Two days ago I didn’t know who Marcos Witt was. Never heard the name or anything about him. First of all, I don’t know how the television came to be on that particular channel at that time, but there was this guy speaking in Spanish and I recognized the Lakewood Church rotating globe in the background.

The guy was good. I didn’t understand EVERY word he said but he was speaking slowly enough that I knew it wasn’t the Cuban Spanish I’m accustomed to hearing. I called one of my co-workers over because surely she knew who this guy was, he was too good for him to not be super famous, right? But she didn’t know him either. She translated the parts I didn’t understand and then his name popped up on the bottom of the television screen --- Marcos Witt.

Of course I Googled him and found out more about him. He is the pastor of the Spanish speaking congregation of Lakewood and that already numbers about 40,000. Witt is American but was raised in Mexico with his Christian missionary parents and siblings. He is also a Latin Grammy Award-winning entertainer and that is apparent in the delivery of his sermon. He knows how to connect with people even in a foreign language. He has the gift.  

With the Spanish speaking population in the United States continuing to grow, Joel Osteen was smart in selecting Marcos Witt to lead Lakewood's Spanish-speaking congregation. I look forward to watching more of Witt in action. You may want to check him out also; even if you don’t speak Spanish, you’ll understand.

Related Links:
Marcos Witt
Lakewood Church

My sister from another mother, Linda, from Ramblings of an Ageless Hippie Chick tagged me a few weeks ago with a meme on my seven favorite music albums. I’m such an eclectic music lover that I’ve started and stopped this blog post more times than I care to remember. Since it’s cold outside and I’m in for the night while I continue to fight off a cold, I’m going with whatever I write this time.

Besides, I am so tired of the Rod Blagojevich scandal and the Jesse Jackson Jr. denial tour that I really must move on for my own sanity.

THE RULES:

1. Post your list of the seven best albums, the seven bloggers you will tag, a copy of these rules, and a link back to this page.
2. Each person tagged will put a URL to their Blogger Album Project post along with a list of the seven best albums in the comment section HERE.
3. Feel free to post the “I Contributed to the Blogger Album Project” Award Graphic on your sidebar, along with a link back to this page.
4. Post a link back to the blogger who tagged you.


MY SEVEN ALBUMS:

1.       A Love Supreme – John Coltrane:  I can listen to this album over and over and over again. Coltrane was a musical genius and I’d choose his tunes over many of today’s musicians. That’s not a slap to just a testament to the groundbreaking sound of John Coltrane.

2.       Exitos Eternos - Celia Cruz:  There is only one Celia Cruz. I love watching her and predecessor, La Lupe. Celia Cruz mesmerized the Latin music industry and showed just why she’s the Queen with her modern tunes. My favorite song from this album is La Negra Tiene Tumbao.

3.       Electric Circus – Common:   This album is probably the least commercially successful of Common’s tunes. I happen to like the 1970’s flavor of the tunes. Common was obviously heavily influenced by his relationship with Erykah Badu at the time this album was made. There’s also a collaboration with Mary J. Blige that is underrated.

4.       Heaven – BeBe & CeCe Winans:   Before Kirk Franklin broke ground as a contemporary gospel star, BeBe and CeCe Winans paved the way with this album. Many secular radio stations found several cuts from the album in heavy rotation on their playlists. I love every track on this album. One of my favorite songs from this album is Lost Without You.  

5.       West Side Story – Leonard Bernstein:   Since my mom taught dance when I was a kid, I grew up listening to show tunes. I recall watching the movie version of West Side Story and memorizing all of Rita Moreno’s lines. While I liked Natalie Wood’s role but Rita had fi-yah.

I did get that the story was based on William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It’s really interesting to hear some of the songs today but I still love the album.

6.       3 Years  5 Months & 2 Days in the Day of the Life of… - Arrested Development:   I love this album and I love this group. They remind me of Sly & the Family Stone. There tunes are upbeat message music. I love the mix of reggae, rap and R&B. This is another album that I would turn the volume up on real loud and sing as I drove in my car on long distance trips.

7.       The Isaac Hayes Movement – Isaac Hayes:   This album was released in November 1969. I remember it vividly because of the song I Stand Accused. I had just become a teenager and the older kids talked about how long the song was. Since it was a slow song, it provided couples an opportunity to dance really close for a really long time. That song was the first song I danced close with a boy. I didn’t see what was such a big deal. I was really young. LOL

Here are the SEVEN BLOGGERS  I’m tagging. Play if you want, if not, that’s cool too.

TGrundy of RIBS

Regina of Regina’s Family Seasons

Mr. Chap of Mr. Chap Morning Show Live

Angie of What Floats My Boat

Marty of Marty BLOGs

Theo of Now That’s What I’m Talkin’ About

 and Matt of  A Bowl of Stupid.

My brain is fried; that was hard work. Your responses will be interesting. Peace and Blessings, y’all.

© 2008, Vanessa: Unplugged!, www.vanessabyers.net

Vote for this blog for Best Political Blog and for Best Blog Design in the 2009 Bloggers Choice Awards.

I can never see this video too many times. It's message is simple and pure. We are the change we want to see in the world and we can make a difference. We sink or swim together. Vote for change and make a difference.

OK, after an almost twelve hour work day, I am through…wasted…ti-red. It's time for some funkiness to shake off the stress and prepare for tomorrow. Yeas, it's weekend but mine is already booked.

I love the Ohio Players' sound but they were off limits when I was a kid. I think those album covers really did it for my folks. Listening to the Ohio Players or even looking at their album covers would get us in as much trouble as listening to those Moms Mabley albums my aunt used to try to hide from us kids.

Here is one of my favorite OP songs…

Two months ago I would have told you that Chris Brown was one of the most annoying entertainers around. That's seems a tad cruel but I'm just keeping it real. He was everywhere. The comments equating him to Michael Jackson really did it for me. Anyhoo, I think he was overexposed and rewarded way too early for a neophyte musical career. Well, it seems that young Mr. Brown just may have proven himself in his role in This Christmas. Obviously, his singing talent and appeal to young women are capitalized on to sell this movie and the soundtrack. It works.

The cast seems to click so much so that the interaction seems so real and I could definitely identify with my own family members and many of the characters. Now, don't get it twisted, there's nothing new in this movie. The storyline is predictable but ya know what? It still works. The jokes, one-liners and come backs remind me of any of several family gatherings.

If I could have changed anything, I probably would have one less Soul Train line. While black folks like to have a good time, I just don't recall that much extraneous dancing going on in my household. That being said, I love this movie and I could watch it over and over again.

Regina King is awesome, as usual, Sharon Leal, Loretta Devine are fabulous and video model turned actress Lauren London holds her own. Two of my favorite actors, Delroy Lindo and Idris Elba bring sexy back for me every time.

I also like the way black filmmakers are infusing the value of education and attending a historically-black college or university.

If you want to see a feel good movie with a few twists and turns, you'll enjoy This Christmas. Remember, you can't exchange family.

I bit this video from Christy's Coffee Break; it's the most hilarious video I've seen in quite some time. Check it out.

You may try not to like this but you know the beat is infectious and it's funny. Who you reppin'? Mac or PC?

For those of us with absolutely no shame, here are the lyrics.

Lyrics:

Oooh, Mac or PC

Oooh, Mac or PC

Oooh, Mac or PC

Uh, I'm a right-clicka
I'm an iBook flippa
Macs and PCs - no fight gets bigga
Surf Safari or browse in I.E.
Better know what you rep(resent) - a Mac or PC!

USB 1-2.0, son, you don't know
watch my data flow
From MS-DOS command line prompts
Black backgrounds, no special sauce
Well I've only been around since '84
But my ease of use has done so much more
From a Plus to a Classic to a II GS
To a PowerPC, my OS is the best
So clickable, design is lickable
My aqua interface makes XP despicable
Quick I pull the RAM stick out the slot
Then I swap it with generic
cause the port is hot

If you see life through an LCD
Betta know your brand is it Mac-or-PC?

I'm a right-clicka
I'm an iBook flippa
Macs and PCs - no fight gets bigga
Surf Safari or browse in I.E.
Better know what you rep(resent) - a Mac or PC!

Take a look at Vista
enjoy the view
I suggest Premium or the Ultimate skew
cop a Dell with a graphics card - super fast
turn the arrow on and lick the glass
Tiger's fast as hell
But Leopard's got the boom
Time machine is mad mean
you're absurd - what's a zune?
Middle name: innovate
All features integrate
Now stay the hell out of my developers' conferences!
Nonsenses - I'm networking
You're not working
Stop staring at your built-in webcam
YouTube surfing
Ha! 1,000 views is pretty fresh
ComputerGal36 even says I'm the best

He is the best with his videos
And cuts them all on a Final Cut Pro

I'm a right-clicka
I'm an iBook flippa
Macs and PCs - no fight gets bigga
Surf Safari or browse in I.E.
Better know what you rep(resent) - a Mac or PC!


Mac, PC, and Me, At Last

Mac, PC, and Me, At Last

[dance sequence]

When I run IT'S A iPOD!
Talk IT'S AN iPHONE!
Stuff I gotta have no matter what
It's an iLOAN!
I want an Intel, plus CS3,
but for now I'm streamin keynotes in bed listenin to Steve
Uh! Compatibility
Everybody fits with me
All the applications wanna get with my virility
At any time
Yo, it might go off
And you can ride it
Til it's Micro-Soft
Huh! Pay attention
I got a new invention
Steal your next idea
At the MacWorld Convention
But guess what
You'll always be behind
Cuz Mac is a state of mind

I'm a right-clicka
I'm an iBook flippa
Macs and PCs - no fight gets bigga
Surf Safari or browse in I.E.
Better know what you rep(resent) - a Mac or PC!

In my Mac and PC, Oh!

Hey, My Mac or PC

I didn't watch the VMAs but it must have been rather boring since the only portion that's really getting airplay or comment is Britney Spears' horrendous opening act performance. Let me tell you, I feel so bad for her. She was so not ready for that performance that MTV really should have pulled her. I don't enjoy watching train wrecks or car crashes but apparently so many people do.

Kanye West threw a temper tantrum after the show. Initially, I thought he was just being spoiled and egotistical but he made some very valid points about exploitation and the entertainment industry.

Britney Spears' performance was definitely a reminder of how cruel the game is. Not only was her performance horrible but she looked horrible from costume to hair. What was most disturbing was her lack of confidence. It showed in her eyes. That young woman is in pain. Even if she's made a gazillion dollars, and more than a few mistakes, watching her tank like that is not enjoyable. Somebody or a few somebodies in her camp need to be fired for letting her humiliate herself like that.

Comedian Sarah Silverman's routine only added to the sacrificial nature of the evening. To crack on Britney is one thing but to bring her kids in the act and refer to them as "mistakes" crosses the line.

I am not a Britney Spears fan but I do give her credit for being an excellent performer. Prayerfully she'll bounce back from this although many in the media have already buried her career. Perhaps, her VMA performance is watch Britney Spears needs to force her to make a choice --- get out of the entertainment game or work like hell to stage an awesome comeback.

Although Britney is an adult, it's time for those who really love her to intervene. Britney can come back from this. As much as Americans love watching train wrecks and car crashes, they also love comebacks. Please let the real Britney come back.

My blog buddy tadploz introduced me to the music of late Brazilian singer Antonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim AKA Tom Jobim. I love the Brazilian sound and I hope you enjoy it also.

January 25, 1927 - December 8, 1994

From the Antonio Carlos Jobim page on All Music Guide:

It has been said that Antonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim was the George Gershwin of Brazil--and there is a solid ring of truth in that, for both contributed large bodies of songs to the jazz repertoire, both expanded their reach into the concert hall, and both tend to symbolize their countries in the eyes of the rest of the world. With their gracefully urbane, sensuously aching melodies and harmonies, Jobim's songs gave jazz musicians in the 1960s a quiet, strikingly original alternative to their traditional Tin Pan Alley source.

Jobim's roots were always planted firmly in jazz; the records of Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Barney Kessel and other West Coast jazz musicians made an enormous impact upon him in the 1950s. But he also claimed that the French impressionist composer Claude Debussy had a decisive influence upon his harmonies, and the Brazilian samba gave his music a uniquely exotic rhythmic underpinning. As a pianist, he usually kept things simple and melodically to the point with a touch that reminds some of Claude Thornhill, but some of his records show that he could also stretch out when given room. His guitar was limited mostly to gentle strumming of the syncopated rhythms, and he sang in a modest, slightly hoarse yet often hauntingly emotional manner.

And the need for better art education.

BY DANA GIOIA
Thursday, July 19, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

There is an experiment I'd love to conduct. I'd like to survey a cross-section of Americans and ask them how many active NBA players, Major League Baseball players, and "American Idol" finalists they can name. Then I'd ask them how many living American poets, playwrights, painters, sculptors, architects, classical musicians, conductors and composers they can name. I'd even like to ask how many living American scientists or social thinkers they can name.

Fifty years ago, I suspect that along with Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax, most Americans could have named, at the very least, Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, Arthur Miller, Thornton Wilder, Georgia O'Keeffe, Leonard Bernstein, Leontyne Price and Frank Lloyd Wright. Not to mention scientists and thinkers like Linus Pauling, Jonas Salk, Rachel Carson, Margaret Mead and especially Dr. Alfred Kinsey.

I don't think that Americans were smarter then, but American culture was. Even the mass media placed a greater emphasis on presenting a broad range of human achievement. I grew up mostly among immigrants, many of whom never learned to speak English. But at night watching TV variety programs like the Ed Sullivan Show, I saw--along with comedians, popular singers and movie stars--classical musicians like Jascha Heifetz and Arthur Rubinstein, opera singers like Robert Merrill and Anna Moffo, and jazz greats like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong captivate an audience of millions with their art.

The same was true of literature. I first encountered Robert Frost, John Steinbeck, Lillian Hellman and James Baldwin on general-interest TV shows. All of these people were famous to the average American--because the culture considered them important. Today no working-class kid would encounter that range of arts and ideas in the popular culture. Almost everything in our national culture, even the news, has been reduced to entertainment, or altogether eliminated.

I surfed across this video by Rage Against The Machine and I love it. I hate to seem like such a troglodyte but I'd never heard of this group. You know I so love the whole political, anti-establishment, question authority thing. What can I say? I'm a hippie at heart.

Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy this. Peace out, fellow Renegades….