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~

American Idol Being Sued & Rhianna's Big Movie Debut!!!

Hello Jayescribers!!!!

Apparently ex-contestant, Ian Benardo, is suing the nationally syndicated show for $300 MILLION dollars for allegedly demonstrating homophobia during the show.  Back in May Benardo was part of a gimmick that called for him to grab a mic out of AI contestant Dane Cook's hand during the shows Finale.  According to GearLive.com Benardo filed a suit through the New York State Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, against AI after claiming to be personally threatened by Cook.  Benardo states that a producer of Idol told him that Cook wanted to, "shove this mic up your a**, but you'd like it".  Claiming that the show asked Benardo to "gay it up" during the finale, he felt as though the show left him hanging when the mic bit didn't work out as planned. 

This is not the first time that Benardo cried "gay wolf'.  He made the same accusations after the judges denied him a pass to Hollywood at the New York Auditions during the shows 6th season.

It's clear that this overly flamboyant wanna-be star isn't getting a dime, however, it's very entertaining to watch him make a public fool of himself lol.

TMZ catches Benardo in one of his "I'm a pretend Diva" moments on the streets of New York talking about how hurt he is by American Idol, in the midst of cussing out a man for asking for directions!!!!  HILARIOUS!!!!!  Good luck Ian on being one of the most laughed at people in the media, gay or not.  He's surely succeeded at one thing....NOT being a super star....LMBO!!!!!

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In other entertainment news, Variety announced Tuesday that the wonderful 22 y/o island singer, Rihanna, is set to debut in her FIRST movie role in the movie adaptation of the Milton Bradley game 'Battleship'.  It is unclear as to what role the pop singer will play or if she will have to change her new cherry doo to play it.  Rihanna will co-star alongside Taylor Kitsch (TV's "Friday Night Lights") and Alexander Skarsgard ("True Blood") in the film which is to be directed by "Hancock" director, Peter Berg. 

Having had success with "Transformers" and "G.I. Joe", Hasbro, the company that owns Milton Bradley, is using "Battleship" to launch a string of films all of which are part of a 4 picture deal with Universal Studios.  Michael Bay is planning to produce a movie centered on Ouija boards while Ridley Scott is attached to direct a "Monopoly" film.

For more information on "Battleship" the movie please CLICK HERE!!!!!

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

In The Boom Boom Studio

Hello JayeScribers!!!!!!  I'm here in Burbank at Will Smiths Boom Boom Studio with the cast of Phi'LA.  Phi'LA the musical is an urban story of a black Philadelphia family who moves to LA for a new beginning.  The bulk of the story is wrapped around a Black boy who falls in love for a Latin girl and the controversy that grows from that love.

I'm sitting here, in Will Smith's Boom Boom Studio, wrapping up one of the last songs for the Musical's soundtrack with fellow cast mates Grace Porter and Egbert Bernard who play Randall & Verline Jones in the musical.  Grace & I had a nice small conversation, this is what she had to say:

DANYOL: So Grace how is being in Phi'LA changed your life.

GRACE: It's a wonderful experience to meet new people and work on my craft with great people.

DANYOL: Where do you feel the play is going?

GRACE: I think it's progressively getting better with everyone working as a cast and making sure we do our best to portray a message that needs to be heard.

DANYOL: If nothing else what is the ONE thing you'd want people to get from this show?

GRACE: That Gang Violence really needs to stop.  People's race shouldn't be a reason to kill, there is no reason to kill. 

DANYOL: How has your experience been working in the Boom Boom Studio?

GRACE: I love it!!!  Just being to work and do what I love in a professional setting is amazing.  I've recorded before with doing classical music so this is totally different and it's great.  It's more my style so I'm able to be a little more comfortable. 

DANYOL: Well thank you Grace for taking this time to speak with me for The Jaye Spot.

GRACE: Thank you and I really hope everyone comes out to see the show.

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