Followers and the Following

My readers -- the ones I bump into in the hood, on the streets of Los Angeles and in events -- have complained about the abandonment of my thorough political commentaries and Igbo-related cultural analysis I have been known for, wondering what brought about such a swift change. No. Nothing changed. It's just that I have been caught up in a cross road tweeting and having fun for the moment; and I am quite sure my followers and the ones I follow are watching with keen interest with what is about to resurface in my files. And besides that, there is absolutely politics in every game which means we are all political junkies by tweeting, feeding the world with the goings on, whether it's politics, pub-crawling, hanging out, poking around and stuff like that.

Summer just arrived, and seriously, I'm just having fun and loving every moment of it. But the real deal is social networking these days, and no one could tell how far that's going to last. So far, it seems like kinda trend that will be around for a long, long time to come.

Remember when it took days or weeks, or months, or longer than that to reach a loved one, a family member, a brother, a sister, a cousin or an uncle via the telegram, word of mouth, post office, courier service and other wire-related services? Remember? Not anymore. Things have changed. Technology has made communication much easier and has drawn the world very close. Thanks to the internet age. Just like Twitter made its followers and the following fishers of the "New Dawn" as new ideas pops up with a following.

It is really amazing how each of these social networks operates, and how it becomes addictive at any given time the moment one is hooked. I have tried to stay away from these networks which I did some many years ago, limiting myself to just few, precisely the discussion groups and messageboards I was either the owner or moderator, and which, of course, had to do with news items like NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, BNW News, the print media and other news-related outlets does to keep their listeners, readers and followers informed.

What has erupted in recent times is beyond imagination based on the rate these social networks are growing creating an era seen to be heading a direction seemingly to have placed the entire universe into one bucket, otu uwa, one world.

I keep wondering how these networks pops up uniquely in their own respective rights even though all appear to be the same whether a one-liner as in Twitter, or wordy as in Yahoogroups, Messageboards, Facebook and the rest. Over the past ten years or so, and when the listserve E Group had a bigger audience, a whole lot did change from the way social networking operates on the net.

Think about My Space and what it does with Generation X an K. Or Facebook that is not leaving the web arena anytime soon. Blogged, like the crab-like cancer is doing the same thing as Twitter in the pattern of following and followers. Just like if you follow me I will follow you. Or thanks for the follow and I will follow you which has generated a huge amount of business-related conferences.

Interestingly, these social networks have their own set of rules accompanied by how money is generated to keep these links afloat, meaning every social network in today's economy aggressively pursues its own highly localized interest.

The interests, like in Facebook which has gone local with the advertisers as they encourage Facebookers to indulge in taking advantage of promoting their accounts from around which they subscribe, and as it implies, one might be smiling all the way to the bank, if at all it's not a gimmick and one of those easy money deceptive stuff that has bombarded cyberspace. Web-bloggers and web-designers are equally engaging, too. It works hand-in-hand to a level of convicing, in order to attract readers to your site and the products that you market, and how different patterns of money making opportunities could be achieved through a wide variety of techniques -- tele-conferencing, tele-marketing, social networking, business-related workshops, conventions and things like that.

I, for one, has been in a couple of these "money making" opportunities, and it boils down to getting things done by way of that fast money which is indeed a good thing. It does not work like that. Somebody is playing smart and another one playing dumb, and it all leads to greed. Other than that, social networking is a kind of counseling in many ways. It helps alleviate depressed-anxiety-related problems most faced in today's society. It is a terrific workshop for many things in life including the opportunity door knockers who would try to convince their victims that a bag full of money to the brim would be theirs in a couple of weeks if only they take a simple step. There are other schemes also that encourages the application of doing some little, little stuff for enrollment on the block of new millionaires. It's all about following and whom you follow.

The irony of all these gimmicks and a recession riddled population is that the doers and schemers are all smiling, allegedly to the bank because whatever idea they created to gun down a panicking public due to a never seen before austerity measures, works effectively. And no one is giving away these "ideas" for free, no matter what.

All in all, the Twitter nation is now prospering in the game of social networking with its 140-character post at a time, and tweeting is the name of the game. It has become an institution of its own developing and enhancing its library with vocabularies such as "We Follow" meaning a direction of interesting Twitter accounts; "Trazz-ler Buzz," meaning tracking popular travel destination via Twitter; "Tweets on tees," meaning awesome crowdsourced shirts by Threadless; "Twitterific," a fur mac application for twittering; "Stock Twits," meaning an investment idea and information service, and it goes on and on.

If Time Magazine gave the Twitter guys -- Biz Stone, Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey -- a thumbs up why shouldn't we who have found a home where there is love, affection and caring? Talk about Twitter, how about my own creative word Ohuzo and its meaning? It's a "New Dawn," people, and let's keep following and be the fishers of humankind.

Gist Around Da Hood

The magnificent Ivorian Didier Drogba celebrates in style after scoring that amazing first goal beating Everton 2-1 in the season finale of Road to Wembley. He will be negotiating a new paycheck to effect his contract extension with Chelsea. A three year contract and bonuses draws him closer to Europe's highest earning players and sits on the elite role of African football players.

Staples Center, 1111 Figuroa Street, Los Angeles, California 90015
Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court. If confirmed, she will be the first Latino, according to some sources, to be on the Supreme Court. Her parents moved from Puerto Rico to New York. A feminine radical in the 70s and had always defended the underdog but her critics say that's not enough to be confirmed though the overwhelming Democratic majority in Congress is in her favor.

In this world there's much confusion.

And I've tasted the city life and it's not for me

Now I do dream of distant places

Where I do not know but is destiny

If it's the rich life I don't want it

Happiness ain't always material things

I want destiny ...

Neverland Ranch was a rich life. Oh, by the way, the king of pop is about to rise like a phoenix. I have followed this legendary performer all my life and I do think I have every of his recorded album throughout the many phases of his career -- Jackson Five, The Jacksons and the solo acts -- and my favorite tune of all time, Destiny, besides the jams, Shake Your Body Down To The Ground, Thriller, Off The Wall, Enjoy Yourself, ABC, The Girl Is Mine and many other stimulating tracks.

The gist now is billionaire Tom Barrack and AEG Live owner Philip Anshutz are coming to the king of pop's rescue. They want a rebirth of the Thriller years and from media sources, Michael will be heading to the studios soon because his backers -- Barrack and Anshutz have confidence in him and had envisioned a thoroughly remade Michael when the entire deal is struck which would include a three year world tour, series of singles coupled with packages of a museum, casino and movies. Barrack who said Michael could make $500 million a year once he puts his mind into it acknowledged Michael 'is' one of very few artists who could reach that mark in showbizness and at any given time.

But Michael is not done. His 50 concert series at the O2 Arena in London kicks off July 13 and tickets are already sold out. One other thing, though is can Michael do fifty gigs without getting exhausted? We'll see how it plays out starting July 13. Michael in his own words regarding the 50 shows in London: "Thank you for your love and support, I want you guys to know I love you very much," ... "I don't know how I'm going to do 50 shows. I'm not a big eater - I need to put some weight on"


Also, around the block, came some political talks about President Barrack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, whom I haven't followed until she was nominated by Obama, last week. And now following her like a tweeter, I know she was one of 70s feminine radicals on campus at Princeton University. She did not like the way Princeton was run and had always defended the underdog. From Princeton to Yale, and as a prosecutor in New York to corporate lawyer and serving on the federal bench for seventeen years, methink the new Democratic controlled congress should let her walk in without much ado so she could start punching the badass Clarence Thomas in his face, and his "high-tech lynching of an uppity black man."

And if confirmed which I expect she would be, overwhelmingly, making her the second Latino on the Supreme Court, although the political blogosphere on Sotomayor's side claims she'd be the first Latina on the Supreme Court, if confirmed, which would nullify the claim from other circles of Justice Benjamin Cardozo whose parents were of Portuguese descent, in the 30s, as first Latino on the Supreme Court. Enough.

Down the street in da hood, talks are popping up on soccer. Obviously, the soccer moms have taken it to a whole new heights which is quite engaging with kids. We called it football until the Yankee's crazy sports began to blow up our minds. I mean, too many in the mix and soccer got to be. The world's most watched sport and we won't erase soccer and permanently keep its original logo? Come on, now, there's tennis not lawn tennis; there's basketball not netball; there's ping pong not table tennis; there's baseball, not cricket and there's football not rugby, whatever that is.

So as it happened, the English FA Cup gathered storm. Ivorian and Chelsea striker, Didier Drogba and his colleagues lifted the FA Cup amid 85,400 and something soccer freaks in Wembley Stadium beating Everton 2-1 which ended the season's crazy-dubby Road to Wembley. Drogba's contract has been extended to another three years and expect the field dynamo's pocket to surpass the 80,000 British Pounds Sterling a week paycheck.

The World Cup is fast approaching and all that Brazillian influence is still hanging on. The quality of play, pattern of play, dribbling style, the celebration, jubilation and the samba has entirely nothing to do with what is going on at USC. Am I perturbed by all the scandals that is now hitting the sports program walls of Pete Carroll saying he knew nothing about Houses and gifts given to the parents of Reggie Bush, the running back for the New Orleans Saints? Nope! There's always something and that's just the way it is. As Bush' investigation continues, popped up another accusation. This time on Tim Floyd, the school's basketball coach, on payments made to O.J. Mayo's associates. And now that NCAA has cut in, we probably would get to know about all the scandals of gifts and cash exchanging hands by the time it's through with its own independent investigation.

In my little political alley, the behind closed doors pundits at Yahooligans, the talk now is why would Obama make Ghana his second point of call and not the sleeping giant, Nigeria. Citing Obama as a second generation immigrant who had adopted Abraham Lincoln's style of approach and politics, and bringing about a "New Dawn" of the internet age in "change has come to America" platform, the economy is still biting and the "Stimulus Package" hasn't been able to subdue the Bush-Cheney made meanspirited economy yet, in my own assessment because the people, I mean, the American people are still talking and complaining.

Well, it's showtime on Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles where Staples Center, home of the Los Angeles Lakers sits comfortably with Hotel Figueroa, Nokia Center and the Convention Center as neigbors. Tonight, the Lakers will be tested by the hungry Orlando Magic in Game 1 of 2-3-2 series. "All road leads to downtown and it's Lakers all the way," says one Lakers accessories hawker. "We gonna get them, baby!"

I know I have gunned for Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis and Mickael Pietrus when they whooped Lebron James and his Cavaliers. I have already neutralized the firepower of the magic, and hey, this is my hood and my Lakers ain't taking that for granted. It is Lakers all the way and with all the pubs full to the brim, hell will surely get loose if...

We want destiny!

Adios and enjoy the finals.

Relieved

"I don't think the Los Angeles Lakers will make it. With Yao Ming out and the way they've been struggling with the Houston Rockets, I mean, think about it."

"Think about what? You mean if Yao Ming had not been injured that it would have been an easy victory for the Rockets?"

"Oh, yeah! Can't you tell from the way Rockets are playing, giving the Lakers a run for their money?"

"Well, I think the Lakers are the best in the NBA, and I do not care about what you think on how they play. Look, man, this is Hollywood. It's not easy combining both together. Don't you see Jack Nicholson, Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Stephen Spielberg, Ron Howard, Jammie Foxx, and all the heavyweights in da hood cheering for a Lakers victory?"

"Really?"

"Yep!"

That's how it flowed even though I have not been paying much attention to the NBA Finals. Every now and then, I tend to check it out even when I'm making some noise tweeting with my fellow tweeters out there who've got nothing else to do but tweet, tell the whole world about their problems and brag about it all day, and then talk about Hollywood driving Angelenos nuts. No biggie!

Yes, Lakers is tweeting and tweeting is Lakers. They tweet about Kobe Bryant for not carrying the game on his shoulders. They tweet about Derek Fisher being worn out ... "couldn't do a damn thing to save the Lakers," even when Andrew Bynum had problems defending Denver Nugget's Nene. Lakers have raised their fans' blood pressure since the semi-finals of the Western Conference. Mine has been going up and down, reason why I've not been watching the games as I'm suppose to. Sometimes I make calls to ask "what's the score?" If Lakers happen to be behind, I won't even bother turning on the television, that is, if I'm home.

I had called my brother and talked about the Lakers. This was Game 5 of the Western Conference semi-finals between Lakers and the Houston Rockets. My brother had predicted Lakers will be beaten by the Denver Nuggets, that is, if they clear the Rockets hurdle. I had called my childhood buddy, Teddy, and we spoke about it. He wasn't sure. I had called my friend and partner in crime, Basil Nwonwu, and he had persistently said "it's Lakers all the way. This is their year and no team can stop them." I stopped going to pubs where Lakers had been the subject-matter even though I still had faith my Lakers will come out smoking, eventually.

But somehow, I got sickened of the dream Kobe Bryant-Lebron James showdown. The sensationalized media had blown everything out of proportion. The hype had been overwhelmingly disturbing it became obvious a deal had been struck. Those Bryant-James inflated commercials. It's a set up.

No, it wasn't. It's the magic of Orlando Magics. Call it what you want. It's magic not darkness. It's the magic of power play. It's the magic of outplaying and outscoring the Cavaliers. The magic that has befallen Madison Avenue. The magic that dethroned the overrated king. It's the magic of Dwight Howard. The magic of Mickael Pietrus. The magic of Rashard Lewis and the standing ovations of Tiger Woods and Tim Teblow of the Florida Gators quarterback that did it.

King james, another season gone by; no ring, it's winding down.

I'm relieved.

I had wondered if Lakers will ever make it. The struggle. The injuries. The inconsistencies. The uncertainties. Denver Nuggets: Chauncey Billups. Carmello Anthony. Lakers made it.

I'm relieved.

There's been talks about the powerful kingdom. James Kingdom. The Cleveland Cavaliers and King James Castle in Ohio. The best record in the NBA. The team to beat. And there was magic not kingdom. And the magic worked. And the king was toppled.

I'm relieved.

I had diverted my attention regarding the NBA Playoffs. The Lakers had caused me a "heart attack." It's not fair. They had done it to me deliberately, and I had wondered why they would do that. I'd rather watch other sports than the Lakers. They have made my heart bleed. It's not fair and I'm losing my mind. How could that be?

I had gone to the Irish Pub in Santa Monica to watch the European Champions League Final between Barcelona and Manchester United just to erase the Lakers from my memory. Yes, I watched Lionel Messi and his Barcelonaian boys whoop the robust playing Manchester United in a duel three Barcelona fans were slain in Nigeria, immediately upon Man. U defeat. I had gunned for Barcelona. Messi is my man. He's fast. He's taken soccer to another level. Now, Man. U. beer on tap drinking fans wants me dead for following Messi. Again, it's not fair. But who cares. I'm only worried about my Lakers and the showdown. They have the Magics not the Kingdom.

I'm relieved.

Kobe has been compared to Michael Jordan, Dr. J and Bill Russell. It doesn't matter. We are talking about NBA Finals in the year of Our Lord 2009, and I want it over with before I suffer another "heart attack." I'm not saying Orlando Magic will be a walkover. It's the NBA Finals, remember? It's anybody's game, remember?

So Kobe, my Lakers, please, do not let me suffer another heart attack. I've had enough and I will be there on Thursday, in my neck of the woods, Staples Center, to cheer you up in Game 1 of a 2-3-2 series against the Orlando Magic. We are the victor and don't disappoint me and your million fans who've had a minor stroke ever since the playoffs began.

Thanks!

2009 Time's 100 Most Influential People.

The opening shot of Time's 2009 100 most influential people was veteran Democrat Edward Kennedy who was described as the most bipartisan politician in congress, and whose story was told by California Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom the governor called 'Uncle.' Schwarzenegger writes;

"How do I describe Uncle Teddy? Everyone knows him as the Lion of the Senate, a liberal icon, a warrior for the less fortunate, a fierce advocate for health-care reform, a champion of social justice here and abroad and now even a Knight of the British Empire. But I know him as the rock of his family: a loving husband, father, brother and uncle. He's a man of great faith and character."

Time's 100 has an array of lists: leaders and revolutionaries; builders and titans; artists and entertainers; heroes and icons; and scientists and thinkers. The list includes Hilary Clinton, Norah al Faiz, Paul Kagame, Angela Markel, David McKeirnan, Asfaq Kayani, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, The Twitter guys, Ted Turner, Nouriel Rouboum, Oprah Winfrey, the drug addled Rush Limbaugh, Joaquim Guzman and Maya Arulpragasam (M.I.A.) among others.

Read story as told by Schwarzenegger

Spike Jonze on M.I.A.


Michael Elliot on Angela Merkel

T Boone Pickens on Ted Turner

Madeleine K. Albright on Hillary Clinton

Aston Kutcher on The Twitter Guys

J.K. Rowling on Gordon Brown

Tim Padget on Joaquim Guzman


Rick Warren on Paul Kagame

Gordon Brown on Barrack Obama

Photos cortesy of Time Magazine

Da Week and Da Happening

Whoo boy, what a week that had begun from checking out an eatery and learning a whole lot about the cowardice Yoruba nation that collaborated in slaughtering my kith and kin to ending up in a forum I have been asked to play a significant role in organizing The Fat Waller Musical Show conceived by Richard Maltby, Jr. and Murray Horwitz; and musically staged and choreographed by Arthur Faria. The Tony Award winning Fats Waller Musical "Ain't Misbehaving" at the Ahmanson Theatre on Temple Street in Downton Los Angeles will run through May 31, 2009, and then following would be the Summer jams and the line-ups.

Well, it's good to know that Ronke Bernadette, owner of Lagos Cafe, has admitted showing some improvements after my visit there a week ago. She has been paying homage to the local churches here in Los Angeles invoking my write-up that God sent me. Patrons have been flooding her eatery ever since that piece, "Lagos Cafe's Arrogance and Horrible Services is a Culinary Disaster." I hope her customer relations has improved, too, because it was zero during my visits. It's time to appreciate the fine work of investigative journalism even though the dummies who had no idea what they were writing about will never realize that.

There has been talk that Seun Kuti will be visiting the City of Angels again following his fantastic and successful performance last Summer at the California Plaza in Downtown Los Angeles. I'm yet to confirm that but when I'm in the know, you surely will get every detail. Seun is just the carbon copy of Baba, the Chief Priest, Fela Kuti, and the flow of his music is awesome.

With a series of activities as the summer jams approaches, a Jewish friend of mine did not find it funny why I missed the Fun and Wacky Passover Adventure at the Shalom Institute in Malibu, California, last week. The event featured Carl Weintraub and music performed by Robbo and Cindy Paley. This guy is a fellow we hold intellectual discourse into the night about the Holocaust six million Jews perished and the pogrom in which the Hausa-Fulanis in collaboration with the Yoruba nation that stinks slaughtered innocent civilians, eviscerated pregnant women, and coerced and stole Igbo properties. Like a Jew learning from the Synagogue that "to forget is to proclaim Hitler innocent," so also is to forget is to proclaim the Hausa-Fulanis and the Yorubas innocent after slautering my people in the most brutal way.

The Twitter nation is waxing strong by the second. It is the real deal. It is the talk of town. Even my good friend, Austen Oghuma, talks about it all the time and how America is a great nation with its brilliant pattern of creativity. That I agree. He is hooked to it and so is everybody. It's Twitter and nothing else. If you follow me, I will follow you. How about that and a way to connect?

For some reasons, I haven't been following up with the few remaining games in the NBA and I'm quite sure it's because of Lakers' inconsistency, allowing King James and his gang to take the lead, overall. But I still pick my LA Lakers to come out smoking, in the long run. We'll see, as the whole drama unfolds. Go Lakers, go!

Oh, before I forget, Ugandan model, actress and performer, Imat Akelo-Opio will be gracing the cover of our debut magazine in an exclusive interview.

Bruce Springsteen who turns 60 in September is now on the road with his E Street Band to support their latest project "Working on a Dream." I haven't watched the guy live lately but I sure do have the ticket for his April 16 jam at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. I will be there. That's my hood and I know it's going to be a hell of a show knowing Bruce for his activism and the way he's loved.

That's da happening and whatever happens keep on twitting. It's good for the soul.

Da Week and Da Wrap Up

It's amazing how time flies. March is almost over and another week gone by with President Barack Obama's Stimulus Package not yet showing as pundits, talkshow hosts, especially on the far right are not being considerate from the way they keep attacking Obama on what they are now calling a failure. Failure in just two months? I don't get it and give me a break. I 'dunno' how that could be possible for a mess caused in eight years of a retarded George Bush 2 administration to be cleaned up in a blink of an eye. It is just not possible, even though Obama seems to be making mistakes notably his choice of appointments and the outrageous AIG debacle.

Meanwhile, while at it, Obama is enjoying the ride making the presidency look easy, and for sure, living up to his creed in changing the way business is conducted in Washington. His visit to Southern California and appearance at "The Tonight Show," without a doubt, catapulted Jay Leno's show to the top in ratings while the president keep leaving his mark -- the first sitting president to appear on NBC's "The Tonight Show."

Enough of "da" politics. I read Dambisa Moyo's interesting article "Why Foreign Aid Is Hurting Africa" in the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal. I agree with Moyo in that superb write-up, and I hope the financial institutions in question and charity organizations will start rethinking their starategies because the alleged aid is doing more harm than good. For instance, aids to many of these poor countries in Africa were embezzled by its leaders. Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe), Mobutu Sese Seko (Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo), Bakill Muluzi (Malawi), and Frederick Chiluba, Zambia's former president, have all, one way or the other, embezzled funds meant to aid the poor by way of infrastructures, healthcare and education. In that piece, Moyo writes;

Yet evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that aid to Africa has made the poor poorer, and the growth slower. The insidious aid culture has left African countries more debt-laden, more inflation-prone, more vulnerable to the vagaries of the currency markets and more unattractive to higher-quality investment. It's increased the risk of civil conflict and unrest (the fact that over 60% of sub-Saharan Africa's population is under the age of 24 with few economic prospects is a cause for worry). Aid is an unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster.

The movies this weekend got me tripping. I was only able to watch two of the new arrivals at theaters, and as it happens sometimes, and not being ready, I dozed off in both movies which reminded me of "Boiler Maker" I was suppose to be reviewing a couple of months ago. The first I watched was "Duplicity" starring the 41-year-old wrinkle-free Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Jude Law and Natalie Portman. All about love and lack of trust got me snoring in-between the show. I'm not sure if I want to see it again. Then I saw "Sunshine Cleaning" starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt and Alan Arkin. It was not much to talk about. And I dozed off, and that's basically about it. I am not going to see it again.

What's up with Twitter, man!? Looks like every now and then when I pop up my mailbox someone I have not known from Adam seems to be following me. A way to connect and share brief moments which appears to be cool depending on what way one looks at it. It is an entire world in one box and the stuff has just exploded. And the folks out there in da box are having a ball and talking about it everywhere they go.

I shared a brief moment on the phone with actress/filmmaker, Esosa Edosomwan and some fascinating project will be popping up very soon and knowing who Esosa is from her years of determination and hardwork, it's going to be explosive and da magazine is going to be straight.

But, anyway, the week wasn't that bad save for Fox Channel Obama bashers who have nothing else to do but keep saying Obama this and Obama that. They should leave the guy alone to do his job. What's their beef?

My heart goes to the families of four Oakland, California Police officers who were gunned down in a shootout yesterday by troubled parolee Lovelle Mixon. More on Oakland shooting.

That's "Da Week and Da Wrap Up."

The Twitter Nation and Remembering Hank Crawford

Just like that, something pops up and becomes a big deal. Just like that America and its creativity can pop up with something about nothing, and all of a sudden people will be having a blast with an amazing enterprise. Just like that some young fellas would sit under a tree on campus grounds and put their thoughts together and, before you know it they are somewhere in a neigborhood cafe talking about their stocks and millions of dollars stashed in the bank.

"And how come this is just a piece of cake?"

"The land of opportunity -- no doubt, making something out of nothing."

"So what in God's sake are you talking about?"

"I am talking about all the above subject-matter and before you start wondering, it is none other than Twitter, the newest arrival on social networking and how the internet brigades are all crazy about it. It has driven NPR's Jim Lehrer and Andrea Seabrooks nuts. ABC News Chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos cannot do without it. Charles Gibson is in it, too. The quarterbackers, the doves and hawks thinks the time has come to settle their differences. All has joined the bandwagon, and I don't know about you."

"Yahoo had its moment and millions of millions of groups emerged to a point it's no longer relevant. Now there is Hi5, My Space, Face Book, Desktop Networking, and thousands of socio-cultural networks out there presumably making body and soul one depending on what is it that troubles you or perhaps what you are looking for."

I had read about Twitter and trashed it not to be bothered. And I did read an article about it again and thought it was one writing a piece from putting thoughts together.

And I never looked back. But the whole thing popped up again. And I thought, wait a minute; we've got Google. We've got the chat rooms. We've got all kinds of stuff-- from dating service to your local food delivery -- you name it.

But the whole thing popped up again. And I still never looked back. Oh, if you don't know by now, everybody is talking about it on every TV channel including Good Morning America; at the market square, on the street corner, at the construction site, inside Mayor Antonio Villaraigos's office, in Supervisor, 2nd District, Mark Ridley-Thomas' branch offices, and all nooks and crannies of Mother Earth. It has been known to be weightier than the Biblical David and Goliath story.

"What are you talking about?"

"You will know in a minute."

"Until I get a heart attack?"

"Nope!"

"And what's taking you so long?"

"Nothing, it's just that so many people have come and gone and it's more than a feeling."

"Okay, keep it to yourself and I ain't listening to you no more."

"No 'am not and would you listen and keep quiet?"

Yes, I ran into Twitter after reading a series of articles in Los Angeles Times and The New York Times. The first thing that pops up upon entering the website is "what are you doing?" asking you to let the world know if you are somewhere doing what you weren't suppose to be doing. I got in there just for the heck of it, I mean poking around. I registered and couldn't believe what I saw. It was indeed a market square and every human being you can think of buys and sells there. They all have handles except a very few seeking attention.

But I have taken a handle myself and start telling the world my business at the moment. I had been glued and I kept telling the world my business. It was not until Hank Crawford popped up from one of my followers that I knew something quite fascinating is about to happen "here." The twitter had talked about the death of legendary saxophonist Hank Crawford who died in January. He had also talked about being a teenager in the mid 50s and how he had moved to somewhere in the South running into a jam session where Hank Crawford was performing alongside Leroy "Hog" Cooper and David "Fathead" Newman in a band Ray Charles had cooked. Every twitter had a blog or website which made the networking interesting.

The twitting continued for several days and all followers learned a whole lot about this legendary alto saxophonist. I had told my side of the story knowing Crawford. As a teenager and visiting Lagos for the holidays and all that jam sessions Lagos was known for, the album "Tico Rico" had been all over the air waves including the record shops blasting it all out loud. It was just fresh from the stables of Creed Taylor International (CTI). And I have begun to know the meaning of jazz fusion and how the magnificent producer Creed Taylor had assembled the best during the Kudu years. And going deep into what was at Kudu Records -- George Benson, Grover Washington Jr., Esther Philips, Stanley Turrentine, Wes Montgomery, Idris Muhammad, Johnny Hammond, Deodato, Mongo Santamaria, Hubert Laws, Bob James, Earl Klugh, Ron Carter, the Cajun man himself Crawford, Eric Gale, Joe Beck, Phil Upchurch, Tennyson Stephens, Grant Green, David Mathews, Thus Spoke Z and others -- jazz fussion came into the fore of my interests in music.

And while "Tico Rico" was driving everybody nuts I had not been familiar with Crawford's other projects. There was "Help me make it through the night," Jazz Funk," "We Got a Good Thing," and "Wildflower" which was among Crawford's finest projects. As it also happened, one of my followers had digged deeply into my works and found out I was a hell of a music freak. He came back twitting and started throwing questions about my musicology. We had been on a long thread of Crawford, and the Kudu years was the beginning of my knowing jazz music which has now stretched to the early part of the Twentieth Century and by twitting I am learning more.

No question, Crawford was magnificent. He had the talent. His skills inspired me. His passion was what got me. He was a master in his craft. His music shook me. Remembering his horns and gone at 74 he will be missed.

Adios, amigo, and let's keep twitting!