Grover Washington Jr. - Make Me A Memory (Sad Samba)

This is a beautiful live video. "Winelight" was one of my first purchases when I first started listening to Jazz. The other was George Howard's "Asphalt Gardens." Both artist passed away at an early age. Nevertheless, I love that smooth 80s Jazz music. It brings back such pleasant memories. Enjoy.

Memories of A Sunday Kind Of Love

I love this song by Etta James, "A Sunday Kind of Love." I loved it so much that I gave the title to my Sunday night show on WHCJ at Savannah State University (College in my day) in Savannah, Georgia in the early 90s. I was on-air every Sunday evening from 8:00 p.m. - 12 midnight. It was one of the few commitments that I would keep on a weekly basis for more than 3 years. That's how I knew that it was true love. It lasted longer than any of my campus relationships.


Although I have moved on with life and married, I still think about that commitment now and then; of course, it is usually on Sundays as 8:00 p.m. approaches. Back then, I would jump on my bike with my sack of choice music and glide on over to the station. Once that big hand hit the 8, I'd hit play and on came... "Summer Madness" by Kool and the Gang. I know. Why didn't I use Etta? Well, I thought that it would be too obvious. Plus, "Summer Madness" was a great music bed while I introduced myself and the night's show:


Good evening. You're listening to Savannah State radio, WHCJ-90.3 FM. This is your host, Stephen Bess, and thank you for joining me this evening for another edition of "A Sunday Kind of Love." Please, just sit back and relax and I will take care of the rest...


Man, I loved it! Yes, those were good times. I will never forget those days. I enjoyed some quiet times every Sunday night in that campus studio. I took request and talked to friends of the station over the phone. Once in a while, I even received a visit from a friend on campus. However, most of the time it was just me and the microphone. Well, now that those days are behind me, I just listen to Ms. Etta sing as I reminisce of "A Sunday Kind of Love" at WHCJ radio. Those were good times. Good night everybody.

John Lee Hooker - Hobo Blues

John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 – June 21, 2001) is one of my favorite Blues singers. He was so poetic and creative with his guitar and lyrics. I think of the Blues as a linguistic record of African American Vernacular English. Listen closely and you will understand. Well, if you were raised in an environment where that language was spoken, you will have a better understanding. Enjoy. Peace~

Meme: What's in a name?

Rethabile has tagged me for this meme concerning the name of my blog.

Here are the rules:
Have you ever wondered why some blogs are called what they're called? I hope so, because you have just been tagged. Please participate if you can. Here are the steps: (1) Explain the name of your blog. Why this name and what does it mean? (2) Find two blogs/bloggers with groovy names and and tag them.

The reason behind the name:
Morphological Confetti’s name is a combination of my love for the spoken word and music. It was difficult to come up with a name for this blog when I first started in April of 2005. I wanted it to be catchy and I wanted it to have everything to do with the art of the written word. So, I looked up words and synonyms of this or that word and finally came up with Morphology, which refers to the patterns of word formation in a particular language. So, I had morphology, but morphology what? Then, one day I was listening to one of my all time favorite hip hop groups, De La Soul. Well, they have this song called, Plug Tunin’ (12’ version); these are some of the best lyrics in hip hop. The rest of my blog name comes from the part in the song when they sing:

“Flowing in file with a new style
Barrels are cleaned and loaded for salute
Chanters with the choice standing steady like my mouth
This paragraph preacher is now introduced
Drums are heard sounding off on each and every person
Vocal confetti is blown at top stage…”

Vocal confetti! That’s it! De La Soul has their vocal confetti and I will have Morphological Confetti. Well, that’s the story of where the name comes from. It's a combination of syntax and rhythm blending to form a confetti of words, images and ideas.

I would like to tag Rent Party and Lessons Learned.

Lesole's Dance Project

Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing my daughter, Thakabasadi Sato perform at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage. She's a dancer with Lesole's Dance Project. Lesole Maine (pronounced: Mah ee nay) is a very talented dancer and performer from South Africa. He has assembled a terrific group of young dancers here in the states and they were definite crowd pleasers at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts last evening. The performance was more like a story book in dance. They performed traditional South African dance which spoke honor to the ancestors. The story continued as they transported us in time to the turmoil of the Apartheid system. This included a backdrop of film footage accompanied with protest chants and high stomping defiance against the injustice. They ended it with the fancy footwork of Hip-Hop and the influences it has had on South African music and youth (see Kwaito). You know I acted a fool as all fathers will when they see their child on stage. Yes, I've seen her on stage before, but this was the Kennedy Center! It meant a lot to her. I wasn't too bad though. My wife only slapped me upside the head once because I yelled out something in Sesotho when they hit one of their moves. It was great! We were not allowed to take any pictures of the performance, but here are a few that we took afterwards.

Momma, Thaka, & Wife

From left: Me , Mom, Thaka & Wife

There was tremendous support from family and friends. We all had a great time just talking and laughing after the performance. In the end, Ke isa masapo ho beng (translation: I'm taking the bones back to the owners). Lesole taught me that! Yes, I was sleepy and it was time for bed. Peace~

I'm So Glad...

Good morning-

It's Friday!!! What more can you say about that if you are the Monday-Friday 9 to 5er like I am. I'm living for the weekend like the O'Jays. I love the weekend especially this time of year. I want to describe a typical weekend in the life of Stephen. Friday night is always up in the air. I may do just about anything from going out to Happy Hour or going out on a date. There are those Fridays when I don't feel like anything and I just stay in and watch a movie. I get a fresh start Saturday morning with a nice little workout and a trip to Salvation Army store on H St. I may head over to Eastern Market if I'm in the mood for a nice crowd. You can find some really great stuff there. Friday night and Saturday night are both freestyle unless I've made plans. Daytime is for reading, relaxation and hanging out. The next thing you know it is Sunday and the weekend is coming to an end. Sunday is whatever I feel like. It may be a day of recovery from the night before or an attempt to redeem myself with a religious service. Every now and then I'll head out to a nice brunch with friends or family. At any rate, in the words of Debbie Deb weekends were made for fun! Ya'll don't know anything about Debbie Deb unless you were in High School in the 80's. You'd have to be at least 30 something. Ok, I'm out. Have a great weekend. Peace~