Art Share In the White House!!!!

Hey Jaye Scribers!!!!!!!!!!  It has been a very busy year and we're already in MARCH!!!  Can you believe it?!?!  Well my lovely Scribers, for those of you that know, I often talk about a wonderful Non-Profit that I work with called Art Share Los Angeles.  They are an Arts non-profit that offers free classes in Dance, Theatre, Music, Fine Art & Tutoring.  Just last week it was my pleasure to chaperon 5 Art Share students to Washington, DC for a music initiative to teach America's youth about the importance and history of music.  Presidant & First Lady Obama and The Grammy Museum teamed up to create a program that has been in existance for the last year to bring students all over the U.S. to the White House to experience history in the making.  These students were chosen to not only attend this wonderful trip but to document it and share some of their personal stories and experience in an effort to show what music and opportunities like these do for their lives.  

On February 25th over 40 students from LA, Detroit, Chicago and DC sat in the White House listening to Michelle Obama talk about the importance of music in our schools and most importantly in our lives.  Explaining that her and her husband long to find opporunities to open the White House to the people, she could find no better way to do that than through music.  As we sat in front of a panel that included Berry Gordy (creator of Motown Records), Smokey Robinson (Motown Recording Artist) and John Legend (Recording Artist) students learned about the history of the soulful and social movement of music that was and is Motown Records.  Learning about how legends such as Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, the Supremes and the Temptations got started and what their music did for America in bridging gaps between races, cultures and countries.  After an insightful Q&A with the panel we enjoyed soul filled performances from John Legend and Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers.    

Later that evening the students were invited to the Executive Building in DC to watch a live concert hosted by President and First Lady Obama giving tribute to Motown greats.  Performers included: John Legend, Jamie Foxx, Ledisi, Amber Riley, Sheryl Crow, Natasha Bedingfield, Jordin Sparks and many more. 

While touring the city, visiting the White House and bonding with one another we definitely created a plethora of unforgettable memories that we all will take with us for a very long time.

~Till Next Blog I'm Danyol Jaye with The Jaye Spot~

Closed Mouths Cant Sing...Stop The Hate

Hey JayeScribers!!!!  I know that we are one day away from a new year but I have been struggling with one thing for the last few days and it fostered this question: How do you hate on someone you've never met or have never spoken to directly??


With all the hatred in the world, when did folks decide it was better to be catty and messy (disguised as those who say "they're just being honest" or "I'm just telling it like it is") rather than being cordial and communicating with people BEFORE judging them??  Honesty is best when coupled with tact and compassion, just fyi.
 
It baffles me that in a community where the government tries their hardest to keep the black and brown,  middle and lower class in a laser lined box and where the people IN said community struggle with self hate, fear and ridicule that those SAME people in the SAME community do to each other what everyone else does to the group as a whole. So I ask you: why is the catty-ness so strong in the black/brown community? When did it become more acceptable to tear our OWN down, rather then help lift them up?
 
As we transition into this new year take some inventory of your life.  MILLIONS and BILLIONS of people didn't make it to see this day.  Someone reading this right now has probably lost at least one person this year but we're here.  We're living and pressing on, so lets not go into 2011 with the same crazy hatred that led up to 2010.  I'm not so naive to think that I alone can change centuries of screwed up thought patterns, hatred, cruelty and so forth.  It IS my goal however to foster dialogues and critical thinking about the world we live in and how we can work together to make it a much better place to live one person at a time. 
 

I pray all are safe this coming New Years Eve and I wish you ALL a blessed New Year.  Thank you for ALLLL of the support this past year.  I have a new show coming out in 2011 called Closed Mouths Can't Sing: A Story of Abuse & Self Discovery.  It is my VERY FIRST one man show written and performed by yours truly and I will be singing with a new group by the name of ShaDah so please please please be looking for me this coming year and continue to show your support.  

 
And remember no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care!!!!!!!!!!
 
 
~Till next blog I'm Danyol Jaye with The Jaye Spot~ 

For Strength, For Rainbows, For Colored Girls...

"Somebody almost walked off wid alla my stuff 
not my poems or a dance I gave up in the street
 but somebody almost walked off wid alla my stuff."

-Ntozake Shange

Did Shange know that when she wrote this phrase of one of the most critically aclaimed poems which became part of her award winning Choreo-Drama, that she'd be speaking to a generation struggling with so much "stuff"?  Did she foresee the impact that her work would have on women and men alike?

In 1975 Ntozake Shange produced her amazing play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" which was a choregoraphed dramatization of the domestic, social, emotional and psychologicial issues that have bound women of color across america to that not-so-proverbial ball and chain.  As ladies of different shapes and sizes took color and painted the stage with their voices of reality, their movement of pain and sensuality and the ground breaking heartache of stories that no single person could have imagined to be captured on one stage, "For Colored Girls..." became not just a play but a movement, a mantra and most importantly a stand against the pain.

Tyler Perry has taken Shange's work and has recreated the stories to reach yet another generation of women and the mass of people everywhere who can relate.  With Actresses like Loretta Devine, Phylicia Rashaad, Whoopie Goldberg, Anika Noni Rose & Thandie Newton just to name a few, this movie adaptation is more than exceptional.  Tyler Perry has taken these stories, poems and lives of women that you can find yourself in at any point in time and has painted a picture filled with heart shattering, breath stealing and jaw dropping drama. 

As the story of 8 women with personal struggles and devotion to staying true to who they are as colored women unravel in this tantilizing epic, you find yourself being drawn in by the simple things that remind you of your own life.  You think about the people that have tried to "Steal yo stuff" and how you fight like hell to get it back, you're grateful for the ones that have told you, "You can't stay here, you've got to get up and move on.  How much responsibility you take is on you, but you gon have to take some."  And you're crippled by the knowledge of knowing that had it not been for the grace of God you would be lost in a sea of confusion and deception.  

I give this movie an astounding two thumbs up!!!!!!!!!  It is drama that the big screen has needed for some time now and is so masterly performed that it's hard to walk out of the theatre without sore cheeks from laughing, red eyes from crying and the beating heart of someone who just got hit with a ton of bricks called reality.  Definitley THEE premiere movie of the year.  You'll want it in your library I'm sure!!!!

For more information on Domestic Abuse among women & Rape related cases please visit Domestic Abuse Center and The Rape Crisis Center.  No one deserves to be abused.  If you or someone you know is being abused physically, verbally, sexually, emotionally or mentally please call the proper facilities in your local neighborhood and help to STOP the violence in today's communities.  Remember that EVERY life is worth saving, do your part by stopping the cycle.

~Till next blog I'm Danyol Jaye with The Jaye Spot~

Celebrating A Legend

From the greased hair to the upward pointing trumpet; nothing captures this legends legacy quite like his puffy cheeks and genre inspiring contributions to the world of Jazz, Afro-Cuban and Caribbean music, just to name a few.  John Birks Gillespie was born October 21, 1917 in Cheraw, South Carolina.  An American Jazz musician, singer, composer and band leader, John Birks Gillespie, better known to the world as Dizzy for his on-stage antics, has built the platform for Jazz music and many other genre's as we know them today. 

Playing the piano at the age of 4 and teaching himself how to play the trombone and trumpet by the age of 12, it was no secret that this little boy from South Carolina would grow up to be the world reknown Dizzy Gillespie.  Having played for acts such as Charlie Parker, Cab Calloway and Bud Powell, Dizzy was instrumental in the birthing of Bebop in the early to mid 1940's.  With the growing popularity of Swing music, Bepop was thought to be an outgrowth of Swing rather than a revolution.  Gillespie compositions like "Groovin' High", "Woody n' You" and "Salt Peanuts" sounded radically different, harmonically and rhythmically, from the Swing music popular at the time.  However, Dizzy found a way into the hearts of America with his crazy cheeks, amazing sound and genius composition.  It is said that the vocal Jazz inflection known as Scatting was also due to Mr. Gillespie.  Recording a song for his album, Dizzy accidentially dropped his sheet music and simply began creating sounds with his mouth to imitate instruments and thus birthed the first scat. 

Going on to conduct and play in a plethora of small bands and headlining his own big band, Gillespie toured the world performing for audiences everywhere and becoming the icon for the Bop era of the time.  Having past away on January 6, 1993 from pancreatic cancer, Dizzy had been known around the world as the "Ambassador of Jazz", the "Sound of Surpise" and most importanty a Jazz Legend.  Having been a part of a movement that included greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Mary Lou Williams and having inspired artists such as Miles Davis and Max Roach, Dizzy has definitely stamped his prints in the cement of music forever.

In honor of his legacy and amazing artistry Google celebrates a legend by creating a "doddle" of Dizzy doing what he loves to do best....playing that horn!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Dizzy Gillespie!!!!  You are truly missed and will remain alive in our hearts for generations to come.

~Till next blog I'm Danyol Jaye with The Jaye Spot~

Cycles & The People In Them

Hello Jayscribers,

So as most of you know I tend to talk about some pretty deep subjects in hopes that it evokes a critical thought.  Today is no different lol.  I want to talk about cycles and the people that keep them going and going and going.....(you get the picture)

Why is it that people we know have a tendency to go around and around in a circle and can never see it?  The more amazing questions is how can we see THEIR cycle and not see our own?

It has occured to me that the mirror theory is VERY relevant in todays society.  The theory is that we all walk around carrying a mirror face out...hiding behind the glass staring at a darkened side and only able to reflect on others issues rather than our own. 

But why the cycles?  Why do you think people go through them? 

I would love to hear YOUR stories of people in your life that you feel are going in a cycle and why you think they're stuck in them...Friends, lovers, etc...I wanna hear from you...


~Till next blog I'm Danyol Jaye with The Jaye Spot~

Choices That Bind

Hello Jaye Scribers!!!!!  What's going on?  Hot?  Yes I know, I too have been trying to stay cool in this onslaught of unmanageable heat that came purely out of no where.  Anywho...today I want to talk about Choices That Bind. 

I know that everything that we do in life is some sort of choice.  Whether or not it's choosing one type of soda to drink or choosing to go to church on Sunday, etc.  You get my drift.  However those are NOT the type of choices I want to discuss.  I'm specifically talking about choices that BIND.  Bind us to a job, bind us to a person or worse bind us to an idea of an impossible situation or relationship. 

How many of us are working a job because we made the choice, "I have to make money"?  And now you're making money, going to work everyday and miserable because you don't love what you do?  I think that for most of us work connecting to stability was something that our parents instilled in us from an early age.  They wanted to make sure that we had what they did not most of their life...stability!!  That we did not make the same mistakes that they did. 

And so we ventured out into our lives and we got something that was stable and paid the bills, but we forgot about us.   We forgot about the little girl who wanted to be a doctor but she settled on going to trade school to become a nurse or dental assistant.  We forgot about the little boy who wanted to be a rock star but now instead he's working at the post office singing at the office parties for free because they can't afford entertainment. 

As much as we need stability we need to also LOVE what we do.  Dreams are POSSIBLE!!!!  They are attainable, but they do take LOTS of work to achieve.  I guess in this situation the most important question is: "Are you ready to make a choice that binds you to your dream?"  Can we really all do what we love to do?  I mean someone has to work at the McDonald's drive-thru, right?  Who's going to tend the gardens?  Who's going to wash the cars?  ALL of these are questions that most of us have thought about and because of the obvious answers we tell ourselves, 'dreams are just that...dreams'.

Maybe you're work is not your issue.  Maybe you DO love what you do....but are you happy with who you're with?

I find that a lot of people at some point in their lives (including myself) have been in a relationship that just DID NOT work out!!!  We prodded and pleaded with ourselves to believe and stick with the idea of perfection that we tried to simulate by being what we THOUGHT they wanted.  Unfortunately no matter how much we try and change ourselves if they're not willing to work and make it work then it can never prosper.  But WHY do we continue to pour into something that has a major hole in it?  Most times we confuse love with lust, plain and simple.   I don't care what ANYONE has to say LOVE is not suppose to hurt.  It doesn't cause you to intentionally hurt that person, it doesn't call for you to just do whatever you want simply becaues you're not married or whatever the case.  Love SHOULD be something that holds you accountable to the people you say you love.  If you find that you have NOTHING in common with a person outside of things they do for you, their looks, their paycheck, their sex...then you might not really be in love. 

We should all try to understand that real love is about knowing how your significant other defines love.  You can't push YOUR definition of love onto someone else who doesn't share the same definition.  As many of us do though, we stick around a bad situation for months and even years praying and hoping that the situation (better yet the person) will change.  And we stay why?  Not because we're happy?  Because we make a choice that binds us to that person.  We choose to hope for the best and "one day" things will get better.  I have a question for you: "How long will you wait for better?" 

Sometimes we have to put on our grown up drawers and accept what IS....not what you want things to be.  In this situation you really have to ask yourself, "Are you willing to miss out on Great because you're making a choice that binds you to just 'ok'?"

Everyone reaches a point in their lives where they are tired of being tired.  They are forced to make a life changing or even just a situation changing decision.  I hope that if you are making choices that bind you, that at very least they are binding you to a job you overly enjoy, a love that is healthy and flourishing and lastly a choice that binds you to a foundation that when even in the midst of a storm you know that you will survive for the better.

Don't allow traditions and projected expectations to force you to make choices that bind you to hurt, depression and heartache.

Please share your thoughts, your stories, your experiences and opionions.  As you know I love to read them and I will do my best to respond and chime in.

~Till Next Blog I'm Danyol Jaye with The Jaye Spot~

Guilty Mistress Or Sensitive Singer?

So as some of you may know there's a HUGE scandal going on right now with Fantasia Barrino, winner of  American Idol's season 3.  It seems like Fantasia has been supplying one heck of a fantasy to one married man by the name of Antwaun Cook.  Sources say Barrino has flown him half way across the world for multiple mini vacations while engaging in sexual relations that the pair allegedly taped.  Talk about your adventurous team!!!!  It is reported that Barrino says that she was in fact in a relationship with Antwaun for 11months, HOWEVER she was under the impression that he was having marital issues and had been seperated from his wife for some time.   Mrs. Cook says that Fantasia is a homewrecker and should pay for not only breaking up a family but also destroying her marriage.

Although all reps in the Barrino camp deny such events, it was quite odd for the public to think anything else as they found that Barrino had tried to committ suicide by ingesting asprin and sleeping aid one evening in her North Carolina home just this week.  What was the cause of that action Fantasia?  Is she the homewrecking whore that Mrs. Cook claims she is?  Was Fantasia under the impression that Antwaun was seperated from his wife?  Is Antwaun going to make ANY statement to clear this alleged mess up?  You'll know as soon as i do lol, but in the meant time we're surely enjoying the media frenzy lol!!!!

~Till Next Blog I'm Danyol Jaye @ The Jaye Spot~