Download Mark Da Urban Songs
Analisa Hadfield
An urban forest is a collection of naturally occurring or planted trees that grow within our city. In a wider sense it may include any kind of woody plants growing in and around our community. In a narrower sense it describes areas whose ecosystems are inherited from wilderness leftovers. Care and management of urban forests is known as urban forestry.
Urban forests play an important role for us in many ways: they filter air, water, sunlight; provide shelter to animals; and recreational areas for people. Urban forests moderate local climate, slow wind and stormwater, and shade homes and businesses to conserve energy. They are critical in cooling the urban heat island effect, thus potentially reducing the number of unhealthful ozone days that plague us in peak summer months.
The Tree City USA program, sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters, provides direction, technical assistance, public attention, and national recognition for urban and community forestry programs in thousands of towns and cities that more than 135 million Americans call home. The many benefits of being a Tree City include creating a framework for action, education, a positive public image, and citizen pride. For more information visit www.arborday.org. The City of Pompano Beach has proudly held the Tree City USA title for 33 years!
The benefits of urban trees are many: beautification, reduction of the urban heat island effect, reduction of stormwater runoff, reduction of air pollution, reduction of energy costs through increased shade over buildings, enhancement of property values, improved wildlife habitat, and mitigation of overall urban environmental impact.
The presence of urban trees reduces stress, and trees have long been seen to benefit our health. The shade of trees makes a place for people to meet and socialize. Proper planning and community involvement are important for the positive results to be realized.
Urban trees provide nesting sites and food for birds and other animals. People appreciate watching, feeding, photographing, and painting urban trees. Urban trees and wildlife help people maintain their connection with nature.
Special to the Record-EagleThe Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Grand Traverse choir rehearses, led by musical director John Bailey. The choir will perform seven songs plus four others with audience participation.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: For this top 50 list, I decided to concentrate on 1979-1995, the former being the year I got my first taste of hip-hop, the latter being the year my major-label debut with the Roots made its mark. I wanted to concentrate on the period that I was not professionally involved in the art form. I wanted to celebrate the period that built and led to the influence that got me a record deal.
The most powerful B-side of all time in hip-hop. No sugary hooks. Rhymes and ammo. This was the go-to instrumental for many a cipher in the early Nineties. This single marked the true arrival of Gang Starr.
The passing of the torch in hip-hop is never a happy occasion. It's mostly filled with bitterness and shit talking. Chuck D clearly knew that PE's five-year reign was coming to a close. Once you realize and come to grips with this fact. you can either fight the power, or play diplomat and go out like a champ. If only every act in hip-hop thought like this. Thank God Chuck D chose the latter and let young upstart Pete Rock take over the boards to give PE's "aight" song the decade' second best facelift. (The first goes to Black sheep's "The Choice is Yours.") This song marks the renaissance period of New York hip-hop that was more jazz-centric over the usual Southern soul bed it was used to. A marvelous closing-credits soundtrack to a storied streak of revolutionary madness from the best group in hip-hop.
Jersey's own Naughty by Nature was a rarity in hip-hop: an urban pop act that held respect and dignity in the Nineties. To go platinum in hip-hop, you were either diluted for mass consumption, or an overdone cartoon image of gangsterism that was temporary. Naughty By Nature chose the equivalent of shooting three-pointers from half-court: pop classics. Only Prince, MJ and Stevie had the ability to create pop-friendly songs without losing themselves in the process. That was a slippery slope to walk. Treach was just as respectful an MC as the best of them, and Kay Gee made sure that his infectious musical elements didn't crowd his grit and dusty breakbeats. But of course, when the Jackson Five's "ABC" was your template, can you really drop the ball?
One of the most potent, re-useable, powerful snares in Nineties music. You'll stop counting at 200 if you try to take a total of how many songs between 1990 and 2003 just straight-up took this track's drum ingredient. Like, seriously, this song is the two fish and five loaves of bread of hip-hop. No organization represented George Clinton's P-Funk rhythm nation better than Shock G and Co.
I wasn't allowed to play urban stations on my clock radio when I went to sleep as a kid, but that didn't stop me much. Between 1977 and 1980, Soul Train came on at 1 a.m., right after Saturday Night Live went off. Why my parents were so strict with some things and lenient with others was beyond me, but I was allowed to set my alarm to 12:45 a.m. every Saturday, just as SNL's music guest was doing their second song, so I could watch my favorite show afterwards. Then it was back into bed at 2 a.m. so I could wake up for Sunday school the next morn.
For urban radio on late Saturday, there wasn't an idea of live remotes from such and such club as they do now. Normally you'd get the usual disco fare from 8 p.m. till 2 a.m., then after that the 2 a.m. to 6:00 jock would play some real left-of-center progressive stuff, like a Mandrill album cut or maybe Bill Withers' 10-minute long "City Of The Angels." I know it's hard to believe, but there was a time in life in which radio was the progressive epicenter of what was hip and next. I mean, it built and contracted my geek behind, right? Right?
Flavor Flav's batshit crazy stance was used as bait (I fell for it) to attract the unaware. Once trapped inside, Chuck D's baptist preacher rapid-fire scream was the nail in the coffin. The best sweet and sour combo in hip-hop. Actually, the original contrary duo in hip-hop. 1989 marked a particular anger in New York: Tawana Brawley's rape case, Yusef Hawkins' murder in Bensonhurst, Michael Griffith's murder in Howard Beach. In one five-minute cyclone of a song, Chuck D pulls his inner Howard Beale out and declares he is mad as hell and he is not going to take it anymore. I mean, my dad and I had world-class debates on the merits of Public Enemy, but even that one-two punch of Elvis and John Wayne almost made my dad say "Yeah!" Of course, right before i could yell that he was a PE fan, he quipped in the next breath, "But that's still not music." I know, Dad. Trust me. I know.
Ronald Isley once told me a story about how he and his singing brothers had to show friends and family their This Old Heart of Mine album with their heads down, because label head Berry Gordy thought it was a wiser marketing move to sell the album with a teen white couple in embrace on a beach as opposed to three, uh, Isley brothers. Twenty years later, Russell Simmons used a similar tactic. Most of us assumed the Beasties were Puerto Rican, 'cause there was no way humanly possible that three white boys had that much flavor. It wasn't even a "if they were white we'd never have given them a chance" thing. Our minds were so closed and tunnel-visioned that we just knew that hip-hop was a culture that only blacks and latinos appreciated, mostly because we were not rhythmically challenged. Boy, were we in for a rude awakening.
When I was 16, I changed high school and churches. Of the two, the church seemed more of a clique-y mean-girl atmosphere than high school. Most of the kids there grew up together, so there was a bond. I was a weird looking kid that they probably thought was more trenchcoat mafia-ish than a "regular" guy. I didn't have much social skills, because I pretty much went to school and came straight home. The youth group of my church organized a beach trip and I decided to tag along even though I felt isolated. Some of the kids I was cool with, but the popular ones really didn't let me play in any reindeer games. I sought refuge in music. The night before, I stayed up and decided to record some songs off the radio, so that if they decided to shut me outta conversations or games, I could at least drown in my headphones.
This evening-length work features original choreography by Morris and new musical arrangements by Iverson, performed by an ensemble of piano, trumpet, bass, and drums, with singer, actress, and Broadway star Marcy Harriell on lead vocals.Choreography: Mark Morris
Music: Original songs by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, arranged by Ethan Iverson
Costume design: Isaac Mizrahi
Instrumentation: vocals, piano, trumpet, bass, percussion
The history of urban music has not been written on its own. Several big voices have given a meaning to this book, which has more and more pages written thanks to the new talents that emerge every year. Women artists in the scene have consolidated a powerful legacy across the years, taking groundbreaking styles to the game that will perdure in the genre.
Here we want to honor those female creators that opened up the doors of the urban industry to other women. Their uplifting lyrics and powerful rhythms made the perfect combination to narrate their experiences and make millions of women connect with their music.
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