From: owner-god-shiva-digest@smoe.org (god-shiva-digest) To: god-shiva-digest@smoe.org Subject: god-shiva-digest V1 #18 Reply-To: god-shiva@smoe.org Sender: owner-god-shiva-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-god-shiva-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk god-shiva-digest Thursday, September 17 1998 Volume 01 : Number 018 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Perhaps I'm enticed by what you are [Michael Yarbrough Subject: Perhaps I'm enticed by what you are OK, so there are now more than 50 of us out here, and I guess we're all so busy reading our copies of the Starr Report that we don't have time to talk. ;-) I thought it might be cool to get to know each other by talking about how we discovered Me'Shell's music. So here goes... The first I really ever heard about Me'Shell was in Request magazine, that shitty rag put out by Sam Goody stores. They liked her a lot and mentioned she was on Maverick. This was before Alanis turned Maverick as blockbuster-crazy as they are now and, besides, I was a Madonna fan (we'll save that for another thread in the distant future, pleez ;-) ) so I figured I'd check her out. I picked up a copy of the "Boyfriend" single. I was not prepared for this! The first thing that struck me was the attitude and the humor. Her rhymes were so creative without being forced. More than that, though, was the music. I've always been a bass fan, and I just couldn't believe the riffs this woman was pushing out! The way it managed to recall organic funk sounds of the '70s but still work as a hip-hop beat blew my mind. The b-side was "Two Lonely Hearts," which I also liked, though it hadn't yet captivated me like it does now. I liked both so I picked up the album. Now I knew I had to sign my life over. At the time I was becoming very political, very angry. Though I am not black and could never completely understand the situations of which she wrote, I was starting to become aware of the ways in which prejudice was more subtle and institutionalized than I'd ever been allowed to believe and instantly bonded with the stories Me'Shell was bringing me. I had also just started to come out as a gay man, and though the ways in which homophobia and racism work are very different, I could relate my emotional responses of pain and anger at a world that just "dehumanized, set aside and criticized" to the emotions of her songs. I was hooked. PL I think will always be my favorite because I was just in the right place at the right time for that record, but I did eventually grow to love PBP as well, and I especially love the way Me'Shell can shift between so many different moods, emotions and themes and handle them all with so much skill. Her love songs are as great as her political songs. Whatever direction she's taking on the new album, I'm sure it will be compelling and I can't wait for it... So who's next? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 14:34:18 -0400 From: Michael Yarbrough Subject: MTV News coverage of Saturday's show Check out the last paragraph especially. In my dweems I hear Ani, Me'Shell and Michael collaborating on some freestyle jams. That would be heaven!! from http://www.mtv.com/mtv/news_launch.html: 9.16.98 14:00 EDT Ani DiFranco, Me'Shell Ndegeocello And Michael Franti Locked Up For Prison Benefit Ani DiFranco, Me'Shell Ndegeocello and Spearhead's Michael Franti will perform at a concert on September 19 at the Berkeley Community Theater in Berkeley, California, as part of a benefit for the state's Coalition for Women Prisoners and the Prison Activist Resource Center. Christened the "Critical Resistance: Music and Solidarity" concert by organizer and infamous Black Liberation Movement activist Angela Davis, the show will focus on reforming the criminal justice system and the need to increase public spending for the construction of new schools rather than new prisons. Joining DiFranco, Ndegeocello and Franti onstage for the concert will be Sioux poet and musician John Trudell, who helped form the American Indian Movement in the 1970s. The Berkeley performance will also mark the first date of sorts for DiFranco's fall tour in support of her newest album, "Little Plastic Castle," while Ndegeocello plans to head into a studio soon to start work on her third album. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 19:51:34 -0700 From: Mike Theiss Subject: Re: Perhaps I'm enticed by what you are >OK, so there are now more than 50 of us out here, and I guess we're >all so busy reading our copies of the Starr Report that we don't have >time to talk. ;-) > >I thought it might be cool to get to know each other by talking about >how we discovered Me'Shell's music. So here goes... Sometime shortly after "Plantation Lullabies" came out I was shopping at a record store in Boston and they happened to be playing the record. It immediately caught my attention, the grooves more than anything. The way that she combines hip-hop beats with live bass and funk and jazz stylings struck me as being particularly unique. I hadn't ever heard anything like it before, so it really stood out, and I loved the sound. So naturally I looked to find out what they were playing and took note. I think they were out of stock, I couldn't find the album on their shelves anyway, but I bought it at another store a few days later, and have basically loved everything she has done since... ------------------------------ End of god-shiva-digest V1 #18 ******************************