Gödel
Storage is especially nice if it doesn't rotate
(I just hope Trump doesn't rename it to Billionaire History Month.)
About midway in the month, I'm "woke" enough to lament the countless horrific instances of discrimination against black people in the history of the U. S. (including recently) – no matter how much Trump and his MAGAots try to suppress/whitewash their recognition.
But also, I celebrate black history in the arts.
Some of my favorites are films; one is Moonlight, the 2017 Academy Award Best Picture (infamous for the Oscar-show flub announcing La La Land as best pic).
Another recent one is Green Book, inspired by a true story about a safety guidebook for black people traveling in the South, and a celebrated black pianist using it in touring the South, who hired an Bronx Italian-American bouncer as his driver/bodyguard. (Both films happen to star Mahershala Ali.)
A few more notable such films are Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, Hidden Figures (about black women's key roles at NASA in the launch of John Glenn into orbit), and another one with "local implications" for me (and a title with double meaning), Loving, about an interracial couple in small-town Virginia that got married in DC, because of Virginia's anti-miscegenation laws, and took their case to the U. S. Supreme Court, where those laws were overturned.
Another interesting one I've seen, though not as acclaimed as those others, is Pinky, by famed director Elia Kazan and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It's about a black woman with light enough skin that she is able to "pass" for white in a northern nursing school.
And last night, I watched Say Hey, Willie Mays!; he probably endured as much racial adversity in his
career as Jackie Robinson did. But Mays was a Giant, not a Dodger.But, as an aphorism of mine goes, I love classical music – bebop, doowop, and hip-hop. And all 3 are fundamentally "black arts". In case you're interested, I'll share (quite) a few of my favorites below. (Please pardon the YouTube ads.)
- Bebop/Jazz: I "got into" underground rock radio in high school, but when I graduated to college, I found out that many of my favorite songs were based on black music, such as Cream's version of Crossroads, a Mississippi-delta blues song by Robert Johnson. As I pursued this interest, I noticed and signed up for a class in jazz, and learned about a number of black musicians; in bebop, that included Charlie "Bird" Parker on alto sax, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis on trumpet, and vibraphonist Milt "Bags" Jackson. But as I've grown more sedate, I've learned to love the "Swing" era more and more, and one of my favorites is Duke Ellington and his band(s). (And along with his hundreds of songs over the decades of his career, I love many of his song titles.):
In a Sentimental Mood, Never No Lament (Don't Get Around Much Anymore), On the Air (Live at Fargo, ND 1940), In a Mellotone, Harlem Air-Shaft
Another somewhat recent favorite of mine is the brilliant sax player Coleman Hawkins: Body and Soul, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Then again, there is jazz piano; among the bebop pioneers were Bud Powell (Somebody Loves Me) and the uniquely arcane Thelonious Monk.
But two of my favorite keyboard virtuosi are Oscar Peterson (1:22 sample) and the uber-brilliant Art Tatum (commentary ["If this man decides to play classical, we're all in trouble." – Sergei Rachmaninoff 
]). And here's a comparison between them by a couple of stars you might recognize, one of whom might be surprising, the other, my brother Ray, was blind like Art.
]). And here's a comparison between them by a couple of stars you might recognize, one of whom might be surprising, the other, my brother Ray, was blind like Art.- Doowop: I know this is (denigrated as) "pop music", but I still love many of these songs, e. g., Duke of Earl, The Great Pretender, Be My Baby, This Magic Moment, Da Doo Ron Ron (repeated, for some reason), . . . And those led to Respect of Soul Music – Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, etc.
- And yes, I confess, I'm a big fan of hip-hop/rap. Bi-coastal-ly; two of my favorite crews are A Tribe Called Quest, from Queens, NYC, and Digital Underground, from Oakland, Cali. I anticipate that I may be alone among us in this fandom,which extends from the syncro-beat to the funky lyrics to the brilliant videography.
I was heartened a few years ago when we visited the MOMA in NY, and in the middle of one of the large rooms, they had a continuous and omni-directional video playing, ATCQ's Scenario. Some of my other favs of theys: Jazz (We've Got) Buggin' Out, Oh My God, Check The Rhime, and Award Tour. (They were also associated with one of my favorite rappers, Brooklyn's Busta Rhymes, who I wish were as famous as Snoop Dogg.)
But from left-coast Digital Underground, and their leader Shock G and his alter ego, Humpty Hump, The Humpty Dance and (All Around the World) Same Song.
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