Conversations With Shanae Jackson

The term soul food became popular in the 1960s. The origins of soul food, however, are much older and can be traced back to Africa—and to a lesser extent, to Europe, as well. Foods such as rice, sorghum, and okra — all common elements of West African cuisine--were introduced to the Americas as a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. They became dietary staples among enslaved Africans. They also comprise an important part of the cuisine of the American south, in general. Many culinary historians believe that in the beginning of the 14th century, around the time of early Euro-African exploration, European explorers brought their own food supplies and introduced them into local African diets. Foods such as corn and cassava from the Americas, turnips from Morocco, and cabbage from Portugal would play an important part in the history of African-American cooking.

On one of the City of Angels first truly-like Spring days, Shanae Jackson is hunkered over some soul food at Roscos on the corner of Pico Boulevard and La Brea Avenue in West Los Angeles. I had been stuck in Downtown Los Angeles while she'd already through with her sessions at the multiplex So Westbred Studios in Los Angeles. Shanae takes soul food seriously and at the same time her intense gigs all around Los Angeles. She had waited at Roscos for part of this conversation over some soul food and had waited for about half an hour before I popped up from the hectic Los Angeles area traffic, especially taking Pico Blvd. at rush hour. Shanae also talked about her music, the future and all that, but food was first. When I checked in at Roscos, Shanae was on the phone for a local newspaper interview on a series of her related projects. The subject: Her intention to put more time in the recording studio and her desire for more gigs in the Los Angeles area. Shanae's parents migrated from the South West 34-years ago settling on the West-side in Inglewood.

But when it comes to everything that matters in this world of ours that has so dramatically changed we now live in a synthetic world; just like it use to be that if you loved cooking, you become a chef and spend the rest of your working days slaving away in a kitchen, largely unseen. But these days, you can sit on your porch and write a cookbook and if you are lucky it becomes a best seller. A whole lot has changed and when I engaged Shanae starting from her love of food and the recipes, she did not think about her destination, telling of writing a cookbook on soul food and vice versa.

Ambrose Ehirim: How did LA rocks girl like you from the hood out here in my neck of the woods got so interested in South Western meals and soul food?

Shanae Jackson: What do you mean? I'm a Southern girl though I was born and raised in LA. My parents moved from the South to LA before I was born. I learned from my mother and all the dishes she prepared for us while we were growing up. And through my mother and her cooking, I fell in love with all the southwestern ingredients: all the fresh and dried chili peppers, the corn, okra, rice, all the different dried and fresh beans, and all the varieties of seafood -- crab, lobsters, shrimps, including baby shrimps, and all different types of fish.

What's your impression of how LA fits into the world stage of food?

I think Los Angeles is very important in terms of what's going on in this country in general. Lots of exciting restaurants. More than ever, restaurants in LA have become more important. Years ago people would say 'if you don't have Eddie Murphy coming in, you can't be busy.' I think that's not so true anymore. I think it's LA and there's people from all around the world cooking their own recipe and people would like to go and try it and it's kind of fun. But when you see some of the restaurants that are going up and setting some food trends, I think the food is really becoming the star. Like you guys have your own kind of food, the fufu, that's the star and African restaurants are all over LA now which is good for the growing diverse community.


I have joined you in many barbecue picnics and still have no clue how it's prepared even though I love the stuff and you know it. What's the most crucial thing a first-time barbecuer should know?

[Laughs...] How to light the charcoal. [Laughs.] A lot of people use gas grills, but if you are going to use a charcoal grill, the thing that you want to buy for about fifteen bucks is a chimney. It takes the lighter fluid out of the game, and that's what you need to know right away.

On a cookbook.

I'm putting it together and it's going to be all around southwestern recipe.

Now let's get into what I would call the real deal. What's up with music and all that studio time at So Westbred Studios?


Well it all started from going to the studio supposed to try my demonstration I did elsewhere and I was required to drop it for the studio engineers to work on and give me feedback if my work was worth their time. I ended up spending more hours watching the sound engineer make bits and editing sort of. It was also nice to go back to the same studio and learn more about making beats.

Music seems to be baked in your genes. Why?

Music is in all cultures and it sends a very powerful message. One of the many things music magically conveys is great emotions. No matter what you are going through, there are thousands of songs that address that particular human experience. Music doesn't always need a lyric to convey feelings of great attraction. 'Some of the most get down with it' music is instrumental. Lust can be found in the tone of a player's instrument, be it piano, guitar or voice.It doesn't necessarily matter what is being played or said -- they bring it with them. For example, how about these two words: Jimi Hendrix. Hardly any of his songs don't have that thang thang. The sound of his guitar spoke volumes of raw, reproductive poetics.

Your favorite hangout these days?


I really don't hangout like I use to. Shoo, I like the Sunday Brunch with Doug MacDonald's live Jazz Trio at the Hilton Hotels and Resorts, by LAX. Live band, good music and good food. I like Shamshiriri Gril on Westwood Blvd. at UCLA. It's always fun and their food is good.

When do you think you album will be coming out?

Later this year why I keep up with the gigs.

Good luck!

Thanks!

Campaign Speech for Chairman of the United Igbo Congress, USA

Podium courtesy of Faqs


Ladies and Gentlemen;

I would like to use this opportunity to salute my campaign managers Uzontiri Ijemere, Nchamere Nd'Igbo, Adannaya Okwuchukwu, Chidubem Udumotali, Otapiapia Ohiaukwu, Magnus Ibezim Onumaraekwu, Jacob "Nwa-Jesu" Garagara and uncountable others who had made this august event possible.

I would also like to thank my wife Lolo Adaure Nwanyioma and my children for their support.

I thank the Almighty God for all his mercies;

Now pay attention and listen to me carefully. I am talking to you from the bottom of my heart that if you vote for me I will make the life of my people better and I will ensure the effectiveness of transparency and accountability. You all know my track record. I am a man of few words, and I believe in action, action and action.

I need your vote and I believe in myself and I do not doubt your capacity to help turn things around in Igbo Diaspora and homeland when you give me your vote,
because I will be working together with you
and every penny will be accounted for.

You will elect me because I will watch your back
You will elect me because I have engaged in many morally outraged activities with most of you, if not all
So elect me and we can cover our ass to avoid any sex scandals and what we do behind closed doors at the strip joints;
You will elect me because I will defend all extramarital affair by way of attacking our enemies who snitch to our wives.
You will elect me because we have too much weird stuff and skeletons in our closets, and all that games we play is going to backfire on us if you don't vote for me.

But it is not only about covering our ass that I ask for your vote.
I will change the way business is conducted in Igboland;
I will make sure that more roads are built.
I will make sure there will be no more interruption of power supply in our communities.

I will build more American standard hospitals in our respective enclaves;
I will build more schools
I will help the poor and the elderly with bags of rice and anu ewu, goat meat
And school will be free at all levels if you elect me
I will build libraries and research centers in every district;
And jobs will be everywhere
There will be no more misery

For our roads to function effectively, I will construct more storm drains
I will provide a whole lot of job opportunities for our youths

I will ban homosexuals from our society
I will ban same sex marriage to be punishable by sex with the opposite;
I will encourage marrying as many wives as possible
I will encourage having uncountable concubines, like King Solomon

If you elect me I will encourage my wife to try other men in order to make it even
I will drink more akanaeme, spirits and the magani, pills that takes me to another level on bed.
I will make life easier with lots of enjoyment
I will revive bongo
with plenty of women
It is now a free world

[the crowd cuts in yelling: what makes you think you are qualified to be chairman with all the nonsense you are spewing?]

Yes, I am the most qualified
I have confessed my sins
I have been forgiven and life starts anew
I am the Omemgbeoji 1, Ishimiri 1, Ori ewu na azi 1, sir, chief, doctor, engineer, architect, accountant, PhD and Onyiriuwa 1 of Ugwumagala.

I have First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC), West African School Certificate (WASC), BA, BSc, MA, and another PhD in talkology;
I also have a degree in lootology and pornographic studies.

[he forgets to include driver as one of his haul of titles and degrees]

I am the man of the hour and our finest hour is an election away
I will make each and everyone of you chief and whatever title that you choose
I will not embezzle any of your funds
You all know I already have money and I have proof
I have mansions everywhere
I have fleet of cars in my garages -- home and abroad

I will establish an institute of ethnic African studies here in the United States to encourage and promote African cultural heritage.

I am asking for your votes because I am the only one who can make things happen in our communities.

I have balls and that is the reason why you should elect me;
I am a fervent believer in collectivity which ultimately leads to utopia meaning you must elect me because working together works.
I will not seek nku ukwa, the crumbs from the caliphates in Abuja for I shall demand a probe of the affairs of state in Igbo related states.

I will probe every unbecoming conduct within the Igbo elite
I will bring back the fold of Igbo Union; the days of profound leadership in Michael Okpara, Mbonu Ojike, Nwafor Orizu, K.O. Mbadiwe, Francis Akanu Ibiam, L.N. Obioha, Louis Mbanefo and the rest.

I am the great communicator
I will knock on the doors of every household to find out about the goings on
I will not be caught sleeping with my best friend's wife even if I had the intention to or even if I did.

Like Mohandas Gandhi, I will fight for your liberation from bondage;
Like Martin Luther King, Jr., I will take you to the mountain top;
Like the Chief Priest, Fela Kuti, I will use everything within my reach to fight the establishment against injustice and oppression;
Like Peter Tosh, I will author and sponsor a proposition to legalize goof, Indian hemp, for its medicinal purposes;
And like President Barack Obama, it is a new dawn and change will come to our communities

For all you naysayers who called me a thug and imbecile;
take a look at the previous leaderships
They screwed your wives, bragged and told their friends about it
They poisoned their minds
They are a wicked people
They forced your daughters into prostitution because of their vulnerability
They screwed your live-in partner because you had no money to pay for her abortion
They took advantage of you for being handicapped
They exploited you in every aspect of life

You swore not to tell anybody
You have destroyed yourself despite my efforts
to scrap the stubborn layers of fat around your mind
I told you I will come back and lead
There are no leaders but me
I am God and you must elect me if you really want change

How soon do you forget
they raped your women
they desperately starved your children to death
they demolished and plundered your homes
And you did nothing

You now dine and wine with them
the evil that destroyed your entire household
you have forgotten so soon
the bigotry and hatred
And how can you forget such an atrocity

So you must elect me to fight for you
I am pulling you to be up
The next generations must know about it
Because it is all that you have
you must keep the records intact

for their awareness
And never to happen again
If it repeats
the price will be high, and
the consequences more ominous

Well that ends my speech and I do hope some lessons would be learned not just for me being elected or any other thing but for a change in our respective communities which borders on what I earlier said about building community through collectivity. I have seen it all and I also believe the change is now or we will perish as a people.

Summer Read

Books, academic journals, newsmagazines, newspapers, your hood free papers on your doorsteps, the freebies we bump into on our way to run errands and the take that, it's free that comes in your mailbox just to get informed in every aspect of life endeavors is honestly what keeps body and mind one. Without that, body and mind will simply rust away.

So as the Summer jams echoes every nook and cranny of our neigborhoods, it becomes clear that reading is not only for information but a resouceful avenue to keep our internal being healthy, and in some other ways to stay away from trouble by being preoccupied reading a good book.

Let's see here. Too many books have popped up on the shelves this summer and a whole lot seems to be fascinating according to the reviews that I have read. I shall begin with a book I had long expected which eventually surfaced and, the reviews seemingly applauds the author's work, and even though I haven't read it yet, which I would, certainly, and based on the numerous articles posted by the author regarding the troubled, fabricated Nigerian state, I believe the critics for lauding Nigerian-born, British trained and United States-based professor, Max Siollun, on Oil, Plitics and Violence: Nigeria's Military Coup Culture.

Siollun, whose political commentaries on Nigeria, particularly on the military juntas and a corrupt civilian regime is all over Nigerian-related web sites and other publications, covered the fabrication of a Nigerian state to the civilian and military staged coups. I read Siollun coupled with the reviews on his new book meaning that I haven't read the book yet as I write, and other than having a copy in my study, there's not much that I would learn because the story about Nigeria's internal strife has been told in many different ways. And the book's hardcover prize of $33.95 and two hundred and something pages published by Algora is way high, though good in a sense for its revelations.

Like one reviewer noted, "most people probably do not see the Nzeogwu coup as the second attempt at overthrowing the Balewa government by force. While many followers of Nigerian history may know that Awolowo -- leader of the Action Group, one of the opposition parties in the First Republic -- was jailed for treason in 1964, few are aware that it was not a trumped up charge, and that three decades later, Action Group General Secretary, S.G. Ikokwu, confirmed that there was a genuine AG plot to topple the federal government."

I read Chris Mullin's "Diary" on the toxic mess in British parliament he wrote for the London Review of Books in which he came out unblemished and still has his 30-year-old black and white television. Mullin is a member of the British parliament. Detailed and quite some interesting stuff that reveals the digging by the Telegraph after paying a lump sum to purchase a computer disc which had to do with British Parliament's "unexpurgated expenses." The drama, indeed, makes Nigeria National Assembly look like a child's play.

On divinity and spirituality, there are good summer reads. In Martin Luther King Jr. for Armchair Theologians by Rufus Burrow Jr and illustrated by Ron Hill, "Burrow addresses those who see King as 'only' a social activist by showing how King's studies -- particularly his theological studies -- influenced, shaped, and transformed the activist part he pursued during his public life." And there's With God on All Sides: Leadership in a Devout and Diverse America by Douglas A. Hicks which deals with how American leadership bridges two bodies of knowledge -- "religion and leadership studies" which has been destroyed from complex problems. Here Hicks widens the discussion to include overcoming not only religious differences but also socio-economic, political, and cultural divides, according to D. Michael Lindsay who teaches sociology at Rice University and the author of Faith in the Halls of power: How Evangelicals Joined The American Elite.

And check this out. I remember while growing up, My childhood buddies and I hanged out on the beach and most often at Ruga Park playgrounds talking about the Knicker Bockers and the Yankees. Now there's a book titled Knicker Bocker: The Myth Behind New York by Elizabeth L. Bradley and published by Rutgers University Press. Philip Lopate had this to say about Knicker Bocker: "Those who puzzle at the incessant branding and rebranding of New York City would do well to read this fascinating, sophisticated, and witty social history of a myth."

There's interestingly The Making Of A Tropical Disease: A Short History Of Malaria by Randall M. Packard, published by The Johns Hopkins University Press. There's The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates by Peter Leeson published by Princeton University Press. There's Love Lessons: Selected Poems of Alba Merini and translated by Susan Stewart, and here the book talks of Italy's foremost poets already known by Italian readers while English readers are about to discover for the first time.

There's Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity by B. Allan Wallace, published by Columbia University Press, and Father Lawrence Freeman calls it "our best selling mind and consciousness scholar boldly corrects the balance bewtween empirical study and religion. There's Einstein's Generation: The Origins of the Relativity Revolution by Richard Staley published by The University of Chicago Press and Times Higher Education Simon Milton puts it this way: "A magnificent achievement and a work of great scholarship. Staley succeeds brilliantly in providing new ground for understanding how Einstein gradually emerged as the central figure within the German physics community."

There's Hitler, The Germans, and the Final Solution by Ian Kershaw and published by Yale University Press. And there's last but not the least, Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama's Black Belt by Hasan Kwame Jefferies and published by New York University Press. Robin D. G. Kelley calls it the "book historians of the black freedom movement have been waiting for."

It's just too many of them books out there to keep you going along with the summer jams. So, people, go out there, sit and relax in any book store, browse some books for highlights and get yourself some good books for the summer read.

Interview with Matheus Immanuel Esegiel

You do low budget movies, in most cases entirely by yourself. How did you get into filmmaking?

Well, I really got into filmmking through photography just like you got writing all kinds of stuff through taking pictures and writing about your subjects. I use to take photos of my friends doing weird things, like smoking and doing vandalism. I did this whole series that I submitted to this guy who wanted to fund my projects in a way, which was really a kind of photo-journalistic document, and that led to the idea of making documentaries. I remember when I went to Mr. Joe's house and was auditioning recruiting script writers and everyone I met there was writing scripts. I was only17 at the time and when you write a script, so much of it is about what you pull from life and this sounds kind of cracky, but I felt like I didn't have enough life experience at the point to start making a documentar before getting into some other projects like deejaying part-time and working towards college.

You have told me several times that you have always wanted to do a documentary on how so much has changed in our present day society. What does that mean?

I mean if you look around, it has been guys and their relationships.. I mean I don't want to get too personal about it, but I grew up raised by a mom while my dad was on a diplomatic assignment, and he was gone all the time, so I never had real male influence in my life. I really never understood heterosexual male relationships. It's like what do you get out of that relationship? I never understood that bonding that happens. It's something I have always been fascinated with because there's such an awkwardness to most heterosexual male relationships. You see women who are friends and they kiss each other goodbye, and they are so much warmer with each other. But there's this thing with guys where, even between best friends, there's a standoffishness. There is still this tension to contact. The fact is that my mother raised me with the idea that you should always do everything you can to not fit in, to be an individual. I was taught that you didn't want to be part of the group.

On cooking, you have talked much about your cooking. How did you develope the cooking stuff?


I'm very proud of my origins. I've had the honor of being very close to my grandma while I partly grew up in Namibia, and I got to learn a lot from her, all her sayings and recipes. She loved to cook. My grandma started going to harvests and she sarted cooking for a living. There was nothing there but beef, deer and bush rat. She use to raise her chickens and that's how they got their eggs. There were just a very few stores and no companies to distribute their foor to the big cities, so that's how they started. So I leaned to cook traditional Namibian home-made foods from my grandma.

And your mom?

My mom was a stay-at-home mom taking care of us, and she usually made really good meals with what my grandma had brought home. That's when she started cooking seafood. She probably does not make the best, but man, ask her to make seafood soup sometimes with corn flavor.

What are some of the dishes?

While there are no specific or unique dishes or preparation methods for Namibian cooking, I should point out that attention to detail is important in the Namibian cuisine. Like Namibian cuisine, which are not many around here, it uses elements from various cooking traditions borrowed from their neighbors and developed from their own traditional dishes, like German or French. Using the right amount of spices for example is essential – either for spicing up the taste or for coloring the dish. The diversity of vegetables and cereals found in Namibia is also noticed in the delicious dishes belonging to their cuisine. Each traditional dish has a special cooking method, which is more or less general in all of Namibian regions. Meat is one of the main elements of most Namibian dishes and cured and smoked hams are often parts of delicious dishes. The visual attractiveness of the dish is also important, and a balance between colors and proportion differentiates from a region to another.

The last time we bumped into each other was at the Viper Room in Hollywood. Are you still Disc Jokeying?

I do it now at my pace since I'm focusing on other stuff in my career.

Like?

Keep doing what I keep doing, writing and working on my book and a documentary about Namibian culture, its history and the people. It's been my major project and it's already three years in the making.

Still writing poetry?

Of course.

Good luck!

City Blues

A street once full of life, and
a whole lot of activities
on the store fronts with busy sidewalks
and pedestrians excited sightseeing
and window shopping;
bargaining for items in a bouyant economy
economy takes a downturn
and low turnout of events
lay-offs a commonplace, and
traders lose points
market slows down,
customers gone and stores emptied
going out of business on every booth
customers vacate the sidewalks
on a dead economy

Turmoil Christmas

All 'has' been well
a great expectation, and
good Christmas
coming with good spirit

Shopping spree and happiness
and all the gifts
Christmas Carrol
a one family

Celebrations and jubilations
joyous festivities
good feelings,
indeed

Not anymore
depression has set in
the joy is gone
gains and treasures gone

A miserable life
frustrations and loneliness
hopelessness and temptations;
on Skid Row and hungry

Paradise lost,
not to be regained
the pain is enormous, and
a disappearing oneness

war is in the hood
taken over by greed
exploitation the means
sex commerce

Vulnereable and gullible
survival of the fittest, and
all options exhausted
tight time and economic meltdown

A game of gangsters
crooks thriving on chaos
of bitterness and disappointments
government full of deceit

Wishing All A Merry Christmas

This is how we got here,
With so many fishes in the sea
And the cold wind blowing by
The merchant ships took us away,
The rest is now history.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!