By Dawoud Kringle
In February 2020. I wrote a piece about TikTok. The gist of the article described TikTok‘s corporate structure as a subsidiary of ByteDance, how its marketed exclusively outside of the People’s Republic of China (by mandate of the CCP), its enormous financial success, and how it affects professional musicians.
Their success is collapsing.
An Editorial by Dawoud Kringle
(Disclaimer: I respectfully ask the reader to forgive my use of ungentlemanly language.)
I like movies, and am absolutely fascinated by the art of cinema. But not all efforts to produce a great (and profitable) movie go according to plan. One example of this was in 2014 when Paramount tossed approximately $30 million into a remake of The Gambler. And it was pretty much a train-wreck.
However, as is often the case, there were a few gold nuggets in this cornucopia of brain candy. One was the scene where Mark Wahlberg‘s character, a reckless and probably suicidal gambler, borrowed $2.5 million from a charming but remorselessly vicious leader of a criminal organization brilliantly played by John Goodman. In this scene, Goodman’s character gave a magnificent discourse on an important life lesson: always put yourself in a position of F**k You.
This is a true test for the artist. Any fool can articulate pain and ugliness, but only an artistic genius who is conscious of his or her role and responsibility to the world, can transform it into something beautiful, inspirational, and ecstatic. – An Editorial by Dawoud Kringle
I never liked Kanye West, or “Ye,” as he calls himself these days. His music, while occasionally clever, never intrigued or interested me. His music seems to radiate a dark, narcissistic, joyless, and soulless ambience.
A Eulogy by Dawoud Kringle
On Wednesday, January 11th, 2023, the music world was shocked when Jeff Beck, one of the greatest electric guitarists to ever walk this earth, succumbed to bacterial meningitis. He was 78.
Sometime in the 80s, I saw Jeff Beck at Madison Square Garden when he was on the same bill with Stevie Ray Vaughn (another great guitarist who we lost much too soon). What a performance! At the end, the two did a duet that tore the roof off the place. I have no words to describe it; you had to have been there.
Ghouls – An Editorial by Dawoud Kringle
For those of you who did not grow up on Vincent Price movies like I did, a ghoul is a malignant djinn from ancient Arabic folklore, and introduced into European folklore in the 18th century. Ghouls are notoriously well known for defiling graves and eating the corpses.
