Musings: The Joy of Violent Movement Turns 6
I started JOVM 6 years ago today, and from my understanding 6 years of anything on the blogosphere is downright ancient. Add the fact that the site is a (mostly) solo effort, it would arguably make that kind of achievement mean much more. Now, I must confess that it hasn’t been easy. Throughout most of the site’s history, I’ve worked full-time jobs while doing the site full-time and on the side, and there have been several times throughout the site’s history in which I’ve felt deeply discouraged; in fact, there have been a couple of times in which I thought about walking away from the entire endeavor and I was lucky to have a few kind souls and supporters, who talked me down from the proverbial ledge. Also I’ve been lucky to get a ton of encouragement and support from an enormous number of artists I’ve written about or who wanted me to write about them, as well as industry professionals — and frequently it has come when I was feeling the lowest about the site and its prospects. Last and not least, I think of the readers/viewers/listeners, friends, associates and others who may stumble across this site over the course of their day or week and the fact that it may give them a little a bit of joy or introduce them to their new, favorite artist or new, beloved album — and in some way I’ve come to see that as a sacred duty to you.
As I was commuting downtown to my day job, I started to think of some of the best and most surreal moments I’ve had as a result of the site, as well as some of my favorite moments — the sort of moments that remind me that over the past 6 years or so I’ve lead a very strange and very charmed life. And so much of it has seemed utterly and laughably impossible. I don’t think any of that would have been possible without so many of you. So thank you for everything. Vive JOVM!
Some immediate highlights came to mind, check them out below.
Photo Caption: By far, the funniest and best profile picture and moment ever was this photo with Charles Bradley after his Flushing Meadows-Corona Park show last year.
Photo Caption: A Place to Bury Strangers‘ set to essentially close out the Brooklyn Night Bazaar was one of my favorite sets in recent memory as it included so much smoke machine fog that it took hours for me to get the metallic taste out of my month, Oliver Ackerman (pictured in the two instagram photos above) smashing a guitar to bits and at one point the band jumping into the crowd to play their set’s closing number.
Photo Caption: Drinking some Jameson with Talib Kweli at a studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Adding to the awe-inspiring surreal quality of that particular night, I managed to be in the same room with the legendary Ralph McDaniels and comedian Hannibal Buress. But most importantly, I had a chance to tell Kweli how much I loved the Black Star album and he replied “I love that album, too.”
Photo Caption: A selfie with A Tribe Called Quest‘s Jairobi, who was hosting that year’s Donuts Are Forever, J. Dilla tribute party at Brooklyn Bowl.
Photo Caption: A sweaty Angelo Moore of Fishbone while in the photo pit at Afropunk — and if I remember it correctly, this was taken in the same year as the last photo of this post. Yeah, seriously.
Photo Caption: The great Omar Souleyman performing at the House of Vans.
Photo Caption: Meeting Chuck D backstage at Afropunk was by far one of the biggest thrills I’ve had while running this site — especially since I loved Public Enemy as a boy; in fact, Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black was one of the first cassette tapes I bought with the allowance my folks had given me.