Hey Lovers and Revolutionaries,

I have a renewed faith in the American people. I was skeptical about this country's ability to get over its isms and do what's best for the people, i.e. elect Barack, but it happened. It was clear that he was the only viable candidate and even more so now that the McCain camp is revealing inside info about Palin.

Honestly though I feel bad for Palin. McCain used her for his benefit and when things didn't work out he tossed her aside and trashed her like a $5 dollar whore. Talk about sexism!

However, I was disappointed about the Prop 8 outcome in Cali. It seems this country takes one step forward and one step back! By the way, all these Republicans screaming about smaller government but they want to regulate marriage and decide for women what happens with their bodies; but bring up universal healthcare and they scream socialism $&*?

I'm especially disappointed in the Black community on this one. Because of the homo-phobia that's rampant in our community we can't see the big picture about Prop 8. This is about people being able to determine their own destinies. Not too long ago in this country black people were considered property and our marriages and family were not recognized by the larger society. Men and women who committed to each other were subject to the slave master's desires. If the slave master wanted to have sex with your "wife" (his property) oh well. If the slave master wanted to sell your children (his property) to the plantation up the road-  so- be- it.

Why should you care, because what goes around comes around. First it happened to the Native Americans, then the Blacks, now the Homosexuals. Just wait , you'll be next. We got to look deeper people, this is Chess- not a game of Checkers. We always gotta be thinking  at least three moves ahead...

Yo Lovers,

I was daydreaming the other day about a funky female supergroup. If this world were mine it would look and sound like this: In no particular order-

Bass/Vocals: Esperanza Spalding ( i must admit i've got a crush!)

Piano/Vocals: Alicia"CanIgetda" Keys

Rhodes/Organ/Vocals : Norah" Love" Jones

Drums: Cindy Blakman ( who else?)

Percussion: Sheila E. (who else?)

Lead Vocals: Beyonce "Bootylicious" Knowles-Carter (say it aint so!)

Sitar: Anoushka "Nunu" Shankar

I three style Harmony Vocals: Sade" Lady day" Adu, Bjork & Zap Mama

Still looking for a lead guitar player-

                                                                        One!

 

 

Lovers and Revolutionaries,

..

Oness, InIty, Peace and Blessings. Zo here and I felt the need to write tonite. For a while now my compatriots and I have been pursuing the dream, trying to touch the masses with aural inspiration. Times have been great and times have been tumultuous, but its definately been a blessing. "Good friends we have and Good Friends we’ve lost- along the way"(Bob has a lyric for all occasions). We are approaching another plateau in what I hope to be a long and beautiful journey, the release of our second studio recording "Forward." I just wanted to say thank you to all the Lovers for your support. You’ll never know how much your kind words and deeds have meant to us. Also, thank you to the haters. You’ve made us stronger and better and made us realize that no one can stop you but yourself.

                     "Destiny is 1/2 opportunity and 1/2 initiative"  Zo.

                                                       P.S. Get yours!!!

 

Hey everyone. This is Ivan of Nguzo here to fill you in on what's been going on with us. The main thing is that we have a new album coming out called Forward. Look at our purdy poster



The CD release party is going to be at Goose Island Wrigleyville on March 22nd. We'll be performing, along with Black Daylight and Baby Brutha. You'll hate yourself forever if you miss it.

The other big news is that we're in the Emergenza competition and we've recently advanced to the semi-finals at the Double Door. More details on that as they come.

I know things have been kind of quite on the blog here for the past month, but we've been pretty busy. I know it's hard to tell from these pics, but that's just because we make it look so easy.



This was taken at Heartland before our show with Alpha & The Princes of Futa. I don't remember what Zo was smiling about.




Can't recall what Rodney was making that face for either. Maybe they were secretly making fun of me and I was just too dumb too notice.


Speaking of Elastic, we played there with Mas Trueno. Make sure to check them out and cry yourself to sleep if you missed out on one of the hottest shows of the year.





That's all folks. See you at the release party.

-Ivan

How's it going everybody? This is Ivan of Nguzo once again here to let you know what's been going on. First off, we're going to be participating in the Emergenza competition this year, with the first round starting this Saturday at the Elbo Room. The show starts at 8:00, but we'll probably be going on around 11:00. Tickets are $10 if you buy them from us in advance and $15 at the door. Second, the full-length album, which is titled Forward as of this moment, is already mixed and mastered, so expect it really soon.

We had a show recently at Morseland last Saturday. A big and humble thanks to those who showed up and braved the brutal weather. It was much appreciated and we hope that we brought enough heat to keep you temporarily warm. As always, I took pictures.



Nguzomania. The latest fad to sweep the nation. Or at least the Chicagoland area.

Alpha and The Princes of Futa opened up the show for us. 








Rodney Lee checking out an Alpha CD. Support your local artists!



Nap Nat of the Afromerican Project also performed with a little help from Rodney Lee. Man, we're gonna be making appearances on everyone's songs like Lil' Wayne before the end of the year.





True story. The following pictures were taken while I played bass.







Here's the setlist:
Liv 4ever
Spottie
Baby I Luv U
SHE
Jumpit
Gimme Light
ZIG/Waiting In Vain
INI
Think I Do
Whole Lotta Love
Here I Come
Te Quiero
Looking
Un Amor
Le Moyne 2
Now
Past Present Future
Man's World

That about does it for this entry. Make sure to check us out this Saturday at the Elbo Room, located 2871 N. Lincoln. $15 at the door, $10 if you get them from us. Stay cool, good people.

Hey everybody. This is Ivan of Nguzo once again here to let you know what's been going on in our world. As has been stated in previous blogs, we've been at work on album and we're done with the initial recording stages. We're in the mixing stage right now, which means that an album should be coming your way soon sometime early next year. Yep, that's right. A new Nguzo album is coming soon. We'll determine a date in the future and any more little details can be found here on MySpace. Be prepared.

Also here are some pics from our last show at Morseland a few weeks back. Baby Brutha and Rebel Diaz were on the bill, and rocked it of course.


Somebody's got a special drumstick...just for you.


Daniel eating ribeye steak, mashed sweet potatoes, and I think spinach. Can't remember. Still looks yummy though.


Zo and George the Producer


Obligatory shot of Ivan looking sideways, but with a twist.


Baby Brutha kickin' out the jams.


Rebel Diaz rockin' the stage. This was our first time performing with them and now we're all fans of each other.

That about does it for this entry. 2008 is looking to be a busy year, so check back often and don't forget to show some love to Baby Brutha and Rebel Diaz. Until next time.

Hey once again everybody. This is Ivan of Nguzo giving you guys another update. We recently went back in to the studio this past weekend and we also have a show coming up next week at Morseland. This will probably be one of the last chances you guys will get to see us this year since a few of us are gonna be busy for the holidays. We can't quite set a date yet on when the album's going to come out. We're all shooting for early in 2008, but we definitely want to make sure that the quality is just right for you people and when it finally does come out, it will be worth the wait. This past studio session was exhausting, but we got a lot accomplished and we're getting closer and closer to our goal every time. As always, here are some pics:


Did you know that Rodney is always swinging his arms like this, even when he's not in front of the drums? Don't say you haven't been warned.




Daniel's younger brother




Not even going to try explaining where that smoke is coming from.






Obligatory shot of Ivan looking sideways.





George and Seth, masters of the boards


Oh, and we also played at Darkroom a while ago too.
Here was our setlist:
ZIG/Waiting In Vain
SHE
Here I Come
Te Quero
Hold On
Think I Do
Past, Present, Future
INI
Looking
Un Amor
Le Moyne 2
Now
Jumpit
Baby I Love U
Love Is Revolution
And yep, took pics of that too:


Of course, there were more people once the doors were opened.

Zo writing out said setlist






We decided to let Daniel take the obligatory sideways shot this time around. Looks eerily similar to a certain bassist's profile pic, no?


"…actually the place isn't as dark as the name would have you think."

And that's about it for updates. Don't forget to check us out at Morseland next Friday with special guests Baby Brutha. Is there any more that we need to say?

Hey everybody. This is Ivan of Nguzo once again to let you all know what's been going on. We have an upcoming show at Darkroom on Saturday, Oct. 13 and we're still making some minor tweaks to the recordings from our studio session in hopes of having some new music available for sale while we continue to work on the full-length. Call it an appetizer before the main course, if you will. Oh yeah, and we played at Morseland again a while back with Solomon and Yaw. It was also Rodney Lee's birthday.

9-14-07

She
Fly Me To The Moon
Looking
Un Amor
Le Moyne
Now
Hold On
Here I Come
Jumpit
Afro Lationo
Past Present Future
Love
When I See You Walkin'
ZIG
Love Is Revolution


Hey! Wait a minute


"Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to meeeeee!"

Also, big thanks to our producer George for taking these great pics of us on his phone. The man is truly multi-talented, no?











>

And after many attempts, as can be seen in previous entries, I was finally able to get a good picture of me and Zo. The next one is gonna win the Pulitzer.

Don't forget to check us out at Darkroom on the 13th. We want all of you lovely people to share in the fun.

Hey everybody. This is Ivan of Nguzo once again to tell everyone what's been going on. As I promised earlier in the week, I've some pictures and video footage of us in the studio. We cut 6 songs with some more to come next month. Also, everyone should definitely come out to Morseland next Friday where we'll be performing with Solomon and Yaw. It's also our drummer Rodney Lee's birthday, so you know it will be a special night. Here's what went on in the studio.



This was the hallway that we walked down to get to the studio. The building was kind of like a storage facility where a lot of artists come to do their thing. Just check out the graffiti. Also, we must have walked for like 4 minutes in that hallway. Yeah, it was that long.



Chuck and George, the man who recorded us. Really great guy.











Obligatory shot of Ivan looking sideways.






Whatever it was, I'm positive it was hilarious.




It's safe to say that we were all pretty satisfied with a lot of the takes that we did and we cannot wait for this CD to be released. You'll love it, I'm sure. This is one of the takes that we did for "U My". Keep in mind that this is only a rough cut and not the final version, but we wanted to give you a sneak peek at what to expect.




Here's one more preview of another joint we recorded, our version of Barrington Levy's "Here I Come."




That's it for now. Make sure to check back for more updates on the recording and when it will be released. We definitely wouldn't want any of you guys to miss out. Until next time.