Carnival… a time when all mankind attending express camaraderie, oneness. I kiss you, you kiss me, the excesses might alarm the onlooker, with bodies of all sizes, exposing their bulges and blotches. Some almost get naked, close to being charged with indecent exposure. 

 Caribbean sugar cane juice produces the best rum in the world; the masses participating in Carnival imbibe to a level of almost deliriousness.  

This festival is of European Christian origin, brought by the colonizers to the Caribbean and South America. The African slaves having been indoctrinated about Easter being symbolic of the rise of Christ, were told they could celebrate to that Tuesday, for the next day Wednesday and six weeks thereafter, fasting from sinful actions until Easter. Church on Sunday, Monday fly kites, indicative of Jesus on his way to heaven. 

Africans are inherently musical: wood flutes, skin drums, bare foot dancing. Music, and scripture, kept them starting a revolution every day. 

Apart from picking cotton, and working in the sugar cane fields, oil was discovered by the white carpetbaggers; this oil had to be shipped in steel drums. The African living in Trinidad and Tobago (an oil producing territory) discovered he could fine tune a steel drum to play musical notes; his white masters were playing on violins and other string and wind instruments. In no time he was able to compose a complete orchestra using steel drums. What better to showcase his unique invention but at Carnival. 

It became so imperative, that if there was no “pan” music, there was no carnival, throughout the Caribbean. 

The Caribbean “heart and soul” “the black slave”, brought Carnival to North America. “We” have dashed the colonial baggage, no “lent” … just “fun”; and the only time we can do this in cold North America, is Summer. 

“Wha happen boy, no pan music this year?” to use a Caribbean parlance. The pandemic (Corona virus) No “wining” no “twerking”; social distancing. I can’t French kiss you, you can’t French kiss me; but we can do it viral! 

Baltimore MD. Had its first viral Carnival. Carnival without “pan”. 

Oligarchy. What is it? From the internet: “Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may be distinguished by nobility, wealth, education, corporate, religious, political, or military control”. 

Have we seen it here in Baltimore Maryland? Yes, we have, especially in the political arena, even among African American families. 

From a Biblical perspective, Eli was the high priest of Shiloh (Book of Judges, Holy Bible). He looked the “other way” while his sons Hophni and Phineas, engaged in abuses of power; their end was tragic. 

400 years ago, William Shakespeare penned King Lear, and opined Lear’s intent to split the English kingdom among his three daughters and their husbands, as he aged. (Dementia?) Shakespeare who hobnobbed among the elite had an insight to this oligarchy. Later Great Britain created a parliamentary system, with a House of Lords, equivalent to the United States Senate, and a House of Commons, the American answer being, Congress. 

Throughout the years of human existence, the oligarchy, A.K.A “the one percent” according to United States Senator Bernie Sanders, has found ways of repeating the mistakes of King Lear, even to the point where heads of these oligarchies tried to maneuver the political landscape, to keep their families as heads of the spheres of influence. 

Fidel Castro of Cuba, did not give the rulership to the people, but installed his brother Raul. Alberto Fujimori of Peru, from public records, escaped to Japan, after embezzling the country, and using death squads to silence his enemies. 

African leaders do not read Shakespeare. It is a continent rife with oligarchs. Teodorin Obiang, is an oil rich family from Equatorial Guinea. The Obiangs, is black Africa’s answer to the Saudis, of Saudi Arabia. 

Why is this my focus today. Theatre of War, invited me along with many others to watch King Lear, and comment on its relevance to us today. I have already established Lear’s oligarchy behavior. He ended up in filth and animals, living in the wild. Most oligarchs look like skeletons as they arrive at the end of their lives. Modern day LEAR’s engage in Ponzi schemes, bribe to get their dimwitted children into private schools; and discriminate profusely against people of color. Many are dying from the figurative COVID-19 virus (their losses on the stock market). Unlike the Pharaohs of EGYPT, they do not want to take their ill-gained riches with them to the AFTER LIFE

BE LEERY (Leary) of Oligarchs!

“Here I am myself,.. you all know me; the world knows my fame: I am OEDIPUS!” 

(Oedipus by Linda Mota)

What do scholars say of him, a Greek King of 400 B.C.E? He is chronicled as being confident, interrogative, a bully, demanding, and a liar.

He lived up to his name, OEDIPUS TYRANNUS.

It is profoundly interesting to what sunset such a man would experience: glory; a whaling of the people of THEBES for his passing, or burning effigies of him?

He ultimately suffered from a self-inflicted wound to his eyes, and rode off into exile with his daughter ANTIGONE. He no doubt died unceremoniously.

I have just succinctly summarized a play by the Greek poet Sophocles. This play had a virtual presentation on Thursday May 7th, 2020. Plays are picked to confront social issues affecting current communities. This one was chosen to promote discussion of the pandemic engulfing us today. The city of Thebes was once faced with a plague, and no one but OEDIPUS, was able to save it. The panelist discussion following the play, concentrated on COVID-19 (CORONA-VIRUS) as a modern-day equivalent of a plague; affecting us, the modern day residents THEBES.

OUR savior, is a combination of nurses, EMT s, doctors, first respondents, and a host of volunteers. No one man.

I see more to the play. The opening quote of this article, is parallel to something we have all heard coming out of a modern leader who is 6’ 3” 243 pounds, overusing the catch words “terrific…tremendous!”; sexual proclivities in his profile.

“LOL”, Oedipus, was also accused of sexual misconduct!!!

Our world of THEBES, (7.8 billion people) is not confined to 50 states, but as combined, it is looked upon as the epicenter for relief.

 November 2020 could see OEDIPUS, and his daughter ride into eternal exile.

4 of the colors of Ginger, at An die musik.

It’s a root, and at first, it appears brown in color. Wash it a little, there appears the beginning of a yellow hue, and a little redness may show up. 

Red ginger though, is a flower, not the root. Some men fall deeply in love with “red heads” even describe them as “ginger red foxes”. It’s that red flower…endorphins catalyst. 

“ROOTS”, whenever audible, is often linked to the black man, and invariably its referencing the musical atmosphere, connoting the “BLUES” .

Hence when a “roots” artist is in performance, no one really knows the “hue” of his/her tone until the recital is heard or seen in total. 

I have never heard of JOEL SANTIAGO until last week, and that he and his group play Haitian music! So, I streamed An die Musik on Charles Street Baltimore Md. 

I was hearing Zouk, Kompa, Boleros, Reggae, all, as expected,.. the African diaspora roots landscape. Then I began to hear some whistling. This was not the traditional Roy Rogers of the Western Movies whistling; it was the kind I grew up with, often heard done by street corner singers, or men having had “the happy experience”, where they saw the skies open, and like Tarzan, were beating their chests in exultation! 

But no one way singing!  Where then was this whistling coming from?

From the guitar of JOSEPH “Fan Fan”  LEWIS. So melodious, he made the guitar behave like a violin in serenade. 

He is no doubt, brown ginger color,… and in love with his red head, the guitar. 

(An die Musik continues to stream throughout this pandemic period, it costs less than a cup of coffee, at your high end coffee house). 

Why did you sign that contract? Now you are unhappy. Did you have to say yes to your daughter marrying that guy !?  The job you had did not pay well, you jumped ship, and after a few months, you are unemployed.  

You know you did not do it for love. She was not that good, and less adequate!  

 What made you choose him, looks, what about substance? 

You knew the pastor was a voyeur, you left him and joined a church with a petrophile as leader, and now, you are following one who shockingly, is a pedophile! 

Politically, before today, you joined the Pan-African movement, was overjoyed to be alive to see America’s first black President, Barack Obama.  

Thereafter you stayed home in 2016. Your friends like Jim Brown and Steve Harvey got excited about the man with carrot colored hair, who promised more money in “your pockets” and better health care, and now the pandemic has hit, African American leaders are repeating what Africans have always done, sell their own to the money men. And there is another set of elections coming up, a bunch of repeats running, and I know, you are emotional, instead of thoughtful.

It is the repeat of the Pied Piper, who not only took the rats, but the children as well; the Jewish High Priest who opted for Barabbas and not Jesus. Maybe I should research whether Judas Iscariot, was a man of color, as Nimrod was. 

WHERE WE STAND, is the current Baltimore Center Stage play. At the end of the play, all the above emotions and more, were popping through my veins. This play took me from the land of the Pharaohs right to today in America, especially Baltimore, Md. The foreigners saw more value in what the Africans had, than the Africans themselves. 

“Who the hell are you?” is not just a question emitted by actress DONETTA LAVINIA GRAYS, it could be used by each of us, for self-examination. 

See the play, send me your comments: businesswithosworld@outlook.com 

Number one and three are the same, with flu-like symptoms. I have heard and read that this has something to do  with the CREATOR; GOD, telling mankind HE is unhappy; some have reached out to their congregants, that “the end is near!” 1 John 2:17.

Further research makes that end comparable to that of Noah’s Day (the Flood), only the “chosen” or qualifiers survived that disaster.

Are we going through a similar experience here in 2020? The residents of this world probably thought the same thing in 1918 (the Spanish Flu, from 1918 to 1920), with the death toll as high as close to 100 Million. But it was not the end of the world.

So this flu/ virus is not from The Almighty, Jehovah, God, Allah, Yeshua, or Vishnu. Then where is it from, you may ask?

From mankind, us! Who is responsible for the rise of temperature in the Swiss Alpine mountains?

Farmers who depend on rainfall, are running out of water, including the continent of South America, where I grew up!

History shows the changes in our environment began with the Industrial Revolution, when the world turned from an agrarian and handcrafting economy, to industrial; (18th/19 centuries).  Smoke pipes sprung up. The horse and buggy gave way to the railroad, followed by automobiles, that filled the air with smoke contaminants.                                                      

Factories became the engines of industry, no matter what the product was. Today, where are most of those factories located? Sing the fan-fair notes, “tan, ta, ta…!”

CHINA !

Which country has the most investments in China ? The United States! Bear in mind that China does not have to meet the safety rules and regulations of manufacturers/industrialists, as those here in the USA, or in Europe.

 So what happens when an accident occurs there, in an industrial plant ? It is like a tsunami, blowing winds across the entire industrial world, and we all feel it, it our noses and in our pockets.

That is what we have in CORONA VIRUS, aka: COVID-19.

As for Corona, (number two, PICTURED ABOVE) which comes from Mexico, the need for a respirator becomes imminent, only when you drink it hurriedly.

That drink you can cool in a stream in the South American jungle; or in a plastic cooler, made in China; at home sitting on a stoop or under a tent, (since we are confined to home, until the pandemic passes), reflecting on the summer of 2019, in Druid Hill Park, Baltimore Md

ENJOY!!!

Our history is ping ponged with a plethora of unfortunates such as the deaths of Elvis Presley, James Dean, Whitney Houston, Otis Redding, and not necessarily in the same breath, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeffery Dahmer, Michael Jackson., Richard Pryor. 

For some we mourn. In the 1960’s, the phrase “only the good die young” became popular. For most who purported that concept, they had fried brains, from smoking weed, and chemically converted crack cocaine to liquid, with tea spoons and Bic lighters. 

Along the way, figures of Majesty passed away, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Minnie Riperton, Toni Morrison, Carol Channing, Frank Robinson, Doris Day, Princess Diana. 

Askance, many of those figures have kissed quite a few, into valleys of fortune. Artists interpretations have attracted scores of big spending admirers, who have bought painted portraits of these figures for their friends and associates to sit back and reflect on the “whys?” of such past occurrences. Kisses of delight!

On such occasions, nothing to alter the mind is served, just dry wine and cheese from a gourmet rack.

On this evening I am at the STILLPOINTE THEATRE, in the Baltimore Md. Art District, featuring artists: WAYNE HOLLOWELL and ALIX TOBEY SOUTHWICK.

Ever heard of the RAZZY DAZZY SPASM BAND?  Believe it or not, this group existed in New Orleans in the late 1890’s. “spasm” has a sexual connotation (sperm), Rocketlike action. SPUNK, JUMP, “FLOUNCE”. Such action words were used at parties, weddings, funerals, and especially at Xmas celebrations in the Caribbean and South America. Describing the actions of “folk” dancing and singing to the beat of drums, contorting their bodies as though conjugating in public! The Bible toting prelates raised their hands in chastising fashion. The speed and agility of the participants attracted crowds of onlookers, and imitators who jumped into the ring of participants to show “their” stuff. Who were these people, and where did they come from? 

Africans, who came to the New World as slaves and brought their traditional musical “spunk/Jump” talents for all to see. This music was done by “street” folks, raw talent, with no sophisticated instruments. It entered the dance halls and juke joints in New Orleans.  What is now “line dancing” had an early marriage where “swing” was infiltrated by this African “jump/sperm” music. By the 1920’s, it was not “gism” or “jism”, but straight out, JAZZ! 

Born in America, and the only music the republic can claim as its own. This year 2020, JAZZ is 100 years old. A class action suit for royalties to be paid to all Africans who can trace their parentage to New Orleans of the 1890’s, should be filed.

The National Association for Music Education (NAME) showcased The Maryland 2020 ALL STATE SENIOR (High School) JAZZ BAND, which coincided within Black History Month. Mariama Boney is the outgoing Executive Director of NAME:

And now for your viewing pleasure, in performance at UMBC (University of Md. Baltimore County): 

The Maryland All State Senior Jazz Band, conducted by Steve Fidyk.

It was the desire of the 16th President of the United States (Abraham Lincoln) to collate a perfect union. Some rich aristocrats, among them the Booth family, Southerners, disagreed. In his quest, he incorporated black slaves into the military, gave them citizenship, and thus cowered the South, when General Lee surrendered. This act triggered Lincoln’s assassination on April 14th, 1865. 

Fast forward to today on the verge of the 2020 elections, the country’s division has once again platooned to the surface. Barak Obama became the first black president in 2008, and in his quest to resurge Abraham Lincoln’s policy, including taxing the rich “fairly”, the South has “raised its ugly head”. In the 1860’s it was about property, and today it is the same, the attack on “income inequality”; the rich are not having it. 

The State of Virginia has been the hotbed of American politics, a state within a stone’s throw of the capital city of Washington DC., yet outside of Fairfax County, where the “yuppies and buppies” live, Charlottesville is a contrast. 

Desegregation of the public-school system in America began in Virginia, yet pockets of racism are evident throughout. (USA TODAY, Dec. 5, 2019) 

JEFFREY BLOUNT, an African American journalist from Virginia is making an appeal to his white liberal friends, to “rise up” against subtle racism, he has couched it in the form of a novel, THE EMANCIPATION OF EVAN WALLS. 

He was at the Eldersburg Public Library, in Carroll County Md., a few weeks ago. (Feb. 11th, 2020) 

When people of my generation recall great tenors, they are very few: Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, and of course, the American- Italian, Mario Lanza, famous for, “O Sole Mio” (My Sunshine).
In the African American community, the tenor that won the hearts, and goose bumped women of all ages, was, and still is, Johnny Mathis. Who could forget, THE 12TH OF NEVER, MISTY, and MARIA, from the film, WEST SIDE STORY.
As we entered the 1970’s, RUSSEL THOMPKINS Jr., became he lead tenor for the STYLISTICS,… STOP, LOOK, LISTEN. The women in Philadelphia went “buck wild” throwing unmentionables on stage.
But what happens when a tenor voice moves from a “C” to an “A” note? I am told sopranos cannot hold such high notes for very long, for the overwhelming power it takes to sustain that level, where it does not sound like a scream, equivalent to that of a fire engine en route!
When this feat is attempted by tenors, the Europeans describe the climb as “vocal fachs”.(fax; specialization)

DAVID D. MARSHALL is one of them. From Baltimore Md., he holds a Master of Music Degree from Shenandoah Conservatory. From the inner city of Baltimore, went to Peabody Preparatory, while associated with Shiloh Baptist Church, in spirit and song.
He debuted his new art form in 2020, at the University of Md. Baltimore County. I was there to witness it.