humanity
Humanity topics include pieces on the real lives of music professionals, amateurs, inspiring students, celebrities, lifestyle influencers, and general feel good human stories in the music sphere.
Gregory Stuart Lake
I’ve been stuck in the denial stage for over 2 years now. I am finally ready to enter the anger stage. Why? Why do amazing people contract fatal diseases while disgusting rats live on? I realise that life isn’t fair, nothing about it is fair. I wish we could make trades. It would have been an easy choice in December of 2016 for my nominee for exchange.
By Armond Blackwater5 years ago in Beat
My First Professor
Occasionally, my folks would scrape together enough extra money to head to a country bar on a weekend. I remember one bar in particular by the name of the Gaiety, which was a honky tonk east on Chef Hwy. It was a long drive to near or maybe over the Mississippi line. (M I S S – I S S – I Pee Pee In Your Eye – that’s how I learned to spell it.)
By Armond Blackwater5 years ago in Beat
The profundity of the Black female jazz voice
In 1980, this writer attended the University of Bridgeport, in Connecticut to study the finer points of jazz and cocktails. Not that this was a new endeavor for me. I had been singing jazz in night-clubs in NYC as an aspiring jazz-vocalist prior to my being pulled out of the limelight by my mother, who deemed that if I were going to pursue a career in music, I had to have a degree (of some sort) as a backup.
By Stefanie August5 years ago in Beat
My Anti-Love Songs
My heart had been broken several times. It seemed like I never learned my lesson in given someone my heart because out of a sudden it would be crushed. It is like they would play bean bag with my heart and suddenly they would stump it. They would move along and not give a damn about how they had wounded me or they would be happy about their evil deeds. I went through issues because of how my stepmother treated me but I forgave her. But what happened to me, later on, was almost unforgivable.
By Ralph Williams5 years ago in Beat
Storytelling with a BEAT
“This is not the news. No way is this the news…” But this is Snap Judgement, and this storytelling podcast has gotten me through some tough times. Five years ago, I was going through a quarter-life crisis. I had returned home to live with my mom after an eight-month trip to New Zealand that had ended in extreme homesickness. I was feeling aimless, picking up temporary jobs wherever I could, my hopes and dreams coming out of art college having gone nowhere. The circle of friends I had made before traveling had largely moved on or moved away and my boyfriend at the time was realizing I didn’t fit into his future plans of having 2.5 kids. Snap Judgement was there to remind me that I wasn’t the only one in the world struggling to find my way, struggling to find a place to fit in and belong. Despite all the heartbreak, loneliness, and boredom I had Glynn Washington and the Snap Judgement stories to keep me company.
By Kelsey Reich5 years ago in Beat
Narcissists I have known
I had never been particularly worldly or self-assured, and if the truth be told, I had always suspected I would make a terrible wife. Sleeping Beauty had slept for one hundred years. I think that is how the story goes. Only to be awakened by a kiss from a handsome Prince. I was not labouring under the illusion that there was a Mr Right waiting for me to catch his eye across a crowded room. Romance bored me. I made terrible romantic decisions, that always ended up badly. This song was every relationship I had up until the age of 35.
By JoJoBonetto5 years ago in Beat
BAH-LOVE-DAY!
Wow! this is a tough one, this Valentine's Day 2021, I'm 52 years old and always had a valentine, well maybe missed a few years in between 2 failed marriages, but in between and in my younger days I had a collection of boyfriends, and of course lots of heartaches. Nowadays, with online dating I find it challenging and nauseating! I can't drink enough wine to face the technology of trying to find love. I get a lot of messages, some are actually enticing but then poof! where did he go? Just writing that I figured out the first song for my anti-valentine's day playlist....ready? are you still there?, the thrill is gone by B.B.King. You know what I'm writing about, once the high, the euphoria, the bliss of love hits reality that is when the thrill starts to diminish, sometimes slowly and painfully or immediatley like a flash in the pan.
By Tiffany Digiovanni 5 years ago in Beat
Teenage Angst
Everyone has enjoyed a little bit of teenage angst, right? Whether it was chopping off your hair, dying it black, piercing your eyebrows, or dating that grungy guy who played the guitar, most of us went through our phase of rebellion. I just so happened to hit that phase a little late.
By Victoria Turner5 years ago in Beat
Revenge On The Internet
So my boyfriend and I broke up. Who is to be more anti Valentine's Day this year than me? I've been on a rollercoaster of emotions and more likely to listen to 'Love Stinks' from the Wedding Singer than 'I Can't Help Falling in Love With You' by Elvis Presley. And so who do I turn to for validation and support? (Friends?) No! Strangers on the internet, of course!
By Hayley Lackner5 years ago in Beat
"You Can't Stop Me Lovin' Myself!": How these 7 BTS Songs taught me to Embrace Self-Love
I don't hate Valentine's Day. Expressing the adoration you feel for your partner by bringing them flowers or taking them out to dinner on a specific day is an undertaking that can always be done the other 364 days in the year but setting aside February 14th to do so is certainly a lovely gesture.
By Ghezal Amiri5 years ago in Beat
How Spotify has changed the way I listen to Music
The World as we know it isn't a musical. People don't erupt into song when someone catches their eye. Or the world doesn't immediately become gloomy and rainy when your sad or accosted by heartbreak. Thankfully music companies have made it so we can have these soundtracks available to us no matter where we are in the world.
By InkGalaxies~5 years ago in Beat
