Flierarts.com Interviews Petey

So I was interviewed a few months back by a creative sister I adore, Intisar Abioto. I had no idea how it was going to be used or when. So this morning when I woke and saw this I cried and now I'm sharing. Support flierarts.com and please continue to support me.


IA: With The People Could Fly we like to talk to people about what dreaming, imagination, what possibility is.. Being in a place where you can feel your dream and bridge the seeming divide..between. For me flight is a symbol of so many things. What is your definition of flight?


SPF: I think flight.. It's so funny because last year I probably would have said something completely different. I recently became really spiritual. I think I got back to God. Last fall I got back to God - not religion, but spirituality. So, I would say flight to me is letting go and letting God, because there's a lot of unknown. There's a lot of fear. There's a lot of different things, that if you let reality or people control it, you won't do it. You won't jump. You won't leap. You won't even go to the edge to look. So, I think it's . . Flight is letting go and letting God. To read the full article and hear soundbites click here.

One day I will be surrounded by supporters

and I hope it looks this damn hot!

Theophilus London // Santos Crowd from Big Live on Vimeo.

Caritas Village - The Peace Show

"Sample Clearance" - Alvin Ailey's 'Uptown'

Dancers from Alvin Ailey's American Dance Theater recreating the painting "The Jazz Singers" (1934) by Archibald J. Motley, Jr. in "Uptown" which opens this week in NYC.

Dope by Design: Zora Neale Hurston

"Those that don't got it, can't show it. Those that got it, can't hide it."

Zora Neale Hurston is my favorite writer/folklorist of all time. Their Eyes Were Watching God was the first book I'd read of hers at the age of 12. It was completely fascinating to me at such a young age and it wasn't until I moved to Memphis in '96 that I realized I was merely reading her work. I was not experiencing it.

Zora wrote in a broken and intuitive southern vernacular that made little sense when read, a bit of sense when spoken and perfect sense when experienced (to a certain extent) in my daily life. Living in the south brought Zora's characters to life for me.

"I’m skeered of dat man when he gits hot. He’d beat you full of button holes as quick as he’s look etcher."

In high school I began to read everything "Zora'd" ever written. Sweat is my favorite. I researched the Harlem Renaissance and her integral part in it. I read her biography and marveled at the similarities..she was a capricorn, birthdate just ten days before mine, she lived in the first all-black town in the U.S., Eatonville, Fla, my family lives in one of the first all-black resorts in the U.S., Woodland Park, Mi, and she lived briefly in Memphis with her brother. (I may try to find that house one day)

The mystique of Zora is also one of the many reasons I adore her...there are few proven pictures of her and her age and birthplace are somewhat unknown because she willingly lied about/recreated her past. Unfortunately, we kinda had to be there to experience her dopeness but, fortunately we can still experience her dope works of art.

But I'd do it all over again...

I've made a lot of mistakes, mainly in matters of the heart. And there are two songs this week that remind me of my journey and the lessons in it (many of which I am still discovering by the way). I have been humbly waiting for the return of Sade and Corinne Bailey Rae and the wait is over.

It's interesting, for me, these two songs, Sade's "Soldier of Love" and Corinne's "I'd do it all again" symbolically mark my journey and my ultimate conclusion.

"I've lost the use of my heart, but I'm still alive." - Sade
"And I'd do it all again" - Corinne Bailey Rae

Enjoy the music, the moment, the memories.

Petey

My fave Kid Cudi song has a video!!! Sheer dopeness, my theme song. KiD CuDi “Pursuit of Happiness” (feat. MGMT & Ratatat)