whatchusay?! ::: Black America's Favorite Band

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WhatchuTHINK: mine your mind

FORWARDEVER MEDIA CENTER

Writer Alex Haley writing The Autobiography of Malcolm X with Brother Malcolm.

"The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses."
- Malcolm X

Mission

The Forwardever Media Center is 100% committed to providing unconventional writing workshops and media literacy training to "at-risk" Black youth, particularly males, ages 14 through 24. Working in partnership with The Mentoring Center in Oakland, CA., the Center's writing workshops, website internship, and film forums, help students develop critical thinking skills and discover their creative talents. We recruit youth for our programs from the California Youth Authority (the state's largest prison for youth) as well as from universities and high schools. This cross-pollination of young minds creates dynamic shared experiences.

Programs

Whatchusay Cinema–A monthly film forum hosted at schools or community centers in Northern California that explores issues such as race, class, gender, and society. Students are joined by a panel of activists, educators, athletes, entrepreneurs, etc. to rate the films and convene roundtable discussions about corresponding relevant issues in society. For info about film screenings and schedules contact: cheo@whatchusay.com

Writing Workshops–We offer intensive seminars in journalism, creative writing, cultural criticism, new media, film production, etc. These seminars are taught at the center, located at 1224 Preservation Park, Oakland, CA, 94612. They are also available on location, at schools, community and detention centers, churches, etc. For info about class schedules contact: cheo@whatchusay.com

Internships–Whatchusay.com offers competitive internships to young writers who have clearly demonstrated a passion for the craft of writing or media production. The 3-month internship covers news writing and reporting, feature writing, creative writing, media literacy and new media. Working in partnership with community based organizations, universities and international and national media outlets, we produce a pipeline of informed journalists of color who will go on to create their own independent media organizations or work for major media organizations.

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Black America's Favorite Band

By Charlie Braxton

The first time I heard Frankie Beverly and Maze's self-titled debut album was during the winter of 1977. I was a sophomore in high school, a restless teenager with a fierce passion for good music and pretty girls. It was on a cold and windy Mississippi night when I was supposed to be sleeping, but, as usual, I wasn''t. Instead I was in bed with my ears glued to my little rinky-dink portable 8-track with AM/FM radio, listening to WXEL, a now defunct Black radio station located in Slidell, Louisiana, a small town just minutes away from New Orleans. I was waiting for my man Funky Larry Jones to play the album of the week, which was this new group called Maze featuring Frankie Beverly.

After waiting for what seemed like hours listening to Larry do his infamous Boogie Check, he finally announced that he was going to put the record on after a commercial break. As soon as the commercial was over I reach for the volume control and eased it up as far as I dare move it for fear of waking my mom up.

From the time I heard the first note of the first song ""Time Is on My Side,"" I thought that this might not be a bad album. As the needle edged its way towards the second song ""Happy Feelings,"" I was convinced that the album was going to be good. By the time I heard, ""California,"" the last song on the album I had already started counting my little nickels and dimes in my head, trying to see if I had enough for the $7.95 that it took to buy and album those days. I didn''t so I ended up trading my copy of Peter Frampton''s "Frampton Comes Alive" for a copy of "Maze featuring Frankie Beverly." And thus begin my fanatical admiration of Frankie Beverly & Maze. But I wasn't alone.

For the past 30 years Maze featuring Frankie Beverly has been working on being Black America''s favorite bands. Go to any concert in the country where Maze is on the ticket and you''ll likely to find throngs of adoring fans – be they young or old, rich or poor- willing to stand or sit for hours waiting to see their band. It makes no difference where they may fall on the ticket, whether they are the special invited guest or merely the opening act to us die-hard Maze fans, Frankie and the Boys are always the headliners.

Just what makes Maze featuring Frankie Beverly so popular with such a wide variety of Black folk? Perhaps it's their distinctive blend of music from the African American musical- continuum (i.e. jazz, r & b, and Afro-Latin rhythms) that strikes a responsive chord. Or maybe it's the dynamic performance that Maze gives their audience each time they take the stage. (Anybody who has ever attended a Frankie Beverly and Maze concert can testify that they put one of the best shows ever...plus its the only show where hundreds of people do the "electric slide" together). His music just taps into the soul of Blackfolks and "happy feelings" bubble up everywhere.

But according to Frankie it's more than just the music and the live performances, it's the positive, life-affirming energy that he and the rest of the group put into their music. "We've made it this far because we love and respect ourselves and our fans," say Frankie of his longevity. "But most importantly we believe in what we do." Here's wishing the band and all of my fellow Maze heads happy feelings.

P.S. Frankie thanks for turning me on to Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet.

BlogOn: What gives Frankie Beverly and Maze such staying power? WhatchuHEAR?

Posted on July 25, 2005 9:35 AM