This is one interview that I’ve had in the can for over a month and, unfortunately, just couldn’t get it together to post.
That said, I’m happy to share this interview that I did with Kandia Crazy Horse, an
award-winning music journalist and editor of "Rip It Up: The Black Experience in Rock ‘n’ Roll". She’s also a fellow blogger–along with performance studies scholar Tavia Nyong’o–at Bluegum, and a tireless supporter of the full range of Black musical expression.
Here are some of the topics we touched on during our discussion, which lasted for a little over 40 minutes. I’d suggest downloading it and taking it with you on the road. Here goes:
- Her background
- Why DC was so fly in the 70s
- Her parents’ connection to Africa
- Ahmet Ertegun, Arif Mardin, Jerry Wexler and the Atlantic Records connection
- The formation of "Rip It Up"
- Game Rebellion
- What’s encouraging/discouraging about today’s scene
- The continuing resistance to the idea of Black rock
- Sasha Frere-Jones’ piece on the white of indie rock & the "leeching out" of soul
- Southern white jam bads as the locus of soul that harks back to the older Black traditions
- Why aren’t Black kids finding Black music?
- Whites’ curatorial bent
- Black responsibility
- A band she likes: The Carolina Chocolate Drops
Name that tune? The song leading into and out of the interview is Janelle Monae’s "Violet Stars Happy Hunting!"
