Gina Harris's Blog, page 49

Black Music Month 2021: Looking back

I think the thing that really helped tie the disparate threads of my reading and listening and viewing together was the presentation on Early African-American Composers:

https://wccls.bibliocommons.com/events/60abd60c7b4a222500983acc

This was presented through the Aloha Community Library by Cherry & Jerry:

https://www.facebook.com/CherryAndJerryMusic 

https://www.reverbnation.com/cherryjerry 

Isaac Cherry and Jerry Rabushka are also members of The Ragged Blade Band, which will be reviewed tomorrow. 

Today will focus on their presentation, which charted a course from early minstrel shows through to ragtime to blues. There was an introduction to lesser known names like James Bland, Ernest Hogan, and Shelton Brooks, but they did not ignore more prominent names like Scott Joplin and W. C. Handy.

I appreciated that they did not shy away from the unsavory aspects of the minstrel shows. That should not be ignored, but the music should not be ignored either. As you hear the songs in their chronology, you can't help but hear the progression, and the influence of the previous music as new music develops.

They also made a point of how often the names that get remembered are not the earliest composers or players but the earliest transcribers; getting music jotted down allowed it to spread in a way that performing could not, at least back before recording and sharing audio became so easy.

Just a week after the performance, I watched an Oregon Symphony Storytime on Harlem's Little Blackbird, about Florence Mills:

https://www.orsymphony.org/discover/watch-listen/symphony-storytime/

There are no vocal recordings of Mills, and there is some tragedy in that. It is still possible to play songs that she sang, because the music is written down. Her specific sound is lost, but other things remain.

When Cherry & Jerry played Joplin's "The Entertainer", the listeners were surprised at its length and variation. We are used to a shorter, simpler version, largely because of its use in The Sting, over 70 years after it was first written.

When I was taking piano lessons, that was the version that I knew, not only because it was more common, but because I was not a particularly advanced student. However, I suddenly remembered that I had heard the extended version, on a collection of very old silent films.

There is always more out there; that is my constant takeaway. The "more" can enrich everything else.

Getting the foundation for blues enriched reading about blues influencing rock, and how it related to disco and then disco laying the groundwork for hip hop. It all connects.

It was a delight then, when reviewing singer Lady A, to find "Walking the Dog" as a bonus track on Bluez in the Key of Me. "Walking the Dog", by Rufus Thomas, was one in a category of songs where they tell you how to do the dance, like "Ballin' the Jack". A week earlier, it would have been just another song, but Cherry & Jerry gave it a context.

Cherry & Jerry will be at "Just a Taste Webb City" in Webb City, Missouri on July 24th, and at the "Oddities and Curiosities Festival" in Chicago, Illinois on August 28th, but you may find other streaming sessions on their Facebook page.

You can also find videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzKu1k40lBv0jfsTLZPZZgw.

Black Music Month: One Night In Miami

I really enjoyed the movie. It was more realistic than I expected, even if it is largely re-imagined:

https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a35204714/one-night-in-miami-true-story/

I appreciated the way each actor embodied their historical figure, giving an idea of their frailties but also their strengths and their likability. Well, maybe the movie was overly kind to Jim Brown; they probably could have dropped some hints of things to come there. 

As it was, in the film he primarily acted as the voice of reason,  especially trying to get Malcolm to back off in his needling of Sam Cooke.

This needling may have been the most fictional part of the created conversations. It related to Cooke's music pursuing a white audience and being rather shallow. In the movie (so I assume the play as well), Cooke admits that he has thought about doing more meaningful songs and was working on one, and then he introduces "A Change is Gonna Come" shortly after. In fact, Cooke had already introduced the song a few weeks before that night. 

The sentiments of the conversation are believable enough: not just that someone whose focus was on Black separatism might disagree with going after white money, or that a dedicated and religious person might find pop love songs trivial, but also both Cooke's and Brown's rebuttals about economic independence and the power that brings.

I see all of their points, and problems with their points as well. 

For example, Black economic prosperity seems like a clear good, but remember, we just commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Back when I first heard of it, the reading material focused on "Black Wall Street", though I guess it was really about the destruction of Black Wall Street. Anyway, that prosperity made them a target, and that is the story behind other massacres and generally behind lynchings. The perpetrators don't say that's the reason, true, but it is clearly the reason nonetheless. 

Economic solutions are important, but they aren't enough.

Also -- just for the record -- I think "You Send Me" is absolutely beautiful and moving. I can't trivialize romantic love or the thrill of infatuation. I like consciousness and inspiration to stay in the fight, but that fight can wear you out. Sometimes you need laughs, and thrills, and low-stakes drama. Sometimes things need to get a little hot. The brilliance of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On does not mean there is no place for Let's Get It On, and there are moments when Let's Get It On is more to the point.

What I keep thinking of is, oddly enough, an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation: "First Contact".

The residents of the Malcorian planet are getting close to their own space age, causing the Enterprise to make contact with their government. When I forget which episode it is, I can find it because I remember that Bebe Neuwirth played the alien who really wanted a close encounter with Riker,

Yes, the Malcorians were very similar to Earthlings of our time, and that included a dangerous xenophobia. Chancellor Durkin decides to delay relations with the Federation, to delay working on warp drive technology, and to instead focus on arts and culture. The goal is to bring the planet's residents up to where they can be open to other lifeforms and a more complex universe than they have been able to envision.

That episode was from 1991, but thirty years later we are still there. How frustrating for those who have been working on it since 1964.

A touching thing from Mary J. Blige's My Life was how many girls saw themselves in her, and so felt like there were good possibilities for them too. Representation matters for seeing yourself, but it also matters for seeing others, and understanding the value and validity of those other selves that are not you. It matters for seeing the ways in which they are like you, and the ways in which they are different.

That as much as anything is why my seeking out history has had to evolve to include seeking out art too. It has changed me. Not enough, but there is no going back.

Black Music Month 2021: Opportunities

Having reviewed many musicians and been friends with some, I already knew something about how hard "making it" can be.

Examining all of these stories close together (and not long after Simon Tam's Slanted) gave me a better idea of the racism factor. 

That was not so much the treatment from individuals, either, though it related. It was more the factors that shaped the environment, and what could be expected for those lives.

It was about the economic opportunities available, not just for those individuals, but for their parents and grandparents. It was about the economic level they lived at in terms of nutrition and health care and what jobs were available. 

It was the violence.

These were some very diverse circumstances too. Nutbush, Tennessee in the '40s is going to be a lot different from Compton in the '70s or Yonkers in the '80s, but racism and economic inequality still often managed to create hardships that were often exacerbated by substances. It was hard on families and youth. It is easy to judge, and there are pundits and leaders who do, but rarely have they needed to deal with similar life circumstances.

No one set out to make Ike Turner a likable or sympathetic character, but the story of his father's death is told briefly in I, Tina and it is horrifying. It doesn't make his abusiveness right, but it seems more likely that he would be violent and angry than not. Then, being a musician during a time period when cocaine use was very normal... you can see how it happens and still hate it and hate the pain it caused.

Thinking about all of that, I then think about how much being able to be musically successful meant for people like Tina Turner, Nile Rogers, Dr. Dre,  and Mary J. Blige. This becomes a way not just to be able to support themselves, but also to support the people they live. Buying houses and cars for mothers is a big step on a lot of these journeys, as is that the fathers are so often already dead.

There is a limit to what it can fix. Money does not heal the trauma along the way, at least not on its own. Money can be a fabulous tool, but even knowing how to use it requires some understanding that a lot of people just don't have.

In addition, I think about how talent is not enough. There are fabulously talented people who never make the right connections. There are people who may have potential but don't get chances to develop it. They get left behind. 

Finally, I think about how wonderful it is to be able to do creative things, and express thoughts and feelings and make something new, which has value whether it is monetized or not. Again, sometimes people just don't know how to get there.

So while I have additional affection for many musicians now, and have found their stories harrowing and inspiring, my overall impression is how there is the need for so much more. There need to be more resources for the entire hierarchy of needs for everyone.

Black Music Month 2021: Overview

Surprising no one, I have not quite finished my reading. I like the reason though. I got a late start on Nile Rogers' Le Freak because my sister was reading it. I like inspiring others to read things, and when people in my circle have read the same books so we can talk about them.

Also, overall we are pretty fond of Nile Rogers.

This is how things have been going...

I have finished reading The Beautiful Ones by Prince, with Dan Piepenbring, and I, Tina: My Life Story by Tina Turner and Kurt Loder. 

I still have about 70 pages left of Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny. I should be able to finish tonight, but things happen.

I have watched Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and One Night in Miami, as planned. 

I am going to have to hold off on The United States Versus Billie Holiday. There was a time when I remember watching free things on Hulu, but now it needs a subscription. Considering that I kept the Netflix subscription makes me reluctant to start any more trials, at least until I am gainfully employed again. 

(It remains a source of frustration that there is so much streaming content that stays locked into paid services, even years later when you might have expected them to move into a library collection or something.)

There were some surprises along the way, as is to be expected. I discovered a behind the scenes special for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Using some temporary Prime access for One Night in Miami also found Mary J. Blige's My Life, a special celebrating the 25th anniversary of the album.

A Facebook exchange about Patti Smith had a friend send me to The Defiant Ones (Peacock is included with our cable).

The Oregon Symphony has a Symphony Storytime series combining children's books with music, and one of their recent recordings was based on Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills by Renée Watson and Christian Robinson. 

https://www.orsymphony.org/discover/watch-listen/symphony-storytime/

Finally, our local library did a Zoom presentation on the early African-American composers.

https://wccls.bibliocommons.com/events/60abd60c7b4a222500983acc

And that is one key and wonderful thing. Even though there are things that I may want and be unable to find, there is always so much available .

I am going to go finish that book, and then write some thoughts out over the coming week.

Music Review: Lady A

I did mention Lady A briefly in a blog post last summer, but that was not a review. 

I like that it is working out to be posted at the usual time of Portland's Waterfront Blues Fest. Maybe next year the festival can be back in full force, but whatever happens, we still have the Blues.

The Seattle-based singer and radio host has been performing for over 20 years, with five albums available.

The most recent, 2020's Live in New Orleans, gives a good feeling for what a show would be like: full of warmth and laughter.

The humor can be sly, as on "Future Ex-Husbun". The conflict between the desire for connection and independence can be full of angst, or you can be cheeky about it. 

There are more serious songs, but they tend to either be a wistful nostalgia, or an envisioning of a better future. Mostly it is fun, for everyone to join in.

Lady A's Youtube series, "Moments in Black History" may be the best example of her philosophy. In it, she talks with other musicians, sharing memories of their lives, including food and music. There is appreciation expressed, and donation links and reminders to contribute and pass on that appreciation.

"Bless and be a blessing."

Lady A will be celebrating her 63rd birthday on July 18th, but is not slowing down, releasing a CD next month and working on an album for this fall. She also has various performances scheduled, including opening up for Sir Mix-a-Lot at the Snohomish Block Music Festival on August 21st. 

There is a schedule on her page, showing various dates in Washington. That would normally include the Winthrop Rhythm & Blues Festival, which will be virtual this year. Details have not finished posting on their site, but there are links to watch previous virtual shows on Youtube, including a February performance by Lady A and The Baby Blues Funk Band:

http://winthropbluesfestival.com/virtual-shows/

The Blues endures, even through pandemics and bad presidencies. 

In fact, during those times we need them more than ever.

Links:

https://www.ladyababyblues.com/ 

https://www.facebook.com/LadyABluesDiva/ 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb19UqaBjWjvGpFs3JQ4cZg

https://www.instagram.com/LadyA_bluesdiva/ 

https://twitter.com/TheRealLadyA

Stronger with each tear

There is one more obstacle that I worry about for moving forward.

Surprisingly, it's not so much that some people don't want a better world and will be loudly wrong to prevent it. They are vocal, but they are also the minority; that is becoming clearer. We can work through that, but it is going to take patience and persistence and kindness.

I worry about having those resources available when so many of us are carrying around so much pain.

I wrote the numbers for the death toll yesterday. Those are big numbers, but they are nowhere near the full measure. That doesn't count people with long COVID symptoms. It doesn't count the individual left behind by those who died and their grief. It doesn't count the cumulative weight of all of the fear and pain and isolation that we have been carrying.

I have my own way of understanding this, and I don't have a solution for it.

I have pending grief overshadowing me. I often feel it coming in around the edges. I am not chasing it away, I swear, but also it is not breaking.

That kind of makes sense; there is more grief coming. My mother is alive and safe, but also I do not have a mother, offering maternal care, and there were all the things that hurt along the way. I have felt them, but I haven't really mourned them. There are things that have already been lost, but I can't seem to process those losses while the rest of the loss is pending.

There was a slew of articles maybe two months ago about how people were afraid to stop wearing the masks, even though it should be safe. The reasonable response to them was that hey, the pandemic was not over, and therefore there are many good reasons to continue wearing the mask.

There is emotional healing to be done. I know people who have become more tender-hearted and more aware of the larger issues, and that is great. I also know people who seem to be bordering on hysterics all the time, and there are people who have become much more hostile and resentful.

Personally, I find more difficulty focusing and more worry about being able to complete things. Also, I am positive I am more socially awkward now. I don't know how much of that is the care giving and how much of that is the pandemic, but I know I am not the only one who has lost something.

As true as it is that this is not over, and as hard as it can be to heal before you have established safety, I don't think it is too soon to start picturing healing, and thinking about how we want that to go.

I do not doubt that my posts this week have been messy and jumbled, but there was an order too. 

Monday was about getting out anger.

Tuesday was about looking at the situation, and staying committed to improving it.

Wednesday was kind of about that too, but it was also taking a broader look at what could be.

Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief by David Kessler was not the most helpful of the books I've read as I have tried to heal, but there is still a point to it. You may deal with denial, anger, bargaining, and grief on your way to acceptance, but there is also something better than acceptance, and that is finding meaning in it.

For all the people and the time that we have lost, can we build something better upon it?

These tears that I feel hanging over me are going to come, some day. I won't fight them.

I will try and keep learning and growing, so that when they come they will be a part of healing. 

There will be something beautiful about that, even though it hurts.

I wish you well.

Charting a path forward

Yesterday's post was about how the pandemic is not over, even though people are letting restrictions go right and left.  

Personal choices can still be made. I am not sure when I will go into a movie theater or dine in a restaurant again. I will still be wearing masks at the store. 

It's not for me; I feel pretty confident in my vaccinated status. It is for children and the immune-compromised and front-line workers and for the people that love them and worry about them. 

Not only do I want to help keep them safe, but I want to relieve some of that stress that can only be rising with how many people are making mask-shaming their new hobby.

(Plus, less flu, colds, and blocking some allergens doesn't sound like a bad idea.)

Funny thing about that: for all of the concerns that have been expressed about how pandemic restrictions hurt businesses, when the Enchanted Forest was ready to re-open, they received so many threats about their intention to require masks they had to delay their re-opening.

https://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/online-threats-delay-reopening-for-enchanted-forest/article_7e06517c-0d85-55d0-9397-640fd59471f8.html

It kind of makes you question the sincerity of the fascist bullies.

As it is, it is worth pointing out that a lot of businesses have done really well under COVID.

For big corporations, Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Pfizer have done great. So have Procter & Gamble and Apple.

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/01/898099559/some-companies-report-huge-profits-despite-economic-decline-due-to-covid-19

Even some restaurants have done pretty well, though sometimes that involved adapting to incorporate take-out. 

That wasn't an option for all companies, and there are surely some businesses that have failed, and people who have decided to retire sooner rather than later. That can work out too, though there are discussions to be had about it.

Personally, we have gotten take-out from Chang's about five times during the past year. That may not seem like a lot, but we normally only go in person once a year. Their takeout option has been so convenient and such a good value that we went more.

They have had some dining in again, but if they are also keeping the excellent take-out options, then that is an improvement to how things were. One restaurant's options don't make too much difference, but let us consider whether instead of "getting back to normal" -- which was not really that great -- can we take this experience and become better?

If not everything has been terrible under the pandemic, what can we improve going forward?

For example, if working from home options have reduced stress for some employees, and allowed greater participation by employees with disabilities, is seems like that flexibility should be continued going forward.

If stimulus checks reduced food insecurity and hardship, which in turn reduced anxiety and depression, then that seems like something we should be interested in:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/03/stimulus-checks-reduced-food-shortages-financial-hardship-by-over-40percent.html

There can be questions about whether the best way to keep that going is going to be UBI or wage increases. Regardless, that people not having to worry about their next meal increases their personal well-being and ability to be productive seems like a net positive. We should care about that, right?

If it turns out that some people are not getting regular access to health care, and also that some people have almost no news literacy and it makes them susceptible to all kinds of misinformation, well, that's worth looking at, right?

The world has lost at least 3,937,437 people, all unique individuals. That includes 599,089 from the United States. People are starting to say 600,000, and we will almost certainly hit that and surpass it before that is done. Not all of those were avoidable, but a lot of them were.

Are we ready to decide we want better than this? Are we willing to change for it?

Premature

Tomorrow, Wednesday June 30th, the state of Washington will be ending most COVID-19 restrictions.

They currently have 414,249 confirmed cases, but the unconfirmed cases probably bring that up to over 450,000. The death rate is holding pretty steady.

I am sure the reason they are deciding to "open" (besides pressure from people who resent any and all restrictions) is that they appear to be pretty close to 70% on vaccinations.
 
https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/COVID19/DataDashboard

Oregon still needs just over 19000 people to reach 70% vaccinated. I don't deny that is significant, but we are still also reporting new cases every day, and there are still some deaths.

https://www.oregon.gov/oha/erd/pages/covid-19-news.aspx

As of June 26th, I would have said the death rate looked like it was just over 1% as well, but with two days with no deaths, maybe that is turning a corner. I would take that.

There are still some things worrying me.

I am not sure that 70% is the right goal. I have seen 80% as representing something closer to herd immunity anyway. I wonder what percentage of people had received the MMR vaccine when they were having those measles outbreaks.

Also, I believe the percentage numbers they are using are based on ages. If we get 70% of adults and teens vaccinated, that's great. With no children under 12 being vaccinated, that is also not 70% of the population. 

Children can get the virus. They can die from it. 

Will somebody please think of the children?

Here are other people I think about: the immune-compromised.

Some of them can't get the vaccine, or they can get it but because of things that their body does, or things that medications they take do, they are not only vulnerable to the virus, but the virus may be more harmful to them. Frankly, it has been harmful enough to people without compromised immune systems.

I also worry that hitting the 70% mark will see a slacking off of efforts. 

We know that there are people who oppose getting the vaccine. They are going to be some of the number in that 30%, but there are also people who are not receiving regular health care, people who need a little bit of reassurance -- especially pertaining to their specific health issues -- and people who may have cost concerns or transportation issues.

I saw some Twitter chat about how easy it was to get the vaccine; even if for some reason it wasn't easy in your state all you needed to do was drive to another state. It takes a stunning amount of ignorance to think that. 

Not everyone has access to cars or other transportation. Some states are also quite large. If you are in the middle of Texas or Alaska, or lots of states, going into the next state is no easy issue.

Are we going to keep seeking out those people? Will we bring the vaccine to them?

That doesn't even get into the Delta variant. Beyond that, the more people who contract the disease, the more potential there is for other variants that may be more deadly or more vaccine resistant or more highly transmissible.

Donating 500 million vaccine doses is nice, but the population of the world is 7.9 billion. We have a long way to go to take care of everyone, and we do need to take care of everyone.

"We must love one another or die."

Auden ended up hating that line, thinking it was cheesy and trashy. It is also true.

Can we love each other before it's too late?

More on that tomorrow.

A moment of expression before discussing the pandemic

You know me; I am thinking all the time. 

I have several thoughts on where we are in the pandemic and what we should be doing going forward. Those thoughts are generally going to be well-reasoned and sympathetic, and divided into three different days.

Before I do that, there is just a touch of rage accumulated that I believe it will be helpful to clear out first. 

There have been many contributors to the rage, but I think what most crystallized it was some complaining about tips for stopping the spread. Although vaccinations were increasing, the message advised continuing wearing masks, social distancing, and washing hands. 

Someone took exception to the continued need for hand washing, since we now know that COVID-19 is airborne, and washing hands has nothing to do with it.

The burden of hand washing is just too much for you, huh?

Do you know that the last flu season was practically non-existent?

https://www.advisory.com/en/daily-briefing/2021/03/30/flu-season

There was just one pediatric flu death; the year before was 196.

The hospitalization rate for influenza was lower than it has been since they started tracking it, which was good because the hospitals were pretty busy with COVID patients.

There is a whole slew of things that contributed to that. People working from home and schools being closed was a big factor in people not getting close enough to each other to spread as much disease as we usually do. However, it seems really likely that the improved hygiene some of us practiced when we did come into contact with each other was also a factor.

Did some businesses go overboard with disinfectant spray? Probably, but hand washing is so easy and so effective, that if you have a problem with it I can only wonder what is wrong with you.

Do you want more dead children? Is that your goal?

Do you want hospital staff and space stretched out past capacity? Does that seem like a good thing?

Look, I know right wing radio personalities like to talk about how everything is too clean and that's bad for your immune system; but they're just doing that so corporations can roll back health and safety standards. 

There is even a point to it -- not the salmonella corporations want to give you -- but that anti-bacterial everything and overuse of antibiotics is a bad thing. That is totally true.

But how do some people deal with that? They stop washing their legs!

https://www.thezoereport.com/p/should-you-wash-your-legs-in-the-shower-the-answer-may-surprise-you-17905938

Then, even though the doctor who is okay with not washing them daily specifies that you should at least wash your legs when they are visibly soiled, you start seeing really dirty legs everywhere.

This is why we have a nation full of poop beards!

https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/poo-beard-faecal-bacteria-how-14959212

Yes, you will find quibbling over whether there is actually fecal matter or it is just identical bacteria, but surveys show that 60% of men don't wash their hands after using the bathroom.

(Was the first hint that Michael Shannon's character in The Shape of Water was evil when he gave his bathroom philosophy?)

Look, even if it is really just a pee beard, that's still disgusting. Also, maybe it's good that the pandemic is moving us away from shaking hands.

(As long as we are talking about this, https://safespaceco.com/germs-on-shoes-if-only-you-knew-whats-living-on-the-bottom-of-your-shoes/.)

Humanity, quit being disgusting! Wash your hands!

If we ever want to move forward into a better, healthier world, we are not going to get there by listening to the anti-hand washing filthy-legged poop beards.

This I know.

Music Review: Blackberri

I made a note to review Blackberri shortly before I had to give up reviewing music. It is appropriate that it is with Blackberri that I restart my reviews. 

I am sure the was in connection with the album, Blackberri and Friends: Finally becoming available for download and on vinyl via Bandcamp:

https://blackberri.bandcamp.com/releases

What I may not have understood at the time was that the "finally" was not about becoming available then; it was "Finally" already back in 1981. That appears to be more of a reference to him having started busking in San Francisco in 1974.

In fact, I could not find a lot recorded. The album contains ten tracks (though the first and third sound suspiciously alike), and I was able to find two more tracks via a compilation album. Searches are complicated now by the presence of a drag queen who also goes by Blackberri.

As it is, Blackberri himself has had a long and productive life, beyond music recording. A Yoruba priest, he has worked as a death and dying counselor with AIDS patients, and focused on AIDS prevention, receiving a lifetime achievement AIDS Hero award in 2002. 

https://www.kqed.org/arts/13859162/meet-the-lgbtq-elders-who-rioted-organized-and-lobbied-to-change-history

The AIDS epidemic started about the same time as that original album release. Maybe other things felt more important than more recording sessions.

It's easy to know that there is a lot more to be known. I'm sure the album means more for someone who was into Bay Area music in that time period. After Blackberri there are seven band members listed, then fourteen guest musicians. I suspect there is a whole yearbook full of good memories contained in those credits.

Those are all good things to know, but it is probably most important to know that the music is good. While not every song is upbeat, there is a general sense of fun with joyful percussion, mostly in the Blues tradition.

Wikipedia says that his track "Eat the Rich" was included on Lavender Country, the first known gay-themed country album. It is less country than "Please Help Me To Forget" for example, with its mournful steel pedal, but it is fun and mischievous, including bad puns and chewing sound effects. "Bye Bye Blues" may be the best example of Blackberri's ability with Blues, but "Eat the Rich" is the one waiting to be discovered by everyone who misses Occupy Wall Street.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackberri 

I should also point out "Return to the Reason", possibly the song that pulls the most from the '70s, with hints of Kansas. It has a haunting quality. Positioned on the album right after "Bye Bye Blues", that section may give the best idea of Blackberri's range.

For completeness, the two tracks not on the album that can be found on Spotify are "Flowers, the Weeds" and "When Will the Ignorance End". They are listed as being on From Walls to Roses: Songs of Changing Men. "When Will the Ignorance End" was also the theme song for the first National Third World Lesbian and Gay conference. It is as timely as "Eat the Rich", though less cheeky.

And that is perhaps the most important thing to note: the music does not sound dated, which is a good thing and can be a sign of quality. The themes aren't dated either. They should be, but the ignorance has not ended yet.

That leaves a lot of work to be done, but at least the music is there.

Finally can be downloaded for $7.00 (a bargain!) at https://blackberri.bandcamp.com/releases. The vinyl is $45, but it is rare, and it captures a specific time and place. For some people it will be a treasure.

You can also see updates from Blackberri at https://www.instagram.com/blackberrisinger/.