Follow for Now Follow-Up

After writing the post below, I got a little curious about Follow for Now and what they're up to now. I found this blog post from the late, great Chris Pryor (whom I eugologized back in August).

http://mog.com/blog_post/view/24121#comment-107216

Personally, I never knew the lead singer, David Ryan Harris. I said "Hey" once in awhile to Chris Tinsley, the guitarist. I shared a few beers with the keyboardist, Billy Fields, a real cool cat. I was there at the original MJQ when he debuted with Seek (yo, Kevin, where you at?).

I knew Enrique (Bernard Coley) a lot better. He was good friends with some good friends, Chris and Andrian. The first time I met him, we spent the entire night griping about a woman we both had problems with (he in ATL, me at NU). We hung out a little and even got in a fight with a skinhead together. Actually, in a rare fit of humanity for me back then, I tried to stop the whole thing. Having just returned from Eastern Europe where I had more than a few "altercations" with skinheads, you could say I had a bit of a "Skinhead Complex" back in the day. It was amazing that I hadn't slugged the guy. Instead, I graciously, gently, escorted the fine, young Aryan out of the bar, imparting some friendly advice: "You don't want this."

Apparently, my skinhead friend disagreed. A few minutes later, I saw him outside "wanting it" quite vociferously with a group of African-American youth. Why he decided to spray the N-word like DDT around a bunch of black folk is still beyond me. I arrived late (yes, I was going to stop it yet again), somewhere between "nig" and "ger." As five brothers swiftly approached, our white supremacist realized his faux pas and tried to amend his previous statement. "No! No! I just meant him!" The five, angry brothers from Decatur disagreed with his argument and proceeded to give him the most vicious ass-kicking I'd ever seen live.

Of course, having not been involved and with the bloodied skinhead holding his eye, crying, "It wasn't him. It wasn't him," the po-lice wanted to arrest me.

Ahhh, the good old days.

Anyway, YouTube is God. I love posting videos (as you well know). So, here's an old Follow for Now video profile and their video, "Holy Moses." They were a bunch of great guys. But it wasn't enough (in case you missed it below, here's their story. The music industry is some evil shit. Record execs could make Attila blush.

I hope you enjoy.








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Mother's Finest Was Wrong

In 1976, Atlanta funk/rock band Mother's Finest made one of the most racist, most ignored challenges known to music (only to be eclipsed by the careers of New Kids on the Block and Kenny G.). With "Nigizz Can't Sing Rock'n Roll," lead singer Glenn Murdock threw the industry into a tizzy.

"I still don't know what they're talking about," rapper/singer/actor Mos Def recently commented on the 30-year-old controversy, "rock-n-roll is niggi music."

The challenge was soon taken up by George Clinton and Funkadelic with the release of One Nation under a Groove and their song, "Who Says a Funk Band Can't Play Rock?!" However, the "blacklash" was monumental.

"It was an outrage," says noted black revolutionary and jazz activist, Gil Scott-Heron. "We already had Charley Pride singing country music."

"I told them nobody wants to hear black people singing rock music. It would never sell," music potentate, and then head of Arista Records, Clive Davis claims. "I made sure of that."

Through Davis' efforts, Saturday Night Fever was released and disco was born, forever closing the debate.

In the '80s, Davis' hegemony was challenged with the signings of Bad Brains, Fishbone, and Living Colour. However, he made a concerted effort to quash their careers. At one point, Davis even threatened Madonna with exile when her Maverick label signed the aforementioned Bad Brains. Maverick hardly supported their album, God of Love and soon dropped the group. He even succeeded to crush the fledgling career of funk/metal Atlanta band (and one-time friends of the author), Follow for Now. Because of their racial ambiguity, Rage against the Machine escaped Davis's wrath, but with the release of The Chronic the renascent debate was once again silenced.

However, with the signing of Executive Order 3865 (otherwise known as "O.E. Funk") in May 2007, President Bush has freed black musicians to once again explore their rock capabilities.

"Oh yeah, I'm proud of that one," Bush commented from his new refuge in Dallas. "I hope those bastards enjoy the Cuban sun. Guantanamo is where they belong."

When told what E.O. 3865 really was, the former president changed his tune.

"You know, I just signed those things. I never looked at them. Damn you, Condi."

The response has been small so far but very promising. There are the "Brooklyn boho weirdos", TV on the Radio, whose Dear Science was voted the Best Album of 2008 by Spin.



Philadelphia-born, former ska/punk rocker, Santigold (nee Santi White, musically nee Santogold) also made a huge splash in 2008 with her musically-nee eponymous debut.



Somehow circumventing the "Buy American" clause in E.O. 3865, the U.K. has also contributed the hard-driving funk/rock of The Heavy, who some have compared to "Tom Waits backed by the Stooges" (though this author thinks they've never imagined Curtis Mayfield backed by early Earth, Wind, and Fire or Sly and the Family Stone).



"Oh yeah, the future of blacks in rock is limitless," comments Tunde Adebimpe, lead singer of TV on the Radio. "With The Big Brother in the White House, anything's possible."

Fellow band member, Kyp Morgan (who many have confused for Cornel West), raised a beer. "I heard that!"

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