Nets may refer to:

• Nets Group, a Danish/Norwegian electronic payment services company
• Brooklyn Nets, (formerly New Jersey Nets) an NBA basketball team
• Cricket nets

NETS as an acronym may refer to:

• Network for Electronic Transfers, a cashless payment system in Singapore
• Newborn Emergency Transport Service, an Australian medical service
• New English Translation of the Septuagint, a translation of koine Greek scriptures
• National Engineers Training Services, a computer institute in Lahore, Pakistan
• New Europe Transmission System, a proposed joint natural gas transmission network

See also[link]

• NET (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2008)

The Association
The group in 1968. Top row, from left: Jim Yester, Brian Cole, Ted Bluechel; bottom row, from left: Russ Giguere, Larry Ramos, Terry Kirkman
Background information
Origin	California, United States
Genres	Sunshine pop, baroque pop, folk rock, psychedelic folk
Years active	1965–1978; 1979-present
Labels	Jubilee, Valiant, Warner Bros., Columbia, Mums, RCA, Elektra
Website	The Association Official website
Members
Russ Giguere Larry Ramos Jim Yester Bruce Pictor Del Ramos Jordan Cole
Past members
Jules Gary Alexander Terry Kirkman Brian Cole Ted Bluechel Jr

The Association is a pop music band from California in the folk rock or soft rock genre. During the 1960s, they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts and were the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival. As of 2011^[update], they are still performing.

History[link]

Beginnings[link]

Jules Alexander (born September 25, 1943, Chattanooga, Tennessee) was in Hawaii in 1962 serving a stint in the Navy when he met Terry Kirkman (born December 12, 1939, Salina, Kansas), a visiting salesman. The two young musicians jammed together and promised to get together once Alexander was discharged. That happened a year later; the two eventually moved to Los Angeles and began exploring the city's music scene in the mid-1960s. (Kirkman played in groups with Frank Zappa for a time before Zappa went on to form The Mothers of Invention). Eventually, at a Monday night hootenanny at the LA nightclub The Troubadour, in 1964, an ad hoc group called The Inner Tubes was formed by Terry, Jules and Doug Dillard, whose rotating membership contained, at one time or another, Cass Elliot, David Crosby and many others who drifted in and out. This led, in 1965, to the forming of The Men, a 13 piece folk-rock band. This group had a brief spell as the house band at The Troubadour.

After a short time, however, The Men disbanded, with six of the members electing to go out on their own (some of the remaining players continued on as Tony Mafia's Men, one of the others, Mike Whalen, joined The New Christy Minstrels). At the suggestion of Kirkman's then-fiancée, Judy, they took the name The Association. The original lineup consisted of Alexander (using his middle name, Gary, on the first 2 albums) on vocals and lead guitar; Kirkman on vocals and a variety of wind, brass and percussion instruments; Brian Cole (born September 8, 1942, Tacoma, Washington) on vocals, bass and woodwinds; Russ Giguere (born October 18, 1943, Portsmouth, New Hampshire) on vocals, percussion and guitar; Ted Bluechel, Jr. (born December 2, 1942, San Pedro, California) on drums, guitar, bass and vocals; and Bob Page (born May 13, 1943) on guitar, banjo and vocals. However, Page was replaced by Jim Yester (born November 24, 1939, Birmingham, Alabama) on vocals, guitar, and keyboards before any of the group's public performances.

The new band spent about five months rehearsing before they began performing around the Los Angeles area, most notably a regular stint at The Ice House in Pasadena and its sister club in Glendale.^[1] They also auditioned for record labels but faced resistance due to their unique sound. Eventually, the small Jubilee label issued a single of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" (a song originally recorded by Joan Baez, later popularized by Led Zeppelin) but nothing happened. Finally, Valiant Records gave them a contract, with the first result being a version of Bob Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings".

The Men were first managed by Doug Weston, owner of the Troubador, before switching to actor Dean Fredericks, who remained onboard when the Association was formed and helped get them the Valiant deal. In 1966 Fredericks turned the reins over to Pat Colecchio, who managed the group for the next eight years.

First success[link]

Their national break would come with the song "Along Comes Mary", written by Tandyn Almer.^[1] Alexander first heard the song when he was hired to play on a demo version and persuaded Almer to give The Association first crack at it. The recording went to #7 on the Billboard charts, and led to the group's first album, And Then... Along Comes the Association, produced by Curt Boettcher. A song from the album, "Cherish", written by Kirkman,^[1] would become The Association's first #1 in September 1966.

The group followed with their second album, Renaissance, released in early 1967. Somewhat surprisingly, the band changed producers, dumping Boettcher in favor of Jerry Yester (brother of Jim and formerly of The Modern Folk Quartet). The album did not spawn any major hits (the highest charting single, "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies" stalled at #35) and the album only reached #34, compared with a #5 showing for its predecessor.

Changes[link]

In late 1966 Warner Bros. Records, which had been distributing Valiant, bought the smaller label (and with it, The Association's contract). In 1967, Jules Alexander left the band to study meditation in India and was replaced by Larry Ramos (born Hilario Ramos on April 19, 1942, Waimea, Kauai, Hawaii) on vocals and guitar. Ramos had previously performed with The New Christy Minstrels and recorded solo singles for Columbia Records. He would later sing co-lead (along with Russ Giguere and Terry Kirkman) on two of The Association's biggest hit singles, "Windy" and "Never My Love".

With the lineup settled, the group returned to the studio, this time with Bones Howe in the producer's chair. The first fruits of this pairing would be the single "Windy" ( sample (help·info)) written by Ruthann Friedman, topping the Hot 100 in July 1967 and preceded by the album Insight Out, which reached #8 in June. On June 16, 1967, The Association had the unique honor of being the first act to perform at the Monterey Pop Festival. (The Criterion Collection DVD of the festival includes their performance of "Along Comes Mary" on disc 3.)

The group's winning streak continued with their next single, "Never My Love", written by Don and Dick Addrisi; it went to #2 in Billboard and #1 in Cash Box in October 1967. It became the group's only double-sided charted record as its B-side, "Requiem For The Masses", made a brief showing on the Billboard chart. Like "Cherish" and "One Too Many Mornings", "Never My Love" had a vocal arrangement that was provided by Clark Burroughs, a former member of the Hi-Los.

"Never My Love" has been accredited by BMI as the song with the second most US airplay in the 20th century.^[2]

After rejecting the recording of an entire cantata written by Jimmy Webb, which included the song "MacArthur Park", the group, in early 1968, produced its fourth album, Birthday, with Bones Howe again at the controls. This album spawned "Everything That Touches You", the group's last Hot 100 top 10 hit, and the more experimental "Time for Livin'", the group's last Hot 100 top 40 hit. Later that year, the group released a self-produced single, the harder-edged "Six Man Band". This song would also appear on Greatest Hits, released in November.

Comings and goings[link]

In early 1969, Jules Alexander returned to the group, which now made The Association a seven-man band (they acknowledged by changing the title and lyric of "Six-Man Band" to match.) The first project with the seven-piece band was music for the soundtrack of Goodbye, Columbus, the film version of Philip Roth's best-selling novel. The title track, written by Yester, rose to #80. John Boylan, one third of the unknown Hamilton Streetcar, and who would become one of the most important record producers of the '70s and '80s, worked with the group on the soundtrack and stayed on board for the next album, The Association. Not surprisingly, many of the tracks have a decidedly country-rock feel. None of the singles made any impact, so the group re-teamed with Curt Boettcher for a one-off single, "Just About the Same", a reworking of a song Boettcher had recorded with his group, The Millennium. This failed to hit as well.

Despite all this, the band remained a popular concert draw and on April 3, 1970, a Salt Lake City performance was recorded for The Association Live. In 1971 Russ Giguere left the band; he would release a solo album, Hexagram 16, that same year. The Association replaced him with keyboardist/singer Richard Thompson (no relation to the English singer-songwriter/guitarist), who had contributed to previous albums and would go on to be known primarily in jazz circles. 1971 also saw the release of Stop Your Motor. Despite some good tracks (notably a cover of Jimmy Webb's "P.F. Sloan" with Brian Cole imitating Roy Rogers in the bargain), the album was their worst selling to date, reaching only #158 on the Billboard chart.

Stop Your Motor also marked the end of The Association's tenure at Warner Bros. In early 1972, they resurfaced on Columbia with Waterbeds in Trinidad!, produced by Lewis Merenstein (best known for producing Van Morrison's Astral Weeks). The album fared even worse than Stop Your Motor, reaching #194, while a single of The Lovin' Spoonful's "Darlin' Be Home Soon" failed to break the Hot 100.

Breakup and re-formation[link]

For their 1972 tour, the group expanded to nine members, bringing in session players Wolfgang Meltz and Mike Berkowitz on bass and drums respectively to add more musical versatility on stage and free up Brian Cole and Ted Bluechel to concentrate on singing only. But on August 2, 1972, 29-year-old Cole was found dead in his Los Angeles home of an overdose of heroin. For the rest of the 1970s, The Association was in a state of flux, releasing singles now and then along with sporadic touring.

At the end of 1972, Kirkman departed, as did Meltz and Berkowitz. The group was then moved over to the CBS distributed Mums label (which had been formed by Bobby Roberts^{[disambiguation needed ]}, formerly of Dunhill Records) and put out a new single "Names, Tags, Numbers & Labels". It failed to make much of an impression, though, and Mums folded by the end of 1974.

Thompson left at the beginning of 1973 and the remaining foursome of Alexander, Bluechel, Yester & Ramos brought in new members Maurice Miller (vocals, drums, percussion), Art Johnson (vocals, guitar) and David Vaught (vocals, bass, and later a member of the Lopez Beatles) and continued touring. Jim Yester was briefly replaced by his brother Jerry later this same year, only to return in 1974. When Jules Alexander left soon after to join Russ Giguere in a new vocal outfit, Bijou, Jerry again came in to play with the group until the end of that year.

1975 saw the band now on RCA and they put out another single, "One Sunday Morning". An album called The Association Bites Back was to follow but never got released. Membership was a bit fluid in 1975-1976. Dwayne Smith (vocals, keyboards) joined and appeared on the above single but was replaced by Andy Chapin by the end of 1975. Ramos departed as well in mid-1975 and was replaced by Larry Brown (vocals, guitar), who came in for three years. Art Johnson stayed onboard for a short while longer but was likewise gone by the end of 1975. The increased tour schedule led to Chapin's departure in 1976. (He later played for artist Rick Nelson and perished along with Nelson and his band when his plane crashed on December 31, 1985.) Chapin was replaced, first by Jay Gruska, who had just finished a stint with Three Dog Night, and then by David Morgan in mid-1976.

During this period the band was offered a production deal with Mike Curb who wanted them to record a disco version of the prior hits, "Cherish", "No Fair At All" and an original song which Larry Brown wrote and sang entitled "It's High Time To Get High". Reportedly, Curb was dissatisfied with the drum tracks and wanted to bring in session drummer Jim Gordon to play and the band refused, sinking the deal.

In 1978 Brown left to concentrate on session work and was replaced by Cliff Woolley. However, the prime gigs were fewer and far between by this time and Yester left, leaving Bluechel as the only original member. Keyboardist Ric Ulsky stepped in at this point and the group had two keyboardists for a short time. Russ Levine (who had played with Bobby Womack, Donna Summer and Ultimate Spinach) also arrived to replace Miller on drums but the band then dissolved shortly afterwards, leaving Bluechel with a huge debt. To help clear away some of it, on November 1, 1978, he leased the group's name to another company who put a fake Association out on the road.

In 1979 the surviving key members: Terry Kirkman, Jules Alexander, Russ Giguere, Ted Bluechel, Jim Yester & Larry Ramos, along with Richard Thompson and new bassist Joe Lamanno, reunited at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles for an HBO special called Then and Now (Kirkman was working for HBO at the time) and a charity show hosted by Ed McMahon in Dallas called Ed McMahon and Company. This led, in the early '80s, to a few singles on Elektra Records (one of which, "Dreamer", made the Hot 100 with virtually no promotion) and more touring.

In 1980 the originals (with Ric Ulsky returning in place of Thompson and Alexander taking over the bass) went back on the road for a concert tour. With the genuine article back out touring, the bogus band was eventually put out of business.

Jim Yester left again in 1983 and the group added Keith Moret (bass, backing vocals) as Alexander went back to playing guitar. Moret stayed only briefly until Joe Lamanno returned in 1984. That same year the group was invited to appear on the Happy Together Again tour, a multi-bill of 60s acts produced by David Fishof, headlined by the Turtles, and also including Gary Puckett and Spanky McFarlane of Spanky & Our Gang. Gary's brother, Brian Puckett, played drums in the show for Gary and Spanky and likewise joined the Association for their set as well. But by the end of the year, there was a mass exodus as Kirkman, Bluechel, Ulsky, Lamanno, and Brian Puckett all departed.

In 1985 the band carried on as Alexander, Giguere, and Ramos recruited new members: Paul Beach (vocals, bass, who'd also played in the Happy Together Again show band), Bruce Pictor (vocals, drums, percussion) and Donni Gougeon (vocals, keyboards). Gougeon was briefly replaced in 1986 by Chris Urmston, but was back by the following year. Paul Holland took Gougeon's place in 1988 before moving over to bass in 1989 when Beach quit. Gougeon then rejoined for a ten-year stint from 1989–1999, succeeded by Bob Werner, who had been the band's light man and road manager in 1974-75 and fill-in member, as needed, from 1994 on. Jules Alexander turned in his notice in early 1989. Larry Ramos's brother Del, who was doing sound for the group, then began adding his voice to the mix from that point on. Eventually, he was promoted to full onstage membership as bassist for the group.

During the 1980s & 1990s the group's recorded output was minimal. They recorded a few new tracks and some covers of popular 60s songs for a few compilation albums on the Hitbound label made through Radio Shack's Tandy Corporation in the mid-80s, re-recorded some of their older material for another album, Vintage, for CBS in 1983 and put out another album full of cover tunes, The Association '95: A Little Bit More, in 1995. But most of what has been released from the 80s on have been various collections of their hits.

In September 2003, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, joined by former members Yester, Alexander, Kirkman and Bluechel at the induction ceremony at Cafaro Field, a Cleveland Indians Minor League Baseball Stadium in Niles, Ohio. Yester, Alexander, Kirkman, and Bluechel again rejoined the others for the taping of a PBS 60s rock music special 60s Experience on December 9, 2004 at Dover Downs Showroom in Dover, DE.

By 2010, the band included Russ Giguere, Larry Ramos, Jim Yester (who rejoined again in 2007 as Bob Werner departed after an eight year stint), Del Ramos, Bruce Pictor, and Jordan Cole (son of Brian) on keyboards, who joined in 1999. The Association continued to tour, mostly on bills with similar styled acts of the late 1960s, like The Grass Roots, The Buckinghams, Tommy James of Tommy James and the Shondells, and Gary Puckett. During the summer of 2011, The Association appeared in a heavy touring schedule throughout the U.S. as part of the "Happy Together: 2011" tour, along with The Grass Roots, Mark Lindsay, The Buckinghams, and The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie.^[3]

The Happy Together appearances featured only Yester, Giguere and Ramos, who were backed up by the Happy Together show band.^{[citation needed]}

Million sellers[link]

The following songs were certified as having sold over one million copies, and were each awarded a gold disc: "Cherish", "Windy", and "Never My Love".^[4]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• And Then... Along Comes The Association - Valiant VLM-5002/VLS-25002 (#5, 1966)

Reissued in 1967 on Warner Bros. W-1702/WS-1702

• Renaissance - Valiant VLM-5004/VLS-25004 (#34 1967)

Reissued in 1967 on Warner Bros. W-1704/WS-1704

• Insight Out - Warner Bros. W-1696/WS-1696 (#8, 1967)
• Birthday - Warner Bros. W-1733/WS-1733 (#23, 1968)
• The Association - Warner Bros. WS-1800 (#32, 1969)
• Stop Your Motor - Warner Bros. WS-1927 (1971)
• Waterbeds in Trinidad! - Columbia KC-31348 (1972)
• New Memories - Hitbound Records 51-3022 (1983)
• Vintage - CBS Special Products BT-19223 (1983)
• The Association 95: A Little Bit More - Track Records (1995)

Other releases[link]

• Greatest Hits - Warner Bros. WS-1767 (#4, 1968)
• Goodbye, Columbus (Soundtrack) - Warner Bros. WS-1786 (#99, 1969)
• The Association Live - Warner Bros. 2WS-1868 (#79, 1970)
• Just the Right Sound - The Anthology 1966-1981 (Double CD, released in 2002 as Warner Bros. / Rhino R2 78303, including two previously unreleased outtakes ('The Machine', 'Better Times') from 1966. An import variation also includes the outtake 'Caney Creek')

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website of The Association
• 'The Association' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page
• Cite from Fred Bronson, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, Billboard, 1988
• Liner notes for Birthday by Richie Unterberger
• Official Website of Jim Yester
• Special Radio Show tribute to Curt Boettcher
• The Association interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969).

Spike Lee
Lee at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	Shelton Jackson Lee (1957-03-20) March 20, 1957 (age 55) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Alma mater	Morehouse, NYUTisch School of the Arts
Occupation	Actor, director, producer, screenwriter
Years active	1977–present
Spouse	Tonya Lewis (1993–present)

Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983.

Lee's movies have examined race relations, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee has won numerous awards, including an Emmy Award. He has also received two Academy Award nominations.

Early life[link]

Spike Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Jacqueline Carroll (née Shelton), a teacher of arts and black literature, and William James Edward Lee III, a jazz musician and composer.^[1][2] Lee moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York when he was a small child. (The Fort Greene neighborhood is home to Lee's production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, and other Lee-owned or related businesses.) As a child, his mother nicknamed him "Spike." In Brooklyn, he attended John Dewey High School. Lee enrolled in Morehouse College where he made his first student film, Last Hustle in Brooklyn. He took film courses at Clark Atlanta University and graduated with a B.A. in Mass Communication from Morehouse College. He then enrolled in New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts in Film & Television.^[3]

Film career[link]

Lee in 2007

Lee's thesis film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, was the first student film to be showcased in Lincoln Center's New Directors New Films Festival.

In 1985, Lee began work on his first feature film, She's Gotta Have It. With a budget of $175,000, the film was shot in two weeks. When the film was released in 1986, it grossed over $7,000,000 at the U.S. box office.^[4] The reception of She's Gotta Have It led Lee down a second career avenue. Marketing executives from Nike^[5] offered Lee a job directing commercials for the company. They wanted to pair Lee's character from She's Gotta Have It, the Michael Jordan-loving Mars Blackmon, and Jordan himself in their marketing campaign for the Air Jordan line. Later, Lee would be a central figure in the controversy surrounding the inner-city rash of violence involving Air Jordans.^[6] Lee countered that instead of blaming manufacturers of apparel, "deal with the conditions that make a kid put so much importance on a pair of sneakers, a jacket and gold". Through the marketing wing of 40 Acres and a Mule, Lee has also directed commercials for Converse, Jaguar, Taco Bell and Ben & Jerry's.

Awards, honors and nominations[link]

Lee's film Do the Right Thing was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1989. Many people, including Hollywood's Kim Basinger (who announced her feelings live during that year's Oscar telecast), believed that Do the Right Thing also deserved a Best Picture nomination. Driving Miss Daisy won Best Picture that year and according to Lee in an April 7, 2006 interview with New York magazine, this hurt him more than his film not receiving the nomination.^[7]

His documentary 4 Little Girls was nominated for the Best Feature Documentary Academy Award in 1997.

On May 2, 2007, the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival honored Spike Lee with the San Francisco Film Society's Directing Award. He was the recipient of the 2008 Wexner Prize.^[8]

Use of actors[link]

Recurring actors[link]

A number of actors have appeared in multiple Spike Lee productions. Spike's sister, Joie Lee, and John Turturro lead the list at nine films, followed by Roger Guenveur Smith and the late Ossie Davis, with seven films.

Actor	Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983)	She's Gotta Have It (1986)	School Daze (1988)	Do the Right Thing (1989)	Mo' Better Blues (1990)	Jungle Fever (1991)	Malcolm X (1992)	Crooklyn (1994)	Clockers (1995)	Girl 6 (1995)	Get on the Bus (1996)	4 Little Girls (1997)	He Got Game (1998)	Freak (1998)	Summer of Sam (1999)	The Original Kings of Comedy (2000)	Bamboozled (2000)	A Huey P. Newton Story (2001)	25th Hour (2002)	She Hate Me (2004)	Inside Man (2006)	When the Levees Broke (2006)	Miracle at St. Anna (2008)	Red Hook Summer (2012)
Danny Aiello				N					N											N
Rick Aiello				N		N
Michael Badalucco						N			N						N
Thomas Jefferson Byrd									N	N	N		N				N
Ossie Davis			N	N		N	N				N	N								N
Rosario Dawson													N						N
Kim Director													N		N		N		N	N	N
Chiwetel Ejiofor																				N	N
Giancarlo Esposito			N	N	N		N
Robin Harris				N	N
Zelda Harris								N					N
Michael Imperioli						N	N		N	N					N
Samuel L. Jackson			N	N	N	N
David Patrick Kelly							N	N
Joie Lee		N	N	N	N			N		N			N		N					N
John Leguizamo														N	N								N
Delroy Lindo							N	N	N
Bernie Mac											N					N
Lonette McKee						N	N						N							N
Coati Mundi					N					N			N				N		N
Charlie Murphy					N	N	N		N
Bill Nunn			N	N	N								N
Christopher Perez				N		N							N		N
Wendell Pierce							N				N											N
Dania Ramirez																			N	N
Theresa Randle						N	N			N
Miguel Sandoval				N		N
Roger Guenveur Smith			N	N			N				N		N		N			N
Wesley Snipes					N	N
Leonard L. Thomas			N	N	N		N		N	N
John Turturro				N	N	N			N			N	N		N					N			N
Nicholas Turturro				N	N	N	N
Denzel Washington					N		N						N								N
Isaiah Washington								N	N	N	N
Kerry Washington																				N			N
Michole Briana White																			N	N
Steve White				N	N		N		N
Isiah Whitlock, Jr.																			N	N

Public figures as actors[link]

Several well-known public figures have appeared in Spike Lee films portraying characters other than themselves. They include

• Ray Allen (He Got Game)
• Travis Best (He Got Game)
• Mark Breland (Summer of Sam)
• Jim Brown (He Got Game, She Hate Me, Sucker Free City)
• Rick Fox (He Got Game)
• Evander Holyfield (Summer of Sam)
• William Kunstler (Malcolm X)
• Nelson Mandela (Malcolm X)
• Bobby Seale (Malcolm X)
• Al Sharpton (Malcolm X, Bamboozled)
• Wyatt Tee Walker (Malcolm X)

Controversy[link]

Lee in September 2011

After the 1990 release of Mo' Better Blues, Lee was accused of antisemitism by the Anti-Defamation League and several film critics, who pointed to the characters of club owners Josh and Moe Flatbush in the film, which have been described as "Shylocks". Lee denied the charge, explaining that he wrote those characters in order to depict how black artists struggled against exploitation. Lee further expressed skepticism that Lew Wasserman, Sidney Sheinberg or Tom Pollock, the Jewish heads of MCA and Universal Studios, would have allowed antisemitic content in a film they produced. He also said he could not make an antisemitic film because Jews run Hollywood, and "that's a fact."^[9]

In the Knicks' 93–86 loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, Reggie Miller scored 25 points in the 4th quarter. Lee was apparently taunting Miller throughout the 4th quarter, and Miller responded by making shot after shot. Miller also gave the choke sign to Lee. The headline of the New York Daily News the next day sarcastically said, "Thanks A Lot Spike".^[10] This was parodied in the Seinfeld episode "The Susie", in which Kramer, Lee and Miller ultimately reconcile and go to a strip club together.

In May 1999, the New York Post reported that Lee said of National Rifle Association President Charlton Heston, "Shoot him with a .44 Bulldog."^{[citation needed]} Lee contended, "I intended it as ironic, as a joke to show how violence begets more violence," Lee said. "I told everyone there it was a joke. I said I did not want to read in the papers, 'Shoot Charlton Heston.'" Insisting that he had no reason to apologize, Lee further explained that his remark was in response to a question about whether Hollywood was responsible for the then-recent rash of school shootings, saying, "The problem is guns," he said. Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey issued a statement condemning Lee as having "nothing to offer the debate on school violence except more violence and more hate."^[11]

In 2002, after remarks made by Mississippi Senator Trent Lott regarding Senator Strom Thurmond's failed presidential bid, Lee charged that Lott was a "card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan" on ABC's Good Morning America.^[12]

Lee sparked controversy on a March 28, 2004, segment on ABC when he said that basketball player Larry Bird was overrated because of his race, saying, "The most overrated player of all time, I would say it'd be Larry Bird. Now, Larry Bird is one of the greatest players of all time, but listen to the white media, it's like this guy was like nobody ever played basketball before him—Larry Bird, Larry Bird, Larry Bird, Larry Bird, Larry Bird."^[13][14]

In October 2005, Lee commented on the federal government's response to the 2005 Hurricane Katrina catastrophe. Responding to a CNN anchor's question as to whether the government intentionally ignored the plight of black Americans during the disaster, Lee replied, "It's not too far-fetched. I don't put anything past the United States government. I don't find it too far-fetched that they tried to displace all the black people out of New Orleans." On Real Time with Bill Maher, Lee cited the government's past atrocities including the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.^[15]

At the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Lee, who was then making Miracle at St. Anna, about an all-black U.S. division fighting in Italy during World War II, criticized director Clint Eastwood for not depicting black Marines in his own WWII film, Flags of Our Fathers. Citing historical accuracy, Eastwood responded that his film was specifically about the Marines who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima, pointing out that while black Marines did fight at Iwo Jima, the U.S. military was segregated during WWII, and none of the men who raised the flag were black. Eastwood also pointed out that his 1988 film Bird, about the Jazz musician Charlie Parker featured 90% black actors, and sarcastically said that Invictus, his then-upcoming film about post-apartheid South Africa, would not feature a white actor in the role of Nelson Mandela. He angrily said that Lee should "shut his face". Lee responded that Eastwood was acting like an "angry old man", and argued that despite making two Iwo Jima films back to back, Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers, "there was not one black soldier in both of those films".^[16][17][18] He added that he and Eastwood were "not on a plantation."^[19] In fact, black Marines are seen in scenes during which the mission is outlined, as well as during the initial landings, when a wounded black Marine is carried away. During the end credits, historical photographs taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima show black Marines. Although black Marines fought in the battle, they were restricted to auxiliary roles such as ammunition supply, and were not involved in the battle's major assaults, but took part in defensive actions.^[20] Lee later claimed that the event was exaggerated by the media and that he and Eastwood had reconciled through mutual friend Steven Spielberg, culminating in his sending Eastwood a print of Miracle at St. Anna.^[21]

During a lecture at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada on February 11, 2009,^[22] Lee criticized how some in the black community wrongfully associate "intelligence with acting white, and ignorance with acting black", admonishing students and parents to maintain more positive attitudes in order to follow their dreams and achieving their goals.^[23]

In March 2012, after the shooting of Trayvon Martin, Spike Lee was one of many people who retweeted a message which claimed to give the home address of the shooter. The address turned out to be incorrect, causing the occupants to leave home and stay at a hotel. Lee issued an apology, and reached an agreement which included compensation.^[24][25]

Personal life[link]

Lee and his wife, attorney Tonya Lewis, had their first child, daughter Satchel, in December 1994.^[26] Spike Lee is a fan of the American baseball team the New York Yankees, basketball team the New York Knicks, and the English football team Arsenal.^[27] One of the documentaries in ESPN's 30 for 30 series, Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks, focuses partly on Lee's interaction with Miller at Knicks games in Madison Square Garden.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Spike Lee

• Spike Lee at the Internet Movie Database
• Spike Lee on Charlie Rose in 2010
• Spike Lee on Charlie Rose
• Spike Lee collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Spike Lee collected news and commentary at The Wall Street Journal
• Spike Lee collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Ubben Lecture at DePauw University
• Criterion Collection Essay on Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing
• Lee's Lens Exposes Inequalities, but he's no Revolutionary by Brendan Kelly, Canwest, April 11, 2009

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli performing at the Red Bull Experiment Event in Brooklyn.
Background information
Birth name	Talib Kweli Greene
Also known as	The Get By Man, Kweli Snitch, The Prince of Brooklyn, BK MC
Born	(1975-10-03) October 3, 1975 (age 36) Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.[1]
Genres	Alternative Hip Hop
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Rawkus Records Geffen Blacksmith Records / Warner Bros. Records (2005-Present)
Associated acts	Black Star, Reflection Eternal, Madlib, Mos Def, Res, Lupe Fiasco, Mary J. Blige, Pharrell, DeStorm, The Roots
Website	TalibKweli.com

Talib Kweli Greene (October 3, 1975),^[1] better known as Talib Kweli, is an American rapper. Kweli hails from Brooklyn, New York. His first name in Arabic means "student" or "seeker" (طالب); his middle name in Swahili means "true". Kweli first gained recognition through Black Star, a collaboration with fellow MC Mos Def.

Early life[link]

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Kweli grew up in a highly educated household in Park Slope. His mother, Brenda Greene, is an English professor at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York and his father an administrator at Adelphi University. His younger brother, Jamal Greene, is a professor of Constitutional Law at Columbia Law School, and former clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. As a youth, he was drawn to Afrocentric rappers, such as De La Soul and other members of the Native Tongues Posse whom he had met in high school. Talib Kweli was a student at Cheshire Academy, a boarding school in Connecticut. He was also a student at Brooklyn Technical High School, before being academically dismissed. He later studied experimental theater at New York University.^[2]

Music career[link]

Early career (1995-2001)[link]

Kweli made his underground debut in 1995, with featured five appearances on "Doom", an album by Cincinnati, Ohio group Mood (Main Flow, Donte, Jahson).^[3] In Cincinnati, Kweli also met DJ Hi-Tek and the two collaborated on a few well received underground recordings as Reflection Eternal, including "Fortified Live" (1997),^[4] and "B-Boy Document 99/Chaos" (1999, featuring The High & Mighty).^[5] Shortly afterwards, upon returning to New York, he reconnected with Mos Def and formed Black Star.^[6] Kweli brought along Hi-Tek to produce their first and only album, 1998's Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star.^[7] The album, released amidst a late '90s renaissance of conscious, Afrocentric hip hop, was immediately hailed by critics and achieved modest mainstream success.^[8] When Kweli and Mos Def parted ways shortly thereafter, Kweli and Hi-Tek continued their Reflection Eternal partnership on the 2000 album Train of Thought, which was likewise met with critical acclaim, but modest sales.^[9]

[edit] Quality and The Beautiful Struggle (2002-2004)

Following Train of Thought, Kweli and Hi-Tek split as well, and Kweli used his first truly solo debut to attempt a move toward a more mainstream sound. 2002's Quality accomplished this goal to some extent, featuring production by a host of different producers, including DJ Quik and Kanye West.^[10] Additionally, Dave Chappelle provided two features on Quality.^[10] The album was met with wide spread critical acclaim and received some mainstream attention thanks to the West-produced single "Get By" which peaked at #77 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[11] Quality peaked at #21 on the US Billboard 200 and at #6 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart.^[12] In 2001, Kweli with Black Star partner Mos Def contributed to the Red Hot + Indigo compilation album created by the Red Hot Organization in tribute to Duke Ellington, that raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease.^[13] Black Star collaborated with fellow artists John Patton and Ron Carter to record "Money Jungle." In 2002, Kweli contributed to the critically acclaimed Red Hot + Riot, a compilation CD created by the Red Hot Organization in tribute to the music and work of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti.^[14] He collaborated with fellow hip-hop artists Dead Prez, Jorge Ben, and Bilal to remake the famous song by Fela Kuti, "Shuffering and Shmiling," for the CD.^[15][16]

In February 2004, Kweli also had a guest spot on Kanye West's widely successful debut album on the track "Get 'Em High".^[17] On April 7, 2004, Kweli was the musical guest on Chappelle's Show for the third and final time (his previous performances had been on February 5, 2003^[18] and April 9, 2003, the latter as part of Black Star).^[19][20] In the summer of 2004, Talib Kweli, along with Bob Moore's Amazing Mongrels, supported the Beastie Boys on their "Challah At Your Boy World Tour",^[21] and appeared on a Dilated Peoples song called "Kindness for Weakness",^[22] (a live remix of which was later featured on the video game NBA Street Vol. 2).^{[citation needed]} Also that summer, Kweli performed at Dave Chappelle's Block Party (both as a solo act and as one half of Black Star).^[23] In October 2004, along with Common and Questlove, Kweli contributed to Zap Mama's Ancestry in Progress (2004) with "Yelling Away."^[24]

In November 2004, he released his second solo album and final Rawkus release, The Beautiful Struggle, which debuted at #14 in the billboard top 100.^[12] Kweli responded to Jay-Z's 2003 record "Moment of Clarity" (on The Black Album, in which Jay-Z rapped: "If skills sold, truth be told/I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli")^[25] in his own track "Ghetto Show" by stating "If lyrics sold then truth be told/I'd probably be just as rich and famous as Jay Z." Despite this nod, the album featured much more commercial production (including The Neptunes, Kanye West and Just Blaze)^[26] and although Kweli's lyrics retained their socio-political content, he affected a somewhat harder persona. The album failed to cross over into the mainstream and suffered a critical backlash. For example, Britt Robson of The Washington Post "Struggle" was a "frequently awkward, too-obvious bid to exploit the commercial buzz Jay-Z created."^[25]