R.I.P. Gil Scott Heron

From The Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
R.I.P. Gil Scott Heron

“The military and the monetary they get together whenever they think it’s necessary. They are turning our brothers and sisters into mercenaries and they are turning the planet into a cemetery.” – Gil Scott Heron from his song Working For Peace

For me a really relaxing Saturday is to be able to listen to Felix Hernandez’ Rhythm Review program on Newark New Jersey’s WBGO from 10 AM to 2 PM over the Internet. This Saturday when he came on the first thing Felix said was that iconic poet, spoken word artist, vocalist and musician Gil Scott Heron had made transition the day before on Friday May 27th. Realizing the importance of Gil Scott Heron to the cultural scene Hernandez altered his planned show and interspersed Heron’s music throughout the program. I had been out of town from Thursday afternoon until Friday night so when I looked at my E-mails there were a ton of messages from all types of folks about the passing of Gil Scott Heron. Some featured links to corporatist media that mentioned his passing but I noticed so many who framed the story in the context of his struggle with drug addiction and HIV. Several were down right demeaning to him.

I E-mailed Neil Blake the founder of the Blake Radio Network a pioneer in Internet radio who at one time had one of the most popular radio stations on the Internet, his talk station Rainbow Soul and his music station Music Massage. I do a show on Rainbow Soul called the Cyberspace Sanctuary and I used to do a music program on Music Massage called Message In The Music. I asked Neil if he was interested in doing a tribute to Gil Scott Heron? He said go for it. I had some things to do Saturday evening but I began thinking about what form the show would take, which poems and songs I would feature.

Artists like The Last Poets, Gil Scott Heron, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, Curtis Mayfield, Richie Havens, Tracie Chapman and Bob Marley were the inspiration for the creation of my Message In The Music radio show. When I had my show Positively Black on WHAT in the 1990′s I would always start the show with a song or positive message. When I started doing Internet radio I carried that habit over to the various programs I produced and hosted on the stations I was on. I used a lot of Gamble and Huff’s Philly International material on the shows and the theme of my Blake radio music show was the song Message In The Music by the O’Jays. But over the years Gil Scott Heron was the one artist I used on a regular basis. In fact he and Stevie Wonder were the only two artists I devoted an entire program to playing their music on several occasions. Of course when a famous artist like James Brown ,Miriam Mekeba, Isaac Hayes and Levi Stubs passed I did special tributes to them.

I never met Gil Scott Heron. I did see him perform thanks to Everett Staten at one of his Black Expos. I was in North Carolina once at the National Black Theater Festival and he was supposed to perform at a small club but it was sold out so I didn’t get the chance to see him. On another occasion he was scheduled to appear at a venue close by but he had just been arrested and sentenced to jail. Like many talented people with keen insight into the real deal about this country Gil Scott Heron was plagued with issues because he used his art to wake people up as he pulled the covers off the lies, myths and okey-doke propagated by America. Like most visionaries and reformers he was chastised for being authentic which can be a difficult burden to bare in a society based upon lies and deceit. Of course he alone was responsible for his life choices but in a way his struggles made him more valuable as an artist.

It’s chillingly ironic that Gil Scott Heron is credited with being a major influence on Rap and Hip Hop yet commercial Hip Hop and Rap have devolved into the very pathologies Heron railed against in his poetry and songs. Listen to his song Home Is Where the Hatred Is about the trials of a junkie trying to deal with his habit or the devastating lure and draw of alcohol in The Bottle, or his poems Whitey On The Moon and Billy Green Is Dead about the dichotomy of priorities between the white establishment and the least of us in a society of disproportional wealth distribution. These pieces along with songs like The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Johannesburg, Message To The Messengers , Show Bizness and When You Ar Who You Are, are quantum leaps beyond the mindless clap trap and degenerate drivel of today’s commercial Hip Hop.

We owe a great debt of gratitude to Gil Scott Heron for being courageous enough to continue to create the kind of poetry and music he did, despite the backlash of white America and comatose Negroes. He kept on keepin’ on in spite of the refusal of radio stations even the so called black ones to play his material. But those of us who listened to him appreciated his truth, his way of exposing the system like in: King Alfred Plan, Ain’t No New Thing, Get Out of The Ghetto Blues and one of my favorites The Gun. We understood him when he held up a mirror to our own foolishness like in Brother and Legend In His Own Mind.

Heron was a profound artist with his finger on the pulse of our lives as you will readily grasp listening to: Message To The Messengers, New York City, Madison Avenue and Save The Children. I don’t have enough time to play all of his poems and songs but I will give the listeners an ample sampling of his works. I’ll also do a tribute to him on my Harambee Radio show The Digital Underground Log onto www.Harambeeradio.com and check it out on the Ondemand channel or go to http://blakeradio.com/html/music_massage/mm.shtml and listen for the Gil Scott Heron tribute on Music Massage. Pardon the shameless plugs.

I hope there will be a resurgence of interest in his work that is if the mind control apparatus doesn’t further besmirch his reputation but even if they do, Black folks will appreciate him even more and say a sincere prayer for Gil Scott Heron to Rest In Peace.

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