Collected Item: “Brooks Long Oral History, 2021/04/14”
Title
Interview with Brooks Long
Who conducted the interview? List all names, separated by comma.
Kit Heintzman
Who was interviewed? List all names, separated by commas.
Brooks Long
Email Address(es) for all interviewers. Separated by comma.
kheintzman@gmail.com
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your oral history. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#2008crash, #6Jan2021, #AntiAsianRacism, #art, #artist, #asthma, #Baltimore, #Black, #blues, #China, #chronichealth, #classism, #DJ, #election, #fascism, #healthcare #insurrection, #Maryland, #masks, #Medicaid, #meditation, #music, #musician, #partnership, #police, #R&B, #race, #racism, #radio, #reparations, #soul, #spirituality, #TakomaPark, #therapy, #trauma, #Trump, #university, #USA, #whitesupremacy
What is the format of your recording?
Video
In what ZIP code is the primary residence of the interviewee? (enter 5-digit ZIP code; for example, 00544 or 94305)? In what city/town/village does the interviewee live? In what country does the interviewee live? All comma-separated.
Takoma Park, MD
What is the gender of the interviewee? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their gender in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a gender identity to interviewees.*
male, he/him/his
What is the age of the interviewee?
25 to 34
How does the interviewee describe their race or ethnicity? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their race/ethnicity in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a racial or ethnic identity to interviewees.*
black
Describe the oral history.
Self-description:
“I am a musician and semi-folklorist. A straight, cisgender, Black, male, living in America. I sing. I write songs, writing songs is probably my favorite thing in the world to do. I record, and occasionally write poetry and fiction. I’m from West Baltimore. … My parents were involved in a lot of community initiatives for a long time around there, and that was all happening around the same time that David Simon was writing his book called The Corner. So that book is based on my neighborhood, and my dad’s even in the book. Then David Simon went on to do The Wire, and has done a bunch of stuff since then. I graduated from Washington College on the eastern shore of Maryland, which is very different from West Baltimore in many respects. I had a really good time. I graduated in English and Music History. In addition to being a musician, or as a part of being a musician, I like to know about the history and particularly the culture of music. Or, history and culture in general.”
Some of the things we discussed included:
Using qualifiers to describe how one is doing: “good for 2020”
The trauma of the pandemic and healing pre-pandemic traumas, therapy
Racial strife in America, reparations, descendant from slaves
The killings of unarmed Black people, the toll of these viral videos on the mental health of the Black community
Spiritual benefits of making music
A long history of artistic commentary on over policing and police racism
Health for the body, mind, and spirit
Listening to the body
Democratic candidate’s call for a “Spiritual Revolution”
First noticing the pandemic before it hit the USA, and the American response ignoring messaging out of China
What it was like to transition off of parents’ health insurance circa 2013
That there is no health care for musicians, consequences of delaying medical care, ER bills, surgery
That work might be one’s only access to health coverage, but is also a source of COVID exposure
University enrollment dependant health care
Part-time work, subsistence wages, losing work, getting on unemployment: hundreds of phone calls, survivors guilt
Comparisons between 2020 and the 2008 market crash
Partnership, moving in together to reduce exposure, and later taking a break
Needing space from others to work on oneself
The USA’s comparative fortunate position to vaccine access at a global scale
Getting the first vaccine shot under Maryland’s Phase 2B for people with underlying conditions; 65+ mother with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease still waiting for vaccine access
Post-vaccination masking
The imperative that artists make affirmational art
Tensions between freedom and safety
Passing judgment on others who pose as a threat
Missing movie theaters
Uncertainty about the future
Cultural appropriation
That people are doing their best
The importance of historians using a compassionate eye
“We are enough”
Other cultural references:
Creative Alliance, Disney, NLF, MLB, Zoom, Scam Calls, Louis Jordan’s “Saturday Night Fish Fry”, Marvin Gay, Ma Rainey, The Music Box Radio, Domino’s Pizza, Twitter, 9/11, Nina Simone, James Baldwin documentary I’m Not Your Negro (2016), Transcendental Meditation Practice, Tara Brach’s book Radical Acceptance (2003), Marshall Rosenberg’s book Nonviolent Communication (1999).
See also:
https://brookslong.bandcamp.com
https://wtmd.org/radio/2021/04/12/brooks-long-to-host-new-show-6-degrees-of-soul-on-saturday-nights/
“I am a musician and semi-folklorist. A straight, cisgender, Black, male, living in America. I sing. I write songs, writing songs is probably my favorite thing in the world to do. I record, and occasionally write poetry and fiction. I’m from West Baltimore. … My parents were involved in a lot of community initiatives for a long time around there, and that was all happening around the same time that David Simon was writing his book called The Corner. So that book is based on my neighborhood, and my dad’s even in the book. Then David Simon went on to do The Wire, and has done a bunch of stuff since then. I graduated from Washington College on the eastern shore of Maryland, which is very different from West Baltimore in many respects. I had a really good time. I graduated in English and Music History. In addition to being a musician, or as a part of being a musician, I like to know about the history and particularly the culture of music. Or, history and culture in general.”
Some of the things we discussed included:
Using qualifiers to describe how one is doing: “good for 2020”
The trauma of the pandemic and healing pre-pandemic traumas, therapy
Racial strife in America, reparations, descendant from slaves
The killings of unarmed Black people, the toll of these viral videos on the mental health of the Black community
Spiritual benefits of making music
A long history of artistic commentary on over policing and police racism
Health for the body, mind, and spirit
Listening to the body
Democratic candidate’s call for a “Spiritual Revolution”
First noticing the pandemic before it hit the USA, and the American response ignoring messaging out of China
What it was like to transition off of parents’ health insurance circa 2013
That there is no health care for musicians, consequences of delaying medical care, ER bills, surgery
That work might be one’s only access to health coverage, but is also a source of COVID exposure
University enrollment dependant health care
Part-time work, subsistence wages, losing work, getting on unemployment: hundreds of phone calls, survivors guilt
Comparisons between 2020 and the 2008 market crash
Partnership, moving in together to reduce exposure, and later taking a break
Needing space from others to work on oneself
The USA’s comparative fortunate position to vaccine access at a global scale
Getting the first vaccine shot under Maryland’s Phase 2B for people with underlying conditions; 65+ mother with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease still waiting for vaccine access
Post-vaccination masking
The imperative that artists make affirmational art
Tensions between freedom and safety
Passing judgment on others who pose as a threat
Missing movie theaters
Uncertainty about the future
Cultural appropriation
That people are doing their best
The importance of historians using a compassionate eye
“We are enough”
Other cultural references:
Creative Alliance, Disney, NLF, MLB, Zoom, Scam Calls, Louis Jordan’s “Saturday Night Fish Fry”, Marvin Gay, Ma Rainey, The Music Box Radio, Domino’s Pizza, Twitter, 9/11, Nina Simone, James Baldwin documentary I’m Not Your Negro (2016), Transcendental Meditation Practice, Tara Brach’s book Radical Acceptance (2003), Marshall Rosenberg’s book Nonviolent Communication (1999).
See also:
https://brookslong.bandcamp.com
https://wtmd.org/radio/2021/04/12/brooks-long-to-host-new-show-6-degrees-of-soul-on-saturday-nights/
On what date did you record this oral history?
2021-04-14T13:15