever that means for my lifestyle I'm willing to accept it. It means I could die without every recieving public recognition but it also means committing to getting my art created and produced by any means necessary. It means not waiting on a patron, donor, or fanbase to take the first step. It means having the faith and courage to speak my truth.

Your "why" for living is calling you.

Face It Fear is the Real Issue

Not to keep bringing up "The Mountaintop" but I have to speak on something that the play mentions that I keeps coming up.

In the play Samuel L. Jackson does a decent job of portraying Martin Luther King but what stood out in the play was the line 'the one thing that makes us the same as humans is that we are all afraid.'

The more I examine reasons why I do what I do I see that fears do have a big role in those choices. Fear can make it so hard to ask that person out on a date. Fear can make it hard to write the first line of a play. Fear keeps some people stuck in jobs they hate for decades.

I know that I won't eradicate fear from my life but I am willing to take up the challenge to face it at every step. Life is too short to take it for granted. 

"He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how"- Nietzshe

That means if you know why you are alive and what your called to do then you can endure whatever obstacles or fears that step in your way.

I'm taking Action Mrs. Jackson

"Momma don't know what she's going to do, she just going to step out on the word." -Maya Angelou

Life is an act of faith. No one knows what tomorrow will be bring and as much as certain people fight to maintain control. Learning to live a faith is a skill. 

When I was younger my idea of faith was that as long as I wanted something I should take the leap of "faith" and all would work out for the best. Thankfully it did I'm writing these words after all but what age has taught me is that one should learn and gather as much information before making those leaps. Leaping into a game that you know nothing about will not increase your chances of winning its naive.

The say that God helps those that help themselves so here is to getting up, going into the world and learning to look before I take the leap of faith.

Passing The Baton

Last night I was lucky to be able to see "The Mountaintop" by Katori Hall playing at the Bernard Jacobs theater. What I love about live art is that when done right all the assumptions of what you thought it would turn out to be take you on a journey that you didn't even realize was possible.
The play takes place on April 3, 1968 the night before Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, TN. One of the many themes that stuck out for me was "Live by love, die by hate." Time and time again throughout history men that have dared to change the world and strive to make the world a more loving place are often killed by the opposite force of what they preach. Think. Harvey Milk, Malcolm X, Jesus Christ, John F. Kennedy. I don't need to go on but it's an interesting idea.

Evil for better or worse is just a part of the world and no one person can seem to take it down on alone. In the play Martin Luther King played by Samuel L. Jackson pleads with Carrie Mae played by Angela Bassett to call God and tell her that he's not ready to die. "They won't know what to do with out me" he reasons.  Yet in the end Carrie Mae is able to take MLK to the future and show him all the things that will and have happened.
In the final scene Hall crafts a monologue that is a combination of a motivational speech, lecture and sermon. Which are typically one in the same. As the house lights turn the theater into a church/lecture hall the stage version of MLK let's us know that he is passing the baton and anyone of us in the audience can take the baton and continuing running the race that he ran.

Deeper than that  the play tells that we as humans are all afraid.

"Fear is the only thing that we have in common."

Nowhere in my life has this thought been more appropriate. With the right and left fighting to defend their position and staying stubborn willing to compromise. I believe it is only because of fear.
The one thing that gives me solace is that I know one way or another all will balance itself out. For better or worse, I think that the closing of big retailers such as Circuit City, Borders, and Barnes and Nobles can have positive results in the long run. Much like before technology reigned supreme people relied on word of mouth and referrals for decisions. Now with so much content and products being created people are relying more and more on friends and family for keeping up with what's relevant and not just trusting what big business puts on shelves at discounted prices. For the sake of not trying to sound like an economist I will end my theory there and hope you will take my word and go see "The Mountaintop"

Back in The Game

You have to value yourself. You have to trust yourself-Bob Lefsetz


If you don't value yourself and your unique gifts no one will. If you don't believe you can do "it"-whatever it is no one will. After meeting a few new people over the last few weeks and the death of Steve Jobs I'm convinced that if you are doing "it" for the wrong reasons in today's economy the gig is up. 
The allure of fame and fortune are going to be seen as the smoke and mirrors they've always been. If your not in the entertainment game because you truly have something to say get ready because the Idol craze, the X factor, and all these others shows that say they will make you into a star are about to be a thing of the past.

Who will be left standing? 


"Those who wish to sing always find a song" Swedish Proverb.


If you really want to sing. Go sing at a hospital. If you really want to dance. Try going to perform at a orphanage. Right now more than ever the world needs your gift. 
Money has corrupted peoples mind but now with the ones who possess the money running into the night with their treasure leaving the "99%" to clean up the mess it's going to be up to us to figure out ways to express ourselves and not connect the result to financial gain.
This may be the Renaissance we have all been praying for. Stay tuned. "The revolution may be televised.

Sitting with Pain

"Not everything that is faced can be changed.
But nothing can be changed until it is faced."
- James Baldwin

I don't even need to list the problems that are facing the world right now and for the purpose of keeping you inspired will not. What I will say is that sometimes in order to maintain balance sometimes we need to let ourselves drop into our pain and experience it. Pain as I've learned can be useful. It is a sign that something is happening whether it be physical, emotional, financial or spiritual.

I'm learning to allow myself to feel painful things when they come. I'm not a matyr or machocist but I am a young adult who understands that life is not always dreams come true and happy times. It's about being realistic without being pessimistic. It's about knowing that sometimes failure is the best attractor for more success. It's about learning that in order to love again you may have to have your heartbroken.

Being realistic without being pessimistic

The question that I would like to ask is what has the world come to, but the real question is why did it take me all these years to notice that our world is screwed up.
A song I love by the 80's group Cameo called "Skin I'm In" says 'I'm just trying to be realistic without being pessimistic.'
That needs to be the mantra of this era. No longer can we ignore that our minds have been brainwashed. I can only speak for myself.  I have tried for as long as I can to see the good in others but I've come to now concluded some people are just morally corrupt.  I don't believe in fighting evil with evil but I do believe in doing all one can to make it clear that evil has no space in my home.
I'm sort of rambling on because the real topic I write about is going to require some compiling of stories.

"I"m just trying to be realistic without being pessimistic.

Race, Death, and Reality

Seth Godin inspired me to pick my blog back up. Writing is a skill that is developed just like talking with practice. As opposed to writing about all the thoughts I have in my head I thought I'd  touch on some things that I've read in the last week that I can't seem to shake.

"White Mayor's Burden" by Steven Thrasher in the Village Voice (Read Here) got me thinking a lot about race. We are all clearly aware that issues such as racism will never go away. It's sad but as long as people focus on things that make us different we will never truly be unified as a human race.  Thrasher pointed out statistics that have had me in a funk as I walk down my Harlem streets. Statistics that report that by the end of 2011 more than 60,000 people will be arrested for marijuana. Which is more than the seating capacity of Yankee Stadium and of those numbers what number do you think will be African-American or Latino?  Here is some interesting information from the article.

"Frederique is making a hyperbolic joke, but she maintains that the prospect that "young men of color, who are hyper-policed in this city" are actually walking around in large groups smoking pot in open view is absurd. So is the notion that poor black males smoke pot more than richer, paler men and women. But still, they get disproportionately arrested because, under Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, the NYPD uses controversial UF-250s—"stop-and-frisks"—on them at a record-setting pace.

"I'm a police officer, I come up to you," Frederique explains as if she were a cop approaching a young man in East New York. "'What are you doing? What's in your pockets? Pull it out.' Once you pull it out, it becomes 'marijuana in plain view.'

"And that's when they arrest you."

According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, more than 600,000 New Yorkers were stopped and frisked last year. Of them, 317,642 were black (53 percent), and 190,491 were Latino (32 percent). Just 55,083 (9 percent) were white. About 70 percent of them were under 30."

What's the solution? Legalize marijuana? Be less harsh on marijuana laws? Face it that racism is still like a virus affecting our world? I'm not sure what the solution and am certainly not the person to figure it out. Or maybe I will be?  It upsets me to see these numbers and to see a different reality portrayed in the media. i.e. Entourage. Love the show but they portray Turtle as big pot head and not once has he had a run in with the law. I'm just sayin.

 I have to take a moment to speak from the heart. I just found out that a vocal legend has died Vesta Williams was one of the most gifted vocalist I knew growing up.  A voice that was pure as silk and could sail way down into the basements with that "gloss" as Luther Vandross would say. She was raunchy, funny and  sassy and like many great artist in the post-MTV world never gained the recognition to have made her a household name. Being that I live and breathe R&B she is one of the queens that I would listen to and imitate as I was found my on voice as a singer. Sadly, it is said Vesta died in LA, the cause of death is still unknown but it's looking as if it may have been suicide. As the report mentions that  

Multiple bottles of prescription pills were found in the El Segundo, CA hotelroom where R&B singer Vesta Williams died … law enforcement sources tell TMZ. 

What saddens me the most about Vesta's death is that as I get older and see stars such as Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Michael Jackson, and Phylis Hyman with such amazing talents succumbing to their demons. Speaking freely, being an artist is no walk in the park. It can be lonely and often times insecurity can do such a number on you that you never feel  satisfied. I don't know the details of any of these artist lives and I'm sure there are thousands of other artist to succumb to sucide or drug related deaths that have not been headline news.  

I don't have the answer to this one yet but my goal is to now start creating content and work that does all it can to uplift the human soul.

On a positive note last night BET aired the UNCF  Night of Stars with performances by Erykah Badu, Ledisi, Anthony Hamilton, and Patti Labelle.  It was a fabulous night of entertainment however, the real stars of the night were the college students and graduates that are continuing to show that a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

My reality is this. Life is not black or white. It's always been a very gray thing. After wanting to be so upset with the numbers reported in the Thrasher article I realized that is only one part of the puzzle and many articles and most media does very little to focus on the great things that are happening in the world. For example, Barrington Irving of Experience Aviation in 2007 was the youngest person and the first ever black person to fly solo around the world.  

Great things are happening in the world and I don't know if anyone needs to blamed but I do know that if you want find the good in this world sometimes you have to make that your intention and take the necessary acts to find that reality.

I'm grateful for Seth Godin for giving me the boost I needed to write.

 

If you know you have to write something every single day, even a paragraph, you will improve your writing. If you're concerned with quality, of course, then not writing is not a problem, because zero is perfect and without defects. Shipping nothing is safe.-Seth Godin

Boost of Positive Energy for 8th August 2011

Rule of life: People either raise your positive energy or lower you to their negative energy.

When I was growing up my mother used to say "Bad association spoils useful habits." Of course being a teenager I would let that phrase go in one ear and out the other opting to hang with the "cool kids" even if that meant doing things that were against the law.

It is sometimes a challenge to see who is helping us be all that we can be and who is taking us off course. 

The challenge is to be mindful of who you are and in tune with your feelings to be aware if someone is taking you off your course. It may take a while to get good at this internal navigational system, but in time you will feel that negative energy coming from miles away and be able to head in the opposite direction.

Life is a blessing, don't waste it with negative people. 

Be BOOSTED!!!!!

Neil

Thinking 2 Know vs. Feeling to Trust

If I keep thinking it. It will happen. Yet sometimes I over think and then don't know if what I am thinking about is real or just me making a sign just to know. Tricky stuff I'm talking about here. We have experience. i.e. You meet someone. You like them. You go somewhere else and see them again. This time you wonder. Are we supposed to keep seeing each other. Maybe it's a sign. Maybe we both just needed to get some sun and decided to sit in the park on a Sunday afternoon. UGGGGGHHHHH. Thinking.
Feeling says I liked the way I felt when I saw this person. I didn't like the way I felt when I was with this person. This person makes me feel off. This job makes me feel passionate.

For your self. Start to give your thoughts less attention and give more thought to your feelings. Your feelings are your guide. They are the only thing that you have that no one else can experience for you.
I'm just writing this because I've noticed that thinking only leads to more thinking. Where as your feelings you can use to do something.
There it is and no I don't feel it was a sign. ;)

Stop chasing yourself

Worse is a man who is always chasing some ideal of a perfect self and missing the joy and wonder of experiencing the truth of himself.

I've realized lately how many times I've heard people going on about how they are going to do this when this happens and do that when that comes through. We all do. We chase. We chase ourselves and this imagined person who we think we should be yet everyday walk right past who we are in all it's joy and pain. All the beauty and ugliness of who we are.
I have a suggestion. Stop chasing yourself. Who you are right now is all you need to be. If you want to be something else know that you can become that vision but don't let the process of becoming that vision make you miss the joy of this moment.

Take a minute. Breathe in this moment. This moment once it's gone will never be again and that is worth celebrating.

Fashion, Photos, and More coming soon!!!!!

Going With The Flow

I've decided to follow where the world is taking me and make the switch to blogging. I know I'm way late on the train but better to be on the train than left behind. Things are changing in this world at such a fast pace and as the 'King of Fashion and Soul' I wanted to make sure that I "Become Relevant" in the New World. I've decided to let the world know what  the 'King of Fashion and Soul' is thinking.
So let's all raise a glass and celebrate my journey into the New World. All aboard!!!!!!!!!!
More thoughts to come. But at this moment, I think it's best to just go with the flow and go check out "Cuntry Boi" the single on Youtube.