I went out after work last night and played drums with my good friend Eric Arnold. Eric is a writer. In any case he lives in Oakland, and I was in need of some deep spiritual soothing so we took the drums out to Lake Merritt and played for a while.
I'll tell you how beautiful Oakland is. We were playing and this older white lady in a housecoat comes out and walks over to us. It's late, like 11 pm and we are two brothers in the dark, playing African drums. No white person in their right mind should approach Black people playing drums at night, it's just not safe. You don't know what could be happening-we could be calling all kinds of stuff into being, and some of us are kinda pissed. jokes, all jokes....not really.
Anyway having said that, she walks over and in the nicest way explains that although she enjoys the music, it's late and there are no apartments 200 yards down the shore of the lake.
Honestly, I just had to smile and comply. She wasn't scared, she was not at all disrespectful. I love Oakland.
The world tells us that we should all be afraid and not be real with other, hide in our houses and not talk to one another. I don't know who that lady was, but I hope she's out there showing people how to be a real human being.
The other thing is this. I don't drum to entertain other people. I drum to get in touch, to talk to my ancestors, to get in touch with the Creator. It's cool if people listen, but sometimes it throws me off. I was thinking about it this morning, because sometimes I get irritated and I stop when people listen. I like to perform, I'll always read some poetry, or talk to some folks. It's because I am not as confident about my drumming and I get thrown off, that's the real reason I don't like people to listen.
Peace to the Peaceful
your brother in the struggle,
M
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