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.
The alien that saved my life . Third Place in Behind the Beat Challenge.
I was at my show after a singing gig the other day and someone said that I looked just like David Bowie. They are wrong of course, the only thing I have in common with the late great David Bowie is being short haired, slim, and that I can sing. What that statement meant to me and what she actually saw was something far more meaningful than she could ever imagine. Bowie encapsulated masculine and feminine simultaneously, chaotically, and perfectly. He stood for every oddball in the school yard, everyone who thought they weren't actually meant to be on this planet, and everyone who believed so viciously in their art that they would constantly break the rules to do it. And if she saw one ounce of that in me, then I was already doing what the song that sparked my desire to live again told me to do.
By Billie Gold 6 years ago in Beat
My Bridal March
I can remember the sound waves floating from our hi-fi stystem. This was in the 90's and I simply froze, transfixed at the difference in this ballad emitting from from the speakers. My mother must have felt the same reaction when she jumped stating "increase the volume... who is this?' She was captivated by the words; I was moved by the beat.
By allthingsahabi6 years ago in Beat
The Great Escape
I lay on my back on the grass, hugging my soccer ball to my stomach as if it were alive and could provide me the comfort I so desperately wanted. It had been a sunny day, with clear blue skies hosting the occasional fluffy cloud. Now late afternoon, the sun was beginning to lower, casting that brilliant golden glow over the day while the sky blazed bright blue above me. Laying there in that field, I should have been peacefully contented with the picturesque scene around me. But I was lonely and hurting; full of tumultuous emotions that wanted to burst from me, tearing me at my seams. Indeed, it felt like I was breaking, and that the world around me looked so at peace only served to deepen my pain.
By Stephanie McDonald6 years ago in Beat
It was just like any other day...
Remembering. 2 weeks. Just two weeks to go… Then I’ll be boarding that plane for the duration of twenty-four whole hours. I had buried myself in work and school for the past seven months, struggling to create art because I wasn’t happy. My mentor passed away from cancer, I lost a really good friend in a car accident, and I left my partner of three years. So many emotions and thoughts floating inside of me. So much transformation occurring in my life so suddenly that I felt like I didn’t even know myself anymore. So I bought myself a plane ticket and I decided to travel with some friends to Johannesburg for two weeks to volunteer at a local grade school in Soweto. The first month I completely ignored the itenary I didn’t want to bare the excitement in totality. But as the weeks lessened I began to process the reality of this trip and how my life was about to change forever. It was just one more day before AFRICA and I was waiting on the 910 bus headed to work just like any other thursday evening.I was feeling good because I made it to class on time (very rare) and I made it to the train for work on time (also very rare). I’m listening to the Robert Glasper station and this song comes on called “All I do” by Robert Glasper featuring S.I.R, Bridget Kelly and SongBird. I’m riding the 910 to work like any other day but tears begin falling continuously from my eyes because this ride was different. A serenade of “It’s all for you”... “if it’s all I do” comes pouring into my ears. My thoughts began to synchronize with the music… “if it's all I do” I’m going to heal myself, and “if it’s all I do” I’ll learn to love myself, I’ll honor myself and my ancestors...MY ANCESTORS! I kept the song on repeat and I couldn’t stop the feelings washing over me. I visualized my ancestor’s jumping from boats into unknown oceans, running in thick southern woods, watching their families sold, beaten and tortured. I could see images of black bodies hanging from southern trees. I visualized my grandmother raising my mother in jim crow southern poverty,it hurt but I kept drawing. “If it’s all I do” I”ll shed the generational curses and “If it’s all I do”...Mama I’m going to celebrate you, love you, and protect you because I know what you‘ve been through. The song kept playing along now with the visualization of my mother raising me and my four sisters by herself in a 2 bedroom back house in Compton. One day before this little yellow, bow-legged, southern girl who grew up in every hood in Los, Angeles got on that plane and went back home to the motherland. Woah. Surreal isn’t strong enough of a word. I need something deeper to describe how this felt spiritually. The idea that my feet, these feet would touch the land my ancestors fought so very hard to get back too. Nothing short of the highest gratitude rested in my heart, honor drew tears from my eyes and I refused to wipe them. I remember the first time I met Robert Glasper. We were in the Venice speakeasy he had just played the crowd’s head off alongside Terrace Martin. He came and sat at the table next to me. I remember trembling in silence trying to find words to express my love for his incredible music. Right as he finished his drink I turned swift and awkwardly towards him and mumbled in my choir mouse voice “Excuse me Mr.Glasper I just wanted to tell you Black Radio changed my life” (so dramatic but not really). He thanked me just like any regular gentlemen would and proceeded back to the stage to melt more faces in the crowd. The irony of it all, I wish I could’ve sat next to Mr. Glasper on that train I am almost certain he would have understood exactly what I felt. The next day boarded that plane singing to myself… “if it's all I doooooo”.
By Cleonna Moore6 years ago in Beat
"You'll Be In My Heart"
Well... We all know Phil Collins 'You'll Be In My Heart.' This is the song that broke my heart and put it back together again. It was the night of my cousin's bar-mitzvah. I was staring at the star-filled sky with the and comfort of my uncle's arms around me.
By Rose Maimon6 years ago in Beat
Sunday Best
I don't remember the last time that I laughed, but here I was with my three best friends in the world, laughing harder than I ever have before. I was able to sneak a night away from my boyfriend, Zach, to spend the night with my friends. Zach and I have been together for a year, but I didn't stay with him out of love- I was scared to leave him.
By Alyssa Wiegand6 years ago in Beat
All Smiles
The year is 2016. While working alone in my apartment, I’m becoming increasingly aggravated that my MacBook Pro won’t just let me be great. As an aspiring rapper, songwriter and producer with only small windows of time between my soul-sucking 9-5 job, these moments of ‘freedom’ to create are truly precious. Usually, when one thinks of a color wheel, it would seemingly bring feelings of joy or comfort....but for Apple users...well...F**k Color Wheels!! The vultures had slowly but surely been swarming around my laptop’s lifeline for some time now and I think that...this might be….CRAAAAAAAAASSHHHHHH….black screen.
By Archie L. Green6 years ago in Beat
Butterflies & Hurricanes by Muse
It was probably one of the worst times in my life. I had a lot of crazy things that happened up until 2012. My grandfather had just passed away from cancer. My mother had given up on fighting cancer herself and decided to go through palliative care to end her life. Obviously, I was distraught about the whole thing.
By Brian Anonymous6 years ago in Beat
High Hopes
Music can strike a chord on your soul at any age. It can transcend the days of darkness and forever etch in our memories the lightness of love, the days of carefree youth, and the dawn of our golden years. It can change your mood, it can set your mood, and it can record your mood. Music transports you in and out of moments in your life. It can be an anchor and it can be like a hot balloon soaring up to the clouds. It makes new memories and reinforces past ones. Music is your one true friend and also the party. It is the chameleon of life that changes tempo and beat to match its listener. Music knows no limits and transcends all ages, races, gender, and religion. It is the original equal rights opportunity. It can act as your therapist, priest, lover, and best friend. It can be the soft shoulder to cry on and the pep talk calling you out of a slump. Music is the conductor of life that transmutes the passages of time. It plays many roles in the trajectories of life. Whatever situation presents itself in life, music is there to provide the soundtrack of the time.
By Rachelle Garcia 6 years ago in Beat
