tag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:/blogs/to-track-or-not-to-track-that-is-the-question?p=2To Track or not to track, that is the question..2022-08-06T13:13:55-04:00Freedom Bremnerfalsetag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/70322132022-08-06T13:13:55-04:002023-10-24T02:05:14-04:00Nichelle Nichols, Remembrance<p>I’m thinking about the recent passing of actor Nichelle Nichols and basketball giant, and intellectual, Bill Russell, today. These stars while aspiring to their own personal best, helped all of us usher in a new age of accomplishment, acknowledgement, excellence, and recognition of African Americans in the popular culture of the 60’s, and 70’s Their work and the impact of their lives is reverberating today in part because everything, and I do mean everything, is in the cloud and because they were iconic. They are from a period in American history, a pivotal period, that will never be repeated in the same way in America. It is not an overstatement, they were pioneers for all of us. </p>
<p>I am a Trekkie. Full stop. Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura and her cast mates, under the direction of the amazing Star Trek writers and creator /storyteller, Gene Roddenberry, they are my childhood superheroes. Star Trek changed my life for the better. As a young boy who’s imagination was wide open, they helped me to dream big dreams that would inform and empower me to this very day. Not unlike Sesame Street, Star Trek gave me regular lessons on morality, ethics, civics, politics, technology, evolution, religion, race relationships, war, peace, and perhaps most importantly, empathy. Star Trek let me believe not just in the possibility of meeting beings from all over the galaxy and not just in a future where we would do almost everything in seconds with small devices called “communicators” and “tricorders”, but Star Trek helped me to believe in concepts even more powerful….intergalactic cultural exchange, intergalactic diplomacy, intergalactic integration, and intergalactic peaceful coexistence. </p>
<p>The crew of the USS Enterprise were very passionate engaging humans. They had purpose, drive, and ambition. They had pledged to a code of conduct, a mission statement, "to boldly go where no man had gone before" and to the "prime directive" banning interference in the development of any culture they observed. They were also highly amorous and sexual gtoo. Members of the Federation regularly fell in love with aliens or reaccessed their concept of love asa direct result of contact with aliens. In the first episode of Star Trek, called the cage, the first captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, Captain Pike, stayed on a planet, after an injury left him paralyzed, wheel chair bound, and unable to speak, to live out his life through his mind using alien telepathic technology that created an enhanced version of himself where he was young, free, and virile. With this ”Talosian” technology, he was able to live out his last years in happiness with a woman he loved, who was also injured and deformed in a space crash years prior to the Enterprises encounter with the Talosians. She too, was liberated by the same illusion fly way of the alien tech, making her feel young, beautiful, and unimpaired. Their entire romance took place in their minds. Captain Kirk had no issues with his passion for the green or blue-skinned ladies and females he encountered from different galaxies. None whatsoever, no…quite to the contrary. He saw beauty and sexuality everywhere. The Enterprise’s second captain, Captain James Tiberius Kirk let the power of love do its thing. Wow... </p>
<p>Star Trek helped me process the idea that we really could take a “do no harm” approach as a guiding principle of exploration, as part of the Federation’s “prime directive”. The show espoused ideals of critical thought, intellectual curiosity, sense of humor, love, passion, close bonds of friendship , and it re-enforced concepts of conservation, respect for the land and resources, respect for culture writ large. There was something else that had a profound impact on me. Star Trek let me know as young black child, that I too belonged in this amazing future. And it did so every week with the very presence of Nichelle Nichols, as Luietenant Uhura. There were other black guest stars playing high ranking Federation officials and various background players as Star Fleet cadets that affirmed the message. It was the early 70’s when I discovered the short lived 60’s Star Trek series in syndication. The bridge of the Enterprise with its crew, looked like my neighborhood of Adam’s Morgan in Washington, DC. It looked like my grade school class at Oyster-Adams Bilingual School with it’s diversity. Lieutenant Uhura was a browned skinned woman of East African descent, she spoke Swahili in fact, and she looked like my mom. Not exactly like my mom, but she certainly could have been one of my mom’s friends. </p>
<p>At that time there was no real astronaut, nor was their any fictional astronaut or sci-fi commander in any film or TV show that looked like my mom. It’s an old story, but still relevant. As children, when we see ourselves represented as humanity in the mythology, when we recognize ourselves in literature, in the popular culture, and of course in the establishment of the real world, we gain confidence. We blossom. It's a new day and at my last check, there have been five African American female NASA astronauts who have flown in space. There are three more in the NASA corps at the ready. That’s 8 black female astronauts. Lest we forget, Star Trek’s affect on pop-culture, was so great that NASA named the first space shuttle “Enterprise”, entirely because of the popularity of the show. I recently found out that Nichelle Nichols at one point, actively recruited African Americans for the space program at NASA's request. I’ll bet the farm, that most, if not all, of those 8 black female astronauts, saw Nichelle Nichols at some point and saw themselves in her, despite the fact she was an actor and not and an actual astronaut. That's how these things work. That is the power of myth. That is the power of television, that is the power of storytelling. Whether it was the original series or one of the 6 sequel films, she starred in, I'm sure that Lt. Uhura poised at that communications console, with her wireless earpiece, inspired by these women in some form or fashion. </p>
<p>There is a legendary story about how Nichelle Nichols was ready to leave Star Trek because she felt that her character was not given enough to do. She got a phone call one day on the set of Star Trek and she immediately recognized the unique voice on the other end. It was a call from Martin Luther King who urged her to stay on the show. He told her that her very presence was changing lives, inspiring so many black people, so many little girls to dream big dreams, allowing us as black people to be seen in a different way. It was a crucial time for black people in America. As the saying goes in the theater, “there are no small parts only small actors”, and Ms. Nichols was not a small actor. She played Lieutenant Uhura with purpose, power, passion, and substance. Lt. Uhura had an inner life. She was real. For real, for real…. Rest in peace Nichelle Nichols. Rest in power. Thank you for what you and your Star Trek family of actors, creatives, and artists gave us. You changed this little boy’s life and countless others I’m sure. You helped me become the artist and working professional that I am today. I saw you and I knew all things were possible.<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/bc509f075f0ea0b696150a506e6f3f097da73bdd/original/nichelle-nichols.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/68847182022-01-31T15:27:10-05:002022-07-31T13:11:46-04:00Neil Young, you righteous rockin' mutha'f$&cka' ! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/7cc7749f3a61198d61b158e85d7bb30c37669d95/original/neil-young-pulls-music-from-spotify.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_none" alt="" /></p>
<p>I have always admired musicians and artists who feel a responsibility to seek and promote truth, to get into "good trouble", and to "do no harm". I have aspired to be that kind of artist for my entire career. There is a trust that gets developed between you and your audience. I would say it’s sacred. I applaud Neil Young for his decision to follow his conscience and remove his music from Spotify in protest of Spotify’s promotion of unproven conspiracy theories and scientifically inaccurate data on COVID by Joe’ Rogan on his Spotify podcast. That is using your legacy, your power, and your rock prowess, for the greater good. The issue for me, is not whether or not Joe Rogan, a lay person, a undeniable Youtube sensation and former comedian, with no formal training in virology or medicine, has the right to say things that are unfounded and potentially harmful to the millions of people who trust him. There's no question there. He does have that right. So do you, and so do I. The KKK also has the right to say what ever hateful things they like about my people. That is not a crime. That is the double-edged sword of free speech. I'll defend that until my end. </p>
<p>Joe Rogan was a comedian who did an amazing transition to Youtube host and he’s been extremely successful. In fact that’s part of the central issue here. Joe Rogan is paid about 100 million dollars by Spotify. Spotify now owns the exclusive rights to distribute Joe Rogan's podcast. They are responsible for what they distribute. I don’t begrudge Joe Rogan his success. I’ve watched him before and enjoyed his show, but we’re in the middle of a pandemic and people are drinking disinfectant, and ingesting horse dewormer because their favorite media star suggested it. That’s what Neil Young was objecting too. I object to it as well. It galls me. The question is what do we do when dangerous speech threatens the masses? Well, first we ask nicely if those people will reconsider their position, have a discussion and entertain some other ideas and facts. When that doesn’t work, we use what power we can garner to call out dangerous misleading speech and expose it. We counter it with truth, facts, sunlight, compassion and understanding. We can turn our backs 180 degrees on those spewing that dangerous speech. We don’t have to support it. That’s our right too. We can walk away and give it no oxygen. We can also, in cases like this, “defund it”. That’s what Neil Young chose to do. </p>
<p>The victory here is two-fold for me. First, Neil Young (Reprise Records) followed his conscience, and in doing so, he summoned the "socially conscience artist Kraken". He pulled his music from Spotify, Joni Mitchell, and Nils Lofgren joined him, Foo Fighters and Barry Manilow where gearing up to follow suit. The silence of any prominent black or latin artists in this discussion is not lost on me, but not surprising either. That is another very nuanced discussion, but I digress.... As of today Spotify is now placing a disclaimer on the show with directions to actual scientifically sound COVID-19 information and Joe Rogan has issued an apology and pledged to introduce a greater variety of sources on his show and to not only follow the conspiracy theory narrative for example. Done and doner! </p>
<p>Joe wants his 100 million. Neil made his point. We’re all better for it. </p>
<p>So that's victory #1. Here's #2. Our power as musicians and recording artists is constantly being undermined. If you follow the music industry at all, you know that even legends like Neil Young, Mega-stars like Jay-Z, all of us who do this for real, with our music on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, Pandora, and on and on….are being robbed by streaming platforms. What we do, our actual product, recorded pieces of music... has been devalued to a horrific extent. We get fractions of a cent for every stream on Spotify, compared to when we actually made dollars on a record, albeit many of those deals were bad, they were not “fractions of a cent on massive hit albums” bad. Legends like Steely Dan cannot live on their royalties any more. Seventy-year old artists with massive chart topping hits have to tour to live. It's a crime. What Neil did, reminds us of our power as recording artists though. You could argue that both Neil and Joni weren't making that much money off of their music being on Spotify to begin with, so it wasn't a big loss for them any way... but guess what? Spotify is. Spotify is making tons of subscription money off of Neil and Joni, and they NEED those artists. They need great content. So, again Neil, you rock as you always have, and you showed 'em who's really boss. That's putting your money and your reputation where your mouth i . That's standing for something. That's getting it done. </p>
<p>Keep on rockin' in a free world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>CHECK THE ROLLING STONE ARTICLE ON THE SUBJECT HERE:</p>
<p>https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/neil-young-demands-spotify-remove-music-vaccine-disinformation-1290020/</p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/68481432021-12-22T12:41:59-05:002022-04-20T14:27:44-04:00In Conversation with Amber the Fan Girl<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/230ed22d7c3f8f1d91cb2c9ca26108cc99116989/original/atf-freedom-thumbnail.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />On December 2nd, I sat down for a remote interview with Amber the Fan Girl. I was in my living room in Newark, New Jersey, and she was at her interview desk in the Cheshire, England. We went “full animation nerd”, for a solid hour. She is a serious fangirl, and knows so much about the industry and the history of the giants of animation v voice over. What started as a conversation about my work on the “Parrapa the Rapper 2” video game for Sony Playstation weaved itself into discussions about autism, the politics of stereotypes in animation, our favorite voice over artists, the nuts and bolts of creating characters and the “4 degrees of separation” within the industry, including the unlikely connections between me, Donny Hathaway, his children, and Parrapa the Rapper 2! Oh and trivia….so much trivia. She’s great, and we had blast. It’s a solid hour of video game, animation geek-dom Non-geeks beware….</p>
<p><a contents="Click this link for the full interview" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/YYq1rfzi5Dw" target="_blank">Click this link for the full interview</a></p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/67351872021-09-03T13:40:55-04:002022-04-20T14:27:53-04:00A very special recording session, Remembering 9/11 "Unitedness"<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/8f542ff2b297541d7852dd9d51ae7c2d8266cd52/original/our-state-of-unitedness-thumbnail.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
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<p>These last few weeks have been rough in our world. Deaths throughout the Gulf region and people dying in flooded basements in New York City, of all places, from the impact of Hurricane Ida, the assault on women's reproductive rights in Texas, the casualties and mass distress suffered from the US withdrawal from Aghanistan and the plight of those Americans and Afghans who are still there and want to get out, the uncertainty of the future of basic human rights for Afghanistan's women and girls. On Wednesday, I watched MSNBC reporter Geof Bennet break down on the air live, in real time, as he read the transcript of Elijah McClain narrating his own death. Another black man who's dying words were "I can't breathe" at the hands of white law enforcement officers. And of course we are still deep in the devastation and political turmoil of COVID-19 and the Delta variant. Rough.. .just draining and rough. It left me feeling pretty beat up, as I'm sure it did many of you. </p>
<p>Somehow, this week felt like a different universe for me compared to just a couple of weeks ago. Last week I posted about a very special recording session that I was a part of. It aired yesterday and brought some hope and optimism to me in a week where I really needed it. On August 24th a group of us came together, singers, production team, engineer, arranger, and manager at Reservoir Studios in New York City and did our part in the making of a public service announcment remembering 9/11 and promoting the idea of American "unitedness", a return to the kind of support and care we gave each other in the aftermath of 9/11, an antidote to the extreme division we've sunken to as of late. I was in new Jersey and New York on 9/11. I remember the horror and I remember that powerful beautiful sense of "unitedness", that followed and lasted for a long time. </p>
<p>The psa is below. It's beautiful and speaks for itself. As I watched it yesterday, it reminded me to look at these horrific events of late again in a different way. I focused on the bus driver in New York who drove her entire bus to safety through a New York City street that became a river so quickly that no one was prepared. I focused on all of the diplomatic, military, and private aid work that has been targeted at the rescue effort Afghanistan. I remembered that the ACLU and so many other organizations will fight for women, for the constitution, and against what is happening in Texas. I remembered, that the story being covered was that there were charges brought against the police officers and paramedics responsible for the death of Elijah McClain and that his death will not go uncharged and unchallenged as these types of kilings of black men have for most of my life. I focused on people united to do good in this world. I remembered that there is an international army of people fighting for the rights of women gloablly and in Afghanistan. I focused on "unitedness" in the service of each other. That's what this psa is about. </p>
<p>For our part, Darryl Tookes, Vaneese Thomas, Dennis Collins, Sharon Jerry Collins, Neal Coomer and I, sang a choral arrangement of Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising”, which serves as underscore for the piece. “The Rising” (2002) from the album of the same name, happens to be one of my favorite of Bruce's later tunes, as is 2012’s “We Take Care of Our Own” from the album, Wrecking Ball. Their messages seem to be coming from the same place. The choral arrangement by Dan Zank for this was beautiful, and the sprit and sense of singing for a greater purpose permeated the session from start to finish. It was a good day, and by the way, you might recognize the first voice you hear at the top of the piece. Thank you to everyone for that day in the. studio. Thank you to our producer Paul Greco and to my manager of "umpteen" years, Andree Kaminsky for bringing us all together in the spirit of kindness, caring, and American "unitedness" in the service of each other.</p>
<p> </p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/65342662021-01-29T15:11:41-05:002022-04-20T14:28:11-04:00Cicely Tyson, Rest in Power<p>For an entire generation of black people in America, there are memories seared into our minds, of sitting in front of the television with our families and watching the films Sounder, The Autobiography of Miss Jane PItman, and of course, one of the greatest network television events ever, the mini series adaption of Alex Haley's book Roots. All of these great works told the stories of our black experience in America, of our ancestors, and yes, they all dealt with American slavery and the period of Reconstruction in some form or fashion, and all of these productions starred Cicely Tyson. She made many more films, and played many characters that were not period pieces set in the American South, but she didn't make nearly enough films showcasing her range, I believe largely because of the times she lived in. She didn't have the kind of culture, the support systems, or the options that a Viola Davis , or Shonda Rhymes, Kelly Washington, Isa Ray, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Cynthia Erivo, or even Ophrah now have. She gave those women those options. She did it by opening that door just a little wider, by bringing her best self, her "A-game" to every role she played. She did it by being an example and a role model. And she made us, as black people, feel proud. Setting aside her actual performances for a moment, her greatest accomplishment might have been her ability to make us as black people, feel good about ourselves, by validating our collective and individual experiences, in a time when we needed it so badly. She raised us up through the power of her work. </p>
<p>In a time where we were so seldom portrayed with depth, honesty, or dignity in film and television, you could always count on Cicely Tyson to be genuine, convincing, true, and yes, you knew that whatever the role was, and even with the limited options that she had for an actress of her might, she was still going to make us proud. I'm teary eyed right now, as if I'm saying good-bye to one my favorites aunts. She has been a kind of spiritual and actual cinematic matriarch for so many of us. Cicely Tyson's performances brought me such inspiration in my childhood. It helped me bond with my family, and my history. Her work, her example is part of the reason I knew that I could become an actor and a performing artist. She showed me how to do it with dignity, power, and grace, with commitment to the craft, and to the responsibility it carries. We will never forget you Cicely Tyson. You are a part of us. Thank you for al that you have give un. Rest in Power.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/756dc483f6a5612402ac3c0eb1147665d8390c52/original/cicely-t.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/64924662020-12-05T12:49:30-05:002022-04-20T14:28:02-04:00Asbury Press shouts out Jersey Artists: Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Jaheim,Jameison & Freedom, Little Steven & Meryl Streep for rocking the vote 2020<p>https://www.app.com/story/entertainment/2020/11/02/springsteen-bon-jovi-streep-jaheim-where-jersey-celebs-stand-trump-biden-election/6133775002/<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/8aaac532fd1add188c297914013bedb8fb4000e8/original/jameison-free-b-w-film-noir-8669.jpeg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpeg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/64687152020-11-02T15:50:23-05:002022-05-29T21:24:52-04:00From Telemundo: This music video asks Latinos and blacks to "move their butts" and vote to improve things that are not going well. <p>English translation:</p>
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<p><strong>"The intention is for people to put an end to excuses and go to the polls," explains its author, who has mixed historical images and a song with new meaning.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Oct. 26, 2020, 5:15 PM EDT / posted Oct. 27, 2020, 12:25 PM EDT / Fuente: Telemundo <br>By María Peña </strong><br>WASHINGTON.— Singer Freedom Bremner was fed up with watching news about police brutality against unarmed African Americans and, along with Hispanic artists who make up his band, released a music video for Latinos and African Americans to “rock their butts” and go to the polls. . Together with guitarist Jameison Ledonio, Bremner published the Stand 2020 music video on the YouTube social network, which mixes color and black and white images of the most emblematic moments of the fight for civil rights in the United States, and of global protests for human rights, as well as several African-Americans killed by the police. </p>
<p>The images include not only Martin Luther King Jr., a leader of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, but also recent victims of police brutality and renowned athletes who have protested "systemic racism" in the country. </p>
<p>The four and a half minute video, featuring Hispanics Brian Collazo and Jay Vargas, is a reinterpretation of Stand, made in 1969 by musician Sly Stone, and uses a pun to ask people to "get up." for their rights, either in person in front of a ballot box at a voting center, or in front of a ballot box. </p>
<p>LINK: </p>
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<p>In a telephone interview with Noticias Telemundo, Bremner said this Monday that the video's only mission is to "activate people to go out and vote," and serve as a reminder and tribute to those who paid with their lives for the right to vote and social advancement of minorities in this country. <br>"The intention is that people shake their butts, put an end to excuses and go to the polls," said Bremner, who has more than 20 years of professional career. His goal is for the video to get one million views by November 3, the day of the presidential and legislative elections. <br>"We have this long tradition of protest, from abolitionists to fighting for the vote of women, the civil rights of African Americans, the rights of the disabled, of Latinos, of homosexuals," he explained, "we have this tradition of unite when we know that things are not going well, to improve them. " <br>“Other artists saw our preliminary work and offered to help, free of charge, and that's how the project grew,” continued Bremner, who has collaborated with Hispanic artists at international festivals and has millions of followers in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Spain. <br>Bremner described his video as a condensed version of that of We Are the World, produced by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie in 1985, which featured multiple artists and mobilized public opinion to donate funds against hunger in Africa. <br>Produced by Urban Herd Media and Rick St. Hilaire - winner of two Grammy Awards - Bremner's video has not only grown in popularity on YouTube, where it receives an average of 8,000 views a day, but has also launched an album production. which will include that song and five other songs. </p>
<p>Latinos and African Americans now make up just over 26% of the US electorate, according to data from the Pew Research Center, and national polls show the majority opting for the Democratic Party. However, the president, Donald Trump, has managed to scratch votes among both minorities, particularly from men. </p>
<p>Bremner is on the long list of artists who in recent weeks have joined campaigns to mobilize the vote of Hispanics, women, youth and other minorities. <br>In addition to conducting voter registration operations, several civic groups, including Voto Latino, Color of Change, and Rock the Vote, have </p>
<p>forged alliances or launched initiatives with record companies to mobilize the vote. <br>According to Voto Latino, its volunteers have already managed to register almost 600,000 additional voters for this electoral cycle, and their goal is to mobilize more than 3.7 million people. </p>
<p>The initiative with the Sony Music Group company has the participation of renowned international artists, including Shakira, Camila Cabello, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, and Becky G, who has recorded a podcast with the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Kamala Harris. </p>
<p>The list of Latin artists who have made prerecorded messages also includes the Mexican rock group, Maná, the norteña music group, Los Tigres del Norte, and regional Mexican music singers Alejandro Fernández and Cristián Nodal, among others.</p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/64199622020-08-29T00:32:18-04:002022-04-20T14:28:38-04:00In Memory of Chadwick Boseman <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/04ce91cd143a6de9fed317cfc988a6ba0776e4fb/original/chadwich-boseman-7201.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>I never met him, but I feel like I knew him. I think that says something about his skills as an actor. A little bit of his essence, of his soul was in every character he played, and I connected with him on that level, as so many of us did. It may be because we’re both actors, and I feel a kinship with all actors and musicians, it may also be the Howard University family thing. Chadwick went to Howard University in my hometown of Washington, D.C. and so did my parents. My father, his sister - my aunt Joan and her husband, my uncle Bob, they all came from Guyana, South America specifically to attend Howard University. That's where my parents met, and If it were not for Howard University, I wouldn’t be here, and even though I chose the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, I seriously considered Howard's Drama School. My dad was faculty and I could have attended for free essentially.... it was a close call. With so many years spent, after school at my father’s laboratory, in the Howard University Biology Department , I feel connected to every Howard graduate everywhere in the world. Howard is very special place in Black culture, not just African American culture but within the culture of the entire modern African diaspora. It is recognized and attended internationally. While no institution is without its flaws, it is a mecca of learning, research, the arts, popular culture, and a center of black intellectual thought.</p>
<p>So if you're wondering why I'm making such a point of Howard University, stay with me for a minute, I'll explain. I once heard that TV mogul Shonda Rhymes, also a Howard graduate, and producer/creator of TV’s Grey’s Anatomy, How to Get Away With Murder and Scandal, said that there were so many Howard Drama School graduates in Hollywood, that she could staff and entire film production with top-rate Howard peeps. Howard University is like the movie Black Panther. All of the international black experience is on full display and in full glory, and like Wakanda, it plays a kind of a magical, mysterious, roll in the culture producing great talents that do amazing things, and sending them across the world to do great works. It's kind of hidden from the rest of the country, but it's right there in plain sight in Washington, D.C. I'm speaking of DC's fascinating and rich African-American culture, which gave me so much of what I am, and Chadwick was a part of that. Many Americans are unaware that the District of Columbia is 47.5 percent African-American. During my childhood it was 68%. The movies never got that right. It wasn't just all of those cultural ties, though. I felt like I knew Chadwick Boseman because his gift was that special. That's the way it is with all great actors.</p>
<p>I just finished watching Chadwick Boseman as the lead in the crime action drama film, "21 Bridges" on Netflix last night, a day before his death. I was reminded of how much I really liked him as an actor. He had depth, and mystery to him. He had that virtuous likability factor. It just felt like, he was a good guy at heart. The film aspired to be better than it was, but Chadwick shined in every scene. How is it that by age 43, he has played Thurgood Marshall, James Brown, Jackie Robinson and Black Panther? Amazing. He is gone way to soon....way to soon. After finishing the movie last night, i actually thought to myself, “man I can’t wait to see what film he does next.” I was a little slow to catch on to Chadwick. He’s one of those actors that will make me support a film just because he chose to be in it. I’ve grown to trust Chadwick Boseman’s choices, just as I do with the likes of Denzel and Regina King, John Turtturro , Chris Cooper, George Clooney & Robert DeNiro, and I'm never disappointed by what he brings to the work. I also thought to myself, “he looks a bit too thin" and he seemed gaunt, and in an unhealthy way, but I took it as a character choice, to distance himself physically for the physique of the superhero, he had just swept the planet portraying. Now, I know that he made Black Panther with all of that necessary and amazing athleticism and fight choreography, while undergoing chemotherapy and multiple surgeries for colon cancer. I can't even believe he did that. That is some superhero action right there. I’m just in shock and a little numb right now with all that is happening, the assault on blackness, that is all around me in America. I honestly have checked out from news and media for the last few days, and now this. </p>
<p>He was one of the artists who was bringing us light, pride, and insight through his work. No pandering either. None. And Black Panther... thank you Stan Lee, thank you Ryan Coogler, thank you Marvel/Disney...and thank you Wesley Snipes for being the first producer to show us that an obscure Marvel character, and a black one at that, "Blade", with an interesting story could have the mass appeal of a Supernan or Batman if it's done right, and you did it right. You were the visionary, the pioneer and we haven’t forgotten. Black Panther was so much more than a movie. Like the election of Barack Obama, Black Panther was a validation. It said to the world that our African folk tales and mythology as the ingredients of superhero origin story, and drama, and nobility, and power and excellence is just as valid, clever, quirky, exciting, and fantastical as Norse mythology or Shaolin legend or the Knights of the round table. ...It was huge, it was epic. It was the diaspora. It was sooooo African, soooo black. The world made it a hit because they loved it because the film the adventure story was just that good. And there was Chadwick at the center of it. What a legacy. Rest in Power, Chadwick. Thank you for what you left behind for us to reflect on, aspire to, and dream upon. You are with us and we are with you forever.</p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/63558472020-06-16T20:51:55-04:002022-05-26T04:46:30-04:00The Check In with Freedom Bremner Episode 1 part 2 #Mexico City #COVID<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://houseofreedom.com/the-check-in#new-episodes"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/5a852e7f7400f47f986841a9584cdf4198cbdf09/original/the-check-in-episode-1-part-2.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.png" class="size_xl justify_center border_" />https://houseofreedom.com/the-check-in#new-episodes</a></p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/63500872020-06-11T14:46:47-04:002022-07-31T13:11:46-04:00From Telemundo.com: Estas jóvenes organizaron la protesta que cercó a Trump en la Casa Blanca. Ahora planean el siguiente paso contra el racismo<p><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/c6f0e720e490d1c221f88e0a18a1c5afc571cf70/original/noticias-telemundo.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" />TRANALATED FROM THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE FROM TELEMUNDO.COM</p>
<p><a contents="LINK TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.telemundo.com/noticias/2020/06/10/estas-jovenes-organizaron-la-protesta-que-cerco-trump-en-la-casa-blanca-ahora-planean-el-tmna3800089?fbclid=IwAR1s9qjTU68uWXRWIw98ceRVxU5Hbbr0olAbUC3_9SSIeP-AaQdqugcdOC0"> LINK TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE</a></p>
<p><strong>These young women organized the protest that surrounded Trump in the White House. Now planning the next step against racism.</strong> </p>
<p>WASHINGTON.— After weeks of mass protests across the country against police brutality, black and minority activists are beginning to put up their colorful posters and megaphones to craft a long-term strategy to crack the "systemic racism" that they say has weighed down on United States for centuries. </p>
<p>The civil rights movement in the 1960s was hatched amid bloody protests but in many cases encountered a political blockade. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. paid with his life for his militancy, and his iconic speech for racial equity remains an unfinished business. </p>
<p>"He is going to change the world," said one of George Floyd's brothers, asphyxiated by a white cop May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during his funeral. But is the world, or at least the United States, ready for that change? </p>
<p>In Washington, more than 40,000 protesters gathered to demand it on the streets last weekend; Guarded by military trucks, National Guard soldiers, and even Border Patrol agents, they demanded not only racial equality or an end to police brutality, but also judicial reform and more investment in education, employment, health, and housing. </p>
<p>On the street leading to the White House, they painted the slogan "Black Lives Matter" (black lives matter), while authorities raised a metal fence around the presidential mansion. That gate, which is now beginning to be dismantled, became a memorial covered in flowers, flags and posters honoring the victims of police brutality. </p>
<p>President Donald Trump, who ordered the militarization of the capital, has taken refuge in a message of "law and order", ignoring racial injustice or </p>
<p>a call for national reconciliation, and even defending police brutality with false conspiracies. Meanwhile, his support in the polls plummets. </p>
<p>Posters on the metal bars of the White House on June 7. AFP via Getty Images </p>
<p>In front of the military, metal fences and bunkers, Trump this time faced a group of seven young people who, in a matter of a few days, collaborated to help organize the massive protest in Washington. </p>
<p>“It all started with an invitation on Twitter to go to the protests; We never imagined that we were going to create an organization and continue to grow, ”explains one of them, Kerrigan Williams, 22. </p>
<p>This graduate student at Georgetown University, originally from Houston, Texas, helped found the Freedom Fighters DC group - one of the groups that fueled the rally - and now outlines strategies for the next phase of activism. </p>
<p>"We demand that no more money be given to the police and that no more prisons be built. We want to focus on local actions, in our own backyard, because that can unleash a chain on a national level, ”he explains to Noticias Telemundo. </p>
<p>Jasmín Barrios, a third-year student at Howard University in the capital, joined Williams in organizing the protests because, he said, police brutality also rages on Latinos, and is "a fight for everyone." </p>
<p>“I would like to see the Latino community in the protests; if they are afraid, they can donate money, they can also read books, and young people can educate their families, ”says Barrios, 24, the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants. </p>
<p>For artist Freedom Brenner, the coronavirus pandemic cleared his calendar and drained his income, but outrage at Floyd's death outweighed the caution and quarantine he kept at his home in Newark, New Jersey, and he joined the protests. In New York. </p>
<p>"I absolutely think this is something different. I am inspired and optimistic like never before in my 52 years of life, even with the election of Barack Obama, which was already a great victory, ”says Bremner, who describes systemic racism as“ an invisible knee on the neck of African-Americans ” . </p>
<p>"I think the pandemic has left many whites unemployed, in debt, and without the support of a social safety net, and perhaps for the first time that makes them think that the system doesn't work for anyone," adds Bremner. </p>
<p>“This sense of vulnerability has given way to a new empathy. With the confinement and without distractions, the whites could no longer hide from this: it is a racist country to the marrow, "he concludes. </p>
<p>Rosalyn D. Lake-Montero, an Afro-Latino teacher in Washington, agrees on that call for the joint mobilization of all minorities, and highlights: “George Floyd had done nothing wrong. It's a sad reality that even if you do the right thing, you can still end up lynched or dead. ” </p>
<p>The immediate goal of activists from the Black Lives Matter movement and other civic groups is to achieve police reform that, among other elements, prohibits certain tactics and eliminates the immunity of officers. </p>
<p>In the long term, however, they seek to mobilize the minority vote for the November 3 elections, and maintain pressure at all levels of government for measures that close the socioeconomic gap between ethnic groups. </p>
<p>Their work is beginning to bear fruit: Democrats are already promoting ambitious police reform in Congress, though they don't have the backing of Republicans, who control the Senate, as the White House draws up its own proposal. Other cities and states also push for police reforms. </p>
<p>The Black Lives Matter movement and the Freedom Fighters DC demand to cut the funds to the police and prisons, and to channel them into community projects. </p>
<p>In 2017, global spending for policing across the country totaled $ 115 billion, or 4% of local and state budgets, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute. </p>
<p>African Americans make up 12% of the population but make up 38% of the prison population, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. They also tend to receive longer sentences than whites for minor crimes. </p>
<p>The Movement for Black Lives coalition, created in 2016, promotes a six-point plan to improve the education, health, and safety of African Americans, "instead of investments that criminalize, cage, and harm black people.” </p>
<p>The movement also has room for white people who, with their silence, can be complicit in institutional racism, according to Robin DiAngelo, author and professor at the University of Washington. </p>
<p>“African Americans understand racism in a way that whites can never. Racism is the basis of our society, and to continue without actively interrupting that system is to be its accomplice, ”DiAngelo explained to the public radio station NPR. </p>
<p>"The status quo of this society is racism," she added, "it is comfortable for me as a white woman to live in a racist society, but we must start working so that it is no longer racist."</p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/62640142020-03-27T16:03:51-04:002022-04-20T14:25:09-04:00Dial This number (202) 224-3121 to thank our U.S. Senators for relief to creative professionals affected by COVID -19<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/0e4d79419bf45997d71a01d837d882538be3735c/original/the-gig-economy.jpeg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Folks, </p>
<p>I am eternally grateful for the United States Congress for their swift bi-partisan action in creating this first relief package and I am even more grateful to all of the advocacy groups including SAG -AFTRA who made sure that creative professionals, independent contractors, the self-employed, and all of us in the gig economy were included. I know there will be more aid needed, but this is an outstanding first step. Thank you to Senators Chuck Schumer and Amy Klobuchar and all of the legislators who stayed at work on this, and continually mentioned the gig economy in the press to let us know that our community was not forgotten.</p>
<p><a contents="You can download a breakdown of how this plan works with this&nbsp;link.&nbsp;&nbsp;These documents were forwarded to me from SAG-AFTRA." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pzz5u5mtibfzo5a/AAAzTT9ISBqGmdCqazAigNfja?dl=0">You can download a breakdown of how this plan works with this link. These documents were forwarded to me from SAG-AFTRA.</a></p>
<p>Folks, like many of us, I wrote to our two U.S. senators to make sure we were being advocated for. They did it. Let's all take 5 minutes to write to our two U.S. Senators, or call them and thank them. If you don't know who your U.S. Senators are, dial this number, enter your zip code and you'll be patched directly to their offices in Washington or their voicemail. And yes, it's their job, but we should always be willing to recognize<br> a job well done. Stay safe and keep supporting our amazing health professionals and local leaders.</p>
<p> </p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/62619092020-03-25T18:27:45-04:002022-04-20T14:30:30-04:00An open call to Presidents, Obama, Bush, Clinton and Carter. President Trump needs your counsel. Now.<p>I’m calling on all the former presidents of the United States of America, who are physically able, to break with the time-honored tradition of remaining silent on presidential policy once they have left office. I am asking you on behalf of the American people, and the world, to join forces, to stand with our leading governors on the front lines of the Corona Virus, and offer counsel to President Trump as a united group of experts. He needs your insight and experience. </p>
<p>We are in crisis like no other, and President Trump is facing a different kind of enemy. There is no time to waste. The public does not need to be informed that such a meeting is taking place, it just needs to happen. We cannot ignore the scientists and their advice on how to beat the Corona Virus. Watching this virus spread throughout America and the world at such an incredible pace, leaving such death and destruction in it’s wake, is like watching Hitler’s forces invade country after country in Europe, believing that somehow it would not land on America’s doorstep. We waited too long to intervene in World War II, and the world paid too high a price. </p>
<p>The enemy is already here and we have to take this pause, we have to lock this nation down, uniformly, for a brief period, as all of the world’s experts are pleading for us to do. We have to do this now to defeat the corona virus for the safety of our nation and the world in the long run. Watching a piece meal , ad hoc plan, that will allow our hospitals to be overwhelmed, will devastate our medical professionals, and leave our population to be culled, is simply unacceptable. Anything less than fighting with our best scientific, technological and logistical strategies is essentially aiding and abetting a genocide. There will be no second chances. It’s that simple, but our current president has had no public policy experience prior to his presidency. He needs to be convinced of the eventuality of unimaginable loss of human life without action. Our state governors need support and direction immediately. </p>
<p>Your combined experiences in crisis management, the Iran Hostage Crisis, 9/11, Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, SARS, Ebola, the economic crash of 2008, all give you a level of credibility and experience that no one else in the world possesses. I believe that President Trump will listen to all of you as a whole. I believe that he will listen to the advice coming from you, delivered in a way that only former U.S. presidents can. We have trusted all of you with the fate of our nation before and we need you to come to service again. </p>
<p>Sincerely, </p>
<p>Freedom Bremner</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/92d0df90368c080a6a0325627e56ab64b555f5c4/original/presidents-4-square.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/62584752020-03-22T18:24:44-04:002022-04-20T14:30:21-04:00COVID-19<p>The world is struggling as one with COVID-19. You re struggling and so am I. It is one of the great equalizers of our time. If anyone ever doubted how dependent all human kind is upon each other, COVID-19 has made it as clear as the sun itself. I absolutely believe we will get through this , but it will be with great loss, suffering and there will be numerous tragic and unnecessary deaths. I know that our societies, and governments will have much to learn and to take responsibility for when this crisis has subsided. I'm looking forward to being a part of that re-birth, rebuilding, and renewal in the form of new thoughts, new laws, new precautions and new music. </p>
<p>Be safe, observe social distancing, support each, smile, laugh, tell stories and help each other. We will sing, dance and rock together again.</p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/58891772019-09-12T04:51:40-04:002022-04-20T14:30:24-04:00This Feeling Hey Tú, featuring Freedom Bremner premiers 9/13.19<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/62039aac9d9eea1f8a8141d415ab0f6fb83742a7/original/this-feeling-9-5-19-main-pic-large-text.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" />NOTE: The new video for "This Feeling" Hey Tú, featuring Freedom Bremner, premiered Friday September 13th on Youtube, VEVO, Facebook, and Houseofreedom.com at 7:00 pm EST. The response to "This Feeling" has been tremendous! Truly. More on that later. Thank you to everyone who logged on for the chat before hand and shared their comments and well wishes. It was great to share that moment with you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>About a year ago, I got a call from a producer in Mexico City named Diego Infante. He wanted to know if I would collaborate on a a 90's-style dance track with his new project , Hey Tú. He sent me the track, I really liked it from the moment I heard it, and from that point on, all kinds of things got in the way, and it took months for me to actually put pen to paper, voice to microphone, and craft some lyrics and melodies. I had a lot going on in 2018.... I got married for one thing ,and all kinds of other good stuff happened too...Anyway, the song finally came together. When I was done writing, II called the song "This Feeling". </p>
<p>Diego told me he wanted us to make a video together. He had a concept that I would shoot some location shots in the U.S. and he would shoot in Mexico City. Then, he would put it all together. I had no idea what else Diego was filming in Mexico, and I had no idea that he enlisted his brother, dancer and choreographer, Sebastian Infante, and that there was a dance concept that they were shooting in Mexico as well. When I saw the full concept, and how brilliantly Diego had put the entire video together, I was amazed. Diego is not only a super producer, writer, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist, but a truly gifted director and video editor. I just recently learned that he comes from a kind of first family of Mexican film stars and singers, like the Barrymores or the Caradines in the U.S. It's kind of crazy. The Infantes are famous actors, singers, and artists on both sides of his family. I think it's part of the reason he thinks so conceptually about his music, beyond the song to the visual presentation. Acting is what brought me to New York, and I have always seen a visual storytelling component to my music. So working with Diego was one of the easiest most natural collaborations I've ever had with another artist.</p>
<p>Diego originally wanted to capture me walking through a variety of neighborhoods, with different energies, architecture, and people in the background. By sheer coincidence, one of the only free days I had to shoot my scenes happened to be Pride Week 2019. At my wife's suggestion , we decided we would shoot on 5th ave, at the Pride Day parade, June 30th, right in the thick of it. IT WAS AMAZING! The energy of the day, made the shoot magical. I think it comes through in the scenes. Pride Day 2019 was kind of amazing for me. As a first time participant, in any Pride Day celebration, Pride Day 2019, felt like the culmination of all of our country's civil rights struggles and victories manifest in this one massive celebration of pride in one's self, one's individuality, one's history and culture, one's right to be who you simply are. The group is called Hey Tú and the song is called "This Feeling". “This Feeling" is love. </p>
<p>Rock on everybody, </p>
<p>Free</p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/57713702019-05-28T17:23:01-04:002022-04-20T14:30:27-04:00New Music Video, The Light at 99th from Sierra Classic Sound featuring Freedom Bremner<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="sBYhpmtBIWo" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/sBYhpmtBIWo/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sBYhpmtBIWo?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="450" width="800" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Will Kreth, Yusuke Yamamoto, and I met for the first time in 2011, in a tiny, gritty, control room at BPM Studios in Williamsburg Brooklyn. it was one of the most economical uses of space I had ever seen. There was gear wedged in every crevice and the vocal booth was a tight squeeze too. I think there may have been some drums stored in there, while I was singing, but man did that room it have a vibe. It was the beginning of an exciting collaboration, SIERRA CLASSIC SOUND, that produced three songs The Light at 99th is the first release with more music to come. On "The Light at 99th", we tell a story of a commuter's journey from New York City to Connecticut, starting underground from Grand Central station, traveling beneath the upper East Side, then appearing above ground in Harlem, and continuing up through the Hudson River Valley. It's a beautiful train ride that can be both stimulating and meditative at the same time. I've taken it more times than I can count going to gigs upstate. It's a song about that quiet space in the daily commute where we reflect on the daily grind, what does it all mean.... is this enough, what comes next? The title refers to an actual street light in Harlem, the light at 99th Street is one of the first things you can see it just as you're coming out of the darkness of the tunnel that begins at Grand Central Station. On an overcast day in the fall it takes on an even more mystical quality. </p>
<p>Sierra Classic Sound was born in Brooklyn, but the video is also a collaboration and a South American production. The drawings were created by storyboard artist Kaio Casarini from Sao Paolo, and the animation was created by "Lady Mariana" aka Mariana Lopez, from Montevideo, Uruguay. I'm really excited about this video because I looooove animation. This is the first time I've been sketched, storyboarded and animated ever... and I'm psyched about it!</p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/56904492019-03-23T04:09:19-04:002023-03-03T02:21:49-05:00The Energy, the energy, the energy...Glen Burtnik & Friends Summer of Love Concert Count Basie Theater 3.22.19<p style="text-align: justify;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="l63SL_cclMI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/l63SL_cclMI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l63SL_cclMI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="450" width="800" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/56138732019-01-26T13:23:38-05:002022-04-24T11:26:42-04:00Coyote featuring Freedom Bremner, Troker's new album "Imperfecto"<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/78f485f33f1e0e93067fc04fef1b3ac1e611e14c/original/troker-album-art-coyote-featruing-freedom.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>So, I live for these moments when I’m introduced to an artist or group that has their own special sauce. There’s a lot of “instant music - just add water” out there these days. We all know it. So I don’t have that “wow” feeling as as much as I wish it did, but that’s okay, because when it comes, I really feel it. </p>
<p>In 2014, however, I came across a band called Troker at the Vive Latino Festival in Mexico City. It was also there that I discovered the amazing Colombian metal band Kraken and their lead singer, one of the greatest I've ever heard, the late Elkin Ramirez. That's a story for another day...back to Troker...their music tasted like psychedelic jazz funk hip hop mariachi gumbo to me, and I was hungry. Someone wrote “if Salvador Dali ever made a heist movie, then Mexico’s Troker would have been the soundtrack music.” Totally! It’s funky it’s adventurous, it’s got horns, DJ break beats, it grooves, it’s musical and highly thematic. I dig it. </p>
<p>So you can imagine my general “psyched-ness” when my friend, bassist, producer and journalist Alonso Arreala, wrote to me from Mexico City to tell me that he was producing the next album by Troker and that they would like to collaborate with me on a song. YES! They wrote an instrumental piece called Coyote and wanted me to contribute to it. Troker, their manager Ana, and I, ended up meeting up for brunch in Jersey City, New Jersey soon after that email exchange , and we talked about the concept. We sat around the table with the laptop, passed the headphones and did a little show and tell. My former band Screaming Headless Torsos, had just finished the live video of “Running Black Water featuring Hiromi “ and I showed them the final edit of the video and they shared this new music with me. I asked them about the name “Troker” which was clearly Spanglish to me, the said, that “Troker” is Mexican (spanglish) for “trucker”, and that their vision was that if truck drivers listened to a progressive jazz radio station, while on the road, this would be the music they would hear. </p>
<p>So, "Coyote", was a haunting dramatic piece with different movements and themes. It created instant emotion and imagery for me. They gave me free rein to do whatever I wanted. They only direction was that the song needed to be about the journey that many Mexicans and other Latin Americans make across the U.S.M./ U.S.A. border with the aid of the “Coyotes”, the smugglers who are paid to guide and smuggle them. These immigrants are desperate and they sell everything they own in order to pay the coyotes for this journey. Many of the coyotes are predators, there are no guarantees, and there is every kind of danger along the way , and once they arrive in the states, if they even make it to the U.S. They said I could be as broad or as specific as I wanted so long as it dealt with this journey in some way. I could sing, rap, rhyme, scat, preach, speak. anything. That was it. It was not a typical pop song by any stretch, it was challenging. I had my own feelings about the political issues surrounding it as well as the humanity of it. As you might guess, I am not impressed by President’s Trump’s characterization of Mexicans writ large or his handling of the border security immigration issues, and the highly nuanced interdependency of our two nations. Full disclose. I love Mexico and it's people, and I have been traveling, working, learning, and building relationships there for over 25 years. So, this was also an opportunity for me to address my feelings. </p>
<p>At the same time, I was keenly aware that my perspective is also informed largely by American media. So I did some research as part of my process and talked to my friends in Mexico about some of the politics. They pointed me in interesting directions, I did more research and then when I was done with that, I activated “set it and forget it” mode, left the home work behind, and started to create. I think I’m most pleased with my decision to sample and incorporate words and thoughts from the last 4 american presidents , and the current president of Mexico, Andres Manuel Obrador, from different speeches they’ve all made on the subject of immigration. That was a first for me. The whole process was challenging …..and sooo fulfilling, and I’m really happy with what we did. Mainly, I'm such a fan of Troker that I'm honored to be a part of their body of work.</p>
<p>I’m going to do something counter-intuitive, when it comes to self-promotion. Of course I would love for you to listen to the whole album. But for now, I want you to listen to another song from Troker’s Imperfecto first, before mine. I think it will be a good palette cleanser before you hear our collaboration on “Coyote”. You can even skim through these too and come back them later. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a contents="CLICK HERE TO HEAR IMPERFECTO ON BAND CAMP" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://trokermusic.bandcamp.com/album/imperfecto">CLICK HERE TO HEAR IMPERFECTO ON BAND CAMP</a></p>
<p>Here’s my suggested order </p>
<p>Listen to track 3 “Nahual”, </p>
<p>Listen to track 2, “ One Thousand Million Eyes” , </p>
<p>Then Track 9 “Coyote”. </p>
<p>Then, when the time is right, listen to the whole album. </p>
<p>There ’s a reason Coyote comes close to the end of the record, there’s a build to it. By the way the song “One Thousand Million Eyes”, features the other guest artist on Imperfecto, vocalist Renee Moi of “Moi”. She is killin’ it. Love her. Here is the link to the full album on bandcamp again. https://trokermusic.bandcamp.com/album/imperfecto</p>
<p>WATCH COYOTE BELOW ON YOUTUBE OR<a contents=" CLICK HEAR TO LISTEN TO THE SONG" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/-6yj7k8kGuI"> CLICK HEAR TO LISTEN </a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="-6yj7k8kGuI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/-6yj7k8kGuI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-6yj7k8kGuI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="450" width="800" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/55080782018-11-11T04:44:03-05:002022-04-20T14:30:19-04:00This month on Netflix: John Leguizamo's Latin History for Morons. I was there. It was great.<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/ba83b7306ac5c4bc247a6a5a649b6472d14f74b4/original/merlin-129514841-8383baf9-26a1-4cf7-9ef1-5adab25b0298-articlelarge.jpg/!!/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Last June, I sashayed on down NJPAC in downtown Newark to see one of my favorite artists, John Leguizamo. A whole generation of folks know him as the voice of Sid, the prehistoric sloth and co-star of the Ice Age animated movie franchise by Dreamworks Studios. He's got well over 140 movies and TV shows under his belt including movies like Carlito's Way with Al Pacino, and HBO's Spawn series. In 1995 he had his own series on Fox called "House of Buggin".. .I love that title still.....???. If you're were a culturally hip New Yorker though, who was out "runnin' these screets" in the 90's , than you know that John Leguizamo is a New York playwright, actor, stand up comedian, monster storyteller and master of the one man show stage format. When I was a student at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, I was able to see one of his early shows on Broadway, "Freak". It was brilliant, I was hooked from then on. Like all of his one man shows , Freak, Sexaholics, Spic-o-rama, Mambo Mouth, and now The History of Latin America for Morons, they are all autobiographical and incorporate his life growing up in New York, his Puerto Rican heritage, his family, his issues and insights into race and culture, his world view, and the characters he met along the way in his life. John usually portrays multiple characters. They're always amazing and authentic, rooted in truth, usually outrageous and straight up funny. </p>
<p>Latin History for Morons is a little different. John walks on stage into a classroom set, like Mr. Leguizamo, the really hip substitute teacher, that you know is going to hip you to some real shit, because when he's not teaching he's an artist, or a political activist for most of his week and isn't stuck in the politics of your school's curriculum. You know that dude....My guy in Washington, D.C., was Mr. Michelin, but I digresss......It starts with Mr. Leguizamo explaining to us that his son was bullied at his very fancy private school and he comes to realize that the boy is being taught absolutely nothing about the important and impressive history of Latin people particularly in the Americas nor the history of what we Americans call "Indian" peoples, the Mayan, the Aztects, the Taino, for example. That's where it starts, but from, there Mr. Leguizamo goes in. It's real history and it's backed by books and noted authors he references and recommends that we all familiarize ourselves with throughout the show. It just so happened that the show my wife and I attended was one of 3 shows being taped for Netflix, so you'll get to see the show almost exactly as we saw it.</p>
<p>I think of myself as a person who takes it for granted that history is always rich and important from every culture, that so much of the non-European history of humankind is relegated to the scrap heap in our education system in America, solely because Europeans and their thinking have held most of the power in recent history. I accept reluctantly, that the American history that is taught in high school is often largely incomplete, skewed, or distorted in favor of a White Anglo-Saxon world view. I also believe the internet has changed learning forever and while many of us are doing the digging and getting wiser, we are also inundated with video generated by people who are not scholars, have not done the work and are spewing falsehoods that are as bad or worse than the incomplete history lessons I was referring too. Some of what I've seen on the web that is meant to broaden our perspective and challenge the prejudices in our education is just garbage. I'm not demonizing White Europeans, it's a power thing, a human fault. Historically whoever is in power tries to diminish the importance of everyone else culture. I seriously doubt the Egyptians educated their citizens on the history of the cultures that came before them or the culture of the peoples they took as slaves. I like to believe we're getting better though. Having said that I try to educate myself about all cultures. I thought I knew a lot about Latin History being educated in a English-Spanish bilingual school from 1st to 6th grade, being a fluent Spanish speaker and having been immersed in Latin American culture for most of my life. Well, maybe I am, but I still learned so much that night. It was sobering, disturbing, enlightening and as always with John Leguizamo, crazy funny. Check it out.</p>
<p><a contents="John Leguizamo Latin History for Morons" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=23Q2-1AYJCs">John Leguizamo Latin History for Morons</a></p>
<p><a contents="JOHN LEGUIZAMO.COM" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://john-leguizamo.squarespace.com">For more on John Leguizamo, visit his website</a></p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/54291492018-09-14T16:28:30-04:002022-04-20T14:31:30-04:00"SUGAR" featuring Freedom Bremner, from the debut album Halcyon Days, by Nightcaller drops today 9.14.18<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/ef888a1029cf1ad655cc9c4f0b6af2a00b0aba1a/original/halcyon-daze.jpg/!!/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>I love it when one of my friends calls me up and asks if I would like to sing on something they wrote. About six months ago my friend Howard Alper, who I've known for over 20 years, gave me one of those calls. He had a new project called Nightacaller and he wanted to know if I would check out a song called "Sugar" and consider singing on it. Because we've been friends since the 90's when we were both in my first band in New York, D'Tripp, we know what each other likes and he always seems to call me with ideas and projects that I really like. That was true in 2002 when I was the vocalist for his rock band's debut album RTR (The radical thought resistance) and this time with "Sugar" was no exception. Howard also invites me to do things that are challenging and but me in a different creative space every time. I love that!!! On "Sugar you''ll hear my voice as you know it, but you'll also meet my vocodorized alter ego "Free"-ka-zoid. See what I did there, "Free" - kah- zoid.... Yeah well I don't really have a vocodorized alter ego, but if I did, maybe I'd call him "Free-ka-zoid", but there are some obvious copyright issues..... Maybe I'd go by "Bremner-bot", "Bremner OS9" or "Brem-vox Humana". Anyway..."Sugar" is this trippy electro pop song from the Nightcaller debut album "Halcyon Days". It's playful, dreamy, erotic and it revels in its "computer love" and digital lushness. </p>
<p>The band Nightcaller is the collaboration of my long time friend, producer/drummer/ songwriter, Howard Alper, and his partner in crime, guitarist and producer Evan Patrick. Howard and Evan say their music is electro / pop / rock influenced by 80's Prince, Sleigh Bells, CHVRCHES, Cocteau Twins, Stranger Things, and Blade Runner. Believe it. I hear all of that.. The album was produced by Nightcaller and mixed by keyboardist Joshua Valleau (Kanye West, John Legend, Cee-Lo Green), who also played additional instruments throughout the recording.. The album also features performances by vocalists Imani Coppola, Anne Courtney, Emi Monroe, Dede, Aaron Lazar, and Babe With Powers. You can buy the single and entire album here https://nightcaller.bandcamp.com/track/sugar-feat-freedom-bremner. It's also on iTunes, and Spotify, of course. Check it out right below. Peace.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Zm1XZtWS0eI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Zm1XZtWS0eI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zm1XZtWS0eI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="450" width="800" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/54148452018-09-04T17:16:11-04:002022-04-20T14:37:07-04:00Colin Kaepernick and Nike are making American Great Again.<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/6ad71a650684ceb13381ada80baea0b2c75812e5/original/nike-customers-burn-gears-after-colin-kaepernick-became-face-of-new-ad-lailasnews-600x321.jpg/!!/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><span class="font_large">It's a busy-ass news day, but let me say this. I support Colin Kaepernick and Nike on this one, and in a big way</span>. I'm seeing videos of people burning their Nike products... really??? Really??? That's how racist and insensitive a society we still are in America. Nike takes a stand, works with Colin Kaepernick and launches a pro free speech, pro courage, pro fearlessness, pro sacrifice-for-the-greater-good add campaign and that upsets some Americans. We are so far behind the knowledge, compassion, and enlightenment curve, my friends. Not all of us but too many of us. This is the very meaning of being an American, free speech, the ability to stand up against things that are immoral or unjust, to be able to speak your mind respectfully, to protest injustice peacefully and lead others by example. I'm not a big sports guy, but I'm proud of ANY BLACK MAN, especially a celebrity, with a wide reach, who recognizes that he must call out racism and injustice wherever he sees it and will not pretend that it's just going to go away because talking about it or bending the knee makes people uncomfortable. </p>
<p>in case you don't know who Colin Kaepernick is and what this story is about, here are the broad strokes. From Wikipedia: "In 2016, Kaepernick became a national figure when he ignited a firestorm of controversy by choosing to kneel on one knee rather than stand while the United States national anthem was being played before the start of NFL games. He described his behavior as a protest against racial injustice in the United States. His actions prompted negative and positive responses. The negative responses included suggestions that players who protest should be fired, other people displayed their disapproval of players' protests by leaving the stadium immediately after the protests or refusing to watch games at all. Positive responses included similar activity by additional athletes in the NFL and other American sports leagues protesting in various ways during the anthem. In November 2017, Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL and its owners, accusing them of colluding to not hire him. In 2018, Amnesty International awarded Kaepernick with that year's Ambassador of Conscience award."</p>
<p>What the Wikipedia page does not mention specifically is that Mr. Kaepernick's protests, kneeling during the national anthem, were not just about racial injustice in general. Mr. Kaepernick was taking a stand against the epidemic and until recently, socially expectable American practice of police shootings of unarmed black people that plagues America. In these cases the officers go unpunished. Colin Kaepernick is making the case for me and so many other people who are terrified of what might happen when my son or I happen to be pulled over by a police officer in America. We don't want to be shot in the back for being black. It keeps happening and these police officers do not go to jail. I'm not okay with it, America should not be okay with it, Black America is not okay with it and neither is Colin Kaepernick. Colin Kaepernick you have steadily become one of my new heroes. The NFL corporation has conspired to "blacklist you" and make you un-hirable, despite your talent, experience, appeal and ability. You don't back down and you don't give in. You make me proud. I applaud Nike for recognizing the sacrifices you've made to stand on principle. Nike is essentially making a spokesman and mascot of you as an unemployed NFL free agent, blacklisted, folk hero, and social activist. That shit is brave. How often does a multinational corporation get behind that kind of character or resume? </p>
<p>Nike's stock to a hit today, I really hope they have the courage to weather the storm, because I believe that they are on the right side of history, justice, and yes, I'm not naive...COMMERCE. I've been buying Nike products since, high school because I think they're of excellent quality, design, and innovation. I stood up and stopped buying Nike when it was exposed that some of their factories were unsafe, employing children, and placing them in sweat shop/slave-like conditions. I returned to the fold when they cleaned up there act. Today however, I am proud to wear the Nike Swish logo. Colin Kaepernick and Nike, you are "making America great again! <br>#blacklivesmatter #gonike, #colinkaepernick #resist #thestrugglecontinues #houseofreedom</p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/53717562018-08-02T04:05:02-04:002022-05-29T21:25:49-04:00Saying Goodbye to Screaming Headless Torsos<h2> </h2>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/0e10282a19a6c02ae835c34c4eff01c8acde690f/original/20140624-sht-0803-high-res.jpg/!!/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I was not the first singer to front Screaming Headless Torsos and I’m sure that I won’t be the last.</span> <br><span class="font_regular">Last week, I let my partners know that it was time for me to move on to new projects and that I would not be joining them for the upcoming SHT European Winter Tour. So, today I am announcing to friends and fans that I will no longer be singing in Screaming Headless Torsos. It was a tough decision, but a necessary one that had been on the horizon for some time. Growth is good and change is good. Great music is really, really good. I have been making music with Screaming Headless Torsos for 17 years, and it has been my honor. It’s been an amazing experience as a musician. The band pushed me, educated me, and inspired me. Performing with the Torsos gave me a level of confidence and freedom in my craft that changed me forever. SHT has also taken me all over the world and that is my favorite part of being a musician, touring. The most enduring quality for me, second only to the music itself, is the friendships, the relationships, and the once-in-a-lifetime experiences, that have come as a result of being a part of Torsos. Bands are like families to a large extent and anytime there is a loss of a family member, for any reason, the entire family feels the loss. There is a period of mourning, a period of heeling, and if all goes well, a period of optimism and rebirth. I'm experiencing all of that.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">When I think of the relationships in S.H.T. , there is none more powerful than my relationship with the fans of Screaming Headless Torsos. Torsos fans, you are simply beautiful. You love bold brave music, you embrace and crave creativity and you celebrate individuality. You are what every artist dreams of. You are the greatest gift and I will miss you. Music, for me, has always been first and foremost about story telling. I have new stories to tell, I want to tell them in different ways and I’m anxious to get started. There are new collaborations being released this year with Brooklyn's Nightcaller, Mexico’s City's Diego Infante and Guadalajara's ridiculously badass rock-jazz-funk-mariachi outfit, Troker, for starters. I will also be exploring some entirely new ground, trying some things I’ve never done before. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I cannot thank the following people enough for what they’ve given me. These people are the talented players and team members, the heart and soul, the keepers of the legacy and the infrastructure that allowed Torsos to do what it does. They’ve given me a sense of belonging, a sense of place in the world, and a playground to do some of my best work. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Thank you to David Fiuczynski, Daniel Sadownick, Dean Bowman, Gene Lake, Fima Ephron, JoJo Meyer, Sophia Ramos, Ahmed Best, Tobias Ralph, Skoota Warner, Steve Jenkins, David Ginyard, Louis Cato, Nikki Glaspie, James "Biscuit" Rouse, Jacob Webb, Francesco Beccaro, Lian Amber, Hallie Block, Gille Amaral, Tom Baggot, Stephan Gehrig, Constanze Schliebs, Alonso Areola, Xavi Estrígana, Emiliano Aranguren, Mario Di Cristoforo, Alberto Castillo, Escuela DIM, Ocesa, and Etin Produccions. I wish you all happiness, fulfillment, and continued success. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I am forever grateful</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Rock on, </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Freedom</span></p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/53274152018-07-01T22:38:40-04:002022-04-20T14:37:03-04:00An Analysis of How Donald Trump Speaks<p>I found this kind of fascinating. I've been paying attention to the way President Trump speaks since long before the election. I always found his use of language to reveal something that I saw as sneaky, slick, and dishonest. He talks like a con-man and it seemed to me that he always gives the kind of pitch that could only convince people who are already desperate or not that intelligent or critical in their thinking, people who are not really thinking about what he is actually saying. It seemed that he was looking for people who wanted a fast and easy answer always. His style of speech seems like the stereotype of the used car salesman to or the Western Snake Oil salesman. I won't lie either, sometimes I honestly find him funny. The first time I heard him say "Rocket Man is on a path to self destruction" in reference to North Korean Premier Kim Jong Un, I laughed out loud. I laughed for two reasons. One, I couldn't believe that he was actually teasing a world leader, a dictator, no less, with a demeaning nickname. What president teases ?! I also laughed because I thought it was a pretty good nickname, it was spot on, "Rocket Man". If he were a stand up comic, he would get serious props...it's a perfect put down. The problem is he's the president of my country. The way President Trump speaks, makes me trust him even less, but I never took the time to analyze the actual syntax. This gentleman who created this video did. It's disturbing, revealing, and again kind of fascinating.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="_aFo_BV-UzI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/_aFo_BV-UzI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_aFo_BV-UzI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="400" width="850" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/51668392018-04-05T20:56:43-04:002023-12-10T11:44:58-05:00The Last O.G.<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/8d4d8772264566ce31470cd6ebf9410fbaae3ffc/large/the-last-og.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_none" alt="" /></p>
<p>Okay, I love Tracey Morgan's characters, even though with the exception of Brian Fellows, they're basically all slight veariations of the persona he's created as a comedian. I still love Tracey Morgan's work and I always have. His performances on SNL and 30 Rock, in particular where he was truly allowed to shine as an actor, had me on the floor. I'm a fan of Jordan Peele too. Get Out was a new kind of horror movie that struck a chord for me as an African American , and cinema lover, that nothing else on film ever had before, a terrifying psychological drama from one of the funniest folks out there. Now, I'm a fan of their latest collaboration, The Last O.G. Just finished it about 15 minutes ago.</p>
<p>I get a little teary-eyed when it comes to anything truly groundbreaking in black entertainment. It's a product of age, I just remember when the offerings were so few and now there's literally a feast. I'm not talking about the real housewives of Atlanta, but I am talking, Donald Glover's Atlanta, The BBC's Luther, HBO's Insecure, The Chi and Ophrah Winfrey's Greenleaf, (the last two of which I have not seen yet) Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It , Black-ish and a bunch of others all on the air at the same time. It was a dessert with regards to stories of black people, when I was child. Not anymore. </p>
<p>The Last O.G., could have easily gone down the road of the predictable, but it doesn't. It takes the premise of a street hustler who went to prison for slingin' rock in Brooklyn, released after 15 years to find the Brooklyn and the life he once knew changed forever. From there, based on the pilot episode that I just watched, it looks like it's not going to be predictable at all. It's funny as you would expect, it's honest and it's thoughtful. It's new ground. Way to go fellas.</p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/51579692018-03-31T12:11:30-04:002022-05-29T21:24:28-04:00I sang for 30 seconds on NETFLIX "7 Seconds" and I'm happy about it!<p> </p>
<p>SEVEN SECONDS </p>
<p>So, I had the chance to binge watch the new Netflix series Seven Seconds. I had been patiently waiting for the premiere all year for a few reasons. Number one, the show stars Regina King, ( <em>Southland, American Crime, Jerry Maquire, Enemy of the State</em>) who’s work I absolutely love! Two, I had gone on set to Grace United Methodist Church in Brooklyn to watch the actors work. It was January 16th, a day after Martin Luther King’s birthday and it turns out that she and Dr. King, share the same birthday, January, 15th. So, the cast and crew surprised her with a cake, we sang “Happy Birthday” to her on set and I’m happy to report she is as “real” and down to earth as a person, as her work as an actor would lead you to believe. But wait, there’s more….and talk about burying the lead!...? I’m singing in the show! Thanks to my good friend Marc Ribler ( <em>Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul, Darlene Love)</em>, I was asked to perform a cover of Hezekiah Walker’s “I’ll Fly Away” with a fantastic choir out of Connecticut. The song appears in a scene in the first episode ( <em>Pilot</em> <em>Episode 01</em>) where Russell Hornsby (<em>Fences</em>), another fierce actor, and Regina King, who play husband and wife, are at church choir practice. The funny thing was, there was an actor playing the soloist in the choir, lip syncing to my voice. I had never watched an actor lip-sync to my work before. That was kind of surreal and a bit of a thrill, and also very weird…??. Did I think that they should have cast me in the part and had me sing on camera as well from the get-go? Well, yes of course, I did, but my man did his thing very well, and we must be grateful for the blessings….</p>
<p>Setting my involvement in the show aside, I’m here to tell you Seven Seconds is a great series. I flew through it. I was drawn in by Regina King and Russell Hornsby, but I discovered a whole cast of fantastic actors, some of whom I did not know before. There are outstanding performances by Michael Mosley, Beau Knapp, Clare-Hope Ashitey and David Lyone in particular. It is truly an ensemble piece, arried by the entire cast. It’s suspenseful, emotional, and it's some taught storytelling. I won’t give anything away, but it’s a clever story, set against a backdrop of events happening right now in America. Regina King is the bomb-diggity.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/93836f1681f18e89512b9458bf0c55b148918580/original/seven.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/c67134104f2af32df77c19c0dd207532585b1934/original/ill-fly-away-7897.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /> Actor Russell Hornsby, Musical Director Marc Ribler, Yours Truly, and the Amazing Choir of Seven Seconds</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/c9530433f46c971feef432abae54bbc228cb3bfc/original/russell-hornsby-7926.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /> Great dude and seriously talented actor, Russell Hornsby</p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">SEVEN SECONDS ON NETFLIX</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">https://www.netflix.com/title/80117555</p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/50861672018-02-18T14:21:22-05:002022-04-20T14:37:26-04:00Fear is clouding our judgement as a nation<p>I'm an optimist. It's part of my hard wiring, but it's also a result of my habits. I meet people, a lot of people, I engage folks, and I try to read up, watch, and study things that are happening nearby and far away from my world. I read a lot of terrifying disturbing things and I read about a lot of unsexy, miraculous, life affirming, amazing things as well. Mostly though, I listen to the people I meet and my faith is constantly renewed with evidence, not blind belief. I have seen standards of living in America and around the world go up consistently throughout my life. I have also seen the forces of hatred, ugliness, and oppression, consistently find a way to push back against the tide of change. The interesting thing is, those malevolent forces are always viewed with skepticism by the majority of people. You can always tell on a kind of primal level when people are truly coming from a place of honestly, kindness and love and when they are not. You can also tell when someone or some group is using fear to try to make you do what they want you to do. Love has a ind of confidence to it, it doesn't have to work so hard at convincing you it's real. The American Neo-Nazi movement for example is real, but it is not beloved, and the majority of Americans don't want to see a Disney movie about a Nazi hero or heroine. I know this may seem like a strange overly simplistic analogy, but what I mean is this.<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/9050646ef7cc158e81bf604280955a7297122e86/large/parkland-high-school-vigil.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_none" alt="" />The vast majority of people want to do good, they also want to feel good. They want to love and be loved. They want to protect and serve. They want to share, fundamentally. We just have make to make it easier, as a society, for people to do these things. Poverty, cruelty, and ignorance beget suffering and pain. Pain has a way of crushing our human capacity to give the best of ourselves. This gun control debate gets at the heart of what we're about. We all want our children and our families to be safe, all the time. There are forces, voices, companies, trying to scare us by telling some of us that protecting our loved ones means losing our freedom and independence. When we dig deep, let the fear go, and admit that a peaceful society should not allow the retail sale of military weapons of war to it's citizens, or accesories that easily transform other tools into weapons of war, we'll be in a good place to start the change. With the help of all those that have come before us, and now the students of Parkland High School in Florida, I think we can do it. We just have to let the fear go and listen to our better voices that tell us to love and take care of each other.</p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/50773012018-02-13T15:26:22-05:002022-05-29T21:26:33-04:00"Ahh... the freshness..."<p>A presidential portrait as refreshing and transformative as the man it depicts. Happy Black History Month.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/d8bcbaddaa179588ea6f4091bbc13e1e1211cf4b/original/imrs-php.jpeg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />The official portrait of President Barack Obama, painted by artist, Kehinde Wiley.</p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/50705142018-02-09T02:48:20-05:002022-04-20T14:37:36-04:00Quincy Jones Interview with David Marchesse for Vulture.com.... One word.. Wow!<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/356c780fc3cf2ebbead1d5d3265d82052e73a780/original/quincy-jones-david-marchese-2018-02-09-at-2-43-56-am.png" class="size_orig justify_center border_" />Okay Y'all. Quincy has some things to say that will probably floor you. Some things he said, I always suspected. For instance, he said he "killed" Michael over the constant plastic surgery, meaning he called him out on it because Quincy thought it was too much. I always wondered if Michael had friends bold enough to tell him that he had gone too far. He also said Michael stole a lot of music and didn't credit people properly on some occasions. He also thought that Beatles could barely play when he was in the studio with them. It's not so much gossip as it is a compelling back and forth...conversation and reflections, strong opinions and observations from one of the greatst, from a man who's 85 and has no fear of saying what's on his mind, though he does stop short on a few things. He jammed in Italy with Mussolini's son regularly, yes that Mussolini!!! There's insight about life like the importance of true musical education and how it's lacking in the current practitioners of the craft (pop stars) Fascinating.... fascinating. </p>
<p><a contents="http://www.vulture.com/2018/02/quincy-jones-in-conversation.html" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://QUINCY%20JONES%20ON%20THE%20SECRET%20MICHAEL%20JACKSON%20AND%20WHAT%E2%80%9DS%20WRONG%20WITH%20POP">QUINCY JONES ON THE SECRET MICHAEL JACKSON AND WHAT”S WRONG WITH POP </a></p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/50543582018-01-31T16:55:40-05:002022-04-20T14:37:29-04:00Yes we can, again<p><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/198c7a44d33fc12f889acd6c6291738cd33396c4/original/joe-kennedy-iii-walking-away.jpg" class="size_orig justify_center border_" />This an excerpt from my Facebook feed last night. It started as a reply to some of my friends and has been adapted for this post. </p>
<p>After listening to the inspirational Democratic response to last night’s state of the union address by Representative Joseph Kennedy III, I knew that with the praise, would also come the criticism in looking for the perfect democratic candidate for future presidential elections. I knew it would come from both parties. “Here we go…another Kennedy!” “Another Dynasty!”. “Can’t the Democrats come up with someone who’s not a Clinton or a Kennedy?” The answer is “yes we can”. See what I did there.....? ? Anyway... I understand the criticism and the reasoning behind it. I also understand that it can be turned into an powerful yet empty sound bite from the right, and an infectious, catchy one at that. If we’re not careful we won’t notice that there’s something much more important than your purity, pedigree, family name or celebrity in this contest, and that is character. For the record, I don’t I know enough about Joe Kennedy and I’m not sure that he’s ready yet, but I am excited. I’ve also been very excited by Elizabeth Warren for a long time. In Joe Kennedy III, I see a the makings of a young man with all the right stuff, the makings of a future American president. There are going to be a lot of people within both parties who will, for lack of a better word, “demonize” or at the very least criticize Joe Kennedy III for being part of a dynasty. I like to look at this another way. </p>
<p>Historically, a dedication to the service of others is something we praise in this country. It is one of the criteria we hold so high as being essential in the character of our elected officials . I think we could all agree that we wouldn’t disparage a family that had produced three generations of fire fighters, or military personnel, or doctors. Instead, we would say that whole family has “a tradition of service”. Families like that have usually sacrificed and suffered greatly as a result of that kind of tradition. I would suggest that we Democrats and progressives not waist any energy undermining Joe Kennedy III or the Kennedy family with attacks on their family’s name, fame, legacy or historic dedication to the service of others. The "others" being all of us. It’s counter productive , and you could even argue it’s a little petty, disrespectful, even unpatriotic, especially when you consider the Kennedy family's record of success in service to the nation and the incredible sacrifices that the Kennedy family made. More women need to be in government. That’s indisputable. I would love nothing more than for my party to nominate the first female president of the United States. Let’s hear it for progress and milestones. i have no doubt that it’s not far off. However, I didn’t vote for Senator Obama because he was a black man, because he looked like me, and was going to make history and validate the struggles and success of my people, and this country. All of that was a bonus. It was his character that convinced me. His character and his history of a life dedicated to service. I voted for him because he best represented my values, my party’s values and what I wanted my party to be, and I felt he was absolutely qualified and electable. He had in my opinion, the “right stuff”. Let’s be careful about seeking “perfection”. The perfect pedigree, just enough freshness, not too much dynasty…..as my dad likes to remind me, “the enemy of the left is not the right, it’s the extreme left.” “Perfection is also often the enemy of progress”. This is coming from a songwriter who often takes forever to finish seeking perfection, but I digress....Let’s remember how we got into this mess, in the first place. We have a president lacking in character, with no history of service to others. </p>
<p>I know a lot of the people reading this are all on the same team here and that’s my point. Let’s put the team first. Let’s be grateful that there are entire families that keep passing on the tradition of service to our nation. Yes, we can, again.</p>
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<p>WATCH REPRESENTATIVE JOE KENNEDY III GIVE THE DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE TO THE STATE OF THE UNION ADRESS<br>LET ME KNOW IF YOU THINK HE'S GOT THE RIGHT STUFF</p>
<p><a contents="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsStXrcI8AQ" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsStXrcI8AQ"><span class="font_regular"><strong>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsStXrcI8AQ</strong></span></a></p>
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<p> </p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/50531892018-01-30T23:35:26-05:002022-04-20T14:37:39-04:00And out of the noise comes a new voice<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/2100e99e9dd284ee7043f00479c0cfc0c1b73777/large/watch-rep-joe-kennedy-delivers-the-democratic-response-to-the-2018-state-of-the-union.jpg" class="size_xl justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>You know, I remember when I had never heard of Senator Barack Obama, and then I did, and everything changed. Until tonight's democratic response to the State of the Union address, I had never heard of Represntative Joe Kennedy III and now I have. He spoke to me. He said everything that I want my party to say to the world, he represented what I want my country to be in this world. A country of prosperity, compassion, inclusion, common sense, freedom and fairness. Vamos a luchar, ( we will win ) he said. He also said, " Politicians can be judged for the promises they make, our country will be judged by the promises we keep." </p>
<p>Hope is on the horizon again.</p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/50372692018-01-22T16:35:00-05:002022-04-20T14:40:06-04:00Morgan Freeman accepts the Screen Actor's Guild Lifetime Achievement Award<p>I couldn't hold back the tears. He was one of the first actors that I came to know and love. I grew up watching him on the Electric Company as a child, he had the most amazing voice, as he narrated episodes of Spider Man on that show. Those episodes were actual still images of the Spider Man comic book drawings with his voice reading the dialogue in the "thought bubbles", decades before the Marvel Studios explosion that we have now. I've followed his work and been inspired by him my whole life. When I do voice over work and narration, I hear him in my head. He also showed me the value in growing with your craft and your passion for for the long haul. The big roles did not come to him in his 20's or 30's or even his 40's. It was middle age that opened a wealth of opportunities for Morgan Freeman to shine. I will always maintain, that his work as an actor is directly responsible for the election of President Barack Obama. When Mr. Freeman played an African American president in a major Hollywood movie, and the scene had nothing to do with him being black, but everything to do with the character being leader with the necessary gravitas, able to steady a nation facing eminent doom, I knew our country was ready. Morgan Freeman, national treasure.</p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/50343882018-01-20T15:43:58-05:002018-01-22T17:52:23-05:00America, thank you for showin’ up and showin’ out!<center><p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="HrDGakRh4NY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/HrDGakRh4NY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HrDGakRh4NY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="450" width="800" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p></center>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/50133822018-01-08T17:17:42-05:002022-04-20T14:40:10-04:00Oprah, Oprah, Oprah.....<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/c4beac702e95ffa22decc9b4b72c399be102a208/original/oprah-golden-globes-cecil-b-demille-honor-3.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />My patience and my faith in justice, fairness, and the promise of equality in America, has been tested throughout my entire life...yours too, I'm sure. However, while I feel our country is in a particularly dark period now, with our current president at the helm and with the de-regulation of government protections moving ahead at steady clip, I'm fully aware that there are amazing things happening every day all around the world. It takes amazing people to make these things happen. Oprah Winfrey is one of those people for me. There are clear periods where my faith has been constant or been renewed by social change, a presidential administration that succeeds in protecting the citizenry, the environment, the marginalized, the entrepreneurs, and the vulnerable. There have been substantial periods in my life where I felt America was actively promoting prosperity, inclusion and fairness, and it has often come to me not just from government but from expressions of pop culture and art. A lot of great music, film, and other types of art and artists, inspire me and remind me of just how great the, reality, the promise and the potential of the great American experiment really is. I missed the Golden Globes acceptance speech for the Cecile B DeMille award last night. I was gigging at the Stone Pony, celebrating the music of George Harrison. So I just watched Oprah's speech on Youtube. Oprah Winfrey is one of those Americans who makes me proud to down to my blood vessels, to be an American. Take a look at the speech. There's a link to it below. It's worth your time. </p>
<p><a contents="Oprah's acceptance speech of the Cecile B DeMille Award, Golden Globes 2018" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN5HV79_8B8">Oprah's acceptance speech of the Cecile B DeMille Award, Golden Globes 2018</a></p>
<p> </p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/49279492017-11-10T17:37:18-05:002022-04-20T14:40:12-04:00Sexual predators in the workplace, folks are not having it any more.<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/52e29f182c317c7a0302ce912c5627b94d546014/original/rogues-gallery-high-profile-sexual-predators.jpg?1510353019" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Regarding the tidal wave of sexual harassment and misconduct allegations among high profile celebrities, corporate titans, and politicians, I can only say, bring them on. There's a much needed awakening, cleansing and sea change happening in our country. Women are simply not taking it any more and realizing that with personal courage and with the strength in their numbers, they have the power to speak out, survive, and prosper. Much like the way cell phone videos and body camera have exposed what black people have always known, the rights of our men in particular, are routinely destroyed by law enforcement, women have always known the sexual horrors that go on unchallenged in the work place. Men and women in denial can’t do it any more. As long as people are telling the truth and people are acknowledging the truth, we are all in a better place. </p>
<p>I remember when Morgan Freeman was cast to play God in one Hollywood movie and then an American President in another, long before the election of President Barack Obama. That's when I knew America was truly ready for the first black president. Hollywood and by extension corporate America does invest in ideas that won't sell. They're about the bottom line. That is not to say that there is no empathy or morality in there decision making processes either. Morality and respect for all people is paramount, but I'm really pleased to see that the corporate world simply isn't having it any more with regards to sexual harassment even amongst artists, even in Hollywood. I see their position, their intolerance for working with sexual abusers and predators as a reflection of what we as a society are truly ready for. That might sound sad that I'm viewing it through this prism, but it isn't really. It's progress, and growth is good. Now it's time to teach the next generation of little boys and girls how to behave.</p>Freedom Bremnertag:www.houseofreedom.com,2005:Post/49225772017-11-07T11:06:07-05:002022-04-20T14:40:16-04:00Pay attention to the signs <p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/561f8a8a4db3758a73e21184d43c1620995fe0ab/original/edisonnj-racistflyer.jpg?1510070271" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/023ffcda59dd02e8ca8b6e779abbbc09addf8734/original/vote-obama-20127740.jpg?1510070286" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>So this was me voting for President Obama and for my party 5 years ago yesterday. Whenever I hear people say that voting doesn’t matter, I see people who have either copped out, been beaten up by disappointment , given in to apathy, are just plain lazy, are seriously ill-informed, or are not paying attention to the sings. All you have to is look around this country at the events, the decisions, the discourse, and the discontent, to know that voting matters. Your vote matters, my vote matters. You’re one vote is often the catalyst for your representative to make 200 more votes that matter, votes that affect you. </p>
<p>New Jersey has been my home state for 20 years now, and I’ve never seen anything like the sign above, from Edison New Jersey before an election. This isn’t Alabama, or Mississippi, or Texas, this is supposedly blue-state, progressive, liberal New Jersey. And in Edison, New Jersey, the Trump era has emboldened the ugliest part of our community to speak out in ways like this, borrowing President Trump’s campaign slogan and taking away any question of subtext by explaining that some people in Edison feel the Chinese and the Indians are “taking over” their town and putting the racism right there in from of you. </p>
<p>I’m reminded of the signs that used to hang all over this country letting non-white Americans know that they were not welcome in various establishments and towns. “No Niggers, No Irish, No Mexicans Allowed”. It’s not that far off. Voting, and in some cases, not voting in the last presidential election allowed this to happen. This is what voting does. It either pushes us forward or sends us back. Today is Election Day. Vote your conscious, but please vote and pay attention to the signs.</p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/85b4da7719df65f200cd0da63e7f31cb7df8564b/original/whites-only.gif?1510070271" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/72de5419c33945fd492320d3f8068b1b6bc4b88a/original/no-mexicans-spanish.jpeg?1510070558" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/9257a40feccfdd85b737819eeb7dface6331b33c/original/help-wanted-irish-need-not-appy-1.jpeg?1510070271" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/269313/06a7fb774f8ec65cc1258bb4c0314ca082c28e99/original/no-dogs-negoes-mexicans.jpeg?1510070270" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br> </p>Freedom Bremner