On The Meaning Of Life . . . .

The world’s a stage, we’re all actors, and the bible is a great script.

The question is: Will you play your role?

- Nicholas Payton

On This Whole “Death Of Jazz” Thing . . . .

Everybody’s making a lot of noise about this whole death of jazz thing.

How are we mourning something that’s been gone a long time ago and highly questionable if it ever really existed?

The question to me is not if jazz is dead or will die, but rather, if it ever was alive.

OK- let’s say  jazz is alive.

Then it has most certainly been on life support for quite sometime.

Personally, I think somebody should to sneak in the room and euthanize it.

Maybe if jazz dies, cats will start playing the blues again.

You don’t have to play blues if you play jazz.

Shyt, you don’t even have to swing.

So I say, let it die.

The Original Dixieland Jass Band made the first jazz record.

Paul Whiteman was the King Of Jazz.

Louis Armstrong played the blues.

Miles Davis played the blues.

If it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for me.

You can play anything and call it jazz, but you can only do one thing when you’re playing the blues.

You can get a jazz Master’s degree in countless schools across the globe.

There’s only one way to master the blues.

You can teach somebody how to play jazz.

You can’t teach anybody how to play the blues; you can only give it to them.

The premier jazz venue in the world rests on prime realty in Manhattan.

I think it’s safe to say that jazz has officially crossed over.

Ever notice that no one ever speaks of the blues dying.

Why?

As long as there’s life, there will be blues.

- Nicholas Payton

On Michael Jackson (the most beloved and hated individual to walk the earth since Jesus Christ) . . . . .

I am so tired of hearing ’round-the-clock shyt talking sessions about the King Of Pop.

Opinions aside, does the fact that a man just died even matter to anyone?

Is not his family grieving enough?

Does it matter that he’s a father to three kids who just lost their dad?

He may not biologically be theirs, but explain that to the children who call him daddy.

Sure, many may say that a dude of such dubious character is perhaps not worthy of  respect.

They may say, “How about how he disrespected those kids?”.

True, that is a valid point, one which I have never been able to reconcile.

I believe child molestation to be the most vile act one human can commit against another.

But it doesn’t give cause for all of the venomous hatred being spewed across the media pipelines.

They are even going as far as to release the footage (after all these years) of Michael getting burned on the set of that Pepsi commercial years ago.

Do we really need to see that on a tape loop?

It’s now OK to show this cat being burned on TV?

Really?!

He is the most successful African-American ever and look how he is being disrespected.

No wonder he neither wanted himself nor his kids to be Black in America.

I recently witnessed a popular CNN reporter, who shall remain nameless,

(wears glasses, loves ties)

both glorify his friendship  with Michael and tear him down in the same show.

He was going on about how he was so close to Michael and was going to defend him in court against the molestation charges.

In the end, he was not viewed as a credible witness since the information he procured at a restaurant he was dining about a conspiracy against Michael was dismissed as hearsay.

He then turned right around and discredited him.

When will this noise end?

I guess they still won’t leave him alone.

Musical genius aside, (yeah, I said it!)

I believe all of the media hype largely contributed to him becoming who he was

as both a man and an artist, like him or not.

Who are WE to judge anybody?

Who are WE to point the finger?

Joe Jackson for the alleged abuse?

The Jehovah’s Witnesses?

The fans who love to put your on a pedestal, tear you apart, or some combination thereof?

It’s easy to sit in judgment of someone when you have no idea what it’s like to be them.

None of us do.

He’s the biggest “star” the world has ever known.

No one will ever know what it was like to be him.

It doesn’t excuse him for his transgressions, but that’s between him and his creator.

What I see in the media is just downright hateful and mean spirited.

The media (and the people) are perpetuating the very thing he’s being judged for by not letting it go.

It’s like trying to create peace by waging war against the fighting parties.

The dude obviously had some issues with being loved;

something I think all of us can relate to on some level.

Unfortunately, he may have sought love from time to time in the way of sharing his bed with pubescent boys (not hearsay, by his own admission).

He clearly didn’t think it was wrong anytime he’d get on TV with a 14 year old’s head on his shoulder saying it’s OK to share your bed.

Doesn’t excuse him, but perhaps he didn’t have anyone around to tell him it wasn’t cool.

Some may say why does a grown ass man need someone around to school him about something that it is so obviously inappropriate?

I’m not so convinced he had a clear idea of boundary lines.

I would say that growing into stardom of his amplitude with less than ideal beginnings would definitely distort one’s perception of reality.

I’m pretty sure being a little boy hobnobbing with celebs in Hollywood he was the subject of much inappropriate behavior himself.

That’s no excuse for continuing the cycle, however,

it still gives us no right to judge.

A comedian who’s initials are BM (how apropos) recently went on a whole diatribe about how MJ is what’s wrong with America.

I can see that, but Michael also represents what is best about America.

BM may have some interesting points,

but I would say that what is also wrong with America is cats like him making mean-spirited, opportunistic comments that bring about nothing good except to show how witty one is.

He called both Michael and America over indulgent.

Maybe true.

Quite honestly, I find Mister BM’s self-important, often opportunistic “social-commentary” to be over indulgent.

Imagine what kind of world we would live in if people spent HALF the effort they did in judging others into making the world a better place?

A trumpet playing colleague of mine from N.O. has blasted Michael on a Feacebook note

(yeah, I meant feace http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Feace)

pretty much saying that Michael Jackson’s contributions as an artist is nil.

Does he not realize that the ripple affect of Michael’s stardom benefited his success as an artist?

For it was on that fateful evening of February 28, 1984 where Michael and Quincy swept the awards that many folks first got wind of this young kid from New Orleans who also made history that night.

Does he not aspire to be THE most popular trumpet player in the world?

If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be exactly that- THE most popular.

When one of these cats comes along and has an album that sells over 110 million copies and has the impact and longevity that Michael has THEN maybe they can have claim to criticize him.

I’m not endorsing Michael’s transgressions,

but I’m in no position to judge.

I was taught that we will be forgiven as we forgive others.

We all fall short from time to time.

In my estimation, perhaps Michael’s biggest flaw was that he couldn’t quite negotiate the Law Of Balance. http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/l/law_of_balance.html

He was the first of his kind.

The likes of which we will never see again.

There maybe greater to come, but never the same.

May we all learn from his triumphs and his mistakes.

I’m not overlooking his failures,

I just choose not to focus on them.

I judge not those who even judge for I, too, have engaged in such nonsense at times, but it doesn’t resonate with the best of who I am and try really hard not to indulge that part of me.

So I say, please, enough already.

This is getting no one anywhere.

I think all of our efforts would be better spent engaged in more positive, loving activities.

But, that’s just my $o.02 . . . .

- Nicholas Payton

More On Love And Fear . . . .

Fear wishes to possess; love longs to let go.

Fear attacks; love releases!

- Nicholas Payton

On Morality . . . .

I don’t believe sin to be a static concept.

- Nicholas Payton

On The Problem With Religion . . . .

The problem with religion is when people try to make their personal experience everyone else’s.

- Nicholas Payton

On Giving Effort . . . .

I’m working hard not to work hard!

- Nicholas Payton

On Love, Fear, and living in the NOW . . . .

Where there is love there is fear.

They are but opposite extremes of the same element.

-Nicholas Payton

On Problems . . . .

Problems are but rungs in the ladder of life. Our efforts should be not to eliminate problems (for what use is a ladder without rungs), but rather use them to our advantage; scaling progressively to higher and higher levels of oneself.

- Nicholas Payton 

On Smooth Jazz vs. Straight-Ahead Jazz . . . .

It’s all about who’s playing from the heart and touching souls.

Music is music!

- Nicholas Payton