Freeze
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Post by Freeze on Jun 18, 2019 9:07:17 GMT -5
What's it gonna take for A&T to properly recognize the Parker brothers for their contribution to American music? Maceo is one of the most prolific saxophonist in American history and dude laid the groundwork for the modern funk sound. He needs an honorary degree, a music festival recognizing his contributions, a statue......we are really slipping in recognizing our living legends: www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/on-the-beat-blog/article78762897.html
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oleschoolaggie
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Post by oleschoolaggie on Jun 18, 2019 11:45:47 GMT -5
What's it gonna take for A&T to properly recognize the Parker brothers for their contribution to American music? Maceo is one of the most prolific saxophonist in American history and dude laid the groundwork for the modern funk sound. He needs an honorary degree, a music festival recognizing his contributions, a statue......we are really slipping in recognizing our living legends: www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/on-the-beat-blog/article78762897.htmli know he attended a&t and indeed he is "legendary". but did he ever get his degree? i ask because i don't recall ever seeing his name listed amongst notable a&t graduates such as jesse jackson and ronald mcnair. i know notables like taraji p. henson attended a&t as an electrical engineering major but later transferred to howard in order to attend drama school. so taraji's name is never mentioned relative to a&t notables. perhaps maseo parker isn't honored by a&t for the same reason if he left school early without graduating from a&t, but i'm just speculating. i "suppose" (but don't know) that perhaps a&t doesn't honor past students who did not earn their degree at a&t, especially if they never graduated at all, but i could be wrong. but if i'm correct, to me its understandable because the idea is to encourage all of our students to graduate. so if we honored one of our past students who didn't graduate, it might "appear" as if we are condoning the idea of "not graduating"...
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Post by DOOMS on Jun 18, 2019 12:16:54 GMT -5
There's a good argument to be made either way. I actually had no idea Parker attended Ayantee and would've loved to have known that info. oleschool makes a great point about not encouraging dropouts, but on the other hand look what the man has accomplished. Every school has folks that don't finish but are still celebrated for their accomplishments. I don't even think David Richmond got his degree but he and the other three members of the Greensboro Four have a statue right at the front of campus.
If Howard can claim Puffy for being there for all of one year and never going to class, I think we can claim our alumni. An alumnus doesn't technically have to graduate after all, just attend. If necessary we can invite him and award him an honorary degree. Problem solved.
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Freeze
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Post by Freeze on Jun 18, 2019 12:17:24 GMT -5
What's it gonna take for A&T to properly recognize the Parker brothers for their contribution to American music? Maceo is one of the most prolific saxophonist in American history and dude laid the groundwork for the modern funk sound. He needs an honorary degree, a music festival recognizing his contributions, a statue......we are really slipping in recognizing our living legends: www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/on-the-beat-blog/article78762897.htmli know he attended a&t and indeed he is "legendary". but did he ever get his degree? i ask because i don't recall ever seeing his name listed amongst notable a&t graduates such as jesse jackson and ronald mcnair. i know notables like taraji p. henson attended a&t as an electrical engineering major but later transferred to howard in order to attend drama school. so taraji's name is never mentioned relative to a&t notables. perhaps maseo parker isn't honored by a&t for the same reason if he left school early without graduating from a&t, but i'm just speculating. i "suppose" (but don't know) that perhaps a&t doesn't honor past students who did not earn their degree at a&t, especially if they never graduated at all, but i could be wrong. but if i'm correct, to me its understandable because the idea is to encourage all of our students to graduate. so if we honored one of our past students who didn't graduate, it might "appear" as if we are condoning the idea of "not graduating"... Earning a degree from the institution should not be the standard upon which honorary degrees or public recognition are based. You recognize people for the HISTORY that they have created and its even better if the school had something to do with it. Maceo and his brother honed their musical skills in our band and decided to take a leap of faith and leave school to join James Brown's band. The rest is....well....history. Black students across the south were kicked out of HBCUs for their involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and several HBCUs have welcomed them back in recent years to honor them because its the right thing to do. Other institutions recognize trail blazers and history makers not because they have earned a degree, but because of their cultural contributions. Maya Angelou never earned a doctorate or even graduated from college but the world knows her by DR. Maya Angelou and Wake Forest offered her an endowed chair. She taught there for years. We can't be so short sighted that we miss an opportunity to recognize our own and in doing so further elevate our profile. It's a win-win situation.
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Freeze
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Post by Freeze on Jun 18, 2019 12:20:37 GMT -5
Hell.....A&T's band could honor him by doing a James Brown/Maceo Parker tribute set. That would be DOPE.
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bluehaze
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Post by bluehaze on Jun 18, 2019 12:36:25 GMT -5
I, like Dooms, had no idea that he attended A&T. My question to you Freeze is that is there something I'm missing in regards to road blocks or sentiments against him being honored? Has this idea even been approached to the university? I'm sure alot of the current faculty don't know he attended A&T as well.
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oleschoolaggie
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Post by oleschoolaggie on Jun 18, 2019 13:38:12 GMT -5
There's a good argument to be made either way. I actually had no idea Parker attended Ayantee and would've loved to have known that info. oleschool makes a great point about not encouraging dropouts, but on the other hand look what the man has accomplished. Every school has folks that don't finish but are still celebrated for their accomplishments. I don't even think David Richmond got his degree but he and the other three members of the Greensboro Four have a statue right at the front of campus. If Howard can claim Puffy for being there for all of one year and never going to class, I think we can claim our alumni. An alumnus doesn't technically have to graduate after all, just attend. If necessary we can invite him and award him an honorary degree. Problem solved. agreed. i think an "honorary degree" would be highly appropriate for maseo parker assuming he doesn't already have an a&t degree...
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oleschoolaggie
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2009 Poster of the Year, 2009 Most Knowledgeable Poster
Posts: 24,073
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Post by oleschoolaggie on Jun 18, 2019 13:42:28 GMT -5
i know he attended a&t and indeed he is "legendary". but did he ever get his degree? i ask because i don't recall ever seeing his name listed amongst notable a&t graduates such as jesse jackson and ronald mcnair. i know notables like taraji p. henson attended a&t as an electrical engineering major but later transferred to howard in order to attend drama school. so taraji's name is never mentioned relative to a&t notables. perhaps maseo parker isn't honored by a&t for the same reason if he left school early without graduating from a&t, but i'm just speculating. i "suppose" (but don't know) that perhaps a&t doesn't honor past students who did not earn their degree at a&t, especially if they never graduated at all, but i could be wrong. but if i'm correct, to me its understandable because the idea is to encourage all of our students to graduate. so if we honored one of our past students who didn't graduate, it might "appear" as if we are condoning the idea of "not graduating"... Earning a degree from the institution should not be the standard upon which honorary degrees or public recognition are based. You recognize people for the HISTORY that they have created and its even better if the school had something to do with it. Maceo and his brother honed their musical skills in our band and decided to take a leap of faith and leave school to join James Brown's band. The rest is....well....history. Black students across the south were kicked out of HBCUs for their involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and several HBCUs have welcomed them back in recent years to honor them because its the right thing to do. Other institutions recognize trail blazers and history makers not because they have earned a degree, but because of their cultural contributions. Maya Angelou never earned a doctorate or even graduated from college but the world knows her by DR. Maya Angelou and Wake Forest offered her an endowed chair. She taught there for years. We can't be so short sighted that we miss an opportunity to recognize our own and in doing so further elevate our profile. It's a win-win situation. so it appears the best way to honor mr. parker is by bestowing an "honorary degree" upon him. that way we kill two birds with one stone. not only will we acknowledge his "greatness" by doing so, but we'll also recognize him as having a degree from a&t...
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Maxell
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Post by Maxell on Jun 18, 2019 14:01:44 GMT -5
I understand that he did do a halftime show with the band in the early seventies.
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Freeze
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Post by Freeze on Jun 18, 2019 15:39:28 GMT -5
I, like Dooms, had no idea that he attended A&T. My question to you Freeze is that is there something I'm missing in regards to road blocks or sentiments against him being honored? Has this idea even been approached to the university? I'm sure alot of the current faculty don't know he attended A&T as well. I have no clue. Somebody with more intimate knowledge of the band, its history, and the Parker's would have to speak on that. What I do know is that HBCUs are often horrible stewards of our own histories. Its up to US to acknowledge and celebrate US and our legacies and contributions to this society. It highlights our profile. It educates alumni and encourages them to give back. And it allows us to control our own narratives. We need to get out front on this and celebrate a man who was a principal architect of soul AND funk music, who learned his chops playing in OUR band.
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bluehaze
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Post by bluehaze on Jun 18, 2019 15:45:31 GMT -5
I, like Dooms, had no idea that he attended A&T. My question to you Freeze is that is there something I'm missing in regards to road blocks or sentiments against him being honored? Has this idea even been approached to the university? I'm sure alot of the current faculty don't know he attended A&T as well. I have no clue. Somebody with more intimate knowledge of the band, its history, and the Parker's would have to speak on that. What I do know is that HBCUs are often horrible stewards of our own histories. Its up to US to acknowledge and celebrate US and our legacies and contributions to this society. It highlights our profile. It educates alumni and encourages them to give back. And it allows us to control our own narratives. We need to get out front on this and celebrate a man who was a principal architect of soul AND funk music, who learned his chops playing in OUR band. Well the best start to getting this ball rolling is to contact the Chancellor via email. I've emailed him suggestions/ideas in the past and he's directed me to the appropriate person on staff.
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Freeze
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Posts: 2,340
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Post by Freeze on Jun 20, 2019 15:15:06 GMT -5
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Freeze
Official BDF member
Posts: 2,340
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Post by Freeze on Jun 20, 2019 15:23:16 GMT -5
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Freeze
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Posts: 2,340
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Post by Freeze on Jun 20, 2019 15:26:34 GMT -5
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Maxell
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Post by Maxell on Jun 20, 2019 18:13:04 GMT -5
Man, I started reading it and couldn't stop. Thanks for sharing!
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