16. Honoring Juneteeth
Including some of my favorite Black artists in music.
Bandcamp is donating all sales made today.
as follows:
“On Monday, June 19th, from midnight to midnight Pacific Time, we’ll hold our fourth annual Juneteenth fundraiser, where we donate 100% of our share of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, a racial justice organization with a long history of effectively enacting change through litigation, advocacy, and public education.”
You can purchase my music here for one, but I’d prefer you purchase work from Black artists like Bartees Strange and my buddies in SOUL GLO, who I wrote about on
“This is a Pierce Jordan stan account. I am, have been, and remain so proud of my buddy Pierce, who is one of the most exciting frontmen I have ever seen live - and if you know my concert schedule, that's saying something. Pierce and the Soul Glo dudes wrote a staggering, loud, witty commentary on Blackness in America and beyond, touching on Black vulnerability, mundanity, humor, rage, and excellence. It is, IMWO (in my white opinion), one of the finest Black works you can uplift as someone who wants to practice antiracism. This is the kind of work you support. And beyond its potent themes, it is...just such a powerful listen, an album that feels like the old Maxell television ad over and over again with each new start of a new track and sometimes, each chorus of the same song. Also, my god, how catchy is "Gold Chain Punk"? “
In my opinion, the greatest instrumental composition of all time. Thank you to my buddy Matthew Kaplan for bringing me this masterpiece, and so many other invaluable jewels of my musical life.
William Onyeabor was a Nigerian businessman who, despite being an intentionally elusive private figure, made nothing short of celestial incantations. I discovered his music on a playlist Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! put together for her Patreon subscribers, and I sing “Fantastic Man” to Lugosi at least once a week. It is one of the most delightful works of art I have encountered. It is never far from my lips.
Another recommendation from my friend Matthew - I am posting this version of Pat Lundy’s “Mr. Rainmaker” from his channel, which is a wealth of rare and special music. You can, and should, get lost in there:
You may know Darlene Love as Murtaugh’s wife in the Lethal Weapon movies, the singer of “Christmastime for the Jews,” or for her decades of appearances on David Letterman singing “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)”. If you aren’t familiar with this song, please return to God’s light immediately:
I came to love Darlene by watching 20 Feet from Stardom, a documentary (available on MAX) about backup singers, mostly Black artists and few of whom were denied the opportunity to meet or eclipse the popularity of the artists they stood behind. In the case of Darlene and many of these other performers, the backing artist was far and away the more talented. Stevie Van Zandt, Silvio Dante himself, saw Darlene perform at the Blue Note and took it upon himself (king) to give her the spotlight she deserved. “Night Closing In,” included here, was written by Bruce Springsteen for Darlene, and it is among my favorite things Bruce has ever done:
I cried watching the Letterman compilation above as I added it to today’s post: as 98 percent of you know or know within five minutes of meeting me, my grandmother was the person I worshipped most in this world and we lost her in 2021. I saw Darlene in concert that year, a Christmas concert, and had become very emotional even seeing her walk out on stage. She was at the top of my concert bucket list, tied with Brian Wilson, and her voice was even holier than I could have dared hope. She sounded and looked wonderful, and I was at the crest of tears all night.
And then she did “Baby, Please Come Home.” As the Spector swell crashes down into the first lyrics, I - an atheist who flipped her mother off in the church at her confirmation - felt a bath of white light on my right, and a hand that I would know better than anyone’s, a hand that made the world’s supreme rice pudding and was flung to the heavens with joy over the lightest good news and crocheted every garment my exhausted new parents nestled me into before leaving the hospital and pinched my ass in the middle of Aunt Jo’s Thanksgiving toast every single year, that I held for the last time on February 13, 2021, on my shoulder. I felt her. I have read The God Delusion and I know she was there. And I sobbed. I shook. I could not stop trembling. Quiet, fervent, reverent, but Beatlemania metastasizing through me. Pentacostal wonder at having her here with me one more time. I did not stop weeping and trembling when it was over, or getting my keys out of my purse, or driving back to Hoboken. It did not stop for two hours. It is the only religious experience I have ever had, and it is thanks to the voice of Darlene Love.
It is an honor I get to write about her today. Thank you, Darlene, for giving my girl and I one more moment.
My friend and reader Holly (hi, Holly!) invited me to come to a David Bowie tribute at the Cutting Room, led by Bowie’s former bandmates and affiliated performers (including Michael C. Hall, who appeared in Lazarus shortly before Bowie’s death). Gail Ann Dorsey captivated me from the second I saw her. I mean, she’s really hot. It’s profane. And that voice. The two covers I added here are just staggering, but I would love for you all to check out Gail’s original music:
The two covers I added here are just staggering, but I would love for you all to check out Gail’s original music:
A beautiful album for a rainy day.
An impossibly fun song by Stormzy. We love a Jeremy Corbyn supporter:
How did she manage to nearly eclipse the original?
Same question!!!
Please consider donating to a cause that alleviates the institutional oppression of Black people wherever you live today: decriminalizing possession or sex work (two “crimes” that lead to statistically racist incarceration of Black people), voting access, prison reform (buying books for prisoners, donating to bail funds), or (ideally and) donate to mutual aid funds that directly support Black people, Black-owned businesses, food banks or libraries or houseless shelters in Black communities. Let me know in the comments where you put your resources or compassion today. I’d love to see it. As always, my patron charity HIPS is where my money will go today: they do so much work for Black individuals in DC and approach their mission with a deeply intersectional mindset.
In some other suggestions on my mind today: read Tayari Jones’ An American Marriage, subscribe to
and , and go watch The Last Dragon. You know you want to.Love you bitches,
TG
🎶YOU LOOOOOOOK SO GOOD FANTASTIC MANNNNN!🎶
And so much of the music we take for granted from non-black artists is in a genre invented by and/or perfected by black artists. Which just makes the insult to the backing singers all the worse.