In Sunday’s Washington Post, hip hop artist and poet Bomani Armah wrote a satirical op-ed piece about Barack Obama’s blackness. “It’s official,” he jokes, “Barack Obama is black enough.” Now, he suggested, it’s time for him to start showing how white he is.

It does not need to be said that it is an interesting time for race in the United States. With a political campaign encouraging everyone to talk extensively about blackness in America, magazine and fashion folks demanding proportional multi-cultural representation in the industry and on the runways, and a blog that satires whiteness getting millions of hits, Spike Lee, Al Sharpton, and Dead Prez are getting a bit of a break.

Read Armah’s tongue-in-cheek Washington Post piece here and hear him interviewed on NPR’s Talk of the Nation here.

Christian Lander is the creator of and main contributor to Stuff White People Like. We wrote here about all of the attention the blog was getting last month. Its popularity continues to grow rapidly so before Lander becomes too busy being featured in paper after radio program after opinion piece, we reached out and asked a few questions about how his newfound notoriety is playing out for him.

For having started this so recently, you’re getting some amazing press?
Yeah. There was the NPR interview and today I recorded one for the CBC and the National Post back home. These ones are cool because friends and family [back in Canada] are finally seeing it and these are folks who otherwise had no idea that there was any buzz. It’s offered some really strange opportunities. I got solicited by a margarita making appliance and they wanted me to write about it in the site. There are strange opportunities presenting themselves.

Do you think you’ll take them up on it?
[Laughs] Thus far I’ve made 13 dollars through Google Ads off of all of this.

9 million views and 13 dollars, huh?
Yeah, it’s strange. I’m still looking at [ad] packages and trying to stay realistic about it. I don’t really expect traffic to stay up there like it is. At the same time, I don’t want to throw all these ads at people and turn them off.

Why do you think people are still so up and arms about the content of the site? People are still calling you a racist left and right.
For some people the satire is just lost. I don’t know how anyone could think its racist. The guys from rent a negro have been in touch and thought that it was hilarious. Further, its not like you’re not going to get a job because a website says you like yoga and expensive sandwiches. These aren’t labels that relate to slavery and consumerism. In this way, the “multicultural” trends of the 80s and 90s were somewhat misguided as there was a push to say and accept that everyone is the same. I mean, everyone is similar, but there are cultural differences, right?
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Stuff White People Like is the first blog I have laughed at in a long, long time. The blog, which is becoming exponentially more popular by the day, lists–well–stuff white people like:

Knowing what’s best for poor people [SWPL #18]
Juno [SWPL #57]
Being the only white person around [SWPL #71]
Mos Def [SWPL #69]

In a prose which appears to be a hybrid between academic and journalistic tones, SWPL deconstructs the reasons for white peoples’ adoration of these particular subjects. Take the subject “Being an expert in YOUR culture [SWPL #18],” for example, which considers the white person’s ongoing quest for authenticity and desire to separate themselves from the guilt related to their legacy:

“It is imperative that you recognize how special and unique this white person is for knowing about your culture. Acceptable responses include ‘Wow, I’ve never seen white people order chicken feet,’ or ‘How did you find out about that film? I didn’t think they had dubbed it yet.’”

Of particular interest is the immediate popularity of the blog, which was launched shy of two months ago and has already logged over two million views. Part of its ongoing draw likely comes from the endless, masturbatory and over-analytical conversations that occur on each post’s comment message boards (that I have, admittedly, engaged in). If this dialogue weren’t so typically dense, serious, or off mark, it would likely be as funny as the blog itself. Take for example the commentary that came when then the blog attributed a liking of Mos Def to white people:

“You know what else white people like? They like to create ‘ironic’ blogs. So white, these blogs full of irony!”

“You’ve got the young trendy Democrats down, but I think you’re forgetting the other, less-PC bunch.”

“Imagine if I, as a white guy, started a blog called ‘Stuff black people like,’ and filled it with watermelon, fried chicken, dancing, gold teeth, cheap beer, pimping, etc.”

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If you happen to be in L.A. tonight and find yourself with nothing to do, you should seriously consider checking out Kiss N’ Grind Live: The Grammy Edition. The event celebrates the Grammy nod earned by Vikter Duplaix’s track “Make a Baby” from his album Bold & Beautiful. The Brand New Heavies will be there, as will N’Dea Davenport, Caron Wheeler, Eric Robertson and Jimmy Sommers.

Duplaix, a Philly-born renaissance-man, has worked with Badu, Jazzanov, Jamiroquai and many others. Seen as an innovator of soul music, he is celebrated for his comprehension of many instruments, genres, and styles. The Brand New Heavies, an innovative jazz/funk band from England, has been preforming together for twenty years.

The show will take place at the Crash Mansion and general audience admission (a grouping you fit into if you don’t anticipate showing up on the red carpet an hour beforehand) starts at 9. Tickets will set you back about $35 but it looks like its going to be a great night!

Blackout, a BET-produced film that highlights events and goings on in Brooklyn during the 2003 power-interferance, has recently made the film festival rounds, most recently making an appearance at Tribeca. The film is a particularly compelling project on the basis of its cast alone, which includes Melvin Van Peeples, Prodigy (of Mobb Deep), and the exceedingly underrated Jeffrey Wright. Peebles, famous for his contributions to the blacksploitation era, was most-recently portrayed by his son in How to Get the Man’s Foot Outta Your Ass, a film about the senior Peebles career, written and directed by the junior. Prodigy is obviously well-known for his music.

Wright is one of today’s most interesting and talented film (and stage) actors and his presence in Blackout is the film’s most exciting prospect. He won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Belize, a gay leftist militant in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America (and would later go on to be the only actor to reclaim his role in the HBO televised special a decade later). After the play, he would portray Jean Michel Basquiat (opposite a brilliant portrayal of Andy Warhol by David Bowie) in Julian Schnabel’s (Lou Reed’s Berlin, Before Night Falls) biopic about the notoriously influential street artist. Most recently, Wright has appeared in Casino Royale, Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers, and he absolutely stole Syriana away from Hollywood it-men George Clooney and Matt Damon. He will soon play Muddy Waters in a film about Chess Records.

Released by Paramount and BET Home entertainment, Blackout hit stores February 5th.

Doing research and collecting shots for an upcoming TRACE feature, photographer Lauren Silberman and I traveled from Harlem down through Manhattan and into Brooklyn to talk to voters during New York’s primary contribution to “Super Tuesday.” We ran into some amazing people from not just all over the city, but from all over the world as well.

Ousmane Sysaune (pictured above), a 42-year-old man who originally hails from the Cote d’Ivoire, cited the importance of “bringing this beautiful country together” as his reason for walking through the pouring rain to get to his polling place on 127th Street. We also met Pierre, an energetic and enthusiastic Parisian national. Despite not being allowed to vote in the US, Pierre has spent lots of time and money on creating “get out the vote” posters and fliers.

We talked to Iraq War veterans, students, Texans, and nearly everyone else that can be represented by New York’s always-exciting cross section of global diversity. While there was no clear winner on the national stage yesterday (and might not be until May!), what was clear was that the city (and the world) are endlessly excited and inspired by the leadership options manifested in Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Photo Credit: Lauren Silberman

A modern renaissance man, Henry Rollins has been in the public eye for nearly a quarter century as a result of his many talents. Having made a name for himself as the singer of seminal punk band Black Flag in the mid-80s, Rollins has since released handfuls of books and traveled the world with his band (The Rollins Band) and his spoken word material. He has been in films, featured in countless punk and music documentaries, and from 2005 to 2007, he conceived and hosted the Henry Rollins Show on IFC, which featured guests that went otherwise unnoticed in the sphere of popular media.

Rollins is also known for his outspoken and unrelenting criticism of the Bush Administration, his USO tours, and his political and social activism. A humanist, Rollins openly advocates for gay rights and encourages re-examination of the American justice system (particularly through his advocacy work for the West Memphis 3). Here, he touches on all of these topics, as well as prospects for retirement, his reading habits and preferences, and how some elements of punk rock are now perceived as high art.

TRACE: It appears that between music, activism, tours, and television, you’re one of the hardest working men in show-business/entertainment. How do you balance this? Does retirement ever enter your mind? What would Henry Rollins do while retired?

Henry Rollins: I don’t have any balance really. The life is the work and vice versa. It’s all I’ve got basically, it gets all of me. All of this stuff is kind of fun I guess so it’s all built in. There’s nothing I do specifically. I keep myself on a pretty tight leash with things, I try and work steadily and frequently and take enough time for restorative sleep and health but pretty much I work. I have no family or dependents so that allows me to go long without checking in with someone or whatever.

I don’t really understand the concept of retirement. I guess if you had a job you didn’t like, you would want to get away from it and do something else but I like my “job” if that’s what all this stuff is.

T: As for your show, how did you select guests? Based on the folks you had on–Tim Roth, Gore Vidal, Marilyn Manson, John Waters–it appears that you were trying to fill a gap that otherwise does not get filled on television. I don’t see Dinosaur Jr. Ani Difranco, The New York Dolls, and Mike Patton anywhere else on television. Was that how you selected talent?

HR: I basically choose what I want to see, hear, talk to, etc. so I could authentically be interested in the interview and the music. There were one or two bands that I was not over the moon about but either IFC wanted them very much or I had enough respect for them to green light their appearance. I definitely am excited to meet these people, sure. Hang out with Werner Herzog, are you kidding?! The show is no more but it was good while it lasted. What you saw is what we tried to achieve.

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This one is getting a ton of press already, but these are just too cool to ignore. Famed guerrilla-visual-propagandist Shepherd “Obey Giant” Fairey, a favorite among street artists and design heads, has created a handful of posters for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The prints feature the candidate, and are very recognizably fashioned in Fairey’s signature style. The Creative Review’s blog reportedly reached out to the Obama campaign only to find out that the poster was not officially commissioned but done wholly on Fairey’s incentive.

Fairey issued the following statement on his website in regard to his support for Obama:

“I believe with great conviction that Barack Obama should be the next President. I have been paying close attention to him since the Democratic convention in 2004. I feel that he is more a statesman than a politician. He was against the war when it was an unpopular position (and Hillary was for the war at that time), Obama is for energy and environmental conservation. He is for health care reform.”

He then goes on to suggest checking out the candidate’s website:

“This, an homage to the Democratic candidate coming from an icon of youth culture, serves as anecdotal evidence representative of what statistical returns from the primaries continue to prove: Barack Obama is a clear favorite among a youth that feels out of touch with the status quo and is hungry and desperate for a new kind of candidate.”

Appreciators of Brazilian outsider art, Bossa Nova music and Capoeira will very much enjoy the Carmichael Gallery’s Os Brasileiros, a month-long celebration of Brazilian culture.

The exhibit is an exciting one, which will feature over 40 Brazilian artists. A list can be found here.

Having kicked off with a performance by Katia Moraes, the first part of the two-part exhibition is wrapping up this week. The second part, which takes place this Saturday (the 19th) at 8 p.m., will feature, among other things, a live Capoeira Demonstration and amazing wine brought by Rio Joes.

Do Canadians have the right to walk into their local television stations and buy airtime for any message they want to see televised? In an attempt to start a larger discussion that explores this inquiry, Adbusters Media Foundation has taken Canada-based Global Television, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to court. The case is being examined by the British Columbia Supreme Court, which is deciding whether or not it should be taken forward. The company is calling this a battle against censorship. Thus far, Adbusters has poured over one hundred thousand dollars into the legal fight. They claim to have–for more than a decade–been attempting to pay for major television spots that represent its anti-consumerist message. Adbusters founder and magazine editor Kalle Lasn described the ads, which are otherwise known as “mental environmental” spots: “They’re very carefully packaged, some dealing with the car industry, others with climate change. There is an infamous ad that features a big, fat, burping pig for ‘Buy Nothing Day.’”

When I brought this case to the attention of friends, co-workers, and other bystanders, there was something of a backlash that appeared to come from an inexplicable place. Many asked, “But then anyone would be able to advertise? Anyone could buy a message?” Others asked if that, by a station being forced to be allowed to air an anti-consumerist message, wouldn’t this then adversely affect the willingness of corporate advertisers to buy spots? Speaking with TRACE on the phone, Lasn addressed these concerns by citing a time when he claimed cigarette companies exclusively cornered the commercial market:

“What are people scared of? Are they scared skinheads will buy some horrible ad or pornographers? My feeling, and the feeling of culture jammers, media activists/advocates, is that we already have something horrible. The bad guys are trying to get us to consume more and more, and the only way to reform the system is to allow something similar to what happened with big tobacco. It was all over television and then there were a few brilliant ads that showed up, anti-smoking ads, that were so powerful that they created a big divide. We need a similar free marketplace of ideas that allows people to talk back against cars, fashion, fast food, or whatever and we should not be scared of a free market place of ideas.”

The suit is especially relevant in the United States, as Lasn claims that if the case succeeds in Canada, they’re bringing it here next. Can transculturalism be spread in an arena in which a consumerist message maintains a hegemony of other ideas? Cheers to excitedly observing the continuation of this conversation throughout the weeks, months, and years to come!