Page 6 The Portland Observer -August 15, 1990
■ Portland Observer — —
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ENTERTAINMENT
4*
NEA CONDEMNS PGA
FOR PLANS TO PLAY
CHAMPIONSHIP ON
COURSE BARRING
BLACKS
Popular music group Club Nou
veau earned a Grammy award in
1987 for its rhythmic rendition of
the song, "Lean On Me." Two of
the group's members, Jay King
and Kevin Irving, explain why
exploring different types of music
breeds staying power in the '90's,
and give their opinions on when a
singer knows he or she has
achieved success in the industry,
on this weekend's Ebony/Jet
Showcase
A Benefit For
PIONEER COURTHOUSE SQUARE
7:30 pm FRIDAY, AUG 17
The National Education Association
has condemned the Professional G o lf
Association for “ its persistence in plan
ning to play the annual PGA cham pion
ship in August at a g o lf club that refuses
membership to African Americans. * ‘The
PGA championship is scheduled at the
all-w hite Shoal Creek Country Club near
Birmingham , Ala., Aug. 9-12.
N E A Executive D ire c to r Don
Cameron, in a letter to PGA President
Patrick J. R eilly, said:
“ It is dism aying to see the prestige
o f the Professional G o lf Association
marred with so unseemly a blemish. News
accounts o f this matter indicate that your
organization intends a review o f its p o li
cies regarding the choice o f g o lf courses
used fo r PGA activities. I urge you to act
expeditiously.
N E A , w ith more than two m illio n
educational employee members, “ has a
long and proud history o f leadership in
securing c iv il rights for all Am ericans,”
said Cameron. “ I f we can be o f assis
tance in resolving the current dispute in
the interests o f equality fo r a ll, please
contact us.”
The N E A action was adopted by the
8,300-member Representative Assem
bly, the Associations’s policy-m aking
body, at its annual meeting earlier this
month.
FIREHOUSE CULTURAL
CENTER
Henry Weinhard's
Presents....
FABULOUS
THUNDERBIRDS
MITCH RYDER
And The —
—
DETROIT WHEELS
CURTIS SALGADO
And The —
STILETTOS
MEIER & FRANK
©K (Oregonian
North Portland’s Interstate Firehouse
C ultural Center is one o f only 50 arts o r
ganizations in the United States to be
selected to panic ipate in phase one o f the
national Endowment for the A rts ’ A d
vancement Program.
City Commissioner D ick Bogle, who
oversees the IFCC, said selection o f the
50 organizations was based on “ excep
tional artistic m erit.”
Under phase one o f the program, the
N E A w ill provide technical assistance
over the next 15 months to help the IFCC
develop a cohesive plan fo r long-term
adm inistrative and financial stability.
Bogle said once the firs t phase is
completed, the IFCC w ill become e li
gible to apply fo r a phase-two matching
grant to help implem ent the plan.
According to Bogle, the N E A ’s tech
nical assistance w ill address such areas
as fundraising, marketing, board and staff
development, public relations, financial
systems, programs, and facilities needs.
A regionally-based consultant w ill
schedule regular visits to Portland to
work w ith IFC C Executive D irector Sue
Bushby and her staff. Specialists in va ri
ous fields also w ill be available for con
sultation, as needed.
Bogle said one o f the strong points
o f the Advancement Program is the fact
that each arts organization is approached
individually, and each plan is tailor-made.
223-9919
Tickets are $18 plus service charge available at
Powell's Travel Store and G.l. Joe's Ticketmaster outlets
AUGUST
CALL 222-7425 FOR MORE INFORMATION.
Wed. 15
A Public beivice of the Downtowner.
TOP 10 SINGLES
No
ITiLT.
C A ttL & TfUMVL'K
AJCTTST
i
Make You Mine
Motown 20444
Ruff Rhyme
Capitol 15583
Someone to Love
MCA 24061
Do Me
MCA 24061
Treat Them Like...
MCA 15822
Lies
Atlantic 86168
Thieves in the Temple
Paisley Park 19751
Jerkout
Paisley Park 19750
Vision o f Love
CBS 73348
MyMyMy
Motown 2033
MC Trouble
2
3
4
S
6
7
8
9
W
ONE
King Tee
Brothers of
the Baladi
rinip?. „16
Troubled Tribe
Baton Rouge
Babylon A.I).
I i i?l7-Sat. 18
MAC Band
Bell Biv DeVoe
Crazy 8s
Sun. 19
Father MC
Envogue
Prince
The Time
Mariah Carey
Johnny Gill
RECORDS
1615 NE Killingworth
Portland, OR
(503) 284-2435
F resh Voices |
Yo, No, Don’t Try It’
D Ice-T is a popular rap artist who used to belong to a street
gang but got a chance for another life and took it. Now,
many of the raps on his albums and videos have an anti
crime or anti-drug message. They also have explicit lan
guage, sexual references and imagery, and in some cases
display sexist attitudes; Ice-T has been strongly criticized for
that. We asked him why he does all this, emphasizing the
vulgarity, and why he quit the gang. Here are his answers^_
was sprung out there on the
streets, into crime and things
like that. And I d id n ’ t really have a
fear o f going to ja il, because I d id n ’t
have anything better. I d id n ’ t have any
fam ily or anything. B ut one night I
was in a club rapping-which was just
something I picked up-and this pro
ducer walked in. He was making this
movie about breakdancing, and he said,
T want you in it.’ I looked at him like
he was crazy. ‘ I a in ’ t being in no
movie, man.’ I had the attitude that all
white people want to do is exploit me.
But my friends told me, ‘ Ice, man, go
for it, man. W hite people like you,
man. You don’t have to be in here.’
“ Since then, all o f them have
been to prison. A lot o f them are dead-
I ’ve got to go to a funeral this week
end. I t ’ s like the devastation that the
streets bring. And every time I m ight
have thought that I wasn’ t going to
make it in the music business-maybe I
should go back to the streets-some-
body else would go under. I found out
that drugs were nowhere, from other
people’ s experiences.
“ I ’m very lucky. I got a chance.
And what m y music is really made o f
is me explaining what I thought I wanted
vs. what really happened. I say that I
wanted to do down this particular road,
the fast life , be a hustler, make my
money, be rich and never work. That’ s
the road a lot o f m in ority kids feel
they’ ve got to go. Because the other
road has applications and interviews
that we j ust somehow never seem to be
able to get past. There’ s no applica
tions down this road. You just go for
what you know . But at the end o f that
road, I found out, there’ s a big c liff.
And all my friends fe ll o ff o f the c liff.
“ So I ’ m like yelling back to the
kids- ‘ Yo, no, don’ t try it. It m ight look
like it ’ s a shortcut, but it;s not.’
“ I never did drugs or drank any-
thing-and, in a gang, i f one person doesn’t
get high, people don’ t push him. T he y’re
kind o f happy. T he y’re like, ‘Okay, Ice’ ll
be the guy who can talk. H e’ ll know
where the door is ‘ K ind o f like a desig
nated driver. But i f I catch one o f these
kids out here who wanks to hustle drugs,
I w on’ t say, ‘ D on ’ t get involved w ith it.
‘ I ’ ll say, ‘ Look, man, I knew this guy,
man, and he had bad cars and money and
jewelry, and he went to Vegas and gambled
a lo t...’ And the kid goes, ‘ Yeah, yeah.’
And I say, ‘ That night, he was getting
ready to make a m illio n dollars, cash, but
he O D ’d o ff heroin.’
“ O f course, no matter what I say,
they think, ‘ I t ’ s not going to happen to
me.’ But the only thing you can do is try.
Now, there are people who say, ‘ N o use
in trying. These kids in gangs, they’ re no
good. Just lin e ’em up and shoot ‘ em.
“ But, see, I was that kid. They would
have lined me up and shot me. And now
I ’ m in a position where I can try to help.
“ So I tell them, ‘ Go to school .
Finish what you’ ve gotta do. Y ou’ re not
going to beat the system. The same way
the Japanese did. They d id n ’ t come back
and try to do another w ar-they’re buying
up this country.’
“ And I tell the kids, ‘ You can use
the same skills it takes to be crim in a l.’
People say to me, ‘ Have you ever been to
business school? You have insight, w it
and tac.’ And I say, ‘ Have you ever sold
hand grenades in an alley? W hat they’ re
talking about is something that came
from a business school. W hat I ’ m ta lk
ing about is a business that used to be
handled w ith people w ith guns.
“ N ow , I rap to the kids in a very
hard-core fashion. I swear at ‘ em a lot.
And I did a song called ‘Lethal Weapon’
where I said go to school and get more
ammo and go to the library and load up
your gun. Because, I said, the wars o f
the ’90s aren’ t going to be fought w ith
hands-they’re going to be intellectual
wars. When I was going to school,
carrying a book, you were a sissy. But
I te ll ‘ em, ‘This is your am m unition. ‘ I
give kids on the street another way o f
looking at ik
“ W hat I ’ m dealing w ith is an un
conventional enemy, and it takes un
conventional tactics. R eally, adoles
cents are an unconventional enemy.
They don’ t go fo r the reasoning that
adults try to use w ith them. When
yo u ’re an adult, you can listen to a
record and say, ‘Oh, that’ s terrible.
K ids shouldn't hear that.’ But yo u ’re
forgetting that when you were 13, the
records you wanted were the records
your mother d efin ite ly did not want
you to have.Parenls don’ t hear any
thing but the sw caring.But are you
going to get hung up on the offensive
words, or are you going to think about
the message? When your mother says,
‘Don’t take that goddam car! she doesn’t
mean ‘God be damned.’ She just wants
to get your attention.
“ And, yes, some o f m y raps have
sex rhymes. One tim e I did a clean
show, and g irls came up to me and
complained, ‘W h y ’ d you stop doing
those nasty raps?’ T hat’ s when I real
ized i t ’ s part o f Ice-T-you know , the
p o litica l rhymes, the gang rhymes, fun
rhymes and sex rhymes.
“ I know m y rap is not fo r every
body. B ut i f you were dealing w ith a
k id from Beirut, he’ d rap about car
bom bs, terrorists, that type o f life. You
can’t expect me to rap like Bryant
Gumbel.If I want to reach kids in gangs,
I know the route I have to go . These
are kids who want to be hoodlums. So
the best way fo r me to do it is ju st deal
w ith them as a hoodlum and say, ‘ I ’ m
an intelligent hoodlum. I ’ ve learned.’ ”
Support our Advertisers
SAY YOU SAW IT IN
THE
P O R T LA N D
O BSE R V E R
...And Justice For All
by A ngelique Sanders
Will the Real Spike Lee Please Stand?
1190
31 NW FIRST
ONE
LYNN MINTON REPORTS:
Richard Burdell's
Birthday Fund
Raiser
Ak»n, 20
The Electric Boys
Tmsi 21
The Clevelands
Key Largo was called by
Brothers of the Bulttdi's
Michael Beach "Portland's
best place to play at"
This week, I want to respond to
an article regarding Spike Lee in this
m onth’ s Gentlemen's Q uarterly maga
zine.
W alter K irn , the author, opens
his article by com plaining, “ There was
a time in the entertainment business
when artists were happy to do what they
did best. Actors acted, dancers danced,
singers sang...but Spike Lee, who has
made a mark as both an actor and a
director, isn’ t satisfied even w ith that;
he’d rather be the self-appointed con
science o f his race: M alcolm X w ith a
distribution deal.” M r. K im , what you
seem to be c ritic iz in g Spike for is ex
panding his talent. I f actors are also
talented at singing, fo r instance, does
this mean they should shrug their shoul
ders at singing and say, “ W e ll, shoot,
I ’ m an actor; I shouldn’ t sing, too.” ?
M alcolm X had a lot o f practiced talents
beyond assisting his race; should he
have ignored public speaking and nar
rowed his abilities? Spike chooses his
movies as an outlet fo r prom oting a
message, whether it be how racism a f
fects A frican Americans or sim ply g iv
ing whites a cross-section o f Balck life
(as in M o' Better Blues): are you saying,
M r. K im , that Spike Lee get o ff his
schtick and do a mindless flic k , un
m ounting his d irecting/w riting soapbox
and “ keeping in his place” as a direc
tor?
You also criticize Lee for
“ scolding his peers” , as you put it, “ for
fa llin g away from some incorruptible
standard o f Blackness.” You say his
radicalism is an act. I believe what
Spike Lee is attempting by lashing out at
Arsenio H a ll’ s and Michael Jackson’ s
artificialitie s, is encouraging brothers
and sisters to keep Black culture intact.
I doubt Spike is acting when he in ti
mates this “ w hitening” o f Black cu l
ture seems wrong to him. I f he is indeed
only posing an a rtific ia l concern, at least
he is exem plifying a positive role model.
Additionally, you say that Spike
should stop condemning racism because
“ ...if everyone is a racist, no one is.
Equal g u ilt means equal innocence."
To this, I respond: even i f everyone was
a racist—which Spike is not saying; he’ s
sim ply pointing out that racism is out
th e re -it doesn’ t mean we should settle
back and presume i t ’ s right. I f everyone
was g u ilty o f murdering, is everyone
then innocent o f im m orality?
K irn goes on to cut Lee fo r
choosing, as he says, roles that “ show a
person o f humble station outsmarting all
around him , getting o ff all the good lines
while being charmingly unpretentious.”
Good lim ing on this article, K irm : it just
heads up Spike’ s new film . Regrettably,
i f you had had the opportunity to see
M o' Better Blues before you’d w ritten it
(in fact, I notice the article was placed
under the head “ movies” as i f to say it
deals w ith Spike’ s latest picture, when
in fact it com pletely overlooks it), it
may have changed your opinion on
Spike’s rolc-choosing...hc plays a crooked
gambling-addicted manager that is looked
down upon by most every character, and
w ho’ s ultim ate undoing is being vio-
lently thrashed. That doesn ’ t sound like
a very glamorous role to me...
The fin al criticism I have o f
your article ( I ’ m not finished com plain
ing, but my next critiques I have are
directed at G.Q.) is your closing state
ment that i f Spike doesn’t stop pushing
Blackness, so to speak, that he’ ll be
come to society a passing novelty act.
M r. K irn: I doubt Spike is concerned.
To G.Q.: that depiction you
ran o f Spike obviously intended to de
grade him and make him look foolish.
A ll the other articles featured legitimate
photographs and not merely distorted
line-draw ings...if G.Q. does not have a
photograph o f Spike Lee, please w rite
m c -th c Observer w ould be more than
happy to supply one.
To readers: I have sent a copy
o f this to W illia m K im at G.Q. to give
him the opportunity to respond. I w ill
p rin t whatever I hear.
* * * * * *
Ite m : Burger K ing recently began serv
ing Coke products(asupportcrof A part
heid, as mentioned in last week's c o l
umn). Personally, I'm boycotting B u r
ger K ing fo r this reason; i f this action is
not feasible fo r you, though, I'd at least
recommend you refrain from purchas
ing Coke products there. I f you want to
complain about the "Coke switch", here's
the address to issue complaints to: B ill
Ostric, Vice President o f Operations
Restaurant Management Northwest, Inc.
1410 S.W. Jefferson Street, Portland,
Oregon 97201.
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