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February 25, 2005
Waxing Poetic
The quarterly publication Wax Poetics is almost like an academic journal for beat junkies, crate diggers, and other funk/soul/jazz aficionados. Issue # 11 just came out a couple of weeks ago and it's stacked with some serious history, including lengthy features on Charles Wright, John Klemmer, Jimmy McGriff, and CTI art director Bob Ciano. Towards the back there's even an impressive Stax-related double-shot: a continuation of Issue #10's feature on the legendary 1972 concert/film Wattstax as well as a collection of interviews with various soul musicians who lived in Memphis during the turbulent 1960s.
What really makes the new Wax Poetics for me, however, is the fact that my pal Bret Dougherty contributed a fascinating piece on Bill Adler. Adler was the publicist at Def Jam from 1984 to 1990 and he's currently running/curating the Eyejammie Fine Arts Gallery in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. Dougherty gets Adler talking about those golden years at Def Jam, politics in relation to hip-hop, and Adler's passion for being a true preservationist/archivist of hip-hop culture. Like most Wax Poetics articles, the piece is accompanied by some incredible photos, including a few taken by legendary hip-hop photographer Ricky Powell. Oh snap, indeed!
You can get a copy of this new Wax Poetics from Dusty Groove, Turntable Lab, Fat Beats, or The Giant Peach. And if you absolutely can't wait until your order is shipped, just read the version of the Bill Adler interview that Bret posted on his web site.
Speaking of Bret D., he will be spinning some wax of his own tomorrow night as he joins me for a special edition of Sureshot. This was actually supposed to be my week off from The Federal but there's a big party goin' on. So we're going to be bringing the funk and maybe even doing a dry run of the Iron Dog/Tuba City mixtape that should be coming to fruition sometime in the next couple of months. Things start up at 9pm, a little earlier than normal. Don't sleep!
Posted by Tim at February 25, 2005 09:29 PM