David Griffith: teacher, writer, collaborator

Author of A Good War is Hard to Find: The Art of Violence in America.

[davidgriffith]

We did it!! Team #ItTakesTwo brought home the March Fadness crown.

Thanks to all who read, listened, and voted! And thanks especially to MC Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock for their timeless hit.

This one goes out to the 217 and the Montgomery Hills crew.

[todayinhiphophistory]

Today in Hip Hop History:

Run-DMC released the single Christmas In Hollis November 25, 1987

[alexanderchee]

On What I Learned Editing Best American Essays 2022

Some thoughts on how reading thousands of essays in a year changed me

[davidgriffith]

Retro Gadgets 家電 on Instagram: "Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952-2023) The pioneering musician and composer has passed away after battling cancer for

595 Likes, 7 Comments - Retro Gadgets 家電 (@nightliquid_retro) on Instagram: "Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952-2023) The pioneering musician and compos

[davidgriffith]

Right about now…now…now…”It Takes Two” is in the #FinalFour of the @marchxness tournament and needs your votes! Link in bio for where to vote. (at South Bend, Indiana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqYYocsO-9W/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[davidgriffith]

75 minutes until tip off! Vote “It Takes Two” at www.marchxness.com

[davidgriffith]

3/22, Sweet 16: (16) Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock vs (4) Thomas Dolby — March Fadness

Friends (and strangers): 

I've been holding off asking for this favor until the Sweet 16, but I have advanced to the round of 16 of the March Fadness tournament of 1980s one-hit-wonders. I am repping Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock's "It Takes Two"--one of the most iconic hits of the late 80s, and I NEED YOUR VOTES!

Here's how it works: Every song is repped by a writer who writes an essay about why their song is best. Often these essays get personal and tell the story of how we first came to know and love the song. 

In my case, the essay reflects on growing up in Decatur, IL and hearing "It Takes Two" in my neighbor's basement for the first time, and what a transcendent experience that was. 

It's also about going to school dances at Mound Middle School and, later, Stephen Decatur, and this song being the track that got everyone on the dance floor.

If you feel that way about, too, "It Takes Two," please visit the website and cast your vote! Thanks for voting and reading!

Voting is open until 11 am EST tomorrow (3/23)

[davidgriffith]

“It Takes Two” in the Sweet 16 of March Fadness

RIGHT ABOUT NOW...NOW...NOW...

Calling all old skool Hip-Hop lovers on Tumblr: I need your help. 

This Wednesday (3/22) Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock’s iconic 1988, multi-platinum hit “It Takes Two” is doing battle in the March Fadness tournament of 1980s one-hit wonders, and I need your vote.

I’m going up against Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me With Science.” While it was a big hit in its day (1982), anyone who has read this far in the post knows that “It Takes Two” is far superior.

Here’s how the voting works: On Wednesday morning at 11 am EST voting will open. You can vote on the March Fadness website AND on by Twitter poll. Don’t worry, I’ll remind you closer to the time. Note that both votes count, so if you really want to show Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock some love, vote in both places.

In case you’re wondering what March Fadness is, it’s an annual tournament of songs, kind of like the March Madness basketball tourney, but for writers who are music-lovers. Each song is repped by a writer who has to write an essay about why they think they’re song is the best.

Here’s a look at the bracket: 

You don’t have to read the essay to vote, but I promise you the essays are worth your while. My essay on “It Takes Two” is all about being 12 years old, growing up in Decatur, a city on the vast, flat prairie of central Illinois, wanting to be a DJ, and hearing the song for the first time in my buddy’s basement and how it change my life in a profound way. Oh, you should also know that we ran a fake radio station out of the basement that we called WPIG (basically we made mix-tapes and introduced the songs like we were DJs). I still have one of the tapes, which is somehow still playable 35 years later.

You can read the essay HERE. 

Here’s a little taste from the beginning of the essay, which I’ve titled “The Situation That the Bass is In.” 

For the first 47 years of my life, I believed that Mike Ginyard, aka MC Rob Base, was celibate.     In 1988, when Base and his childhood friend DJ EZ Rock’s, single “It Takes Two” dropped, I was thirteen and did not know of anyone, besides, the adults in my life, and maybe Tanya, the hot as hell sixteen-year-old daughter of my paper route client, Mr. Yarbrough, who was having sex.     And so, every time I listened to “It Takes Two” in the basement of our split-level ranch in Decatur, IL, on my father’s capable system—Pioneer receiver with 5-band graphic equalizer, JVC CD player, with a hand-built 70s HeathKit turntable, and Pioneer speakers with 15 inch woofers—the line “...don’t smoke buddha can’t stand sex [sic], yes…” struck me funny.     The only people I knew that did not have sex on principle were the priests and nuns at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, and I would come to find out years later that I was even wrong about that.

Thanks for reading, and check back here daily for new content dedicated to this iconic song.

HIT IT!! 

[goodblacknews]

Lyn Collins feature on NPR (via The Voice Behind One Of Hip-Hop’s Most Famous Hooks : NPR)

[americanprimitives-deactivated2]

Do you wanna rock right now?

[gifsofthe80s]

Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock - It Takes Two - 1988

[davidgriffith]

Huge thanks to @anotherchimag for publishing this audio-essay from DAYS BETWEEN STATIONS, an hour-long collaboration I composed with print-maker and sound artist @kyle.peets. This one is about Chris Burden's 1974 "body art" performance at the @mcachicago Link in bio. #ambientmusic #essay #stationsofthecross https://www.instagram.com/p/CkydQmjOLtR/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[davidgriffith]

Installment #3 

[davidgriffith]

I’ve been putting off sharing this project in its entirety because I am keenly aware of how over-saturated and overwhelmed we all are.

To say that I’ve been hesitant to launch one more more thing out into the crowded atmosphere would be an understatement. Not sure about you, but this spring I’ve actually found myself getting a bit resentful when I see yet another Substack, or Zoom reading, or Zoom class, or Zoom conference announced.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for everyone out there taking the initiative, being industriousness, and building your brand/following—you do you! I just happen to have this annoying, Eeyore-ish definition of art that paradoxically both keeps me from sharing and, ultimately, liberates me:

Art is that which no one is asking for.

Interested in reading more? Check out my Substack: https://everythingthatrises.substack.com/p/days-between-stations?s=w

[davidgriffith]

Dave Griffith on Twitter

“I figured I should document this historic occasion somehow, so if I want to write abt it later...It's been such a weird day & it's not

[televisiongifs]

Twin Peaks | Northwest Passage (1.01)

[davidgriffith]

Friends: my essay “This is My Body” on Ministry’s classic #goth anthem “(Every Day is) Halloween” has made it to the second round of the #marchvladness tourney. Please take a moment to read it, and cast your vote for it if it resonates. It’s a love letter of sorts to my 13 year old daughter who is experimenting with Goth. Click here to cast your vote: http://marchvladness.com/

March Vladness

A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)