You gotta check this out! Have a great Holiday Season!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
Arrested Development Needs Help From Japanese Fans!!!
For many years Arrested Development has had a wonderful relationship with Japan, coming there to perform year after year! It is a beautiful place that is dear to our hearts. The fans give us so much joy, love and support! Now more than ever we need your support!
We hope our fans in Japan will vote for us and our new single "The World Is Changing" on the J-Wave Radio website!
http://www.j-wave.co.jp/original/tokiohot100/
Click on the HOT 100 Chart and vote for us!
Help make "The World Is Changing" Number One!!!
Also you are welcome to join the LIFE MUSIC WARRIOR STREET TEAM to help promote ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT IN YOUR CITY!!!
For information on this email Mike@vagabondrecordsandtapes.com
Looking forward to being with you all in December!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Gays Stand Up!
Gays Stand Up!
Ok y’all. Adam Lambert openly gay singer from "American Idol" kissed a male keyboard player and had a dancer simulate oral sex on him during the American Music Awards performance on Sunday. That’s all over the headlines. Adam admitted that he got carried away but believes there wouldn't be nearly as much of an outrage if he were straight. Maybe he’s right though I doubt it, (look at the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction) but truthfully, so what!
Can I just say that gays need to be just as appalled as I am by the presentation of Adam Lambert and most other movies and how they portray them as hyper -sexualized, self-indulgent, degenerate mutants.
I’d love to see more gays standing up and speaking for what they really believe in. And when necessary speak out against other gays for their true cause. They can’t speak a good case for family values, equal rights to marriage, adoption and yet applaud these out right excessive antics from the likes of Adam.
The argument has been, “well heterosexuals do the same thing on TV, it’s a double standard”. No it’s not, I hate it from straight entertainers just as much, and as of recent, my people (black folk, especially in Hip-hop and R&B) are the worse perpetrators of the same thing! Justin Timberlake needs to TAKE sexy back to where ever he got it from! J
There’s something cool about sex just being personal and not cheapened by folks wanting to sell records.
It’s long over due to have real dialog about gay life in our country. A lot of our fans are gay, and I love em. Yes I follow Jesus and if asked I’d say that I see their lifestyle as a sin and destined to fail spiritually with use. By the way, I also see many other people’s lifestyles as sinful and destined to fail spiritually as well. I’m even including my own lifestyle before I allowed Jesus to help me out! I also see many “good church going folk” whose lives are just a sinful as anyone else’s. So it’s not a unique judgment that I’m not willing to also measure to others and myself.
And by now, it shouldn’t surprise gay or bi-sexual folks that there is and always will be a large section of our population that doesn’t agree with homosexuality. At the least, Muslims & Christians should never agree with this lifestyle as a choice for righteous living. Would I accept a gay person into our church? Of course! Should any Christian or I offer love and help to a gay person? I would to them as I would with anyone else.
I know this will sound cliché’ but some of my BEST FRIENDS have had homosexuality in their life resume’s. But they are now Christians and though they continue to struggle through temptations on a frequent basis, they no longer act on their sinful desires. They “deny” themselves just like I do when it comes to various sins.
As far as the bible is concerned, it’s clear on this issue; it’s not even a debate among true Christians. Sure, false jokers, or “liberal” preachers claim it is a lifestyle acceptable to God, but they’re simply wrong according to scripture. And if scripture doesn’t hold a lot of weight to them, then they are not Christians, simple as that.
Anyway, in light of this Adam controversy, I thought it be cool to get some dialog going, and hopefully for gays to stand up against this wack representation of their lifestyle. And by the way, I’d rather not hear a bunch of hate responses from my fans saying, “I will never buy another AD or Speech record again”. That tends to happen once an artist expresses themselves on these issues. Or when fans say, “I thought you & AD were different and that you stood for peace, love and unity”. Hello! Of course we do, but since when does STANDING for anything in this world mean not rubbing someone the wrong way. Maybe today I’ve rubbed YOU the wrong way, another day it may be the establishment and we’ll agree with each other on other issues. The next day it may be ignorant black folk, spreading wack ghetto themes to the youth. The key to this dialog is loving others DESPITE their differences in opinion or belief. Not separating the world into those who support everything about gays and those who don’t. (Left or Right, liberal or conservative). Most people don’t fit into these easy categories.
Our fans know that we are & I am clearly AGAINST gay bashing, or harm of any gays. I DO believe in everyone having civil rights and the ability to get various benefits just as straight couples do. I DO believe in gays being able to live a life of dignity according to their own beliefs. I’m not a believer in gay marriage, because I believe that marriage is a divine concept that God himself ordains. Therefore, He wouldn’t ordain a same sex union. But hey, that’s simply my belief. I don’t want necessarily lose fans because of it, just like Ellen hasn’t lost my support because of her sexuality and belief. Can’t we all just carve a Turkey or (tofu in my case). Have a great thanksgiving time with family, friends and them other crazy folk that somehow get invited to dinner.
Peace & Strength,
SPEECH
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Moral Dumbing Down
Moral dumbing down
by: Jim McGuiggan
In the race for ratings and sales, notoriety and profits, movie and television companies, publishing houses, businesses and their advertising companies continue to see how far they can go. They keep testing the public’s taste and patience—what will the public put up with? It makes sense to say that some of what the media offers reflects what some sectors of the public want, but it would be nonsense to suggest that they don’t help to shape the public’s interest in and hunger for the bizarre and outlandish. More to the point, they cheapen us by degrees until the bizarre and outlandish won’t be able to satisfy us.
In a vile movie I watched recently, one of the characters, a depraved and murderous sicky is unmasked and instead of looking like the brutal and sadistic murderer he is, he’s ordinary looking, even inoffensive. When his mask is torn off he asked his surprised captor, "Well, what did you expect?" So it is! Earlier the vile character says that he had a fine childhood, wasn’t abused by his parents or anyone else and that he had no other reason for doing the unspeakable things he did than that he liked doing them. He enjoyed it. Whatever else the movie did, it brought us face to face with a truth, and that is that we’re capable of loving evil and getting pleasure from it. You don’t need to look for elaborate explanations for our pleasure in oppression and moral dirt (though all such study is not wasted time or energy) but there’s no doubt that we feed each other’s hunger for it. But—I think—it isn’t the extreme violence or depravity that hurts society the most. It’s the creeping and sly kind of product that corrodes the foundations that is most dangerous; where the writers and producers, bit by bit, make ugly behavior more familiar, more "normal" until to protest it makes the protestor seem like a dinosaur. Heroes and popular characters are essentially amoral, but with an occasional show of kindness or tenderness ("Ah, look, isn’t that sweet!" or funny or tear-bringing.) Highly rated programs like Friends (n America) and Coronation Street and Eastenders (in the UK) show as normal and "acceptable," behavior and attitudes that blur moral lines or completely dismisses them. You protest about these and people roll their eyes in despair at you. You criticize banks or companies for making too much money by breaking the backs of vulnerable and indebted nations and shareholders and savers look at you like you’ve come out of a prehistoric world. Say something about virgins and the sacredness of marriage and there are embarrassed smiles all around.
We think it’s the public we’re testing when we promote this acceptance of violence, war, greed, sexual infidelity and all-round cheapness. It isn’t! And it isn’t mere conventions we’re burying when we weaken the sense of honorable fidelity and loyalty between nations and communities and families. There’s a day coming when we’ll discover, says George A. Smith, that we aren’t dancing on the edge of public taste but teetering on the brink of the abyss beyond which is moral death and hell. It isn’t Western civilization we’re testing, it’s the eternal and Holy Father himself. At this point, there’d be embarrassed smiles, rolling eyes or an outburst that is neither prayer not praise.
In the race for ratings and sales, notoriety and profits, movie and television companies, publishing houses, businesses and their advertising companies continue to see how far they can go. They keep testing the public’s taste and patience—what will the public put up with? It makes sense to say that some of what the media offers reflects what some sectors of the public want, but it would be nonsense to suggest that they don’t help to shape the public’s interest in and hunger for the bizarre and outlandish. More to the point, they cheapen us by degrees until the bizarre and outlandish won’t be able to satisfy us.
In a vile movie I watched recently, one of the characters, a depraved and murderous sicky is unmasked and instead of looking like the brutal and sadistic murderer he is, he’s ordinary looking, even inoffensive. When his mask is torn off he asked his surprised captor, "Well, what did you expect?" So it is! Earlier the vile character says that he had a fine childhood, wasn’t abused by his parents or anyone else and that he had no other reason for doing the unspeakable things he did than that he liked doing them. He enjoyed it. Whatever else the movie did, it brought us face to face with a truth, and that is that we’re capable of loving evil and getting pleasure from it. You don’t need to look for elaborate explanations for our pleasure in oppression and moral dirt (though all such study is not wasted time or energy) but there’s no doubt that we feed each other’s hunger for it. But—I think—it isn’t the extreme violence or depravity that hurts society the most. It’s the creeping and sly kind of product that corrodes the foundations that is most dangerous; where the writers and producers, bit by bit, make ugly behavior more familiar, more "normal" until to protest it makes the protestor seem like a dinosaur. Heroes and popular characters are essentially amoral, but with an occasional show of kindness or tenderness ("Ah, look, isn’t that sweet!" or funny or tear-bringing.) Highly rated programs like Friends (n America) and Coronation Street and Eastenders (in the UK) show as normal and "acceptable," behavior and attitudes that blur moral lines or completely dismisses them. You protest about these and people roll their eyes in despair at you. You criticize banks or companies for making too much money by breaking the backs of vulnerable and indebted nations and shareholders and savers look at you like you’ve come out of a prehistoric world. Say something about virgins and the sacredness of marriage and there are embarrassed smiles all around.
We think it’s the public we’re testing when we promote this acceptance of violence, war, greed, sexual infidelity and all-round cheapness. It isn’t! And it isn’t mere conventions we’re burying when we weaken the sense of honorable fidelity and loyalty between nations and communities and families. There’s a day coming when we’ll discover, says George A. Smith, that we aren’t dancing on the edge of public taste but teetering on the brink of the abyss beyond which is moral death and hell. It isn’t Western civilization we’re testing, it’s the eternal and Holy Father himself. At this point, there’d be embarrassed smiles, rolling eyes or an outburst that is neither prayer not praise.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Montsho-Eshe
I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Montsho - Eshe ( which means - BLACK LIFE) and this is my first time writing a blog. I'm excited!!! For starters, I like to share with you my love of the ARTS. The ARTS has been part of my life since I was two years old. My mom is the woman of the arts and she really nurtured my gift of dance. Dance is what brought me to Arrested Development and I've been a member for a long time! To the tune of 21 years and I'm still here going strong! :)
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Speech grooving backstage at Sunset Junction
I love the look on Speech's face as he plays bongos to opening band BOSTICH & FUSSIBLE backstage as Ras comes dancing in making his usual conscious entrance into the scene!
The World Outside My Window
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Hello beautiful people!I hope you are having a fabulous morning :o) I woke up this morning and saw that the sun was shining so bright that I had to take a picture of it!
There is something about sunshine that makes you feel optimistic about life's challenges. Sometimes our issues can become so visible to us that we can't see beyond them. While that is a natural process, it's great to have friends around to help you see the sunshine!!
What does the world look like outside your window? And who are your friends that help you see the sunshine?
Here are a few photos of my sunshine friends.... Enjoy!
Tasha LaRae
(My beautiful sisters, Veronica and Tia) ( my dear friend, Tiffany Deonna Martin)
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Love seeing Arrested Development fans wearing AD T-Shirts fashionably!!!
Here is Jess looking fly with her new Arrested Development T-shirt with the hip touch of a funky hat and scarf! JJBoogie would love to see more pics of fans modeling their Arrested Development T-shirts! Let's see them!
NEW AD ANIMATED VIDEO COMING SOON - "BLOODY"
Eshe and Tasha absolutely dis-like how they are animated, they want to look more cute! :-) So Callicore's working on that now. JJ Boogie wanted his beard more like Baba Oje's. Anywhoo, it's what happens with a band of 8 members, somebodies bound to be unhappy.
This is the intro scene where a woman will be praying.
This is a city scene where murderous soldiers will be marching around killing folks... (Soldiers Below)
This song is a poignant essay on the music industries power or lack of when it comes to world events. During the 90's rap as it does even today had a powerful voice and a chance to bring issues of genocide in the Congo and death on US streets to light but instead talked about bling and thongs. While literally rappers were getting blown away and record companies were reaping the monetary benefits. You can listen to the song at our YouTube channel. (Below)
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Coolest Movie site
Film Spotting - A cool place my friend just hooked me into. If you like movies this site can hip you to movies you may have NEVER heard of, but are quite sweeet! They have top 5 categories which include tearjerkers / overlooked etc.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Just when I lost faith in human beings...
Just when you lose faith in human beings.
This is a cool site, that shows there's still some cool left in us. Thereifixedit.com
This is a cool site, that shows there's still some cool left in us. Thereifixedit.com
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