Sly Johnson:

From Human Beat Box

to Soul Sensation

Sly Johnson’s debut solo album, 74, marks his evolution from acclaimed beatboxer – known as The Mic Buddah of the French hip hop/rap collective Saïan Supa Crew – to a bona fide soul singer. Demonstrating his versatility and vocal depth, Johnson has been on tour in support of the album, sharing stages with music superstars such as Erykah Badu, Manu Katché, Meshell Ndegeocello and Erik Truffaz.

Released in the US in May, the album resonates the beloved 70s Motown sound, replete with funk and jazz inflections, and features a stellar crew including powerhouse jazz/rock drummer Cindy Blackman (Lenny Kravitz), legendary bassist TM Stevens (Miles Davis, James Brown), guitarist Sherrod Barnes (Roberta Flack) and Soulive’s guitarist and keyboardist Eric Krasno and Neil Evans, with a guest appearance by Nigerian-German singer-songwriter Ayo. Jay Newland (Norah Jones) produced, and “Philly Sound” arranger Larry Gold (The Roots, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu) expertly arranged strings and horns on several tracks.

The bulk of the material on 74 was written by Johnson. More melody- than beat-driven, it showcases not only his strong, soulful vocals but also his songwriting skills. The album opens with “Slaave 2” (borrowing from Grace Jones’ “Slave to the Rhythm”); Slum Village share lead vocals with Johnson, the track’s sparse, catchy beat enhanced by his signature beatboxing and scratches. “I’m Calling You,” reminiscent of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On,” reflects Sly’s social consciousness:

“My friend, don’t you see Earth’s in distress? Too many lies…

My friend, don’t you hear babies crying for food supplies?

My friend, don’t you feel the pain of a million souls in despair?

My friend, we need to stop all these crimes of human beings;

Don’t let our children deal with the consequences of our sins.

Some people say that it’s bad timing

But the sky’s still blue, and the sun keeps shining.

It’s time to change our way of thinking

That’s why… I’m calling you.”

Ayo’s rich, enchanting vocals respond to Johnson’s heartfelt call, TM Stevens holding down the groove. In addition to his own songs, Johnson offers two covers, reflecting the depth and breadth of his musical interests: Otis Redding’s “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)” gets a fresh rendition while staying true to the spirit of the original; James Warren’s 80s pop hit “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime” (made famous by The Korgis) is revived with an intimate take that makes the tune entirely his own, his yearning lead supported by tender backup vocals and strings, Stevens anchoring with a deep funk bassline.

I caught Sly earlier this summer at the Montreal Jazz Festival – his fifth visit to the city (previous performances included a duo with French jazz trumpeter Erik Truffaz at the FrancoFolies festival). Johnson and his tight 74 unit – Manu Dyens on drums, Benjamin Molinaro on bass, Edouard Ardan on guitar and Jean-Max Mery on keys – performed a solid, sexy-funky-jazzy set; Valérie Delgado on backup vocals was the perfect foil for Sly, who – sounding somewhere between Musiq Soulchild and Bilal – pushed beyond nu-soul, exploring the full range of his instrument, from straight up soul to beatboxing to Bobby McFerrin-style pyrotechnics. The crowd was captivated by his immense creativity, visibly enjoying his dynamic, charismaticpresence, the diverse colorings of his voice, and the intimate, interactive vibe.

The following day Sly and I sat down for an interview, shedding light on his early beginnings, his musical influences and future plans.

Let’s start with your name: I assume the shift from Sly The Mic Buddah to Sly Johnson symbolizes your transition from beatboxer to full-fledged vocalist.

Yes, that’s right.

And how did this evolution unfold?

My friend Ayo was one of the first people who told me, ‘Sly, you’re a very good MC, a very good beatboxer, but you’re not only that; you’re a singer. You were born to sing.’ I felt I was hiding behind the beatboxing, behind the ability to capture the voices of others and their individual nuances; now, there’s no more hiding. It’s very difficult to hide when you sing soul music… Now I feel more fulfilled. I’m so happy to be me!

Your given name is Silvère – where did Sly come from? And Johnson – nor particularly a French-sounding name for a Parisian…

Silvère is my real name, but my friends have called me Sly for a long time. Everyone does; growing up, even my father called me Sly sometimes. Johnson comes from my grandfather, who’s from Sierra Leone – which used to be a British colony.

What were your musical influences coming up?

My early influences were hip hop. I was a hip hop kid. That was my inspiration. Then, my favorite singers – Donny Hathaway, who to me is one of the greatest – he makes me cry every time… I really love Rachel Ferrell; the first time I saw her on French TV, I said ‘O Lord!’ She so free.’ I was searching for that freedom. When I was a kid my father used to listen to a lot of jazz: Jerry Mulligan, Fats Domino, Jimmy Smith, Louis Armstrong, Buck Clayton, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald… I grew up with a lot of jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms: Johnny Pacheco, Celia Cruz, The Fania All-stars – stuff like that. Then I discovered The Fat Boys and got into beatboxing.

Tell me about the title for the new album – 74 – I know that’s your year of birth; is there any other significance to it?

7 and 4 are my favorite numbers. Yes, it’s my year of birth; also, there were 7 members in the Saïan Supa Crew; 7+4=11 – and there are 11 songs on the album…

How did you get all these high-profile musicians – Cindy Blackman, Ayo etc. – to play on the album?

I met Cindy Blackman through Lucky Peterson. I was on his project The Organ Soul Sessions, singing Ann Peebles’ song ‘I Can’t Stand the Rain.’ He had a show in Paris and called me to do the song, and Cindy was on drums. I immediately knew I wanted to play with her. I introduced myself backstage. She thought I was funky… and when I asked her if she’d play on my album she said yes. Ayo has been my good friend for about ten years, since she came to Paris. We’ve performed and done jam sessions together – it was natural for me to have her on the album. Recording with these musicians was a magical musical experience.

And the 74 band that’s on the road with you now – they’re French musicians?

Yes, French musicians from the suburbs of Paris. Very talented young people. Valérie Delgado, my backup singer, sang on the album. To me she’s one of the most beautiful voices in France.

The last track on the album – “26.06.74” (the date of your birth) – features very personal spoken word in French. Can you tell our readers what the lyrics are about?

This is a very special song; I talk about me and how I grew up without my mother [who passed away]; how my father survived with small children; how music was helpful to me – like a mother. This is why I love music so much.

What’s on the horizon?

We’ve been on tour since September 2010, when the album came out in France, and we’re ending in August. It’s been great to see a surprising new public appreciating my music – people of all ages: very young to very old, and people of all colors: black, yellow, brown, red… incredible. I’m working on some new music, and I also collaborated with Lulu Gainsbourg on “Couleur Café,” a song on her upcoming homage album to her father, Serge Gainsbourg. Ayo and M [French pop/rick singer Matthieu Chedid] are on it too.

 

Johnson has another album already in the works, with new tunes fusing both his musical personas – Sly The Mic Buddah, human beatboxer, and Sly Johnson, soul singer. A truly original talent that will be interesting to follow.

Interview by Sharonne Cohen

__________________________

The Consequence Prize in Poetry Each year a distinguished poet is invited to select the winner of The Consequence Prize in Poetry. We are delighted to announce that award winning poet and translator, Martha Collins, will select this year's winner. The prize recognizes exceptional work addressing the consequences of armed conflict or social injustice. The award for best poem includes a cash prize of $200. The winning poet and three finalists will have their work published in the Spring 2012 issue of CONSEQUENCE Magazine. No entry fee is required to submit your poem. Guidelines: Please observe these guidelines carefully. There is no entry fee. The poem(s) should address the consequence of war, or social injustice. Please submit no more than three poems of any length. Submissions for the contest may be emailed to Consequence.Mag@gmail.com or mailed to: CONSEQUENCE, PO Box 323, Cohasset, MA 02025-0323, Attention Poetry Editor. If you submit multiple poems, each must begin on a separate page. Include your name and contact information in a cover letter only. Please do not identify yourself on the page(s) containing your poem. In your cover letter include a short biography of no more than 75 words. Your submission should be received by October 1, 2011. If you submit by regular mail, and you want confirmation that your entry has been received, please include a self-addressed, stamped post card. If you want mailed, original copies returned, include a SASE. Visit our website at www.consequencemagazine.org on or after November 25, 2011 to see the winning poet's work, and the names of the three finalists. Due to the large number of submissions, the announcement on our website will be the only notice of contest results. We look forward to reading your poems.

Dear 100 Word Story Writers,

It's hard to believe we are already at CONTEST EIGHT!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

1. We are continuing with four opportunities to win. First prize winner will receive $500. Runner up prizes will be $150, $100, and $50.
2. For CONTEST EIGHT, story subjects are up to you, with attention to specifications on the "WHAT WE WANT..." (following) page. Do take a good look at "TIPS" on that page.
3. All stories must meet requirements set forth in Official Guidelines. All contests are open for multiple entries by anyone in the world. All contests require the 100 words limitation.

AN OVERVIEW FOR YOU

The 100 word story form offers two unique opportunities—as a model for longer works, and as an attractive genre in its own right. By reading back what she or he has written, a writer can immediately perceive the significance of every word, phrase, and sentence for story impact. Implications of such analysis can be highly useful for longer writings.

The best of these stories are microcosms of human experience. In a great 100 word story, people are as real, and can engender as much emotion and lasting power, as in a 500 page novel.

A story might have an unforgettable poignancy and at the same time so much ambiguity that a judge must decide, with broken heart, not to call it a winner. That happened in the case of “Spoons,” an entry to Contest Seven. “Spoons” is the focus of a special commentary by our Final Judge, Erica Bauermeister. The story's author has received special recognition.

For more advice, see TIPS in the “WHAT WE WANT.. .” following page.

HOW WE CAN HELP

We offer critiques and checkmark evaluations on stories that come to us. This does not imply an opportunity for resubmission. But many contest participants write that the value of our critiques is as significant as the prizes.

We also offer critiques on longer writings. In this way, we deepen our relationships with our writers, and the ensuing fun is enough to keep us going through this Eighth Contest (or even Ninth??). Please see the “Critiques” page to see examples of our work.

WELCOME TO CONTEST EIGHT, STORY WRITERS!

Sincerely,

Idore Anschell,
Director, 100 Words or Fewer Writing Contest

Women and Film in Africa Conference: Overcoming Social Barriers - Call for Papers

 

CALL FOR PAPERS - Women and Film in Africa Conference: Overcoming Social Barriers. Organised by the Africa Media Centre, University of Westminster

 

Date: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 November 2011

Venue: University of Westminster, Marylebone Campus

35 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5LS

 

This is a 1st Call for Papers for a conference on the contemporary and historical role played by women in the film, television and video industries in Africa. From the Arab North Africa, West Africa, Central and East Africa, through to Southern Africa, women have emerged from the double oppression of patriarchy and colonialism to become the unsung heroines of the moving image as producers, directors, actresses, script writers, financiers, promoters, marketers and distributors of film, television and video in postcolonial Africa. Sadly, such immense contributions by women are underrepresented, both in industry debates and in academic research. There are now many cases in which African women in front of and behind the camera have overcome social barriers and yet this is sidelined. This conference invites students, practitioners, academics and researchers to debate how women have contributed to film, television and video markets in Africa from pre-colonial, colonial to postcolonial periods. Existing industry and academic work should also discuss the ways female audiences in Africa have engaged with film, television and video texts. The conference will include a session with leading female filmmakers. Papers may include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following themes:

 

* The Influence of Feminism on African filmmakers

* Women in front and behind the camera in African film

* Women in the African feature film industry

* Women in technical roles in film, video and television in Africa

* Women documentary makers in Africa

* Gender and Representation of Women in African film

* Audiences for films by African women/Female audiences in Africa

* Case histories of leading African women film makers

* Women scriptwriters

* African women acting in video, film and television

* Censorship and the portrayal of African women in film and television

* The role of NGOs in commissioning women filmmakers and issue-based films

* How African governments have helped or hindered filmmaking by African women

 

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS

 

The deadline for submission of abstracts is Friday 16 September, 2011. Successful applicants will be notified by Friday 23 September, 2011. Abstracts should be 200 words long. They must include the title of the conference, presenter's name, affiliation, email and postal address, together with the title of the paper. Please ensure when saving your abstract that your name is part of the file name. Please email your abstract to Helen Cohen, Events Administrator at: journalism@westminster.ac.uk.

 

PROGRAMME AND REGISTRATION

 

This two day conference will take place on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 November, 2011. The fee for registration (which applies to all participants, including presenters) will be £135, with a concessionary rate of £55 for students, to cover all conference documentation, refreshments and administration costs. Registration will open in September 2011

 

Fair and Lovely

August 8, 2011

by Neelika Jayawardane

Horrified by the skin-lightening creams you see advertised in the cityscapes of Africa?

Wait till you see the adverts people walk past daily in India or Sri Lanka. This huge billboard (above) sits somewhere on the 10-kilometre distance from Kelaniya (my family’s ancestral home) to Colombo (the city). The script below the ever-whitening out images of the model says: “For white/light skin, apply daily”.

South Asians have Africans beat on this front.

People in the Indian subcontinent have been obsessed with light skins for…well, it’s a matter of debate as to the social and historical reasons behind why. Some say it is because of our agrarian heritage: those who had to work outdoors (most people) were darker from the sun. The few who could afford to stay indoors – especially the women of the wealthy – were lighter-skinned. So lighter skin displayed wealth and power, especially if your women (another asset through which to display wealth and power) were lighter skinned. It’s common on marriage-adverts to write that your daughter is “fair” as one of her added bonuses.

Others say that this obsession arrived along with the invasion by Aryans from the north – lighter skinned people originating from what is modern day Iran/Iraq (yes, Hitler Yougend, take note – Aryans are not Germanic peoples). They became the new rulers for several hundred years, encroaching on the Dravidian-populated India as far south as Mysore. In Sri Lanka, the Sinhala royalty often sent for marriageable women from India (there’s lots to say about that, but that’s for a different academic paper). So again, power, privilege were displayed by lighter skin. When our successive waves of European colonisers arrived, it didn’t help matters on the skin front.

Al Jazeera English tackled the skin deep issue last year:

Happily, Indians are finally making fun of the obsession with being ‘white’. Check out this spoof of the unbelievably popular skin-lightener, Fair and Lovely:

Come on, What’s Up Africa, where’s your version?

R/T S.Pathak

A CONVERSATION WITH

PUSH AUTHOR SAPPHIRE

by Sergio Mims

Few novels that have inspired more discussion or controversy than Push, written by the poet/author Sapphire. The 1996 book went on to become a best-seller, later adapted for the screen and becoming the equally discussed and controversial Academy Award-winning film Precious. Now Sapphire has returned with her new novel, The Kid, the years-in-progress Push sequel that deals with the tough and relentlessly brutal life of Precious’ second child, Abdul, which is also guaranteed to create much talk. 

Born Ramona Lofton in California to a peripatetic Army family, she eventually moved to New York and became deeply involved in the world of poetry writing and performance art, taking the name Sapphire because of its “cultural association with the image of a belligerent Black woman.” Her experiences during the 1980s in Harlem as a literacy instructor led to the inspiration for Push and The Kid. 

Recently, we had an opportunity to talk to Sapphire, who was on a nationwide tour for The Kid, about her new book, on why she hates the term “controversial” when it comes describing her and her work, and why language is the most powerful force on the planet.  

EBONY: Do you consider yourself controversial, a social realist, or are they one and the same? 

 

SAPPHIRE: Well, they shouldn’t be the same. What happens is that at various times when you’re writing about certain kinds of reality that affect society in a certain way, they will be controversial. Other times, they might be overlooked. If you went to the George Washington Bridge and took off your clothes, that would controversial, you know what I mean? So I think the term “controversial’ might just be another way of not wanting to deal with what the writer is talking about. The things that I write about are very real issues and, a lot of times, rather than deal with the issues, people will resort to personality over politics and such, like, what is “controversial”?

EBONY: Wouldn’t you agree that it’s a good thing to be “controversial,” in that it’s better to get a reaction from the audience, even if it’s negative, then getting a blasé one or no reaction at all? Wouldn’t you rather have people talking about your work than not at all? 

SAPPHIRE: Or people not looking at it at all. I see what you mean in that way. There is “controversy” that upsets people that could be deemed positive, because it gets people focused on the issues that you’re talking about. And there’s controversy that gets people off the issues you’re talking about. That is why I don’t like to be called “controversial.” Instead of focusing on what my work is about, it veers off into something else totally.

EBONY: Which reminds me of what a friend of mine said after she saw Precious: The only people who would be upset by the film had either experienced some or a lot of what Precious went through, did to someone what she went through or knew of someone who experienced it and did nothing to help. 

SAPPHIRE: Wow. I’ve never heard anyone put it quite like that.

EBONY: In an article I recently read about you, you referred to the Russian writer Dostoevsky and said he wrote exclusively about the poverty, oppression, dysfunctional families, even in Crime and Punishment. Yet no one ever went up to him and said, “Why don’t you write about something nice instead of all this sad stuff?” Aren’t African-American writers put under this burden when it comes to Black imagery and what is perceived to be “negative”?

SAPPHIRE: Exactly! You know, it’s the exact same thing they said to Richard Wright, the exact same thing they said to Alice Walker, the exact same thing they said to Ralph Ellison. So at some point we cannot be stopped by that. The artist cannot be stopped by that. We have a job. I’m not your massage therapist. I’m not here to make you feel good. That’s really not my job. Can you imagine someone going up Charlie Parker when Bird was bringing in bebop and saying, “That’s music doesn’t make us feel good; could you play ‘Summertime’?” You know what I mean? Or saying to Coltrane, “Stop all that damn screeching. It doesn’t make us feel food. Play ‘Swanee River’ or ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’; we’re tired of ‘My Favorite Things’ and ‘A Love Supreme.’”

EBONY: No doubt, a lot of people will assume that you wrote The Kid to capitalize on the success of Push/Precious. But hadn’t you actually been working on it for some 10 years? 

SAPPHIRE: I actually stared on this novel in the late 1990s. I started on Push in 1993, and when I signed the contract with Random House, it was for two books. The second book for the publisher was my book of poetry, Black Wings and Blind Angels, so to fulfill that, I stopped working on The Kid. The poetry book was published in 1999 and I went back to working on The Kid, which back then I was calling The History of the Future. I clearly remember sitting at my desk working on it on Sept. 11, 2001, when someone came up to tell me that the World Trade Center had been bombed. So I’ve been working on it a long time.

And I probably could have still been working on it—it could have turned into a Ralph Ellison scenario—if it hadn’t been for the movie. The movie lit a fire under me and made me realize that people still cared, that it wasn’t just a flash in the pan, that people are concerned about African-American kids maybe in a way that they had never been concerned before.

EBONY: This is perhaps an unfair question, but why did it take you so long to write The Kid? 

SAPPHIRE: I stopping working on it to write the book of poetry, then I started working on it again, then I took a series of academic positions. But I was still working on The Kid even if it was 15 minutes or an hour a day. So I had most of the book written by the time the movie came out, but I hadn’t finished it in my mind. I gave it to a friend to read, then later I gave her the manuscript to read it again, and she said: “Sapphire, it was good when I read it five years ago. You’re caught in the cycle of perfectionism. At some point, you need to cut the umbilical cord and let this book go.” I really thought it was now or never. If I didn’t do it in the wake of the success of the movie then, when was I going to do it?

EBONY: So are you saying that writing, for you, is sort of a form of therapy? 

SAPPHIRE: No, I wouldn’t say that. For me, writing is my avocation, the job I have chosen to do in the world. For me, therapy is therapy. If you need therapy, go see a therapist or go to African dance class to heal yourself.

EBONY: What I was getting at was that you use writing as a way to express your anger or rage, to address what you see as issues that are avoided or aren’t dealt with in society. 

SAPPHIRE: I wouldn’t say that. There are stories I have decided to tell as an artist and the medium I use is writing. But I wouldn’t say that I am using writing as a way of releasing my rage or my feelings. I channel my feeling to create these characters who I then give the appropriate feelings for their situations.

EBONY: Why did you choose writing as your medium of expression instead of, say, painting, sculpture or music? 

SAPPHIRE: I feel that writing is the most powerful form of expression. I think that music is powerful; it is the form that transcends every other emotion and it is the form that is understood by everybody. But it is language that shapes our destiny. You have to remember that it was Thomas Jefferson who used language to say that African-Americans were three-fifths human, and therefore, the Declaration of Independence did not apply to us. And it was language that wrote us back in as human. It is language that makes the difference between a single mother and an unwed mother. It is language that makes the difference between a survivor and a victim, a nigger and an African-American. That’s all language, isn’t it?

EBONY: Do you expect that kind of reaction and impact that Push would have when you wrote it? 

SAPPHIRE: No. I knew that it would have impact. I thought it would appreciated by a small artistic circle. Yes, you have “famous” part, the movie, the Oscars and all of that, but what is happening now is Push being required reading for some courses by 100 schools of social work, it being used by psychiatrists in training in Harlem hospitals as way to deal with rape victims, it being recommended by 12-step programs leaders and therapists for clients to read. But the movie took it to another level.

EBONY: Are you hoping that The Kid will have the same sort of impact and fevered discussion? 

SAPPHIRE: I hope it will. Earlier this week I was in Miami doing a reading at Miami Dade Junior College, and they bought in—without my advance knowledge—a group of foster children 17,18 and 19 years old who were aging out of the system involved with people who were working to see that they didn’t wind up in jail or homeless, because these kids wind up with nothing. One of the subjects that comes up in the book that people don’t want to talk about very much is that we have African-American children in this country who never get a change to be adopted, yet we have people who will go all the way to Russia to get a baby while we have children here. I sat next to a pretty little dark-skinned Black girl, 17 years old, who looked just like Naomi Campbell.  She told me she entered the system when she was 4, and never once did she ever come up for adoption. Why? Why?

EBONY: Obviously, because Black children are not as valued or respected as White children. 

SAPPHIRE: Exactly! None of those Black children ever had a chance to be adopted. They stayed in foster care their entire childhoods. I wanted to say something about that. I wanted to have a discussion about that.

 

__________________________

October 27, 2009 

Sapphire speaks about how her novel "Push" became the inspiration for the new movie "Precious," and her skepticism when she was first approached by the director, Lee Daniels.

>via: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5426263n

“I Can Handle It”:

On Relationship Violence,

Independence, and Capability

by Autumn Whitefield-Madrano on 8.8.2011

Who Rules America? An Investment Manager Breaks Down the Economic Top 1%, Says 0.1% Controls Political and Legislative Process July 23rd, 2011

Sent in from G. William Domhoff, author of Who Rules America?

This article was written by an investment manager who works with very wealthy clients. I knew him from decades ago, but he recently e-mailed me with some concerns he had about what was happening with the economy. What he had to say was informative enough that I asked if he might fashion what he had told me into a document for the Who Rules America Web site. He agreed to do so, but only on the condition that the document be anonymous, because he does not want to jeopardize his relationships with his clients or other investment professionals.

I sit in an interesting chair in the financial services industry. Our clients largely fall into the top 1%, have a net worth of $5,000,000 or above, and if working make over $300,000 per year. My observations on the sources of their wealth and concerns come from my professional and social activities within this group.

Work by various economists and tax experts make it indisputable that the top 1% controls a widely disproportionate share of the income and wealth in the United States. When does one enter that top 1%? (I’ll use “k” for 1,000 and “M” for 1,000,000 as we usually do when communicating with clients or discussing money; thousands and millions take too much time to say.) Available data isn’t exact. but a family enters the top 1% or so today with somewhere around $300k to $400k in pre-tax income and over $1.2M in net worth. Compared to the average American family with a pre-tax income in the mid-$50k range and net worth around $120k, this probably seems like a lot of money. But, there are big differences within that top 1%, with the wealth distribution highly skewed towards the top 0.1%.

The Lower Half of the Top 1%

The 99th to 99.5th percentiles largely include physicians, attorneys, upper middle management, and small business people who have done well. Everyone’s tax situation is, of course, a little different. On earned income in this group, we can figure somewhere around 25% to 30% of total pre-tax income will go to Federal, State, and Social Security taxes, leaving them with around $250k to $300k post tax. This group makes extensive use of 401-k’s, SEP-IRA’s, Defined Benefit Plans, and other retirement vehicles, which defer taxes until distribution during retirement. Typical would be yearly contributions in the $50k to $100k range, leaving our elite working group with yearly cash flows of $175k to $250k after taxes, or about $15k to $20k per month.

Until recently, most studies just broke out the top 1% as a group. Data on net worth distributions within the top 1% indicate that one enters the top 0.5% with about $1.8M, the top 0.25% with $3.1M, the top 0.10% with $5.5M and the top 0.01% with $24.4M. Wealth distribution is highly skewed towards the top 0.01%, increasing the overall average for this group. The net worth for those in the lower half of the top 1% is usually achieved after decades of education, hard work, saving and investing as a professional or small business person. While an after-tax income of $175k to $250k and net worth in the $1.2M to $1.8M range may seem like a lot of money to most Americans, it doesn’t really buy freedom from financial worry or access to the true corridors of power and money. That doesn’t become frequent until we reach the top 0.1%.

I’ve had many discussions in the last few years with clients with “only” $5M or under in assets, those in the 99th to 99.9th percentiles, as to whether they have enough money to retire or stay retired. That may sound strange to the 99% not in this group but generally accepted “safe” retirement distribution rates for a 30 year period are in the 3-5% range with 4% as the current industry standard. Assuming that the lower end of the top 1% has, say, $1.2M in investment assets, their retirement income will be about $50k per year plus maybe $30k-$40k from Social Security, so let’s say $90k per year pre-tax and $75-$80k post-tax if they wish to plan for 30 years of withdrawals. For those with $1.8M in retirement assets, that rises to around $120-150k pretax per year and around $100k after tax. If someone retires with $5M today, roughly the beginning rung for entry into the top 0.1%, they can reasonably expect an income of $240k pretax and around $190k post tax, including Social Security.

While income and lifestyle are all relative, an after-tax income between $6.6k and $8.3k per month today will hardly buy the fantasy lifestyles that Americans see on TV and would consider “rich”. In many areas in California or the East Coast, this positions one squarely in the hard working upper-middle class, and strict budgeting will be essential. An income of $190k post tax or $15.8k per month will certainly buy a nice lifestyle but is far from rich. And, for those folks who made enough to accumulate this much wealth during their working years, the reduction in income and lifestyle during retirement can be stressful. Plus, watching retirement accounts deplete over time isn’t fun, not to mention the ever-fluctuating value of these accounts and the desire of many to leave a substantial inheritance. Our poor lower half of the top 1% lives well but has some financial worries.

Since the majority of those in this group actually earned their money from professions and smaller businesses, they generally don’t participate in the benefits big money enjoys. Those in the 99th to 99.5th percentile lack access to power. For example, most physicians today are having their incomes reduced by HMO’s, PPO’s and cost controls from Medicare and insurance companies; the legal profession is suffering from excess capacity, declining demand and global outsourcing; successful small businesses struggle with increasing regulation and taxation. I speak daily with these relative winners in the economic hierarchy and many express frustration.

Unlike those in the lower half of the top 1%, those in the top half and, particularly, top 0.1%, can often borrow for almost nothing, keep profits and production overseas, hold personal assets in tax havens, ride out down markets and economies, and influence legislation in the U.S. They have access to the very best in accounting firms, tax and other attorneys, numerous consultants, private wealth managers, a network of other wealthy and powerful friends, lucrative business opportunities, and many other benefits. Most of those in the bottom half of the top 1% lack power and global flexibility and are essentially well-compensated workhorses for the top 0.5%, just like the bottom 99%. In my view, the American dream of striking it rich is merely a well-marketed fantasy that keeps the bottom 99.5% hoping for better and prevents social and political instability. The odds of getting into that top 0.5% are very slim and the door is kept firmly shut by those within it.

The Upper Half of the Top 1%

Membership in this elite group is likely to come from being involved in some aspect of the financial services or banking industry, real estate development involved with those industries, or government contracting. Some hard working and clever physicians and attorneys can acquire as much as $15M-$20M before retirement but they are rare. Those in the top 0.5% have incomes over $500k if working and a net worth over $1.8M if retired. The higher we go up into the top 0.5% the more likely it is that their wealth is in some way tied to the investment industry and borrowed money than from personally selling goods or services or labor as do most in the bottom 99.5%. They are much more likely to have built their net worth from stock options and capital gains in stocks and real estate and private business sales, not from income which is taxed at a much higher rate. These opportunities are largely unavailable to the bottom 99.5%.

Recently, I spoke with a younger client who retired from a major investment bank in her early thirties, net worth around $8M. We can estimate that she had to earn somewhere around twice that, or $14M-$16M, in order to keep $8M after taxes and live well along the way, an impressive accomplishment by such an early age. Since I knew she held a critical view of investment banking, I asked if her colleagues talked about or understood how much damage was created in the broader economy from their activities. Her answer was that no one talks about it in public but almost all understood and were unbelievably cynical, hoping to exit the system when they became rich enough.

Folks in the top 0.1% come from many backgrounds but it’s infrequent to meet one whose wealth wasn’t acquired through direct or indirect participation in the financial and banking industries. One of our clients, net worth in the $60M range, built a small company and was acquired with stock from a multi-national. Stock is often called a “paper” asset. Another client, CEO of a medium-cap tech company, retired with a net worth in the $70M range. The bulk of any CEO’s wealth comes from stock, not income, and incomes are also very high. Last year, the average S&P 500 CEO made $9M in all forms of compensation. One client runs a division of a major international investment bank, net worth in the $30M range and most of the profits from his division flow directly or indirectly from the public sector, the taxpayer. Another client with a net worth in the $10M range is the ex-wife of a managing director of a major investment bank, while another was able to amass $12M after taxes by her early thirties from stock options as a high level programmer in a successful IT company. The picture is clear; entry into the top 0.5% and, particularly, the top 0.1% is usually the result of some association with the financial industry and its creations. I find it questionable as to whether the majority in this group actually adds value or simply diverts value from the US economy and business into its pockets and the pockets of the uber-wealthy who hire them. They are, of course, doing nothing illegal.

I think it’s important to emphasize one of the dangers of wealth concentration: irresponsibility about the wider economic consequences of their actions by those at the top. Wall Street created the investment products that produced gross economic imbalances and the 2008 credit crisis. It wasn’t the hard-working 99.5%. Average people could only destroy themselves financially, not the economic system. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but the collapse was primarily due to the failure of complex mortgage derivatives, CDS credit swaps, cheap Fed money, lax regulation, compromised ratings agencies, government involvement in the mortgage market, the end of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, and insufficient bank capital. Only Wall Street could put the economy at risk and it had an excellent reason to do so: profit. It made huge profits in the build-up to the credit crisis and huge profits when it sold itself as “too big to fail” and received massive government and Federal Reserve bailouts. Most of the serious economic damage the U.S. is struggling with today was done by the top 0.1% and they benefited greatly from it.

Not surprisingly, Wall Street and the top of corporate America are doing extremely well as of June 2011. For example, in Q1 of 2011, America’s top corporations reported 31% profit growth and a 31% reduction in taxes, the latter due to profit outsourcing to low tax rate countries. Somewhere around 40% of the profits in the S&P 500 come from overseas and stay overseas, with about half of these 500 top corporations having their headquarters in tax havens. If the corporations don’t repatriate their profits, they pay no U.S. taxes. The year 2010 was a record year for compensation on Wall Street, while corporate CEO compensation rose by over 30%, most Americans struggled. In 2010 a dozen major companies, including GE, Verizon, Boeing, Wells Fargo, and Fed Ex paid US tax rates between -0.7% and -9.2%. Production, employment, profits, and taxes have all been outsourced. Major U.S. corporations are currently lobbying to have another “tax-repatriation” window like that in 2004 where they can bring back corporate profits at a 5.25% tax rate versus the usual 35% US corporate tax rate. Ordinary working citizens with the lowest incomes are taxed at 10%.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is this: A highly complex and largely discrete set of laws and exemptions from laws has been put in place by those in the uppermost reaches of the U.S. financial system. It allows them to protect and increase their wealth and significantly affect the U.S. political and legislative processes. They have real power and real wealth. Ordinary citizens in the bottom 99.9% are largely not aware of these systems, do not understand how they work, are unlikely to participate in them, and have little likelihood of entering the top 0.5%, much less the top 0.1%. Moreover, those at the very top have no incentive whatsoever for revealing or changing the rules. I am not optimistic.

8 August 2011 Last updated at 21:00 ET

London riots:

Violence erupts for third day

Click to play

 

Trevor Reeves said his business which has been in his family for five generations has been "completely trashed"

Fires have been burning in parts of London after a third day of violence and looting on the city's streets.

Shops were looted and buildings set alight as police clashed with youths. The trouble also spread to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol.

Violence first flared on Saturday after a peaceful protest in Tottenham over the fatal shooting of a man by police.

The prime minister is returning early from holiday to chair a meeting of the government's emergency committee Cobra.

David Cameron, who is on holiday in Italy, was due to board a flight on Monday night ahead of a meeting with Home Secretary Theresa May and Acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner Tim Godwin on Tuesday.

A government spokesman said the prime minister has been monitoring the situation on "an hourly basis".

'Mindless thuggery'

At least 225 people have been arrested and 36 charged following the riots across London over the past three days, Scotland Yard said.

It added that an extra 1,700 officers had been deployed across the capital on Monday night. Nine police forces from other parts of the country were assisting in providing support, as well as the City of London Police and British Transport Police.

Commander Christine Jones, from the Met, said: "The violence we have seen is simply inexcusable.

"Ordinary people have had their lives turned upside down by this mindless thuggery. The Met will ensure that those responsible will face the consequences of their actions and be arrested."

Shops have been looted across the capital

Monday's violence started in Hackney after a man was stopped and searched by police but nothing was found.

The trouble spread outside London on Monday evening and early on Tuesday, with police in riot gear being deployed in Birmingham city centre after scores of youths rampaged through the shopping area, smashing windows and looting from shops.

West Midlands Police also confirmed that a police station in Holyhead Road in Handsworth, Birmingham, was on fire.

In Birmingham, police said officers had made 100 arrests.

There were reports of cars being damaged in Manchester and of up to 200 youths with masks roaming through Toxteth in Liverpool.

Merseyside police said they were dealing with a number of incidents in south Liverpool, including cars being set alight.

Police in Bristol said they were dealing with outbreaks of disorder involving about 150 people.

Meanwhile in London:

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

It looks like a war zone - I have never seen anything like it in all my life”

End Quote Christian Potts Ealing resident

• Several fires broke out in Croydon, including one at a large sofa factory which spread to neighbouring buildings and tram lines
• In Hackney 200 riot officers with dogs and mounted police were located around Mare Street where police cars were damaged
• Looters raided a Debenhams store and a row of shops in Lavender Hill in Clapham, as well as shops in Stratford High Street
• A Sony warehouse in Solar Way, Enfield, a shopping centre in Woolwich New Road, a timber yard in Plashet Grove, East Ham and a building on Lavender Hill were all on fire
• More than 100 people looted a Tesco store in Bethnal Green, the Met said, and two officers were injured
• Cars were set on fire in Lewisham
• A bus and shop were set alight in Peckham
• Buses were diverted as the violence spread to Bromley High Street
• There were reports of looting of phone shops in Woolwich High Street, in south London, and a torched police car
• Shops and restaurants were damaged in Ealing, west London, and there was a fire in Haven Green park opposite Ealing Broadway Tube
• Football matches at Charlton and West Ham which were due to be played on Tuesday have been postponed at the request of the police
• At Clapham Junction looters stole masks from a fancy dress store to hide their identity

The fresh violence prompted Mr Godwin to call on parents to contact their children and urge the public to clear London's streets.

In the first outbreak of violence on Monday, groups of people began attacking the police in Hackney at about 16:20 BST, throwing rocks and a bin at officers.

Police cars were also smashed by youths armed with wooden poles and metal bars.

Looters also smashed their way into shops, including a JD Sports store, before being dispersed by police.

One resident in Croydon, who gave his name as Adam, said he saw two cars which had been set on fire.

Click to play

 

Advertisement

Philippa Thomas reports from Hackney

He said: "One older woman was dragged out and they set the car on fire. Then another car around the corner was on fire, then we counted about 12 to 15 shops that had been looted.

"The looting started about three hours ago. I just came back into my apartment and the looting was still going on - not a single policeman."

Ealing resident Christian Potts, 29, was driving through the area when he witnessed the disturbances.

"It looks like a war zone - I have never seen anything like it in all my life," he said.

"There were about 25 to 30 masked youths on Haven Green and they just started tearing into a florist with bricks.

"It's a local family-run business so I can't see why they are doing this."

In Birmingham City Centre looters attacked shops, smashing windows and stealing items.

'Sheer criminality'

An eyewitness said windows have been smashed in McDonalds and Jessops near Birmingham Cathedral and a sign has been thrown through a gym window.

London's mayor Boris Johnson is cutting short his holiday to return to the city.

Home Secretary Theresa May also returned early from holiday, to meet Metropolitan Police (Met) chiefs to discuss their response to the violence.

Continue reading the main story

At the scene

Alix Kroeger BBC News, in Hackney

---

In a lane off Mare Street the wreckage of a burnt-out car still smoulders, surrounded by riot police.

I was talking to one young man who had received on his BlackBerry a list of places where he said there will be further trouble tonight.

He didn't tell me which places and stressed it is speculation. But he and a friend told me frustration with poverty in the area was boiling over.

On Mare Street there is the sound of crunching as police vans run over broken glass. Much of it from a bottle bank which was overturned providing makeshift missiles for rioters who lobbed the bottles at police.

• Trouble in the heart of Hackney

Mrs May condemned the riots as "sheer criminality" and said those responsible would "face the consequences of their actions".

The trouble follows two nights of violence over the weekend which started after police shot a man dead in Tottenham.

Mrs May said: "The riots in Tottenham on Saturday night and the subsequent disturbances in other parts of London are totally unacceptable."

A peaceful protest in Tottenham on Saturday over the fatal shooting by police of Mark Duggan, 29, was followed by violence which spread into Sunday.

A candlelit vigil was due to be held at The High Cross in Tottenham on Monday evening.

Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh said there were "significant resources" on the streets, with a third more officers on duty than on Sunday.

He said: "When we have large numbers of criminals intent on that type of violence, we can only do that, get lots of officers there quickly and try to protect local businesses and local people."

But eyewitnesses reported as trouble spread across the city, there were often few police officers around when violence flared.

__________________________

UK Riots Live Blog

Firefighters tackle a blaze at a store attacked by rioters in Croydon, London [Reuters]

Follow the latest developments as riots spread to new areas of London and beyond in Britain's worst violence in decades.

10 min 27 sec ago - UK Riots

 

 

In this video uploaded by YouTube user ned1988 a crowd of rioters overwhelm police officers in Woolwich, London during late night clash on August 8, 2011:

Tags London, Looting, police, protest, rioting, violence, Woolwich

42 min 27 sec ago - UK Riots

Scotland Yard says 239 people have been arrested, 45 charged and one cautioned.

Tags London, Scotland Yard

49 min 27 sec ago - UK Riots

The latest press release by the Metropolitan Police:

Officers are working across London to protect people and property following serious outbreaks of disorder in a number of London boroughs. 

This includes:

Hackney, where 250 -300 people gathered in Pembury Estate, Hackney setting alight cars and throwing petrol bombs. In Mare Street, businesses were looted and officers contained the situation. Three officers were injured but their condition is not believed to be serious.

Newham, where there was looting in Stratford High Street. 

Lewisham, where roaming groups of youths were involved in disorder in a number of locations. 

Bethnal Green where more than 100 people looted a Tesco premises and two officers were injured. 

Croydon, where fires are burning at a number of premises including a very large blaze at a Sofa factory. 

Commander Christine Jones, said: "The violence we have seen is simply inexcusable. Ordinary people have had their lives turned upside down by this mindless thuggery. The Met will ensure that those responsible will face the consequences of their actions and be arrested."

The investigation into the disorder is continuing as we pursue those who have engaged in this appalling violence. So far, 225 people have been arrested and 36 people have been charged. Please be advised that this is a constantly changing picture. 

As part of the ongoing operation to protect London, more than 1,700 extra officers have been deployed tonight. MPS officers are working alongside colleagues from City of London Police and British Transport Police.

Mutual aid has been received and is ongoing from:

- Thames Valley Police
- Kent
- Essex
- Hampshire
- Surrey
- Northamptonshire
- Cambridgeshire
- Suffolk
- Sussex

Twelve specially-trained public order units are included in the mutual aid provision. 

Ongoing resilience and contingency planning is in place to ensure we can maintain our response.

Tags London, Metropolitan Police

1 hour 10 min ago - UK Riots

Greater Manchester police (@gmpolice) deny BBC reports of rioting in the region in the tweet:

Tags Looting, Manchester, riots, UK Riots, violence

1 hour 10 min ago - UK Riots

Greater Manchester police (@gmpolice) deny BBC reports of rioting in the region in the tweet:

Tags Looting, Manchester, riots, UK Riots, violence

1 hour 12 min ago - UK Riots

Al Jazeera's Barnaby Phillips, reporting from Stoke Newington, North London, said the area was calm because "the Turkish community - which is very close - is guarding its properties."

Tags London, North London, Northeast London, Stoke Newington1 hour 14 min ago - UK Riots

Report: West Midlands Police have made around 100 arrests after rioters rampaged across Birmingham city centre and some surrounding areas.

Tags Birmingham, West Midlands Police

1 hour 19 min ago - UK Riots

Ed Fraser, the head of home news at UK's Channel 4, tweets:

1 hour 33 min ago - UK Riots

Riots spread to a third British city on Monday night, with Liverpool the latest place to report looting and violence following outbreaks across London and in central Birmingham. 

Liverpool police said a small number of vehicles were set on fire and reported some criminal damage. 

The riots first erupted in London on Saturday night and were followed by a few pockets on violence on Sunday, but flared up and spread on Monday night when groups of hooded youths looted shops and started fires in neighbourhoods across London, and in central Birmingham.

Tags Birmingham, Liverpool, London

1 hour 36 min ago - UK Riots

Merseyside Police:  "Dealing with a number of isolated outbreaks of disorder, including burning cars and criminal damage, in the south Liverpool area."

>via: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/UK-Riots

__________________________

London riots:

Croydon residents leap

from burning buildings

as capital burns

People were forced to leap from the upstairs windows

of a burning building in Croydon last night

as rioting spread across London and beyond.

Image 1 of 3

A woman can be seen jumping from a burning building in Croydon Photo: WENN

By Murray Wardrop

11:00PM BST 08 Aug 2011

 

 

On the third consecutive night of violence and looting, hordes of balaclava-clad yobs stormed shops, setting fire to businesses indiscriminately.

As police fought running battles with mobs of rioters – many of them teenagers – detectives were also called to investigate a shooting incident. A Metropolitan Police source said the incident was believed to be “non-fatal”.

Among the casualties of the arson attacks was a furniture store that has stood for nearly 150 years in the south London borough.

Reeves, a family run business established in 1867, was engulfed in flames sending smoke billowing across the London skyline.

As the blaze raged out of control, the store’s owner Trevor Reeves said: “It’s just completely destroyed. Words fail me. It's just gone, it's five generations. My father is distraught. It's just mindless thuggery."

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His brother Graham added: "Our lives are destroyed, it will probably be someone else next week. It's horrendous.”

Elsewhere, residents trapped in flats above a burning pharmacist’s shop were forced to jump to safety from a first storey window.

Silhouetted against the inferno behind her, a young woman was captured hurling herself into the arms of firefighters waiting to catch her below.

The scenes of smashed shop windows and hordes of protesters pilfering goods stood in stark contrast to the defensive plans the police and local authority had laid out earlier in the day.

Still on the council’s website last night was a message warning would-be demonstrators that looting would not be tolerated in the borough.

It promised that “mobile enforcement unit dog patrols and neighbourhood enforcement officers” would provide “high-visibility presence in the town centre” and that CCTV would be monitored.

"People seeking to exploit what has happened in Tottenham is simply unacceptable and I want to make it clear that if you are contemplating coming to Croydon to attack our businesses, you will be caught, “ declared Council leader Mike Fisher.

However, by 8.30pm it became evident that the police had been outflanked, leaving firefighters to tackle the flaming ruins of the looters’ targets.

Witnesses described seeing every single shop window smashed along London Road – the main thoroughfare in the borough – as gangs of “marauding youths” left a trail of carnage, unchallenged by police.

Alan McCabe, landlord of Old Fox and Hounds pub in Croydon, said a mob of around 200 swept through the area.

“It kicked off very quickly, and we tried moving people out the pub as fast as possible,” he said.

“We blocked up the front doors and moved them out the back. I ripped off all the spirits off the optic behind the bar, so that if anyone did break in they couldn’t be used as Molotovs.

"I have never seen such a disregard for human life

"The grief they have caused people, the fear they have put in people's hearts, decent people who have done nothing to anyone.”

Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell said: "I'm sickened to see this happening in my town. My first instinct is sympathy for the businesses and residents who have been directly affected by what's happened.

"The main building which was seen on fire at Reeves Corner is a family business called Reeves, which has been there for a century, and it's been completely destroyed.

"The people responsible for this wanton violence need to be brought to justice."

 

IndiaIdan on Dec 8, 2010

India.Arie with Idan Raichel:
India.Arie and Idan Raichel share their experience in the creation of "Gift of Acceptance" which will be apart of her upcoming album "Open Door" coming soon

 

India.Arie - Gift Of Acceptance (Live 11.12. 2010)

 

11/11/2009, Museum of Jewish Heritage, NYC

 

 

Herbie Hancock, Greg Phillinganes, Kristina Train and India.Arie - Imagine (Live 11.12.2010)

 

 

__________________________

 

 

How India.Arie

got her groove back 

With 'musical soulmate' Idan Raichel, the soul maven opens a new door

by Rodney Carmichael

 

LISTEN TO RADIO REPORT

Air Loaf: India.Arie

India.Arie was absolutely giddy, like a schoolgirl with a secret crush, as she stepped on stage for her big reveal two weeks ago. She'd kept her new music under wraps for nearly six months, only divulging the extent of her ongoing collaboration with Israeli pop star Idan Raichel in a Creative Loafing interview two months prior.

The two of them had already appeared on stages together — with Arie singing Raichel's "Mey Nahar" ("River Waters") in Hebrew, accompanied by Raichel on piano — at New York's Museum of Jewish Heritage last November, and at a Kennedy Center concert in Washington, D.C., for Martin Luther King Day, with President Obama in attendance.

But Aug. 7 was the trump card, and a new beginning of sorts for Arie, as she prepared to present an album's worth of material written and composed with her self-professed "musical soulmate," whom she'd crossed cultural boundaries to meet. While walking through an Open Door — the title of both the listening performance and the eventual album to be released next spring — she was just as anxious to close one on an industry she no longer could allow to compromise her message and brand of acoustic soul.

"I never said anything I didn't want to say," Arie told a packed 7 Stages audience of family, friends and Twitter-following fans who'd inadvertently caused the website of her indie start-up label, SoulBird, to crash after she tweeted about a limited amount of tickets to the private event. "But I haven't said things that I do want to say."

When Arie charged out of the gate 10 years ago, proclaiming that she was "not the average girl in the video," it was a bold, self-affirming statement in an era where video hos were a hot commodity in black pop. While objectifying her body was out of the question, Arie says she did choose, on some songs, to sacrifice the acoustic sound that had garnered her such a strong local following at Yin Yang Cafe in the late '90s for a style of production that her label felt would make her more palatable to urban radio.

And it paid off. Spearheaded by that first single, "Video," her 2001 Motown debut, Acoustic Soul, was eventually certified double platinum.

But by the time she met Raichel, on a whim, during a 2008 vacation to Israel almost three Grammy awards and three albums later, Arie was nearing a point of desperation. The more she'd compromised for the sake of a radio single here or there, the more she saw a decline in album sales — which, though it probably had more to do with the insufferable state of the industry, still made her question the point of it all.

"I think that's what I started to hate about the music industry," said the 2010 Georgia Music Hall of Fame inductee, offering testimony between performing spiritual salvos with such cosmic titles as "The One," "Brother Sister," and "You Are a Star." "I was trying to push myself on people who might not like me [anyway]."

That certainly wasn't the case at 7 Stages, where a mixed bag of supporters, some of whom had driven or flown from as far as Alabama, North Carolina and British Columbia, gushed tears of praise during the talk-back session for Arie's ability to speak their language. "You gave me back my song, and I didn't even know I'd lost it," said one fan after hearing Raichel and Arie's new work. "It was water to my soul. Thank you for being frustrated enough to get to this point."

Arie's latest epiphany isn't a change in course as much as it is one of many reminders she's received on her path of evolution. Just as she crafted a personal mantra ("to spread love, healing, peace and joy through words and music") to remind her of her purpose after losing out on seven Grammy nods in 2002, her recent breakthrough came following an ego-bruising 2009 tour and subsequent prayer and writing sabbaticals she took to reconnect with her center.

"I've had to let go of certain people, worn out ideas about myself, and MOST OF ALL, I've had to let go of MY image of ME," she wrote in a post on her website, announcing the details of the invitation-only show a few weeks ago.

It felt like a homecoming as Arie was joined on stage by many of the pivotal friends and figures she launched her indie career with so many years ago, including longtime songwriting homie (and SoulBird signee) Anthony David, who showed up to sing background after she called on him the night before; bassist Khari Simmons, who came up with Arie in Atlanta's defunct Groovement artist collective and backed her on her first major tour, opening for Sade in '01; Anasa Troutman, close friend and former co-founder of Groovement and corresponding indie label Earthseed; as well as twangy-guitarist Blue Miller, who recorded with Arie on Acoustic Soul; and Hilda Willis, her long-time artistic coach and behind-the-scenes creative director.

Being the first breakout artist of the altruistic Groovement/Earthseed collective, Arie eventually exited to sign her major label deal with Motown in 2000. "We weren't really making money, and I wanted to make money," she reflected in a June CL interview. "It's been 10 years since I signed that deal. In hindsight, I threw away a lot of the things that I could've kept. ... I wish that there were just certain friendships that I could've held on to, and that I could've stayed in contact with certain people."

As Arie twirled and danced for the intimate 7 Stages' crowd in a free-flowing, white skirt and tank top, showing off moves that looked more improvised than choreographed (contrary to the program crediting choreography to Jai McClendon-Jones), her career seemed to have come full circle. While she breezed through songs like the reggae-tinged and surprisingly radio-friendly "Get Up" ("Get up/This is not the time to give up"), it became obvious that Arie still has those intangibles that have kept her commercially viable for a decade: the rich alto she dips, like a ladle, into those smoky, soul-stirring registers; the ability to convey the deepest truths in the simplest terms; and that unexplainable inner glow.

Still, some of her staunchest supporters — including her mom/stylist, who goes by her last name, Simpson, and her older brother, J'On — weren't entirely sold, at least before the show, on her renewed sense of direction. That was based on the incomplete tracks they'd heard. Worried that an album full of slow, brooding, piano-heavy songs might not pop, her brother had initially encouraged her to "do a song with [rapper] Rick Ross" — a pairing so odd even the audience gasped at the mention of his name.

While she's had some wildly diverse duet partners in her career — from Akon ("I Am Not My Hair") to John Cougar Mellencamp ("Peaceful World") to her idol Stevie Wonder ("A Time to Love") — none seem as inconceivable as her pairing with Raichel. Yet somehow, despite being worlds apart, they fit. Like the contrast of his blonde, matted dreads to her jet-black, cascading braids, Raichel's classical, melodic piano playing combines with Arie's folk and gospel-inspired vocals to strike a tender, emotional chord, especially when paired with trance-inducing, tribal drums (superbly played by Kinah Boto that night).

But could there be something more to them than that?

"She did try to hit on me," Raichel said in his thick Jewish accent, peeking over the piano with a blushing smirk. To which Arie pounced back, "Yeah, 'cause he's a superstar in Israel, and a sex symbol — which I don't get, but whatever."

Whether or not their flirtation is simply for show, their creative partnership seems to have sparked some of the best, and frankest, love songs of Arie's career, including "He Is the Shit" and the smoldering "Sixth Avenue," on which she guides listeners through a tour of historic NYC attractions before crooning on the hook, "My favorite place in the Empire State/is in bed with you."

But, ultimately, they hope their mutual admiration can set an example abroad. "You and I know how brave you are to even perform with an Israeli musician in these days," Raichel told Arie as they spoke of their desire to tour the world with a culturally diverse group of musicians from the war-torn Middle East.

After addressing the need to elevate human consciousness by cutting through cultural barriers in the song "Gift of Acceptance," Arie stressed the point she hopes their collaboration will make: "Tolerance is different than acceptance."

As guilty as Arie may be of sounding hippie-dippie at times, she hasn't totally forsaken the business of music. The very purpose of the show was to corral a concentration of her fan base together to get their reaction to the new music, which could go a long way when the time comes to market and promote Open Door. That fact was not lost on her new manager, industry vet Ron Gillyard (who seemed encouraged, if a little bewildered, at the power of her http://twitter.com/indiaarie">Twitter following), or BET's programming guru Stephen Hill, who was also present.

Finally, Arie turned to her mother — a former Motown singer who opened for the likes of Stevie Wonder and Al Green back in the day — to ask her opinion, after having had the opportunity to hear Arie and Raichel's musical creation performed live.

"Now I hear your story and I see your story," Simpson said. "I'm listening."

But the critical moment came as the two-hour performance and hour-long talk-back drew to a close. With fans fully forewarned that anyone caught recording or photographing the performance would get the boot, an audience member wanted to know, now that it was over, if he still had to keep it a secret.

"Can we tweet about it?" he asked.

Arie gleamed back at him with a coy smile and tucked her chin as if she was flattered, before responding with a squeak:

"Please!"