Mosaic Spring Music Festival 2010

When folks around these parts talk about “dance” music the conversation often slides into complaints of relocated Yankees trying to bring the “Miami” vibe to Glenwood South. And I agree with the position held by most people that in general that’s a bad idea. No fault to the few that actually profit from that concept, but I’m a Raleigh native, and the last thing I want in my hometown is a bunch of  people pretending like they are somewhere else. That’s why I was so impressed when our vibe actually got exported to
Miami. Such was the case this year when Mosaic Wine Bar was invited (for the second year in a row) to host an official party as a part of the Winter Music Conference featuring many of the DJs that frequent the West Jones St. venue throughout the year. And in case you didn’t know, the WMC is one of the biggest annual gatherings of dance music aficionados in the world.
Through the vision and hard work of owner Samad Hachby, and DJ curators Keith Ward and Steve Feinberg little Mosaic Wine Lounge is making a name for itself amongst DJs from coast to coast, and to a smaller degree around the world. Hachby is a native of Morocco that speaks fluent French, and I’m sure his travels have influenced his perspective on what constitutes a dance party (most people don’t have belly dancers in their cave). In the same vein Ward and Feinberg have DJed up and down the east coast, and they both have had multiple summer residencies in Spain. That sort of experience can be very rewarding for a DJ, and it plays a major role in their quest to find the best affordable talent to perform at Mosaic.

This is the second year of the Mosaic Spring Music Festival, and much like last year this year’s event features over 50 different DJs, musicians, bands, and dance troupes over a span of 11 days. The diversity of talent spans four continents, and includes funk, house, disco, hip-hop, reggae, cubano, techno, salsa, Afro-Brazilian, and even a little old-school R&B. Part of Mosaic’s mission is promote awareness of the cultural diversity already present here in the Triangle, and to give those artists one more (badly needed) stage on which to perform. However, one of the side effects of this mission is that artists in NYC and Chicago and London and Rio, as well as other major metro areas are contacting Mosaic about the possibility of making a Raleigh stop on their next tour. Hachby may have started this event to showcase performances that were unique to his venue, but the cultural landscape of Raleigh at-large benefits from more diverse audiences having a greater appreciation for this city and what it has to offer.
The Mosaic Spring Music Festival (as well as its fall counterpart) presents a wonderfully unique opportunity for the citizens of Raleigh and surrounding areas to sample an assortment of music, dancing, and food in a small, intimate environment. And the best part of this is that admission to all of the events is free. In the same manner as SPARKcon, or Cherry Bounce, or ArtSplosure, or even the upcoming Hopscotch the MSMF is what real cities are suppose to do. It’s festivals like these that show off the brilliance and creativity of a city, and make it such a wonderful place to live, work, and play.

For more information about the Mosaic Spring Music Festival including times and lineups for each day or directions to the venue go to www.mosaicspringmusicfest.com or the venue’s website at www.mosaicwinelounge.com.

A brief history of House music

In understanding and trying to write about house music the only thing I found easy was the fact that house music started after James Brown. Not only should every article about music include some reference to The Godfather, but he's also a great place to begin when trying to understand the history of any modern music. He's the cut off point for what the world used to be like (culturally speaking), before the beat killed Elvis. Ironically however, House is one of the few modern music genres not influenced by J.B. He pioneered, and fine-tuned of a method of rhythm known as the break (as in "breakdancing"). It's easy to grasp that musical concept. House on the other hand is much more profound, and the part after James Brown gets a little tricky. As you suspected, house is a direct descendant of disco. Maybe therein lie the roots of some prejudice. On the one hand a lot of disco sucks (probably because it was designed that way), and I think it's stupid. On the other hand, there's lots of good shit hidden within the designation of what most people called disco, including rock and roll, reggae, funk soul, jazz, and tons of r & b. Artists like Parliament, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Zapp, L.T.D. (that's Jeffrey Osbourne for you suckers) and Chaka Kahn are always showing up on disco compilations (at least the good ones). But those are soul, funk and r & b artists. Therein lie the roots of house. In order to understand house music you have to understand soul music, because from soul came house. While some folks got into Black Sabbath, or Kiss, or Deep Purple some got into Frankie Beverly & Maze, or Mandrill, or Rare Earth, or The Rotary Connection (and some got into all of that). Back in the day when black radio wasn't so black, and white radio wasn't so white (read: The Doobie Bros.) the average music played on mainstream "black" radio was soulful, funky, gospel sounding melodic shit that you could either dance to, or make out to. Now that pretty much describes all of popular music, but that's not to say that the lyrics were not at times inspiring and "uplifting" (which coincidentally is considering one of the many genres of house). Still it was mostly music that was excepted by a large cross-section of people. At some point this all became gay. In doing my research on house music I have discovered that homosexuality actually played a significant role in the sound that more than any other sound has changed the way people dance all over the world. And that's a good thing. Two words to keep in mind - "black" and "gay". And drugs. As a disclaimer, I want to admit to how fully not-gay, and not-black house music has become today, but I want to make sure everyone gets there props, and the gay boys laid it down (no pun intended) back in the day. Back in the day refers to the Ford and Carter years before Reagan put the conservative black boot down on anything not white, Christian, American, or first ordained by Jerry Falwell. These are the days when soul, funk, and kick-ass rock & roll were the norm on commercial radio. Clubs in big cities played this music, but there was one small problem - the songs were not long enough. The average record on the radio in the 70's and 80's was about three minutes. It takes that long just to get the nerve to ask someone to dance (at least it did for me). I believe I have isolated the origin of house music to the introduction of the "twelve inch". The 12"is a common term now, used by all types of artists, and is understood by anyone under 40 living in an urban area anywhere in Western society. The 12'' also gave birth to hip-hop, albeit along a different evolutionary branch (very black, but not very gay). The 12'' is designed to extend a record to allow the folks dancing, in the club, while high, the chance to get lost in the music. A house DJ is like an electronic jam band, and the dancers are his hippy groupies all spinning around in circles, and loving everybody (I actually experienced this in New York recently). For anyone looking for the origin of what is the house experience the first place to start is 1977; New York City; Paradise Garage. I'm sure all the house heads reading this are thinking about Chicago and Detroit, but all books, websites, and personal antidotes lead to Larry Levan. Levan, by virtue of knowing someone who was someone else's lover, ended up at the Garage (world-renowned as the greatest house club ever). Larry later gave several people their starts because he wanted to be their lover. To say that Larry Levan was just a DJ is like saying that Lee Perry is just a reggae dude. They both changed the way people dance worldwide. To make a long story short, Levan influenced Derrick May, Tony Humphries, Mark Farina, Kenny Dope, Louie Vega, Roger Sanchez, Frankie Knuckles, and countless other producers, mixers, DJ's, and dancers in the U.S. and the U.K. Knuckles took this sound back to his native Chicago, circa '78 or '79, and made it a staple at a club known as The Warehouse. Therein lies the origin of the name, "House". The cool thing about Chicago is that there were a couple of late night radio programs that played house records. Chicago gets credit for the place of origin for house because so many more people there got down to it, due to so many more people being exposed to it. New York on the other hand had this new "rap" thing, and it really didn't have time for house music, or at least not commercially. The underground was born. Aptly named, The Garage became the center of the house music world, and Larry Levan was it's 'Rick the Ruler'. Mixing, spinning, engineering, and then re-mixing, explaining house music technically is like explaining Tito Puente' - it's a feeling, not a technique. Four on the floor, or the 4/4 time signature is the best way to describe it…for those who speak music. I do not really, and all I know is that once I was infected with the house groove I was forever a changed man. I didn't turn gay, but I did start to notice similarities between house, Latin and Caribbean grooves, Middle Eastern, and African "tribal" beats. I thought, "Whoa, it's all house really, This shit is ancient!" And I really did think just that, you know. So in short I reckon you could say that house music is a modern incarnation of ancient indigenous beats and grooves fused with the intensity of experiencing life in a metropolitan environment. And, of course, it's fun to dance to. The fact that it is the world's official dance music is no accident. Anyone who dances can dance to house, because it's so damn simple. You think you know how to dance to James Brown, but people are laughing at you. There's a reason why white people love, "I feel Good". Another reason why house was so popular in Chicago, and New York, and London was because of its message of inclusiveness and acceptance. This is very true in the music today. "Body and Soul" was a weekly party in New York directly descended from The Garage and I had the pleasure of going to its last night before it closed in March. It was the most happening shit I had ever seen. 2000 people of all ages, races, nationalities, persuasions, and preferences were dancing, singing hugging, and spinning around in circles of course, and this was all on a Sunday night at 9:30pm. Fuckin' amazing! You haven't dance until you've had a comparable experience. House means benevolence; it means kindness, it means sharing and generosity, it means love. So today there are so many damn categories of house I don't try to keep up with them. The best thing to do is check out these websites: (http://www.jahsonic.com/House.html), (http://www.disco-disco.com/clubs/paradise.html), (http://www.ishkur.com/music/). These people are professional explainers, and they can better guide you through this wonderfully useful form of music. Or if you think it's ridiculous to waste time reading about something you could actually be doing perhaps you should get off of you tush, and go an experience this phenomena yourself.

Neu Romance every Sunday featuring Deep House, Rare Groove, Urban Classics, and Acid Jazz.

"Puffy" ain't no Paul Robeson

That whole Puffy thing is like O.J. - it's a distraction from the real issues that black people deal with everyday. Namely their lack of political influence in context of the amount of money they spend in retail sales alone. Black people are being harvested by the system to (instead of working the fields) be a sort of front man for cultural consumerism. That's what I'm thinking, but I don't quite know what it means. The sports stars, rap stars, comedians, and other entertainers, and entertainer's lawyers seem to make up the gist of black culture[in America]. With the exception of Jesse Jackson, Colin Powell, Al Sharpton, and Clarence Thomas(a somewhat dubious group I must say) an overwhelming majority of exposure of African-American culture to black people in America, and to the world at large is "restricted" to the aforementioned categories. In other words, we sell products. Black people sell products for white people. Black people(in America) sell their entire culture to white people. It's all entertainment to white America. Just because Tiger Woods is a freak of nature, now we all have something in common(?). I still don't like golf, and I'll NEVER like "Friends" or "E.R.". One thing that is often overlooked concerning African-Americans is the idea that our culture is rooted in Western AND non-Western contexts. Capitalism is, for the most part, a Western invention. It came to Africa, and Africa sold Africa to the West. We've been selling ourselves every since. Baseball. Jazz. Film. Rap-Music. Someone once said that black people in America suffer from an acute case of low resistance to instant gratification. We were all against South Africa, but we kept sportin'(and killing each other over) the gold and the diamonds - as Puff Daddy finely illustrates. Are the mines in Africa now owned by the black majority? Black people would serve themselves well to explore other cultures outside the United States, and eventually outside of Western culture. Only then can they begin to understand that part of them deep inside that resists being assimilated[completely] into Western culture, and at the same time urges them impulsively to express out loud, and sometimes outlandishly(i.e. the pimp suit) the only part of "being black" that they know, or can relate to. Puff Daddy ain't no Paul Robeson, and that's what people need right now. They need to open their eyes to the ideas of the world, not just the concerns of black people in America. Unfortunately, the media through which black people are portrayed is not the sort of vehicle that routinely portrays any minority culture with any sort of respect, short of that culture's ability to assimilate into, and/or entertain the majority culture. Right now, if you're black and not rich, and living in America, there is really no place for you as a "black man". First we were slaves, then cheap labor, and the whole while we are laying the bricks of this country, coloring and enriching it's culture, and defending it's freedom. And STILL there is no place for the "black man" in America. However, Africans migrate here every year, and many better their lives, and live their own American dream. But to them, being black is secondary to being African. They make their place like every other immigrant, although with that extra burden of(STILL) being, a "black man" in America. We can embrace our "Africaness", or what other heritage my might enjoy, while at the same time reflect our part in the wonderful dynamic that is America, but we first must rise above what someone else has defined as our "blackness". What is that if it's not defined by the slave master's indoctrination that because we are black, we are inferior? And that Africa is inferior. And then we retaliate by saying that Jesus was black, and the pyramids were built by black people. We can reduce Christianity or man's greatest engineering accomplishment to "a black thang". That can't be right. Puff Daddy, and Russell Simmons, and Tupac are not helping black people out of their caves. Actually, they make the situation worse by providing entertainment that appeals to the most narrow of scopes intellectually within the minds of black(and white) Americans. However, white Americans have available to them a variety of character archetypes that serve to contextualize(within mainstream culture) "Bad-Boy" behavior as socially deviant, and unacceptable at higher social levels. Black Americans, culturely speaking, look at the same people as heroes, and spokespersons for the generation. Now if that isn't a chasm I don't know what is.

Agree to disagree

I'm writing in response to Mel Lewis's commentary on the chasm between the political ideologies of "conservative republicans" and "liberal democrats", and the irreconcilable differences between his political beliefs and those of a "left-wing zealot". There are two Americas in this country; one is populated by corporations, and the other by citizenry. There has never been "ideological confusion" amongst corporations largely due to the fact that capitalism is not an ideology as much as it is a system shared by all corporations in this country. As an example, Enron gave money to the Bush campaign and the Democrats as well to further the company's influence in our government. They couldn't care less about the larger interest of the citizens of this nation, or the personal ideologies of George Bush, or any other elected official. They buy access, plain and simple. Apparently, Mr. Lewis has unknowingly become a victim of the power tactic referred to as divide and conquer. His ideas or no longer his own. He now belongs to the league of voters who's opinions consist of media sound bites and the residue from partisan finger pointing. The "true" America is not so easily divided into left and right, or conservative and liberal, or Carville and Matalin. Mr. Lewis implies that the anchors of network news broadcasts further their ideological aims through their media access, however he ignores the fact that they all work for corporations, and are governed accordingly. It's a shame that Mr. Lewis has conceded his intellectual independence to entities who's allegiances are not to the citizenry of the United States, but to the pursuit of corporate profits, and the personal wealth of C.E.O's. It's an even bigger shame that after a year and a half of his so-called "xcii-political experiment" Mr Lewis does not have a better understanding of why people vote "for the man, and not the party". I would propose that his lack of clarity stems from his reliance on Rush Limbaugh for "eye-opening insight". Throughout American history it has been men and women who have made the difference in this country - not political parties.

A Clue for Shelby

Of course this is a hot topic in the U.S. right now, and has been for the last 30 years. I'm slightly familiar with Shelby Steele's work, and I don't remember liking it that much. I do know that a blanket condemnation of Affirmative Action is redundant at best, and counter-productive at it's worst. The truth in what he is saying resides in history of the successes of black people in a segregated America. But the mistake he is making is in not elaborating on why America was segregated in the first place, why it chose to desegregate itself, and the {positive} role Affirmative Action played in the process. He is correct in assessing some of the ills that are the result of A.A., but in a way that completely ignores the value of the federal gov't forcing the America to segregate. What would he have them do instead? What should have been the alternative to A.A.? I agree with Steele also in the idea that the concept of A.A. is intrinsically flawed, and eventually should be abandoned, but I won't retroactively condemn it, and ignore the good it's done - or doing. For example, white students are attending historically black colleges in ever increasing numbers as a direct result of A.A. This provides black colleges with the much needed tuition money, as well as helping with national accreditation maybe due to a more diverse student body, and/or higher level of academic participation and community involvement (compared to the late eighties and early nineties). White students and foreign students are saving black colleges because of Affirmative Action. Nine times out of 10, if a black student has the grades he's going to Stanford or Duke or Harvard instead of Shaw, or Virginia State, or Bethune-Cookman. Without getting too much into the educational part of it, Steele didn't acknowledge at all the effect on women or the disabled. People talk about unqualified blacks getting jobs, but you rarely hear that same criticism about women (unless she has huge tits) or the disabled. And obviously when an unqualified white man is hired or promoted that surely isn't the fault of A.A. Women still earn less than men for the same work, even though statistically women are more likely to attend and graduate college. I'm sure they would gladly prefer to be dealt with as competent job applicants rather than minority quotas. But they don't make the rules, do they? I don't believe in quotas. I also don't believe that white, mainstream, American society is ready to give up it's position of privilege. Who would? Who has? And as so far as guilt is concerned, Steele should be focusing more on the dynamic disappearing of African-American intellectual culture. Affirmative Action is not to blame for the widespread infection and commercialization of misogyny and violence in negro culture. We've "progressed" from Paul Robeson and Adam Clayton Powell to Puff Daddy and Busta Rhymes. And where's the black leadership in our communities? Where's the church? Who speaks for whom now days? I'll take my share of the blame. Maybe I should be speaking out more. Maybe I should be a leader. I'd rather be lounging in Amsterdam, but at least I'm willing to be honest. I always blame the people for everything. I say, "Put down that 40, and pick up a pencil, and write somebody." It's ironic that Steele in his attempt to express (and separate) black individuality from white guilt relies heavily on the "institution" of Affirmative Action to explain(?) the ills and troubles of the black community, never examining the lack of initiative on the part of that community to nurture itself, and protect itself, and educate itself. The world was a very different place 80 years ago. Separate was never equal, and never will be in a society that is so motivated and influenced by race and money. Now our challenge should not be assimilation or equality, because those things have either already happened, or never will happen, but for a greater understanding and appreciation for the concept that we all share a common humanity and heritage, and that history includes all of us as does the future. More specifically, the greatest weakness of the black man in America is the isolationist attitude that fosters ideas of black nationhood (within America), and black identity as a concept that is something other than American. We want people to ignore our skin color while at the same time we embrace it and are proud of it. Either it has a value or it doesn't, but it can't go both ways. Malcom X never abandon his commitment to the advancement of black people (worldwide), but after Mecca he merged the struggle of the African-American into the struggle of all people for freedom, and justice, and self-determination. He was definitely a man ahead of his time.

The New Klan...

I was cruising the "hood" the other day with my DJ partner, Castro, and we were talking about the streets we grew up on, and the merit of the encroachment of white people into the hood. If you're reading this from a major metropolitan city you should know that we don't have gentrification down here. The hood has not yet become that en vogue. But the houses they're building are affordable and available to anyone who wants to live in the hood. So Shaun and I feel that Whitey deserves a big thumbs up for not giving a damn, and choosing downtown (the hood, none the less) over North Raleigh as a place for themselves and their families. We also talked about black on black crime, and I made a comment to the effect that "nigguz were the new klan". It may look fucked up in print, but it's true. In Raleigh white folks aren't riding up to your front door scaring the hell out of you in the middle of the night. They're not congregating on the corner of your block waiting for you to leave your house. The horses have been replaced by lowriders with cheap imitation rims, and the white sheets are now Fubu and RoccaWear. It's a damn shame, ya'll. The real klan burned three crosses in Durham not too long ago, and it sparked (n.p.i.) a small bit of a debate, but really - who is afraid of the klan? Durham was embarrassed more than afraid. You're afraid of people who want to hurt you, not people who don't like you. Someone close to me was a victim of a crime recently, and she lives in the hood. Her neighborhood has always been mixed (young, old, black, white, e.t.c.), and was one of the few places inside the beltline were she could afford a house. She loved her hood, and was never afraid...until the new klan struck. Now she keeps a shotgun loaded, just like the old days. It's a damn shame, ya'll.

Why I love Derby and why you should too

The best description I have come across so far for derby I found on the Texas Roller Derby website: "outrageous production value and fabulous women on skates". This is as accurate and as succinct a summary of this amazing phenomenon as you will ever find. Fabulous is always a matter of opinion, but what sets roller derby apart from other athletic pursuits is that it is owned, operated, managed, and marketed completely by women. I can't think of any other sport in the history of sporting that better represents the empowerment of women. Derby sends a message through the ages, through the races, and throughout the nation that women are just as passionate about their athleticism, and just as committed to their sport as men.

The modern incarnation of derby traces it's roots back to Austin, Texas circa 2001. This explains to a large degree where all the attitude came from. Texas is known for thinking big and acting bigger. One thing I'll give that state is that they don't do anything half-assed. However why they embrace an incompetent Connecticut-born party boy as their president is a mystery to me. Perhaps the creation of modern derby is more about the city of Austin than the state as a whole. "Keeping Austin weird", as the TXRD website proclaims seems to be a driving force behind much of the personality of the Texas derby. Thinking outside of the lines, dancing to your own beat, and not taking shit from anyone seem to be common themes catching on with derby leagues around the country.

As a North Carolinian I'm proud and privileged to say that my home league is the Carolina Rollergirls, based in Raleigh, N.C. (my hometown). The CRG was founded in 2004 by league momma and bad ass skater, "Celia Fate" ( a.k.a. Laura Weakland). According to Ms. Fate her inspiration came while on a cross country trip with her boyfriend that took her through Austin's city limits. She unwittingly excepted an invite to check out this "thing" called derby, and her first impression was, "Holy shit! I gotta do that!." Not long after she was back home starting a movement. I don't know the stories of the other "She-EOs" that started leagues in their cities, but I would imagine that all these women - and they are all women - have a lot of traits in common. In Celia Fate's case she grew up playing sports in jr. high and high school, and her athletic personality formed naturally as a teenager. Her mom gave her skates around age 12, ironically to prevent her from following in her father's footsteps as a motocross racer. I'm sure a lot of mothers and fathers thought rollerskating was a harmless little fad to keep their kids off the streets. Decades later their daughters are skating down Main streets across America in helmets, knee pads and fishnet pantyhose.

My relationship with roller derby began, aptly enough, from behind a bar. During the first year of my weekly DJ show (Neu Romance) at Kings Barcade I got a call from a little spitfire named, Roxy Rockett. Roxy wanted to know if I was cool with the CRG having their after-bout party the same night as my show. Hmmm, girls on skates - the answer was an easy yes. But none of us knew at the time how important derby was to it's fans and supporters, or how marvelous it would be to be their DJ's, their bartenders, and the hosts of their after-parties. In that capacity I had the opportunity to meet and serve skaters, coaches, and fans from all over the country. I saw how hard they "played" at first, and it wasn't until I got to know Roxy and Celia personally that learned how hard they worked, how hard they trained, and how dedicated they were to this sport. Someone asked me recently if derby was "real", or if it was fake "like in the movies". I told him that in the movies everyone is pretending - in derby they only pretend they're not in agonizing pain when they pick themselves up off the track.

I grew up playing football, and I can remember not thinking for a moment about the repercussions of injury or sacrificing my body for a play. But back then I didn't have a mortgage, a 9-to-5 job, or kids to consider. When I think about juggling my career, my family, my social life, my health, e.t.c., around a sport - an athletic event - I wonder if I would have the stamina, courage, or in the words of my 12th grade psychology teacher, the "intestinal fortitude" to endure what these ladies welcome with unparalleled enthusiasm. From the outside looking in I can say with conviction that women nationwide should be proud of what derby has accomplished, and for what it represents. Derby is a stellar business model for the creation of a new business, for marketing, for cooperative ownership, and for the branding of a new concept, among many other attributes. It is not without it's faults or it's detractors, but respect cannot be denied to any one or any group to sees a project through from conception to fruition. Derby is very real indeed, and it's kitsch and entertainment value are borne of the "blood, sweat, and cheers" of all of it's skaters, coaches, trainers, families, fans, and friends.

For more information about the rules and the history of derby the best source I found was a wikipedia site (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_Derby) that was amazingly thorough in it's account of everything derby. If you want to know that's where to go. But I encourage all readers of this article to google roller derby to find out which teams are closest to your city. And consider checking out www.carolinarollergirls.com to see how good we have it here, and to get a little insight into why I wrote this article in the first place. Support you local derby!

- Chico Scott