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Ghetto Gothic
''Ghetto Gothic'' is the fifth studio album by Melvin Van Peebles. Released in 1995, this album marks the second traditional music effort by Van Peebles, after '' What the....You Mean I Can't Sing?!'' Previously, Van Peebles released the experimental spoken word albums '' Brer Soul'', ''Ain't Supposed To Die a Natural Death'' and ''As Serious as a Heart-Attack''. ''Ghetto Gothic'' sees Van Peebles embracing a modern production sound, while the music encompasses various music styles, including hip hop, reggae, blues and classical music. Background Following the release of Melvin Van Peebles' film ''Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'', he premiered two musicals on Broadway, ''Don't Play Us Cheap'' and ''Ain't Supposed To Die A Natural Death'', deriving from earlier plays he had written in French. To express the ghetto's turmoil and pathos, Van Peebles used sprechgesang as a form he could tell stories in; he recorded three albums using this style, '' Brer Soul'', ''Ain't Supposed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melvin Van Peebles
Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the 2000s. His feature film debut, ''The Story of a Three-Day Pass'' (1967), was based on his own French-language novel ' and was shot in France, as it was difficult for a black American director to get work at the time. The film won an award at the San Francisco International Film Festival which gained him the interest of Hollywood studios, leading to his American feature debut '' Watermelon Man'', in 1970. Eschewing further overtures from Hollywood, he used the successes he had so far to bankroll his work as an independent filmmaker. In 1971, he released his best-known work, creating and starring in the film ''Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'', considered one of the earliest and best-regarded examples of the blaxploitation genre. He followed this up with the musical, '' Don't Play Us Cheap'', based on hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ain't Supposed To Die A Natural Death
''Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death (Tunes from Blackness)'' is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Melvin Van Peebles. The musical contains some material also on three of Van Peebles' albums, '' Brer Soul'', ''Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death'' and ''As Serious as a Heart-Attack'', some of which were yet to come out. The musical is a series of 19 politically outspoken, darkly comic, and sexually charged musical monologues that explore the negative aspects of African-American street life and the ghetto experience. Each character has a painful story to tell in funk, soul, jazz and blues-inflected songs. The innovative piece, presented in a confrontational, "in your face" style, is a precursor to choreopoem, spoken word, and rap music. It "contributed to the growing black presence on Broadway." In 1970, Van Peebles decided to transform some of the albums he had recorded between 1968 and 1970 into a musical. According to Van Peebles, "The songs were mirroring th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waltz Of The Stork
''Waltz of the Stork'' is a semi-autobiographical play written and originally performed by Melvin Van Peebles. It also featured his son Mario Van Peebles. The play originally ran for four months in 1982. It ran from January 5, 1982 to May 23, 1982. The song "The Apple Stretching", featured in this play, was later covered by Grace Jones, and released as a single. In 2008, a film based on the play, '' Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha'', was released, directed by Van Peebles. Cast/Crew *Melvin Van Peebles - Edward Aloysius Younger *Bob Carten - Stillman *C.J.Critt - Phantoms, etc * Mario Van Peebles - Phantoms, etc Songs * There * And I Love You * The Apple Stretching * Tender Understanding (written by Teddy Hayes) * The Apple Stretching * My Love Belongs To You * Weddings And Funerals (written by Mark Barkan Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democrat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Apple Stretching
"The Apple Stretching" is a song by American recording artist Grace Jones, released as a single in 1982. Background "The Apple Stretching" was written by Melvin Van Peebles for his 1982 play '' Waltz of the Stork''. The song describes New York City in the early morning. It was included on Jones' sixth album ''Living My Life'' and also released as a double A-side single with "Nipple to the Bottle", written by Jones and Sly Dunbar (which also got a separate single release in certain territories). The original 7-minute song's single edit was just the album version, faded out at 3:33. "The Apple Stretching" was simultaneously released as a 12" version, clocking in at 8:40. It included a second verse of the song, which had been omitted on the album version, where Jones sings together with a bass guitar only along with funky percussion. This version remains unreleased on CD. Van Peebles said of being able to do the song, "I couldn't have done hat track before because people weren't use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner violence'', which is committed by one of the people in an intimate relationship against the other person, and can take place in relationships or between former spouses or partners. In its broadest sense, domestic violence also involves violence against children, parents, or the elderly. It can assume multiple forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic, religious, reproductive, or sexual abuse. It can range from subtle, coercive forms to marital rape and other violent physical abuse, such as choking, beating, female genital mutilation, and acid throwing that may result in disfigurement or death, and includes the use of technology to harass, control, monitor, stalk or hack. Domestic murder includes stoning, bride burning, ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chamber Music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers, with one performer to a part (in contrast to orchestral music, in which each string part is played by a number of performers). However, by convention, it usually does not include solo instrument performances. Because of its intimate nature, chamber music has been described as "the music of friends". For more than 100 years, chamber music was played primarily by amateur musicians in their homes, and even today, when chamber music performance has migrated from the home to the concert hall, many musicians, amateur and professional, still play chamber music for their own pleasure. Playing chamber music requires special skills, both musical and social, that differ from the skills required for playing solo or symphonic works. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melvin Van Peebles At The 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
Melvin is a masculine given name and surname, likely a variant of Melville and a descendant of the French surname de Maleuin and the later Melwin. It may alternatively be spelled as Melvyn or, in Welsh, Melfyn and the name Melivinia or Melva may be used a feminine form. Of Norman French origin, originally Malleville, which translates to "bad town," it likely made its way into usage in Scotland as a result of the Norman conquest of England. It came into use as a given name as early as the 19th century, in English-speaking populations. As a name Given name Academics *Melvin Calvin (1911–1997), American chemist who discovered the Calvin cycle *Melvin Day (1923–2016), New Zealand artist and art historian *Melvin Hochster (born 1943), American mathematician *Melvin Konner (born 1946), Professor of Anthropology *Melvin Schwartz (1932–2006), American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1988 * Melvin Alvah Traylor, Jr. (1915–2008), American ornithologist Busines ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sampling (music)
In sound and music, sampling is the reuse of a portion (or sample) of a sound recording in another recording. Samples may comprise elements such as rhythm, melody, speech, sounds or entire bars of music, and may be layered, equalized, sped up or slowed down, repitched, looped, or otherwise manipulated. They are usually integrated using hardware ( samplers) or software such as digital audio workstations. A process similar to sampling originated in the 1940s with '' musique concrète'', experimental music created by splicing and looping tape. The mid-20th century saw the introduction of keyboard instruments that played sounds recorded on tape, such as the Mellotron. The term ''sampling'' was coined in the late 1970s by the creators of the Fairlight CMI, a synthesizer with the ability to record and play back short sounds. As technology improved, cheaper standalone samplers with more memory emerged, such as the E-mu Emulator, Akai S950 and Akai MPC. Sampling is a foundation of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Posse (1993 Film)
''Posse'' is a 1993 American Western film directed by and starring Mario Van Peebles. Featuring a large ensemble cast, the film tells the story of a posse of African-American soldiers and one ostracized white soldier, who are all betrayed by a corrupt colonel. The story starts with the group escaping with a cache of gold, and continues with their leader Jessie Lee (Mario Van Peebles) taking revenge on the men who killed his preacher father. The story is presented as a flashback told by an unnamed old man (Woody Strode). The title of the film refers to a group of people who are summoned to help law enforcement officers. This film was the first film to be released by Gramercy Pictures. Melvin Van Peebles, the father of director Mario Van Peebles, recorded a new song, "Cruel Jim Crow", for the film. This marked his first music recording in 20 years, after his 1974 album '' What the....You Mean I Can't Sing?!'' It led to the production of a new album, ''Ghetto Gothic'', released in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mario Van Peebles
Mario Van Peebles (born January 15, 1957) is an American film director and actor best known for directing and starring in ''New Jack City'' in 1991 and '' USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage'' in 2016. He is the son of actor and filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles, whom he portrayed in the 2003 biopic ''Baadasssss!'', which he also co-wrote and directed. Early life and education Mario Van Peebles was born in Mexico City, Mexico, the son of writer, director, actor and musician Melvin Van Peebles and Maria Marx. He travelled often with his parents between Europe and the USA. He majored in economics at Columbia College, the undergraduate division of Columbia University. He was invited to speak as the Class Day Speaker as part of the annual commencement exercises in 2021. Career 1968 to 1971: First roles Van Peebles' first screen appearance was in 1968, in the soap opera ''One Life to Live''. In 1971, he appeared in the film ''Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'', Melvin Van Peebles direct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the South had adopted laws, beginning in the late 19th century, banning discrimination in public accommodations and voting. Southern laws were enacted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by white Southern Democrat-dominated state legislatures to disenfranchise and remove political and economic gains made by African Americans during the Reconstruction era. Jim Crow laws were enforced until 1965. In practice, Jim Crow laws mandated racial segregation in all public facilities in the states of the former Confederate States of America and in some others, beginning in the 1870s. Jim Crow laws were upheld in 1896 in the case of ''Plessy vs. Ferguson'', in which the Supreme Court laid out its "separate but equal" legal doctrine concerning faciliti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billboard (magazine)
''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music industry. Its music charts include the Hot 100, the 200, and the Global 200, tracking the most popular albums and songs in different genres of music. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows. ''Billboard'' was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegan's interest in 1900 for $500. In the early years of the 20th century, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs, and burlesque shows, and also created a mail service for travelling entertainers. ''Billboard'' began focusing more on the music industry as the jukebox, phonograph, and radio became commonplace. Many topics it covered were spun-off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
