You've got to fight – and party – for your mind.

 

Dear Reader, yours truly am a man of few words today. Here, out from under T.S. Lee [Allen] all is cool... almost calm, and necessarily collected. Labor Day '11... so far, so wet... and not as wild as one would expect.

 

Honestly, I feel more threatened by the storms of “Peak-Media-Season '11” than by any force of nature.…

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“Eat the rich!”

 

Welcome back Dear Reader; and Happy August to you. While I have long maintained that happiness (as in: “the pursuit of...”) is highly overrated, I do sincerely hope that you are now and have been playing it cool... all the way; and I submit this small buffet of thought.

 

A quarter of a century ago, the phrase, “eat the rich” first entered my consciousness by way of a song which was written and recorded by one of America's truest originals.…

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Dear Reader, with summer '11 upon us, and the Mississippi river subsiding within us, and storm season again taking its rightful place, [ALL HAIL...!] I say: Here's to time!

 

I am glad to be back home in New Orleans; where one can't go too, too far without bumping into to some sign or plaque acknowledging our history. [I can't help but joke about the sign which was placed, not too long ago, at the end of my block stating the name of my neighborhood as the "Suburb…

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“Roll with the punches!” 

 

Danny Barker had a bold, and oftentimes, daring perspective on seemingly anything and everything under the sun.

 

He unflinchingly viewed the foibles of human life with a wry sense of humor and a deep self-knowing; both of which were hallmarks of his singular style.

 

He summed up his life's ethos as the quintessential Jazz journeyman, offering the words which with I open this day's very special post. Danny Barker…

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My fellow Americans... and dear Readers everywhere, let us take a few moments to hear Mr. Barker's address: The State of the Smile.

 

Smile.wav

 

And the whole world will smile with you!

 

Peace & Pops,

Esquizito

Maison Musique, New Orleans

esquizito.com

My Catalogue of CD's Available Thru A Locally…

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Dear Reader, peace to you and yours, today. This is my last post for this series, Afro-American Music:101. Firstly, I will again state that it has been my great honor and, (most times) my great pleasure to have carried on in this task of: editing, analyzing, and bringing to the internet... the mind of Daniel Moses Barker.



This blog began, January 13th, 2009 (the 100th anniversary of this great Jazz man's… Continue

Happy New Year first of all. I hope we have... a million or two million more of them – if we can get over this summer... heh-heh-heh.



Dear Reader, I continue with my closure to this unique course in Jazz by opening this nth degree post with a quote from another legendary “Man with a guitar,” the great James Marshall Hendrix. These words opened his New Year's Night, 1970 introduction to what was to become a masterpiece; entitled, Machine Gun.



The legendary… Continue

There is a strong desire for a Mindfulness of our Ancestors. Here is the last week of the year, the ending of the first decade of the new century, and a little further distancing from the 20th century. Indeed, western civilization has made its baby steps into a new millennium of media. And yet, old ideas take so long to relinquish themselves.



Time is a wondrous thing. The more I get, the more I want – it seems. (Maybe.) Time allows for greater awareness and deeper understanding. Time… Continue

“Son do!”



This was the nick name that young Dan earned in glowing reflection of his eager willingness to please others and work. Danny substantiates this characterization in several instances. Among his memoirs, there are detailed tales of life in Downtown Orleans Parish. In this season of the God blessed child, this fin de cicle post focuses again on the jazzy childhood of Daniel Moses Barker.



“So I have vivid memories of what was happening on the river and I saw… Continue

Never worry about tomorrow. Yet another New Orleans motto? No, and not another Esquizito Credo, either. Nay, nay. It's The Nazarene again. In a way, he's got a point. If you are really interested in manifesting your dream world, you're doing yourself a disservice by wasting consciousness on thoughts of: how bad could it get? I guess it's true – somethings will get worse. Some things will get better. Things have gotten better. Worse or better, everything begins with an idea.



So... hey… Continue

Off the top: I cook to eat. My life is not such that someone else is preparing my plate for me. The apparent reality that more and more people seem to really like my food is a surprise twist. I admit, I've developed a real zeal for the cuisine of my community. I take pride in representing a legacy that I've just flowed into whilst living my life: New Orleans Home Chef. I consider myself a “feather weight” compared to some people I know, and have learned about recently.



I've made… Continue

"How many holes you got in your head?"



I'm quoting the late, great, guitarist/banjoist, writer/historian, storyteller and great wit – Daniel Moses Barker. (13 January 1909–13 March 1994) If you are not hip to Danny Barker then it is my great honor and pleasure to place him in your consciousness. Indeed, my storytelling style, and motivation, is very much influenced by this man and his legacy. I never met him, but when Danny entered my consciousness just over ten years ago, as New… Continue