Thoughts on MLK Day

Today I watched the Martin Luther King Jr. “I have a Dream” speech.  The King foundation allowed CNN to rebroadcast the speech at noon today.  I never actually saw the footage in it’s entirety, and I found it very interesting.  Much of the b-roll footage showed the diverse crowd of people who were in attendance, and in the background the weathered visage of honest Abe looked on.

I’ve been to the Lincoln Memorial several times — often playing tour guide to those visiting DC — but never really stopped long enough to think of all the history that has taken place on it’s steps.  Yesterday, we were watching the free pre-inauguration show, which took place on the same very same steps.  

Some of the biggest names in politics and entertainment were sharing the steps that King did 46 years before.  It definitely brings another perspective to the monument and the man it remembers.

Today, Soledad O’Brien interviewed a few people who were in town for the inauguration who were also in town August 28th, 1963 to hear Dr. King speak.  Some say, King was the Moses and Obama is Joshua generation.  Continuing with the bible reference, some have even said from the death of King to the election of Obama represented 40 years of walking in the wilderness and it now is time to see the promise land.  I’m not sure if I’m ready to go *that* for with it, but one thing is for sure, I will be in DC tomorrow to share in the experience of history.

A couple years ago, I made a “tribute” mix to MLK … it’s actually more a commentary on freedom.  It’s a bit long (about 10 minutes), but check it out when you get the chance.

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Be Free

One day while record shopping I came across a record that contained MLK’s “I have a Dream” speech. I also found some dance vocal tracks talking about freedom. I then toyed with the idea of making a tribute mix.

Fast forward a year later, it’s MLK’s birthday weekend and I had nothing going on. It being his birthday, I decided to listen to the “I Have a Dream” speech on vinyl. Then I started listening to the other tracks and got inspired to finally see my original “tribute mix” idea through.

I really put some thought into the song selection. Some people felt that my decision to include Rage Against The Machine in this mix didn’t fix. Although it definitely isn’t sonically ideal, I felt like the song represented one aspect and feeling of the idea of freedom which I felt fit well with the concept I was trying to go for.

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