If people want to understand America, the most forceful expression out of America will be the black music, and they will have to judge it from that. — Amiri Baraka I want to thank you for being a subscriber. Though this started out as a desire to create and actively share the foundation of a book project, a memoir through black music, and though that intention is still embedded in what I share here, this has also become a space of creative freedom and thinking through larger ideas and projects that I didn’t realize I needed before launching into it. Music has a momentum of its own. In Summer of 2022 if not before I plan to turn some of what I’m discovering here and through archival research, into a quarterly music publication that exists both in print and here for paid subscribers. Many thanks to those who have invested in this work with a paid subscription as those are helping invariably with the next stages of it all. And in the meantime I’ll keep showing up as this book project takes shape and shape shifts with the muses and as this space exceeds that and becomes one of discovery of new sounds and new relationships to sound. What I’m thinking/writing about next is food and where it belongs in relation to collective listening and performance. It feels apt for the season and it’s an extension of my thinking on “The Club” and performance spaces. Happy Holidays and thanks for being here.
Appreciate you and your writing more than any comment section two-liner can express. Maybe send you an email shortly. All the bes, PO
As you know: your newsletter is often the highlight of my inbox. Thank you!