08.15.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:15 pm by bbcousins
We have a free outdoor concert coming up this Sunday August 17th at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. The address is on the shows page of this site. We should be trying out some new material plus we have some guests coming through so I’m excited about that. The summer is close to winding down so it’s time to do all those outdoor things you promised yourself you would do. There will be other artists on the event bill Sunday which is from noon to 6pm.
On another note, “Hello Children”, one of my favorite lines from Issac Hayes character ‘The Chef’ on South Park. I was sorry to hear Mr. Hayes had passed away this week as well as hearing about Bernie Mac’s passing.
Now Mr. Hayes the soul singer, songwriter and music producer wasn’t a comedian, but he left a lot of memorable and funny moments in life. I can say from the South Park character to his role in “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” to his radio broadcasting days here in New York a couple of years ago, he left behind material you could really enjoy. My favorite album of his was “Hot Buttered Soul”. He put such a stamp of his own on the song ‘Walk On By” originally written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. That song has been covered by a lot of people and I dig so many versions of it, but his has this distorted, dirty guitar riff that’s like ‘wow’. ‘Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic’, ‘One Woman’ and the great ‘By The Time I Get To Phoenix’ could compel anyone to write or just feel what he was saying in these songs emotionally. He had done some things on this album that a lot of popular artists adopted later on. His music was sampled by countless rappers. Public Enemy’s “Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos” is crazy. “Shaft”, probably the most popular of his songs will never fade away. So much could be learned from his history.
And Bernie Mac, The Mac Man. What can I say? “America (Bernie’s Line Here)” - a reference to his Bernie Mac TV Show. I don’t think there was one movie of his that I saw I didn’t like. He worked at his craft and stuck to it. “The Original Kings of Comedy” movie is classic.
I felt like writing about these two gentlemen because they came from tough backgrounds, they had Southern and Midwest roots within America and they worked their way up to be successful businessmen. They gave so many people joy and will be missed. Stay inspired people.
~stay plugged in, bbc
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08.01.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:16 pm by bbcousins
Last Friday night was a good night. Bleecker Street forever stays busy. The ratio of women out that night had to be about 6 to 1. I saw one lady fall in the middle of the street, in her case she was drunk plus she had on some really bad heels. Not a good combination. Ladies & Gentlemen that can’t be good for anybody - the dudes looking or the lady falling.
Anyway the show we performed at Kenny’s Castaways had a good vibe all the way through. Everything went smoothly. The sound system was really good and the engineer helped out most definitely. This time around we played with 4 pieces. On drums - Al Nortey, on bass & background vocals - K’urlii Eytina, percussions Lincoln and myself on guitar and lead vocals. The magic of it all was adding a couple of new songs to our set. They were covers this time around - “The Wind Cries Mary”, a Jimi Hendrix & The Experience inspired favorite and “Peg” by Steely Dan. Of course the band pulled it off. ‘Peg’, I think surprised a lot of people. I saw a lot of “say what” on people’s faces. I think we actually got a lot of people pulling out there ‘Best of Steely Dan’ over the weekend. At rehearsals we were discussing what we thought the lyrics meant and one idea that came to mind was it was a song a bit about loneliness. The main character is writing an open letter so to speak, wishing an old girlfriend would remember him because now she’s famous out in the world on billboards. I never feel sad when I hear this song or the lyrics.
We got some photographs of the show you can see below. ‘Thanks’ Terry Blaine for the steady eye. Thanks to old friends for coming out and the new ones we kindly got to meet.
~stay plugged in, bbc
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07.22.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:19 pm by bbcousins
I know I haven’t been on this blog for a minute. We have been busy through playing shows and promoting so that’s been good. I consider this stage part two of the ‘Wet Heat’ CD experience. Part 1 was basically getting people to be aware there was new music out to share. Now we’re moving into more interaction with people of all walks of life. I want you to check out the new music downloads for your mp3 players. Get busy with those. For those reading this forgive me for not blogging for a while. It’s something I actually like to do, but I get caught up in so many things. Leaving a one sentence blog wouldn’t suffice for me. Obviously, being in music is not always the easiest thing. While I write words on paper as lyrics, sometimes I can find it tricky expressing myself in a journal. Does that make sense? I hope so. I guess there are times when I can leave a shorter blog come to think of it.
This Friday July 25th, 2008 we have a show down at Kenny’s Castaways in Greenwich Village. The full band in effect. So come on down and bring a friend or make a friend. They’ll be plenty of people down there. We haven’t played out for a while as a group so this should be fun. The last show I played at, An Beale Bocht Café in the Bronx was cool. They had a lot of items on the wall so I couldn’t stop looking. The singer/songwriters were all very good - Robert Mitchell, E. James Smith & David Pearsall. Some of the show was videotaped so I’ll be posting that pretty soon.
~ Stay true and plugged in, bbc
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04.19.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:44 am by bbcousins
This Sunday April 20th at 7pm I’ll be on Rhymes, Views & News Show hosted by DuEwa Frazier.We’ll be talking about new music, poetry, the event we both have coming up at The Shrine Wednesday April 30th, collaborations and more. DuEwa is the female voice on the song ‘And Then There Is You’ from my “WET HEAT” CD. She’s published & edited the book Check The Rhyme: An Anthology of Female Poets & Emcees This booked was nominated for the 2007 NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Literary Work - Poetry. I highly recommend it. She and I have a collaboration coming out this year of spoken word and music. I produced and she wrote and performed it. Oooh! It’s more than just spoken word, though. The girl’s rhyming y’all. Below are links to her websites as well as the internet radio broadcast this Sunday. Please listen and call in if you like.This Sunday April 20th 7pm - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/duewafraziershow
Music From DuEwa - http://www.myspace.com/duewaworld
Check The Rhyme: An Anthology of Female Poets & Emcees
~stay plugged in. bbc
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03.30.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:12 pm by bbcousins
On Tuesday March 18, 2008 I was invited down to Rhythm & Soul Radio for a broadcast interview with Marko Nobles and DJ King James at The WHCR (90.3FM on your dial) Station located at City College in Harlem. It was indeed a great experience as I got to talk to these gentlemen about my journey through music. They made me feel really comfortable from start to finish as we talked about the new CD release, artist influences, our upcoming music show at The Shrine and subjects you’ll just have to hear for yourself. During the broadcast they played songs from my new “Wet Heat” CD which included ‘Is This Something’, ‘And Then There Is You’ & ‘Girl’. I had the privilege of performing ‘And Then There Is You’ during the broadcast with my acoustic guitar. I was fortunate enough to have video captured by DuEwa. DuEwa, a spoken word artist and noted author, performs on the recorded version of ‘And Then There Is You’. So please stop, look and listen. Check out Rhythm & Soul Radio at myspace.com/rhythmandsoulradio They also informed me of the new site that they’ve just launched at http://www.rhythmandsoulradio.com
Video: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
~stay plugged in. bbc.
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03.15.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:00 am by bbcousins
Here’s a video clip from a last minute hit we had up at The Shrine opening for Terry Blane & The Gideon Band. It’s a tight version of “We Go All Out For Our People”. We’ve been extending some songs and keeping some short and to the point. Enjoy the music.
~stay plugged in. bbc.
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03.14.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:11 am by bbcousins
Good Gosh!!! It’s been over a year since I thought about making this “Wet Heat” recording and it’s finally here. On some days I thought it would not be completed. So far, so good. I’ve learned to adjust recording techniques to get what I want central to the main ideas in my little ole head. I think midway through the project I had to keep telling myself to just finish, everything will be okay. It’s tough when you critique yourself too much.
Now the creative energy continues with performing these songs out in public. I along with other promoters and musicians are throwing a performance up at The Shrine on Friday March 21, 2008. For those entering the show you shall receive a new free full length Cd. Cool Beans, Right. I know.
I’d been producing an artist by the name of Mimi Spence and it’s cool to have her on the upcoming show. She has a Cd on the horizons for 2008 so look for it. Singer songwriter and guitarist Nhojj is bringing his soul singing on this night as well. Nhojj was No. 1 on the Myspace charts and you can hear why. My friend I’Serene Oasis is also joining the show with a set of her own. Her bass coupled with acoustic guitar and voice can’t go wrong. I’ll be taking part in an interview this Tuesday, March 18, 2008 on WHCR – City College Radio. So if you can, please do check it out. 
~stay plugged in. bbc.
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03.11.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:59 am by bbcousins
I haven’t written a blog in a minute. I’ve been basically trying to keep up with everything in life. Friends of mine joke sometimes about how when you watch the news all you get are these reports stressing how bad things are in the world. Jeez, it seems like they would like to suck the hope out of the future. Then they mix in sports at the end. I know there are not a lot of good things going on in the world, believe I know, but I want to believe there’s a chance. I understand everyone’s outlook is different and I do have a choice of whether to watch a report or not. A reminder that we’re in a rat race always comes around. I guess what makes me write this sort of thing is I know how hard it is to accomplish things sometimes. I rarely talk about this type of thing unless I really know a person well. As of late I see people losing all sorts of hope, left and right. But that can’t be the way. We all go through it, but the question becomes how do you come out of it? We’re surrounded by ups and downs so sometimes it might be good to remember that your downs should only be temporary and your ups might eventually come down a bit. Ahh, the balance of it all. Okay, so that might be too serious for some, but I’m seeing things and I needed to express that.
The last couple of weeks have been hectic, but interesting no less. Everything from getting shows booked, finishing mixes, proofing artwork & telling people about shows has me glad that part of this project is done. I had a lot of assistance from friends, musicians, associates & family who were very helpful in their actions & words. I couldn’t have made any of this possible without them.The last couple of weeks I had the opportunity to act in a short film, perform around the city, perform at some last minute gigs, have a couple of interviews and introduce myself & the band to new audiences. Some of those places included Harlem School of the Arts, Embora, Alphabet Lounge, The Shrine, M1-5 & Sputnik. A couple of friends video taped the events for us so I’d like to share some of the video with you as well as what these experiences were like in the upcoming weeks.
~stay plugged in. bbc.
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01.22.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:31 pm by bbcousins
Sunday night was a really good night as expected. Between performing at The Shrine & The New York Giants going to the Superbowl it was definitely exciting no less. Yes folks I’m a sports fan. Not a big, big “everyday I’m in it” sports fan, but I stay aware of what’s going on - more on that later. Sunday saw us play a short set, but the energy was all around the room. I can’t give enough thanks to Terry Blane & The Gedeon Band as well as The Shrine for having us. I got to see some friends I haven’t seen in a while (and missed one) and kicked it with my bandmates for just a minute. No technical problems on or off stage so it was a pretty good night. The audience kept us welcomed with their warm applause on one of the coldest nights of the year thus far. I want to go back. Yow.
As for the Giants and the big game, I was just surprised by all that has gone on this season for them. They started the season with a couple of losses, and all of a sudden they come back with this incredible winning streak. When they played the New England Patriots in the last game of the regular season they gave them a run for their money. So who knows? It’s still possible that they could win it all. I expected to see Payton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts go further than his brother Eli of The Giants. But see, sometimes that’s what happens. The high becomes low, the up becomes down. Even Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers surprised me this year after having such an awful season last year. It’s all a bit inspiring. Well, I’ve talked about sports enough. And on we go. Be in touch soon.
~stay plugged in. bbc.
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01.19.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:09 pm by bbcousins
Look here! We just got a last minute gig opening for reggae artists Terry Blaine & The Gedeon Band at The Shrine in Harlem. They’re an all the way live 6 piece roots reggae group with a new cd on the horizon. I got to see them live and peep the new CD so they’re well worth checking out. The last time I got to play in Harlem was during the summer (2007) playing guitar and singing background for Brian Jackson at St. Nick’s Pub. That’s one show I’ll never forget. It had all the elements of soul, funk and jazz that you could imagine.Not only did the band rock, but the audience was totally into every note and song Brian played. It was heavy for me because I respected all the things Brian and Gil Scott Heron did musically. Ismail Luwal was on the drums and Diallo House was on the bass that night - giving the rhythm section all that good rhythm. So Harlem here we come - on the eve of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. It should be a beautiful night. I expect there to be a nice crowd there ’cause so many people have Monday off. The details to the show are right here. The band has been working hard at the new music so you can expect a good show. I have Al Nortey on drums, K’urlii Eytina on bass & Khalid Harvey on guitar. Come early and stay late. We hit around 8pm. Don’t forget to say “chello”.
~stay plugged in. bbc.
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