By TaRessa Stovall

I was supposed to be writing a “quickie.”

After a friend invited me to join her for a Gil Scott-Heron concert last February, I was moved by the sight of him to dash off my very subjective and emotional response in a piece for this blog.

What I wrote was more like personal journaling than journalism. I felt like a teenager pouring raw anguish onto the page, but my feelings were too strong to ignore or evolve into something more mature and dispassionate.

When the story first ran that month, there was a trickle of response in the Comments section. Nothing unusual. Then, around April 1, the story spiked, giving the blog some of our highest viewership numbers ever. Turns out April 1 was Gil’s 60th birthday, and apparently folks were Googling him.

Fascinated, my colleagues and I watched the Comments section blossom until it became a narrative far more engaging and powerful than the story itself. People poured out their  memories, their experiences with and concerns for Gil. Just as I was at the computer trying to craft a thank-you in response to their postings, comments came from a woman named Khadijah, who identified herself as a member of Gil’s family, and Brian Jackson keyboardist/flautist/performer/composer/producer extraordinaire and Gil’s musical partner for my favorite part of his career. Brian Jackson! And a family member? I could barely breathe.

After reading Brian and Khadijah’s posts, I burst into tears, turned off the computer and went to bed, so overwhelmed that I couldn’t think of a single thing to say, or write, for months.

That story, “Genius Burning Brightly: The Unraveling of Gil Scott-Heron,” has stayed in our rotation of most popular features for nearly half a year now, thanks in part to the fact that author Rebecca Walker sent it out via her Twitter feed. Thanks, Rebecca! But why does the story continue to endure?

First, I believe that the main reason is the deep, strong, genuine love and concern that millions of Gil’s family, friends and fans have for the unmatched genius of the man’s words, music and spirit. Read the comments—they are pure poetry, each written directly from the heart. Gil’s impact is a phenomenon that cannot be ignored.

Second, the evolution of this piece is a perfect example of the power of cyber-community and how we can reach and touch each other in new ways. I have been a writer all my life and blessed to have been published for most of that time. But the response to “Genius Burning Brightly…” has impacted me far more than any of my poems, books, plays, speeches, newspaper/magazine stories or columns. It has satisfied my writer’s soul in new and more profound ways than anything I’ve done before.

When I read the Comments section, I feel as if I’ve been invited to the world’s coolest dinner party, full of really smart, opinionated people, all adept at expressing themselves with such eloquence that I learn something new from each comment. My mind is set afire with their queries, their musings, their proclamations and, yes, their challenges as well. It is so invigorating and satisfying that I am in grateful awe to be part of it all.

I believe that the popularity of the story and the response it generated are a thundering testimony to the fact that it is the people—not the professional pundits parading before us in the mainstream media—whose views, feelings and opinions reflect the gloriously diverse and evolving kaleidoscope of humanity that is us. We are the real news.

Gil Scott-Heron

As Jackie Jones so brilliantly describes in her recent piece, “…news about African Americans often gets its start in virtual reality … cyber-news is increasingly informing traditional media coverage.” She goes on to point out that, “According to a Pew Institute and American Life Project study, African Americans are the most avid users of wireless Internet and their use of the mobile Web is growing faster than any other group.”

This experience has opened my eyes to a new form of Black Power, one that Gil was perhaps forecasting when he so famously declared that “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. The Revolution is gon’ be LIVE!” Maybe what he was describing back then relates to blogs and Facebook, Twitter and texting today? For those of us who regard him as a prophet, this would come as no surprise!

On June 25, as my family and I were being seated for my son’s high school graduation ceremony, we learned, via text, that Michael Jackson had died. Once the rumor was confirmed (via a quick Google search on a BlackBerry), my thoughts zipped to Gil. I thought how ironic it was that he’d outlived another music legend and even as I mourned Michael’s passing, I gave thanks that Gil is still here.

Not only is he here, but he continues to perform. Award-winning Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy had a great interview with Gil, who will share his talents on  Friday, August 28, as a featured guest in the Fifth Annual D.C. Poetry Festival, at the Carter Barron Ampitheatre.

Courtland, who graciously invited us to share the column with you here, got some great Gil riffs on President Obama, creative inspiration, brushes with the law, his rep as the “Godfather of Rap,”  and yes, the televising of that Revolution…

Good to Hear The Man’s Voice Again

By Courtland Milloy
Wednesday, August 26, 2009

In recent years, I’d heard more about the griot-poet Gil Scott-Heron than from him. Troubles with money, health, drugs and the law were said to have muted a man whose words had given rhythmic meaning to the cultural and political upheavals of our time. As rumors of his ruin spread, I figured never to hear him perform again.

So I was delighted to learn that Scott-Heron, 60, will be a featured guest at the D.C. Poetry Festival, which is free and begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre. He spoke with me recently by telephone from his home in Harlem about his prophetic poetry and latest visions of the future.

Q. In the early 1970s, you came out with “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” about the erosion of democracy in America. You all but predicted that there would be a revolution in which a brainwashed nation would come to its senses. What do you think now? Did we have a revolution?

A. Yes, the election of President Obama was the revolution.

Q. But that was televised. You said in the poem, “NBC will not be able to predict . . . or report from 29 districts. The revolution will not be televised.” But NBC and every other TV network station did just that.

A. The revolution was a change in thinking, people changing their hearts and minds. This country was at a crossroads and could have gone either way. But the people stopped taking whatever was being handed to them at face value; they stopped putting up with the status quo and started thinking for themselves. The revolution is a mental thing. You did not see it televised.

Q. So what do you think of Obama so far? Already, some on the political left are accusing him of bending over so far to please the political right that he’s coming awful close to kissing his own behind, so to speak.

A. Give him time to make his mark. He’s like a young rapper working to find his voice. Don’t judge him by his first CD. Remember, Obama did not get us into this mess. You might not agree with his solutions, but there were no solutions before he took office.

Q. You were paroled in May 2007 after serving 10 months for violating a plea agreement in a cocaine possession case. Before that, in 2002, you got caught with some cocaine and did time in prison. Songs like “Angel Dust” and “Home Is Where the Hatred Is” seem to have foreshadowed a drug problem, as well as health problems caused by drugs. For instance, “Home is where I live inside my white powder dreams/Home was once an empty vacuum that’s now filled with my silent screams.” Is that true?

A. If you meet somebody who never made a mistake, you help them start a religion. I make mistakes. I got caught with $25 worth of cocaine on an airplane in 2003 and did time for that. But I don’t see that making me out to be some Pablo Escobar. Until everybody who has a drink and drives gets their names on a list made up by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, I think they ought to leave people alone for possessing cocaine and marijuana. I’m not the guy who hit-and-runs while drunk or sneaks in your window and takes a television to feed a habit.

Q. You have been called the “Godfather of Rap,” and a new generation of hip-hop artists have cited you as a major influence, including Kanye West and Tupac. Who influenced you?

A. The poet Gwendolyn Brooks led me to the poet Lorraine Hansberry, and from her I learned about the courageous Fannie Lou Hamer. Then there was Langston Hughes. Hughes is the reason I chose to attend Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. That was his alma mater.

Q. As a kid, you won a scholarship to the Fieldston School in New York based on writing talent, then attended Lincoln, where you wrote a novel your junior year. After that, you earned a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University, then came to Washington to teach creative writing at what is now the University of the District of Columbia. You stayed in the Washington area from 1972 to about 1985, your most productive years. Now, after a hiatus of sorts, you’re back performing regularly, most recently at Blues Alley and the 9:30 Club. On Saturday, you’ll be at the D.C. Poetry Festival along with D.C. Poet Laureate Dolores Kendrick and Abiodun Oyewole, co-founder of The Last Poets. You obviously like D.C.

A. I get a lot of political insight from being in Washington. It started in 1974 with “H2O Gate Blues,” which was my way of explaining to people outside the Beltway what Watergate was really all about. I’ve been inspired during every visit since.

Q. So which of your works do you like most?

A. I don’t listen to myself. My writing is for other people to make their favorite. I only hope that what people hear affects them more than what they hear about it.

Q. My favorite is “Winter in America.” In it you say, “And now it’s winter. And all of the healers have been killed. Or been betrayed.” What season are we in now?

A. ”Winter in America” started the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Then, in 2004, when Barack did his speech at the Democratic National Convention, that was Ground Hog Day — the day that predicts whether you are going to have more winter or if you will be able to plant new seeds on the first day of spring. Before 2004, things were looking pretty grim. But now there’s a ray of sunshine that comes from having new people with progressive ideas running the country. I’m not saying that spring is here yet. But there is a warming trend, and it’s a good thing to see. I didn’t know I would be around to see it, and I’m happy that I am.

E-mail: milloyc@washpost.com

Reprinted with permission from Courtland Milloy and The Washington Post. © 2009 The Washington Post Company.

TaRessa Stovall is Managing Editor of TheDefendersOnline.