Jeremiah Wright Full Sermon Part 1 of 4

Jeremiah Wright Full Sermon Part 4 of 4

Jeremiah Wright Full Sermon Part 3 of 4

Jeremiah Wright Full Sermon Part 2 of 4

Missing in Action!

Where the heck is Melyssa Genache from Get Yo Shyt? She hasn't posted since September 25! Unacceptable! Now everybody go over there! Use my link Hey Mel! and Go over there! Make sure she's ok and feed her and send her back to her blog! That is unless you would like me to go undercover.

Speaking of undercover. Serious Black of the League of Evil Monkeys hasn't posted since he survived the coup. That was October 2nd! Maybe y'all should send him pics of man boobs! Just a thought. He loves Man Boobage! Raw Tattige! Especially if they rival his own!

Last but not least at least for now. UMustLoveBooks hasn't posted either in a while. Bookworm Girl be forewarned that by not posting interesting stuff regularly you leave me alone with my thoughts! I don't wanna be in my head alone. Especially at night, there might be a clown hiding behind my Medulla. Get to work!

Now as always The Luscious Librarian doesn't post nearly enough!

LOL

Jaycee

Vote November 4th! It's your right and it's your duty! Vote! Vote!

Hey Y'all,

I hope that you are enjoying all my posts. Please leave a comment on each and every one that you read. It's not just for my ego, well not solely, but so that I can balance the content. Dig?

BE Careful! BE Mindful! BE Prayerful!

Jaycee

There is a force within which gives you life – seek That!

In your body lies a priceless gem –see That!

O wandering Sufi, if you want to find the greatest treasure don't look outside,

Look inside, and seek That.

Rumi

Dedicated to Merl Saunders Jerry Garcia Band Keyboardist

Kongo Square Chat with Odie Hawkins Part 2

As far as I'm concerned Pimp Put Holloway House on the Map! Odie Hawkins

A terrible cover illustration! He looks Nothing like the character Chester Simmons!

Editoral Photo of Joe Nazel

Crime Rhyme Rap Originator Ice T/Iceberg Slim admirer

An Early example of a series of great HH Covers!
The Fifth Novel by Donald Goines

An early novel by Iceberg Slim

Robert Iceberg Slim Beck

A young adult novel written by Joseph Nazel I could not find covers of his crime fiction. Check your local library

Pan Afrikan Occult Fiction Originator Odie Hawkins

Good Afternoon and thank you for joining A Choice of Weapons for the second portion of our Kongo Square Chat with Author Odie Hawkins. In our previous installment we talked about Chicago, Dr. Margaret Burroughs, Writing, The Watts Writers Workshop, The Writers Guild and the Open Door Program just to name a few subjects. In this installment we will cover Holloway House, The Core Four, The Black Experience Genre, Iceberg Slim, Ghana, Inspector Bediako, The birth of Pan Afrikan Occult Fiction and at last you will finally find out what the heck is a Kosmic Muffin. And now please welcome once again. Watts Writer, Black Street Fiction Pioneer Odie Hawkins. Enjoy!

Holloway House

Jaycee: How did you get to Holloway House?

Odie: My agent took me to Holloway House because of my first book Ghetto Sketches. It started as a play that would be produced in Minnesota at the Guthrie Theatre by Michael Langhan. They didn't end up doing the play the deal fell through. I redeveloped it as a novel and signed for one book with Holloway House who was looking for Black Experience material. I built a relationship with them because they were willing to allow me to go off genre.

Jaycee: What is Black Experience material? Is that like street fiction?

Odie: The Black Experience Genre or more aptly named Black Street Fiction would be similar to all pulp novels. The language encompasses the regional slang of the day, the clothes, the music, and the characters are often working class and the subject matter is from the time periods underbelly. The hero or villain in pulp is sometimes barely distinguishable. There are few heroes wearing White hats and Villains wearing Black ones. Black Street fiction as with all pulp fiction the moral compass of a character is imbalanced to say the least.

Jaycee: Now, what do you mean Holloway House allowed you to go off Genre?

Odie: If you start at one publishing house as Octavia Butler, you will stay Octavia Butler; you won't become a Walter Mosley. They will expect even demand in most cases that you continue to write in the genre that they signed you under.

I wrote only four books that would be called Black crime fiction now. They are The Ghetto Sketches, Sweet Peter Deeder, Chicago Hustle, and The Great Lawd Buddha. All the other novels are about everything!

Jaycee: What do you mean everything?

Odie: The novel Conspiracy is about Government manipulation of the drug trade for their own purposes. Amazing Grace is a collection of esoteric short stories. Simone was biographical, Brazilian Nights was a stream of consciousness style narrative and Black Chicago was a historical look at Chicago from the time it was started by a Black Man named Du Sable.

Jaycee: Midnight and Conspiracy were the first two novels of yours that I read. When Conspiracy came out Gary Webb’s amazing series of stories on the CIA/Freeway Rick Ross/Crack connection was still a hot topic. I loved the relevance of the subject and the idea that a ruling body would sell drugs to a segment of a population in order to stay in power is always readable

Jaycee: How many books did you eventually publish with Holloway House?

Odie: It was about Seventeen Books. Since then, I had one published by Ile Orunumila Communications, Publisher Chief Fawa called The Snake. Afterwards the last four books have been published by Author house. They are Shackles across Time, AKA The Curse, which is the sequel to The Snake. Then Mister Sweets, Lady Bliss, Mr. Bonobo Bliss. Jaycee: Sounds like you've been real busy. Now Odie, you are considered one of the Core Four of the Holloway House Black Experience Genre. The principals being Robert IceBerg Slim Beck, Donald Goines, Joe Nazel, and yourself.

Odie: Yes! That's correct! Holloway House published several different types of fiction and non fiction primarily in paperback. They were basically a pulp fiction mill pioneering and specializing in Black Pulp fiction novels. One of the most famous for them was The Nigger Bible! That book sold based on the title alone!

Robert Beck

Now of me and the rest of what's been called the Core Four, I don't know who got there first. Pimp the Story of my life by Iceberg Slim may have already been on the shelf. Pimp the story of life put Holloway House on the map as far as I'm concerned.

Now Donald Goines wrote sixteen books. Some say he only wrote six! The rest where outlines that were fleshed out by other writers. Maybe it's the truth maybe not I don’t know.

Donald Goines

Jaycee: Did Holloway House plan on publishing Black Street Fiction? Were they really that visionary?

Odie: Bentley Morris and Ralph Weinstock of Holloway House had a lock on a certain type of Black writer. The established Black academic press didn't want us.

"Naw, that's too raunchy!" They would say. "We don't wanna write about that class of people."

No, Ebony and others were trying to present the new Black middle class and the Black upper class and everything was supposed to be all Johnny Johnson. You know pure, middle class, uses the right makeup, speaks without colloquialisms or slang and the rest of that stuff.

The good thing about Holloway House was that they didn't alter your manuscripts. You turned it in and it went out. I once turned in an outline for a book called Black Casanova and they published the outline. (Laughter)

But on the downside Holloway House did not care about the artwork! That's just my opinion but I personally would argue with Bentley Morris and Ralph Weinstock over the galleys. They would put just about anything on the cover even if it didn't fit the book.

Jaycee: I've witnessed what you mean alright. The first Holloway House novel I read was Donald Goines " Inner City Hoodlum" which had a great cover as did all the Goines books I read doing that time but when the next editions were printed the wonderful art covers were gone, replaced by cheap updated hip hop style

photographs. It's like they tried to update a novel set in 1972 with someone wearing today's fashion. It doesn't work and in my opinion it does the novel a disservice. Pulp novels are very much of the time period in which they are conceived.

Odie: The writers today have no idea what we went through. You can get published at least ten different ways now. Blogs, desktop publishing, vanity press and have thousands of people see it. Back in those days you had to go to a publisher if you wanted to get distributed. Alot of writers gave up after dealing with the archaic way we had to do business. They couldn't deal with the rejection. You’re dealing with some sensitive people already and you send your novel off and it comes back two years later with a letter maybe saying we don't like it.

Jaycee: Did you know Donald Goines?

Odie: No, I never met him. I met his son but by that time Donald Goines was dead and buried.

Jaycee: I know you knew Joe Nazel who wrote forty books for Holloway House. He also edited Players Magazine from time to time, and wrote for the Los Angeles Sentinel. Did you know Robert Beck, Iceberg Slim?

Odie: Yeah, I knew him.

Jaycee: Did you know him from Chicago?

Odie: Yeah, I lived in the red light district on 39th and Cottage Grove. I lived in a building called the Almo Hotel. The first floor was transit. We lived on the second floor. The third and fourth floor was where the prostitutes and pimps lived.
Iceberg Slim had, I believe, nine or ten girls. He was a brilliant guy who lectured alot. He was a good looking guy, well dressed, he didn't dress ghetto chic. He lectured about pimps and hoes. He could have been the Alan Greenspan of Pimps. He saw his scene in economic terms, supply and demand.

That's the way he put it. I was about 14 years old and I listened to him. Years later, about 1967 I was active in Performing Arts Society of Los Angeles at 89th and Vermont. Iceberg Slim showed up with a play. None of the people knew who he was.
I did so I reintroduced myself. He didn't know who I was but he was cordial. He didn't shine me off. We were both from Chicago and he knew I was Chicago and I knew who he was. Later on he was in the Open Door Program. From time to time we'd have drinks at the Parisian on Labrea and Washington.

We never hung out. We were never close buddies, he was into his thing and I was into mine. I spoke with Ice T's manager and he is currently putting together a documentary on Iceberg Slim. He interviewed me for it. They also interviewed Bentley Morris. That will be interesting. (Laughter) Bentley asked me, what did you say? What did you say? (Laughter)

Jaycee: So you really didn't hang out with Goines or Beck but what was it like at Holloway for the Core Four? Did y'all trade notes or ideas?

Odie: No, I was closest to Joe Nazel. He had been the interim editor of Players Magazine. He was the perpetual interim editor. My friend Wanda Coleman from the Watts Writers Workshop was the first Woman editor of Players.

Wanda Coleman

Jaycee: You're kidding?

Odie: No! ( Laughter) She knew me so she would publish all my stuff. And there was Emory Holmes, who was trying to turn Players into a class magazine but Ralph Weinstock didn't want that. He wanted Players to be raunchy and crazy. Joe Nazel ended up sitting in the editor’s seat every time someone got fired. Joe was just into it for the money. He didn't mind. Joe at the time would drink a fifth of something and then he would write. He actually wrote street fiction like Black Cop then he would write biographies about famous people like Ralph Bunche. These novels were aimed at school libaries. God Bless him! He wrote for the Los Angeles Sentinel for years! A really nice guy! He's missed! (Laughter)

Ghana

Jaycee: Why did go to Ghana?

Odie: It was 1992 and I had wanted to go for while. I had just got an advance for two books from Holloway House and the 1992 Riots had just finished. I want to emphasize that it was not to discover my roots. Alex Haley already did that for me. I simply wanted to see Afrika.

Jaycee: So you didn’t just go on a spiritual quest or for inspiration or anything?

Odie: You don’t miss racism and you can’t escape Coca-Cola no matter what you do. (Laughter)

Odie: It’s a small world go see it.

Jaycee: Where did you stay while you were there?

Odie: Accra! Accra is divided into neighborhood. I stayed in OSU, I stayed in Labadi, (the bad one) Roman Ridge, Labone, Adabraka.

Jaycee: How long were you there?

Odie: Three years, I can say I know a little about getting around Accra.

Accra! Sprawling, dirty, nasty, and beautiful. And I do mean beautiful.

I believe that everybody should visit Ghana. They are surely the friendliest people. They call us Obruni. The best way I can translate what that means is the European. That's the word they use for American Afrikans. "Oh here comes the Obruni!"

There is no point in getting upset about how the Ghanians refer to us because it's not really intended to be an insult. Not necessarily anyway. It just is. It’s the same in Germany how they call us Auslaunder. He is not like us. I was just saying I got to know Accra.

It’s a walk able city. You can walk from end to the other in a couple of days. Some areas you wouldn’t want to walk through. They got a section called Jamestown that smells like a slaughterhouse. They have a slaughterhouse not far away.

I got lucky because I met a taxi driver who drove me named Kwame who drove me for three years. In my first year there I got hooked up with a man named Kojo Yanka who wanted to produce a detective show so he hired me to basically design the character. I created a composite of Columbo, the saint and Sherlock Holmes but actually he was none of them cause he was West Afrikan.

A Different Type of Detective

Inspector Bediako

Jaycee: How did you come up with that name?

Odie: Kojo came up with it. They name you after the day you were born. I found out that my name is pronounced Oday (O-Day) not Odie (O-Dee) like I’ve been pronouncing it for a lifetime. I was walking around Ghana and it was awkward because I would introduce myself and people would be like O-Dee! No! O-Day! You don’t know how to pronounce your name? (Laughter)

Jaycee: Now you wrote and directed that show? Had you ever directed before?

Odie: No, (laughter) I would just fake it and when someone would ask a question like where would you like this light? I would answer place it over there. They would reply Mr. Oday, you would like it over there? Yes, well where would you put it? Me, I would place it over here. Well then let's do that then. ( Laughter) I had a wonderful photographer named Napo Gbanda who helped me. This went on like that for a while until I figured it out

I was writing for Uhuru and The Ghanaian Voice and Public Agenda and Horizon. I was sending articles to Players Magazine and selling articles to Sweden and Scandinavian newspapers.

I was teaching English at the Acrra girl’s secondary school and the Ghana International School and from time to time the Ghana institute of Journalism. I was teaching Capoeira Angola at a fitness center owned by a Brotha named Tyrone from Philadelphia.

Jaycee: What was Inspector Bediako about? It seemed that some of the cultural things would be different and as an American Born I wouldn’t get it.

Odie: The work ethic was different. I would get there early before it got hot. Ghana is very close to the Equator, maybe the script girl would be there but they wouldn’t show until 9:30 -10am. Ghana is 10-12 miles from the equator. I wanted to get to work before it got hot and we would not be able to do anything. We’d fight and I tried to fine them 500 cedes and they’d say hey you can’t come up in here acting like a German we’ve been doing it this way for five hundred years. You know if you wanted to do something efficient they say we gonna do this like the white man. You believe that? That is a problem we have over there. You see the continent (Afrika) is still easing along and the rest of the world is speeding by. We have got to catch up!

Jaycee: What kinda of character is inspector Bediako? He’s not like Columbo right?

Odie: His thing was mostly human deduction. The show had no murder, no sex. If someone was killed I couldn’t show the body. It was alluded to. Bediako was a smart guy. Ghanaians take great pride in figuring things out. Plus there were only two channels.

Jaycee: Will you name some of the wonderful people who worked on the show?

Odie: Akosua Abdallah was one of my favorite actresses. And Grace Nortey was wonderful. The shortcoming of the things was the technology. You had to improvise. I couldn't film a car chase scene in Accra. We didn't have the equipment and it would not have been safe. People would have been killed! Now I was dealing with professionals who came out of the National Academy of Film but it would take weeks to get a new light if one blew out. They had to send away to Germany to get a light. When people talk about being in the Third world they mean it. It didn't occur to the lighting manager that it would be prudent to order three or four replacement lights since they were so hard to get and so far away.

Jaycee: How many episodes did you do?

Odie: I don’t know. I left after the first year and came back to America then I went back. Kojo had become a member of parliament by then and his wife, Naana, had taken over the show. She didn’t like me much so I was reduced to just writing the scripts. I did that for three years. I was treated very well and I got an opportunity to do something I never would have been able to do here. I got paid forty thousand cedis per script and the average school teacher makes thirty thousand a month.

The Flood and the Snake

Odie: In the rainy season, it’s a great torrent and I got caught in the rain about a hundred yards from where I was trying to go, the charlatan bar. I had built a little house in PALM WINE JUNCTION in Labadi. I had malaria at the time. I put my hand on the side of the bed because I was hot.

The rain was coming down on the metal roof, the rain came down the hills, and we stood on the tables, with water up to my neck for eight hours before the water went down. We had good screens luckily because rats couldn’t get in. I had to go the great PX and get checked out because the malaria was killing me. I had it on and off for three years. Sometimes bi-weekly. I was having cerebral malaria. Your brain swells up. It never got that far but it came close a few times.

While in Ghana, I had a friend who owned a carpentry shop and he wanted a better car, a bigger shop and another wife and he went to see a Juju man. In order to explain Juju it is not the same as Voodoo or Voudun.

Juju and the Obeah Man, my friend went to see have a sinister aspect to it. My friend’s shop was becoming very successful but he was doing some evil things that involved bloodshed and a murder and the village banned together to stop him. My friend got caught pulling cedis out of a snake’s mouth in his shop. This was the inspiration for the snake.

The Birth of Pan Afrikan Occult Fiction

Kosmic Muffin Publisher Zola Salena-Hawkins

Jaycee: What made you decide to father a new genre?

Odie: I started to think about all the places I’ve lived. Navajoha, Ochoajoa, small places. Everywhere I ran into Afrikan people not to mention Spain. You could always find certain kinds of spiritual beliefs. I feel that we share a certain joy for life and similar superstitions.

Jaycee: Odie, please elaborate on that! I kinda understand what you mean but for the sake of the interview.

Odie: Afrikan Culture grows and changes in any soil. In any political system. Afrikan Culture has roots so deep that even when it's grafted onto something else or mutates completely the essence can still be recognized. Every Afrikan has the drum and knows the rythym.

In the Ifa tradition Eleggba is asked to open the way of the Orisha for us. Our Afrikan culture translates the practice of opening the way, for example, the Christian tradition of opening a service with prayer and asking the Holy Spirit by way of Jesus to take prayers up to God the Father. Just like our traditions have been adapted in new arenas our essence remains intact!

Jaycee: I read Dr. Ben's "Afrikan Orgins of Western Religions" and that shined alot of light on some of the so called Western religions tracing thier starts back to Afrika.

Odie: Now Pan Afrikan Occult fiction...

Jaycee: Excuse me, Odie, but Occult doesn't that mean like Satanic or Devil worship?

Odie: No.....Occult means hidden. Numerology, Alchemy, Tarot, Astrology are sciences that are not meant for just anyone. Good and Evil, light and darkness, these are universal. It is the lens that we use to view it that determines one's understanding. My genre addresses this.

What scares White folks is not the same as what scares Black folks.

Jaycee: I agree. Clowns are evil! (Laughter)

Odie: Oh...Jay! Clowns are not evil! That's harsh!

Jaycee: I stand by my statement. ( Laughter)

So a monster in the bed is not universal?

Odie: A Black Family and a White family may hear that a particular house is haunted. The White family in some case would attempt to prove scientifically that this either was not true or that prove and scientifically prove it exists!

A Black family would enter that same house and when or if something occurs then they may bless the house, or simply just leave that house. The point is that we would not need to prove that it exists! We would not wait for a concrete evidence before we left. We would leave understanding that there are indeed things that we don't understand and that we don't have to understand.

Jaycee: The Snake! I'm not gonna give away too much cause I want folks to go out and buy it but Kojo Brown, Man! That dude! It's like Faust, Afrikan style in some ways, he is offered a deal from Asiafo, who's bargin requires that he marry a girl in three months, have a child, and feed the visitor. As long as Kojo keeps his end of the bargin then he gets everything he desires. All his obstables are removed. Just feed the visitor and it will all be cool.

Even the Afrikans in that story are not sure how far evil forged in Afrika will travel. At first they shun Kojo, but realize again, he is not of their culture, he is an American, and he may not understand what he's dealing with although he is explicitly warned to beware Asiafo. I loved the demonstation of how while vacationing in Mexico, Kojo stops to relieve himself behind a cactus and a small rock transforms into the wizard Asiafo.

"She is a very lovely girl, Kojo. Feed the visitor and it will all be cool."

Damn! I was like Kojo, don't do it! But you do look silly yelling at a piece of literture.

(Laughter)

Odie: Our foods, spices, style of dress, and all the lens we use are original, unique and our own. Afrikan folks across the Diaspora use a different criteria than the Western mindset. Pan Afrikan Occult fiction does not just deal with spirits and monsters, but of science and superstition, of love and hate.

Jaycee: Good and Evil!

Odie: Good, Evil....Adventure....Love, Joy, Laughter. What do you feel? What do you taste? What do you smell? What do you see and if you can't see what are you gonna do about it? I suggest you read and write about it!

Jaycee: I need to ask, what's a Kosmic Muffin?

Odie: Kosmic Muffin is that name of the publishing company that I founded together with my Kosmic Muffin Zola Salena. We plan to publish not only my work but the works of other writers as well.

Jaycee: Now, I know that you have published the sequel to the Snake through Author House, The Curse BKA Shackles Across Time. But recently Holloway House was sold to Kensington Publishing. What's gonna happen to your catalog?

Odie: Well, I had been working with the writers unions and guilds, my attornies and what not in order to get the full benefits of my rights and royalties. Long story short, Kensington has returned the rights of all my books to me.

Jaycee: Odie, that's wonderful! So I hope that you will bring back Chester L. Simmons! The Great Lawd Buddah! I love that character on his own and also when he is interwoven in your other novels. He is truly a Shaharazad figure. Telling story after story. Before you even get to the end of one story he's on to the next! Is he telling a lie? You just can't tell.

Odie: We shall see... Thanks for the interview. It was a pleasure.

Fin.

Jaycee: Odie, Thank you for the interview. It was a pleasure for me as well.

The views expressed in Kongo Square Chat with Odie Hawkins Parts 1 and 2 as well as those that appear regularly in A Choice of Weapons are not neccessilary the views of anyone associated with this medium, Odie Hawkins or Mista Jaycee. Photos are courtesy of the web and Odie Hawkins. com

Spiritual Food For Thought!

Christ promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to His church and the promise belongs as much to us as to the first disciples. But like every other promise, it is given on conditions. There are many who profess to believe and claim the Lord's promises; they talk about Christ and the Holy Spirit; yet they receive no benefit, because they do not surrender their souls to the guidance and control of divine agencies. We cannot use the Holy Spirit; the Spirit is to use us. Through the Spirit, God works in His people 'to will and to do of His good pleasure.' [PHIL. 2:13.] But many will not submit to be led. They want to manage themselves. This is why they do not receive the heavenly gift. Only to those who wait humbly upon God, who watch for His guidance and grace, is the Spirit given. This promised blessing, claimed by faith, brings all other blessings in its train. It is given according to the riches of the grace of Christ, and He is ready to supply every soul according to the capacity to receive. The impartation of the Spirit is the impartation of the life of Christ. Those only who are thus taught of God, those only who possess the inward working of the Spirit, and in whose life the Christ-life is manifested, can stand as true representatives of the Saviour. {GW 285.2}

Marsalis on the Objectification of Women

This was an interesting discussion.

Pausing for Station ID

Sorry gang,

I know I promised the 2nd half of the Kongo Square Chat with Odie Hawkins this past Friday. It's coming! It's coming! I like everyone else have gotta pause for station identification for a minute. Be right back Monday!

BE Mindful! BE Prayerful! BE Careful!

Jaycee

Homer Simpson tries to vote for Obama

This Doesn't happen in America! Maybe OHIO but not America! Hilarious and chillingly true!
Jaycee

Pontius Mccain Your hands are not clean!

Well I watched the final televised debate between Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John Mccain. I must say that I'm glad that ish is over dig?

Barack in my opinion should be tearing Mccain and Palin a new one. Mccain accuses Barack of running a negative campaign while Palin accuses him of hanging out with so called terrorists! While Palin implies "He's not one of us!" While Republican crowds shout Kill him! While his name Obama is superimposed with Osama our most hated enemy. Barack is a gentlemen!

Mccain feels that because he corrects a few people of misconceptions or better outright lies and slander against Barack that he is not guilty of racist wrongdoing. Bull ish!

You didn't censor your vice presidential nominee when she riled the crowd up in Carson, California.

Just so you know your hands are not clean! Pontius!

BE Mindful! BE Prayerful! BE Careful!

Jaycee

Revolution Poem #2

Excerpt From the chapbook Fat Cats and Other Caged Bird Songs by Jaycee Williams

You say you want revolution!

You want money that you ain’t earned

Want credits for lessons that you ain’t learned

Spend 2 bills on Jordan’s to look like high priced clowns

Won’t send a five or a 10 to save Morris Brown

You say you want revolution but this ain’t true cuz

When it’s time to give azz to get azz I never c you!

Knukkas always popping ish about what they gon do

Organize to have a rally and you never come through

Make an album or movie you buy the bootleg tape

It’s these actions that reveal you a genuine fake!

Write a book that you read that you said was the bomb and find

You bypassed Black book stores for Amazon.com

Have an open mike at a coffeehouse and you want in for free even when the movies charging 10 we only charge three.

But you say you want revolution but that ain’t true cause when it’s time to get down I never see you.

You say, We want clean streets and music and arts in school but if you want it without paying taxes I say you a fool.

You say you want revolution but if this is true then show yourself concerned about more than just you!

Second Half of The Odie Hawkins Kongo Square Chat this Friday!

Second Half of The Odie Hawkins Kongo Square Chat this Friday!

Second Half of The Odie Hawkins Kongo Square Chat this Friday!

Second Half of The Odie Hawkins Kongo Square Chat this Friday!

Second Half of The Odie Hawkins Kongo Square Chat this Friday!

Second Half of The Odie Hawkins Kongo Square Chat this Friday!

Second Half of The Odie Hawkins Kongo Square Chat this Friday!

Second Half of The Odie Hawkins Kongo Square Chat this Friday!

Second Half of The Odie Hawkins Kongo Square Chat this Friday!

Second Half of The Odie Hawkins Kongo Square Chat this Friday!

Second Half of The Odie Hawkins Kongo Square Chat this Friday!

Second Half of The Odie Hawkins Kongo Square Chat this Friday!

Second Half of The Odie Hawkins Kongo Square Chat this Friday!

Second Half of The Odie Hawkins Kongo Square Chat this Friday!

The Mob Rules!

Back in the eighties I was a member of that first MTV generation that watched and listened to all the bands played. I heard Rush and Def Leppard, Krokus and Iron Maiden, sang along to Michael Jackson's masterwork Thiller, got introduced to Carl Jung via the Police's Synchonicity and basically enjoyed what was being played. So in addition to Parliment and Prince and O'bryan I loved Black Sabbath, Led Zeppalin and especially Ozzy!

Well I'm older now and while I listen to Branford Marsalis, Donnie Hathaway and Fred Hammond alot more now than I used to occasionally a lyrical gem will speak to the spirit of the time. I was perusing you tube and found this gem. Black Sabbath featuring Ronnie James Dio on lead vocals. The Mob Rules!

As I watch the latest cultural meltdown and watch the presidential debates. The Lyrics speak for me!

The Mob Rules!

Close the city and tell the people that something's coming to call

Death and darkness are rushing forward to take a bite from the wall, ohYou've nothing to say

They're breaking away

If you listen to fools...The Mob Rules

The Mob Rules!

Kill the spirit and you'll be blinded, the end is always the same

Play with fire, you burn your fingers and lose your hold of the flame,

oh It's over, it's done the end is begun If you listen to fools...

The Mob Rules!

You've nothing to say Oh, They're breaking away If you listen to fools...

Break the circle and stop the movement, the wheel is thrown to the ground

Just remember it might start rolling and take you right back around

You're all fools!

The Mob Rules!

BE Mindful! BE Prayerful! BE Careful!

Jaycee

Revolution Poem # 1

Excerpt from the my first chapbook "Quiet! The voices inside my head are trying to sleep!"

Always, read the fine print!

You cannot neglect the fine print on suicide cause it takes little or no effort to die

Now if you want to live that's different.

If you want to live, dance on razorblades really live life on the edge
I mean really take risks then just try to live not just stay alive.

It takes effort to pay that rent on time effort! To work that job you despise!

Effort! To love the same someone everyday all the time when there's always a pretty face, a silky voice, a nice behind It's WORK!.. to be faithful when your natures on the rise.

Try doing the WORK!

Commit to someone have faith and believe even when it don’t make sense

It's so hard to live, it's hard just to survivewhen men who look like me, stare back with hate in they eyes.

It takes WORK to live WORK to love to walk the streets with a smile on my lips let love shine through my eyes speak to a stranger, nowadays that's dangerous!

I can fake a revolution!

I can get guns and shout slogans in the street!

But real agents of change choose life so I battle daily! I choose my weapons carefully. I stay armed with notebook and pen, song in my heart and camera lens. Fight daily, pray daily!

Love as much as possible showing it despite the obstacles.
Loving life is revolution!

Revolution is loving Life!

Jaycee

Sandbloom Live!

My Boy Kevin Sandbloom is playing all over the country so here's just a one of the spots. Check his website KevinSandbloom.com and take a listen, watch a video and then buy the cd or a t-shirt of download the mp3's! Don't forget to tell him Mista Jaycee hipped you!

BE Mindful! BE Prayerful! BE Careful!

Jaycee

Mccain, No Maverick says the MAVERICKS!

The Nation
Who You Callin’ a Maverick?

By JOHN SCHWARTZ

Published: October 4, 2008 Courtesy of The New York Times and Yahoo.com

Jaycee

There’s that word again: maverick. In Thursday’s vice-

presidential debate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican candidate, used it to describe herself and her running mate, Senator John McCain, no fewer than six times, at one point calling him “the consummate maverick.”

But to those who know the history of the word, applying it to Mr. McCain is a bit of a stretch — and to one Texas family in particular it is even a bit offensive.

“I’m just enraged that McCain calls himself a maverick,” said Terrellita Maverick, 82, a San Antonio native who proudly carries the name of a family that has been known for its progressive politics since the 1600s, when an early ancestor in Boston got into trouble with the law over his agitation for the rights of indentured servants.

In the 1800s, Samuel Augustus Maverick went to Texas and became known for not branding his cattle. He was more interested in keeping track of the land he owned than the livestock on it, Ms. Maverick said; unbranded cattle, then, were called “Maverick’s.” The name came to mean anyone who didn’t bear another’s brand.

Sam Maverick’s grandson, Fontaine Maury Maverick, was a two-term congressman and a mayor of San Antonio who lost his mayoral re-election bid when conservatives labeled him a Communist. He served in the Roosevelt administration on the Smaller War Plants Corporation and is best known for another coinage. He came up with the term “gobbledygook” in frustration at the convoluted language of bureaucrats.

This Maverick’s son, Maury Jr., was a firebrand civil libertarian and lawyer who defended draft resisters, atheists and others scorned by society. He served in the Texas Legislature during the McCarthy era and wrote fiery columns for The San Antonio Express-News. His final column, published on Feb. 2, 2003, just after he died at 82, was an attack on the coming war in Iraq.

Terrellita Maverick, sister of Maury Jr., is a member emeritus of the board of the San Antonio chapter of the

American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.

Considering the family’s long history of association with liberalism and progressive ideals, it should come as no surprise that Ms. Maverick insists that John McCain, who has voted so often with his party, “is in no way a maverick, in uppercase or lowercase.”

“It’s just incredible — the nerve! — to suggest that he’s not part of that Republican herd. Every time we hear it, all my children and I and all my family shrink a little and say, ‘Oh, my God, he said it again.’ ”

“He’s a Republican,” she said. “He’s branded.”

Who is H*ll is Bill Ayers?

Recently I heard some noise about some sixties era radical who is somehow associated with Democratic Nominee United States Senator Barack Bam Bam Obama. What's the name of this radical group? The Weathermen and the Weathermen Underground.

Can anyone name me any Young Lords, Brown Berets, Pachucos? Any El Rukns? If you can good for ya. If you can't then your not alone. Who the hell is Bill Ayers? What does his sixties era political philosophy have to do with anything today?

He's was a communist Mista Jaycee!

So!.....It wasn't illegal to be a Communist! Just unpopular. His group tried to blow up buildings and made a declaration of war against the country!

Really? Why? It's obvious they didn't win.

They killed an injured two innocent police officers!

Funny, I didn't read that they had been convicted of that, just accused!

The FBI Co-intelpro program used local and state police agencies to infiltrate, spy on, frame and murder members of the Black Panther party, the Students for a Democratic Society, The Student Non Violent Action Community, Congress of Racial Equality and several others.

Did they have warrants to do that? I don't think so. They violated Americans civil rights repeatedly. The right to assemble, the rights of free speech, unlawful search and seizure, the list goes on and on.

To my knowledge no one has from the Chicago Police Department has ever stood trail for the murder of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton and Mark Clark.

They were shot while they slept. An FBI plant admitted in a 1976 grand jury that he drugged their punch before he left the apartment. Who gonna take the weight for that?

Why am I bringing up the past? Because it just that the past. Has Bill Ayers continued with his past method of political protest? Has he recently encouraged anyone else to take up his mantle? No, to my knowledge he's a college professor now. He lives in America not Russia or any other communist or socialist country. He's been working as a part of the system for over twenty years now. He's a aging hippie! A Senior Citizen now.

The only thing that should matter about Bill Ayers association with Barack Obama is what is his purpose now. Lots of people have done things in the past that they would do another way if they had the chance, some have gone to prison, turned over new leaves and have contributed greatly to society. Imam Malik El Shabazz was one such person. (Min. Malcolm X)

Some have never changed they just got older. Byron Dela Beckwith is one person I believe fits that description. In 1963 it is believed that he shot Medger Evers in the back. While he was tried twice in the state of Mississippi it took another thirty some odd years before he served any type of time for the crime after yet another trail, this time in federal court. In his thirty some odd years he bragged, took credit for the murder, had his account published in a popular white supremicist book, spoke at White Supremicist rallies where he was honored. He didn't change. He enjoyed thirty some odd years of life. He was an old man by the time he was imprisoned and no one testified that he had changed at all. I will now quote Beckwith " I told y'all that I didn't kill that Nigger! oops I promised my wife I wouldn't use that word anymore."

United States Representative Bobby Rush, Democrat once served as the chairman of the Black Panther Party chapter in Illinois. He is a long serving congressman now. Black Panther Co-Founder Bobby Seale has also served in the legistratior. Tom Hayden has served several terms in the California Senate since his firebrand days in the SDS. People change! While it's fair to mention someone's past or record it isn't fair to present that as the only thing that should be counted unless that's all there is. Dig?

So what if I bring up Lt. Col. Oliver North. He was convicted for selling arms to Iran to fund an illegal war on against the Sandinista. Remember the Contras? He's not haunted or prosecuted by his past or illegal, immoral deeds. He ran for the Senate a few years ago, and is a right wing radio show host now. He was pardoned by then President Reagan.

Now, did I miss something? He and others faced with a duly elected United States Congress who would not declare and fund an illegal war, went somehow obtained financing by selling weapons to our enemy, then proceed to provide weapons, money, logistics and training to conduct an illegal war on another sovereign soil? Did I miss anything? Oh, yeah, the possibility that they sold crack cocaine in the inner cities of America, most prominently South Los Angeles. So Lt. Col. Oliver North is walking around, no one except me, feels that this is wrong that he can run for office and participate in the American Political system. He's not considered a traitor! A thief! A genocidal maniac who should face a firing squad!

No Ollie and his pals are free! But now you wanna point the finger at Bill Ayers for what happened over thirty years ago. Hypocrites! Have we descended so far that we actually judge a senior citizen not on who they are today but if they smoked a joint or if they were angry when they were a young kid? Did Bill Ayers commit a crime that you can prosecute him for? Was he taken to court, found guilty and is did he serve time. After that was all over did he return to his previous life or did he do something different? I wanna know!

Someone in the GOP actually brought this up? With all the scoundrels that are in the GOP right now they bring up Ayers? With all the questionable judgements and possibly illegal actions that hopefully will be prosecuted for or at least thrown out of office, they bring up some old dude from the Sixties. When they let Sen. Strom Thurman and Sen. Jesse Helms basically die in office despite their racist pasts and in the case of Helms possibly present. Are you kidding me?

You dare bring up Pastor Jeremiah Wright, a proud US Marine and aid to President Johnson and Bill Ayers, currently a college professor, formerly a sixties era radical, when your own Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin has allegedly shirked off a legal summons, has been accused of trying to have a librarian fired for refusing to assist her efforts to ban books, Troopergate, in which she fired a high level police administrator without citing cause but allegedly for refusing to fire your Brother in Law during a bitter divorce battle. What about the fact that she belongs to a secessionist party in Alaska? Not to mention her views on sex education, her underage daughters recent pregnancy. What kinda of hypocritical gall is this?

This country is in trouble! John Mccain is not a Maverick! A maverick is an unbranded animal, that goes against the flow. Mccain, the branded Republican, did not go against the flow. Most Republicans voted against the Federal King Holiday, he voted that way too. When Sen. Jesse Helms, a racist in this writers opinion, threatened President Bill Clinton, Mccain didn't say anything publicly. He didn't say Hey! That's the commander and chief! Give him his proper respect! You're out of line!

When the current Iraq war began, he didn't demand better intelligence, he didn't propose a draft, he didn't protest against mercenaries! He didn't!

When the Patriot act was enacted and it basically voided peoples constitutional rights he didn't become the populist, libertarian fighting for the peoples rights. He didn't! One of his campaign advisers Phil Gramm has had a heavy hand in most of the de-regulation schemes of the last thirty years including this mornings recent stock market meltdown yet even broke, homeless Americans will not speak on Phil Gramm and his his philosophy. Why?

I'm done tolerating nonsense! Barack Obama got in one of the best law schools in the country, he's a married church man with two beautiful daughters, he worked in his community and he been more than classy while they call him a terrorist!, a radical, a Muslim. His wife, a baby Mama, he's still trying to be of service to the country! Shame on y'all but hey that's politricks! Oops! I mean politics right Mista Jaycee? It ain't personal! Right?

To quote John Old Kane Mccain in one of saner moments. " Somethings ain't politics, their personal.

BE Mindful! BE Prayerful! BE Careful!

Jaycee

Freshtopia.net Director Oscar Grimm Passes!

Freshtopia. Net Director Oscar Grimm passed away this past October 1, 2008 from brain cancer. I never met Oscar personally but I loved his work. He and Tanja Andrews create one of my favorite weekly podcasts Freshtopia.net preaching the raw food gospel, creating some interesting dishes that I wanted to try right then and there and sometimes creating some dishes that I wouldn't try, no way man, never! No how! Not even on a bet!

The best part though was that they would admit it when a recipe didn't turn out like they thought. Exhibit A The first green smoothie! Hilarious! It is a funny podcast, the website and the recipes and the crafts can be seen by going to itunes and subscribing, hitting up You Tube or going to the web page.

Oscar achieve in a very short time what should be all of our goals which is to create something that has meaning. Oscar's direction will be missed, long live Freshtopia!

Tanja, we are sad with you but we need you, you have work to do. Get back to work!
Love the A Choice of Weapons family!

BE Mindful! BE Prayerful! BE Careful!
Jaycee