Why I'm Banning the Walmart Music Section
Walmart is all good and all, but I came to the realization that I think Walmart somehow violates some musical and overall freedom of speech rights.
So I was in New York shopping at Walmart with my aunt and two little cousins about a month ago and I saw the 50 Cent new joint and there were several thoughts that popped in my head: "Oh, I really like that song, 'The Candy Shop'. I wonder if the rest of the CD is good."; "Walmart has this CD in here? Well, ok."; "I think I'll get this CD". So after going around and around Walmart, I decide to go ahead and purchase this CD, pretty excited.
I get back to DC and with grand anticipation, I rip open the CD, download it to my iTunes, then place it on my iPod, ready to jam out.
Due to a very busy schedule and a bunch of other events, I never really get the chance to listen to anything except for "The Candy Shop"; and when I listened to that one song, I was wondering why certain words were bleeped out, like in the video. I didn't think anything of it until three days ago.
I finally got to listen to the rest of the CD three days ago. All of the "bad" words were bleeped out. "What the *bleep* is going on???" I yell out. It's not that I REALLY REALLY wanna hear people curse for 68 minutes straight, but you buy a CD with certain expectations and you know what to take with a grain of salt and keep jammin'.
I talked to my good friend Keyana yesterday and told her the whole deal. She then asks the very key question: "Did you buy the CD at Target or Walmart or something?" I reply "Yes!" Keyana then calmly explained "Stanli, you bought this at a family store. I'm sorry to tell you, but that's how it is. They have these editing things for these family stores."
I am
SO mad at Walmart now. First of all, this is a clear violation of
completion of thought and freedom of musical expression (and to some extent, speech). How am I supposed to understand what the heck 50 is talking about in "I'm Supposed to Die Tonight" if 75% of verse one is completely bleeped out? Yes, stuff is bleeped out on the radio, but the whole point of buying the CD is to get the ENTIRE musical effect.And this method is such a waste--- you don't want your kids to hear "bad words"? Well, don't get the CD at all!!!! And if you alter 50's originality so much so it can be suitable for a particular demographic, then is that still his music??? I think NOT!!! If 50 feels like saying something "bad" because he's mad, let him! It's his freakin' CD! Damnit!And for the people who do buy these CDs with the knowledge of the editing: What's the point of KNOWINGLY buying basically half a CD?? You cannot enjoy the CD at all. It's a waste! And it's also a scam because I am SO SURE I am not the only person of age who bought the CD without knowing this "Walmart rule". And I'm sure the record labels net in at least an extra 15-20% of earnings of people who buy the "edited" CD and then the "real" CD when they realized their mistake. (I am TOTALLY going to get the real joint-- and now, I'm out of an extra 15 bucks plus tax).This is just so frustrating--- Not only have I wasted $13.98 plus tax, was bamboozled in thinking I was getting a deal, but I have a CD that's so useless to me now. On top of all of that, musical integrity has been diminished, which is an even bigger insult.
Walmart, you tricked me--- I won't forget this.
Trane is a Saint!
I do not know if any of you are aware, but John Coltrane, one of the best sax players of all time, is an ordained saint by the African Orthodox Church. “Yeah, right!” some of you may say. But it’s true. I even went to the church!
Why was ordained as a saint? Check this out:
http://home.earthlink.net/~ewcc/newsltr/coltrane.htmIt was Spring Break of 2003 and a few girlfriends and I decided that we wanted to go to San Francisco for that break. During that semester, I was taking the History of Jazz (taught by very awesome and passionate Jose Bowen). At the beginning of the semester, I sort of skipped through the history and listened to a few jazz numbers I vaguely remembered hearing before from the Cosby Show! And along comes Trane--- his beautiful rendition of Autumn Leaves or his duets with Miles Davis, the creator of ‘Cool’.
Anyway, I did some research and saw that the church of John Coltrane was in San Fran and I was SO ecstatic. I preferred to go alone but my friends insisted on coming along.
We get to the church and it’s on the second level of a building with one other off-beat place of worship. We go upstairs and scoot to the back because we were late (what else is new?). And in the front, there’s a bishop playing the saxophone. There were three singers, singing different songs of worship while the bassist and pianist were jamming on and on. What a SIGHT TO SEE.
We stayed there for about 2 hours and the service was still continuing. There were no moments without music—there was no verbal preaching. All of this preaching was done through the instruments and voices used as instruments through singing. This was SO amazing. It showed me the power of what his music has done to many around the world; also, it showed me what music does to all people all over the world— it empowers folks, it translates emotions to words, it consoles feelings and can help change the world (the Civil Rights Movement being a prime example).
The Church of Saint John Coltrane: KEEP JAMMIN'!!!
Want to experience what people did when they made him a saint? Check these out:Love Supreme (warning: It's on the weird side, but it's all good-- during the 'free jazz' era)
Collaborations with Miles Davis:
Best of Miles Davis and John Coltrane;
Live in New York 1958-1959; Kind of Blue (a Miles record)
Collaboration with my fav jazz pianist, Thelonious Monk
: Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (Ruby, My Dear is WONDERFUL
!)Earlier recordings during the Hard Bop era
: Duke Ellington and John Coltrane (In a Sentimental Mood is my favorite-- it's also on the Cosby Show for a couple episodes!)
Should we keep the "running man" alive?
I remember Christmas of 2004, I was in New York helping my aunt trim the tree with my little cousin Alex (who is now 9 years old! Yay!). He started singing some Usher song that had a really catchy beat. So as he was singing and sort of dancing around, I got goofy right along with him and busted out with the running man. My aunt was a bit perturbed because at this point, she was the only one trimming the tree. Alex looked up at me in amazement, stopped dancing and watched me do the running man.
I say, "Alex, what are you looking at?"
Alex: "What dance are you doing?" He begins to grin. (Might I add, he's a dancing maniac and a Michael Jackson fan.. it all goes hand in hand).
Me: "I'm doing the running man. You don't know how to do it?"
Alex: "No! Show me"
So I proceed to show him how to do the running man. He later wondered aloud why no one else he knows does this dance.
A few weeks later, I tell my high school buddies about this exchange with my hip 9 year old cousin. A good friend, Jewel, immediately interjects and says "No! You should not have taught him that running man dance. We should all let it die a peaceful death! Let it die!"
But should we? It seems to be one of the few dances that are remnants of the wonderful decade (as far as music's concerened), the 1980s, that we all hold dear to our hearts. This dance is really only dance-able to songs that were sung by New Edition (the 80's version) and during the transitional period-- 1988-1992.... such songs as Motownphilly by Boyz II Men (that's the JOINT!), or "Playground" by ABC or (you've guessed it) "Do Me" by BBD. (Boyz II Men, ABC, BBD-- mm-hmm-- the East Coast Family). There are plenty of other songs of that genre and these songs were (and still are) really good!!!
And the running man is a gateway dance to other dances too that were too hot: The Roger Rabbit, the Kid n' Play joint, the New York Wap, or the Cabbage Patch (arms going around in front of you, or up and down.) As a joke, we do these dances at the club when an old school joint comes on (like,
Return of the Mac or something).
I really do believe we should keep the Running Man alive--- it's a part of our childhood-- just like the bump or the "mashed potato" or the "See Ya Later Alligator" is for our parents, or "jivin'" is for our grandparents. (See, y'all don't know nothing about that!) And it's our responsibility to keep it going, even if 10 year old kids are trying to do that dance to 50 Cent's "Candy Shop". (what a sight that would be).
Got the urge to do the Running Man? Go for it!
