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Mousetoescamper

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Member since: Fri Jul 8, 2022, 09:03 PM
Number of posts: 1,136

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Sean Jones & Brinae Ali - Dizzy Spellz (Jazz trumpet and tap, live at Symphony Space NYC, 2018)

I was privileged to see tap dancer/singer Brinae Ali and her Brinae Ali Quartet perform at Millersville University's Ware Center Saturday night. It was a phenomenal show blending storytelling and the sounds of jazz, tap, hip-hop, funk and rock 'n' roll.

Posted by Mousetoescamper | Mon Mar 20, 2023, 01:41 AM (0 replies)

Singer and tap dancer Brinae Ali

I was privileged to attend a joyous performance by Brinae Ali and her Brinae Ali Quintet at Millersville University's Ware Center Saturday night. The show was a blend of storytelling and the sounds of jazz, tap, hip-hop, funk and rock 'n' roll. The quintet included Hannah Mayer on piano; Blake Meister, bass; Wendel Patrick, turntables-beatbox/effects; and Jevon Rushton, drums


Brinae Ali and drummer Jevon Rushton during Saturday's performance

Brinae Ali's bio from Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute:
Alexandria “Brinae Ali” Bradley, born and raised in Flint, Michigan is an interdisciplinary artist who believes in using the power of the arts to transform the conditions of the human spirit. When she is not traveling and performing, she is giving back to young people and grass roots organizing. Currently Bradley is the artistic director of Tapology, Inc. a youth based outreach program in Flint, that believes in preserving the art of tap and jazz culture through education and performance.

As an educator she has collaborated with After School Activities Partnership, East Park Revitalization Alliance, Philadelphia Clef Club of Performing Arts, Raise It Up! Youth Arts and Awareness, Flint Youth Theatre, Mural Arts of Philadelphia, Young Audiences of New Jersey, Queens College, Long Island University, Ping Chong and Company, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and was an artist in residence at the Carol Morgan School in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and Apollo Theater Education with Wadleigh High School in Harlem NYC. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Queens College and Long Island University. 

Internationally Bradley has traveled and performed around the world in countries such as, France, Germany, China, and Brazil.  She also travelled with a team of tap dancers to Russia for a tour in 5 cities working with the U.S. Embassy for its cultural exchange program celebrating National Tap Dance Day.  Her broadway and off-broadway experience has gained her positions as assistant dance captain for  “Shuffle Along: the 1921 Sensation And All That Followed” choreographed by Savion Glover and directed by George C.Wolfe, company member of NY and Touring cast of  STOMP, special feature in the “Cotton Club Parade” which later became “After Midnight” under the musical direction of Wynton Marsalis, New York City Center Off -Center production of “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope” directed and choreographed by Savion Glover and was a part of a two week tour in Italy celebrating Ella Fitzergerald’s centennial. 

As a playwright and songwriter she has also created award winning works such as Best Short Play at the Downtown Urban Theater Festival for her one woman show “Steps” and the Vox Populi Independence Music Award for  “Destination Forever: Vol.1 EP.” Currently she is developing a work in progress with trumpeter Sean Jones called “Dizzy Spellz” fusing tap, Bebop, Hip Hop, and Afro Cuban music to articulate the African American experience through the music of Dizzy Gillespie from a afrofuturistic lense.

Taken with my iPhone 6s
Posted by Mousetoescamper | Mon Mar 20, 2023, 01:08 AM (9 replies)

U2 - I Will Follow

I first heard this played on a local college's radio station sometime in, I'm guessing, early 1981. The following day I drove to a National Record Mart and bought the group's debut album Boy. U2's music was quite a departure from the music I was listening to at the time: Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jeff Beck, Chick Corea, Frank Zappa, and good old Grateful Dead, whose music I'd been obsessed with since attending their show at RFK stadium (Washington, DC) in June of 1973.

The Edge's playing was the opposite of the virtuosity I was accustomed to hearing; he might be called a minimalist nowadays, but back then he was what we called a one-note Johnny. The song is simple and easy to play on guitar. After getting the album and playing "drop the needle," I learned to play it by ear in less than an hour. Simple, yes, but that sound! I loved it and most of the songs on Boy. The band's musical skills level perfectly matched their music, and their music was an emotional powerhouse. I became a fan and bought all of their albums up to Achtung Baby, when I lost interest in other people's music and concentrated on creating my own.

I don't know exactly where I'd rank it, but I Will Follow is somewhere on my list of top 100 Rock songs.

Posted by Mousetoescamper | Sat Mar 18, 2023, 02:13 AM (3 replies)

Horslips - Sure the Boy Was Green (Irish Celtic rock, Live at the 02, 2009)

The original version of the song is on their 1977 concept album Aliens. I'd never before heard of the band until happening upon Aliens in a record-store cutout bin (probably for a dollar) in the early '80s. It was one of many cutout-bin treasures I bought blind back in the day. The album's concept is Irish immigration to America. Pity I didn't get to catch one of their live shows.

☘️ Happy Saint Patrick's Day! ☘️

Posted by Mousetoescamper | Fri Mar 17, 2023, 05:38 PM (2 replies)

Clairseach - Red-Haired Man's Wife (traditional Irish ballad)

Cláirseach is the Celtic or Gaelic harp and also the name of the traditional music duo of Ann and Charlie Heymann. Ann plays harp and Charlie plays multiple instruments (not at the same time ) and sings. I saw them perform nearly 40 years ago at a Penn State satellite campus in Central PA and bought their album "Ann's Harp" after the show. Other than some tributes and workshop videos, this is the only recording of the duo that I could find on YouTube. I hope someone will eventually post the entire "Ann's Harp" album. Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Posted by Mousetoescamper | Fri Mar 17, 2023, 12:16 PM (0 replies)

Real photographers don't do this

If you've ever felt snubbed or intimidated by the gatekeepers of photographic esoterica, you might enjoy viewing this 23-minute video. Co-host Chelsea Northrup says, "A real photographer takes photos with intention," and I couldn't agree more. Whether you're using a $2.7 million 1923 Leica 0-series, a smartphone or the Kodak Instamatic you got for your birthday in 1968, if your photos are taken with attention and intention, you're a real photographer. A photo that's taken using automatic settings and is creatively post-processed or--gasp!--Photoshopped is just as "real" as a photo taken using manual settings with no post-processing. Purists' priggish notions can suck the fun out of photography, and if it isn't fun, what's the point.

Posted by Mousetoescamper | Fri Mar 17, 2023, 02:34 AM (4 replies)

Juna Serita and band - Jake to the Bone (outstanding live cover of an instrumental by TOTO)

Juna Serita is the bassist.

Posted by Mousetoescamper | Thu Mar 16, 2023, 11:24 PM (0 replies)

For The Polack MSgt: Tokyo Groove Jyoshi - What is Hip? (Tower of Power cover w/samisen player)

With Shinobu Kawashima on the samisen (three-stringed traditional Japanese instrument). Thanks, The Polack MSgt, for turning me on to the samisen through your Feb. 10, 2023 post, "For 10 of my 24 years in the USAF, I was stationed in Japan. I was a banjo fan when I arrived." Hope you're here tonight, TPM; think you'll dig this. I sure do.

Posted by Mousetoescamper | Wed Mar 15, 2023, 11:12 PM (2 replies)

Songhoy Blues - Ir Ma Sobay (Live in Chicago, 2017)

Posted by Mousetoescamper | Wed Mar 15, 2023, 09:36 PM (0 replies)

March bloom: My schlumbergera bridgesii this morning

Commonly known as Christmas cactus, schlumbergera bridgesii sometimes blooms in March. When I fell asleep last night only one of the buds was open. It was delightful waking to find two additional buds had bloomed.

Posted by Mousetoescamper | Wed Mar 15, 2023, 01:03 PM (13 replies)
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