For years, I had been intending to go to the Annual Bud Billiken Day Parade and Picnic. I finally did it this past weekend. Never heard of it? It's the second largest annual parade in the U.S.- also Chicago's biggest. The event was started in 1929 by Robert S. Abbot, the founder of the African-American newspaper, the Chicago Defender. It always occurs on Chicago's South Side.

Over the years, guests have included, President Harry S. Truman, Michael Jordan, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Duke Ellington, Oprah Winfrey, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Paul Robeson and Billie Holiday. Last year's Grand Marshal was Barack Obama.

Saturday was a pleasantly cool, dramatically cloudy day. Perfect for photographs.

We took two trains and two buses south to 51st and King drive. As we got closer to the parade route, on every corner there were sidewalk vendors-for-the-day selling home cooked food set out on card tables and upturned crates. A hot dog and a soda for a dollar, fresh fruit, chicken wings and barbecue were sample fare for the parade-goers.

Huge numbers of people showed up of all ages. Aside from a few brief sprinkles of rain, it was a truly beautiful time of harmony, history, unity and fun.

But a few hours earlier...


...My best friend Andre called me as I was getting dressed. He said, "Did you hear the news?". Instinctively, I knew if he was calling me at 8am on a Saturday, it couldn't be anything good. So, I drew in a long breath and said, "What happened?"

"Bernie Mac died."

For several seconds, I couldn't speak.

To America, and much of the world at large, he was the cool, slightly manic, somewhat inept, hard-loving father on the television show that bore his name. For us true Mac fans, he was like a family member. He was like the uncle at the family reunion picnic who could be counted on to say something hilarious and scandalous and have everyone rolling on the ground with laughter.

My fondest memories of the Mac man took place in the mid 1990s, as I watched legendary Blues D.J. Pervis Spann's show, "Blues and More" on Chicago Access Channel 19. One half of Blues and More consisted of videos of chitlin circuit artists like Koko Taylor and Tyrone Davis. The other half of the presentation was a side-splitting comedic talk show with Pervis as host and "Reverend" Carl Wright as his sidekick/frequent guest. Carl Wright's story line was that he was the pastor of a church composed of nothing but pretty young women (no men allowed). His life would often be the topic of conversations (and the butt of jokes) - with Pervis playing straight man to the Rev's comic shenanigans. Occasionally local celebrity guests would come on the show too. The funniest episodes had Bernie Mac as featured guest. He would insult the Rev's wife (whose photograph adorned the wall above the Rev's chair) mercilessly: "Rev's wife's so big, when she wear' spike heels, she punch' holes in the concrete!" To which the Rev would bluster, "y-y-y-you know you ain't right, Bernie Mac!" [link]
(Rev. Wright is the older gentleman in the light colored suit).

Bernie Mac was very much beloved here in his hometown of Chicago. He was only 50 years old when he succumbed to pneumonia in the early hours of Saturday morning. In Chi-town, we celebrated his rise to stardom in movies like Fridays, The Original Kings of Comedy and ultimately his hit sitcom, "The Bernie Mac Show".

This year's Bud Billiken Parade was dedicated to him.

I'll miss you, brotha. Thanks for all of the smiles.

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As you all probably already know, the following morning, legendary singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Isaac Hayes passed away in his home in Tennessee the next morning at the age of 65. Some of the younger kats might remember him as the voice of Chef on the cartoon series, "South Park." The older crowd remembers him as the composer of the soundtrack for the movie, "Shaft", as well as his many solo hits.

This is my all-time favorite song by him: [link]
It's a story telling song- lengthy - but so very beautiful. I strongly encourage you to listen to both pts.1 and 2. You will NOT be disappointed.

Isaac was the third of a triumvirate of R&B singer/songwriter/arranger/orchestrator/instrumentalists of his time to pass away. The others were Barry White and Curtis Mayfield. For me, as a lifelong music lover and occasional musician/songwriter all 3 were tremendous influences. Another pillar to a mighty cathedral of soul music is gone. May others rise up and carry on the legacy.

God bless the memory of the great Isaac Hayes.

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Well after a bit of a sabbatical, here I am again. I've taken lots of pictures while I've been away and I plan to post at least one a day for awhile - so many stories to tell!

* I want to mention this: Upon returning to dA, I saw that there were nearly 6,000 deviations in my inbox. As much as I would love to get around to them all, I know it would be impossible. So I deleted all of them to start anew. If you have anything you'd like me to see that you've posted over the last couple of months, link to it here or send me a note, and I'd be glad to take a look and comment. This stands for now and for the future as well. I love the art on this site, and I'm particularly fond of the creations of those on my devWatch. I may not get around to everything, but I'll do my best. *

Now for the main reason for this journal: One of the most underrated, unsung artists I know on this site is Anja Millen aka =Obscurae. For more than two years now, I've been amazed at her work. She plays dual roles of photographer and photomanipulator- sometimes she is her own subject. Her work is stunning in it's visual and emotional depth. Anja's artistic tongue speaks loudly and uncensored. To feature every piece of hers that I love would take up several journals. So, here are a few gems to get started with. I strongly encourage you to visit Anja's profile page and gallery. You won't be disappointed!

There is this thing with me and trains.

When I first began to compose songs, most of them made mention of a train somewhere within the lyrics. The same happened years later as I began to write poems. And now, I find that a lot of my art and photography has trains, train stations and the like as either a prominent theme or a reference point.

The thing about it is, it was rarely intentional.
I was 12 when I came to live in Chicago. My dad used to take me everywhere on the El (what we in Chicago call the subway train...short for 'elevated' ). I soon learned all the stops by heart between downtown and my aunt's house on the west side. I've been riding the trains ever since.

When I sit back and think about it, there are so many stories, characters and events in my history in this city that have to do with The Windy City's El trains...Like how I used to see paranoid schizophrenic singer, the late Wesley Willis when he was a skinny teenager, riding on the very first seat of the very first car, smiling broadly and looking out of the window as he made huge, complex sketches of the city with colored markers onto a posterboard. Or the time I had a conversation with a homeless man, then watched him casually pull the cord to the door and step out of a speeding train - swallowed by the darkness of the night. I'll never forget the afternoon during rush hour when the conductor announced our beloved mayor Harold Washington had suffered a fatal heart attack. The bustling conversation turned to shocked, despaired silence that lasted all the way from the South Side to downtown.

Trains will always hold symbolic meaning for me. I've loved and hated them, like I've loved and hated myself. They have swallowed and birthed me many times, held me in their bellies as I dreamed, read, talked, slept, cried and raged inside and fell in and out of love...or wished for love. So, in this journal, I want to feature some works I found on dA, in order to pay homage to the mighty and inevitable El trains of Chicago. Featured here are deviations of commuter trains and their stations and people around the world.

Meanwhile a little musical interlude, if you will. [link]

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