Cultural Whirl

Events - February, March & April

2012-01-21T14:38:00.000-08:00

Jazz @ MOCA in October

2011-10-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

Sisters in Harmony Photo Shoot and Book Expo in Coconut Grove July 22

2011-07-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

Sisters in Harmony Photo Shoot and Book Expo in Coconut Grove July 22

Parkway Middle School Jazz Band in Lauderhill, Florida

2011-07-17T15:52:00.000-07:00

mimi j

2011-07-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

Coming up. . .

2011-07-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

Community Composers join Parkway Middle School Jazz Band and Vocal Ensemble at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, through a Broward Schools SEAS Grant on Monday, November 21, 2011, at 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

Arrangements of songs by Joan Cartwright by Dr. Malcolm Black
Arrangement of Stumpblocker by Arthur James Wilscon
Arrangement of Light The Way by Paul Banman

Planetary Whirl

2011-04-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

Tornado levels Joplin, MO on 5/23/11 - 116 Dead

New Madrid Fault in Missouri

HOW TSUNAMIS HAPPEN

MID ATLANTIC FAULT

Do you know about these planetary facts:

Two New Posts

2011-04-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

Please see these webpages:

2011 AFRICANS - MALCOLM X
2012 WHAT THE MAYANS ARE SAYING

Community Musicwomen in Miami Beach

2011-02-04T02:48:00.000-08:00

At four senior centers in Miami Beach, Community Musicwomen performed on January 26, 27 and 29, 2011, through a grant from Miami Beach Arts Gala. The musicians included Kim J on Sax, Keyboard and EWI; Crystal Sawyer The Lady of Harp; Parkway Middle School Vocal Ensemble led by Lorna Lesperance; Joan Cartwright and Melody Cole; and Joan Cartwright and Jazz Hotline with Paul Banman on keyboards and Anthony Turner on bass. The seniors appeared to be having a wonderful time and many of them asked when we were coming back! This program is presented by Women in Jazz South Florida, Inc. a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that promotes women musicians, globally. Click here for all photos.

DIVAJOANCARTWRIGHT TV SHOW ON GOOGLE TV

2011-01-03T09:52:00.000-08:00

Hear our new compilation CD at http://wijsf.com/JazzComp1.htm

Watch DIVA JOAN CARTWRIGHT TV SHOW ON GOOGLE TV
www.divajc.blip.tv

Website: www.wijsf.org
Contact: divajc47@yahoo.com

Fantastic Musical Kids!

2010-11-22T09:05:00.000-08:00

Though music in school is become very scarce, there are some schools still offering kids the great musical experience. Parkway Middle School in Lauderhill, Florida, is one of those schools. On Saturday, October 24, 2010, Women in Jazz South Florida, Inc. produced the Lauderhill Jazz Jam, featuring the Jazz Band and Vocal Ensemble from Parkway Middle School. The band is led by sax man Melton Mustafa, Jr. and the vocal ensemble is led by Lorna Lesperance. These kids blew the audience away and will be our pet project for years to come. See photos at http://wijsf.com/photos.htm

Also featured were Sons of MyStro with Umoja and Malcolm McNeish on violins and Jamel Morris-Bailey on guitar.

Watch videos of Joan Cartwright and Jazz Hotline and Eugene Grey and Company.

Joan Cartwright
Executive Director
http://www.wijsf.org/

Community Musicwomen in May 2010

2010-04-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

April 10, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Joan Cartwright
954-740-3398
divajc47@yahoo.com

[Fort Lauderdale, FL] On March 16, 2010, Women in Jazz South Florida, Inc. was recommended its first Broward Cultural Council grant ($4,300) to fund COMMUNITY MUSICWOMEN, a program that will take place during the month of May:

Business of Music Panel Discussion with professional musicians, performing arts students and adults on Saturday, May 8, 2010 @ 12 Noon to 4 p.m. at ArtServe, 1350 E. Sunrise Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale , FL. This is a one-day seminar with three panels to discuss the details of the business of music, including, original compositions, copyright registration, recording contracts, distribution, booking, touring and mechanical licenses (payment for using the music of others and how royalties are paid). Also discussed will be event planning, publicity, promotion and marketing.
JAMAICA HILL JAZZ JAM on Saturday, May 15, 2010 @ 5 to 9 p.m. onstage, in front of the RICE BOWL, 4080 N.W. 12th Street , Lauderhill , FL. This event is also sponsored by the City of Lauderhill and the Lauderhill Regional Chamber of Commerce. Corporate sponsors include Massive Motorsport.
Sing-Along on Friday, May 21, 2010 @ 10:45 to 11:30 a.m. at the Daniel D. Cantor Senior Center, 5000 Nob Hill Road, Sunrise, FL. Seniors revisit music from their youth from the great composers of our time like George Gershwin, Edward Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Cole Porter, Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, Count Basie, Johnny Mercer, Hoagie Carmichael and Fats Waller.
School Assembly at Walker Elementary School of the Performing Arts, 1001 NW 4th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311, on Wednesday, May 19 and 26, 2010 @ 10 a.m. School Assembly at Parkway Middle School of the Performing Arts, 3600 NW 5th Court, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311, on Tuesday, May 11 and 18, 2010 @ 10 a.m. At each school, musicians will provide two 1-hour sessions, mentoring girls with behavioral or achievement challenges for the purpose of instilling the importance of self-esteem and self-discipline in the music industry. They will explore performance goals, career vision and details of the business of music with the intention of sharing with troubled students the possibilities of being a musician and performer.

Founded in 2007, by Jazz vocalist, composer, historian and author Joan Cartwright, the mission of the organization is to promote Women in Jazz, locally, nationally and globally, through contacts, articles, interviews, newsletters, events, courses, clinics, workshops, lectures, research, history, archives, websites, film, audio and video recording, concerts, performances and recognition.

In February, Cartwright was the guest performer at the U.S. Embassy Blues on the Green concert in Kingston , Jamaica , where she appeared on two morning television shows, three radio shows and visited two primary schools that are recipients of 48 of Cartwright’s books donated by the Embassy. The books are Amazing Musicwomen, Songs For My Children and So, You Want To Be A Singer? As part of this grant, these three titles will be donated to the media centers of Walker Elementary and Parkway Middle.

Funding for this project is provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council.

Flickr

2010-04-10T13:46:00.001-07:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Native Americans and Black Indians

2010-04-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

See WORDS WE SPEAK #36

Lots of music in March 2010

2010-03-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

I've been blessed with great gigs in 2010:

January 14, 2010 - Old Dillard Museum with Amazing Musicwomen Diva JC, Jus' Cynthia and Melody Cole
February 23-27, 2010 - U.S. Embassy Blues on the Green concert in Kingston, Jamaica, Diva JC with the Maurice Gordon Quartet
March 4, 2010 - York College with Diva JC's Amazing Musicwomen concert accompanied by the Tom Zlabinger Trio
March 6, 2010 - Langston Hughes Library - Amazing Musicwomen with Diva JC, Bertha Hope and Kim Clarke
March 7 and 9, 2010 - The Shrine in Harlem, NY with Diva JC, Bertha Hope and Kim Clarke for the Lady Got Chops Women's History Month Festival

See all events at www.wijsf.com/events/events.htm

Books & Books

2009-08-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

2009-08-15T12:22:00.001-07:00

The question I have is what techniques do you use for REINVENTING YOUR ARTISTRY?

I have been challenged in each new decade with reinventing myself.

In my twenties, when I began performing for a fee, I utilized my youth and vitality and fulfilled my need to absorb the purpose of musical studies - self-expression.

In my thirties, I concentrated more on building a repertoire of pieces I could sing and play; and on rehearsing and performing as much as possible with good musicians.

In my forties, I pursued my Master's degree and toured for eight years. When I returned from Europe, I knew I had to be able to do something besides sing, so I studied HTML and website design, while writing articles for Travel & Style magazine and grants to teach about Women in Jazz and Blues to thousands of Broward County students through my corporation, FYI Communications, Inc.

In my fifties, I learned HTML and website design and I owned an art gallery and, near the end of that decade, I began compiling my 9 books that I completed and published by the end of my sixtieth year, along with several concert reviews written for a local newspaper.

Now, at 61+a half (smile), I'm the founder of WOMEN IN JAZZ SOUTH FLORIDA, INC., a non-profit organization, in the position to receive grants and sponsorship that could make my dream of WOMEN IN MUSIC MUSEUM in South Florida a reality.

From keypunch operator to legal secretary to touring vocalist to composer to entrepreneur to educator to author to IT specialist to executive director to museum founder, I've reinvented myself, my purpose and my artistry.

What's your story, Morning Glory?

Diva JC

Write Your Life Workshop with Diva JC

2009-06-16T01:19:00.000-07:00

Diva Joan Cartwright will teach a creative writing workshop in Fort Lauderdale, FL, in September-October 2009

Register for a six-week intensive writing workshop Fort Lauderdale, FL with musician, composer, poet and author Diva Joan Cartwright, author of 9 books: 3 poetry, 2 manuals on musicians and musicianship, memoirs, history and 2 music books. [http://stores.lulu.com/divajc] [www.redroom.com/member/divajc]

Joan’s workshop explores the creative process involved in structuring lyrics and poetry; researching biographical material; interviewing as research; journaling as storytelling; travel writing and gathering historical data.

Tax-exempt non-profit org seeks corporate sponsorship.

2009-05-02T13:10:00.001-07:00

On March 26, 2009, the IRS approved the 501(c)(3) status of WOMEN IN JAZZ SOUTH FLORIDA, INC., a non-profit, educational organization that promotes women musicians, globally, through events, concerts, performances, clinics, lectures, workshops, articles, interviews, newsletters, courses, contacts, research, history, archives, websites, film, audio and video recording, and recognition.

For contact information and details on our sponsorship proposal go to this link:
SPONSOR WIJSF, INC.

Radio Show and new book from Joan Cartwright

2009-04-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

Joan's newest book (#9) ********** Gayelynn McKinney (4-1) - Aziza Miller (4-8)
Tune in to interview with GAYELYNN MCKINNEY of Straight Ahead on April 1 and
on April 8, we feature pianist/composer/vocalist Aziza Miller
Just go to http://www.wijsf.com/ and the show will start immediately.
It'll be up until April 8, 2009, at 8:30 p.m. EST
Then it'll be archived at www.wijsf.com/radio.htm
Diva JC - www.fyicomminc.com
MUSICWOMAN LIVE!
www.blogtalkradio.com/musicwoman

Jazz Ain't Nothin' But Soul by Norman Mapp

2009-03-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

Jazz is makin' do with taters and grits
Standing up each time you get hit
Jazz ain't nothin' but soul

From 1968 to 1970, I visited every jazz room in New York City. I went from Slug's in the Far East on 2nd Street between Avenues A and B all the way uptown to Club Baron and Small's Paradise. In the Village, I was at the Blue Note, Village Vanguard and Village Gate. Every Jazzmobile was on my list of things to do, whether it was in Queens, The Bronx, Manhattan or Brooklyn.

The memory that has stayed with me throughout my Jazz Excursion is the song given to me on a lead sheet by the composer Norman Mapp who also wrote "Mr. Ugly" and "I Worry 'Bout You". This was in 1983, at Freddy's on the lower east side, when I was petitioning the manager for a night to bring my band there. Norman handed me the song, after we had a long discussion at the bar about my two mentors Betty "Bebop" Carter and Joe Lee Wilson. Both of them recorded and performed this song and I was next in line.

Jazz is livin' high on nickels and dimes
Telling folks what's on my mind
Jazz ain't nothin' but soul

The song is "Jazz Ain't Nothin' But Soul" and I recorded it on the first edition of my debut CD, "Feelin' Good" with a Sicilian quartet led by my pianist, accompaniest and co-producer, Giovanni Mazzarino.

This CD was released on Tireno Records in Milan, Italy, in 1995. But four months later, the company closed and I returned to Florida. In 1996, I released the music on a new CD, "Feelin' Good" with 11 of the 15 songs on the first issue. Specifically, I deleted "Jazz Ain't Nothin' But Soul" and "Miss Celie's Blues".

Trumpets cussin' saxophones
Rhythm makin' love
Hustlers wearin' fancy clothes
It's the voice of my people

Feelin' Good (I AM Records 1996)
Personnel:
Giovanni Mazzarino - piano
Nello Toscano - bass
Oracio Maugeri - tenor sax
Mimmo Cafiero - drums
Joan Cartwright - vocals

For me it is all the truth to be found
Never mind who's putting it down
Jazz ain't nothin' but soul

Norman Mapp

Hear my rendtion of Jazz Ain't Nothin' But Soul

2004 Brighton, England

See Joan Cartwright's books at www.redroom.com/member/divajc

Blues Roots

2009-03-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

THIS IS A POST ON http://www.themodernvocalist.com/

I am currently a member of the "Blues Singers Group" on this site. I went on it just a bit ago to check on the activity. I am sad to see that there has been little activity since mid February. Talk about being blue about something, with all the talent & intellegence I have seen since joining this site I would have thought more contributions would be proffered. Singing the Blues is akin to playing the Blues on guitar, or sax, or harmonica, or piano. We attribute W. C. Handy with the 1st Bastion who held the Blues tune up like a torch, blazing in the twilight of inspiration. If not for Bessie Mae Smith @ 1919 who with her voice launched a timeless hit, we may never have heard Handy's " St. Louis Blues". Louie Armstrong may have never joined her with the Coronet & this song may have passed on into obscurity. Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Louie Armstrong, B.B. King, the names go on & on forming & forging a foundation that gave us around 100 years later a place in our hearts for the love they had & we share of the blues. I 1st believe that with any form of singing, warm up is required. Your voice is an instrument, & thus must be treated as such. Most musicians have a warm up routine. Guitarists may run thru open chords to limber up their fingers, & then run a few pentatonic scales just to keep your right & left hands timing just so. A Saxaphonist may limber up his keys & ensure the reed is seated just right in the ligature. The point being the voice needs tuning up. The differance with singing the Blues, is that there is so much emotion added into the song, that in all reality, a Blues song could be in perpetual evolution. Meaning that each night you could hear a varaience in the songs composition.

Before delving depper into how the Blues can shape the singer & the song, we must try to capture the essence of what exactly is "The Blues" The older Blues players had (even before age assisted) had the Blues etched into their soul, and you could actually see it when you faced one of these Icons. Be it a damaged gait in the way they walked as if the weight of their world was upon them, or in the depth of their eyes that held you captive when they shook your hand. A hand that was caullosed and weathered and felt like worn leather. The pain, or joy, or confusion of a world turned upsidedown for so long that had been taught to be kept down inside of themselves. The only outlet was in the form of music. The feelings began to pour thru their fingers, up from their diaphrams. between vocal chords, and out for all the world to see. Paul Cezanne one of the later impressionist's said about his medium of art; "We all share the same misery, for a moment come and share it's beauty" His work was dark & moody & he was identifying his work as beauty. Sounds much like the Blues eh?

The Blues to "The Modern Vocalist" is something or some things that tug onto the heartstrings of the vocalist. In these times (2009) society is indeed blue! The future is bleak, the economy sucks, people are losing their homes left & right. Banks are getting bailed out all the while handing out huge bonuses' to the shareholders. Confidence is low, fear is high, crime is on the rise. Men feel emasculated because they are out of work. Woman are in a flux as what to do. Jobs that are available don't make it past the week. As these realities begin to hit home, the Blues slowly creep in. Working gigs are fading away to Karaoke, or Open Mike nights. Then somewhere from deep inside you have this feeling...its slow...sultry...deep...painful. It comes out of your body. It makes you want to peel away your skin. Now your up there on a cramped stage as the band senses your vibe & rolls out a group of chords that gives you a chance to open up that bottle you have kept stopped up, or crack open that door that holds the pain and you lash out the words like you never have before. Your bandmates don't know what to do. They look at the Bass Player & Drummer for direction on the downbeat. The rest of the group seems to "feel" what you are trying to say. Four minutes later the Guitarist has taken your lead and is harmonizing with your voice. You all feel a sense of commonality as you wind down the song. You're soaked in sweat like you never have been before. The song ends & for the 1st time you are emotionally drained from singing one song! Your head may spin, you close your eyes & realize you have exposed a very private side of yourself. It's then that you feel naked to the audience. Yet the people are going wild. You realize that your emotions have taken over and you are singing the Blues! No teacher has taught you this, this came from deep down inside you. It's warm & powerful. You feel elated as it carries you the rest of the night. You go home...too jazzed to sleep, but so drained of emotion that all you can do is sit in your comfortable chair, drink in hand running the sets thru your mind, your performance, the bands performance, knowing how magical it was. Could it be repeated again the next night? It's then that you realize you really sang the Blues, instead of singing the Blues!

Leading up to the other question in the title? Does getting the Blues make you sing ...better? One argument is that as listed having the Blues causes you to supress these feelings until you can find a suitable outlet? I feel having or getting the Blues makes you a naturally better singer. When you sing, you take a story put to music and sing along with the music. As you know the melody is not a monotonus group of notes. The notes go up...down...fast...slow...atempo...off-beat...stacatto. In having all these opportunities to emote, having the Blues gives you a medium to express all that you have kept down. What's even better, is the fact that the audience shares the same highs & lows. You are a representative of all what people are thinking...feeling....hiding. By doing what you are doing on stage, you allow the average joe/joanne to feel your pain too. For one moment in time, you all come together and magic is created by the haunting saddness of the Blues. It is my opinion that both questions are answered in the affirmative. You sing for an outlet of these feelings, & the feelings make you sing better because of the power of the release of the Blues. Can you be taught to sing the Blues? Only if you can be taught to release the weight of your world in front of strangers, & celebrate in the beauty of what we all see as bad, but as bad as it is, we ALL share these doubts, fears, secrets, and wishes of celebrating the beauty that is the BLUES!

So, what do you think?

Regards,
cdbone501
"Listen Til it Hz

DIVA JC WROTE:

cdbone501,

I'm answering this post with reservation, knowing that my response will disturb the peace that seems to emit from this stream. For me, the blues is 3-fold:

1. The blues is a man and a woman making love or not making love, whatever the case may be.

2. You cannot sing the blues when you are sad.

3. The blues was born from the tears of black women victims of the peculiar institution of American slavery; who had their children plucked from their arms and sold at market like so many eggs from a hen's nest; who misses her man whom she knows she will never see again either because he is hanging from a tree whipped and lynched or on the run with vicious dogs on his trail as he heads for points North, where he may find his freedom and never return for her; who was and for the most part still is on the bottom rung of society that sees her face as an abomination, not because of anything that she's done but because of what has been done to her in the name of capitalism and power; who is ashamed for her blackness that has been her damnation even before she was born. Blues women sounded the voice of FREEDOM in America and around the world. Women like Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Ethel Waters and Dinah Washington stepped up to the microphone, like a rookie steps up to the plate to swing that home run out of the ball park and take his rightful place in the Hall of Fame. Yes, there were the guitarists and the male singers who made the Blues stand out and grow into Jazz and Rock & Roll, but it was the BLUESWOMEN whose hearts were ripped out of their bodies and that hole became the Blues.

For more on this subject, visit our site

WOMEN IN JAZZ SOUTH FLORIDA, INC.

For more on this subject, visit www.redroom.com/member/divajc where I'll be posting my 9th book, very soon, A HISTORY OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN JAZZ AND BLUES that contains three papers I've written:

1) THE SIGN OF THE BLUES
2) JAZZ: THE UNMASKED RHETORIC
3) THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF COMMERCIAL JAZZ.

All of my books are available at http://stores.lulu.com/divajc, except my first book, IN PURSUIT OF A MELODY that is available at www.trafford.com/05-0819 and at www.fyicomminc.com/inpursuit.htm

And, most of all, stop thinking that we all share in what the blues is really about because we didn't and we don't.

Unapologetic for telling the truth,
Diva JC
· http://www.divajc.com
· www.blogtalkradio.com/musicwoman
· www.fyicomminc.com

MORE RESPONSES

One must live the blues...to know the blues....and if you live it...and know it......the odds are you can sing it!!!

Take care...always,
Andrea

From: Rita Knighton
Subject: What is the Blues???

Hey Joan-- that is very poignant, and true, except for one thing, the very sensitive male blues players that I've known and loved sang and talked about the misery of lost love, and the pain of the ultimate male impotence, knowing that generations of their forefathers couldn't protect and save their mothers, women and children---they had that hole, too.
RG

Hello Diva JC,

I am humbled by your knowledge & for the passion in which you wrote about the history of the beginnings of what was & is the "Blues." Although being the history fanatic of what is published & history that has not been given its JUST DUE, I had to concentrate on the main topic that was in the title of the blog. I'm grateful for you to add the history that you provided, as you have a very eloquent writing style. Sometimes "disturbing the peace" can be a good thing, and anyway this is why I put out the blog. To get a dialog going about something I am passionate about. In regards to your list, I love #1...I do challenge #2 as some may "sing sadly" to demonstrate the pain that is the blues. Of course I cannot hold a candle to #3! Thank you very much for your contribution!

Regards,
cdbone501
"Listen Til it Hz"

Also, read
· Blues People by LeRoi Jones
· Blues Legacies and Black Feminism by Angela Y. Davis
· Blues, Ideology, and Afro-American Literature: A Vernacular Theory by Houston Baker

First published in 1990, Michele Wallace’s Invisibility Blues is widely regarded as a landmark in the history of black feminism. The original edition includes a consideration of the work of her mother, the artist Faith Ringgold; recollections of her early life in Harlem; an account of her development as a writer in the 1970s, and investigations if the legacy of black artists such as Zora Neale Hurston, Spike Lee and Michael Jackson. To this long-awaited new edition, Michele Wallace has added an extensive introduction, as well as some photographs from her family’s collection documenting the 1970s and 80s.

Michele Wallace asks the tough questions that any book about the black experience of America must address, and this new edition of Invisibility Blues will challenge and inform a new audience with the combination of literary flair and scholarly rigor that has made it an acknowledged classic.

“Michele Wallace keeps her eyes open and her wits about her. Scrupulously fair, honest, clever and wise.” — Angela Carter

“Invisibility Blues is a warm book, even a hopeful one. Simultaneously confident and vulnerable, full of hard-earned insights into American culture and un-starry-eyed evaluations of the available role models, it is the unfinished saga of a proud outsider trying to make a place for herself and her sisters.” — Lucy R. Lippard, Transition

“Invisibility Blues shows why Michele Wallace has long been at the forefront of African-American cultural criticism.” — Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

“Michele Wallace is one of the most talented and provocative cultural critics now writing in the USA. Listen and learn!” — Cornel West

Michele Wallace, who completed her PhD in Cinema Studies at New York University in 1999, is Professor of English at the City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center. Her seminal Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman is also available from Verso.

2009-03-11T13:13:00.001-07:00

Here are photos from our events to date in 2009
http://ping.fm/7p7eH

March Announcements

2009-02-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

Mar 3, 2009 FUNDRAISER
at Christine's

WOMEN IN JAZZ ENSEMBLE

March 7, 2009
@ 3pm to 5pm

African American Research Library & Cultural Center
2650 Sistrunk Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311
www.wijsf.com/events/aarlcc-wij.htm
www.wijsf.com/projects/announcements.htm
Contact Info: 954-607-7471
Admission $20
Benefits Friends of AARLCC

TUNE IN TO MUSICWOMAN LIVE! every Wednesday at www.blogtalkradio.com
Archived shows are linked at www.wijsf.com/radio.htm

2009-02-16T16:02:00.000-08:00

Diva JC's Red Room

What does America mean to you?

Bully Muldoon by Joan Cartwright

2009-02-15T13:59:00.000-08:00

[Photo source]
Bobby Durham: February 3, 1937 | Died: July 6, 2008

This poem is dedicated to Bobby Durham, the late drummer who passed away in Italy recently. It was read, today, Feb 15 at his memorial service in Basel, Switzerland, by singer Sandy Patton.

Bully Muldoon by Joan Cartwright

This is a story of Bully Muldoon
We met in Philly in a smoky saloon
Pricie played the keys, I sang the words
While Benny strummed the bassline, strong

That Bulldog was like a cartoon
Always smiling and making us laugh
But playing the drums was his passion
He was rhythm, alive, what a gas!

Now, the reason they called him Bully Muldoon
Had nothing to do with a drum
They were a trio, The Canine Trio
Is how they'd announce when they'd come

The Great Dane, that was Benny Nelson on bass
And Gerald Price the Doberman Pincher
They'd save Bobby for last cause he was a gas
He's The Pitt Bull and he'll bite your ass!

When Pricie would say this, I'd burst into laughter
I was young, but still I would know
That this trio was more than a musical force
They'd make ladies blush and gents hold their course
With not more to say than this mention

The Great Dane is Benny Nelson on bass
And Gerald Price the Doberman Pincher
And Bobby Durham is last cause he's such a gas
He's a Pitt Bull and will bite your ass!

These mates have all now expired
And taken their place in the cast
Of those gone before us
Who sing in the chorus of melody makers on high

The Great Dane is Benny on bass
And Pricie the Doberman Pincher
They took Bobby last cause he is a gas
That Pitt Bull who would bite your ass!

Copyright 2009 Joan Cartwright

Culture Whirls Around Us Every Day

2009-02-13T21:31:00.000-08:00

In the world, a collective of sensory experience shared offers to many an agreed upon experience with the effect of presenting a consummate sense of human community in time and space.

In conventional time (the multi-dimensional world existing in a non-unific sense of time and space) the notion of singularity is at best a notion on a shelf. The unifying thought then is one of multi-dimensionality, having the nature of being more than one place at one time. It also defies the parochial sense of limitation because humans are often bound by their five-sense appreciation of the world. We never stop to consider that of those five senses, vision is the only thing that happens outside of 200 meters around you and, if we are to understand the universe, we would first consider that the world is much broader than what our five senses can tell. Multi-dimensionality offers color where, before, there was only black and white. It offers depth where, before, there was only length and width. It offers potential for what can be where, before there was only the conventional sense of existence. It offers a whole other plane with new platforms.

Culture is a cornucopia of sounds, sights, texture, taste and vibrations. As an example, until astronomy was able to take advantage ultraviolet and infrared technology, our sense of the dynamic universe was limited to what we could visually see. This technology increased our ' line of sight' that harkens the adage, "To one who only has a hammer, everything is a nail."

Instead of a vertical sense of ascension, we should be making horizontal connections, networking to share rather than to hoard the rewards of cultural production. The importance of culture to a people is related to the amount of input it has from multiple forces with everyone having an investment and a willingness to share. Geographically and chronologically, while artists of all genres and media would network with each other, the masses are told which artists are "good" and "valuable" through commerce when, in fact, the artists should be making those determinations, themselves, in concert with other artists and under the auspices of the audience.

MARCH 7, 2009 @ 3-5 PM in Fort Lauderdale at the African American Research Library

WOMEN IN JAZZ ENSEMBLE performs