The Buzz and What's Cracking

Ever since the tragedy in her family, all has just been going on well for this hard working girl whose movie, "Dream Girls", earned her an Oscar in a brilliant supporting female role. The movie, I will tell you, is one of the best I've seen when it was released on Christmas Day, 2006. Jennifer Hudson is everywhere and she is doing stuff. She will be among the lineups for NBC's "Today" summer jams and her appearance will be in June. Expect some damn good stuff when she delivers at Time Square in New York.

I read Emma Okocha's interesting response to David Ejoor's interview "The Reminiscences of David Ejoor..." which has erupted another Igbo-bashing. Okocha set the record straight with facts. I have no beef with Ejoor, but I have a problem with his theme of the said interview which lacked merit; and, all in all, fabricated and full of lies. Ejoor is a midget in the history books of the 'Nigerian' crisis, and for him to insult the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe on the grounds of premiership of a failed state, there must be something he has ultimately not revealed. His angst for a hard working and industrious Igbo is what I'm trying to figure out. But one thing, though, he made it patently clear in that interview that he is an Igbo hater.

Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and Nas are teaming up for a new release titled "Distant Relatives" which has something to do with Nas and Marley's lineage which relates to Africa. Africa must unite and it all borders on that summer release and a world tour to promote the new album. On the other score, this year's Rock The Bells summer jams which will run across many North American cities including the City of Angels, will also feature Marley, Nas, Common, The Roots, Big Boi and many others. Rock The Bells is a hip hop festival organized every year.

Nas, so excited about his team work with Marley had this to say about Africa in general which was the whole idea of the album due to be released this summer: "As an American, we have so much even in a so-called recession that a neighborhood like Queensbridge or Red Hook is Beverly Hills compared to the way people are living in Nigeria, Sierre Leone, and Ghana. So obviously if we [are] making records with that theme, there's gonna be things I want to build on. I think Africa has a lot to teach us."

And Marley, in his own words; "Africa is the backbone of the world and the foundation of everything and Africans are in a situation where they need help more than anywhere else. We know there are dire situations here in America but when you look at America — with public libraries and free education — these are not opportunities most Africans have. It's a completely different scale of trying to help people. As humans beings, we're part of a human family."

What's going on with my Twitter these days? Methink Twitter needs to fix its infrastructure to alleviate the traffic jams. People wanna be moving and getting things done real quick but with such traffic jams, call it go slow, as the Chief Priest, Fela Kuti, would say, all Twitter need to do now is build more roads to make access to its destination easier. It's frustrating to wait on line to see what fellow tweeting addicts are saying or doing. It's better to know when someone is invoking your name. In many occasions this week alone as I try to check in to see what my fellow twitters are nagging about, I get some kind of strange response while breezing in. "Twitter is over capacity. Too many tweets! Please wait a moment and try again." Shoo, I wanna check in right away. I'm impatient because ain't nothing out there but tweeting, and that's the fun.

Around town, Seun Kuti's UCLA concert has been cancelled, so the organizes say. Austerity measure caught up with them and we will be missing another brilliant performance by the legendary Chief Priest's son, Seun. Elsewhere, the afrobeat maestro has many engagements in Europe. He will be touring Italy Germany, France and several other cities in Europe this summer. Seun, we miss your show and hopefully you will come back again to see us in the City of Angels.

Just poking around Inglewood, California, yesterday evening, I walked into Varja Books on Market Street and couldn't believe what I saw. Books dating back to the 18th century and vinyl albums from the early 1900s. I walked around and browsed through some books. The one that caught my eye was the LPs (vinyl albums). I went to the jazz section and combed through. Louis 'Satchimo' Armstrong, John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, J. J. Johnson. Shorty Rogers, Benny Carter, Miles Davis, Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ), and a whole lot of albums I haven't seen or heard were all stacked with price tags. Armstrong's album was selling for 700 bucks, John Coltrane 675 bucks, Coleman Hawkins 400 bucks, J. J. Johnson 455 bucks, Shorty Rogers 480 bucks, Ella Fitzgerald 395 bucks, Benny Carter 685 bucks and the list goes on and on, and on.

Now, guess what? I bumped into Theodora Ifudu's 1981 classic "This Time Around" and it was selling for 800 bucks. Azigbakwa!

That's "The Buzz and What's Cracking."