Wednesday, September 30, 2020

SAVAGE RADIO PLAYLISTS SEPTEMBER 2020: WVMO 98.7 FM-THE VOICE OF MONONA

SAVAGE RADIO EPISODE #232
SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

1. "Chaos And Disorder" performed by Prince
2. "Believe In Me" performed by Sloan
3. "Chocolate Samurai" performed by Fantastic Negrito
4. "Everyday Sunshine" performed by Fishbone
5. "Once Upon A Time" performed by Simple Minds
6. "Love In 2 Stages performed by Land Of Talk
7. "Come All Ye Faithful" performed by The Psychedelic Furs
8. "Maybe Love Is In NYC" performed by Pretenders
9. "San Ber'dino" performed by Frank Zappa
10."Elegie" performed by Patti Smith
11."Packing Heat" performed by Heavy Looks
SAVAGE RADIO EPISODE #233
SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

1. "Cyr" performed by The Smashing Pumpkins
2. "Always Silver" performed by Kainalu
3. "No One Holds You (Closer Than The One You Haven't Met)" performed by The Lemon Twigs
4. "I'm In Disgrace" performed by The Kinks
5. "Meet Me On The Roof" performed by Green Day
6. "It's A Laugh" performed by Daryl Hall & John Oates
7. "Cynical Days" performed by XTC
8. "Earth Beat" performed by Paul Weller
9. "Feel You" performed by My Morning Jacket
10."Silver Trembling Hands" performed by The Flaming Lips
11."Silver Rainbow" performed by Genesis
12."Staring At The Sun" performed by U2
SAVAGE RADIO EPISODE #234
SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

1. "The Lifting" (original version) performed by R.E.M.
2. "Johnny Stew" performed by Lindsey Buckingham
3. "Zen Archer" performed by Todd Rundgren
4. "Chemtrails" performed by Beck
5. "Let's Pretend" performed by The Raspberries
6. "...Nobody Knows" performed by Jason Falkner
7. "Hook, Line & Sinker" performed by Jon Brion
8. "Oh! Darling" performed by Robin Gibb with Peter Frampton
9. "September" performed by Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
10."I Must Be Dreamin'" performed by Cheap Trick
11."Feel Like Myself" performed by Brendan Benson

SAVAGE RADIO EPISODE #235
"1990: HAPPY 30TH ANNIVERSARY"
SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

1. "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got" performed by Prince
2. "Put The Message In The Box" performed by World Party
3. "Lucy September" performed by The Dream Academy
4. "In The Back Of My Mind" performed by Fleetwood Mac
5. "Suzy Wants To Be A Rock Star" performed by Professor Griff and the Last Asiatic Disciples
6. "Machine Gun Ibiza" performed by Prefab Sprout
7. "Don't Try To Tell Me" performed by Wendy & Lisa
8. "Youthful Expression" performed by A Tribe Called Quest
9. "Fear Of A Black Planet" performed by Public Enemy
10. "Type" performed by Living Colour

SAVAGE RADIO EPISODE #236
"LIVE BABY LIVE II"
SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

1. "Psycho Killer" (live) performed by Talking Heads
2. "Rudy, A Message To You" (live) performed by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros
3. "Bigmouth Strikes Again" (live) performed by Johnny Marr
4."Magneto and Titanium Man" (live) performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
5. "Initiation" (live) performed by Todd Rundgren
6. "Love Gun" (live) performed by Rick James
7. "The Bird" (live) performed by The Time
8. "Creep" (live) performed by Tears For Fears
9. "Man In A Suitcase" (live) performed by The Police
10."(When You) Call Me" performed by The Style Council

Please, please, please, mask up so we can get down again. For the musicians, for the venues, for all of the people behind the scenes that make the shows happen, for all of us who miss this communion.

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

NOW PLAYING IN THE SAVAGE JUKEBOX SEPTEMBER 2020

"FEAR OF MUSIC"
TALKING HEADS
Released August 3, 1979
"JAZZ IS DEAD 002"
ADRIAN YOUNGE & ALI SHAHEED MUHAMMAD featuring ROY AYERS
Released June 19, 2020

"JAZZ IS DEAD 003"
ADRIAN YOUNGE & ALI SHAHEED MUHAMMAD featuring MARCOS VALEE
Released August 21, 2020

NEW 2020 MUSIC:
In this horrific year, albeit one that has produced an enormous amount of essential, excellent music, the on-going "Jazz Is Dead" project from producers/composers/multi-instrumentalists Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad has become one of the year's most intriguing projects. I have to tip my hat to both figures considerably as the sheer ambition combined with the musical dexterity and the enormous amount of affection and reverence contained has provided considerable solace in such a tumultuous time. 

While Volume 1 essentially served as a bit of a sampler for all eight albums to arrive, I am now wondering, with the arrival of Volumes 2 and 3, both albums composed and performed with the featured artists, Vibraphonist/Composer Roy Ayers and Brazillian Singer/Keyboardist/Composer Marcos Valee, respectfully, I am wondering if there is actually an even larger endgame in mind musically. 

To some, both of these albums may seem to be enjoyable, pleasurable and possibly, even a little slight as each release runs about 30 minutes or so. They do just fly by as songs flow seamlessly from one to the next and before you know it, each album has completed. Certainly, the works are also ones designed to invite you to play again and again as the exceedingly warm production from Younge and Muhammad conjure up eras past--most notably, the 1970's--and their attention to each and every musical detail is impeccable. You can practically hear the fingers on the strings of the bass, the sticks hitting those crisp snare drum rim shots and is there a more luxurious sound than the one that always emerges from the Fender Rhodes electric piano?  

But beyond the immediacy, I am wondering if what we are hearing is part of a larger musically conceptual plan. Maybe I am reaching but to me, the albums are beginning to sound like movements. What if the "Jazz Is Dead" series can be thought of as one entire piece of music, with the debut album representing the amass of themes and each album thereafter is essentially the featured artists taking a solo? In my mind, I like the sound of that and as I continue to enjoy myself with these latest installments ad the fourth scheduled to arrive in late October, I am looking forward to hearing how this entire project will play itself out. 
"DE LA SOUL IS DEAD"
DE LA SOUL
Released May 14, 1991
"SPEAKING IN TONGUES"
TALKING HEADS
Released June 1, 1983
"TOM TOM CLUB"
TOM TOM CLUB
Released October 1981
"MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS"
BRIAN ENO AND DAVID BYRNE
Released February 1981
REMAIN IN LOVE: TALKING HEADS, TOM TOM CLUB, TINA
CHRIS FRANTZ
400 pages
St. Martin's Press
Published July 21, 2020

I will never forget the very first time I had ever heard of Talking Heads.

I was a child, quite possibly not even yet 10 years old and I was watching "Saturday Night Live," yes the version with the original cast! Anyhow, on this particular episode, I vividly remember announcer Don Pardo's introduction as he intoned the band's name, which instantly caught the attention of my ears, as I was expecting to see some sort of punk band or some other kind of strangeness. Then, the band appeared, completely confounding my expectations both visually and musically. They looked a little like grown up versions of the kids I went to grade school with. Completely unlike rock stars. And as for the music itself, I could not even tell you what they performed but there was something so unlike anything that I had been listening to, that is for certain. Beyond that and most of all, it was the striking and bizarre presence of David Byrne as the band's frontman, with his intense eyes, bodily gyrations and otherworldly vocal tics and spasms, I couldn't help but to wonder, "What's wrong with him?" And I could not look away.

For the duration of Talking Heads' existence, relatively short period during which they cultivated and shape shifted over the course of eight studio albums and one landmark concert feature film in Jonathan Demme's' "Stop Making Sense" (1984), David Byrne, for me, was indeed the constant focal point--so much so that for much of their existence, I was unaware of who else was even in the band, let alone the fact that a woman (bassist Tina Weymouth) was a crucial core member. And in some ways, I wonder if that was how Byrne may have wanted it.   

With the arrival of Remain In Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina, the memoir by Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club co-founder/drummer/producer/songwriter Chris Frantz, the time has come to pull back the curtain on one of rock music's most inscrutable bands, while also serving as the life and love story of Frantz alongside the aforementioned Tina Weymouth. Much like recent musical memoires by Jeff Tweedy and Phil Collins, what Franz delivers is a well written travelogue that comes off as warmly conversational and therefore, compulsively readable. Granted, it is not as literary in its prose as say books by Elvis Costello, Ben Folds and Tracey Thorn, but what Frantz accomplishes very well is to establish his clear, unfussy voice...it is as if you are sitting with him at a bar stool happily listening to him hold court and spin tales and the effect is unquestionably engaging.

After detailing his family history and Southern upbringing, Chris Frantz takes us to his origins as a student at the Rhode Island School of Design and his desires to become an artists. It is there where he first met Weymouth and David Byrne, and began to house his dreams of becoming an artist and possibly a musician. It is of significant note that Frantz is very careful to utilize his memoir as a means to settle some scores while also being fair minded to the legacy of Talking Heads. That said, there is some serious truth telling to establish.

For myself, being someone who really never knew exactly how Talking Heads created, thinking that the band was a project originated by Byrne as a vehicle for his specific artistry, it was eye opening to say the least that Talking Heads was originally Chris Frantz's idea, essentially his dream, with the additional hopes that Tina Weymouth, his then girlfriend would possibly wish to join him. David Byrne was thus invited to join and not the other way around. To that end, all of the music of the Talking Heads' albums were composed jointly by the full band, which also included Guitarist/Keyboardist Jerry Harrison. And while over time, lyrics were entirely written by Byrne, the earliest material, including the now iconic "Psycho Killer" were co-compositions by Frantz, Weymouth and Byrne.  

Frantz firmly details how Talking Heads albums were constructed, complete with praise for David Byrne's considerable contributions and talents as well as his confusion, anger and hurt with Byrne's tendencies to elevate himself at the expense of the full band and the friction that existed, especially some cruel behaviors directed towards Frantz and Weymouth. Surprisingly, all of this material is not presented through a lens of bitterness. More of matter-of-fact incredulity and even sadness as I think it could be inferred that even now, after all of these years, Frantz still does not understand why David Byrne has been, and often continues to be, the way he has...despite the legacy they created together. 

Aside from the Talking Heads story, Chris Frantz also presents the story of 1970's New York living and the beginnings of the culture rock music hub that was CBGB'S, which gave a home base to rising stars like The Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie and Talking Heads. We are given the full odyssey of Talking Heads' first European tour as opening act for The Ramones as well as the birth of Frantz and Weymouth's Tom Tom Club, their marriage, births of their children.

It is indeed a love story of a book as Chris Frantz, through all of his stories and adventures, from the music created, the people he has encountered through the years (his memories of meeting James Brown are as hilarious as his time producing an album by Happy Mondays is harrowing) and of course, the life he has built with Tina Weymouth. Yes, there are dark corners. Yes, dangerous times (including his own drug addictions) are included. But Chris Frantz's Remain In Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina is a book of sheer gratitude, the musings of a man who has more than lived out his dreams.

Monday, September 28, 2020

SOMBER, SOBERING SONGS OF ELEGY: THOMPSON SPRINGS "UNDERTONES"



"UNDERTONES"
THOMPSON SPRINGS

THOMPSON SPRINGS are: 
Matt Smith: Vocals, Guitars
Jacob Bicknase: Backing Vocals, Drums, Piano, Synth
Andy Goitia: Backing Vocals, Bass Guitar Electric Piano

with
Patrick Sansone: 12 String Guitar (tracks 3,7), Mellotron (tracks 4,6), Keyboards/Synth (tracks 1, 3, 6, 7), Percussion
Burr Oak: Backing Vocals (track 7)

All music and lyrics by Matt Smith
Engineered and Mixed by Andy Freeman

Produced by Patrick Sansone
Released July 31, 2020

Over these past five or six years, as I have been delving into the bands, musicians and artists that populate the Madison music community here in Wisconsin, many of the discoveries have arrived from my own investigations and chance happenings. 

And yet, in the case of Thompson Springs, they found me.

Now that it has been perhaps somewhere between three and four years since I have made my acquaintance with the members of Thompson Springs, the origin of how we met is a a tad hazy. So...if memory serves, Thompson Springs' bandleader/songwriter/singer/guitarist Matt Smith either found me through an album review posted on this blogsite or else, one of our local musicians mentioned me to him. But regardless of how, whatever means Smith used, he was thus inspired to seek me out via my Savage Radio show's Facebook page, to where he sent me a message informing about his band and the then upcoming release of their 5 song EP entitled "Fond Regards" (released August 11, 2017), and perhaps might I give it a listen. 

Upon that listen, I was greeted with an unassuming yet undeniably skilled musical statement that sounded as if it would make for a perfect fit with the Americana format that is the musical bedrock of my radio home base of WVMO. And yet, it also stretched its boundaries into areas of the type of rock, folk and psychedelia that would find their way onto Savage Radio. The EP was very good and after some back and forth, I was graced with an on-air telephone interview with the Chicago based Smith and the Madison based Jacob Bicknase, who has performed with the band for 9 years (as well as performing guest drumming duties for both jazz composer/pianist Wilder Deitz and the alternative electronic pop of Kainalu). 

Since that time, we continued to keep tabs upon each other and on the Thompson Springs end of things, the band has seemingly been tireless with consistent, constant touring around the world, with rare pit stops in Madison, one of which where we were able to finally cross paths in person. Somewhere, somehow within that time period since their EP, Thompson Springs have continued to plug away and the results have arrived with their debut full length album.

With "Undertones," produced by Patrick Sansone of Wilco (who made a guest appearance upon "Fond Regards"), Thompson Springs has more than fully realized the promise of their past work. This is the sound of a band stretching and reaching further and in doing so, their unquestionable diligence and determination has afforded them richly with a collection of 8 new songs that are stronger, tighter compositions, musically more agile, and a level of recording prowess that has resulted in a beautifully captured presentation. In short, Thompson Springs have raised their own bar significantly.

Side A opens with the blazing, yet humorously titled "Slightly Sexy," which races out of the speakers with Matt Smith's razor sharp guitars shooting out a Chuck Berry-esque fanfare. As the rhythm section of Andy Goitia's bass and Jacob Bicknase's full bellied drums provide that extra kick, Thompson Springs' album opener is the soundtrack to a young man on the prowl, yet one who is more sincere than sinister, more laconic than lascivious, one who is fully mesmerized and therefore, a bit upended as he inquires of his hoped for hook-up, "Can I sleep next to you?/Can I surf your mind through?" And through the narrator's inquisitiveness, we can infer insecurity as well as innocence making the song's title more self-reflexive than outwardly descriptive. 

Over a bed of acoustic guitars, the sunset sounds of "Sirens" appears to deliver what feels to be an interior monologue, about a relationship, either real or imagined but one constructed of impressions and images as opposed to more concrete events and emotions. I thoroughly enjoyed the juxtapositions contained through this song, especially one that creates such a gentle tapestry although Smith consistently sings of the sirens blaring inside of his head. Furthermore, when Smith sings the lyric, "Imperfections feel better, they show true weather," a line that to me felt as if the narrator is celebrating the reality of his affections rather than the fantasy, the sentiment is heard over a bed of pastoral psychedelia as presented via "Candid colors of fading summers," which itself is offset by the rhythmic push of Goitia and Bicknase, creating the very turbulence that insures that you can never fully fall into repose.

Reminiscent of "Dandelion Queen" from "Fond Regards,"  the subtlety Dylan-esque "Deadly Stare" emerges seductively with its dreamtime soundscapes and impressions of a fractured relationship.

"An angry flip of  hair, another deadly stare
Close but still so far, touching your arm trying to find your heart
A scary start, interrupted by years apart
Intermission of love, weighing down on my head

Your lips bleed into me, a new life that I need
Your touch blows me apart, it's been hard to steady my heart
And it's been hard to steady my heart..."

What happens when relationships are placed onto hiatus, whether intentional or accidental, whether desired or unwanted? For all of the emotional twists and turns when creating romantic relationships, beginning as strangers and building into intimacy, what happens to that very same closeness when you become strangers again, albeit strangers firmly connected with a history. "Deadly Stare," again provides those subtle sonic juxtapositions with its gentle psychedelia belying the emotional ebb and flow that embodies what once was and the questions of what it could be again, or still or anything at all.   

"Rainbow" appears as if imbedded within a cloud of dreams and augmented by a soundscape that feels decidedly wintry. Through red moons, black clouds and departing January birds, our narrator exists within a state of travel, yet one that suggests being internal rather than physical. 

"We found your place late at night, the headlights turned bright
In my imaginary storyline, I was just in time...

...I lived for awhile in your head
Dreams flying and our thoughts began to blend
Look at the bigger picture won't you please
I had to break out of your box to join your company..."

Finding union through separation. Invented realities to discern painful truths. And all delivered through hazy mellotrons, Jacob Bicknase's searching, seeking piano combined with the steady path of his drum kit brush strokes and Matt Smith's pensive vocals and guitars, Side One concludes in a trail of memories that refuse to fade easily.

"Over The Hill" opens Side Two with a blast and a swagger. Matt Smith's guitars, which includes a dusty electric tremolo, plus the full band's stunning backing harmony vocals, congeal beautifully in a selection that feverishly continues themes and emotions previously established, from love gone wrong, separation, regret, loss and mourning. Yet this time, the tone of the performance is more tortured and intense. To that end, "Came From" approaches the subject matter from a more reflective, wistful vantage point suggesting, if not resolution, but acceptance of what once was and what forever lingers.

"I saw you staring at me and decided to say hello
Where you going now?
And when we parted, it appeared there was some allure
We were both longing for...

...You were awaiting for 
The slow speed train
I was leaving down
Another lane
Where you came from?" 

By this stage, "Undertones" feels like a conceptual work detailing love and loss and culminating with "Downswing," which feels tailor made for a solitary night at the barstool, consumed with drink and loneliness. Yet what really surprised me the most is the album's finale, "American Rug," which unexpectedly widens its canvas from the introspective to the societal anxiety currently engulfing all of us. 

"There's an American rug that we're all stepping on
It gets pulled and shoved and does us all harm
Swallowed up in fog in the early morning shine
The dreams you dream while working are getting left behind."

Matt Smith sings with a knowing earnestness and supported by a musical backdrop in which Thompson Springs lays down the guitars and moves the drums aside in favor of a piano and keyboard driven hymn for a nation and its people trapped within an on-going crisis. 

In some respects, it did feel jarring to have a song such as this one conclude the album which had so far not addressed anything remotely approaching this arena. And yet, perhaps, it is indeed supposed to be this jarring. That even as painful and as consuming as tales that depict the affairs of the heart, from a variety of angels and emotional landscapes can be and often are, what does it all means when we are all falling apart in a country that is progressively failing us? Or, the song, and therefore, the album in its entirety, is representative of the interior worlds of any and all of us in our relationships, even as the country is falling apart. 

Whatever its intention, "American Rug" closes "Undertones" in somber, sobering elegy.

Despite the muted, dour tonality of the subject matter within the songs, Thompson Springs' "Undertones" is the sound of a band ascending. All of the years together, working, playing, writing and touring have undoubtedly proven themselves with the rewards of an album as solid as this one, so much so, that it already feels like the work of deeply seasoned artists rather than ones on the rise. 

The musicianship is clean, crisp and purposeful and as with all of the bands and artists that I have been so fortunate to meet and experience firsthand, Thompson Springs is yet another collective that understands sharply that the song itself is the star above any individual player. No one necessarily calls attention to themselves but at the same time, it is definitely through their skill and tastefulness that we notice how gifted these musicians truly are. 

Matt Smith, Andy Goitia and Jacob Bicknase are all listening closely to each other. Pushing each other when needed, while also allowing each other ample space as well. Essentially, all three members make everything sound so easy and yet, we should realize that any implied simplicity is purely deceptive because it does indeed take considerable woodshedding to ensure these performances are delivered so confidently, smoothly and expressively.      

Even moreso, is Matt Smith, who is finding himself growing as a songwriter handsomely. Much like Tom Petty and Jeff Tweedy, he is indeed finding that extremely delicate balance between aggressiveness and vulnerability, the accessible and the poetic, all the while making the songs sound deceptively simple. Songs that could be played around a campfire or smoky bar yet are complex in their composition and execution. 

It is truly a pleasure and privilege to hear the growth and development of a songwriter and a band, especially when they emerge with a work that is a revelatory as "Undertones." It is a work of ghostly emotional shadings housed inside gorgeously composed, arranged and performed songs that will reward your repeated listenings with a variety of sonic textures that consistently enhance and elevate as you and the songs get to know each other better.           

And trust me, if you haven't known of Thompson Springs before now, the time has more than arrived.

Sunday, September 13, 2020

SYNESTHESIA'S SESSION NOTES FOR SEPTEMBER 2020: BLACK GIRL ROCK DRUMMERS MATTER

FROM THE DJ'S STUDIO DESK: 
I needed some good news. Desperately.

2020 is a year that I am feeling more than ever that we will all experience levels of PTSD should we ever emerge through this awful, awful period of our collective existence. The onslaught of bad news. The constant chaos of our political landscape. The racial unrest (more on that later). And all of this playing against the simultaneous backdrop and engulfing foreground of the on-going Coronavirus, with its rising toll of the infected and the dying...which incidentally never had to ever be this way

The uncertainty, which itself increases the anxiety, the reality of this trauma through which we are all existing, and therefore, the grieving which we are all undertaking within our own ways due to the mourning we are feeling for the lives we all once led. It is overwhelming. It is immersive. It makes me worry that there may never be good days again.

And then, I saw a video featuring Nandi Bushell.  

I am so very late to this party but I felt the need to write about this for this month's opening words as it was such a supreme spark of joy--the kind of which that I was of the aforementioned desperate need to see and receive. Nandi Bushell, is a 10 year old girl of British and Zulu heritage who operates her own parent approved and monitored You Tube channel on which she creates videos of herself exploding with joy with playing her rock and roll drums along with heavy rock songs.

I first heard of her very recently as a piece of her story happened to go viral. It turns out that after performing a letter perfect version of Foo Fighters' "Everlong," she challenged Foo Fighters mastermind Dave Grohl to a drum battle. I honestly do not want to know the specifics as I just want to hang onto the magic of it all, but the video during which Nandi's challenge is given a response by Dave Grohl himself--first performing "Everlong," and then, throwing down the gauntlet by giving Nandi the challenge of nailing Grohl's drum performance of Them Crooked Vultures' "Dead End Friends"--was entirely worth just seeing Nandi's euphoric response after watching the video. Her elation. Her jubilation. How she leapt around her room to end up in the embrace of who I presume is her Dad. That brought tears of joy to my eyes. 

For me, my tears arrived from Nandi's happiness. The happiness of having her message received so positively. The happiness that arrives when being truly seen and validated, regardless of race and gender. But because of her race and gender, the fact that she was seen and validated by a member of rock and roll royalty that is Dave Grohl, demonstrates of such an enormity that cannot be fully measured of how much representation matters!!!

Think about it. How many rock and roll musicians of color have you ever really seen? I know that for myself growing up, the sight of Black musicians performing rock and roll was essentially non-existent, which made my love of the genre and the fact that I was a budding rock drummer feel so suspect to some of my peers, especially as music was so dramatically segregated by race within musical genres, i.e. rock and roll=White while R&B/soul/funk=Black...and never the twain shall meet.

To my friends with whom I became bandmates in my Middle School group named Ground Zero, my race never made a difference. I firmly believe they were happy that I could play drums and play them well enough for the band. But there were some of our peers to whom I felt forced to prove myself to not only being a member of Ground Zero, but for playing rock and roll music at all. And believe me how fun it was to shove my drumsticks into their faces every time I bashed my drum kit with all that I could muster, which I now firmly understand was fueled by my inherent cultural right to play that music as Black people invented rock and roll. 

But in defense of my peers, I get it. Seeing Black people perform in rock groups was something that was just unseen and so, if you had never seen it, sometimes how does that perception fuel itself into believing what can actually happen and therefore, exist? And to that end, having not seen that very image myself, I did feel as if I was living on the moon.

That is precisely why the sight of Fishbone in the mid 1980's was so seismic for me. And then, Living Colour during my college years. And of course, seeing Prince slash apart the sky with his white lightning guitar solo that concluded "Let's Go Crazy" during those opening minutes of Albert Magnoli's "Purple Rain" (1984)

I needed to see people who looked like me writing, singing and performing the very music that I cherished myself. I needed to know they existed so that I felt validated within my own. I needed to know that I was not an anomaly. I needed to know that I was not an impossibility. I needed to know that I was not wrong. I needed those figures to help me understand myself so that I did not feel alone in the universe.

Even now in 2020, the sight of Black people within rock and roll is rare but with hip-hop and pop music being the dominant music forces these days, seeing anyone in rock and roll is kind of rare. That being said, the sight of Nandi Bushell is one steeped in importance as well as just pure, unabashed rock and rock joy. I know that even now, at the age of 51, it is not terribly often to witness the sight of a Black female rock and roll drummer.  Of course, both Shelia E. and Cindy Blackman-Santana instantly come to mind. But that is indeed only two and they are also both of an older generation, which is questionable if it would mean terribly much to a young Black girl who may be deciding whether to pick up a pair of drum sticks and bash away to The Who just like Keith Moon

But...I do think that Nandi Bushell possibly, potentially could be a source of inspiration.

Now, of course, I never wish to place any undue burdens upon this child to carry a weight she never asked for, a responsibility she never wanted when clearly she is happy enough to rock! Yet, then again...when she accepted Dave Grohl's challenge, it is a sight to witness the artwork placed upon her own drum kit, where insignias of Equality and the Black Lives Matter power fist are proudly displayed. Maybe to a certain degree, she is willing to take up a certain mantle while also being able to play rings around her detractors. Because if there's anything racist rock fans would really hate to admit, it is having their collective asses kicked by this 10 year old Black girl who is so unintimidated and ready to throw down valiantly.  

And valiantly she played, meeting Dave Grohl's challenge after three days of practice with a soaring heart and precision that illustrated how well she just nailed every beat, note-for-note, all the way down to Grohl's "angry" drum faces. Seeing this video filled my heart because Nandi's heart was full and I would imagine, so was Dave Grohl's, who certainly never had to respond to this child. But...he did! 

That is what music is all about. That connection that spans generations and races ad time and space. To find kindred spirits who are joined together in song. THAT was the good news I needed to see so desperately. And furthermore, if the sight of Nandi Bushell behind her drum kit inspires and even moreso, makes other kids who look like her feel less alone in the universe and thus, are given the courage to rock, that just makes music itself that much better.

Keep rocking, Nandi!!!!

PLAY LOUD!!!!!!!!