TerikKing.com
Season 2, Show 5: The Rashawn Brazell Case
OPEN YOUR MIND is back for the Spring 2010 season with an interview with Desire Brazell-Jones, mother of Rashawn Brazell, and Larry Lyons, Executive Director of the Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund. Desire and Larry came by to discuss the horrific 2005 murder case of Rashawn Brazell, it's aftermath, and their continued efforts to keep Rashawn's name and legacy alive.
LISTEN ON THE GO! CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO US AND DOWNLOAD FROM iTUNES!
Click the Image to Stream Online
It's been said that "there are 8 million stories in the naked city," however, few have haunted me like the story of Rashawn Brazell. It was an honor to meet Desire Brazell-Jones and host this discussion with her about her son's murder case. It's an interview I'll never forget, and a story that I hope to revisit with a more in-depth project in the near future.
For those who are unfamiliar with the details of the case: on February 14, 2005, 19-year old Rashawn Brazell kissed his mother goodbye and left his family's apartment in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, NY for a day that was supposd to consist of a meeting with an accountant, a search for a job and a lunch meeting with his mother. He never showed for the lunch date, and did not return home that night. Rashawn was never seen alive again.
Three days later, trash bags containing dismembered human body parts were found on a subway tunnel platform at the Nostrand Avenue station on the 'A' line in Brooklyn, and others were found in a recycling plant in Greenpoint. They were determined to belong to Rashawn Brazell.
When I first learned about the story, I searched high and low for in-depth coverage by the mainstream media, and was deeply saddened that I didn't find it. What I DID find was a glut of irresponsible (and, in some cases, downright cynical and biased) stories that seemed to imply that Rashawn's murder was somehow the result of some kind of unseemly lifestyle. What was missing, however, were DETAILS. And the questions abound: how could a person be tortured and dismembered ANYWHERE in a city as densely populated as New York, then have the body disposed of in a public transit station and not have ANYONE see or hear ANYTHING? What in the world would motivate someone to do this? Was it a bias crime? Ritual killing? Robbery gone bad? (Doubtful.)
Then I wondered about Desire, his mother. How could she live day-to-day knowing that the person who did this to her son continued to roam free? What sustained her? Where was her wall-to-wall coverage? Was her pain somehow less valid than that of Beth Holloway Twitty (whose daughter Natalee disappeared - a month and a half after Rashawn - to an avalanche of "poor little missing honor student" coverage by the mainstream media)? Where was Desire's Oprah moment? (There's still time, Oprah.)
It wasn't until I started hosting OPEN YOUR MIND that I had a venue to meet Desire, discuss this story and ask these questions. And I am much richer for the experience. I think anyone who listens to Desire speak about this in her own voice will be enriched as well.
By all accounts, this young man was an amazing human being. His story will continue to be told.
STORY LINKS:
Rod 2.0 blog - Ongoing Coverage of the Rashawn Brazell Story
Find his killer: Mom of butchered Bushwick man wants answers, New York Daily News 29 August 2008
A Year After A Teenager Was Dismembered, Still No Answers, New York Times; 13 February 2006
SHOW CREDITS
ORIGINAL BROADCAST SITE: WNSR - NEWSCHOOLRADIO.ORG
Announcer
Angela Veliky
Video Archivist
Garret Hurley
Production Assistance
Yakubu Budu-Saka
Show Theme Music:
Open Your Mind
Melissa Etheridge
from the Island Records album The Awakening (2007)
Published by Sons of Ridge Road (ASCAP)
Background Music:
Powder
Sweetback
from the Sony Music album Sweetback (1996)
Season 2, Show 4: Bishop Yvette Flunder
This week's show features Rev. Dr. Yvette Flunder, Presiding Bishop of The Fellowship and Senior Pastor, City of Refuge United Church of Christ and author of the book Where the Edge Gathers: Building a Community of Radical Inclusion.
Click the Image to Stream Online
CLICK THE IMAGE TO STREAM ONLINE
From strippers to Jesus...that's how you KNOW it's OPEN YOUR MIND!
This was a fascinating conversation with a fascinating woman.
Religion and politics, goes the rule, are the subjects to avoid discussing where possible. What fun would a talk-show be, however, if we adhered to that rule? I actually enjoy discussing those topics with individuals whose ideas and philosophies are outside of the mainstream of what you normally hear. On the talk show I want to have conversations with people of MANY different political and, yes, religious perspectives. So when my good friends Pastor Vanessa Brown and Prohpetess Tanya Maryoung of the Rivers of Living Water Ministry in Harlem gave me a copy of the book written by their Bishop, Yvette Flunder, it seemed as good a place as any to begin that type of exploration.
What makes these types of conversations challenging for so many is that most people have accepted one form of theology or another, and there is ideological conflict when they have conversations with people whose beliefs do not dovetail with (if they don't directly contradict) their own. As I mentioned to Bishop Flunder during this show, as an agnostic I am completely unencumbered by that. I "opt out" of the drama and conflict; considering how much drama and conflict I can't opt out of, it's a wonderful gift to be free of the religious type. I do, however, find religion fascinating on an intellectual level. And I certainly understand why people need it, even if I personally do not. I worry when religion ceases to be a source of strength, community and hope for people, but instead becomes a site of judgment, or shame, or manipulation, or violent conflict - among a myriad of unfortunate possibilities. We all know how many atrocities and unthinkable acts have been committed by people who believe their behavior to be condoned (or commanded) by "God." That precludes them from remorse. What can be more frightening?
Bishop Flunder's approach of "radical inclusion" is a refreshing counterpoint to all that. If I were in the market for a religion (which I determinedly am not), these concepts would be more in line with what I believe on an instinctive level. I look forward to talking to her again, as well as talking to people who disagree with her "all-is-welcome" approach to try to understand their thinking as well. And I'm also glad that negotiations are underway to do a show with a noted and pretty high-profile ateheist author, whom I look forward to asking what he thinks of an approach like Bishop Flunder's, one that is devoid of all of the unhealthy prosletyzing and finger-pointing that he uses as a basis for his visceral critique and rejection of all religion. I hope I get to talk to this gentleman before we break for the Winter.
No matter what your faith, I would think a rational person would find it difficult to disagree with Yvette Flunder's perspective. If you do, I'd love to hear from you. This won't be the last time that OPEN YOUR MIND ventures into topics of religion, and I really want to explore a variety of viewpoints. Let the sharing begin.
FEATURES MUSIC FROM BISHOP YVETTE FLUNDER'S CD: WE WON'T BE SILENT ANYMORE
SHOW CREDITS
ORIGINAL BROADCAST SITE: WNSR - NEWSCHOOLRADIO.ORG
Announcer
Angela Veliky
Show Theme Music:
Open Your Mind
Melissa Etheridge
from the Island Records album The Awakening (2007)
Published by Sons of Ridge Road (ASCAP)
Craig Seymour Take 2: Outtakes
Hey all:
There was (in the interests of time) a sizable amount of "trimming" from my interview with Craig Seymour, and I thought you might find a couple of them interesting -- I did! So here are two of them.
OUTTAKE 1: "Terik's Rite of Passage" (I probably shouldn't have gone there)
OUTTAKE 2: "Craig & Racial Ambiguity" (Hmmm.....)
I also found this interesting print interview with Craig from last year.
Season 2, Show 3 - Craig Seymour
Click the Image to Listen Online
Click HERE to download from iTunes
On this week's show, I talk to Craig Seymour, grad student/stripper-cum-entertainment journalist-cum-college professor about his life as written about in his memoir, All I Could Bare: My Life in the Strip Clubs of Gay Washignton, D.C.
Oh yeah, I went there!
Now before people think this show is a cheap shot at titillation (and yes, the image selected was designed to "grab 'em...did it work?), I should mention that Craig Syemour is a twice-published author (with his first book being Luther: The Life and Longings of Luther Vandross, which remains the only true biography of Luther Vandross), and he holds a PhD. in American Studies and is currently teaching at Northern Illinois University. He is a man of stustabce, who took an interesting path to learning.
This is another of those shows that I had in mind when I came up with the idea for the series: a topic that brings me into direct confrontation with my own "stuff." When I read Craig's book, I knew that talking to him would be one of those conversations. I was not disappointed...at least not in him. As for my own performance, I am not sure I was as "unrestrained" on the topic as I'd like to have been. Phone interviews are their own unique animal. But all things considered, it IS an enlightening conversation.
Craig's views on some things made me feel damn near old and stodgy. He is far more liberal than I am on some of the subjects that we discussed. (Legalized sex work? I understand and even AGREE with the theory, yet I remain queasy.)
I also couldn't help but wonder what to make of my own downright aversion to working as Craig did. Could I have allowed myself to be objectified? Could I have "disassociated" to the degree necessary to allow complete strangers (most of whom are probably gross...this IS America) to carress and stroke and fondle and tug on my...whatever they wanted?
What, if anything, does it say about me if I absolutely could not? Conversely, what might it say about the people who do?
Could YOU?
If you could, as Craig suggests, perform "sexual services" as part of the capitalist free enterprise system, what ISN'T for sale? What happens to our humanity when EVERYTHING is for sale?
I'd love to get into a follow-up discussion on this one. Maybe int he comments section here? Or on a future roundtable?
Anyway - enjoy the show!
CREDITS
ORIGINAL BROADCAST SITE: WNSR - NEWSCHOOLRADIO.ORG
Announcer
Angela Veliky
Show Theme Music:
Open Your Mind
Melissa Etheridge
from the Island Records album The Awakening (2007)
Published by Sons of Ridge Road (ASCAP)
SEASON 2, SHOW 2 - SANJAYA
Photo by Jacob Eubank (www.jacobeubank.com)
Click the Image to Listen Online
Click HERE to download from iTunes
His hair-ness himself, Sanjaya (of American Idol fame) stops by to talk to me this week. We discuss his experiences on American Idol and afterward, his approach to trying to create good music, and his memoir and EP, both entitled Dancing to the Music In my Head.
Imagine, if you will, that you are learning to do something for the very first time, as we all have to do at some point in our lives. Say, learning to ride a bicycle, for example. But here's the rub: in your example, you are doing it while the media contingent covering the Tour de France is watcing you, and comparing your nascent cycling technique to that of Lance Armstrong with every missed pedal, stumble, fall, scratch and scrape. As the media gobbles up your battle with training wheels and broadcasts it to all corners of the globe, the internet weighs in and says, "You suck!" Campaigns are formed around either supporting you or demolishing you. How DARE you try to learn to ride a bicycle, and FORCE us all to watch you? How would you handle that? Would you even WANT to ride a bike anymore?
If you can imagine that scenario, drop the handlebars and add a band, you've got Sanjaya's experience on Season 6 of American Idol. Having a background as a performer myself, I was fascinated by the prospect of talking to him. He did something that I, at age 17 (as he was on the show), could NEVER have entertained doing. (Actually, when I was 17-ish I WAS invited to audition for Star Search, but hardly anyone watched the show at that point so the comparison isn't entirely valid.)
I can't deny that the process of rresearching and reading up on Sanjaya (including his memoir, Dancing to the Music In My Head), reviewing the footage of his performances on American Idol, meeting him, doing the interview, and hanging out a bit afterward, brought me to a place of admiration for Sanjaya. Even though this sort of interview is a bit of a departure for me, I like the kid, plain and simple. (And all who know me know that I'm much quicker to mention NOT liking someone than vice-versa.) We had fun. Sanjaya is an endangered species -- an honest-to-goodness sensitive, gentle, artist's soul. Perhaps even too gentle for today's music business, so I told him to never forget that I've got his back as he goes swimming with the sharks!
Photos by Jacob Eubank (www.jacobeubank.com)
Actually, when I watched and listened to certain other interviewers talk to Sanjaya, I realized that they all seemed to be tripping over themselves somewhat (usually manifested in overtalking) when they interviewwed him. He is pretty charismatic; you find yourself wanting to say a lot of different things at once. But could I have been "taken in?" Moi? Either he is an incredible actor and is chasing the wrong business, or he truly has an overwhelmingly positive personal energy. I'm hard to fool, so I'm guessing he's the real deal. Sanjaya clearly wants to make music driven by meaning, as opposed to the motive of ego or money. I used to be like that once upon a time, and the world intruded upon my garden of eden. I hope that Sanjaya, unlike me, can find a way to remain in his as long as he possibly can.
And for those who'd find it interesting, his sister Shyamali stopped by the studio while we were taping, and she is just as stunning as everyone said she is. Didn't get any pics with her, though.
Enjoy the show!
CREDITS
ORIGINAL BROADCAST SITE: WNSR - NEWSCHOOLRADIO.ORG
Session Producer
Liberty Dwyer
Session Video
Garret Hurley
Announcer
Angela Veliky
Show Theme Music:
Open Your Mind
Melissa Etheridge
from the Island Records album The Awakening (2007)
Published by Sons of Ridge Road (ASCAP)
Featured Music:
Rainy Days
SANJAYA
from the EP Dancing to the Music In My Head
Background Music:
Serenity
Roy Hargrove feat. Joe Henderson
from The Roy Hargrove Quintet with the Tenors of Our Time (1994)
My Funny Valentine
Miles Davis (1964)
Cloud People
Sweetback (1996)
Sixteen
Thelonious Monk (Rel. 1994)
Published by Thelonious Monk Music Corp (BMI)
Love for Sale
Dianne Reeves
Published by Harms, Inc. (ASCAP)
Tell Me Who I Am
Sanjaya (2008)
From Dancing to the Music In My Head
Come Rain or Come Shine
David Sanborn
Published by Chappell and Co., Inc. (ASCAP)
Sexyback
Justin Timberlake
Published by Zomba Music Publishing, a division of BMG Publishing
Overjoyed
Stevie Wonder
Published by Jobete Music Co, Inc./Black Bull Music (ASCAP)
A Dream With Your Name On It
Jennifer Holliday
from the Arista Records release I'm On Your Side (1991)
Terik King
in Entertainment/Pop Culture, Open Your Mind Season 2, Sanjaya
|
Post a Comment