Ubuntu Peoples Podcast, Ep #83-Rissi Palmer: Detours, Revival & Color Me Country

In 2007, country singer Rissi Palmer became the first Black female with a song on the charts in 20 yrs with her hit Country Girl. The fame and notoriety that followed was the culmination of years of hard work and faith. But the country music business didn't know what to do with a Black woman. Rissi felt like her color was a problem to the solved by industry folk who never saw her. A prolonged court battle with her label, having to work retail for minimum wage, moving back home with her family, finding solace at the bottom of a bottle; it's the lyrics country songs are made of for a woman who's now going through revival. After a detour, a spiral, love, marriage, leaving Nashville, two kids and now a new show called Color Me Country on Apple Music Country, Rissi Palmer is where she wanted to be: an important voice in country music. https://rissipalmermusic.com/

TOPICS

01:45... Return to the Grand Ole Opry after 13 yrs, Musical Influences, Summerville

07:10... Not seeing Black folk in country, Being discovered, Life in St. Louis, Nelly and Hip Hop, Team 11

17:00... Saying no to a record deal with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Shut out from the industry for 7 yrs, Record company drama

24:25... Recording with Brian McKnight, Working with Prince for 3 yrs, Owning your rights, Country Girl, Being  Black problem

38:00... Stardom costs, No Air, Drinking hard, Fling Bankruptcy, Court battle, Earning minimum wage, Sympathy for the working poor

47:00... Bye bye Nashville, New man, Marriage and motherhood, Children's album, The itch to sing again

51:05... New album in 209, The Revival, Losing fans for speaking Black truths, Cookies for white artists, Mickey Guyton

61:10... BIPOC artists, Creating support for and granting new talent, Putting Black back in country

73:20... Julie Williams and the new consciousness, Color Me Country on Apple Music

ARMAUD ARBERY. BREONNA TAYLOR. GEORGE FLOYD... With America's cities in flames by the hands of the inflamed, charged over yet another and another and another Black death, here's my response to the week that was... to the weak, this is. A friend posted on her Facebook page about her moment of clarity after watching events unfold. She wondered why it took her entire 45 yrs to see and apologized to Black people. I woke up Sunday morning, read her post and reached out to her. My note  summarized the week, where I'm at.

Ubuntu Peoples Podcast, Ep #81-Jerry Jameel Wilson: Black Educator @ The End of His Rope

Ubuntu Peoples Podcast, Ep #80--Dr. Blair Kelley: Sailing Black Dissent in The Constancy of America 

Dr. Blair L.M. Kelley is the Assistant Dean for Interdisciplinary Studies and International Programs for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at NC State University. She is also Associate Professor of History and is on the faculty of the Public History graduate program. She is the author of Right to Ride: Streetcar Boycotts and African American Citizenship in the Era of Plessy v. Ferguson, which won the 2010 Letitia Woods Brown Best Book Award from the Association of Black Women Historians. 

TOPICS DISCUSSED

3:00 SoulJa Boy

6:00 Snoop Dogg's gospel album

10:15 Right to Ride, Black Dissent, Jim Crow

23:00 The Obama Effect in Stacy Abrams, FL and Capitol Hill

29:00 Cultivating Black Excellence on campus

35:00 Mama and early childhood days

38:50 Scholar, Dean and Administrator at NC State

43:00 The Black Church ain't dead

51:00 A "just" person may not be successful but...

Ubuntu Peoples Podcast, Ep#79--Germaine Parra: Searching for the Caravan

Born in Iowa, raised a good catholic girl in a family of 11 children, young Germaine felt she never belonged there. Determined to discover her place in the world, Germaine left, got educated, lived and worked from Paris to Pakistan to the Philippines, where a heart attack, nee dream, nee awakening, transformed her daze, and opened a door to the metaphysical sciences--Feng Shui and BaZi. Germaine has been finding and refining love and balance between the God she grew up with, the science she earned a living doing and the Love, energy, vibration and frequency she lives on now.

Ubuntu Peoples Podcast, Ep#78--Omar Avilez: Brown In The Color Wheel

Omar Avilez was born and raised in Chicago, IL. After a violent incident involving his brother, Omar's mom put the family on a bus to rural North Carolina. In NC, after struggling to adjust, Omar found his way through school, was part of a historic high school soccer team and earned a college degree. He's been in Hollywood 3 years now navigating life in front and behind the camera as a Mexican-American, learning to adapt and adjust again, trying to succeed in an industry that must change to survive.

Ubuntu Peoples Podcast, Ep #77--SVGFF 2018: Joel Bristol & Oronde Ash Review The Year in Island Football

From the sacking of the former Federation president, to the Nation's League campaign, the Concacaf U20 championship, new young stars and collegians, women's secondary school and football, continuing grassroots efforts and how the new FF admins are handling the transition stewardship of the product on and off the field

Ubuntu Peoples Podcast, Ep #76--Jay Attys: Music Makes Me Come ALIVE!

Jay Attys, the son of immigrant parents from Haiti, grew up in East Orange, NJ. His father wanted him to be a doctor. After earning scholarships to the prestigious Westminster boarding school in CT and Duke University, Jay was working to fulfill his father's dream. In his junior year at Duke, Jay decided to forgo medicine and earn a degree in music. His family summarily disowned him, calling him crazy. Jay felt isolated, depressed, lacked hope but on a trip to Vienna, Austria, he found solace and inspiration in #TheHeiligenstadtTestament, a letter and directive Beethoven wrote to his brothers in October, 1802. Since then, Jay's days have been testimony to his art, his voice and a desire to live what music makes him feel: ALIVE!

Ubuntu Peoples Podcast, Ep #75--Dr. Joseph Mancini: How To Stop The Opioid Crisis 

We find ourselves in the worst epidemic in United States history. Sudden, accidental death from heroin has quadrupled since 1999. Prescriptions for pain medication (often known as narcotics) have quadrupled since 1999. This is not a coincidence.

Ubuntu Peoples Podcast, Ep #74--G. Yamazawa: Bull City B-Boy, Buddhist, Buri Buri