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January 29, 2005
"But I Was Cool: Oscar Brown Jr."
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This Night Lights program celebrates Black History Month with "But I Was Cool," featuring the early-1960s music of singer-songwriter and activist Oscar Brown Jr. Brown, the son of a well-to-do South Side Chicago businessman, participated in the labor movement and progressive politics in the 1950s before trying his hand at composing and performing. He wrote a musical, Kicks and Co., and co-wrote WE INSIST! THE FREEDOM NOW SUITE with Max Roach (you can hear Abbey Lincoln performing "Freedom Day" on the previous Night Lights program "Let Freedom Ring" and "Driva Man" on "The Hawk Heads Home"). Brown was a master of hip comedic narrative as well as social protest, often mingling the two together; this show features examples of his work from SIN AND SOUL, IN A NEW MOOD, TELLS IT LIKE IT IS, and MR. OSCAR BROWN JR. GOES TO WASHINGTON.

Oscar Brown Jr.'s homepage is located here: http://www.oscarbrownjr.com/. There's also an interview with him online at http://www.artistsnetwork.org/eventsIcore/oscar.html.