Aaron Rodriguez is a former editor of Blacklight Literary Magazine and still helps out; an English Major at the University of Chicago, and an aspiring novelist. Ask him where he's from and he'll give you a long drawn out speech about the horrors of a military childhood. So we'll just say Milwaukee...yeah that works....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact the crew at:

Aaron Rodriguez, Former Editor 

Brian Clarke, Assistant Editor: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Brittany A. Little, Managing Editor: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Misha LJ Stallworth, Webmaster/Senior Editor: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2010-02-25 

 

This should have been in Issue01 at the beginning of this month and that's my fault.  But it's going up now so pay attention. Everyone should know who James Dewitt Yancey aka J Dilla is but if you don't then first you need to know that he was an extremely large influence in Hip Hop, both as a producer and a creative genius.  His work extended far beyond underground Detroit Hip Hop and into work with the likes of Common, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, etc

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Read more: Music Extra: It's Been Dilla Month for 25 Days

Misha LJ Stallworth hails from Detroit, MI and is built from underground music and American Muscle. She has dabbled in things creatively from piano, to trumpet, to choir; acting, to set crew, dance and directing but always what remains constant is her writing. Misha has performed in a number of open mics, and play productions though she prefers to just write from the background and leave her work to be read and open to interpretation. She is currently a member of the class of 2010 at University of Chicago, majoring in psychology and working on a memoir about male-female relationships and influences that grew from a series of prose she wrote titled Boy Crazy. Along with this, Misha is an active community member, taking the things that she knows best to the youth who need it most in urban areas. She tutors, teaches and mentors through the groups FIERCE and Upward Bound; and hopes to become a psychotherapist working with youth and artistic forms of expression for use as an outlets while continuing to always be a writer and artist.

Noisettes [pronunciation: noiz-zets], noun.

       1.  A British, indie rock band made up of singer and bassist Shingai Shoniwa, guitarist Dan Smith and drummer Jamie Morrison.

      2.  A band that is the business

 

 

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Read more: Bring on the Noise(ettes)!!

Brittany A. Little, a product of Miami, FL, is a fourth year History Major and University Scholar Award recipient at the University of Chicago. As an actress, writer, director, teacher and arts administrator, Brittany has had the pleasure to work with Chicago's Court Theatre (Assistant Director-First Breeze of Summer, Dramaturg-Caroline, or Change), About Face Theatre, Ebony Magazine, Little Black Pearl, Oprah Winfrey presents The Color Purple (Production Assistant-1st National Tour), UofC Org. of Black Students, Apple & American Airlines presents iRep (Writer/Director), University Theater, The Reva and David Logan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts (Advisory Board Member), HBO & Film Life's American Black Film Festival and many others. Her most recent accomplishment was the creation of F.I.E.R.C.E., a university and South Side based organization empowering young girls and women of color. For her work, she has been honored with the Miami Herald's Silver Knight Award, Princeton University's Princeton Prize in Race Relations, City of Miami's Emerging Community ICON Award, two Jeff Metcalf Professional Fellowships and The University of Chicago's Morton and Murphy Award for Exceptional Student Leadership. Brittany is currently doing research on Black women in 20th and 21st Century Chicago Theater through a university awarded Research Initiative Grant. In the future, Brittany hopes to obtain her MBA and Ph.D.

A long time ago in the depths of Israel the likes of Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Smokey Robinson, Curtis Mayfield and a few others came together and produced a love child (no homo).  Then they cryogenically froze said child until it was time for him to be incubated in the late 70's in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Mayer Hawthorne was born.

 

Okay, that's lie.

But once you hear this cat's voice combined with his contemporary but still old school, Motown based sound arrangements you'd totally believe that that story was true (I'm not really convinced that it isn't true but since there's no evidence to prove it I guess it'll just be my own little conspiracy theory of sorts). He's the next generation.

 

Mayer Hawthorne and the County are bringing R&B/Soul back to life all around the world and the fact that what was a side project just sort of randomly developed into this awesomeness is a sign that it was meant to be. His deep yet slightly raspy crooning in tenor and delicate falsetto makes all the whiners of popular, mainstream R&B seem pre-pubescent (oh wait, most of them are); and his instrumentals take you back to a place before every track had a shout out by DJ such-and-such to some random dude that none of us know, to a time when you know, real instruments were used (think the Papa Was a Rolling Stone recording scene in the Temptations movie).

 

A lot of the time when artists are really good and deviate from the norm they aren't received well but Mayer seems to be doing alright.  He's had #1 downloads on itunes since the singles went up earlier this year and he was recently Billboard's number 2 new artist. Upon the release of the album other artists became fans as well. 

 

Mayer has been doing the Lonely Hearts tour around the country recently from LA to Chicago, back to Ann Arbor, up to New York and host of other places both domestic and abroad, and his shows are selling completely out (he's the shit, what else is to be expected). A

Upcoming tour dates

get your tickets early people

Oct 13, 2009//Tucson
Oct 14, 2009//Tempe
Oct 15, 2009//San Diego

Oct 24, 2009//Glasgow
Oct 25, 2009//Leeds
Oct 26, 2009//Bristol
Oct 27, 2009//London
Oct 29, 2009//London
Oct 30, 2009// Galway
Oct 30, 2009// Dublin
Nov 04, 2009// Rome
Nov 05, 2009// Vercelli
Nov 06, 2009// Leuven
Nov 07, 2009// Ghent
Nov 09, 2009// Amsterdam
Nov 10, 2009// Paris
Nov 11, 2009// Marseille
Nov 12, 2009// Zurich
Nov 14, 2009// Lausanne
Nov 17, 2009// Erlangen
Nov 19, 2009// Linz
Nov 20, 2009// Vienna,
Nov 21, 2009//Berlin

 

Adding on to Mayer's audio creativity is the visual.  His first single, Just Aint Gonna Work Out was released on a heart shaped vinyl and his album cover is set in the 50's along with his hair cut and many of the lines on his suits; and his glasses are maybe a decade older...maybe. Don't get it twisted though, regardless of his cardigans and jeans he doesn't quite fit the hipster thing. He does an older time stylishly and with a modern twist that usually makes him look like he stepped from the pages of a 50's cigarette ad (or from a recent GQ photoshoot).  

 

 

Mayer is the total package for those of us who have feelings of nostalgia yet know we have to accept changing times. There's a perfect blend of what's old and what's new to take us into the future of R&B and Soul music.  

I Wish It Would Rain

You can listen to song samples and then buy the CD or a CD+Vinyl package Here

OR

 hit up itunes and download your digital copy.

 

Once you hear it, you'll want to own it, so be warned because this man (this man right here, above and below) is totally addictive. 

 

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Brian was trained classically in the trumpet, including stints with Julliard and the Manhattan Borough-Wide band. In high school, Brian continued as an athlete, scholar and a leader in the community. Brian has also been very active in the non-profit education sector and looks to work actively to improve education after graduation. Currently Brian is a third-year at the University of Chicago, a political science major, a journalist and most recently the associate editor of this, Blacklight Publication.