Simone White is simply one of my favorite human beings on the planet. As we explain in this mini-series (it’s too long to call it an interview), he and I met on tour in the early 1990s and have been fast friends ever since. Even though we’ve always lived across the country or across the world from each other, we have carried on a 30 year musical conversation. Here we have a LONG verbal conversation about our journeys together and apart.
He’s far too humble to talk about himself, so I’ll give his resume… he’s a producer, multi-instrumentalist, teacher and drummer who has supplied the backbeat for Michael Franti and Spearhead, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Afro-Mystik, George Clinton, Mark Eitzel, Sakia and more. Since moving to Australia Simone does a lot of remote session work for people like Carl McIntosh of Loose Ends, 05Ric, and a guy named Nadir Omowale. Here we talk about my life and his life in a way that only two old friends can speak. We had fun… and we hope you enjoy it…
Bonus Drinking Game: Take a shot every time Nadir says, “you know”.
The album was mixed and co-produced by Rob Feaster and Kurtis at The Castle in Franklin, TN. Corbin Dooley and Paul Brinberg were the heads of our record label, PC! Music Company. Bill Steber took the band photo.
You can check out the full album on Bandcamp: http://jackjohnsonroundone.bandcamp.com/album/round-one Name your own price if you want to download it. We will not be mad at you. You might hear some other songs you recognize.
Anyway… We will really miss Bill Withers. His music meant so much to so many of us.
We’ve had an awesome response to “Blue Lights” so far, and here’s a beautiful example. SoulTracks.com the biggest soul music site on the planet, offered Nadir’s new funk single to their audience as a First Listen. Check it out:
SoulTracks.com says: Working For the Man, J. Nadir Omowale’s 2008 polemical album dropped like a bomb into the political, military and economic upheavals taking place in that year. The urgent and powerful funk of the title track pretty much captured the feelings of every working man and woman at a time when the economy was in free fall, mainly due to the greed and incompetence of the people at the top. The rocking Detroit funk man came back in 2012 with the very good, though less overtly political The Book of Jonah, and in the year 2017, Nadir has returned.
A lot transpired – particularly in the fraught relationship between law enforcement and minority communities – between 2012 and 2017, and Nadir has something to say.
Nadir Omowale returns with a scathing, purple tinged, post-Hendrix funk rocker. “She might be out of her mind, but she’s The Right Kind Of Crazy”. Continue reading
Mixing that new funk with coproducer and expert over the shoulder photog Christopher Spooner. #BlueLights featuring Amp Fiddler, The Will Sessions Horns, Caleb Gutierrez, Jeff Rebrovich of Ghost Synthesis and Simone White… COMING SOON…
20 years ago today Rodney King was beaten by LA police officers after a high speed chase. The attack was videotaped by a resident in a nearby apartment complex, and later aired around the world. We all witnessed the brutality inflicted by men who were trusted to protect and serve.
Over a year later those police officers were acquitted, and that miscarriage of justice sparked one of the worst race riots in US history. The burning and looting was televised as well. We all watched as black people beat a white truck driver, and entire neighborhoods went up in smoke at the hands of local residents.
2000 miles away in Nashville, Tennessee, my roommate, Steve and I tried to make sense of it all. Steve, who is white, could certainly understand the anger, but couldn’t fathom why these people were so enraged that they would destroy their own community.
In those nights of frank discussion I found it difficult to explain the madness. It was hard for me to articulate to my white middle class friend the frustration and alienation that blacks in America felt at that time.
With this verdict we saw proof that our lives were meaningless in the eyes of the US legal system. Here was evidence that a man had been beaten unjustly, but the perpetrators were found not guilty. A jury of the officer’s peers – not Rodney King’s peers, mind you – said it was okay. This was the America we lived in every day.
Would I be next? There was no way to know.
A few weeks later, I wrote this song. It was recorded in 1995 by my band Jack Johnson for our album Round One. In retrospect, I’m not sure I articulated the anger any better, but I believe the recording, and especially the one-take solo by guitarist Paul Cochrane, captures the frenzy and fury of those long dark days.
Has America improved since then? I think so. But I still get that feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever I see a squad car behind me. I wonder if that feeling will ever go away…
“Fields Are Burning”
Written by Kurtis McFarland
Performed by Jack Johnson (the band) for the album Round One (PC! Music)
Produced by Kurtis McFarland & Rob Feaster
Paul Cochrane – guitar
Simone White – drums
Ethan Pilzer – bass
Kurtis McFarland – vocals, guitar, programming
20 years ago today Rodney King was beaten by LA police officers after a high speed chase. The attack was videotaped by a resident in a nearby apartment complex, and later aired around the world. We all witnessed the brutality inflicted by men who were trusted to protect and serve.
Over a year later those police officers were acquitted, and that miscarriage of justice sparked one of the worst race riots in US history. The burning and looting was televised as well. We all watched as black people beat a white truck driver, and entire neighborhoods went up in smoke at the hands of local residents.
2000 miles away in Nashville, Tennessee, my roommate, Steve and I tried to make sense of it all. Steve, who is white, could certainly understand the anger, but couldn’t fathom why these people were so enraged that they would destroy their own community.
In those nights of frank discussion I found it difficult to explain the madness. It was hard for me to articulate to my white middle class friend the frustration and alienation that blacks in America felt at that time.
With this verdict we saw proof that our lives were meaningless in the eyes of the US legal system. Here was evidence that a man had been beaten unjustly, but the perpetrators were found not guilty. A jury of the officer’s peers – not Rodney King’s peers, mind you – said it was okay. This was the America we lived in every day.
Would I be next? There was no way to know.
A few weeks later, I wrote this song. It was recorded in 1995 by my band Jack Johnson for our album Round One. In retrospect, I’m not sure I articulated the anger any better, but I believe the recording, and especially the one-take solo by guitarist Paul Cochrane, captures the frenzy and fury of those long dark days.
Has America improved since then? I think so. But I still get that feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever I see a squad car behind me. I wonder if that feeling will ever go away…
“Fields Are Burning”
Written by Kurtis McFarland
Performed by Jack Johnson (the band) for the album Round One (PC! Music)
Produced by Kurtis McFarland & Rob Feaster
Paul Cochrane – guitar
Simone White – drums
Ethan Pilzer – bass
Kurtis McFarland – vocals, guitar, programming
