This could be described as a bait and switch. Today is the actual birthday of Kappa Kappa Psi, National Honorary Band Fraternity, but we’re showing you a video of a toddler birthday party instead. (Weird side note, a former Assistant Dean of Pledges at Howard University in that organization also shares a birthday with the fraternity so shout-outs to Gangster Psi, Ph.D reppin’ the Pershing Dough Boys and the D.) We digress…
The Word on the street is that Samuel really loves music, and music flows through his life experience from his ancestors. We don’t know if he will play the drums, organ, guitar, or tuba but he is bound to have an instrument choose him. In the YouTube video above you can see him dancing in the short, public version. (There is actually a much longer video with hilarious audio that we are only sending to the family -but you get the point.) Samuel had a really great time on his birthday and he was excited to receive the gift of music.
[Featured image is from Samuel’s Aunt Carol Squire, family archives]
Anyway I don’t know if you are following the numerology, but my son is at a prime number age and so am I. The last time that I checked, 2017 is also a prime number. Go ahead and dance around the room on that.
Also, you might want to head to Europe to see Black Jesus because the USA doesn’t have any. Just the other day the jury responsible for determining the guilt of Walter Scott‘s killer was deadlocked in a mistrial. Apparently, Black Jesus isn’t going to save anybody in South Carolina any time soon and there is still no semblance of justice. Click on the link for Exhibit A. I get the feeling that there are going to be a lot more martyrs for the Black Lives Matter movement to proselytize.
Enjoy my family video to help take your mind away from all the madness. There will be no Christmas cards this year because we are terrifically poor, but at least they aren’t filming Black death on the streets and allowing the murderer to go free. Check out an article here in ColorLines by Kenya Rankin about the mistrial of Michael Slager. Yeah, so then there’s that. Merry Christmas everyone.
Click on the Google Calendar link above to add my event to your calendar if you happen to be in the area of Andalusia this coming September. I have been spending so much time talking about Jerez de la Frontera, Spain that I haven’t had the chance to properly invite you.
I know that it is a bit of short notice but this is one of the last events of the official 2016 calendar of events for the City of Jerez. Vendimia is the grape harvest festival and generally folks make a pretty big deal about it here in Spain according to the board of tourism for Andalucia. The most important Vendimia festival in Spain is right here in Jerez so if you want to meet me directly after the Blessing of the Grapes, then we can can watch the Stomping of the Grapes together.
It should go without saying that we are going to be sipping on something and only those legally allowed to drink can imbibe. Anyway it will be a really good time.
Get out there and share the good news in 2016 that Spain has decided to include actual Africans in some of their parades for Three Wise Kings Day, also known as Los Reyes Magos. I wrote about my general disgust for the practice of donning blackface last year, but my opinion about this particular Spanish tradition is evolving now.
Largely, I look at the event as celebratory and the incidences of changing one’s appearance to resemble the most striking African features is crude flattery. My argument to have someone black play Balthazar is still firmly rooted in tact, but the levels of inclusion for the large numbers of Africans that find themselves in Spain is encouraging. Participation in the parade festivities is a very big deal in Spain, and I was pleased to see cultural sharing and exchange rather than the usual cultural appropriation.
I hate to start out in a new year on a sour note, so Happy New Year to all of you out there.
La Feria in Jerez is definitely worth a long form article. But I think that I am going to have to try that article at a later date. You see, right now, La Feria is in full swing. I can’t miss too many of these moments because you never know when you are going to be able to live them. The video above doesn’t due the production value of La Feria proper justice because there are so many things that go into this event besides the massive construction tour de force that took place to squeeze an entire city into a park.
Let’s start with the lighting ceremony, or rather two weeks before. Some gitanas or gypsies basically took over the tree stump hangout behind the parking lot where I live. I am not going to make some grand claim of understanding gypsy culture but these guys were basically drinking all day and playing backgammon. They weren’t even loud with it. Then on Sunday when La Feria kicked-off, they started working and shit got real. You see normal Spaniards aren’t really for all that working crap during La Feria so it was a little suspicious when the folks known for never working started to work in overdrive.
(Only New Yorkers will appreciate these analogies: La Feria is like Saint Rocco’s Feast or San Gennaro’s Feast multiplied by Las Vegas.) Incredibly gorgeous gypsy women came out of nowhere selling flowers or balloons. Gypsy men were busying themselves with charging people to park in illegal parking spaces around La Feria. Then the old gypsy ladies roved La Feria grounds like gangs pushing flowers and romero on anybody inexperienced enough to make eye contact with them. The transformation was total, complete, and mind-altering.
I had to seek refuge in a caseta operated by the Jerez de la Frontera City Hall, and guess who was on the stage? Gitanas with jobs, again. Gypsies get their music on, and if you have ever heard sevillanas then you will understand what I am talking about. Never mind how the City Hall partnered with one of the most well-known sherry makers in Spain. That isn’t important right now. After all, we are in Spain and we have to live somehow. La Feria only comes once a year so forget your woes, get on a horse, and just watch this video.
This was certainly something. Samuel and I keep it real and show you how it is about to really go down at the biggest event of the year in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. Again, the thing to remember is that La Feria hasn’t officially started yet but stuff like this has been going on for at least a week…
[Intro – Martin Luther King Jr.]
We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now
Because I’ve been to the mountaintop; I don’t mind
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will.
I am told that in all of Andalusia people like to party in the street. Andalusian people are festive and they don’t need much reason to throw down at a moment’s notice. Dancing in the streets is common and the Flamenco style is apparently in their blood.
My family and I were walking down the street, minding our own business, and this elderly gentleman just started playing the guitar. Another stranger started to bang out a beat on a box that he found. Two ladies that were having lunch nearby started dancing. My wife joined in but I pretty much started filming like a tourist, even though the entire scene was reminiscent of African cultures.
People all over the world aren’t really that different, I suppose. If you are ever travelling through Spain, you might want to take part. The next big party in Andalusia is La Feria in Jerez and Seville in May. The people have been warming up since March, when this video was taken. The orange blossoms are filling the air with a sweet smell and the weather is already quite warm in the South.
We are going to get with you at a later date. You have got to come to Spain!
We stay on the primrose path at Jardín Escénico, Jerez De La Frontera.
I know that it is a bit of short notice but this is one of the last events of the official 2016 
The Chronicles of Six 