Thursday, August 31, 2006

Okay, I am going to try this

Somehow, this is not coming up like I want it to, but enjoy anyway! http://www.bobmarley.com

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

I forgot to mention...

I had an utter feeling of God on yesterday. Like he was there in my presence and we had a conversation. I felt that he was pleased with me and I felt a love so tender and so deep, I can not explain. I thank him for blessing Bliss. I hope that he visits me more often!

My CD cover, which is an IZO exclusive baby, is so relevant, so fresh, and so sophisticated.

Thank God for blessing me with big brother IZO!

Grace and Peace
Bliss

Whose Space?

I have to admit that lately I have been thinking about Myspace!

What is a Bliss to do?

For You

Grace and Peace

I spoke to a friend yesterday (a friend of mine that often frequents this blog) and he confided in me about some issues that he is having with poetry. I know that he will read this and I wanted to let him know something:

My dear friend,

How are you today? I hope that all is well with you. I am fine, you know how I do. Anyway, the conversation that we had on yesterday has been on my mind. First, I wanted to thank you for coming to me with your problem and thank you for allowing me to offer up a few words of advice. Your art is indeed you art and if you don't respect it then no one else will. You have to take pride in your self, before anyone else will.

I am going to implore you to challenge yourself in this trying time. Your heart may be misguided and your words might seem astray. It is okay for you to stay there for a quick minute, but the idea is for you to come out of this slump stronger. If we didn't have down time, we wouldn't have a chance to arise. If you didn't have any issues then you wouldn't be a poet. You are more complex than you know. You are more that just an open mic, your heart is an open book. Learn from this time - read, write, live and give to you. As we so often give ourselves to others. Seek inspiration from other avenues of life. You were writing a longtime before you set your foot in a poetry venue.

So, How are you today? I hope that all is well with you. I am fine, you know how I do!

Bliss

Monday, August 28, 2006

Yeah, What Blaque Said

I came across this...yes I am an advocate! I better stand for something! If you are an advocate join us!

This is what Blaque said:


What’s good fam,
This is just a little note to the family members who are pursuing poetry and spoken word performing for career. The folks who want to get paid for their hard work and dedication to a beautiful and entertaining art form. Do not perform for free at a venue that has a cover charge! These venues that are charging a cover charge are making a living off your life. Most of us write from our life experiences and about things that are very personal to us. Though we don't mind, in fact we enjoy sharing our experiences through verbal forms of _expression, we do not deserve to be prostituted nor should we prostitute ourselves to help line the pockets of some other entity. Check this scenario: a poet is asked to feature at an event, the cover is ten dollars. The poet spends ten dollars on gas, forty dollars on something to wear for the event, thirty-five on food and drinks while at the venue, because the host of the venue did not provide the poet with as much as a glass of water, for a grand sum total of, wait a minute the poet also had to pay a babysitter for the night, fifty dollars, for a grand sum total of one hundred and thirty-five hard earned dollars from a day job that barely pays the bills. O.K REMEMBER the venue charged ten dollars to come see the poet(s).One hundred people paid to get in for a grand total of one thousand dollars. Now lets do a mathematical comparison between the poet and the venue. The poet spent $135.00 to not just partake of the entertainment, but to be the entertainment. The venue or should I say the host(s) of the venue COLLECTED at least $1000.00.unfair THEY SHOULD AT LEAST PAY YOUR EXPENSES. THIS IS NOT ABOUT MONEY IT’S ABOUT JUSTICE!!!! SOME OF THAT MONEY SHOULD GO TO THE POET WHO GETS NOTHING More THAN PERSONAL FULFILLMENT FROM THE PURE JOY OF PREFORMING, AND THAT’S GREAT, BUT ITS NOT FAIR OR JUST. I would love to have a round table meeting, sort of speak with all the poets and spoken word artist who are tired of getting screwed because they just love that mic. THIS IS ONLY TO DISCUSS WHAT WE AS PROFESSIONAL ARTIST CAN DO TO CHANGE THE WAY WE ARE BEING MISTREATED AND DISRESPECTED. IF YOU MUST BLESS A MIC SOMEWHERE, DO IT AT AVENUE THAT DOES NOT HAVE A COVER CHARGE. THERE ARE PLENTY GOOD VENUES IN THIS VALLEY THAT DO NOT HAVE A COVER CHARGE AND THEY ALL OFFER REFRESHMENTS TO THE AUDIENCE AND THE POET, FOR FREE. LETS SUPORRT THOSE VENUES, THEY'RE THE ONES THAT NEED US AS MUCH AS WE NEED THEM. Any and every professional poet/spoken word artist that would like to have this discussion, please contact me via email at lablaquemc@hotmail.com and if we have enough folks interested I will arrange a time and place for this very important discussion to take place. PEACE WIT X
LABLAQUE

Thursday, August 24, 2006

How is Poetry

How is Poetry?
Poetry is Fine.
Yeah, that's cool! So, really. How is poetry?


There are times when the antenna doesn't clear up the circumstance. It merely gives you a better picture of how things are going to be. It gives you the chance to understand things that you never thought you could ever understand or would ever have to.

Through my antennas I am finding that I have to plaster on some pretty thick skin. I have to guard my heart from jealousy that may lurking around me. The idea is to not get the wrong idea. Some poets in the family wish you the best - they are the ones that pray for growth and guidance. Then there are the others - they are the ones that assume that you think you are better than everyone else. They are the the ones that dislike you as soon as you receive that extra hand clap.

How is Poetry?
Poetry is Fine.
Yeah, that's cool! So, really. How is Poetry?

Poetry is definite. Poetry is unchanging. Poetry is change. Poetry is believing and then dis-believing. Poetry is ugly as hell. Poetry is stained beauty. Poetry smells rotten and then it smells sweet. It is my everything. It means absolutely nothing. Personally I miss it.

Poetry is Fine.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Bless Me

I have come to realize that I can not continue to let people do whatever they please in my life. People come into my home and rearrange my furniture, move bars of soap to places outside of the shower, they place my Cds on the back seat of my car (when I honestly like for them to be upfront), they come into my heart and place themselves in places that I never wanted them to be. Today and from now on, I LIVE for me.

There is a time to lay down some ground rules. A time to get a fresh start, a time to let them know that you really don't need them coming into your life fucking up what you are trying to mend, especially after they were the exact ones that fucked you up in the first place.

I do believe that there comes a time when a person learns our own self worth. When we demand respect from every follicle of hair that lays itself on our bodies to the beds in which our nails grow. If you have no respect for me in this world or the after world then I have no room for you in my life. I am in search for genuiness, a love that surpasses all others. No matter where it comes from or from whose fingertips it may drip from. I demand it because God, promised it. I can not even attempt to tell someone how important I am or that I am somebody and one day you will regret how you treated me. No, I can only and will only purge them from my system and let their fate be their fate, whatever it may be.

Lay down some ground rules, demand what you know is yours. LIVE for you and for your day. LOVE like nobody's business and worship at the feet of The Almighty.

Today, I walked away from something that I thought would last me for my entire life. Something that I thought I would be holding on to and dragging with me every step of the way. Something that I once had my love wrapped around so tight that neither it nor I could breathe. Something that I dared not to measure, for fear that my cup would run over. Something that I could place on the top of a peda-stool and admire. Something that once meant my world. Something that was, in my eyes, always at it's best. Something that I always wanted the best of the best for.

I stayed there lingering on, allowing myself to be used in the most humiliating way because I could not fathom the thought of it needing me and me not being there for it.

I pray to God that he will bless me

Grace and Peace

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Talented

I have had the pleasure of meeting some truly talented people in the last past week. People who are not only lyrically creative, but people who are musically inclined. It was refreshing to know that they too respect the poet for what he/she can do on the mic, to the spirit... in the world. I was amazed at being at a concert that celebrated the true essence of Hip Hop. It has come a long way and has true enough taken a few turns in its journey. I think that everyday we are either getting closer or moving further away from "truth of Hip Hop". There is an ongoing battle between the mainstream artist and the "real MCs" of the genre. Hip Hop itself is a full grown adult, meaning it still has room to grow and expand even though it has been around these parts for years.

They get on the mic, with the band energizing the room with its sounds, and they spit! Some are good, some are real good and then there are those that of course need some work. The admiration though, does not come from the fact that some of them need to give up their dream of being a rapper, but the admiration derives from the fact that any of them have the energy, confidence and respect for self and art to get up there and spit! Especially when you have a beat behind you that is ultimately fucking up the whole room. I talking about a beat so mean that all heads are bobbing, necks are snapping and hands are in the air. The Chapter Crew is here to make it do what it do! Then, maybe you can rock the mic like it needs to be rocked or you end up making me and the rest of the bodies that fill the room drown you out and take physical and mental part in the sounds of the keyboard, bass, and drum.

I do thank The Chapter for showing me that Hip Hop is not only just Bling and women, but that there is more to the art. http://www.thechaptercrew.com/music.htm

Grace and Peace