Timothy Edmond was a year older than me, but during our childhood, it seemed that he was ten years wiser than me. For just about every milestone of my childhood, Timmy was there. We were the kickball and dodgeball champions of our street. Couldn’t nobody mess with us during a game of Red Rover. Moreover, he was a wiz at Hide-N-Go-Seek. And, he was the all-time champion of Tag or Not It, which was the last game we played right after the streetlights came on and it was time to go inside. As we got older, Timmy helped me to overcome my fear of heights to learn how to climb a tree. I had to learn because Timmy said the best plums were at the top of the tree, and Timmy would know.
C. Liegh McInnis
RIP The Voice and the Vibe (James Earl Jones & Frankie Beverly)
Two African Americans who represented the dreams of their community made their transition this week, and I’m taking a moment to celebrate how they embody the apex, diversity, and massive creativity of blackness.
Three Lessons From Mama
Over the years, I shared various ways in which my parents intentionally worked to develop me into a constructive person. Often, because my mother was the primary disciplinarian, she has gotten the short end of the stick because most of my stories about her involve being the enforcer of the law. Yet, Claudette was the drill sergeant who was determined to prepare her child for a war in which I was armed to wrestle with the ghostly demons who desired to manifest their supremacy in flesh and blood.
The Burial (For Real)
After another senseless act of violence, the family of Clyzayvion “Ty” Landfair—a 17 year old student at Holmes County Central High School, in Lexington, MS—has started a Go Fund Me page to cover the expenses of his funeral.
Fanboy James & The Utilitarian Nature of the Blues
Last week on What Did Prince Do This Week?, someone mentioned the documentary, Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown. That caused me to remember when B. B. King and Bobby “Blue” Bland were on Soul Train in 1975 to promote their joint album, B.B. King and Bobby Bland: Together for the First Time, which is my favorite blues record of all time (here). It doesn’t hurt that King and Bland open the album with King’s seminal song, “Three O’clock Blues.” The first time that I got my hands on the album, it took me a month to listen to the entire thing because I just kept playing “Three O’clock Blues” over, and over, and over, and over until my mother finally yelled from the back of the house, “Boy, if you don’t let the rest of that album play, I’mma come up there and knock you into Three A.M.!” Even though I had the studio version (45”) of “Three O’clock Blues,” this live version was the most amazing thing that I had ever heard. Interestingly, this appearance by King and Bland on Soul Train is also a bonus scene on the Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown DVD. More than just the music, it’s wonderful to watch James Brown, at the height of his popularity, become a fanboy over King and Bland. When I first saw this performance years ago, it was something to see a man the stature of Brown become almost childlike in the presence of King and Bland.
R.I.P. to a Man’s Man
On Cunningham Street in the Upper Brickyard of Clarksdale, Mississippi, Clement Edmond was a man’s man—respected and beloved by all as a bedrock of his community. He reminded me of my pops in his ability to express every aspect of what it means to be a leader and fully human. He was a traditional husband who worked while his wonderful wife, Louise, kept a safe and loving home for their thirteen children.
Yard Politics
Four days a week, I wake at 4:50 a.m. and start my exercise routine. Thursday is the only day that I don’t exercise. I still wake at 4:50 a.m., but I mow the yard and wash both cars. I’ve been doing that since I was in my twenties, when I was renting a house before I purchased my own home. The Thursday routine was instilled in me by my pops who always cut his yard on Thursday, mostly because his work as a juvenile youth counselor and a member of the Mississippi Democrat Executive Committee meant that his weekends were too busy for yard work. However, the notion that mowing one’s yard and maintaining one’s home is a primary responsibility of a citizen was instilled in me from the womb by my pops, grandpops, and just about every person in my Clarksdale and Jackson communities.
For Uncle Claude: Clarksdale to the World
My mother’s maiden name was Claudette Winfield. Her twin brother was named Claude Winfield. She left home for college to attend Jackson State University and met a young man named Claude McInnis who was named after his uncle Claude Brown. That’s a whole lotta damn Claudes, which is why my Pops never intended for me to be a junior. My mother’s twin was her best friend until the day she died. As siblings, they argued and disagreed often. As siblings, no one else could say anything bad about the other one. So, when I learned Wednesday that my mother’s twin, my Uncle Claude, had passed, I realized that is the end of the Claudes. But, more importantly, that is the end of one of the most important people in my life.
Spiked (Brad “Pitbull” Pigott and Mississippi’s Real Welfare Queens)
Former US Attorney Brad Pigott, who was leading the Mississippi Department of Human Services’ attempt to investigate parties that had misappropriated funds earmarked for Mississippi’s most vulnerable citizens, was fired by Governor Tater Tot Reeves because Attorney Pigott had set his sights on bringing to justice some of the most powerful figures in the state, including former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre.
Human Comedy
What follows is an excerpt from a longer piece on black stand-up comedy, “Unlikely Heirs: The Comedic Children of Cosby,” that places contemporary comics in relation to Bill Cosby, including ones who are not easily seen as being in his tradition. In the course of limning the Cosby aesthetic, McInnis highlights two little miracles performed by Ali Siddiq.
I discovered Siddiq after he was already a sixteen-year vet of comedy on two episodes of Comedy Central’s This Is not Happening, “Mitchell” and “Prison Riot.”
In both episodes, Siddiq tells horrifying stories about prison life, but I was unable to stop listening or laughing. Y’all know that I don’t do blood or gore. I don’t like violence in reality or art. Thus, I don’t watch horror films or films with graphic killings. Yet, I was captivated by Siddiq and couldn’t figure out why.
Prince at the P.O.
So, I’m standing twenty-people deep in line at the post office—shout out to Eudora Welty’s “Why I Live at the P.O.”—with heavy-ass boxes that I’ve been meaning to mail since December.
Brothers in Arms
If y’all have time, watch “The Truth,” which is episode five of season one of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. I will only add this. Black people don’t fight for America because we love it. We fight for America because we built it and because it ain’t shit without us.
Great Days in Prince’s City (Julian White aka DJ Brother Jules R.I.P.)
The first time that my wife, Monica, and I stepped foot into Paisley Park, it was through an invitation from Julian White aka DJ Brother Jules who was Prince’s house DJ, first at Prince’s club Glam Slam and then for many years at all those renowned late night/early morning parties and performances at Paisley Park.
Going Back to Jackson: A Mississippi Tribute to Civil Rights Warrior & Algebra Project Founder Robert “Bob” Moses
I often wondered how someone as gentle as Robert “Bob” Moses could be so powerful.