to move up and down
Be-Side
The Home of Hakm's B-Side e-alter ego...his auxiliary brain or external hard drive...
GIVE THANKS to Ronica Innergy Reign Brooks for being a bad arse vocalist, “well-tasted” journalist (if I do say so myself ;) and “fashionista” diva. Her positive energy is contagious, so she writes this block to share her light with the world. I am humbled to be one of the people she finds inspiring. I ALSO hope she works with me on a track soon. Introducing Roots Revival Musical alum and new family member, Ronica Innergy Reign Brooks and her “baby” Vizion 9 Enterprise “The GET SOME Movement.” Support positive artmakers of color by reading and sharing Vizion 9 (Click on the photo above to be shapeshifted to the blogosphere) Thank you!
Jamesetta - by hakim bellamy
The day you died
God
Stopped questioning
His son’s
Sexuality
33 year old
Nazarene
With no kids
At a time when
Men fathered at 19
And grandfathered at 38
No Mary Magdalene
No Mary Kate and Ashley
No Mary
Jane
Yes,
There were questions
In heaven
Bigger than
Does it exist?
And it does.
There was living proof
Every time you opened your mouth, Etta
Like a Black Sabbath
You had a voice that would…
That would make God
Rest on the seventh day
Just LIKE
God
Patting himself
On the back
At the sound of you
We admire
Stare at you
Like our own
Like our own reflections
Spidered in the mirror
Hungover
Because our Sunday Kinda Love
Didn’t make it past Saturday night
Fractured
Leaving us with questions
Questions like
“Why can’t I sing like that!?”
Questions like
“I thought she was in recovery?”
Questions like
“Why does it seem like
The most broken lives
Give us the most solid voices?”
The most complete
Most whole
Most holy voices
Jamesetta Hawkins
A name only a teenage mother could love
And she did
You and Jesus
Had more in common
Than single mothers
And invisible fathers
Called your mom
The Mystery Lady
And imagine
They pro’lly thought
The same thing
About virgin
De Guadalupe
And her kid
With the immaculate childhood
A different kind of prodigy
Had you
Turned around
And split
Like your name
Etta James
Is who you was
After you went blonde
After you were told
To take advantage
Of your light complexion
After you agreed
To dye everything
Except your eyebrows
Cause you wanted to
Look like a “bad girl”
You bad girl!
Bad enough to
Make B.B. King
Sweet on you
At 16
In addiction recovery by 21
Gone 5 days
Before your 74th
Dementia
But still telling
Anyone who cares to listen
That you remember
That when you
Were still a child
People used to travel miles
Just hear you sing
Perform your own kind of miracles
In temples
With money changers and prostitutes
A prodigy too
With a voice
As milk and honey
As the heaven you’re from
No wonder
We’re still addicted to what you sung
Because it comes from
The heroin in ya lungs
Going thru withdrawals
Since you’ve been gone
Now,
I’m the one with the weight problem
Waiting for your next album
Fiending without you
Cause we can’t hear you sing anymore
Celestial body
Long before Hollywood’s
Walk of Fame
Gave you a star
We weren’t prepared
For your hour-glass frame
To break
And leave Sugar All Over our floors
Said you…
“Sang the songs that people needed to hear”
And Jesus?
Was half “people”
And God was…
Disturbed
That his son kept a dairy
However,
God was
Damn happy
That his very good looking
But VERY single son
Wrote this
About you, Etta
In his diary
“You sang
You sang
Oh and then the spell was cast
And here we are…
Now in heaven
for you are mine…
At last.”
And that
Was the day
The angels
Got their voice back
Copyright Hakim Bellamy 2012
Premiered at Jazzbah Presents JazzBars with Hakim Be & Friends. 1st Tuesday of Every Month. Watch the livestream from ANYWHERE at www.jazzbahabq.com (Next Show March 6th, 2012 7pm & 9pm MST)
Last Night at Jazzbah Presents JazzBars with Hakim Be & Friends…circa 1920 (The Roaring Twenties meets the Golden Age of Hip-Hop). We hope to see you next month! March 6th Jazzbars.
“Old Knowledge, New School. We teach you how to do the math.” - Jazzbars
Special Thanks to the 2bers, Leah Black, Darbstar, Artha Meadors, Zack Freeman and the crew and staff at the Jazzbah!
*Don’t forget the 2bers CD Release at the El Rey Theater on April 7th, D.I.G. I’ll be your humble host that evening.
JazzBars with Hakim Be & Friends is coming up this Tuesday (February 7th) at Jazzbah. This month’s features “friends” will be Eph’sharpe and BlesInfinite of The 2bers! In advance of this month’s show (& Etta James Tribute), you can get a FREE DOWNLOAD of a collaborative track by Hakim Be and BlesInfinite. CLICK ON THE PHOTO ABOVE to get the track at Facebook. Share with your friends and then come see it performed live at the Jazzbah on Tuesday, February 7th! Can’t wait to see you there.
Also checkout the upcoming Jazzbars press release at www.immastar.com
The Roots Revival Musical team was on KASA/FOX2 on Monday promoting this weekend’s three show run of Roots Revival. Find out more about Roots Revival (originally written, scored and cast in Albuquerque for Black History Month) and other Black History Month events at the NM Black History Month Committee website. For the price of admission the show also includes the art exhibit, FOUR + 1. The FOUR + 1 Art Exhibition curated by Ben Hazard and Tom Lark equals five professional visual artists – FOUR African Americans who live, work and show in New Mexico and 1 African artist who lives in Ghana and shows exclusively in Albuquerque. All three nights of the Roots Revival run (February 3rd-5th) will include the FOUR + 1 and be catered for the $20 entry fee.
Friday, February 3, 2012 8pm Show – Hosted by the Links Albuquerque Chapter
JAMBO CAFÉ
www.jambocafe.net
The exotic locale of Lamu Island, off the coast of Kenya, with its Swahili fusion of European, Arabic and Indian influences, is at the heart of owner-chef Ahmed Obo’s spirited cuisine. It was there, in his mother’s aromatic kitchen, that Ahmed mastered his homeland’s unique gastronomic delights, beginning a culinary adventure that would ultimately lead him to Santa Fe, New Mexico where, in August, 2009, he fulfilled his life’s dream by opening Jambo Café.
Saturday, February 4, 2012 8pm Show – Hosted by the Buffalo Soldier Motorcycle Club Albuquerque Chapter
ZEA Rotisserie & Grill
www.zearestaurantabq.com
Zea Rotisserie & Grill is a lively neighborhood restaurant serving locals & visitors alike a variety of tasty, innovative dishes in a fun & casual atmosphere. The menu at the Zea Rotisserie & Grill features rotisserie meats that have been spice-rubbed and roasted in the French rotisserie oven. Zea proudly serves quality foods with a Southern flair.
Sunday, February 5, 2012 2pm Show – Hosted by the Order of the Eastern Stars, Albuquerque Chapter
Mr. Powdrell’s BBQ House
www.mrpowdrellsbbq.com
Good Barbeque doesn’t just happen by accident – it takes time. And our family owned restaurants have been serving the best barbeque in New Mexico for over 4 decades. We pride ourselves not only on our delicious, finger-licking food, but also on our excellent service. Our restaurants provide a down home experience from our family to yours.
AN ASSORTMENT OF HOMEMADE DESSERTS EVERY NIGHT BY RAVEN RUTHERFORD, BLACKBIRD PIES
Blackbird Pies
Raven Rutherford, Owner
JazzBars with Hakim Be & Friends
By Justin De La Rosa (Published in the Local-iQ on Wednesday, December 21st 2011)
This won’t just be nights of people in a dark room, snapping their fingers along to a walking bass line while some guy with a goatee and beret makes incomprehensible analogies. It will be nights of soulful selections by some of the Duke City’s best poets and hip hop artists who know their foundations are in ’50s jazz.
“We don’t bridge the gap between hip hop and jazz, we eliminate it,” Bellamy said.
JazzBars with Hakim Be & Friends
119 Gold SW, 505.243.5299
$12 (2 shows)
jazzbahabq.com
Hakim Bellamy is a two-time Poetry Slam National Champion, and has been named “Best Poet” by both the Local iQ (Smart List 2010 & 2011) and the Alibi (Best of Burque 2010 & 2011). As an educator and performer, he is interested not only in the poetry lessons he teaches his students, but the lessons which Poetry has taught him.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
First Tuesday’s in Albquuerque…
Performance poetry + live jazz = a pre-hip hop flavor in an upscale setting
Award-winning M.C. and award-winning mixology at Albuquerque’s newest jazz club
JAZZBAHABQ.COM - Downtown Albuquerque has not seen a jazz club since the 50s. That’s when Albuquerque High School alum Chester and his wife, Pert, owned Chet and Pert’s Flamingo Lounge. Downtown has changed since then. Jazz, the only pure blooded American, musical offspring of this mutt country has changed too. In fact, it had a child and her name is Hip Hop.
On the first Tuesday of every month at Downtown Albuquerque’s newest jazz club, hip hop’s genetic precursor and future is on display. Jazzbah Presents: JazzBars with Hakim Be & Friends is a throwback to the era of jazz poetry from which hip hop emerged. Flirted with by the likes of T.S. Eliot and E.E. Cummings; conceived by Black poets in the 20s; and maintained by Beat generation poets in the 50s, jazz poetry has been said to be reborn in hip hop music and at poetry slams.
Hakim Bellamy (AKA Hakim Be) is a two-time national champion in the poetry slam community and acts as the musical curator of the monthly series. A published poet and hip hop emcee, Bellamy also sees the future of hip hop in its jazzy origins. “Groups like The Roots, The Coup and J. Davis Trio apply improvisation to live instrumentation and lyricism,” says Bellamy. “As a result you get the ‘once in a lifetime’ jam band feeling that would come from a Grateful Dead or a Bob Marley show, but with the poetics and danceability of hip hop.”
According to the JazzBars Facebook event page, “A bar is a measure of music…Whether the it be the bars on the sheet music of a jazz musician or the hot 16 of an MC, every generation measures itself in song. Every month at Jazzbah, a few musicians and a poet or two will give you another moment to remember…We don’t bridge the gap between Hip-Hop and Jazz, we eliminate it.”
Along with Jazzbah’s standard fare of white tablecloth cuisine, black tie service, wine menu by wine steward (and owner) Don Putz and mixology by internationally renowned drink chemist Daniel Gonzales; JazzBars puts a younger, hipper, hopper face on the establishment. Students 18 and up get into the 7pm and 9pm JazzBar shows free with student ID. The general public can see both or either show for a $12 cover.
This month, Hakim Be has invited vocal percussionist and break beat looping magician Zack Freeman to join him along with “keys junkie” Romeo Alonzo on piano. Rumor has it that Romeo will also bring his horn, so if you are a brass fan, come see a gumbo of electronic and acoustic music with some lyrical roux. “It’s like having dinner while hanging out in the studio with us,” says Bellamy. “While Executive Chef Robert Pacheco whips up culinary chemistry in the back, we experiment with beautiful music out front. Welcome to our laboratory.”
Jazzbah Presents: JazzBars with Hakim Be & Friends
@ Jazzbah 119 Gold Street SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102
Tuesday December 6th 7pm & 9pm sets
$12/2 shows
www.jazzbahabq.com
Jazzbah: Designed to evoke the taste, touch, and feel of the urban jazz club vibe, Jazzbah is the southwest’s premier destination for lovers of fine wine and dining, and true bar mixology.
The Black Family Pledge: written by Dr. Maya Angelou and read by Hakim Bellamy. Followed by The Black Family Pledge Response: written & performed by Hakim Bellamy. Footage from Black Faces-Tribute 2 the First Earths and music by Hero “Spirits in Transit.” On the occasion of the 22nd Annual Judith R. Harris Sickle Cell Council of New Mexico Gala, November 5th, 2011.
