Coming Out Part 2 Continued On Lifes incredable Journey

One of Dr. Kinsey's most well known theories is the "Heterosexual/ Homosexual Rating Scale," which rates a person's homosexuality or heterosexuality on a 7-point continuum.



Dr.Kinseys study is well worth a read...


Another beautiful day In Bahrain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ8XkY6Too0

Hello Jazzlovers,

I am speaking from my heart today..A heart filled with Joy!!

Continuing with the statement people make you lie...Peope start you to lying at a very early age...Men I would like you to remember your first lesson, that maybe something was wrong with you!! mine came when I was 5 years old,( I have something even until today ,something unusual, I all upstairs! most people  falldownstairs) well one day when I was about 5, my stepfather was rushing me ,and a lot of homes in Louisiana  have high porches with 4 to 6 or more steps to the porch. So while rushing up the steps I  fell up the steps and cut my knee very badly, it was bleeding very much and I started to cry, My stepfather shouted at me "shut up boys don't cry! Now i feared my stepfather with everything in me,He was a very bitter brutal man. I remember thinking as i looked down at my bleeding knee,I knew I wanted to cry, and my thought was I am a boy, I hurt,and I am a boy ! "what is wrong with me?

Now trust me this story holds no emotional scars for me,because now I understand it, ( I made peace with that little mans image a long time ago.)The story is just an example of how societies insecurities are passed on.( But I often wonder where his pain started)  that was the day I learned to hide, to hide my emotions , to hide my truths!.

My Grandmother died in 1979, i had just arrived home for her birthday on a visit from San Fransicco, and she had a stroke just the next day. My Grandmothe loved me just as I was,and on her deathbed she made me promist to come home for at least 3 years.....Those were the longest 3 years of my life..!!!! You can never go back and as I have mentiond San Fransico had given me an illusion of freedom. I could not step back into the person that had left years before. So I lived an open double life, outwardly I lived a very wild image of who everyone thought I was...privatly I lived a very solitary life,( I did not answer the 3am knocked on the door!)  Everything around me was so superficial, the good thing about that superficiality was that it was something I knew....and did not have to live it (the elephant in the room).

It was the perfect time in my life for soul searching, for finding myself, because I was really lost..My Grandmother was a very wise woman..Coming out is a lifetime journey!!! I was 17 years old the first time  a man asked me if I was gay! I knew nothing about the word or what it implied, so my answer was yes because i thought he was asking if I was happy!!! But Jazzlovers I earned that night what it really was!!!Thank you Mr. Vagun, You are someone I will always remember as a sweet,  sweet man...

Much of the discussion on "Gay Life" is based on other peoples percetions of who gay people are....I attended the very first gay march on washington in 1987 and if anyone becomes honest and publish the actually numbers they would realize that Mr Kinsey had it right...There were 1.5 million same loving gender people there, and they looked just like everyone else in this country.....Of course the media focused on their own view of who we are....the fringe!!

I did not ask for this this gift but some how I found that God does not make mistakes and I have a loving heart and no one defines me but God..And since I can not lie to God I am no longer going to lie to man...nor will I allow anyone to define me but me....I don't have to act a certain way, I don't have to fit a type,I am not what you see in the media!! I look just like you.....and when i say I am a Man that loves men I mean just that..I have had wonderful love in my life and I can count them on one hand..

I speak for no one but me,,,But I know the journey to wholeness is not easy for anyone living a lie..I am so blessed to find myself in this serious  world of hipocrocy...and Jazz lovers My heart is filled with Joy..Iam intellegent, smart, Talented,and have wonderful people in my life that loves me just as I am..I am spiritual, and love the Creator of this Universe with every fiber of my being..I am Not A Gay Man...I am a Black Man who Loves Black Men, There is a difference.I Believe in Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgUos8YKG9k

For My Brothers and Sisters coming behind me, I know it is not easy but being true to yourself is worth the battle...And if they are not doing the 4 F's don't even give them a second thought. Because Living your life in honesty is an incredable journey...Not easy but incredable....


This weeks JazzLover Recomendations!!!

Camille Yarbrough " The Iron Pot Cooker" Please get this before it goes out of print.....Take a listen Men and women....Why does it always come out Mad!!!!
This is my favorite Cuts!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLC9PnefeEI

Love this one too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnrToEgTMK4

Now the truth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ugjXmsOpks&feature=related

Truth!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fe74mFOxUk&feature=related

Now Miss Della Reese.. From the cd "The Angel Sings"

My New Theme song!! It took me a while to get heere..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgUos8YKG9k

Oh Yes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4EsZ84Q08g&feature=related

This is where I am now.....Don't settle for less

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4EsZ84Q08g&feature=related

Well Jazzlovers

Until next time I have no idea where this journey will take me but come back!!

Keep The Beat....

DW JazzLover

"Coming Out' Part One (1) This For You AJ

I don't plan to Die as a Lie...

A Very Beautiful Day ToDay!!

Hello Jazzlovers,

There will be some interesting recommendations at the end of the blog!!!


I lost a very good friend this week, I don't have the details yet but I did get the news...I had been looking for him for over a year..I mentioned him to my Cuz in an email  a day or so ago, and i got the news from her today...I have mentioned him on my hometown blog and everyone had amnesia..Why you ask? Because  he was a man who loved men! Some have amnesia because of convictions,some because of a guilty Conscience, and some for what ever reason...and all of this is a results of the Environment  we were reared..It is nobodies fault...Please understand that!! It is because people make you live a lie!! And all of our experiences of coming out is very different..The Friend I called today to confirm, is a friend from 1st grade,and has been out since 1st grade,He has also had his challenges... 

There are so many things being said and written about being "Gay"or as my personal choice of terms is A Man who loves Men. But coming out is a life time journey. It is coming to grips with Gods love, in spite of this world,it is a journey into One's self...it is understanding God does not make misstakes. I am speaking only for me! But AJ,s Crossing over really made me think about it..I truly hope he came to grips with it..Because he was a beautiful person... Also one of the best Drum Majors My High Shcool ever had.. " That is what I mean about Amnesia!!!

It is Hell living a life that even those living it, don't understand it. If there are any more letters added to gay life! We would have our own alphabet, LGBT,DL(down low) it only means we are all looking for an Idenitity  and like the fingers on your hand we are all different...

The only time in my life I lived openly as a Man who loves Men,was the 2 years I lived in San Francisco in the Castro. yet how open was that? There are many divisions in the M2M community and even among people who are discimanted against, as a Black man, there was still the age old discriminations. The Castro like Montrose, Throckmorton,The Village, etc are all Ghettos (safe Ghettos) because when you leave the area there are still attitudes..Where ever you go you take your issues with you,,

I hope AJ found what I did....I have finally intergrated myself...1st I am a Man, 2nd I am a Black Man,3rd I am a Man who loves Men, and I self lovingly are all three...I am not confused, nor do I now or ever wished I were a woman,( I love Women though) I don't play a role, (Why is that always the first question/) in bed,When I am with a man I am with a man and those posssibilites are unlimited.. (take a monent to think about that). Don't get me wrong I have gone through some serious confusion in my life about why! That is set in motion early in a society filled with roles, it was very hard to find myself,and I thank this Universe that I did at last.

People make you lie! Not for your comfort but for theirs..But living a double life insults our creator...You can lie to man but you cannot lie to God..

Rest in Peace My dear friend...

To Be continued........There is much more to say about coming out!!!

This post music recommendations:

"Children of The Night" Cassandra Wilson 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUny2g-FpCE

"The Red Earth" Dee Dee Bridgewater

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cr7kG1MvrM

"The Sea" Rod Mckuen with  Anita Kerr Composer and arranger..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qbPpxgIE-w

Book Recomendations:

"What Becomes of the Brokenhearted"  E.Lynn Harris  is a must read...

'Just Above My Head"  James Baldwin.. Well Worth reading before it goes out of print...

Jazzlovers This blog is still finding it's voice, it's melody, it's lyrics and it beat..so stay with me...

Until next time Jazzlovers..

Keep the beat!

DW Jazzlover..

Nesting and Collecting Nine Months Later

Nine months ago..

A Beautiful day In Bahrain

Hello Jazzlovers,

Those of you following my blog know that I moved to a new flat in March, and this week the last box was unpacked...Most of the time when we move we unpack everything right away.I have always been one of those people who just have to "nest" where ever I am, and I tend to collect...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yemAeNSxjLg    Minnie Riperton

Aging is amazing!, Life is such an amazing journey...I like nice and unusual things,I like some very tacky art pieces, those with taste, I love color,I like rare things, I love things given to me by friends,and family,that know this about me and give me things that they see that reminds them of me...The amazing thing about this is it is an interesting  photograph of how they see me..It is beautiful because it shows me what of themselves they see in me..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_51XbAe_Izk   Big Maybelle

The reason I say that aging is amazing is because of the things I have kept with me on all my moves ( I once had storage on three continents) through many countries and places, I am just starting to understand many things,the items you move because you love them, but not the pieces you bought because it was a statement piece or a piece to pull it all together those you put in storage,  I began to understand the next place will be different and you can not replicate the place you are leaving..But as a gypsy I tend to take those items of comfort from each place I live..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saR7O829FCU     Della Reese

My Sisters home  is a home no matter if it is a house, an apartment, really no matter where, it is the most beautiful and warm place. You see my sister like me is a sentimentelist. We value those in our lives that have brought us kindness and joy.. My sister collects those memories,she collects the things the other relatives don't want when their mother, father , brother,sisters,aunts,uncles,passes on into the universe...and these are the very pieces that makes her home a home..When the left behind relatives visit her home they always remember the piece and have a story...my sister also collect these stories...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_b9NLKzjcs   Esther Phillips

My Sister collects the pieces that just didn't fit any more in, lets say for clarity Aunt Mary's house as she came up in the world and changed the house but always kept certain pieces that you always remember being there as a child. Think back you know what I am talking about..It is the pieces you grew to love those pieces because they didn't fit and they kept you grounded as a child because those pieces let you know Aunt Mary was still Aunt Mary..Think back! These are always the pieces the son, daughter, sister, brother, don't want! "That old thing"and they always gave these peices to my sister..Their rational was that " well you know Eve did come by every day ,week, month, baked,cleaned,sat with, Mama"When we couldn't, didn't,was too busy, so she deserves something...But that was the exact piece my sister treasured..Because when she was sitting, visiting, baking, cleaning, she would alway ask things like "when you redid the house why did you keep that Dresser it does not fit?"... Then she would learn why that piece was so important to Aunt Mary ...She would hear the story...Her home is full of these things,and they look good , it is like all these pieces were waiting for a place to come together..That old dresser that leaned before for some reason now stands straight, and do not look out of place at all!! " Damn Aunt Otavia's sofa looks so good here Eve" " I remember"!!!!is what you hear in my sisters home.. I call my sister the memory keeper..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-wmvDu2rJk   Gladys Knight

Well Jazzlovers it has taken me Nine and a half months to unpack and go thru all of my movables around the world. Now I am surronded by things that hold  happy memories. It has taken me so long because I stopped at every memory, and it has given me the strength to see all of this so much clearer. So like my sister when I sit in my living room I am surrounded by old friends and just need a few things to pull it all together.. When I visit my sister I visit all my ansecestors,when I sit at home I visit all my old friends, teachers,family,
warm  fuzzies..There is a story behind eveything here..Now that everything is in it's place I am open to falling in love once more..

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjZy-29vy7c&feature=related  Esther Phillips


Well Jazzlovers Until Next time...

Keep the beat.


DWJazzlover..

"You are A Dizzy Bitch"

Hello Jazzlovers...


Another Beautiful Day in Beautiful Bahrain...



" You are a diiizzzzy Biitcchh"! My Mother once said to me in the way only a Southern Lady can!! It brought me up sharp because my Mother had never called me out of my name...I had often heard her call my sister a "Borrowed face heifer " for reasons that are for my sister to tell....But for me it was the first time..it made an impact...The situation was, it was a holiday and we were at my sisters house, ( I think Christmas) I had just turned 20 a couple of weeks before.My sisters oldest son was about 6 years old and had been give a drum set for Christmas..We were in the den and dancing to old school, when I realised that my Nephew was playing along with the music..I stopped in mid step to listen!!!when I heard  " You are a diiizzzzy Biitcchh"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM4BAtqzqaI Big maybelle

It only took me a second to realize why..my family was by now acoustomed to my oddities, but my brother in laws family were not and all of them were looking at me with smirks..My mother was very protective of me..But I know it was not the situation we were in at the time that caused her to say this to me...And today i know she was right. I feel I have walked through life with blinders on as to what others see in me..I now realize how lucky I have been in my innocence I realize just how good God has been  to me..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQxb8Tirlj0&feature=related Nellie Lutcher

One of the most amazing moments in my life was the moment I realilized that the thing I most wanted in life I would never have. ("Hope springs eternal" for some,),Yet there is that moment when you know that it is futile! Either you give up or aim in another direction, I chose the latter. Now is the time for me...What would make me happy? Now is the time to celebrate myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajwnmkEqYpo Dream a little dream

The thing I wanted the most was love,that all consuming passion,that sharing,that hunger when seperated,that delight of looking into someone's eyes and seeing yourself reflected..You know the love I am talking about!
The day I realized it is not going to happen was the most dificult day of my life, It is when you ask your self the question "what's left? The answer is I still have me and I will move on and make myself happy! It is not about what other people think of you, it is how you love yourself...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8gjyS-QEVs Etta James

So you see my Mother was right and if stopping in mid step to listen is confusing to others,( "Out of Confusion comes Understanding")Then I wear the Label Dizzy Bitch well...

Thanks Mom..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUxrsG-61fs  Feeling Good Randy Crawford..

Well Jazzlovers Until next time.

Keep the beat..

DW Jazzlover

Paris and Aging

Street Artist Paris


Another Beautiful Day In Beautiful Bahrain


Hello Jazz Lovers.


I have not written for a while because I was not ready to give up on the wonderful  knowledge of the discovery of my love for my Father..I will write more about that place later,but today I needed to write..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s7QNpqiqsc\

My first trip to Paris was in 1983, a dream come true because of Mr.James Baldwin and his experiences in Paris it was a must on my journey...James was so right, Paris in the early 80's was so wonderful..walking around the city was a dream come true..There was so much beauty every where I stepped ,the city was really magic in those days..I was young,cute and innocent a great combination because the city opened to me..The only thing I knew about Paris was what James Baldwin had written and I wanted to see it through his eyes..If you doubt that read "Just above My Head" and all his writings on Paris..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQhjA7SHGro

I spent hours walking, I spent hours at sidewalk cafes in Place St.Germaine, and my favorite cafe on the corner of Place St Michael.. this is still one of my favorite places...from that cafe you can see all of the Place St. Michael and in those days Paris as the fashion capital was seriously for real..one of the beautiful things about Paris is that people watching is totally acceptable..and there were beautiful, stylish people every where you looked, it was wonderful, young and old were just the most beautiful thing I had ever seen!!I was for 2 weeks one of them, I dressed well and just enjoyed being a part of the parade...I was able to let my head go...I felt what James had felt, It was Ok to be an individual, I felt completely free!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YEFKJJx48Q

Now I have never been shy about dancing and very hot club was recommended to me, and of course I went!!  Discothèque Haute Tension, (it is sad to say it is not there any more) was the hottest club I have ever been to in my life!!!There were 3 floors a quiet nice night club bar on the ground floor , I will skip the next level(Private knowledge) and the last level below ground was the disco, (a bomb shelter)and the music was tight,tight, tight...I knew no one but the didn't matter to me at all..I got on the dance floor because I was feeling the music, no one else was dancing at this time, until I got on the floor and the next thing I knew people were lining up side of me and across from me and staring hard,it was a little discomforting for a few seconds because I had been dancing with my eyes closed. Then I realized they were trying to pick up my steps..and Baby the party was on!!!For once in my young life I was the Belle of the Ball, it was a night I will remember for ever!!I got back to my hotel 3 days later..Truly a James Baldwin experience...

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU8Yesm6sAc

But Alas everything changes in 30 years even Paris,my favorite cafe is still there and it is still a pleasure to sit and watch the world go by but the young people no longer have that Paris Chic, it could be the streets in any US City,sneakers,jerseys,and jeans only.....But I dressed and still got attention,but the true reminder of what Paris was like was the French Women over 50, they were beautiful and very stylish and was worth every moment of watching,but the amazing thing was just how sexy they were and it was done with such class!!!They gave me a sense of continuation and of aging with beauty and grace was a serious possibility because they were living proof..The city itself has not changed Paris is still a very beautiful city..the younger people have changed, but if you sit quietly for a few minutes the elegnce and style that Paris is known for is very much alive !!! And so am I.. Thank you James!! It has been my pleasure..

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYhY3Z4QwTo

Well Jazzlovers it time to go for a while, thank you for stopping by..

so until next time..

Keep the beat..

DW Jazzlover..

Thoughts of My Father

My Father 1937

Hello Jazzlovers,

A Beautiful Summer day here in Beautiful Bahrain..

My Father has been on my mind since Fathers day this year..I have been thinking of him a lot.. I have said often in this blog that when one clears his mind of past ramifications of actions that caused pain, the view is so much clearer...On my home town Facebook page, a lot of people were writing about their fathers, and their remembered experiences were beautiful..This was my entry..."My Father was a good man in the community, He had a kind heart and was well liked....He was a very good provider..But he knew nothing about love and when he would bring Mr.Vodka home he could be crazy as Hell !!!! and I loved him...He was one of the most innocent men I have ever known.." The reason My Father has been on my mind is becasue after saying this it I realized was very true...because I really did not know my Father growing up, I am just starting to know him..even though he was in my life...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s7QNpqiqsc

My parents divorced when I was 2 years old but my father was in the Pacific when i was born and they never lived together after he came home...He was writing another woman and all the mail came to my mothers house, and in her pain she never took him back! You see he was her first love...and she never stopped loving him...so for the first 6 years of my life he was not there..I knew who he was and would see him driving and when he stopped at his sisters cafe, but he never addressed me in any way never blew his car horn or iniated any contact...I caught a whipping every Monday from my Stepfather because I  was to pick up my child surpport from an Aunt's house where my father left the $3.75 a week. Every week i baught a Mule (Ginger bread only found in the south) for 25 cents...I felt it was my right!!Smile and I knew I would catch a whipping but it was mine!!! This was the interaction I had with my father for the first 6 years of my life....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQZC82E2wio

At 6 I had a very traumatic experience , I was raped by a very trusted member of our community..Talk about a life changing experience...I don't remember the horror of the rape it'self but the ramifications I remember very well..you see I told and they really did not know how to deal with it so it was easier to silence me that it was to deal with the legal actions...My mother to remove me from harms way sent me to live with my father..This stranger...I will never forget the smell of his car (a Willis Jeep) it was so strange to me...it took me a year to call him Daddy...My stepmother bless her gave me healing time, I will forever love that woman....and her Mother My Grandmother was my life line....it took me a year to start trusting once more but that trust is still severly fragile..6 is too young to become an adult...After 9 I never lived in the same house hold 2 years in a row..until I left home for good.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_1LfT1MvzI&feature=related

Now back to my statment on face book that is is the truth.. I did learn things about my father,the most important thin I learned was that he was not a happy man...I learned why the night I left home for good..when he revealed his saddness for losing my mother...that is the only time in my life my father told me he loved me..but by now I did not trust that...it came tooo late..because by now I was Battling my own issues...and my father died 2 years after that night...and that is where this story starts....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAa8vwmeewU

It was at my Fathers funeral I realized I had tears in my eyes, not from sadness that he was dead , I was crying because I had no idea of who was laying in that coffen !!!....Who was this man ? What was he too me? What had I missed?I was so confused!!And I put it totally out of my mind all these years until 2 years ago when I had the first dream of him..In the dream I was back home and I was helping him to my mothers funeral and I had to carry him, I remember in the dream how heavy he was and he was holding on to me so tightly and how many road blocks that were in our paths but I did not drop him and I found comfort in holding him. when we Got to the funeral home I told him you have to go on alone..that dream has stayed with me...until today...

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgLHVi40Gc8

Every photo I have of my father was taken after I was born, bascilly when I knew him until 2 days ago when My Cousin sent me the above Photo...This photo I have never seen, it was taken in 1937 at his place of employement and where he met and married  my mother a year later..and this is the man I would have loved to know! I love the twinkle in his eyes, this man I can understand my mother falling in love with!!I completely healed seeing this photo to know there was a time he was free and confident,before he was hurt! I love the look on his face, this is the man I have been looking for all my life and I finally met him and I can let him go now..This is my validation.

Thanks Cuz...  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0AMnyU_RG0


Until next time

JazzLovers

Keep the beat...

DWJazzlover

Elsie Mae T.V. Mama

Elsie Mae T.V. Mama

When I was about fifteen years old I was in Houston with my mother, and  I started to meet some interesting people..(I was a wanderer).The lady that baby sit my sister and brother, was the sister of a 70 year old stripper or shake dancers as they were called then, Miss Tiny, I loved to hear her talk about the days of dancers and what the clubs had been like,of course I did not at the time realize that she was still dancing!! Her granddaughter and I were in school together , so I was at their hous often and loved to meet the old trouppers...The conversations were amazing...They spoke a whole different language to anyone else i knew at the time...and loads of laughter.I can get a mind picture of that house in my head even now..it was a happy time...

So I was so surprised when i was invited to go out with Miss tiny and entarage for a show at a 5th Ward Club..(in those days a teenager could be in a club if with an adult) this is not the story though...When miss Tiny came on I was shocked ! I know i was sitting with my mouth open! She could dance, I totally forgot her age...It was fantastic...After the show she was paid and we left and went to Club Matinee on Lyons Avenue and I was in Lala land..The band was Bobby  Blue Bland, and the blues was kicking, I had never seen so many well dressed men and women in my life...I am talking class all the way..But that is still not the story..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeqn8nFcItU&feature=related

As other clubs were closing (12 o'clock) The Matinee was filling up with other entertainers from other venues, and Miss tiny knew everyone so I was meeting all of Houstons Blues and bar crowed and baby I was in heaven!! I was dancing my little butt off and  laughing like I had never laughed in my life...and I met my first crush!! and with meeting my 2nd crush I met Miss Elsie Mae T.V.Mama!! T.V.  she was one of the most elegant women I had ever met she was pure glamor, it was a joy to meet her and she was about 300 pounds of solid beauty. I was in love!!!I did find out that night that T.V. performed at a club called The Blue Flame owned by Salina Rogers another well known entertainer ( I learned this later)  accross the street from Club Matinee..( Now you know I was already planning) All the way home that night my mind was racing how was I to get back there??????

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w64KlXcwsB4


Now I knew if I dissapered the next night which was Saturday night it would take them only a moment to find me...So I went on with my normal wanderings and visits for 2 more weeks,,,swiped my current stepfathers id(Social and drivers license, no photos in those days..)and Friday night caught the bus 2hours and 3 transfers later, I was standing infront of the Blue Flame!!! I don't think my heart had ever beat so fast, I have never been so excited and scared in my life...it was about 8pm and finely dressed people had started to arrive,I waited and watched for about an hour before I got up enough nerve to go in..The band was swinging, I knew enough to only order a soda as I sit at a corner table. One of T.V.s group saw me and remembered me and came over to talk. the first show would be starting in about 10 minutes and I was grately relieved I was not getting kicked out.. As Langston wrote "Maybe it ain't right but children of the night will give a snake a break"I was well taken care of that weekend. .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1S6DMClxeI


The show was well done the entertainers were just amazing!! Salina did a song call "Hot Nuts" that had me on the flo laughing!!(Salina is a post alone) And then T.V.Mama with the wide wide screen was called to the Stage and I was lost!!! She wore this beautiful green evening gown and baby this lady could sing!!!She rocked the joint..Her Last song was "All of Me" half way through the song T.V. grabs the front of her gown and it dissappears like air!! She has on a fringed G-String and baby could she dance..she could take her butt in a complete circle stop and take it back the other way!!! I had never seen anything so amazing in my young life...There was not a person still in their seat at the end of her number and the applause was deafning, me included....I met and talked to her almost all night,and refused to go home, I wanted to live this life they were living...They all lived above the Club so I stayed the weekend..long story short.( In the post on Salina Rogers I will tell how my Father found me) Because Sunday I was in the back of my fathers station wagon on my way to Louisiana. LOL..on that memory...

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NgnB4Ld9MM&feature=related

The next time I saw T.V. I was in my home town in Louisiana and won a radio name that song contest to see the show at a club named "The Arrow" even though I passed it every day I had never been in! Of course i am now 18 and legal LOL.. When I walked in T.V. Saw me and she remembered me and I felt so good seeing her once more and we had a wonderful time and once more the show was just amazing..well Life goes on and T.V. Was leaving for California the next day and we lost touch for quite a few years..because the next time I saw her I was visiting home after University and Went to see James Brown at Ball's Auditorium,and saw this woman walikg through the crowed to the stage and Could not believe my eyes! There was my dear friend Miss T.V. Mama and she was part of the James brown revue!!! After the show we talked for hours that night. I still think of her often and would love to see her once more...

You can find her on James Brown, Funky Diva's Album..This is the only photo I can find of her and if anyone knows her please let me know,,,I have known the best....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w64KlXcwsB4&feature=related

Thanks Lojo

Well Jazzlovers Until next time,

Keep the beat..


D.W.Jazzlover

Ketty Lester "Love Letters"

Ketty Lester

Another beautiful day in Bahrain

Hello Jazzlovers,

My unpacking has been very slow by choice, due to making my decision to lighten my load. Some of the work is mindless, on the other hand, some of it is like a trip down memory lane. I have only loved Intimately 5 people in my life and I have been finding little things from each of them,(smile) and thinking of each of them, I have caught myself writing mental love letters to them. The interesting thing about these love letters is that the focus is on the things that brought us together rather than the things that tore us apart ( it is so good getting emotions out of the way) I did remain friends with them, except for the last one.( but that is a blog all by it's self.....)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4aTLurY3gw


This song "Love Letters" kept running through my head and I caught myself singing it under my breath.I had not thought of this song in years!! Some of you might remember Ketty Lester as Helen Grant on "Days Of Our Lives in the 1970, but I remember her from this song and my stepmother remembered her music. I found this album in the Woolworth's bargin bin years ago while I was in university and played it over and over although I have not listened to it in years it remains part of my favorites in music.. Here is a 2002 live version...Love Letters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuZvb51Xwjw


Trivia Days of Our Lives had the first interracial kiss on a Soap Opera...Ketty Lester was the daughter of a farmer, she was born in Hope, Arkansas August 16, 1934 , one of a family of 15 children, and first sang in her church and school choirs. She won a scholarship to study music at San Francisco State College, and in the early 1950s began performing under the name Ketty Lester in the city's Purple Onion club. She later appeared as a contestant on the game show You Bet Your Life, and toured Europe as a singer with Cab Calloway's orchestra
Here is one I remember from 1965..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDtM0_zEmPY&feature=related

Ketty Lester gave up singing commercially, and turned to acting. She was reportedly offered the role eventually taken by Diahann Carroll in the 1968 TV series Julia, and appeared in a variety of movies including Up Tight! (1968), Blacula (1972), and Uptown Saturday Night (1974). She established herself as a television actress in the 1970s and 1980s, playing the roles of 'Helen Grant' in the soap opera, Days of our Lives from 1975 to 1977, and 'Hester-Sue Terhune' on the NBC television series Little House on the Prairie from 1978 to 1983, as well as making short appearances in many other series. But for me I loved her music.. "Here is Deep Purple"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50_5i19hrCs&feature=related


Music has always played an important place in my life, because Music knows how I feel...Living in the now makes the past so clear. When looking back at ramicications of past actions are viewed without emotional baggage it is amazing what you see....

Well jazzlover in signing off on a love letter I think it very fitting to end with Ketty Leaster 1962 recording of "P.S. I Love You"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61n-NoYKEGE&feature=related


Well Jazzlover until Next time,

Keep the beat.....

Oh one more!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfa5uCjpouA&feature=related


DWJazzLover

Lena Horne 30 June 1917- 9 May 2010

The Lady was born 30 June 1917 Left us 9 May 2010


The New York Times Obituary

Lena Horne, who was the first black performer to be signed to a long-term contract by a major Hollywood studio and who went on to achieve international fame as a singer, died on Sunday night at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital in New York. She was 92 and lived in Manhattan. Her death was announced by her son-in-law, Kevin Buckley.

Ms. Horne might have become a major movie star, but she was born 50 years too early, and languished at MGM in the 1940s because of the color of her skin, although she was so light-skinned that, when she was a child, other black children had taunted her, accusing her of having a “white daddy.” Ms. Horne was stuffed into one “all-star” musical after another — “Thousands Cheer” (1943), “Broadway Rhythm” (1944), “Two Girls and a Sailor” (1944), “Ziegfeld Follies” (1946), “Words and Music” (1948) — to sing a song or two that could easily be snipped from the movie when it played in the South, where the idea of an African-American performer in anything but a subservient role in a movie with an otherwise all-white cast was unthinkable.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMf0Z7EPdLo
 
 
I have always been a fan of Lena Horne one of my favorite moments in life was the night I took my Mother to see Lena Horne at the Fairmount hotel in San francisco in 1979, it was a magical night she will be missed...If you don't have her CD "The Lady and Her Music" You are missing something wonderful..
 
Until Next time Jazzlovers.
 
Ms.Lena Horne
 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCG3kJtQBKo
 
 
DW Jazzlover

Marla Gibbs Memory Lane........

Marla Gibbs


I am so busy Jazzlovers but Just ran across this Interview...I was listning to an album by Eddie Clean Head Vincent and Etta James recorded at Marla Gibbs Memory Lane.. I found the interview with Marla Gibbs and thought it should be published..
Enjoy and I will be back soon with Music...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLAdzHAdTOs

My Beautiful beautiful People......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-garwXnR6U&feature=channel


I am loving this journey Jazzlovers..This beautiful woman is just telling the truth.....as it is!! I love the interviewers questions ! This is jut not going the way he really wants it to...Understanding understanding!!Listen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpANL2O13M0&feature=channel


I love my people! Great Interview...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN3SjVnXujw&feature=channel


Jazzlovers it will take you a few weeks or days to watch this complete interview, which is good while I do somethings I really need to do, but it is worth watching trust me....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN3SjVnXujw&feature=channel


This is part of our history dear ones....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDeATwCBZho&feature=channel

I will be back with some good music...It is a long interview but worth watching...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQF6SrufFxI&feature=channel

I know she had some greats at her LA Memory Lane I even got to spend a wonderful New Years Eve there.But Jazzlovers have you ever heard her sing.........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4vBoQVBb3E&feature=related

It's Never Too Late For Life!!!!!!


Until Next time

Keep the beat...


DW Jazz lover...

Dubai Fashion Week Studio Kalid Fall/Winter Collection

The Studio Kalid Collection for  Fall/ Winter Won The best Emerging Talent Award....
Hello Jazzlovers

Just returned home from Dubai Fashion Week and wanted to give you a sneak peek at our Fall/Winter Collection...

We won the Best Emerging Talent Award for this collection...
Until Later,

Keep the beat...

DWJazzlover

Percy Mayfield " Please Send Me Someone To Love"

Percy Mayfield
August 12, 1920 – August 11, 1984


 very windy and beautiful day in Bahrain


Hello Jazzlovers,

I have moved to a new place and taking my time getting it just right, because this is my last move..I am lightening my load and getting rid of a lot of things both physical and mental..This will be my home....
I have clothes I have had since I was a teenager and I do pull them out and still wear them but it is time to let go....emotionally I am down to  carry on luggage and plan to do the same with my house....I had 5 complete sets of dishes and still finding complete  sets of silver wear ( Yes sughah real silver) Not counting the stainless.....and  complete sets of crystal still in the original boxes! Just tooooo much!

I read the story titled "The Blue Willow Plate when I was about 6 years old and just fell in love with blue willow pattern, so that was my first set of dishes and the only thing I packed when my marrage broke up along with my child on the back seat of my old Carvair and got the hell out of my home town...Like many things in life I have now disposed of those dishes a couple of days ago and now iam down to 2 sets of dishes one very nice of hand painted fine china for everday and of course my "Royal Dalton"(shades of Mrs. Bucket, Keeping up Apperences) and it feels good...I have really gotten rid of all the emotional baggage of ramifications of thing pass and can look back with a smile of innocence still in my heart...now I am gettin rid of things that remind me of percived sad times.....It feels good...

Which brings me to Percy Mayfield, (as I said I now look back with clear eyes) my innocence was taken away from me when I was 6 years old and I relived the ramafications of that for years until I remembered that I really did not remember the incident at all only the things that happened after, as my whole life changed that day...everyone involved is now gone so why hold on to it? so I have let it go..But the major thing that followed me from that day was the lost of trust! Trust issues are still very important to me until today and I am a very trust worthy person because of that incident yet it has invaded every relationship I have ever had! If I lose trust in someone it is over Thank you Mam!!!Nothing left to say....

Now in 1952 I had become a very lonley child and spent hours alone by choice trying to understand this world, my mother played music all the time and one day this song penertrated my brain..and in someway became my theme song, it is still my favorite song and I do have favorite artist versions but the original still moves me to tears...on that day in 1952 I heard Percy Mayfield do "Please Send Me Someone to Love", My Mother played this song over and over and over, I did not complain because you see I understood the song even at that early age..( I am listening to it now?And Now that I understand my Mothers life better I also know what it was to her..( My mother wrote me a letter 7 March 1983, and she died November 1983, I got the letter 7 March 1984) she had never stopped loving my father....Please send me someone to love was released in 1950 but I think it took 2 years to get back to Louisiana...or to get my attention..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoZlcq9eL1k

Percy Mayfield was born in Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. As a youth, he showed a talent for poetry and this led him into songwriting and singing. He began his performing career in Texas and then moved to Los Angeles, California by 1942 where success as a singer continued to elude him. Finally in 1947 a small record label, Swing Time, signed him to record his song "Two Years of Torture". The song sold steadily over the next few years, prompting Art Rupe to sign Mayfield to his label, Specialty Records in 1950.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUqX9oK8_ZY&NR=1

Although his vocal style was influenced by such stylists as Charles Brown, Percy Mayfield did not focus on the white market as did many West Coast bluesmen. Rather, he sang blues ballads, mostly his own songs, in a gentle vocal style. His most famous recording, "Please Send Me Someone to Love", a number one R&B hit single in 1950, was widely influential and recorded by many other singers. The song is a brilliant combination of sensitivity to wider issues of conflict in the world and the very personal need for love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpAY7z3uL-c

I trully love this man always have he has always knew how I felt...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvxjiue3zW4&feature=related


Gladys Knight and BB King does a good job too I am so happy this song has stood the test of time, I am going to add a couple of other versions Jazzlovers please enjoy....

BB King Gladys Knight...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jot9br3ea60

One of my Most fav.. Versions Sade..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7qFmvQp_MA&feature=related

The Great Miss Nancy Wilson.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6_1P3zDM_w

Marlena Shaw and Ernestine Anderson also do a very good job with the song although I can not find it on You Tube yet, I anyone has it please send it to me.. I have the CD's but have not learned to upload them yet...

The Moonglows.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXHvq168mXY

The reason I am talking about love here and the past is I think most of us really desire to be loved for ourselfves and that is my point, I realize now I had to take the time to really love me! Which ment I had to strip away the layers of baggage and walls I used  to proctect myself and get to myself and love that person underneath unconditionally before I could let someone in...I have done that and it the Universe  sees fit to send that love!!! Sughah I am ready!!!

Until next time JazzLovers,

Keep the beat.

DW Jazzlover..

Alberta Hunter A Very Interesting Life A Lesson for All

Alberta Hunter
April 1, 1895 – October 17, 1984

Hello JazzLovers it is a rainy day in Beautiful Bahrain

I have had a long dry spell, I have just did not feel like writing, but that is ok too...I have become very unhappy with my neighborhood, (not condusive to writing)it is going down and my flat the harder I try to clean and upgrade just reveals another problem...So I am moving tomorrow to a new building "Way out on the outside of town " That is a song by Ruth Brown by the way! I will miss the area only because I can walk everywhere and now I had to find something on the bus line...I don't drive.(So you see Alan we are all moving right now!) I have found a nice 2 bedroom flat with windows!!!!!!!!!a new building and CLEAN!!more than I can say for this building...But enough of that..

Mis Alberta Hunter has been on my mind, I discovered her a couple of years before she died and fell in love with her music..Of course she was then in her 80s,, but she had a very interesting life..She started singing in the 20s and gained fame for her jazzz and blues style..in 1950 she left the entertainment field and went to nursing school and retired from Nursing at 80 and was rediscovered as a singer and the rest is history...
So Jazz lovers I just wanted to introduce her to you......She traveled the world in her early career and and once more in her 80s...Remarkable.

Handy Man
 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4505406898043114457#

Jazz Fest 1982

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4505406898043114457#docid=-4780066716829901242

Alberta Hunter wrote this song in 1922 and Bessie Smith made it a very big hit.."Down Hearted Blues"

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4505406898043114457#docid=-4158518805838742848

This is my Favorite song by Ms. Hunter "No Body knows You when You're Down and Out"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdaNlZhmHoM

"My Castle's Jumping" Age 82 Plus interview! Very Sassy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW9vzBRXwD0&feature=related


Alberta Hunter in Concert in France 1983 part 1,2 and  3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKD1cY8C-To&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwVaONPgzaI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS7cGsyGx1c&feature=related

"The Down Town Strutters Ball" is one of the best she has ever done!

Ms. Alberta Hunter answers a question I had in an earlier bolg about aging, I think she is just fantastic to have lived her life so fully.....Thanks to her I have nothing to complain about..I could tell her story here but I think she did a better job than I ever could...Enjoy Jazzlovers..A remarkable Woman.

Until next Time Jazzlovers,

Keep the beat.


DW Jazzlover. 

Woolgethering and Musings on a Sentimental Journey with Corn bread

Atlanta


Another beautiful day here in Beautiful Bahrain


Hello Jazzlovers,


Now that I am really practcing living in the now, it is a wonderful place to be but sometimes little things happen that takes me off on another mental journey. I would like to share some of the mental journeys I have been on over the last 2 days... I guess I am on a sentimental journey..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzKJGZ55P_Y

It all started 2 days a go when I visited my favorite watering hole. the Keep is from Ethiopia and once more there were other visitors with her, I started noticing their elegance and the quiet pride in which they carried them selves and it sort of took me back. It took me back to the women I grew up with and how they carried themselves with the same diginity..the senuious sway of the hips, head held high, soft voices,quiet sexuality, that i no longer see amoung my people. When did our women become hotchie's bitches, and hoes? where did I miss the change? I did not let my thoughts stay there to long, tooooo painful!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4cjqF3SWaQ


While sitting there taking my mind off the sad fact of the above, I decided to clear my phone messages and guess what happened my phone just died!!!( I love that phone), now I have alway kept a phone book with everones number written down, until cell phones no one writes down a number anymore, including me! So of course all my contacts are now lost!!!! So first stop a local repair shop, (you have not lived until you have had to deal with people who want your money but don't give a darn about you) where I got the run around big time!! Leave the phone come back in an hour!!!! back in an hour phone still sitting in the same place, come back in 3 days! Ok Why? what is wrong with it?" I don't know come back in 3 days" Ok why what is wrong with it?Then you get the blank look!!! At this point it is just easier to buy a new phone!!Which is the point!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0PamtXZO70

Now this phone was the last link to my Ex as it was a gift, so there is an emotional attachment as well. But the big issue was that I am not attached to gadets, a phone is to make calls only and I have no idea of any other functions so I just know now I was going to be ripped off!!! Because the phone I had is now obsolete!! and all I want is one that my current memory chip fits, should be easy right? No way! I ended up walking about 6 miles to the Sony Erickson head store!!!  Because in my area they just wanted to sell me a phone and how dare I ask questions! What does a memory chip have to do with it!! Here just buy a new chip!!..AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! But truly this is not the essence of this post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2EsZpobWJs

I had also recieved an email from my mentor and the person who is responsible for this blog, She was talking about her Mother, and what she was making to tempt her to eat and it made me homesick I could picture the house Minnie grew up in...I also recieved an email from my Cousin telling me what she had cooked for dinner!! double homesick!!!so on my 6mile walk I started thinking about home, and the true beauty of Louisiana. Bahrain is beautiful but I miss trees, I miss green, I miss rain, I miss the night sky and stars!! I miss the accents,I miss the food most of all ! I miss the smells of cooking while walking down the street and knowing exactly what each Family is having for supper,and knowing it was ok to stop by at supper time and to be welcome..  I miss my people!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR2Z-cucTfU

I walked the 6 miles there and back, it was a wonderful experience because I had the time to just let my thoughts go where they wanted, it was nice to remember all the people, sights,sounds , and smells that make me the person I am today and to realize I really like the person I am today, I have very few regrets and I owe most of it to Moss Bluff, Louisiana and the wonderful village that raised me, but I still have a need to see what is around the next corner, so I will keep moving towards the sun. But in the mean time I right now have a pot of butter beans on the stove simmering and I am making a meat loaf,and rice,then I am headed to the local store for eggs and milk, and will come home an make me an old fashion cornbread and some ice tea and have me a nice Louisiana Dinner with some grat jazz in the background and spend a few moments back home!!!

And then:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR2Z-cucTfU



Until next time Jazzlovers

Keep the beat.

D W Jazzlover

2012 To Buy Or Not To Buy The Hype, What Year is it Anyway?

Stained Glass Dubai

There was the most Beautiful Sunset Today here in Beautiful Bahrain,

Hello Jazzlovers,

I am from Louisiana, so I am no stranger to the seen and the unseen, the known and the unknown,the believable and the unbelievable, we have a serious reputation for that. And being a possible desendant on Marie Laveaux makes me no different from anyone else in Louisiana. All of this to say I am not a stanger to the paranormal,but I am just a little shocked by the hype being given the world distruction in 2012!Has everyone forgotten the hype of Y2K??? Think about it jazzlovers.....But I also know people believe what they want to believe...But the truth is we have no idea of what year this is!! Everyone on this earth is not on the Georian Calendar or a 12 month year. So if September is the 7th month and October is the 8th month, and November is the 9th month, that would make December the 10th month, what year is this and where did we get the extra 2 monhts? Trivia what are the added months???( of course i am going to tell you).

http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-roman.html

There was a time that March was the 1st month and December the 10th month,  The months bore the names Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Juniius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December–the last six names correspond to the Latin words for the numbers 5 through 10. The Roman ruler Numa Pompilius is credited with adding January at the beginning and February at the end of the calendar to create the 12-month year. In 452 B.C.E., February was moved between January and March. The Julian Calendar began in  46 B.C.E., when Julius Caesar initiated a thorough reform that resulted in the establishment of a new dating system, the Julian calendar which changed and added July in his own honor... Augustus Caesar clarified and completed the calendar reform of Julius Caesar. In the process, he also renamed the month of Sextilis to August after himself.I think you Jazlovers get my point! 2012 may just not be 2012 or doomsday because the whole world is not on a 12 month Calendar or in the year 2010, Where I live the year is 1431...

http://www.crowl.org/Lawrence/time/months.html

I really don't understand all the hype, if you remember all the Art Bell hype that sold radio's and emergency lights and how people stocked up on supplies without thinking about it, makes me very sceptical...I remember the facility I worked for wanting to pay staff $300.00 to be on call, when I pointed out that Y2K would hit Australia  24 hours before us and would give time for action if needed as it was planned , I was looked at like I had lost my mind!!!! and the staff was very happy on payday!

http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/091105-2021-doomsday.html

The truth is Jazzlovers none of us know the Master Plan for us, and no man knows the end and we should live everyday as maybe the last,treat others right . I am more worried about these idiots with their hands on buttons than I am about 2012, because I really don't know what year or month it really is!! ( Just had to say it) Being from Louisiana has given me a very healthy belief system as well as a very heavy dose of skepticism about things seen and unseen and that tells me something is happening on this earth but is is not because of the end of the mayan calendar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5tSulnzXo&feature=related

Well Jazz lovers until next time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beCun9Qgtno&feature=related
 
Keep the beat..

DWJazzlover

Happy New Year...