Ellington

Cue the Patti LaBelle, baby. As we prepare our third Best of Jackson issue, it strikes me that Jacksonians are starting to take for granted the idea that "best" is a superlative term that applies to their city. We got a new attitude.

A mere three years ago, the city was in a miserable cycle of public self-loathing. Even folks who believed in the city's potential could barely find an audience for such beliefs because people were so skeptical that we could ever dig out from under our mountain of negativity and believe that we could be one of the best, progressive, forward-thinking cities in America. They didn't know how to respond to the goober naysayers. They thought they were in the minority and couldn't be heard. They were engaged in some serious "stankin' thankin" as a homeless friend in New York called his drug problem—after he got clean. Stankin' thankin' gets in the way of progress.

Magic is possible when people find and support each other's positive efforts, and start stuffing their fingers in their ears whenever the bitch-and-moaners come near. If there is anything that is way out of style, so 2001, just downright square—it's that back-ass Jackson-bashing or the prognostications that Jackson cannot become a cooler city with a vibrant downtown core until every stankin' crime disappears. Next time you hear someone say something like this, just roll your eyes at them. You are not talking to a cool, or particularly astute, person, so politely excuse yourself and go find someone worth spending your time with.

And there are so many of them out there. People are stepping up, reaching out, getting involved, sharing ideas, organizing benefits and helping make the city a better place. They believe. Whereas a couple years ago, some folks would meekly say, "I wish we could be like Austin (Texas)," they're now screaming from the top of the Standard Life building, (OK, I made that part up): "TO HELL WITH AUSTIN; WE ARE JACKSON, DAMNIT!"

Think about it. In the last two years, our music scene has grown and attracted national attention, we have built an impressive indie-film market, we have spoken out and demanded prosecutions in an old festering civil-rights murder case. We have seen staunch Republicans for the first time call for prosecutions in civil rights cases. We have witnessed a record voting—no, a record progressive voting turnout—with our young people under 30 leading the South in the number who bucked the conventional wisdom and supported the non-right-wing candidate for president.

But everything that matters is ultimately local. It's the efforts to build a thriving Creative Class city that excite me most. And y'all are on fire. Right now, at jacksonfreepress.com, you can join several passionate, lengthy discussions on our new Forums, started by readers who are trying to come up with ideas not only about how to get Jacksonians to redevelop crumbling neighborhoods, but on how we can guarantee that poorer people aren't "gentrified" out of their homes. There's a lengthy (and rather geeky, but I love them anyway) talk about how the city could better use technology to make itself more transparent, open and accessible to the public. (That's one of my new memes, by the way. Here we come.)

What you'll find on our blog, or at Jay Losset's bar, or in intimate tete-a-tetes around the city, are people talking, really talking, about what they can do to help the city be the best it can be. And these are Jacksonians of all ages and races.

Now, a whiny pessimist might tell you that Jackson is just fine like it is, they don't mind being behind other cities, thank you. They've been here forever, they can wait for the DVD, and it's just fine that way. The status quo rocks, Dude. Or they say the efforts won't work anyway; never have. But what an optimist realizes is that even though we may be a bit behind other cities, we can take advantage of that fact. We can learn from other cities' mistakes. That is, we can look out for cookie-cutter national chains like The Gap trying to horn in on our success and squelch our authenticity in the process. We can pay attention to what Starbuck's has done to other places, setting up outlets right next to local coffeehouses to run them out of business.

We can look at cities that have completely turned over neighborhoods to the point that their poor residents were priced out—and spend serious energy figuring out how to guarantee low- and middle-income housing downtown and in our neighborhoods on the verge. It would be shameful to allow the same people who ran like scared rabbits after integration came to dance back into the city (after other folks have done the hard work) and run poor people out without giving it a second thought. Think about it. Ain't gonna happen if we can help it. That's another JFP meme to get used to.

I have confidence that we will do this thing right. Yes, there are some snots out there, but there are also amazing numbers of truly compassionate, determined people working on behalf of the city's future—and they have resources. They, you, are the best that the city has to offer, and I'm sorry that we can't honor every single one of you by name in this Best of Jackson issue.

The biggest piece of advice I can give—besides calling out the naysayers as the un-hip losers they are—is to stay the course. Keep mixing it up; support any and every creative endeavor that you can. Don't let media beat up unfairly on the city; encourage them/us to do the tough stories, but not to feed sensationalism. I'm thrilled to see that this kind of media backlash has really happened over the last couple years; outlets that have historically bashed the city because it was "the thing to do" or helped ratings or newspaper sales (they thought) are not reaping the rewards of that strategy.

Keep us on track. Keep us focused. Remind your media that talking down the city talks down us all, the local business climate, our residents, the people who work so hard to make it a great place to live.

And the next time someone says to you, "Well, maybe some day Jackson will ______________" (fill in the blank), just remind them of one thing.

The future is now.

Previous Comments

ID

69629

Comment

You know, should my first sentence here be: "Queue the Patti LaBelle"? It should be, right?

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2005-01-27T12:21:36-06:00

ID

69630

Comment

YEAH!!!! GO-O-O-O-O DONNA!!!! and GO-O-O-O-O JACKSON!!!!! Thank you so much for what you've written here- I feel like I've been to a pep-rally or something ( and I think I needed it) - we truly DO live in a GREAT town and it's getting better all the time! Glad that you're a part of it, too.

Author

KWHIT

Date

2005-01-27T12:55:19-06:00

ID

69631

Comment

no, i think you're right with 'cue.'

Author

Jay

Date

2005-01-27T13:13:10-06:00

ID

69632

Comment

Thanks, Sweetie. You are my favoriate Republican, you know. (Oops: Ben Allen's going to be hurt by that. ) Thanks, Jay. For some reason, I'm puzzling over it, and Dictionary.com didn't even help much. Sometimes, you just need a committee to help you out.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2005-01-27T13:14:04-06:00

ID

69633

Comment

Actually, you are right using "cue" if talking as a DJ... DJs cue records; people queue to hear/see DJs. :-)

Author

kaust

Date

2005-01-27T13:14:29-06:00

ID

69634

Comment

BTW, Jay, congrats on the good showing in Best of Jackson. I'll be at your bar tonight to toast you to the tunes of my man Gorjus. Hope others will join us.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2005-01-27T13:14:51-06:00

ID

69635

Comment

You can google "cue" and "dj" and find many references... Another search could be "cue" and "technics" or "numark."

Author

kaust

Date

2005-01-27T13:16:10-06:00

ID

69636

Comment

OK, I'm feeling better. I was a DJ for a long time, but frankly I was too busy feeling up vinyl to write about it much. ;-)

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2005-01-27T13:16:21-06:00

ID

69637

Comment

too busy feeling what? that went by me.. cue is best, queue is a long line of people, and that works too.. I love to see this, and you know, my niece who lives in Boston told me she noted the decent blue vote here in Ms. it was an honorable effort, and mostly young I'm sure. but, ok, this is not terrible, but Starbucks in the Target. but Cups in Northpark. neither place you want to sit around .. no reason Jackson could not be a new Austin, avoid their mistakes, small is beautiful etc. Jackson City Limits?

Author

sunshine

Date

2005-01-29T13:36:04-06:00

ID

69638

Comment

ok, got it. you were a DJ when there were actually physical records to handle - was that 33's? 45's? not 78's I'm sure. ha. and I guess club DJ's still do handle them, what is that .. that scratchy thing. hurray for vinyl.

Author

sunshine

Date

2005-01-29T13:42:40-06:00

ID

69639

Comment

Sorry, by "feeling up vinyl," I mean mixing records. I did that for a decade in a bunch of cities in clubs to support my writing habit. I'm the type of deejay who only uses vinyl, and who puts my hands on the records a lot. And I'll be pulling my records out soon, and coming out of retirement, to do a special night; keep an eye out for details. We called that Creative Class story in our preview issue two and a half years ago "Jackson City Limits." It has an icon on the front page of the site if you haven't read it. It's a very good story.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2005-01-29T13:42:52-06:00

ID

69640

Comment

And I'll ignore the swipe about 78s, girlfriend. No, they were 12-inch remixes mostly (the size of regular LPs, but remixed with long "breaks" to make it easier to "beat-mix")óand they're still what real deejays use. In fact, it's much the same music these days, for the most part, although the young whippersnappers tend to just play the really over-played stuff from the '80s and miss a lot of the better songs. Not to diss them; they were in diapers after all. ;-) But the crew around here, especially Jakob, is forcing me (and my records) out of retirement. So, coming soon ...

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2005-01-29T13:45:45-06:00

ID

69641

Comment

hey, let us all know when and where! kidding about the 78's. my dad had a great collection, he was a jazz drummer in the 40's and 50's, sold out to disneyworld later . at their dixie-jazz place. sigh. so, 12 inch remixes. hmmm. can't wait. I'll even stay up late .

Author

sunshine

Date

2005-01-29T14:28:03-06:00

ID

69642

Comment

Re: the blogs Thereís a lengthy (and rather geeky, but I love them anyway) talk about how the city could better use technology to make itself more transparent, open and accessible to the public. (Thatís one of my new memes, by the way. Here we come.) Plus some interesting tidbits of census and voting data on that same thread (Knowledge is Power), don't forget. I especially found that the Lake Hico area has a potential to be a "Soulful Fondren/Belhaven", so to speak. Maybe residents of the two neighborhoods could link up and have a formal/informal (whichever is appropriate) discussion about the city and each other (discounting race, the two neighborhoods have roughly comparable incomes and education attainments). Perhaps in a future issue, you could feature the Lake Hico area in a later neighborhood focus.

Author

Philip

Date

2005-01-30T11:38:45-06:00

ID

69643

Comment

BTW, here's the link to the forum "Jackson Discussion", the forum that Donna mentioned in this article. So far, it deals with urban planning, urban renewal, improving the city's information systems, plus a few stats (granted I present them in a way that's pretty tailored to my own idea of "great neighborhood", but still...) http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/forums/forum.php?which=mainforum

Author

Philip

Date

2005-01-30T11:48:41-06:00

ID

69644

Comment

Hey, realized I was being a bit of a bitch above on the DJ stuff. I should apologize. The truth is, I've heard some GREAT DJs around townóPhingaprint, C-Lecta and DJ Yuri (from our party the other night, and of course our very own Stephen Barnette. And I love Gorjus (and he plays CDs). I'm just a traditionalist when it comes to vinyl, but that doesn't mean it's the only way. ;-)

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2005-02-01T18:18:21-06:00

ID

69645

Comment

Reow! Aggressive DJ? Never heard of one. ;-) I used to mix too... I must say that nowadays you can't be elitist towards CDs... Many producers are dropping those faster than vinyl and it's coming straight from the lab to the dance floor. It's giving new musicians the opportunity for exposure and costs far less than pressing vinyl. Hell, I've heard of completely digital DJs using only laptops and mixing live loops/beats/samples and tracks stored in MP3 format. CDs and MP3s are the electric keyboard to the grand piano these days. I've heard some rather impressive digital sets and vinyl sets. I can't wait to see what's in your collection. ;-) I have about 6 crates of progressive house, abstract trip hop, trance, and tribal. I challenge you to a duel!

Author

kaust

Date

2005-02-02T07:11:23-06:00

ID

69646

Comment

straight from the lab to the dance floor. Ouch. Sounds a bit like pre-mixed drinks to me, or pre-programmed jukeboxes (like in the Hogs & Hiefers around the, now, world)! I know, I'm a Luddite about these kinds of things (or a Laddite, as one of our trolls used to call me/us). I just hope I can unearth my collection. I think it's in storage. It's really sad: I sold so much vinyl before Todd and I moved from Colorado back to NYC for me to go to grad school. I know I kept a couple crates, but now I so wish I still had it all! Mostly 12-inch. Weep. A big point I want to make, though, is that there are way too few FEMALE DJs around here, or most places, for that matter. In fact, in the early '80s, that was how I got my early breaks to get in the booth: I was a grrl and club owners liked that. I used to teach women I knew to spin and even got some of them gigs, so we could have more women spinning. Same goes for chick musicians here. Where are they all??? We're going to try to unearth them, though. One of our new mega-events is our Chick Ball (tentative name, but I like it) coming up in March to benefit the domestic violence shelter. All women performers (or at least leads), poets, artists for the art auction, models for a fashion show, and maybe even a chick DJ or two. So keep an eye out, or get in touch with me or Casey if you want to help in some way. Right now, we need to line up sponsors and gifts to give away as we did with the tsunami auction. Oh, and grrl performers, of course.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2005-02-02T10:13:40-06:00

ID

69647

Comment

My partner in crime for many years was a female DJ. We usually tag-teamed at various gay clubs in the not-so-recent past. She was queen of the tribal, gay, anthem sound and loved a Junior Vasquez and Victor Calderone remix along with all sorts of 80s and progressive house; I was the "experimental" one that dropped all sorts of styles including one of the first few presses of the Chemical Brothers (they hated it then!). She hasn't touched a deck in years due to med school and "the married life" and I decided to take a break since the $$$ spent on records did not equal the income generated. Obviously, that's another reason people are moving to CDs and MP3s. You can carry an entire set on 2-6 CDs and still have a few backups to please the crowd without throwing out your back or your wallet! They (girl djs) have existed here in the past... I can actually think of 5 female DJs that played the gay and/or rave circuit within the last 10 years in this city. Most weren't hardcore, internationally capable DJs but they worked the dance floors in a completely different way and had a devoted grrrl and boy following.

Author

kaust

Date

2005-02-02T12:04:30-06:00

ID

69648

Comment

She sounds great! Any other chick DJs currently working in Jackson? Good point about the weight of records. I used to be a lot strong in those daysóalthough I tended to work in clubs and didn't have to shlep much. And there was always an assistant hanging around. ;-) I heard the same thing about chick bands, by the wayóthat they're used to be more. It's too bad that there aren't more girls in our young hipster alt.band movement.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2005-02-02T12:48:26-06:00

ID

69649

Comment

love the laddite reference! ha. as for the Chick Ball, ok name for starters, and really great idea. But I do prefer 'grrl' to 'chick' myself. imho. or 'female artists and musicians.' Knol, your former 'partner in crime' - let's ask her! if that's ok.

Author

sunshine

Date

2005-02-02T16:04:45-06:00