WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.980 align:middle line:90%


00:00:03.980 --> 00:00:10.970 align:middle line:84%
This is a poet who was
appended to the geography

00:00:10.970 --> 00:00:14.420 align:middle line:84%
of the near past
collection, and I put him

00:00:14.420 --> 00:00:17.660 align:middle line:90%
in a separate section.

00:00:17.660 --> 00:00:18.905 align:middle line:90%
Equal but separate section.

00:00:18.905 --> 00:00:22.970 align:middle line:90%


00:00:22.970 --> 00:00:26.090 align:middle line:84%
And he calls himself
O. O. Gabugah.

00:00:26.090 --> 00:00:28.742 align:middle line:90%


00:00:28.742 --> 00:00:30.950 align:middle line:84%
And I could tell lots of
stories about O. O. Gabugah,

00:00:30.950 --> 00:00:32.390 align:middle line:84%
but maybe the
easiest thing to do

00:00:32.390 --> 00:00:38.340 align:middle line:84%
is to read his
biographical note.

00:00:38.340 --> 00:00:39.780 align:middle line:90%
Ah, here's the water.

00:00:39.780 --> 00:00:40.350 align:middle line:90%
Excuse me.

00:00:40.350 --> 00:00:44.130 align:middle line:90%


00:00:44.130 --> 00:00:47.490 align:middle line:84%
I find that a poetry
scene can get so dreary

00:00:47.490 --> 00:00:50.400 align:middle line:84%
with self-righteousness
and seriousness

00:00:50.400 --> 00:00:55.140 align:middle line:84%
that sometimes it's
fun to have fun.

00:00:55.140 --> 00:00:57.720 align:middle line:90%


00:00:57.720 --> 00:01:00.270 align:middle line:84%
O. O. Gabugah writes
that he was, quote,

00:01:00.270 --> 00:01:05.400 align:middle line:84%
"Born in a taxicab right
smack on 125th and Lennox

00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:11.730 align:middle line:84%
in Harlem on Lincoln's
birthday, 1945."

00:01:11.730 --> 00:01:13.680 align:middle line:84%
Franklin Delano
Watson was the name

00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:15.750 align:middle line:84%
my poor brainwashed
parents gave me,

00:01:15.750 --> 00:01:22.200 align:middle line:84%
but I had that
racist tag legally

00:01:22.200 --> 00:01:26.310 align:middle line:84%
altered once I got old enough
to see what was going down.

00:01:26.310 --> 00:01:29.310 align:middle line:84%
The O. O., by the way,
stands for "our own," i.e.

00:01:29.310 --> 00:01:31.140 align:middle line:90%
we need to do our own thing.

00:01:31.140 --> 00:01:32.010 align:middle line:90%
Can you dig it?

00:01:32.010 --> 00:01:35.430 align:middle line:90%


00:01:35.430 --> 00:01:37.710 align:middle line:84%
In addition to being one of
our strongest young Black

00:01:37.710 --> 00:01:39.510 align:middle line:84%
revolutionary voices,
Brother Gabugah

00:01:39.510 --> 00:01:42.750 align:middle line:84%
is the author of half a
dozen volumes, all of which

00:01:42.750 --> 00:01:45.073 align:middle line:90%
have appeared since last year.

00:01:45.073 --> 00:01:46.925 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:01:46.925 --> 00:01:50.640 align:middle line:90%


00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:54.330 align:middle line:84%
"Slaughter the Pig and Git
Yo'self Some Chit'lins" is

00:01:54.330 --> 00:01:57.810 align:middle line:84%
the title of his
most popular work,

00:01:57.810 --> 00:02:01.500 align:middle line:84%
which is presently in
its sixth big printing.

00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:05.340 align:middle line:84%
Other volumes include "Niggers
With Knives," "Black on Back,"

00:02:05.340 --> 00:02:13.950 align:middle line:84%
"Love is a White Man's Snot
Rag," and it goes on and on.

00:02:13.950 --> 00:02:15.720 align:middle line:84%
The brother is
presently the recipient

00:02:15.720 --> 00:02:18.450 align:middle line:84%
of both a federal
arts agency grant

00:02:18.450 --> 00:02:20.790 align:middle line:84%
as well as a
Vanderbilt fellowship

00:02:20.790 --> 00:02:24.060 align:middle line:84%
to conduct research
on Richard Wright.

00:02:24.060 --> 00:02:27.450 align:middle line:84%
Currently vacationing
in Australia,

00:02:27.450 --> 00:02:31.500 align:middle line:84%
he is preparing a collection
of critical essays tentatively

00:02:31.500 --> 00:02:33.480 align:middle line:90%
titled "Woodpile Findings."

00:02:33.480 --> 00:02:36.690 align:middle line:90%


00:02:36.690 --> 00:02:39.270 align:middle line:84%
A militant advocate
of the oral tradition,

00:02:39.270 --> 00:02:42.840 align:middle line:84%
he chooses to dictate
his poems through me

00:02:42.840 --> 00:02:46.710 align:middle line:84%
rather than write
them down himself.

00:02:46.710 --> 00:02:50.730 align:middle line:84%
So I will presume to speak
like Brother Gabugah,

00:02:50.730 --> 00:02:55.110 align:middle line:84%
and this is one of his biggies
called "The Old O. O. Blues."

00:02:55.110 --> 00:03:02.460 align:middle line:90%


00:03:02.460 --> 00:03:04.620 align:middle line:84%
Like, right now
it's the summertime,

00:03:04.620 --> 00:03:06.360 align:middle line:90%
and I'm so all alone.

00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:10.830 align:middle line:84%
I gots to blow some funky
rhyme on my mental saxophone.

00:03:10.830 --> 00:03:12.610 align:middle line:84%
Brother Trane done
did his thing,

00:03:12.610 --> 00:03:14.130 align:middle line:90%
and so have Wes Montgomery.

00:03:14.130 --> 00:03:16.970 align:middle line:84%
Both heavyweights
in the music ring.

00:03:16.970 --> 00:03:19.410 align:middle line:90%
Now, I'm gonna play my summary.

00:03:19.410 --> 00:03:21.750 align:middle line:84%
It's lots of y'all that
think y'all are white--

00:03:21.750 --> 00:03:24.030 align:middle line:90%
ought I say European--

00:03:24.030 --> 00:03:26.640 align:middle line:84%
who think Mozart and
Bach's all right,

00:03:26.640 --> 00:03:29.100 align:middle line:90%
denying your Black being.

00:03:29.100 --> 00:03:31.650 align:middle line:84%
Well, honkyphiles,
y'all's day done come.

00:03:31.650 --> 00:03:36.930 align:middle line:84%
I mean, we gonna clean house and
rid the Earth of Oreo scum that

00:03:36.930 --> 00:03:40.320 align:middle line:90%
put down Fats for Foust.

00:03:40.320 --> 00:03:43.590 align:middle line:84%
This here's one
for-real revolution

00:03:43.590 --> 00:03:45.360 align:middle line:90%
where ain't nobody playing.

00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:48.150 align:middle line:84%
We intends to stop this
cultural pollution.

00:03:48.150 --> 00:03:50.070 align:middle line:84%
Can y'all get to
what I'm saying?

00:03:50.070 --> 00:03:54.240 align:middle line:84%
Sitting up there in your Dior
gown and Pierre Cardin suit

00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:57.120 align:middle line:84%
downtown where all them
devil clowns hang out.

00:03:57.120 --> 00:03:58.470 align:middle line:90%
And they ain't poot!

00:03:58.470 --> 00:04:02.370 align:middle line:84%
We take the white man's bread
and grants but do our own thing

00:04:02.370 --> 00:04:05.850 align:middle line:84%
with it while y'all bees itching
to get in they pants and taint

00:04:05.850 --> 00:04:07.950 align:middle line:90%
the true Black spirit.

00:04:07.950 --> 00:04:10.920 align:middle line:84%
I'm blowing for Bird
and Dinah and Billie,

00:04:10.920 --> 00:04:15.150 align:middle line:84%
for Satch, Sam Cooke, and Otis,
for Clifford, Eric, and Trane

00:04:15.150 --> 00:04:18.420 align:middle line:84%
out of Philly who split
on a moment's notice.

00:04:18.420 --> 00:04:21.180 align:middle line:84%
Chump, you ain't
gonna never change.

00:04:21.180 --> 00:04:23.130 align:middle line:90%
Your narrow ass is sinking.

00:04:23.130 --> 00:04:26.250 align:middle line:84%
Like Watergate, your
shit is strange.

00:04:26.250 --> 00:04:29.280 align:middle line:84%
You're drowning while
we sink thinking.

00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:31.680 align:middle line:84%
My simple song might
not have class,

00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:33.600 align:middle line:84%
but you can't listen
with impunity.

00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:36.240 align:middle line:84%
We out to smash
your bourgeois ass.

00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:39.690 align:middle line:84%
And by "we," I
mean The Community!

00:04:39.690 --> 00:04:42.570 align:middle line:90%


00:04:42.570 --> 00:04:44.490 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:04:44.490 --> 00:04:48.330 align:middle line:90%


00:04:48.330 --> 00:04:51.500 align:middle line:84%
I'll pass the word on to
Brother Gabugah about it.

00:04:51.500 --> 00:04:52.000 align:middle line:90%