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Late Pass: Gregory Porter

I decided that my recent discovery of jazz singer Gregory Porter warranted a new category - Late Pass! His Grammy-nominated debut album, "Water" was released in 2010 and his Grammy-nominated follow-up, "Be Good" was released in 2012.  I caught him the other night on VH1 Soul and thought, "Whoa! Who is that singing? And what's with that hat?" And then I noticed in the credits as the video went off that the artist and award-winning filmmaker Pierre Bennu, one half of the dynamic duo behind Oyin Handmade, directed the video and... down the rabbit hole I went...

 

"Be Good (Lion's Song)" ~ directed by Pierre Bennu.

 

In Holland in 2012.

Miriam Makeba Google Doodle

Today's Google doodle is in honor of Miriam Makeba (1932-2008) born 81 years ago today in Johannesburg, South Africa.  

My Little Brown Eye: Prince's "Boyfriend," Terrance Howard's shortcomings & Marvin Gaye's iconic anthem

Illustration: PJ McQuade/PJMcQuade.com for Grantland.

The story behind Marvin Gaye's iconic rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game. 

Terrance Howard is really over his shortcomings. And he stands in front of his mirror every day for two minutes and does the math. 

Emergency Rice in a Beer Can would totally catch on in the United States, disaster or no disaster. 

Sylvia Rhone wants to do a sneaker and a bunch of other cool things as she expands her reach beyond the music business.

Have I mentioned how much I love Ava Duvernay's new short film THE DOOR? Well, I am really enamored. I am ALL about 'The Door' because I am all about anything that shows us at our best - in all of our humanity, complexity and beauty. 

Prince's new song "Boyfriend" (Demo) is available for 88 cents at 3rd Eye Girl. It showed up in my Facebook feed in the middle of the night but the link was down by morning (I guess Prince's team of Black female lawyers put the kibosh on that before the sun came up. The good news? If you have $8.82, you can have "Boyfriend," five more songs and two video clips. Let me go and get my purse...

 

 

Jimi Hendrix by Barrie Wentzell

I am attending a reception tonight for photographer Barrie Wentzell's exhibit at The Morrison Hotel Gallery. I have been there before - cool place. It's an art gallery that specializes in music related art work.