THE LENNY BRISCOE II REPORT

                                     E-MAIL ADDRESSES AND YOU So I couldn't get any of my two favourite artists to do work for me. I did a mini-advert on Facebook. So a man said he could do wonders with graphic designs and I asked for his contacts. His e-mail address was yah_niggah@yahoo.com. That made me laugh but it made me wonder if his business associates would ever take him seriously. Days later, I had to deal with someone whose e-mail address was platinumprick@yahoo.com. I suggested-no-insisted that he closed the account and create a new one, which he did. In hindsight, I wonder why I had done that. Who died for me to play God? OK, maybe I was just over-concerned for him. Back of my mind, I thought no one could top that. Well, until I had to send some important documentation to a lady who had blo...

                               GHANAIAN PHOTOGRAPHER IN NIGERIA Pt 2 As the security man ran towards us, my first thought was to leg it and forget the boys. If I was to run, where was I to hide though? I did not know Lagos town. It was just us dwarves against this giant of a man. I silently said my prayers in unknown tongues. It must have worked because the photographer had the divine inclination to smile . Smiling was the last thing on my mind at the time. Yet, the raw aggression on the security man’s face eased visibly a notch or three. The photographer’s smile had worked! When Goliath got to us, the photographer –who I’ll call Simon for now- launched into a narrative, talking about how beautiful the city of Lagos really was. He began showing off the millions of pictures he had taken to Goliath, describing each one elaborately....

                                GHANAIAN PHOTOGRAPHER IN NIGERIA Pt.1 I knew I was about to witness the most expensive engagement/wedding ever – at least one that I would be a part of . My (Ghanaian) mate was marrying a Nigerian woman of a certain hallowed profession. Not only that, she was from quite an illustrious background. And you know Nigerians, right? Right.  So there was a certain degree of extravagance, panache and display of excesses expected. Guaranteed. I knew there would be something for me to blog about, but what I thought was what I was going to blog about turned out not to be what I’m about to blog about. (That last sentence did not make sense,did it? Just ignore that). THE ENGAGEMENT Anyway, you are not going to read about the amount of cash (in dollars) spent on first class flights to N...

 WHERE DOES ART COME FROM by ANTHONY MEINDL We’re creatures of habit. We seek routine and safety. That’s why creating art is a mysterious process for everyone. Mysterious. Mystery occurs outside of our safety zones – in the unknown. We’re taught from an early age that the unknown is a scary and unsafe place to be. It’s unfamiliar. It involves risk. So we do everything we can to prevent going there. Even though going there is exactly where we need to go as artists. Deep down we all crave it. Desire it. The thrill-seeker. The adventurer. The painter. The poet. The actor. The writer – All know that any expansion and growth in life, all discoveries, all creative victories have only occurred by stepping out into the darkness, out into that which is unfamiliar. Look at your own life. Anything that you’ve accomplished that has been meaningful or significant or fulfilling has required that you first step into that which is foreign. The unwritten page. The blank canvas...

   In an era where Macklemore and Lil' B and Future (what kind of a name is that anyway?) are hogging the Hip-Hop spotlight, it comes as a bit of fresh air to moonwalk down memory lane and dig from the vaults, a classic unconventional paragraph by one of the best to do it - none other than Jay Z.     A decade plus ago, Jay-Z(now Jay Z, without the need for a hyphen) signed on Brownsville's favourite veterans M.O.P (i.e. Mashed Out Posse not Monkeys On Parole) on to the ROC.     Just Blaze, who still had his dreadlocks then, was on fire and had dropped a blazing instrumental for "You Don't Know" on the classic BLUEPRINT. Jay Z killed that beat but perhaps, feeling there was more he could do with it, recycled it for The BLUEPRINT II - The Gift and The Curse.   The "Big Homie" invited Billy Danze and old Lil' Fame to be on the record.  The song was their first outing as members of the ROC-A-FELLA team and it came as no surprise that they...

                         KNIGHTMARE : A MOMENT OF EPIPHANY She had had the bitterest argument with her boss. Her boss had swift and radical mood changes and niceties of language were never her strongpoint. And she was almost the same as her, character-wise. There was no turning backwards. Even she was amazed by the string of expletives she had let rip at her boss. The writing was on the wall, she had to jump before she was pushed. She had resigned verbally there and then. All that was left, was to put it in writing. This had been the fieriest of a series of heated confrontations. There was not going to be smoking of peace pipes, no rainbows, no doves, no fig or olives, no white flags, no nothing. Oh well, she knew she had a lovely war veteran husband whose muscular shoulder she could always lean on. He was her knight in shining armour. Her soldier in camo...

                                                     ENGLAND vs ITALY Italy kicked it all off. Statement of intent came within 3 minutes, when attention addict M Balotelli tried a lame shot from distance. De Rossi was next to make his mark. The man with a shirt that bared his right fore-arm, but strangely had a long left sleeve, struck the ball viciously with his left foot from 25 yards. The ball came back off the woodwork. England replied with an attack of their own as G Johnson hit a clumsy close-range shot. Buffon’s sharp reflexes kept the score at 0-0. All that action was within 10 minutes, so fans knew they were in for a thriller. M Balotelli had a great chance to put the Azzuri ahead when he broke free, but a moment of h...