Lenny Williams/Mike Huckabee/"Q"

Sorry for the months-long break...I'll be updating more frequently in '08 (or so I've promised myself). I'll finally have the definitive '07 best-of ready within the next week or two. In the meantime, a thought that ties together some '07 material.

The James Murphy Fabriclive entry, Scarface's excellent MADE album, and Twista's "Overnight Celebrity" (ok, that one's from years back) all have one thing in common: they feature the superb solo work of Lenny Williams. Kanye and Nottz cut up Lenny's "Cause I Love You" - Kanye with the trademark chipmunk effect for "Overnight Celebrity," Nottz letting it breathe more on Scarface's "Girl You Know." Murphy goes with a significant edit of "You Got Me Running." Both tracks can be found on Spark of Love, a '78 release which, contrary to misinformed 'net info, isn't really a compilation. It collects a couple older singles, but it was mostly new material at the time of its release. Anyway, point being: Spark of Love is 150% worth your time.

Lots of noise on the net about Republican presidential aspirant Mike Huckabee and what he says about the interplay between pop culture and politics at the moment. Over at Popmatters, Aaron McKain gives the subject an interesting treatment (don't let the superficial premise throw you off). My long-running nemesis RIUSAB provides a (surprise) much less insightful analysis. I think buried within both, though, are the threads of reason for hope. Huckabee's cultural choices, as well as some of his political positions, are potential signs that cross-communication is possible, even between sociocultural conservatives and big city heathen college students. For all the talk about partisanship, I think the prospect of culture war is/was far scarier - the kind of development that really would lead to a two-America society.

Even if playing bass and embracing Chuck Norris are sort of superficial, obvious moves, they indicate a willingness and desire to branch out. Huckabee might make use of subliminal signifiers to reassure his base (the infamous cross), but he's clearly trying to send signs to demographics that traditionally would be anything but sympathetic to a creationist Baptist minister. Sure, playing to the center is politics as usual...except maybe for the evangelical community over the last few decades. I'm certainly not suggesting that he deserves your vote just for trying. That said, there are some largely ignored signs for hope here - supposedly "secular" and/or "liberal" American pop culture might once again be forming the basis for a common cultural language. Either that, or pop culture continues its soulless all-devouring march...we report, you decide.

In other "while I was out" news, the excellent Beat Electric has a track you need to check: "Q" - "The Voice of 'Q.'" With Disco Not Disco about to break, it's all the more important to watch out for the formation of a non-canon canon that excludes a lot of great leftfield stuff. Get on this one.