February 28, 2008
Chuck Brown: Bustin' Congress Loose
"Godfather of Go-Go" Chuck Brown made a special appearance at an open meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus yesterday to lend some star power to the work of the musicFIRSTcoalition, which supports legislation that would force regular over the air terrestrial AM and FM radio stations to pay royalties to artists each time they play a song. The U.S. is apparently one of the only countries that doesn't require radio stations to pay to play music.
Politico's Shenanigans blog also took note of the event, but failed to even mention Brown's appearance in the photo, instead focusing on former Grey’s Anatomy actor Isaiah Washington's appearance at the meeting. Washington was on the Hill to lobby for his efforts to preserve the history of Bunce Island, a small territory off the coast of Sierra Leone. We guess the folks who cover gossip over at the Politico don't know who Chuck Brown is? That makes us sad.
Photo courtesy musicFIRSTcoalition. From left to right, pictured are Rep. Mel Watts, Chuck Brown, Rep. Barbara Lee, BeBe Winans, actor Isaiah Washington, and Rep. John Conyers
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I would like to give that headline a very early nomination as "DCist Headline of the Year." It's certainly in the early running.
Also, is that Scott Baio shaking The Godfather of Go-Go's hand?
Great. Now Politico has an excuse to write a story about how it didn't mention Chuck Brown in its earlier story.
Politico staff is about as diverse as republican party...Maybe if it kenny rogers or conway twitty...
Feel like bustin loose!!
But yeah The Politico is whiter than a KKK circuit party.
Wow, I guess I always thought radio stations did pay the labels. I thought it was part of the compulsory licensing program.
But, knowing now that they don't pay, I can't say that I think it would have a good effect to force them to pay. Radio is already awful as it is and getting worse. Squeezing out the few radio stations that barely make it because they actually play interesting music would suck.
Besides, there's a reason that there was a payola scandal: the record labels are getting the better end of the stick when the radios play their records for free.
Can you like Chuck Brown but hate the DC Lotto commercials?
Is that like love the sinner but hate the sin?
Hillman - It's like when I hear The Clash over the supermarket Muzak. You just gotta embrace it and come to terms with it.
Gimme tha bridge, y'all!
how can you hate the DC lotto commercials? that's a lot of people's first taste of go go
I hate the DC lotto commercials because they are amateurish and look like a moron wrote and edited them.
I hate the DC lotto commercials because they are amateurish and look like a moron wrote and edited them.
I don't want my local commercials to look too slick. The fact that those Senate Auto Insurance and Eastern Motors commercials they look like they were story-boarded on a couple of napkins at Ben's Chili Bowl after a night of drinking Incredible Hulks is what makes them so great.
I'm with hillrat. Screw all this high-end production value MTV nausea-inducing jumpcut horses**t. I want local commercials that keep it ghetto. Like the Jhoon Rhee karate ads, or the Carvel Ice Cream ads for Cookie Puss or Cookie O'Puss for St. Patrick's Day.
I like Eastern Motors commercials. But, then, they don't purport to represent the official city of DC. The lotto commercials do.
And they aren't funny like Eastern Motors. They just look like some no-talent hack at the city-run TV system did them in his spare time.
WTF is that homophobe "TR is a fa**ot" guy doing there? Seriously? W? T? F?
WTF is that homophobe "TR is a fa**ot" guy doing there? Seriously? W? T? F?
Seems like it's time for a DCist version of Ask a Black Dude. I volunteer to be the Black Dude.
Here's the deal Bob; homophobia is generally pretty acceptable among Black people. This isn't an absolute, personally I think homophobia is pretty stupid but there are many, Many, MANY brothers out there who vigorously disagree with me. One brotha I know, he's fucking brilliant (Master's in engineering from Berkeley and a Phd from GA Tech) and is crusader for social justice, very down on the current administration, and is generally a big ol' ultra-left commie but he is homophobic to his core. He knows his attitude is fucked up and has admitted as much, but for reasons that even he doesn't understand he can't help himself.
I think this has something to do with the pressure that Black men feel to be "manly" and because of that, many Black people (men in particular) see homosexuality as an anathema. It's been my experience that when in a crowd of Black people it's difficult to call them on their homophobic bullshit because almost invariably, the first thing some idiot will say is, "Why do you care? Are you gay?" Then you spend the rest your time together arguing about homosexuality and since I have never once been able to convince anyone of anything on the topic, I see it as a waste of time and that's what I'm guessing happened here.
He knows his attitude is fucked up and has admitted as much, but for reasons that even he doesn't understand he can't help himself.
I've met quite a few white folk from Southern Maryland who have this same attitude, except toward Black people. They like Will Smith movies and listen to old blues records, but tell them you saw their sister talking to a Black guy at a party and they freak out.
I've met quite a few white folk from Southern Maryland who have this same attitude, except toward Black people.
Black people also have a similar bit of cognitive dissonance with regard to guys like Alvin Ailey and James Baldwin.
Come to think of it, this Ph.D friend of yours sounds kinda familiar. Did he have a hightopped philly with a gumby, a duelling scar from his days at Heidelburg U., and go by the name "Shemp?" If so, I think we might have hooked up in the bushes of Malcom X Park. Tell him The Monk says "hi" and I hope he got that rash checked out.
Oooh. Oooh. Blacks. Gays. Cognitive dissonance.
Pick me. Pick me.
Oh. No. I've got nothing to add.
I blew it all on that dumbass 'show your receipt' thread.