Father, Son & The Music of Michael Jackson
The Jackson 5 kind of looked like me. Sung nothing like me, fortunately. Reflected a life I thought fun and colourful. My father still has the Off The Wall record. It is my favourite Michael Jackson album - musicianship of the highest order. I do appreciate it more now that I’m older. It wasn’t always that way. My favourite used to be Thriller. I remember when Thriller came out. I was 10, going on 11. I got a ‘Michael Jackson’ haircut. I remember the Thriller video – a betamax – doing the rounds. I remember getting the jacket. I remember the Billie Jean performance at Motown’s 25th...
PSA – To Kill A Baby
With a subject line like the title of this post, I had to check what the email was about, albeit cautiously. With the sick people out in the world, you can never be too sure, but I'm glad I did follow through. Tamara Bubble is a Brooklyn entertainer who is working on an album project titled P.ublic S.ervice A.nnouncement and has initiated a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for promotion. She has committed the first six months of album proceeds to charity - which the public decides by VOTING here. The charities are US based ones. Each song speaks to a different social issue. As a father,...
Snoop: Here Comes The King
So Snoop Doggy Dogg became Snoop Lion last year as part of a religious awakening in which he's said to have embraced Rastafarianism. He's shot a documentary called Reincarnated detailing this new path and the recording of his reggae album of the same name. Bunny Wailer is said to have called him a fraud. Rohan Marley has defended him. Guess this is one of those situations where time will tell. Snoop has always been adept and evolving with the times to stay relatively relevant, from Death Row to No Limit and beyond. He's just launched the video for his second track from Reincarnated called...
Louis Vuitton Men’s Fashion Show Fall/Winter 2013-2014
Win with FB.BD: Van Ryn’s
This is the final post for the Fine Brandy By Design competition I’ve been running on evolutionary. The winner will be drawn and announced by mid-January 2013. I’m hoping to also travel to the distillery in Cape Town to go through the masterful process involved in the creation of brandy. I’ve been fascinated by the approach Distell – under Fine Brandy By Design - has taken to gradually change the perception of the brandies in its stable. Taking something that has a long and rich history and evolving it into a contemporary setting is not always the easiest. These brandies include: Klipdrift...
Digital Crates: DJ Mike Rizzy
One random evening, I was trawling though iTunes podcasts in search of a decent classic soul / R&B mix for bedtime – I generally need music to fall asleep and have even created sleep playlists for me to doze off to. I downloaded single episodes from different ones to get a sense of whether they were worth it or not. And then I came across DJ Mike Rizzy’s and this has become one of my go-to podcasts with wonderful mixes of hip hop, soul, R&B, 80s, reggae, old school and the like. Some of my favourites are below with his comments and track listing (Click on headings to link to actual...
Crack The Case Coming To An End
The Heineken ‘Crack The Case’ challenge is reaching its final stages with the series of ‘Green Missions’ being run through the Mission HQ on Facebook. Having been launched in November in the build up to the release of the latest Bond film, Skyfall, the competition comes to an end at the end of this month (and this year). Through a relationship with Heineken, I’ve had a couple of posts around ‘Crack The Case’ and Skyfall and have been fascinated by the varying views on both the film and the relationship with Heineken – we all remember “Martini, shaken not stirred” as opposed to “give me a...
Win With FB.BD: Fish Eagle
Part three of the competition to win a 2 days for 2 in Cape Town, including visiting a distellery. This one is about Flight of the Fish Eagle. It draws its inspiration, ethos and branding from the African Fish Eagle … “our proudest symbol and represents everything our naturally superior brandy stands for: stealth, strength and bold confidence.” It is double-distilled in handmade copper pot stills, aged for three years in French air-dried oak barrels and has no additives or preservatives. In keeping with the natural spirit, Fish Eagle is involved in the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Birds of...
Win With FB.BD: Klipdrift
This is part two of the competition to win a weekend for two to Cape Town, courtesy of Fine Brandy.By Design. The prize includes flights (if the winner does not reside in Cape Town), car rental, accommodation on a bed and breakfast basis and a private brandy tasting and distillery tour. This post focuses on another brandy in the FB.BD family – Klipdrift. It was first distilled before 1938 by a JP ‘Kosie’ Marais in his backyard, drawing from Chenin Blanc and Colombar wines which grew well in the Robertson. The current Klipdrift Brandy Master is Johan Venter and, in the last century, beyond...
Digital Crates: Combat Jack Show ft Dallas Penn
Sometime in my first 6 months on twitter, I started following Combat Jack (Reggie Osse). I have no idea how it came about but we’ve been interacting – consistently and inconsistently – since. I have been fascinated by his journey through hip hop, starting as an attorney with his own firm as well as part of the Business and Legal Affairs Department of Def Jam. for various artists, including DJ Clark Kent, Rockwilder, Lords of the Underground and Jaheim. He’s been an executive at MTV as well as Managing Editor at Source Magazine. My real introduction to him was through twitter and his blog...
Win With Fine Brandy.By Design: Oude Meester
In September, I wrote a post on how Distell has brought their different brandies under the banner of Fine Brandy.By Design and are working to change how we perceive and consume brandy. As part of that initiative, and to get consumers to explore the brands more, they have been kind enough to provide me with the prize for evolutionary readers. The prize is a FB.BD Cape Town Experience, which consists of a 2 night stay for 2 people for an exclusive distillery and food pairing experience. I will be doing a series of four posts for the next four weeks on a different brandy cocktail and food...
16 Days Of Activism: Think It Over (SABC 1)
My friend and rapper/producer Amu recently asked me to feature on a track he was putting together for an SABC 1 project around 16 Days Of Activism For No Violence Against Women And Child Abuse, which runs from November 25th to December 10th. I haven't been doing poetry much over the last few years but this is something that I couldn't not be involved in. I know there has been much debate about the usefulness of this campaign considering the absolutely tragic numbers and actions taking place across South Africa on a daily basis, but I sincerely believe that, as with most things in life, every...
Midweek Music: Kendrick Lamar
Not as anticipated as his mentor Dr. Dre’s Detox album, Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city came close. That is what happens when a man who has been integral to profound musical shifts in hip hop takes you under their wing. That is what happens when a man who has been responsible for the birth or rebirth of the careers of some of the most significant rappers in our time is your mentor. While, in some instances, having a legend of Dr Dre’s stature looming over you could be a great disadvantage and immense pressure, the one thing Dre has always done is been able to provide artists with the...
James Bond Reborn With Skyfall
The premiere of the new James Bond Skyfall hosted by the British High Commission took place this past week and, although I was unable to attend and also meet the ‘Bond Girl’ Bérénice Marlohe (who was brought to SA by main sponsor Heineken), I did get the opportunity to catch the film after. Without giving any spoilers away, I have to say that this was one of the best I’ve seen in a while. James Bond is an institution that, over the last decade or so, has worked hard to find itself amidst the many iconic ‘action heroes’ that have cropped up. With this one, I am glad to hear that Daniel Craig...
Digital Crates: Stop Playing Vol. 1 – The Mixtape
For those of you who love 'old school' hip hop and came up in the early years, how often do you ask yourself, whatever happened to ....? A group whose music I enjoyed in the early nineties was Fu-Schickens, especially Chip Fu, who had a delivery/flow that was unique to him. I've always wondered where he was until early 2012 when I came across him on Twitter. It was a big deal for me when he tweeted me and I have kept up with what he's been up to since. Sometime over the last two years, he re-invented himself as Jungle Rock Jr and delved into reggae and ragga. You can imaging my delight in...
Digital Crates: All Brooklyn Everything
I write every day. I have the kind of job that forces me to, in those moments when I don’t really want to. I have this blog. It also needs to be maintained. I play on social media on the daily, using it to engage, get ideas and share thoughts. I’m not always sure what it is all for … well, writing for Destiny Man, I am clear on purpose … it’s the blogs and social media and stuff that I lose my way with every now and then - often more now than then. Anyway, with the blog, the new strategy is to create consistency by blogging regularly under specific headings, such as the newly introduced...