REVIEW: What Happened, Miss Simone? [2015]

“I’ll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear” As someone who heard “Feeling Good” on a Muse album in the early 2000s thinking it was their song until the promotional advertisements for season four of “Six Feet Under” got me researching the female vocalist singing its “new” rendition, a documentary on Nina Simone is something my musical education was in desperate need of watching. But that doesn’t mean Liz Garbus‘ film won’t also resonate with the musician’s most ardent fans—it’s extensive look at her tumult and genius can…

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REVIEW: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 [2011]

“In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none” In 1972 the United States broke ties with Sweden as their media equated the bombings of Hanoi to Nazism and shortly before that TV Guide’s editor wrote an exposé about the Anti-American sentiments the Scandinavian country was disseminating at will. The Vietnam War was putting strain on relationships worldwide, but from an outsider’s perspective it isn’t hard to imagine the extra vitriol many held for our part in the fight. As far as…

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