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Comment by Mama's Dirty Li'l Secret on November 7, 2009 at 8:14pm

Hell yeah! U68 was the shit! Fishbone ("Modern Industry"), Nina Hagan, Talking Heads, Emo Phillips ("fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads!")...

Rock Hard! Rock Sexy!
Mama's Dirty Li'l Secret
www.MamasDirtyLilSecret.com

Comment by Caz Prescott on November 5, 2009 at 7:37pm

Yes Mark! I definitely remember U68! That's how I got into Fishbone, too! Good times!

Comment by Mark Clemons on November 5, 2009 at 11:50am

Watsup everyone I just wanna say I'm 40 years old.I remember seeing the birth's of punk,hip hop and new wave.remember U68? that was where I was 1st introduced 2 Fishbone.

Comment by lalablossoms on August 8, 2009 at 12:39pm

i'm 29 but turn 30 in december. i was just bitching in the relationship forum about only getting hit on by 19 year olds at shows so someone suggested i join this group haha.

Comment by The J.U.S. Evolution on July 19, 2009 at 2:24pm

Hey Afropunkers,

The J.U.S. Evolution first TV appearance is coming this week!!!! We will be performing on Fox 5’s Fearless Music TV. This is a nation wide show so please make sure you check your local listings for time adjustments. Also, please make sure you set you DVR’s if you will not be home! The show airs Saturday, June 25th @ 12:30 AM (which is technically Sunday Morning !2:30 AM). Thanks to you and all of your support we are living our dreams!! We love you all and we hope you enjoy our performance on Fox 5!! Rock On!!!

********NOTE******* Use the links Below To find the time the show will air in your city!!!

http://www.fearlessmusic.com/channels/

Comment by Rosenda on July 18, 2009 at 1:09pm

Thanks for that story SSLF. You know when I heard the news I immediately remember first time we saw MJ. Me my sister my mom and my best friend April were watching The Jackson 5 on either the Ed Sullivan Show or another vareity show on television in my living room. We sat there really loving The Jacksons singing dancing performing and looking sharp and cute. The next day at school me and April talked and talked about Michael. How cute he was and how talented he was.

For our generation, I think we got so emotionally tied to him early because he was the first young black superstar. He was young gifted black and he was a KID like US. That meant a lot to us and I only realize that now that's the main reason. We never had some other young black teen idol our age to see making stardom.

He did so many great musical and dance creations over the following decades after he went solo, that I think that is also why it was sad to see all the troubles he had and the odd stuff he did. Rest in Peace Michael Jackson.

Comment by CurvyDivaJC on June 30, 2009 at 1:54pm

Thanks ShayShay for the Uncle Mike story! That piece is sooooooo true! R.I.P. Uncle Mike!

Comment by ShayShayLafunk on June 30, 2009 at 1:44pm

Since we be over 30 in here :-) I thought I'd share a thread I already posted about Michael Jackson,

Because MJ was a weird brother to grow up loving & later disappointed by .
He owed me nothing and everything at the same time , so crazy it is to be a Michael Jackson fan ?? lol
A friend shared this with me & having grew up in the Jackson aura I appreciated this essay. There is this weird paradox of Michael the artist you love & knowing something fucked was going on all the time. So many folks thought of him as family.
This essay does touch on that weird Uncle/Cousin Michael Paradox.
Hope you find it interesting as well
Peace Shay
--------------------------------

Black People Don't... Hate Michael Jackson (...and never have.) By Nyree Emory


Nope. Not once.
No matter what you believe, let's be clear about that.Even if we should have.

That's the thing about us. If you're ours, you're ours. (Unlike OJ. He's not ours anymore. But that was on him. Anyhoo)

Listen...

Mike was like that fun yet crazy, self loathing uncle that always came to the family reunion, got drunk and wanted to take all the kids on a "hike" through the woods.

He was all skinny and malnourished. He was "touched", as the old folk liked to call him.

And all the adults would say shit awful about him, while keeping a side eye fixed on him, like.. "Lawd, somebody go get them kids away from Mike. You know he still on parole."

Uncle Mike showed up to the family reunion, not really wanting to be there since he knows you talk about him, but made it a point to be there since he’d rather hear the chatter than be home alone. Again.

We all talked about him. That's what black people do to family when we love you. And thank God he showed up this year, because if it wasn't for uncle Mike, we might not have had something to talk about.

"Chile... you heard he done went through all his money right? He won't give that Beatle back his songs. Don't believe what they say, uncle Mike is grimy."

And uncle Mike WAS sorta grimy. He didn’t do anything to you personally, but you’ve heard stories.

Then one year, you bring your brand new boyfriend to the reunion and the minute uncle Mike starts walking towards you, you cringe. Shit. You forgot to explain uncle Mike, and now it’s too late. All the new boyfriend sees is this high water, surgical mask, lace front having skeleton dressed like a sea admiral who everyone seems to tip toe around.

"Who's that?"

"Oh, that's my uncle Mike," you say. Then whispher,"He's been through a lot. He got burned doing a Pepsi commercial once."

Then you get quiet, and put on your best smile because he’s watching. He comes over to say "Hi" in that soft, non-threatening way of his, and in spite of yourself, your smile becomes as genuine as a ten year old's on Christmas….because uncle Mike still has that effect on you.

“So what happened to him?” your boyfriend asks. Sigh. Where in the hell do you begin?

Depends on who you ask. Truth be told, Sweetie, everyone has a different reason why uncle Mike is so completely fucked up, but we don’t know for sure.

His father pushed him too hard. He got too famous too young. He was molested. His nose was too big and his brothers teased him because they were jealous. The assumptions go on and on.

But uncle Mike wasn’t always that way.

You were little, and can’t remember much, but you do remember how uncle Mike was neck and neck with Mickey Mouse as your favorite.

You remember back in the day, when your parents used to blast "Off The Wall", from beginning to end. And you danced and sang each and every word and begged them to play it over and over and over and over and…well, rock the night away.

Eff "the Thriller dance". Everybody knows that. Do they know the hieroglyphic steps to "Remember The Time"?

You remember how the whole family gathered around the TV because uncle Mike was gonna be on "The Grammys". "Motown 25" changed your life.

Shit. With one song, a song that wasn’t even in the original play, he single-handedly saved “The Wiz”.

He was the only singer whose videos were a worldwide event. They drove you insane, and scared the shit out of you. Uncle Mike took you there before anyone else, like nobody else.

Then you got older and listened again, with a grown-folk ear. “Lady In My Life” and a bottle of Cisco cost you your virginity….but you won’t tell HIM that.

You knew your uncle Mike was special, but how do you explain that? He was so damn special that he couldn't even handle it. You can't even imagine how big that burden is.

But you’ve got other people to introduce the new dude to, so you stop explaining.

The family is standing around, playing catch up. Some are over by the food table; putting a heap of mac and cheese on their plates, others are yelling at each other over a game of spades...it’s a perfect day. Till you glance around to find uncle Mike.

Damn that’s sad. He’s just off in the corner, feeding his…

“Is that a lama?!” your boyfriend asks.

“Yeah. It is.”

Nobody says anything. We’re used it. We’re FAMILY.

Everyone is just waiting on the day that uncle Mike just... gets...BETTER But they’re all glad he’s there. If he’s around, then we don’t have to wonder about him and what he’s gonna do next.

"We love you Mike," you overhear uncle Jermaine say. You glance over to catch them in a real hug. Wow.

Uncle Mike returns the love, but we all know, he doesn't believe it. It's not the first time he's heard it, and he didn't believe it then either.

If he did, he wouldn’t do that just "disappear" thing …and that’s usually when you'd hear about him doing some seriously questionable shit.

"Uncle Mike married Elvis daughter."

"Uncle Mike is carrying a monkey around with him...and Webster."

"Uncle Mike done rubbed all the black off him."

“Uncle Mike been letting little boys sleep with him.”

"Uncle Mike lost his house."

"Uncle Mike moved out of the country."

But then he'd show up and everyone would be so damn happy to see him, we'd forget about all that craziness. And for a hot minute, around all that love, we all hope that he'd just let it all go, and join the family again. Come on back uncle Mike. We forgive it all. Family dude. FAMILY.

But then he'd just walk off into another corner by himself …again.

The minute you weren't paying attention, too involved in the spades game or something, you look up, and realize uncle Mike has quietly slipped out without saying a word to anyone.

"Why he just leave like that?” asks boyfriend.

You shrug. That’s just uncle Mike. “Did I tell you about the time he…”


And then you stop short and suddenly get reeeeal quiet... because... aww shit.

Aunt Latoya just showed up.

...And that's a whole other story.


(...Goodbye uncle Mike. We'll miss you. )ybe I feel some type of way because I'm over 30.

Comment by HCIIMAN on June 26, 2009 at 5:14am

Born in 74
Very first time I got any interest in music
Very first artist I ever liked
Very first time I ever danced
Would I even like music today
if it was not for the long hours I spent dancing on "Beat it"?
I wouldn't even be there,
writing and trying to understand.
RIP

Comment by CurvyDivaJC on June 25, 2009 at 9:47pm

Can you believe it...MJ is dead? Floored!!!

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