THOROUGHLY BLACKENED
Here is a collection of things I found, disorganized, scattered, like a commonplace book, like a scrapbook.
BY REPEATING THIS YOU WILL BE THOROUGHLY BLACKENED
BY REPEATING THIS YOU WILL BE THOROUGHLY BLACKENED
BY REPEATING THIS YOU WILL BE THOROUGHLY BLACKENED
DIDDYBOP
The photograph below is of Art Nouveau, Joni Mitchell in blackface. Apparently Joni Mitchell came up with him as her alter-ego after seeing a black man walking by her in New York City with a “diddybop kind of step” and “an infectious spirit”.
“WHEN I SEE BLACK MEN SITTING, I HAVE A TENDENCY TO GO — LIKE I NOD LIKE I’M A BROTHER. I REALLY FEEL AN AFFINITY BECAUSE I HAVE EXPERIENCED BEING A BLACK GUY ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS.”
“I WAS BEING BUTCHERED BY A DENTIST WHO WAS CAPPING MY TEETH […] AND ONE DAY HE SAID ‘OH YOU’VE GOT THE WORST BITE I’VE EVER SEEN. YOU HAVE TEETH LIKE A NEGRO MALE.’”
— JONI MITCHELL
A video of her doing the diddybop as Art Nouveau:
After Joni Mitchell’s song “Furry Sings The Blues” came out, Furry Lewis did the angry black man diddybop.
"The way I feel" says Furry "is that your name is proper only to you, and when you use it you should get results from it. She shouldn't have used my name in no way, shape, form or faction without consultin' me 'bout it first. The woman came over here and I treated her right, just like I does everybody that comes over. She wanted to hear 'bout the old days, said it was for her own personal self, and I told it to her like it was, gave her straight oil from the can." He stares at the surrealistic photo on the Hejira cover. "But then she goes and puts it all down on a record, using my name and not giving me nothing! I can't stop nobody from talkie' 'bout Beale Street, 'cause the street belongs to everybody. But when she says 'Furry,' well that belongs to me!" (Though Joni Mitchell had no response to Furry's comments, her manager, Elliot Roberts, responded: "All she said about him was, 'Furry sings the blues' the rest is about the neighborhood. She doesn't even mention his last name. She really enjoyed meeting him, and wrote about her impressions of the meeting, He did tell her that he didn't like her, but we can't pay him royalties for that. I don't pay royalties to everybody who says they don't like me. I'd go broke.")
From “Furry Lewis is Furious at Joni” by Mark Seal in Rolling Stone Magazine, 1977
Furry Lewis plays “When I lay my burden down”
“A STALE VISUAL MYTH STILL IN WORKING ORDER.” — Margo Jefferson
TROPES TROPES TROPES TROPES TROPES TROPES
TROPE: A SIGNIFICANT OR RECURRENT THEME; A MOTIF
FROM THE GREEK TROPOS ‘TURN, WAY’
Reporter: The other day you said that if anyone was qualified to be a nigger, it was Mick Jagger. How is Mick Jagger qualified to be a nigger?
Patti Smith: On our liner notes I redefined the word nigger as being an artist-mutant that was going beyond gender.
Reporter: I didn't understand how Mick Jagger has suffered like anyone who grew up in Harlem.
Patti Smith: Suffering don't make you a nigger. I mean, I grew up poor too. Stylistically, I believe he qualifies. I think Mick Jagger has suffered plenty. He also has a great heart, and I believe, ya know, even in his most cynical moments, a great love for his children. He's got a lot of soul. I mean, like, I don't understand the question. Ya think black people are better than white people or sumpthin'? I was raised with black people. It's like, I can walk down the street and say to a kid, “Hey nigger.” I don't have any kind of super-respect or fear of that kind of stuff. When I say statements like that, they're not supposed to be analyzed, 'cause they're more like off-the-cuff humorous statements. I do have a sense of humor, ya know, which is sumpthin' that most people completely wash over when they deal with me. I never read anything where anybody talked about my sense of humor. It's like, a lot of the stuff I say is true, but it's supposed to be funny.
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS??????
IT WAS THE 70S???? IT WASN’T AS LOADED????
FETISHIZATION COOL ANGRY OUTSIDER HIP DIDDYBOP DANDY COON
of course no one would do this version of blackface now
but the question then becomes: how is blackface being done today in music, film, entertainment?
Why does blackface work and take on such a central role in American music and entertainment? Why do we all love it so much and support it so much, while also maligning it? I have not really mentioned the blackface that is done by black people, the blackface that is done without makeup (“invisible blackface”, a no-makeup make-up that is very prevalent today), “cooning”, “blaccent", “AAVE”.
When I was in middle school, Ernesto called me an “oreo” and then explained, in case I didn’t get it, black on the outside white on the inside.
FETISH FETISH FETISH FETISH FETISH
WHAT IS FETISH
AN OBJECT, SUCH AS A SMALL STONE CARVING OF AN ANIMAL BELIEVED TO HAVE MAGICAL POWER TO PROTECT OR AID ITS OWNER
AN OBJECT WHOSE REAL OR FANTASIED PRESENCE IS PSYCHOLOGICALLY NECESSARY FOR SEXUAL GRATIFICATION AND THAT IS AN OBJECT OF FIXATION TO THE EXTENT THAT IT MAY INTERFERE WITH COMPLETE SEXUAL EXPRESSION
FIXATION
WHEN FETISH FIRST APPEARED IN ENGLISH IN THE EARLY 17TH CENTURY, IT REFERRED TO OBJECTS (OFTEN AMULETS) BELIEVED BY CERTAIN WEST AFRICANS TO HAVE SUPERNATURAL POWERS.
“Prepared cork is the best thing for making up. It can be bought at all places furnishing theatrical supplies. If compelled to prepare it yourselves, get a number of dry corks —a pail full—place them on an old piece of sheet-ion to keep the dirt and sand from them. Pile them on a few shavings or splinters. They will burn easy. When they crack open like popcorn, put them in a pail. Let them remain dry.
When you wish to make up, dip your hands in water, wet your face, neck and ears, then wet your hands, shaking them around in the pail of corks, then rubbing them on your face. By repeating this you will be thoroughly blackened. As you will only have the dust of the cork, no grit, you should have a small baby's brush to brush the dust from your face and back of your hands. This gives them a polish.
Be careful to get the black even around the eyes and mouth. Leave the lips just as they are, they will appear red to the audience.
Comedians leave a wide white space all around the lips. It makes the mouth appear larger and will look red as the lips do. If you wish to represent an old darkey, use white drop chalk, outlining the eyebrows, chin, whiskers or a gray beard.”
— The Complete Minstrel Guide, 1901
“You were invisible to me.
You went without saying.
You were my weapon secret from myself.”
You went without saying.
You were my weapon secret from myself.”
Incroyable
Thank you.