i needed You...

Inspired by his extensive work as a violinist in NYC, Curtis reworks the meaning of being "Of Color" though dynamic arrangements of JS Bach, John Coltrane, Anton Webern, OutKast, Jazz Standards and Original Compositions for Jazz violin, trio, string quartet and the occasional live-electronic remix.  

17 Violin Sonata In G Minor Fugue - J.S. Bach, Remix By Tyler Gilmore

7 Prototype - Outkast

Pedal Pedal - production, lyrics, performance, violin by Curtis Stewart.
www.curtisjstewart.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQZoncfRQFY

Pedal Pedal

Workin' on my production chops , homemade visualization, and songwriting....REMMMIIIXXXXX.

www.curtisjstewart.com

https://youtu.be/prcPZESnmIQ

BRIGHTSIDE

OBSESSED
[trigger warning - sensitive content]

“No one will take this rage away
I hope you never hear this the same way”

Classical Music - if you ever wanted to be “equitable,” “representative,” or at least “relevant....”

you better show up, RIGHT. NOW.

Ysaye - Sonata #2 - arranged for Violin, Voice and Sonic Graffiti

OBSESSED

Ysaye Obsession - Sonata #2 for solo violin i.

-SHOOK- 
keep the flame lit. tap in, self care, tap back. repeat.

Personally, I haven't been able to contribute thru direct action- for familial responsibilities and my own health concerns. Also, in my state, I don't know if I am ready to be a "good" protester in the street. Oooooooo, damn, if they put a hand on me or mine.

I sink into absolute rage everyday. I imagine many of you do too. Part of it is directed at my own sense of powerlessness. Until I find a healthier way to engage, a way of seeing, I plan to rage on : Birth by fire. 

For now, Consider donating and checking out
https://justiceforbreonna.org
https://transformharm.org
https://www.joincampaignzero.org/
colorofchange.org/ 

I know, these are the more popular organizations, more to come, more to dig in to.  Some of these were suggested to me, please pass them around. 

it's a LONG LONG path. When ready ONLY - Please consider work to keep our community inspired and fired up. I plan to work on re-framing the scenario, building opportunity for black voices, volunteering if possible (ah, time...), holding space for the pain and rage of oppressed voices- in other words - LISTENING and making known my intention, relating friends'/families'/heroes' stories, sharing my fire/fear/reality to PUSH,  Getting artsy...y'all know how to do that. My goal is to get to triggering, de-normalizing. That's where I'm at now. Where are you? How are you?

We need to be healthy, and we need to maintain the current radical reformational spirit

SHOOK

Let her not just be a hashtag

https://justiceforbreonna.org/

POST about Breonna, using the hashtags #BreonnaTaylor and #JusticeForBre. Her story has yet to receive the national attention it must to cause local systems to respond. Share her story, images of her smiling face, and tag the responsible parties. On Twitter, use @LMPD, @LouisvilleMayor, and @GovAndyBeshear. On Instagram, use @LMPD.ky, @MayorGregFischer, and @GovAndyBeshear. We can not stop until she receives a response.

MAKE CALLS  & SEND EMAILS for Breonna to the investigative agencies, institutions and individuals in charge and make the demands known!
 

Special Prosecutor State AG Daniel Cameron 

502-696-5300

Contact Form; attorney.general@ag.ky.gov

Mayor Greg Fischer

(502) 574-2003

Greg.Fischer@louisvilleky.gov

Commonwealth’s Atty Thomas Wine

JCooke@louisvilleprosecutor.com

LMPD Chief Steve Conrad

(502) 574-7660

Kentucky Gov. Andy Breshear

(502) 564-2611

NEW: Police Public Integrity Unit

(502) 574-2136

NEW: Louisville Metro Council

(502) 574.3902




https://www.lfpl.org/how-to/pdf/How-to-reach-elected-officials.pdf

 

Speak and/or write clearly that you make the following demands on behalf of Breonna Taylor & her family: 

The Mayor and City Council address the use of force by LMPD.
Fire and revoke the pensions of the officers that murdered Breonna. Arrest, charge, and convict them for this crime.
Provide all necessary information to a local, independent civilian community police accountability council #CPAC.
Create policy for transparent investigation process due to law enforcement misconduct. 
Drop all charges for Kenneth Walker, Breonna’s boyfriend, who attempted to defend them and their home. [DEMAND MET]
Release the 911 call to the public for accountability. [DEMAND MET]
Eliminate No Knock warrants
(Updated 6-4-2020)

Donate to the #LouisvilleBailFund to get protestors released: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/louisville-community-bail-fund/

Donate to the Justice for Breonna Taylor Go Fund me: https://www.gofundme.com/f/9v4q2-justice-for-breonna-taylor


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x

#HerName

I got 99 problems...and $ is most of 'em...

www.curtisjstewart.com

Can’t sleep/ this money creeps into my mind. 
The blank sheets of paper can’t outdo the ones with all the lines. 
The black scribble anxiety skritch scratch  thrash time over time 
keep replay scenarios not -sure what im tryna  find 

//If only i was making more.
// If only we had./
// If only i knew to take more.
// Time to Change the plan. 
 
If only if only no homie I’m not a vic-tim. 
I get a lot i lose a lot in regular rhy-thm.
I can’t seem to plan for all the knots in the sys-tem. 
Sometimes it’s me sometimes it’s them either way i keep trip-pin
 
Not enough hours for her care. / That’s ok..
because not all people get fair/ treatment these days
 maybe my moms one of them there. Maybe she has been ensnared. (spared?)
Maybe I’m not really her protector. Maybe i fucked up maybe i wrecked her. 
 
//If only i was making more.
// If only we had./
// If only i knew to take more.
// How to Change the plan. 
 
so many bleeps and blops / just -in / Her -house/
I don’t really sleep a lot / no-thing /that -counts/
Lay awake her snores / are kind-/a sooth-/ing. 
Let -me know /she still here / keep -pro/ving. 
Suddenly i wake up in the morning without choosing. 
Repeat - it nightly slightly worse off we just keep losing.
Typing to let go of these ‘ziety’s instead of snoozing
Really have no fucking clue tho what am i doing 

Sample - Beethoven Piano Sonata #26 op. 81a "Les adieux"

Beethoven 2020

StayWoke. 
.
a re-imagining of Childish Gambino's "Redbone"
.
gotta push. gotta get out. gotta support. amplify the crowd
gotta feel  / better. gotta stay / raging. gotta heal. /  gotta keep do/nating. 
gotta cut it open again. gotta repeal 50a. 
gotta write and gotta push a thought out. Keep this fire feeling at bay.
they did it for centuries. cant you do it for a week? 
(cant you see what you seek?) tho you’ve been doing it for a lifetime... 
you didn't even know it. Didn’t know that you reek.
didn't know that to some,  your life was a crime. 
.
Drip. drip. Drip. drip.
.
you didn't know that your life was a crime. until they told you. 
until they wanted you to bring the white people back. until they showed you. 
until they assumed you play jazz. until they made you the boss but paid you like the worker.  
Denial is real. Im good. racism is what it is. so is mass hunger. So is murder.
so is violent crime. But those who defined right and wrong also turned the other way 
.
when the daylight was too harshly gleaming 
off the blood spilling from the fresh black body on the pave.
.
American lynching.  American dreaming.
.
Drip. drip./ our society /is leaking.  our lives are leaking. 
/my mouth is leaking. drained / desperate for needed healing.  
/you ask me how i am doing. / you ask me if i am ok. 
/thank you for asking, and forget you too,/ you don’t get to touch this pain.
/thank you for asking and /here's my go to joke. 
/thank you for asking, cant vote to vent the rage.
/but you need to know, you need to hear. you need to feel the scope. 
/according to me. /according to the drips /and drops, falling day by day.
Brazenly making themselves known.  /The squeaky wheels/
/ get the grease.../ /but forget the grease,/ i need a mop. 
 /we need a mop. /we need a shift. /forget asking, at least/
/and grab a bucket, /soak up drop by drop spilled by police
.
storytelling is power. Tell Yours.

StayWoke

Complexion - Thundercat / Kendrick Lamar 
---
a reworking + rewording.
Complexion, it don't mean a thing...

Complexion - violin cover

Gone For Now

Curtis Stewart has received special mention from JazzTimes, and Downbeat Magazines, "Holding his audiences spellbound” with his  “warm, clear sound…sparkling rhythmic energy,” “soulful improvisation” and “prodigious technique.”  He has made chamber music appearances at Zankel Hall, and the Newport Jazz Festival, and has performed as a soloist with the National Repertory Orchestra, in Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. STRAD Magazine called Curtis “a gem of string player, among the excellent musicians…whose impressive work contributed to many of the night's high points…his swinging flights were among the most memorable.”  
Curtis’ has played with Wyclef Jean, Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Heath, and performance installations at the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim Museum and Museum of Modern Art with Jason Moran, Henry Threadgill, among others. 

Curtis Stewart 6

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