Don’t miss this brief interview with legendary dancehall producer and keyboardist Lenky Marsden as he discusses how he and the song’s producer Anthony Red Rose turned what Lenky considers my “American Folk Ting” into what is becoming a MAJOR hit in Jamaica. It certainly is a hybrid. As a Half Puerto Rican that has always felt a bit out …
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I know it sucks that THEY are coming for The Showbox. But the fate was sealed years ago when we all swallowed this pill of sh_t that it was OK to drive out the Soul of our city, starting with Black folks in the Central District that gave the world f_cking Jimi Hendrix and Quincy …
I got some real challenges ahead in August. I know how to be Thick Jagger, lick a harmonica like boss, and front The Staxx Brothers all day. But this is new territory boss. I am joining forces with the reggae outfit Hold in Fyah at Morgan Henley‘s Rock The Nation Carnation, WA block party on Saturday August 4th and even …
If you’re on Facebook, please like Lewis Harding’s solo moniker Wyler. My English Brothers in Sherlock Soul (and our soon to be announced British collective, of which I am the token Yank) have this Romantic idea that they can masquerade behind these musical personas and cultivate new identities. While I find it hard enough to …
When I watched the movie Hype! as a teen and simply never could convince myself to return it to Hollywood Video, one song and one band blew my mind. It was Love Battery. It was this performance. I thought it was amazing all these local bands were making it big and being from Seattle and even …
LIFE PLANS: It’s fun to tell you my plans for the future then, we can look back and see what fate revealed and what fortunes were won. I am currently planning to a few more albums for The Staxx Brothers then I want to shut that sh☆t down as a recording project. But it doesn’t necessarily mean …
I just got a call from Decurrian, AKA DC. The third official member of The Staxx Brothers after Joshua Hanson and I started the band on 2002. He was one of my best friends at the time anyway, and I remember Tina Turnbull told me after we rocked a particular house party that I had better ask DC to officially join …
Here it is, the long awaited video for ‘Free Your Mind.’: The Book of Horace Chapter One As I am on the cusp of quite possibly having a Top 40 Hit in several countries with the song ‘Free Your Mind’, I keep hearing the voice and sage advice of my greatest professor. Horace Alexander Young. …
Remember when Howard Schultz encouraged his baristas to bring up racial issues with customers in 2015? Uhhhh? Remember when Howard Schultz sold The Sonics to Oklahoma City? This is not a dig on my friends that work at Starbucks. They gave me a fat check to play their headquarters and the guy that booked us …
WELCOME TO MY LIBRARY: It’s time to go back and finish this book on The Staple Singers. This group was such a big influence on what I did with The Staquelettes, which Tracy Ferrara is translating into horn arrangements. The fact that so many everyday people aren’t really that aware nor all that hip to …
I always forget about Rufus Thomas. But he and his daughter were the one two punch that put Stax / Volt on the map. Rufus was one in one billion. He pulled off something few corny old Dad’s have ever done. He stayed stayed FRESH dressing like this. Super Fresh. He gave James Brown a …
I finally got to see Black Panther. I missed the chance to watch it when it first came out with the gang. Tom Wilkinson and I got caught in a little snow storm coming back from a gig at Mission Ridge Ski & Board Resort. So tonight I did what I don’t think I have done since college. …
I have a long but wonderful list of people to still tell you about, regarding my journey last month to Jamaica. One of them is the mysterious Kingston based Selecta, Lenny Roots. The German Lennart Tacke introduced me to him and I hung with Mr Roots as he put together this educational mix tape in a peaceful …
Facebook does have a monopoly. As evidenced by how it bought out Instagram, its only threat. How it is grooming the 3rd World with Whats App. How it demolished a MySpace that was the last hope of independent musicians after the internet turned out to be the destroyer of worlds, that gave us Donald Trump …
I thought all the major writers and editors in Seattle were smoking Sherm, because they lauded this film and soundtrack, and then pretended like we had NO FUNK SOUL SCENE. They often slagged on it with out even listening. To be honest I will never really forgive them for that, though writers like Jonathan Zwickel have done …
This is how stupid people are when they debate the complexities of music appropriation. People are questioning Bruno Mars for cultural appropriation based on race, when he is half Puerto Rican and was trained to destroy pop music with real instruments by his Puerto Rican father. I would love for one basic ass bitch of …
This is hard for millions of people to accept for various reasons. But this is something I have always known and have happily embraced. And it only gets confirmed each step of the way. When I moved from Central LA to Mays Pond where through some sort of Imperialism, I had to go to Junior …
You know really gives zero f_cks? Vladamir Putin. He installed his very own US President and now he just put a hit on a Spy and his daughter with a Nerve Agent in England in broad daylight. That was a message. That he is the bully, he has new Nuclear weapons we can’t stop and …
When Ryan Cory and I work together it has always been FIRE. But now we have a project that is going to reach millions of people guaranteed. Anthony Red Rose is just going to press the button. But he needs the goods. The way I put today to Ryan at The Cloud Room today was this, as the first beautiful …
I have found myself once again coming to understand what really happened in Jamaica, in this case, Port Antonio. Ignorance is a kind of reverse (but reversable) amnesia. I am realizing the significance of how I fell right into the heart of the Mento scene and met the ghost Errol Flynn. Well not really. But really. …
BJ DjSticky AKA Bluejay Hankins has been trying to get a new press release out of me for weeks. We polished one before I left for Jamaica but it was missing something. He needs a KILLER press release to the reach the estimated 1000 DJs that matter in the global Roots Reggae & Dancehall universe that …
After a wonderful writing session with the reggae powerhouse Hold in Fyah, I went to QFC for the only sensible thing I can eat on my new diet – 4 pieces of Baked Chicken I can spread over the next few days as if each piece were itself a giant bucket. On the way I went …
When I asked Israel Voice to give BrodieNation Music Festival a shout out up at Nine Mile on Bob Marley‘s birthday he took it a few extra steps. He launched into a completely improvised song from bottom of his huge Rastafarian heart, extolling the virtues and unparalleled greatness of Morgan Henley Epic Summer Party. This is what it looks like …
I just stopped in to see my friend Marilyn’s new location for Cafe Zippy LLC. I worked with her at her last location when I was doing locations for the TV pilot for Tabitha: Witch of the Order. The place is full of smiling faces on a beautiful day hinting at the promises of Spring. Places like …
My Great Uncle Daniel Santos. He got drunk and started Revolutions. He once yelled at Che and Raoul Castro in close quarters, exclaiming and finger pointing, “You muthaf☆ckaz said you were Revolutionaries, y’all didn’t say you were Communists. F☆ck Y’all. I’m out.” Then he lived to sing about it, because he was their favorite singer. …
I sat down with one of the coolest kids in school, Miss Jordani Sarreal to discuss her Copyright and Publishing workshop coming up Sunday March 11th in Tacoma. I can’t say enough about how important this workshop is to independent musicians today. Nor can I properly convey the street value of Jordani’s wicked set of …
I finally know the Truth! My parents got their DNA tests back and through my Mother’s Puerto Rican side I am not just a little bit African, I am a melting pot of many African tribes including Bantu, and portions of what comes up simply as Nigerian, the tribes of Senegal, the Congo, and the …
I just took a break from an assignment from Sick Donkey Records to polish my first draft of lyrics on a song called ‘West Indian Rock’ that I am singing with my great friend Lenni I-Music. He’s pretty much the best pal a guy could have in Jamaica or anywhere, and I really want to figure out a …
Funny (not funny) how Putin just went full Dr. EVIL and hosted a PowerPoint demonstration about how we are losing the Cold War complete with how he is ready to take out Florida like Kruschev. This is what out intelligence community knows and the people will pretend isn’t happening, because the truth is too inconvenient. …
I am going over photos from the ‘Free Your Mind’ video shoot at Hope Gardens & Zoo, Kingston Jamaica. Director of Photography Delroy Ledgister did me such a solid by sliding away with his video shoot’s second camera to get me some much need solo photos. It’s such a beautiful park on a such a perfect looking …