Pandemic Protests Collection By Larry Handy

Editor’s Note | The African American Folklorist

We are honored to present a powerful new collection of poems by Larry Handy—work that blends lyrical precision with lived memory, cultural critique, and a deep understanding of Black folklife. More than verse, these are field notes in poetic form: rooted in personal testimony, shaped by collective struggle, and annotated with the clarity of a community archivist.

This collection, Six Poems by Larry Handy, includes:

• Pulled Over (A View from the Curb)

• We’re In This Together (Covid19 Racial Rant)

• The Act of Naming

• I Still Remember Latasha

• Profiled…And We Still Cool

• Ghazal for the Word Complete

Each poem is accompanied by a reflective annotation—layering the poet’s intent, backstory, and cultural context to illuminate the realities behind the imagery. These writings trace the intersections of protest and pandemic, memory and mourning, resistance and survival. They move fluently between spoken-word urgency and archival sensitivity, crafting a living document of Black American experience through the lens of Los Angeles and beyond.

At The African American Folklorist, we are committed to platforming work that emerges from and speaks to Black communities, identities, and traditions. Handy’s poetic voice echoes the mission of this publication: to preserve, contextualize, and amplify Black lifeways on our own terms.

We will be releasing this collection one poem at a time to give each piece the space it deserves—and to invite readers to sit with the weight, rhythm, and resonance of each individual offering.

— Lamont Jack Pearley Editor in Chief 
The African American Folklorist

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Pandemic protests collection
written by: Larry Handy

Pulled Over (A View from the Curb)

They told me I look like someone they were looking for.
Sitting on the curb I was told I look like something they were looking for.

And who or what is it? Freedom? Their own soul? Their fear? Their aspiration? Their mirror?
Are you looking for Christ, officer? The moon is brilliant, have you looked at it? Why are you
looking at me?

Told to sit next to a cigarette butt. A cockroach shell separated from its antennae. White tweens in
SUVs making funny faces at me. This is the view from the curb.

To be treated like me, White friends get Mohawks, tattoos, and piercings. 
To be treated like me, I just exist.

I will wear Hawaiian shirts in the cold…next time…
the anti-hoodie…next time…
maybe this will change things…next time…

Annotation

The first protest I attended in 2020 here in Los Angeles took place on May 30th at Mariachi Plaza slightly east of downtown in the Boyle Heights district.  LA which has a predominately Latino population showed up for George Floyd as did the rest of America, but the city also brought to attention the Latino men and women who had been abused by law enforcement.  Latinos that did not make the national news like Anthony Vargas, Jose Mendez, Christian Escobedo and eventually 19 days later on June 18th Andres Guardado, an 18-year-old security guard who was shot 5 times in the back while at work by LA County sheriffs.  Mexicans, El Salvadorians, came out with Black Lives Matter masks and danced indigenous dances.  Though they were not Black like me they held signs that said: “Black is Beautiful.”  

What drove me to protest was my own experience with the LA County Sheriff's Department, dating back to the early 2000s.  Despite having college degrees, voting, paying taxes, abiding by the law, and complying with the law, routine stop and frisks would still happen to me.  While they never used racial slurs to my face, sheriffs would tell me to my face, “You look like a Black guy who did (fill in the blank)”, or “Black dudes like you like to (fill in the blank)”.   I was even groped between my legs by female officers who were “looking for illegal items”.  The humiliating thing about it all was no one apologized to me for mistaking my identity.  No one apologized to me for making me late for work.  No one thanked me for complying.  After filing formal complaints against the LA County Sheriff Department failed, I gave up the fight but I didn’t give up the right to write.  

Black folks have said in the past do not waste your time explaining racism to White folks.  But I do.  I do because I am a librarian and librarians answer questions.  We were the first “Google”.  And I tell White folks, if you have piercings, mohawks, tattoos, the world looks at you a certain way.  Cops stare at you, courts frown at you, and employers doubt you.  Well, my skin to the dominant culture is treated as though it were a mohawk, tattoo, and piercing.  Some of them finally get it, while others just walk away, pretending not to understand.

The protests in Los Angeles came as karma to me.  When Black, Brown, Beige, and White came together with signs, chants, and demonstrations, it was as though my formal complaints that were ignored finally got brought to light.  Every step I took marching was a stomp upon the very streets that tried to kill my spirit.  It may not come when you want it to come, but it will come.

We’re In This Together (Covid19 Racial Rant)

Locked in scared to go out told what to do by the government confused can’t find what you want loss of privilege sick family sick friends imprisoned no job worried how to pay rent Now  you know what it’s like being Black.  Waiting for covid19 reparations from the government see what I mean?  You’re a nigger now.  

Slaves in the same ship

Sickened by something strange

Sickened by something systemic

Sickened by something foreign to you

Sickened by something you didn’t create

Startled by stuff you didn’t start

Yep.  You’re a nigger now.

Feeling worthless helpless feeling agitated not knowing when it will all end; now you know how it feels to be Black.  Living 3rd world in the richest country in the world.  Screaming power now!  Yes, we want power!  Now!  Praying the power stays on—the utilities are due. 

My people and I know this to be true.

To you and yours how much is new?

Annotation

I never loved using the N word.  I never liked hearing rappers or comedians or brothers in barbershops using it.  But for this one I had to.  I tell people that the marginalized have a certain wisdom that the privileged don’t have.  And while the privileged do have confidence and a spirit of adventure that the marginalized often lack, when things don’t go the way the privileged expect, they shatter.  They become babies again.  During the pandemic I watched the privileged get subjected to things they were not used to.  They complained that they were oppressed because they had to wear a mask or were denied entry to a building because they didn’t wear a mask.  And they complained that it was un-American and that the founding fathers were rolling in their graves.  Well, prior to 2020 they also complained that people like myself complained too much about racism and injustice.  Funny how Karma comes.  It may not come when you want it, but it comes.

The Act of Naming

For many on earth
The only thing they name is their child
Their pet
Their pain
For me I’ve named thousands of things—
Poems, mostly
Choice by choice
Voice by voice
It never dawned on me I am an Adam in my own way
See?  There I go again naming things. 

Trump has named you the China Virus
The Wuhan
Kung Flu
I call you fate
Plague
Peter for Peter PanDemic
Never Never in my land
Could I ever ever imagine 
You could fly 
you could fly 
you can fly 
from sea to shining sea

Peter
Welcoming the dead to Heaven’s gates
Blowing your Covid horn
As the dead walk 
Though gates
TRUMPeting the dead 
Though Heaven’s
gates   

Annotation

Trump is proof that White Privilege exists.  There is no way a Black president would be able to make up words like “Kung Flu” and not be called “ghetto” or “gangster” or “jungle”.  Trump did it and got praised by his base.  I grew up in an era where rap and hip hop were fledgling.  Rap was treated as the bastard son of disco, just an experimental passing fad.  I remember when rappers said things on wax and the religious right wanted them banned for indecency, inappropriateness and inconsiderateness.  That same religious right has elected a gangster rapper in orange face.  Trump has many similarities to television evangelists.  They preach off script as the spirit leads.  They promise miracles.  They cast out demons.  They (some of them) survive scandal.  They are anointed by the “whole armor”.  Trump preaches off script as the spirit leads, Trump promises American miracles, Trump casts out Mexicans and Muslims, Trump survives scandals, and his miracle ear that was shot but not shot off was anointed by some type of armor.  Christians relate to Trump because they relate to television evangelists. 

What I wanted to do in this poem was play with words the way rappers do, the way Trump does and throw in Christian imagery the way television evangelists do.  As Don King would say, “Only in America!” 

I Still Remember Latasha

I Still Remember Latasha

50 stars in rows or 13 in a circle
We’ve wished upon them all.

Dragged into war like Sandra Bland’s cigarette
We’ve touched cotton and steel
Woven freedom in quilts
Dug our own ditches
To the tune of God Bless America
So, let’s stand for Betsy Ross’s graven image
Or kneel
Whatever your choosing
Black Lives Matter or Boston Massacre
Kapernic or Cris’ Attucks
Revolutions come in cycles
Kill time with history
The mystery isn’t lessened once you know
1619 was a long time ago
But I still remember Latasha from ’91.

Shot in the back before Trayvon in 2012
Michael and Tamir in 2014
Freddie in 2015
And George last week
Remember those names but remember hers.

Before body cams
Cell phones
Social media and distance

Before Trump
While a Democrat was in office.
See?  The party doesn’t matter.

We matter.

And we’ve died under them all
13 in a circle or 50 in rows.

Annotation

This is a very important piece to me.  Rodney King was beaten by 5 LAPD officers on March 3, 1991.  It was filmed on tape and seen across the world.  But it was Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old girl, 13 days after Rodney King on March 16, that triggered outrage among Black folks in Los Angeles.  Latasha was shot in the back and killed by a store owner over a bottle of orange juice.  Had she been alive in 2020 to watch George Floyd die on screen she would have been 44 years young.  

Black Lives Matter is a complicated term.  It is a folk term because it is not copyrighted, and is for all to use.  It is an organization, but it is also a rallying cry.  A slogan.  A belief.  Many people who oppose the organization confuse it with the folk term.  And though there have been scandals involving the organization, the folk use must still be upheld.

Black Lives Matter the organization, when it holds meetings, rallys and protests, it conductions a formal water ritual common among African peoples.  The libation.  In 2020 BLM leaders would poor a drop of water on the street and the crowd would say the name of a deceased person killed unjustly or a deceased elder.  “Say his name.  George Floyd [water poured].  Say her name.  Breonna Taylor [water poured].  Say his name Ahmaud Arbery [water poured].  Say her name.  Sandra bland [water poured].”  People began running out of names and even the musician Prince was shouted out.  “Say his name.  Prince! [water poured].”  Chadwick Boseman, the esteemed actor who played Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, James Brown, and superhero Black Panther died on August 28, 2020 of colon cancer and in Los Angeles—the city of stars—his name entered the BLM libations.  But it saddened me that Latasha Harlins was rarely mentioned.  And I believe partially it had to do with her death being so long ago that it had not impacted the younger generations of activists and protestors.

As an archivist/librarian by day I have a special place in my heart for memory.  Nowadays if something isn’t posted on social media it hasn’t been posted in the mind.  I wrote this poem as a poetic libation to Latasha Harlins who I remember.  

Profiled…And We Still Cool

THE GOOD KIDS
SEVEN IN BLACK HOODIES.

We still cool
Them streets is our school
Learning cops cruise late
Our edges stay straight
Too sober to sin
Soda is our “gin”
Store robbed in June
They’ll blame us soon

Annotation

I had to commit blasphemy with this one.  The great Gwendolyn Brooks wrote “We Real Cool” and I had to write my own version of it.  The poem speaks for itself.  The unique thing that I found during the 2020 Los Angeles protests was the presence of punk rock culture largely brought on by the White allies who joined us.  It was in their defiance, their dress, their leaflets and flyers and their “ACAB” slogans.  They took inspiration from the Anti-Racist Action punk movement of 1988 started by the Minneapolis “Baldies”—a group of White and ethnic kids of color banning together to kick out the neo nazi-skinheads who were assaulting immigrants and people of color.  Punk rock is very folk.  I had a music professor explain it to me.  When it is your birthday no one cares how good or bad the song “Happy Birthday” is sung at your party.  It is sung by everyone and what matters is that it is sung.  Punk rock songs are like “Happy Birthday”.  It is about the gathering.  In my personal life I have embraced the punk rock philosophy of the straight edge made popular by the band Minor Threat.  Straight Edge teaches strength through sobriety and sobriety fuels one’s resistance to control and injustice through clarity of thought.  In this piece I incorporated the straight edge image.  

Ghazal for the Word Complete

Teddy bear and shovel and afternoon sun
A child slides alone in her own park complete

Last week I let go of a man who died
Stages of breath show a life complete

Covid came and we masked our world tight
We prayed our trials would be complete

Songbirds pitch their 10-minute tweet
Peppered at high pitch the wind is a radio
Complete

Time can be squandered on pleasures and treats
And soon without warning the year is complete.

Annotation

My final protest of 2020 came the day after the elections.  Wednesday, November 4, 2020.  Nationally Trump had lost to Joe Biden which the world watched, but locally Los Angeles protestors were focused on the district attorney.  The incumbent DA Jackie Lacey ran against the challenger George Gascon.  Black Lives Matter Los Angeles led by Dr. Melina Abdullah challenged District Attorney Lacy on many issues.  BLM Los Angeles held Wednesday protests outside the Hall of Justice every Wednesday for 3 years beginning in 2017.  This protest was a gathering in celebration, District Attorney Lacy had lost.  Despite Jackie Lacey being the first woman and the first African American to serve as District Attorney in Los Angeles, both BLM and the ACLU held her responsible for not prosecuting police offers for their actions and for accepting donations from law enforcement unions which they felt was a conflict of interest.  

Everything was polarizing.  If it wasn’t about race it was about power and if it wasn’t about power it was about the virus that stopped the world.  We had no Summer Olympics because of the virus.  Movie theaters shutdown and so I went to drive in theaters.  Sports channels were showing reruns of old games and when they finally had current games teams played under quarantine to a fake crowd.  The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA championship.  Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant died in January kicking off the year which possibly inspired the Lakers to go on and win the NBA championship 9 months later as well as the LA Dodgers that same month.  The same people who criticized Kaepernick for kneeling, began taking knees themselves—coaches alongside players.

I was a caregiver working an essential healthcare job on the side.  Since many senior citizen centers were closed, I worked with older adults in their homes, and I happened to be with one while he passed.  

Many people in my profession, the profession of modern American poetry, turn away from the pastoral.  “Poems about nature don’t move me / I want something that says something / A tree doesn’t speak to me.”  This poem was my middle finger to that way of thinking with the image of the songbird.  We need to listen to nature more because it will summon us back whether we go peacefully or go kicking and screaming.

Black American-Run Country Music Associations Needed to Make a Comeback—Here’s Why

Are predominantly white institutions (PWIs) the end-all, be-all answer to tackling the country Music diversity dilemma? I think not.

Written By: Johnaé De Felicis

Charley Pride

Becoming a trailblazing Country Music superstar was an improbable destiny for Charley Pride considering his humble beginnings as a sharecropper’s son on a cotton farm in Sledge, Mississippi. His unique journey to the top of the music charts includes a detour through the world of Negro league, minor league and semi-pro baseball as well as hard years of labor alongside the vulcanic fires of a smelter. But in the end, with boldness, perseverance and undeniable musical talent, he managed to parlay a series of fortuitous encounters with Nashville insiders into an amazing legacy of hit singles and tens of millions in record sales.

Growing up, Charley was exposed primarily to Blues, Gospel and Country music.

On the heels of Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” release, Black country artists had their mainstream moment amongst the genre’s fans. It was long overdue since it was us who helped create and pioneer country music, though racist industry politics have blocked most of our artists from shining in the big leagues. 

Reflecting on the genre’s beginnings, Indigenous pride comes to mind. Charley Pride, the first mainstream Black country artist, made big waves in this country music category. Yet, he experienced mislabeling in the same way that reclassified Indigenous Black Americans have in the U.S. “They used to ask me how it feels to be the ‘first colored country singer,‘ then it was ‘first Negro country singer,’ then the ‘first Black country singer.’ Now I’m the first African-American country singer.′ That’s about the only thing that’s changed,” he shared with The Dallas Morning News in 1992. 

Before Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter release, only a handful of Black country artists had achieved commercial recognition—Darius Rucker, Mickey Guyton, and Linda Martell, to name a few. Then you have accomplished artists like K-Michelle, who crossed over from R&B and other genres to country music, just to land back at square one and climb an uphill battle for a seat at the table. 

To date, only three Black country artists out of hundreds have been inducted into the Country Hall of Fame. And while Nashville’s Country Music Association claims to champion diversity and inclusion, I can’t help but think that it’s merely a performative response to societal pressure. Industry gatekeepers still don’t welcome Black country artists with open arms, no matter how talented they are. We saw that with Beyoncé.  Colonial-run institutions continue to move the line for what’s considered “country,” conveniently weaponizing this issue as an excuse to deny Black artists their deserved record deals and radio play. My observation of country music fans is that they don’t care if you’re black, white, yellow, purple, or blue. They just want damn good music. The institutions are guilty of rejecting many country artists of color by refusing to kick down their invisible white picket fence. Still, now that artists can directly reach their fans with social media, their “blessing” doesn’t matter anymore. It never did. 

As an artist and creative of color, I think I speak for us all when I say that we are past fighting for acceptance in predominantly white spaces. With the rise of emerging Black country artists, the case for Black American-run associations comes into play.

The History of Black Country Music Associations

Cleve Francis, M.D.

Singer, Songwriter, Performer and Physician (Photo by Rena Schild)

In 1995, a Black country artist collective aimed to ‘unblur’ the genre’s color lines. With that came the Black Country Music Association’s inception. Founded by country performer Cleve Francis, the Association challenged the status quo and the narrative of our musicians and our music. They went out of their way to ensure that the underdogs were given their flowers and considered as more than an afterthought, opening doors that they otherwise may not have been able to walk through themselves.  Francis departed from the organization in 1996, leaving country songwriter and performer Frankie Staton to become its frontrunner. The association cultivated a community amongst Black country artists magically. For example, they hosted their Black Country Music Showcase at Nashville’s famous Bluebird Cafe, a historic landmark and songwriter’s haven for testing new songs.

Thanks to the Black Country Music Association, ignored artists who needed a leg up in the business had an extra lifeline. The leaders, as country artists themselves, generously educated their successors on the industry’s ins and outs. 

The Black Country Music Association had an active presence in the late 1990s and early 2000s but has since dissolved. Yet, its legacy continues to live on. Two years ago, the Country Music Hall of Fame acknowledged the Association in their exhibit, American Currents: State of the Music. Today’s younger organizations, like the Black Opry and Nashville Music Equality, carry the torch in fighting for industry equity. 

From BCMA to Black Opry 

The Black Opry

Black Opry is home for Black artists, fans and industry professionals working in country, Americana, blues, folk and roots music.

In 2021, researchers from the University of Ottowa found that the 400 country artists in the US include only 1% who identify as Black and 3.2% who identify as BIPOC. Organizations like Black Opry, a modern-day twist on the Black Country Music Association, seek to change that. Its community of Black country, folk, blues, and Americana artists is boldly ushering in a new generation of Black country artists. Founder Holly G. started the Black Opry in April 2021 to advocate for country artists of color. What started as a community blog has since expanded to a huge movement of emerging Black country artists. The Black Opry comprises more than 90 musicians who have been featured in over 100 shows to date. Black Opry acts get ample stage time to sing and perform on their instruments, with other members doing backup vocals, giving them equal attention and visibility. I’m proud of this community for creating a safe space for marginalized country artists, ensuring that they go through the music journey as part of a supportive and active community of performers.

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter release also opened the floodgates of widespread support for the Black Opry, as the album features members of the collective. The community exists as much for the fans as it does for the artists, further bridging the gap between the two groups. As a folk musician myself, I’ve come to realize that there’s an audience for everyone, regardless of skin color. 

Supporting The Future of Black Country Music

Linda Martell

A pioneering force hailed as the unsung hero of the genre, Linda Martell (82), was the first commercially successful Black female artist in country music. Martell had the highest peaking single on the Billboard Hot Country Singles (now Songs) chart at #22, “Color Him Father,” by a Black female country artist in the history of the genre in 1969, until Beyonce’s “Texas Hold ’Em” debuted at #1 on February 21st, 2024. Martell was notably the first Black woman to play the Grand Ole Opry stage.

Black country pioneers who paved the way for today’s artists, from Charley Pride to Linda Martell, faced roadblocks that we likely couldn’t fathom. Today’s Black country music associations are in place to keep those following in their footsteps from experiencing similar obstacles. Thanks to technology and social media cutting out the middleman, opportunities in country music are now more accessible than ever.  Supporting each other also goes a long way. Cowboy Carter introduced us to some newer Black faces in country music who have been putting in work for years, like Tanner Adell and Reyna Roberts. And then you have hybrid artists like Shaboozey and Breland who are innovatively merging the worlds of country and hip-hop.  

These artists are what country music needs to evolve in a forward-moving direction. They’re pushing boundaries in a way that we haven’t seen before, and it’s a breath of fresh air. There’s no limit on how far these rising talents can go, especially with a strong, sustained community like ours backing them. 

And the Oscar Goes To…Blacks, the Academy, and Representation.

Written By: Aaron Whitlow

Back in 1939, Hattie McDaniel won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Gone With the Wind (1939).  McDaniel was only allowed into the venue with a strict “No Blacks” policy as a favor, and even then, she was segregated to her table in the very back of the room. No other blacks won that specific award again until Whoopie Goldberg did for her performance in the 1990 film Ghost. Mammy and Oda Mae Brown's differences are distinctive yet oddly similar. Mammy was a slave who took care of the needs of her white owners but still had enough independence to speak up to Scarlett when she started to get a little too out of sorts, and Oda Mae Brown was a con artist working as a psychic unknowing that she was actually a magical negro.  Brown had no problem speaking her mind, but it was still utilized to advance the story of the white characters much like Mammy.

Why are we often nominated and applauded for portraying characters that lean into stereotypes and tropes yet overlooked for strong characters?  Sidney Poitier was the first African American to be nominated and win the Best Actor award for his performance in Lilies of the Field (1963). For that time, it was amazing that Poitier did not play a thug, a slave, or a mentally challenged individual but a strong, knowledgeable, and skilled traveler.  Let’s fast forward to the next time an African American was nominated and won the Best Actor award. Denzel Washington played a street-wise yet corrupt cop in the 2001 film Training Day. No doubt about Washington’s ownership of such a flawed character, but one could easily argue he outworked himself when he played real-life Civil Rights activist Malcolm el Shabazz in Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X(1992). Washington did such a great job as the assassinated leader that it is still hard to buy anyone else portraying him.

I am not saying we have not won awards or been recognized for other types of characters because we have. From Jamie Fox as Ray Charles to Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin; we have enough talent to pull off any performance, however, we can’t ignore the performances and the type of characters played by Hallie Berry, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Will Smith.

Lastly, as we look forward to a year that showcases blacks nominated for Best Actor (Jeffrey Wright and Colman Domingo), Best Supporting Actor ( Sterling K. Brown), and Best Supporting Actress (Danielle Brooks and Da’Vine Joy Randolph) let us not forget that in 2023 we saw a look of defeat on the face of Angela Bassett when she lost to Jamie Lee Curtis. Curtis’ win was dubbed long overdue, but the same can be said for Bassett, who had at that point turned in powerful performances in her long filmography that we all have loved, but at the end of the day, what’s love got to do with it?

Miss Mae Remembers

Written By: Douglas Curry

Design by: Xander Bowen

Miss Mae daydreams in the summer breeze
of some yesterdays long  ago although
they seem as clear today as one of those tv's;
pretty mens with their perfume and powder

not sissies, no;  loafers... sheiks
with their high-draped pants
and long-toed shoes... slicked down hair
gold-chained Elgins and polished nails

gettin' that Beale Street fast-track money
faster than they could spend it
pass a gal a sawbuck for a song
a gold toothed smile and a wink for a date.

She sees rough, beefy-faced bulls
watching with steely-eyed menace,
pistols tucked, billy clubs ready,
scarred and chipped... Saturday night law

beckoned to alleys by girls  for pleasure
living large on illicit treasure
the pimps' and bootleggers' bounty
costs of doing business, beneits of the job

Miss Mae remembers the small crowds
when you came in as Ma Rainey left town,
taking with her all their money and their hearts;
but huge crowds for her - and Bessie's - closing shows.

Country folk with brogan shoes;
bandy-legged gals with love for sale
musky mens tryin' a give it away
Sat'day night in Black Bottom

Miss Mae recalls...
Bessie, singing opera for a laugh,
and spirituals on Sunday mornings...
whilst her dykes, pimps, rounders...slept

And then there was a two week stint
When Mr Calloway needed a high yaller
to high-step and "Hi-de-Ho" at the Cotton Club
O' Harlem... how you jazz me; you do make me high...

Oh... the times... the parties, the crowds.
Gold-toothed blues singers dressing fine,
cool jazz cats in dark cars taking  dope,
passing reefers to a back seat full of 'ho's

Miss Mae smiles just to think...
of her big money sugar daddies;
there was at least one in every town
from Biddle Street to Lenox Avenue...

before the wars...
before so many started to move

George Karger/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

before the pickets, the marches, the riots
before things got so complicated

Sittling on a trash can top
watching the Harlem children
sprout, grow, disappear...
Miss Mae remembers her song...

"They call me Maybe Mae
and I just come to play
but, treat me right, Daddy
Maybe Mae might stay..." 

And the clouds blocking the restless sky
are as gray as Miss Mae's scattered braids
that hide the rememberings of an old woman
who no one knows now, her reverie lingers...

Struttin' her stuff, high steppin'
in those greasy, noisy joints
they were for 'colored only' then
and only for them, singing her blues.


Doug Curry
May 3, 2017

Lady A: Pacific NW Black Blues

By Nascha Jolie

Lady A Photo Credit Leo Gabriel

Lady A, aka Anita White and The Real Lady A, announces that she and the band formerly known as Lady Antebellum filed joint motions to dismiss the trademark infringement litigation pending in the U.S. District Courts for Tennessee and Washington.  The Parties have reached a confidential, mutually agreeable solution.

Lady A wants to thank all those that offered her encouragement, unconditional love, and support during this ordeal.  She is especially grateful for her Cooley LLP law team, Brendan Hughes, Joe Drayton, Judd Lauter, Jane van Benten, and Natalie Pike, her team at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP led by Junaid Odubeko, and for her Seattle producer and friend, 

John Oliver III “who suggested seeking pro bono assistance from Cooley.”

Lady A appreciates their transparent communication, integrity, diligence, and tireless efforts.  Their pro bono representation assisted Lady A, an independent musical artist, in protecting her name, amplifying her voice, and bringing awareness to the long history of Black artists being treated unfairly by those in the music industry.

Lady A’s ninth CD and latest offering entitled, Satisfyin’ is scheduled for release on February 7th, 2022 coinciding with Black History Month, Lady A is continuing to send out messages of hope and inspiration.  Gio Pilato of Bluebird Reviews describes Lady A’s album as “… an eclectic, highly pleasing combo of Soul, Blues, Fusion, R&B and Funk that lifts your spirit throughout the whole duration of the record.”  Please note the album can only be found by typing in the title of the CD, Satisfyin’ – Lady A.

With this chapter ending, and a new year upon us, Lady A -- The Real Lady A -- is grateful and excited about new opportunities the next chapter will bring.  She looks forward to continuing to share her love of music and passion for music education through her involvement with the Rhapsody Project and Northwest Blues in the Schools.  Her goal is to continue to uplift others and help to create positive changes for all those with whom she is honored to work in music and in her community.  Always living by her motto:  Be Blessed and Be A Blessing.  

Black Lives, Names, Experiences, Work, Art – They All Matter.
PRESS RELEASE
STATEMENT FROM Lady A – The Real Lady A 

The article and Interview start here

I reach Lady A on a Wednesday afternoon in early February at her home in Seattle. Despite  an on-going pandemic, she has been busy performing locally, completing a brand new album which will be released at press time; and most recently settled a lawsuit that placed the Original Lady A on the front page of the news across the nation. But this bright sunny winter afternoon, Lady A is catching her breathing. She’s been busy working and performing gigs with her band all week now that the Seattle area has been recovering from recent snow storms. 

“I’ve been gigging all through, COVID, it’s been wonderful,” she says. After the first few weeks of lock down so she and her producer came up with the idea to do pop-up performances around their city.

“You know, it was nice those first couple of weeks..you know, you got to work at home, but then it was like people were starting to go a little stir crazy. We had been working on a new CD, and everything kind of stopped, you know. So we started doing what was called pop-up concerts…We would just pop up in neighborhoods around the community and perform.”

Lady A says that the local storefront owners and food vendors supported their efforts by allowing them to either use their property or to set up in front of them. Before the mask mandates, the patrons could sit outside six feet apart and enjoy Lady A and her music while patronizing the local businesses. It became a great way to connect with the city, unite people during difficult times and to support the local economy.

Photo Credit: Dawn Johnson

From there, Lady A says that people would hire her and the band to play in their backyard for small private concerts. “Yeah, they sort of hired us to play in their back yard, just for a few people because you know, you couldn’t have a bunch of people…So we play for like 10 or 20 people depending on how big your backyard is. And that was fun and went on for a while.

“Then we did a lot of virtual concerts. I was very blessed to be able to do a lot of virtual concerts. And so I appreciate it. It really did work for me and my band. We did a lot of free things, but it didn’t matter for us…we called them unpaid rehearsals…”

Lady A says that she performed with variations of her band as well as in a duo with her good friend and song-writing partner, Roz, who also sings background for Lady A. 

“I like to do different things within the music,” Lady A says.  This variety is evident in her musical journey which began at home and blossomed in the church, like most blues singers. 

Born Anita White, Lady A says that her roots are in Louisiana where her family migrated from, but she and her siblings were born and raised in the Columbia City and Beacon Hill neighborhoods in Seattle. She says that her family is musical where her parents and siblings sang and also played instruments. “My father was a drummer and so is my brother…you know we sing, but we don’t sing in church.” 

Lady A began performing in the children’s choir at the age of five. She didn’t do any solo gigs until well into adulthood, but she continued performing in choirs at church all through her youth. At the age of sixteen, she became a choir director of her youth choir. “Our instrumentalists at the time..quit on us and it was the church’s anniversary…and I just got up and said, you know, we can sing by ourselves. I got up and taught the parts…”

Lady A says she continued directing her choir and others for years and got used to having her back to the audience. It took a good friend and the big karaoke scene in the 1980s for her to get used to performing in front of a big crowd. “…I was scared to death because I was always used to not having to look at the audience,” she says. Once over her fear, Lady A joined a Motown Revue and began performing as a background vocalist before making her way to the front of the stage through the years.

By the nineties, Lady A began fronting her own bands. She had her own band, Lady A and the Baby Blues Funk Band and she was also singing with many others. At some point, she was performing with a different band almost every night of the week except Sunday.  These days, not much has changed, Lady A regularly performs and her band has evolved alongside her music. 

What is the vibe of your new album, Satisfyin’?

“The vibe on this record is, because as I said music evolves, the vibe is Seattle’s soulful blues. So, when I grew up, my mother and grandmother listened to the blues and gospel. So I’ve always put a gospel song on every single album I’ve done, right.

“This album is an ode to the music that I remember, it’s the vibe that I remember when I was coming up. I was young and I was listening to the blues and none of my friends could understand why, but I did. But it’s also the soulful side of the blues. It’s that funky blues meets Kool and the Gang vibe.

“I still like the blues, so my blues is funky. This CD will give you a vibe if you want to play it in your car and turn it up loud!” 

Who are your musical influences?

 “Kool & The Gang, Bobby Rush, Millie Jackson, Mahalia Jackson, Johnnie Taylor, Earth Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, Bobby “Blue” Bland and Aretha Franklin. 

“I love Aretha Franklin Sings the Blues album. That’s like my all time-favorite, besides her gospel stuff. She can really sing the blues. And Prince could sing the blues too, but you had to see him in concert.”

Where is your favorite place in Europe? What has been your most memorable concert or your favorite place to sing?

“Favorite location? That’s easy. I was so blessed to go on tour in my favorite place to go, Sweden. I’ve been to Sweden three times. I traveled to the Netherlands from there because it’s like going from Seattle to Portland. You can just get on a plane and hop over.

“I was doing a tour, the From The Soul Tour with the Top Dogs in Sweden..I was there for a month and it was during July which is also my birthday month. So, my birthday was right in the middle of this tour. I’ve played the Quantum Data Festival in the Netherlands. 

“Fran Case invited me to come to the Netherlands. And he said just get on a plane and..pop on over. I'm like Oh, okay. So I did and I spent my birthday in the Netherlands, with friends of his and he invited his entire family to come and watch me perform..It was beautiful. And then the band that I played with in the Netherlands, a couple of them came up and so we just played music and did that. I flew back to Sweden to finish the tour…That's my favorite memory of performing there.”

What is your contribution to the blues in terms of keeping the legacy alive? How do you feel about the history of the blues and sharing that legacy in and outside of your music?

“I work with Northwest Blues in the Schools right here in Seattle. And it's just started up again through the Rhapsody Project, Washington Society. 

“I am on the Board of Directors of the Rhapsody project, which is a music project for kids here in the Seattle area. I'm also a vocal coach and a mentor in that program. 

“I’m a culture bearer which means that I talk about race, I talk about appropriation. It's like history man. I talk about it all the time anyway, even when it's not black history. We’re in Black History Month, but right here that represents who we are. 

“Like history to me is about the shoulders that I stood on to get where I am, right? My ancestors my great grandmother, my great-great grandmother, my grandmother and my mother. They were important, are important people to me and my family.

“So I think that we have to remember that every decade or every generation has had to put up with something right? They help us get where we need to be. And sometimes we don't understand why they made the decisions that they did. Why they did what they did. 

“But as I've gotten older, I've started to realize why some of those things happen. And I think that that's what I try to teach the kids that I work with snap right. I know you think your parents are lame, I know you think you know better, but they really are trying to do the best they can for you with the best they had.

“I have emails that I send out all year long. I love our history, but let's not forget  [all parts of it]. We don't always have to talk about being slaves. Because we are no longer in the fields right now. We have progressed. We know we've progressed on our own right because we have to fight for everything that we had. So we don’t want to forge that, we want to celebrate our accomplishments.

“This year [in my diversity outreach], our theme is: Elevate and Celebrate, as we value our strengths. 

“In my community work, I want people to understand the legacy we come from and to know that we come from Kings and Queens.”

“So we don't want to forget that and we want to celebrate our accomplishments and so our theme this year is elevated and celebrate, as we value our strengths. So I constantly you know, I mean my community work, and I I want people to understand the legacy that we come from Kings and Queens.

How do you feel about the release of your new album? What do you plan to do to promote it? Are you doing more virtual concerts? Are you planning on touring during the Spring and Summer months?

“Oh, yeah, I already have some dates. You know festival dates in Europe, already. 

“I’m still going back to Sweden in April. The Blues Music Awards are coming up in Memphis, you know, so I’m going down to the Blues Foundation in Memphis. 

“But that's all according to what COVID does. Because I have an 85 year old mother that I still need to take care of. I have to be safe round. You know, I'm very cognizant of what's going on. You know, I'm vaccinated. I'm boosted and all that, but still, I'm taking still taking the precautions. Because I've been around my band. We keep each other safe. We all have families that we have to go back to.

“It's gonna take some time, but I think we'll come out of it. You know, I understand people want to get out and about how do I miss traveling, but I'm ready. I'm ready. 

“So I am looking forward to going on tour. And I'm still doing gigs.  I'm doing a video shoot this weekend for AARP. And people still ask me to do virtual shows which is good, right?”

What are you most excited about for 2022?

“My new CD, Satisfyin’. I'm so excited. We launched it in Europe first. It launched in Europe on October 22. 

“Oh, okay. Okay. So it's been out there and of course it gets leaked, you know, to the US so which is fine. But the so the DJs in in Europe have been playing it like crazy. And I am so grateful. And now the DJs here in the States are playing it because of course they've got it already through my publicist. 

“And I'm so excited about it coming out because I think people are going to enjoy the CD. 

“Every one of my CDs is a progression and growth. Okay. And when I'm doing absolutely it really is and I'm really like I still love my very first CD. I still love my very first CD blues in the key of me still love it to this day. Not saying I don't love the other ones, but I do but this one this particular one satisfying the last one I did I'm like Wow, is that me?”

What can listeners look forward to in this latest project? How have you progressed as an artist?

“I think I'm coming into my own on every CD that I'm doing and this one is going to be fun for the springtime when it comes out. 

Did you write any of the songs on this album?

“Yes, I wrote a good portion of it. I have. I've written like about five or six songs. I’ve co-written with my Seattle producer and play brother, John Oliver the Third. He's written some and I’ve co-written with my backgrounds there.”

Have you always written your own songs?

“On my first album, Bluez in the Key of Me, I wrote two songs on there. Back then, I think that I didn’t believe that I was a good writer. On my second album, How Did I Get Here, I wrote three songs on there, and John Oliver and the Third Group did the rest of them. But ever since those albums, I’ve been writing.

“Because when people write for you, you have to really feel that connection to what you’e saying on the song. When other people write for you, it’s great. It can be a great song, right? But if you don't identify with it, or if you don't feel it, it's really hard to sing it. I mean, it's great to sing other people’s songs but I really do enjoy writing my own songs.”

Are you glad that the legal matter is now over? What were the terms of your settlement? Are you still Lady A? Can you keep your stage name?

“I’m happy, I’m pleased with the outcome. Yes, I’m still Lady A. I can still use the name.

“I can’t speak about [the settlement] now, however, I have released a press statement. If you would print the statement in full, I would be so pleased. Other publications did not…”