Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

“Remembering MLK” + Glenn North

Wednesday MidDay Medley celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born January 15, 1929. Dr. King led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King’s efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.

By the time of his death, Dr. King had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the Vietnam War, both from a religious perspective. Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 198I.

1. Soweto Gospel Choir – “Pride (In The Name of Love)”
from: In the Name of Love – Africa Celebrates U2 / Shout! Factory Records / 2008

2. International Noise Conspiracy / MLK Jr. – “The First Conspiracy / Let Freedom Ring”
from: Adbusters – Live Without Dead Time / Adbusters / 2003

3. Labelle – “Something in The Air / The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”
from: Something Silver / Warner Archives / 1997
[orig. Pressure Cookin’ / 1973, 3rd album from the funk/soul trio of: Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash who each shared a rap on “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” a poem and song by Gil Scott-Heron. It was the B-side to Scott-Heron’s first single, “Home Is Where the Hatred Is”, from his album Pieces of a Man (1971). “Something in the Air” is a song orig. recorded by Thunderclap Newman, a band created by Pete Townshend for The Who’s former roadie John ‘Speedy’ Keen who wrote and sang the song. It was a UK #1 single for three weeks in July 1969.]

10:13 – Soul Brother…

4. Curtis Mayfield – “Beautiful Brother of Mine”
from: Roots / Curtom-Buddah / 1971

5. Maceo & The Macks – “Soul Power ’74”
from: James Brown’s Funky People, Pt. 2 / People Records / 1988
[Not only is this particular record sampled more than hors douvres in a supermarket aisle, it contains samples itself in the form of tape overlays of civil rights rallies, a Dr. King speech, and an announcement of King’s assassination. Maceo Parker has played saxophone with James Brown, Parliment, Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell and Prince.]

6. Sweet Honey in The Rock, Aaron Neville, Lamar Campbell & Spirit of Praise -“Ella’s Song”
from: Soundtrack to Boycott / HBO / 2001
[Critically acclaimed 2001 film staring Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Terrence Howard as Ralph Abernathy, and CCH Pounder as Jo Ann Robinson.]

10:25 – Underwriting

10:27 – King’s Life, Death, and Spirit…

7. Common & John Legend – “Glory”
from: Selma (Music from the Motion Picture) / Paramount Pictures-Pathe / January 6, 2015
[Golden Globe winning song from the new motion picture Selma. Most of the millions of African Americans across the South had effectively been disenfranchised since the turn of the century by a series of discriminatory requirements and practices. Finding resistance by white officials to be intractable, even after passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This led to the three Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965 where Dallas County Voters League (DCVL) were joined by organizers from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and also invited Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and activists of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to join them. These marches were part of the Selma Voting Rights Campaign and led to the passage that year of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark federal achievement of the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. The 54-mile highway from Selma to the Alabama state capital of Montgomery was a demonstration showing the desire of black American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote, in defiance of segregationist repression. ]

8. Mahalia Jackson – “How I Got Over”
from: The Original Apollo Sessions/ Couch & Madison Partners / May 25, 2013

[Gospel hymn composed & published in 1951 by Clara Ward (1924-1973). It was performed by Mahalia Jackson at the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 before 250,000 people. Mahalia Jackson (Oct. 26, 1911 – Jan. 27, 1972) was referred to as “The Queen of Gospel”. She became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world, heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist. She was described by entertainer Harry Belafonte as “the single most powerful black woman in the United States”. She recorded about 30 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen “golds”—million-sellers. “I sing God’s music because it makes me feel free,” Jackson once said about her choice of gospel, adding, “It gives me hope. With the blues, when you finish, you still have the blues.”]

10:35

9. Martin Luther King Jr. – “MLK – I Have A Dream 1963 (excerpt)”
from: Inspirational Speeches, Vo. 3 / Orange Leisure / May 16, 2011
[American civil rights leader/activist and Baptist minister, born Jan. 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. King’s speeches have been issued on numerous releases – his most well-known and influential address being “I Have a Dream”, which was held during “The March on Washington” in 1963. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.]

10. Marian Anderson – “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”
from: He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands / BMG / Orig. 1961
[Reissued 1991][Marian Anderson (Feb 27, 1897 – Apr. 8, 1993) was one of the most celebrated singers of the 20th century. In 1939, the (DAR) refused to let Anderson sing in Constitution Hall. With the aid of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. before a crowd of more than 75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions. Anderson became the first black person, to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC on Jan. 7, 1955. Anderson worked as a delegate to the UN Human Rights Committee and “goodwill ambassadress” for the U.S. Dept. of State, giving concerts all over the world. She participated in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, singing at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Anderson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1978, the National Medal of Arts in 1986, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.]

11. Tramaine Hawkins, Ella Mitchell, Billy Porter & Chorus -“Rocka My Soul”
from: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre “Revelations” / V2 / 1998

10:43 – Freedom…

12. Nina Simone -“I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free”
from: Silk and Soul / RCA / 1967

13. Solomon Burke – “None Of Us Are Free”
from: Don’t Give Up On Me / Fat Possum / 2002
[Back up singers: The Blind Boys of Alabama]

14. Nina Simone – “I Shall Be Released”
from: To Love Somebody / RCA / 1967

10:55 – The Staple Singers & Bobby Watson

15. Pops Staples – “You Gotta Serve Somebody”
from: e-town live volume 3 / e-town /
[orig. written by Bob Dylan. / Rec. Sept. 16, 1994, Live in Boulder] [Roebuck “Pops” Staples was born on a cotton plantation near Winona, Mississippi, on December 28, 1914, the youngest of 14 children. When growing up he heard, and began to play with, local blues guitarists such as Charlie Patton, who lived on the nearby Dockery Plantation, Robert Johnson, and Son House. He dropped out of school after the eighth grade, and sang with a gospel group before marrying and moving to Chicago in 1935. A “pivotal figure in gospel in the 1960s and 70s,” and an accomplished songwriter, guitarist and singer. Patriarch of The Staple Singers, which included his son Pervis and daughters Mavis, Yvonne, and Cleotha.]

16. Mavis Staples – “Down in Mississippi”
from: Live – Hope At The Hideout / Anti / 2008
[Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Mavis Staples, of The Staple Singers, is a celebrated equal rights activist. She’s performed at inaugural parties for Presidents Kennedy, Carter and Clinton, Recorded in June, 2008, in the run up to the Presidential election of Barrack Obama. Recorded live in the intimate bar The Hideout, in her hometown of Chicago. Mavis Staples, marched, sang & protested alongside Dr. Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.]

17. The Staple Singers – “When Will We Be Paid”
from: Single / Stax (Fantasy / Ace) / 1967

18. Bobby Watson & The I Have a Dream Project–”Check Cashing Day” [feat. Glenn North]
from: Check Cashing Day / Lafiya Music / Digital – Aug. 28, 2013 / Physical – Nov. 12, 2013
[From wikipedia.org: “Bobby Watson was born in Lawrence, Kansas, August 23, 1953. he is an American post-bop jazz alto saxophonist, composer, producer, and educator. Watson now has 27 recordings as a leader. He appears on nearly 100 other recordings as either co-leader or in a supporting role. Watson has recorded more than 100 original compositions. Watson grew up in Bonner Springs and Kansas City, Kansas.]

11:12 – Interview with Glenn North

Nationally recognized poet Glenn North, has shared the stage with Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, and Amiri Baraka. He served as Poet-In-Residence & Education Specialist at the American Jazz Museum from 2004 – 2014. A 2009 Charlotte Street Foundation Generative Performing Awards Fellow, he has been commissioned by Points of Light Foundation, the Norman Lear Center, the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, and Kansas City Public Library. He has been a featured poet for MTV Rock the Vote, NAACP Black History Month, and KC Repertory Theatre. He was accepted into the Cave Canem program and has worked as director of the Urban Transcendence Poetry Project in KCK. He has collaborated on recordings with: the Jazz Disciples, the Phantom, Tru Sol, and Bobby Watson. He studied English at Lincoln University, earned his BLS from Rockhurst University, and is currently pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing at UMKC. He is currently working for The Black Archives of Mid-America where Glenn will host #BlackPoetsSpeakOut with a Community Reading, Saturday, Jan. 24, at 4:00 pm.

“Check Cashing Day” was in Wednesday MidDay Medley’s Top Ten of The 113 Best Recordings of 2013.

Glenn North is part of seven of the 15 tracks on the recording. Glenn told us how he met Bobby Watson through his work at The American Jazz Museum.

Bobby Watson’s recording was released to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of The March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom, held August 28, 1963.

One of the pieces on the recording uses the actual words of MLK on Jazz.

11:19

19. Bobby Watson & The I Have a Dream Project– MLK On Jazz (Love Transforms) [feat. Glenn North]
from: Check Cashing Day / Lafiya Music / Digital – Aug. 28, 2013 / Physical – Nov. 12, 2013

11:21

Glenn North talked about his grandmother’s influence in his life. She was an educator.

Dr. King was a hero to Glenn as a young child. The use of “words to create change in my head and my heart.” Glenn told us that Dr. King “made him feel that any art he produced should serve a purpose for the cause.”

Glenn told us that at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, he was quite the orator, giving speeches and serving as the campus radical.

Glenn is currently working at the Black Archives of Mid-America where he is hosting:

#BlackPoetsSpeakOut – Community Reading
at Black Archives of Mid-America,
1722 E. 17th Terrace, KCMO,

Saturday, Jan. 24, 4:00 pm.
FREE! More info at: blackpoetsspeakout.tumblr.com

11:26

20. Glenn North – “Black Tide Rising” (LIVE)

11:28

Glenn and I worked together in schools in Kansas City, Kansas, in the beginning of the century, doing programming with Marcia Pomeroy and Michael Toombs. Glenn and I are still working with Marcia. I work with the KCK Organic Teaching Gardens and Glenn with the Saturday Science Academy and Summer Science Academy through Kansas University Medical Center Office of Cultural Enhancement and Diversity, K-12 Programming, serving Middle School and High School age students.

Glenn talked about being inspired by the students.

Glenn wrote a poem about one of his experiences when he first started working with Marcia and in schools in KCK at Hawthorne Elementary School, now named Caruthers Elementary.

11:34

21. Glenn North – “Overwhelmed” (LIVE)

Glenn North shared his process about writing a poem based on a painting called “Lynch Family” at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art.

11:38

22. Glenn North – “Lynch Family Blues” (LIVE)

11:42

Glenn North hosts #BlackPoetsSpeakOut – Community Reading at Black Archives of Mid-America, 1722 E. 17th Terrace, KCMO, Saturday, Jan. 24, 4:00 pm. FREE! More info at: blackpoetsspeakout.tumblr.com

11:42 – Underwriting

11:43 – Gospel & Folk Music Carried the Message…

23. Pete Seeger – “We Shall Overcome”
from: The Essential Pete Seeger / Columbia – Legacy / 2004
[Derived from a gospel song by Reverend Charles Tindley called “We Will Overcome” written in 1901. Adapted and made famous by Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and others the song became central to the civil rights movement of the 1950 and 1960s and eventually used all around the world. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made use of “we shall overcome” in the final Sunday March 31, 1968 speech before his assassination.]

24. Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion – “Dr. King”
from: exploration / New West / 2005 [written by Pete Seeger]

25. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – “This Land is Your Land”
from: Naturally / Daptone / 2005
[written by Woody Guthrie, Sarah Lee’s Grandfather.]

Black Lives Matter. Racism is a systemic problem in the United States of America and we must continue the work of peaceful non-violent protest when faced with institutional inequality and injustice. We must continue the work of MLK, Bayard Rustin, Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Rosa Parks. None of us are free until all of us are free.

11:57

Next week on Wednesday, January 21, 2015 we’ll welcome our friend, the multi-talented Mikal Shapiro who is getting ready to release new music! PLUS, Emily Berhmann of JCCC’s Performing Arts Series joins us to talk about the 2015 series, Plus we’ll play New Music for The New Year from: Baby Teardrops, Deco Auto, Scott Hrabko, Atlas, Mikal Shapiro, The Author and The Illustrator, She’s A Keeper, Kasey Rausch, Black Luck, The Big Iron, The Electric Lungs, Sleater-Kinney, Shades of Jade, and more.

Wednesday MidDay Medley in on the web:
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Show #560