Sunday, July 10, 2016

what's going on, marvin gaye

I got a response to a recent facebook posting about the prince song 'sign of the times' being relevant due to the news of all of the shootings. a bartender and musician I know spoke of another song that is sadly relevant as well, 'what's going on' by marvin gaye. I don't think I had heard it much lately. but it does have some of the same spirit as prince's song, since both have social commentary in it. though marvin gaye's is more focused on one subject than prince's is. this is evident when the lyrics include mention of picket signs and brutality. others include 'too many of you crying, dying' and 'find a way'. I was familiar with the book 'makes me wanna holler' by Nathan McCall, as I read it in college. the book title takes its name from another marvin gaye song, a/k/a 'inner city blues'. I found out due to Wikipedia how 'what's going on' is the title of another book by the same author.
   it was a busy day for events. I went to the bastille day celebration in downtown st. paul at landmark park, sponsored by the alliance francaise. I went to it twice, before and after the donut show that I performed at. I had a hot dog, then when I returned I had a strawberry crepe. I got some pictures as well of some of the entertainers, like the accordion player. at the donut show I spoke of being at this event. there was also a man who had done paintings of famous Frenchmen who figured into Minnesota's history, one of them I ahdn't heard of, Radisson. I was informed that he had nothing to do with the founding of the hotel chain of the same name. in the evening I went to see school bouncer perform as MC. I got a shout-out, and of course I like getting these. I liked ones he did about uber, and others were good though I had heard them before. this included ones about being a school bouncer, as well as listening to rap when he was young and dates being auditions.

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