UYRL

Renowned salsa musician Manny Oquendo died March 25, 2009 at a New York hospital. Oquendo was a veteran of the days when Latin bands crowded into a studio to polish off a recording in an all-night session. "The first recording (singer) Tito Rodriguez did, we took the 7th Avenue train to record for SMC label," Oquendo recalled. "Tito Puente did the arrangements. You recorded on monaural, with just a few mikes. You couldn’t stop and overdub. You just played." 

Oquendo’s musical education consisted of the old-school, "just play" approach, and he was in the right place to learn. He grew up on Kelly Street in the Bronx, New York, not far from the great Cuban tres player, Arsenio Rodriguez. Colin Powell, who’d later become a general, lived on the block too, so did pianist Noro Morales. And a lot of kids who’d later make their names in Latin music,  such as Joe Cuba, the Palmieri brothers, Little Ray Romero, grew up playing stickball on Kelly Street. 

Oquendo became an expert on Cuban rhythms and began playing bongo and timbales with a succession of New York’s top bands , with José Curbelo and Vicentico Valdes before moving into the orchestras of Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez. 

In 1963, he joined La Perfecta, the conjunto organized by pianist Eddie Palmieri. "La Perfecta was struggling at that time, trying to compete with all the other bands at the Palladium," says Oquendo. "I’m talking about big bands with 15 people in them. Eddie’s was a small conjunto group. But what made us different was the music and the playing " we were looser, more free." 

In 1974, Oquendo and Jerry Gonzalez left La Perfecta to move in their own direction. In the years since, Manny Oquendo and Libre became preservationists of the tipico sound, nurturing some of the most dedicated sidemen in the business. 

Basically you have to listen to Major Lazer because he is down with Diplo and anything that Diplo puts out is FYAH (okay, almost anything). Last night, I had a chance to listen to Major Lazer’s new single,  “Hold The Line” and my eyes were bigger than Dolly Parton’s headlights! The original with Santogold is definitely great, but the remix…oh the remix is just more fyah! Anyways, just listen here and check the MAD DECENT site for more updates on Major Lazer!

Google has announced that it’s pulling music videos from the German YouTube site, following the expiry of its licensing deal with local collecting society GEMA. And the web giant is so angry about the rates it claims GEMA wants to charge, it’s made them public.

Specifically, Google’s Patrick Walker tells Der Spiegel that “It’s unprecedented in the history of music video streaming”, saying that while PRS for Music charges £0.0022 per stream in the UK, GEMA’s on-demand music rate is €0.12 (£0.11) for every song up to five minutes, and more for longer tracks or those with ads.

GEMA disagrees, saying it offered YouTube a rate of €0.01 per track, but that Google was unwilling to give it enough transparency in return - chief executive Harald Heker describes it as a “fundamental clash”. We’ll say. Meanwhile, in the UK, the Musicians Union and the Featured Artists Coalition have both released statements today in support of PRS for Music’s position.

This one will run and run. Meanwhile, labels and artists who were using YouTube for promotion are going elsewhere - witness Kasabian’s use of Vimeo to release the video for their comeback single yesterday.

If asked which is the most valuable, many people will say “time.” After all, you can work hard and make more money but you can’t make more time. You have the same 24 hours in a day as everyone else. Since you can make more time, you have to be careful how you use the time given.

Time use falls into three distinct categories: work time, family time and personal time.  Your job generally dictates the minimum time that you spend at work. But work time is more than 9-5 at your desk.

It’s also the hour each way that you commute and at least half hour to get ready in the morning. This is all part of your work time. If you are an entrepreneur, then you can set your own work hours.

You may work twelve hours on a project for several days, then sleep late the next day or take a day off. In your situation, work time is more linked to output than to actual hours in an office.

However, you do need to be aware of your work time because without the boundaries of an office day, you might keep working well into the family time which creates other problems.

Family time is what you spend with your mate and/or children. This is more than just brief conversations over dinner or while rushing out the door in the morning. You need to plan time each day to focus on your family.

Maybe not the same amount of time everyday, but real time to talk and listen rather than a few words exchanged while the TV or computer is on.  In prior generations, the dinner hour was family time and other people didn’t even call during that time. Now with family schedules so varied, you have to turn off the cell phones and the land phone to avoid interruptions.

Personal time is more than family time - it’s time for yourself. Even dedicated parents or partners need time for their own interests. Perhaps you enjoy golf, tennis, bicycling, scrapbooking, woodworking, gardening or other hobbies.

If you work at a fast paced job, you might really love to have an hour in total quiet to write in your journal or to read. You might give up some of those interests in order to do things with your family, but you are wise not to give up all your personal time. This isn’t being selfish; in fact when you use your personal time, you benefit your family or mate by refreshing your interests and nurturing those talents that are uniquely yours.

The difficulty for most of us is finding the right balance between work time, family time and personal time. Work time can quickly over-run family time and annihilate personal time, particularly if you work for a company that is not family friendly.  That may be your cue to look for a job in a company that values your family time and encourages you to engage in your personal interests.

You might be surprised to find that there are major employers who feel that way. There are also many smaller companies, family owned local companies, who still believe in the importance of a balanced life style. No wonder “time” is so important that people in high powered jobs leave for lesser pay but greater flexibility because money won’t buy back time that is lost with their family and friends.

On 2007's White Chalk, Polly Harvey made some of the quietest and most riveting music of her career. That record's coiled menace returns on this second set with longtime collaborator John Parish. Her latest also finds her at her most gleefully deranged. Parish provides music, while Harvey recites, sings and mangles the lyrics. "Pig Will Not," a howling Captain Beefheart–style blues, features her barking (more English terrier than pit bull).

Yup, that is correct, you shouldn’t listen to  some Jamaicans if you want to learn to speak Jamaican patois/slang. I know this may sound strange, but the truth of the situation is that there seems to be a certain amount of disapproval from some Jamaicans when it comes to foreigners speaking Jamaican Patois. This is just silly and really close minded on many levels. You would never hear a Cuban say, ” I cannot stand it when foreigners try to speak Spanish to me.” And you most certainly would not hear an American saying, ” It annoys me when immigrants try to speak English.” The whole concept of that sounds absolutely ridiculous to me and that is why I say you should not and cannot listen to some Jamaicans or people of any other nationality that try to put down your ambitions to speak another language, dialect, creole or patois.

Here is a “likkle” insight into why that type of close minded thinking does very little for the country, culture and language. Language is culture in alot of ways. There are words, expressions and pronunciations that develop in different languages and countires that give you some insight into the culture. For example, I speak Brazilian Portuguese (among other languages) and a good friend of mine speaks Haitian Creole. Well, recently he heard me speaking to a friend in Portuguese and he understood the word BUNDA which means butt in Brazilian Portuguese, but it also means butt in Haitian Creole. You might be thinking that this is a coincidence, but I know it is not. The fact that two New World Countries with large populations of Afro-Descendants have similar words among many other things gives clues to the history and cultural past of the two countries. What is the likely answer? Some of the slaves imported to the two countries share a common point of origin and the word became a part of the language. There might be other reasons, but that is as good of a lead as any. Secondly, when people try to speak Jamaican Patois, it only helps spread knowledge and awareness about the culture and country. Finally, it is fun. Learning and speaking new languages is fun. People love learning and speaking new languages. So the key is to seek out and surround yourself with people that will embrace your attempts at learning to speak Jamaican Patois or Spanish or French. If someone is clowning you because you are trying to practice your patois, tell them “more time” and move on to the next willing and open minded person.

I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about Keri Hilson, and after waiting a few years for her album to finally be released, it looks like In a Perfect World… is finally a go. The album already went straight to the top of the R&B charts, so it seems as if all the delays and subsequent hype worked out for the singer. Her single “Turning Me On” featuring Lil Wayne is also doing well on the charts.

Her album was supposed to be released around the time that Timbaland’s “The Way I Are” (which Hilson co-wrote and sang on) came out, but her album was reworked over a two year period instead. Hilson has a plethora of co-writes on her resume, including Britney Spears’ “Gimme More,” and Mary J. Blige’s “Take Me As I Am.”

There were aspects of waiting that helped Hilson in the end; the singer told the Associated Press that waiting allowed her to pick the songs that were able to stand up against “the test of time.” Also because of the delays, many high profile musicians were able to collaborate with her on songs, like her new single “Knock You Down,” featuring both Kanye West and Ne-Yo.

I didn’t know , in todays throw away culture, that musicians today could create “this test of time” albums. Fair play if it turns out to be true.

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