Barack Obama and Project Vote

An effort to register over 100,000 new voters. Obama after getting out of school when he could have done much more (for himself) with his Harvard education spent time in Chicago getting voters registered and to the polls. He didn't do this with all sorts of fanfare or for a bunch of money. He did it because he believed in it. He continued further beyond just getting people to register to vote he helped call people and motivate them to actually come out and vote. He is ready to bring the message and do the work. I think it is important to remember that Barack is not all talk. He is more than a great orator as some people claim. He is the guy who has privilege and an interesting balance of not having it. He participated in his life in grass roots efforts to help people in this world. These are the things that I hear people who don't support him complain about. They complain about him not having any experience and him being all talk. I don't believe that at all. I think that the unique experience that he has over other politicians is that experience of living in both worlds. Most politicians live in a world of privilege and have their entire lives. Barack is not different accept that he has also lived in a world outside of privilege. He has taken his privilege and tossed it out the window until bed time so that he could go into the projects and be on the same level as the people. What is the benefit to that? The benefit is that he is able to see things from the point of view of the people instead of simply a politician. He speaks from the point of view of the people and that is what we like about him. We know he hears our voice because he has come to our neighborhoods when it wasn't a direct political or financial benefit and he hung out with us and told us how much he cared and that he believed we deserved to be heard. He is still saying it today and those I've spoken to who don't support him can only seem to come up with arguments that he is all talk or that they don't connect with what he says. Odd that the same things he says are things I've heard the people who claim a disconnect say when we are simply sitting around drinking coffee and talking without the benefit of an election coming up. Now all of a sudden when it is black against white and boys against girls they can't seem to see past the colors and genders to actually listen to the fact that he believes in the same things they do and the difference between he and Hillary is that he has been seen in the neighborhoods working when it wasn't benefitting him immediately or directly in that moment. Hillary shows up for sound bites and photo ops ever since I've known about her. Where are the videos on You Tube of her hanging in the hood without the media on a day when there was no election for her or someone related to her?



Obama Chicago vote important grassroots support politicians privilege

Movies Rock!!! - Who Knew That Today's Musical Pop Artists Could Actually Sing?

Wow. I was proud to see some of the videos on You Tube after this show aired. I am one of the many who has become jaded by the many many musicians who have taken to forgetting about writing or buying music that was written well or was not sampled from somewhere else. Half the music these days is full of the sampled music of some of the greats we were used to hearing as children. It is about time that someone brought out a few musicals into modern times and made "actual music" an important thing once again. I look forward to more "actual singing" of songs which were written in full as opposed to being stolen from somewhere else. It almost brings a tear to this music lover's eye to hear it once again. And for this I'd like to thank those people who made Chicago and brought back the musical in a "not so geeky" way therefore opening the doors to Dream Girls and High School Musical and Hairspray being done in these modern days and times. And I'd like to thank people like Simon for being truly critical of those who are lacking when it comes to true talent. Here are some samples for your enjoyment.

HERE IS BEYONCE SINGING "SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW"



Wow!!! Who knew Beyonce could sing like that? I knew she could sing and I knew she had a good voice but not until now have I heard her actually sing a song that brings out her voice completely in a way you can actually hear it. The artists you hear these days generally have a bunch of filler music and flash around them for the entertainment of the crowd which in the case of the singer who sings well covers up their voice and in the case of the singer who sings not so well covers up their voice. Either way it's a bad thing I say.

HERE IS USHER PERFORMING "SINGING IN THE RAIN"



Amazing performance!!! That is all you can say about this one. We all knew Usher can sing and dance so this is no surprise but damn I have to say I wish this guy had a million albums. I wonder why he can't be more like 2Pac and have so many recordings that we don't run out even after he is dead.

HERE IS CARRIE UNDERWOOD PERFORMING "THE SOUND OF MUSIC"



Another great performance from someone we knew could sing but would love to hear more often without all the fluff behind her.

HERE IS JENNIFER HUDSON PERFORMING "SOMEWHERE (THERE'S A PLACE FOR US)" FROM WEST SIDE STORY



Again we knew this one could sing and the fact that she didn't win on American Idol shows you just how kids these days care much more for performance, look and show than true talent.

HERE ARE MARY J. BLIGE AND JOHN LEGEND SINGING A SONG FROM CASABLANCA "AS TIME GOES BY (A KISS IS JUST A KISS)"



We knew John Legend could sing because he doesn't bother to hide his true self in his music. He definitely tends to actually sing in his performances. I can't say so much the same for Mary J. Blige. She's not bad but to me she definitely is in flow with the youngster who learns to sing in church and ends up thinking that yelling your voice to a tune means you are a good singer. Singing has a lot more to do with belting your voice out to a million people while hitting a note. You have to be able to harmonize when you're used to leading etc. etc. But she does well and much better than some others I could mention.

HERE IS WILL I AM, BUSTA RHYMES, LL COOL J, & EVE PERFORMING "SHAFT"



This one is decent but not my favorite I have to admit. Truth is it seems this one need the "fluff" of LL, EVE and Busta in order to entertain the crowd because Will I AM is definitely IS NOT!! I do however have to support him because I think there needs to be a place for gays in hip hop and he should be able to be out of the closet with his stuff without his career suffering.

HERE IS NICOLE SCHERZINGER FROM THE PUSSY CAT DOLLS PERFORMS "DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND"



Very good performance. Happy to see a PussyCat without the Dolls. And the song makes a good point too. Men are fleeting and eventually those louses go back to their spouses so Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

HERE IS FERGIE PERFORMING "LIVE AND LET DIE"



Thank goodness for James Bond, hips and rocker girls!!

HERE IS CHRIS BROWN PERFORMING "JAILHOUSE ROCK"



Of course we knew this little dude could sing and dance and to be honest just the simple hip twists and knee bends of Elvis limit Chris Brown from dancing like he really can.

So there is your little sample of some of the modern singers and the fact that they can sing without having someone behind them rapping, or a bunch of fluffer noise to cover up their voice. (Accept for maybe Will I AM)

musicians sampling musicals You Tube Chicago Hairspray talent Beyonce Usher Carrie Underwood Jennifer Hudson Mary J. Blige John Legend Will I AM Busta Rhymes LL Cool J Nicole Sherzinger Fergie Chris Brown Movies Rock