The Plague of Our Times

This could possibly be the most important set of clinical trials in the last 50 years.



Here's an accompanying article from The Vancouver Sun:

Canadian researchers working on a vaccine to prevent HIV announced Tuesday they have received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin clinical trials on humans in January.

A team led by Dr. Chil-Yong Kang, a virologist at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont., plans to start Phase 1 of clinical trials on 40 HIV-positive patients to test the safety of the vaccine.

"FDA approval for human clinical trials is an extremely significant milestone for our vaccine, which has the potential to save the lives of millions of people around the world by preventing HIV infection," Kang said in a news release.


It could be about five years before the vaccine goes on the market, Kang told Postmedia News.

The SAV001 vaccine, administered as an injection, has already gone through preliminary toxicology tests on animals. It didn't show any adverse effects or safety concerns and can be produced in large quantities, Kang said.

For more, please have a look here.

I have two initial responses to this news. The first is obvious; I truly hope this trial sees nothing but success. The untold number lives that could be saved with this vaccine is a wondrous prospect. I wish Dr. Kang and his team the best of luck with their work. I'm unconditionally on their side.

The other is fear. A few years ago, I was in a fantastic new play called Cocktail. It followed the story of Thai pharmaceutical specialist Dr. Krisana Kraisintu and her attempts to develop an inexpensive AIDS treatment for the people of Thailand. One section of the play specifically commented on the extreme pressure Dr. Kraisintu received from American pharmaceutical companies that saw her efforts as a threat to their financial health.

And that's exactly what I see happening with Dr. Kang.

Consider this. Bristol-Myers Squibb has been one of the leading developers of HIV/AIDS treatment medications. In 2009, BMS made a net income of $10.6 billion. One of their several AIDS medications, Reyataz, cost $890 per month. For that kind of money, I could rent a fairly decent one-bedroom apartment not too far from Center City Philadelphia.

I hope Dr. Kang takes the appropriate measures to protect himself and his work. These big pharmaceutical aren't going to let take this threat to their income lying down.



peace.

Emcee of the Month: Eternia

Here's the video for Eternia & MoSS' track "TO THE FUTURE", the third single from the album At Last.



Man, Eternia is nice. It's that simple. I can't tell you how impressed I am by her ability to reveal a balance of thoughtfulness, aggression, and compassion; especially within the context of one track. I think this track provides the listeners equals doses of Eternia's strengths and fears, appropriately coloring the admittedly and inevitably incomplete picture I've presented this month. I can only cover so much!

I've tried a couple of times to write something here that addresses the topic of this song, but I'm feeling wholly inadequate and unable to truly provide useful insight. I sympathize with the story. I'm sad for her final discovery of a reluctant rejection of love. I'm joyful for her choice to speak these words. I feel a little helpless in that all I can do is post this video for my friends instead of putting this track in heavy rotation at your local hip hop radio station. I'm reminded of incredible importance of the feminine energy in the lopsided, male-driven world of hip hop music.

Check for Eternia, for real. She's not playin'.



peace.

Emcee of the Month: Eternia

Here's a video of Eternia performing at the URBFresh Urban Music Showcase in Toronto back in March.



Ya girl is nice wit' it. I'm really diggin' her energy.

When I watch this video, I'm reminded of an MC Lyte/early Naughty By Nature/Blunted on Reality Fugees-era body language that was very prevalent in east coast hip hop during the early and mid-1990s. (Check out Naughty's "Feel Me Flow", MC Lyte's "I Go On", and The Fugees' "Nappy Heads".) There was most certainly a cultural emcee body during that time which was defined by lots of large hand and arm gesticulation and tons of body rockin'. Eternia has decided, whether she knows it or not, to carry this sense of rapper body into her stage performances. In many ways, I find it refreshing. I'm really big into retro hip hop bleeding its way into the current state of things, and it seems Eternia's wasn't kidding when she said she's been heavily influenced by this period of hip hop history.

I just wish she could find one place on stage to be!

Don't worry. I'll get with her and we'll work on it.



peace.


P.S. I apologize for my absence recently. In the near future I will take time to tell the full story of recent events that have occupied my time.

Nevertheless, I'm back.

Emcee of the Month: Eternia

Why is she talking so fast!?



Eternia's got a very sophisticated sense of hip hop music, and it's evident she's given a lot of thought to her place in the culture. I'm especially appreciative of her mention of growing up on '90s rap like Busta Rhymes and Onyx. It was during that era when I became aware of my attraction to hip hop music and culture and I very much identify with that sense of the music. Check this interview.

And if anyone has a lead on one of those "My Favorite Rapper Wears a Skirt" t-shirts, get at me.



peace.

A Quick Thought About Questions

There has been some concern at the Voice Intensive this year about disclosure of confidential events that occur during the daily sessions. This past weekend the core faculty had a very thoughtful and multi-layered conversation about this new phenomenon of social media and networking. During the debate, I offered to the faculty that I maintain a blog that looks into questions about music, politics and theatre. I wanted to make it clear that I recognized their concern and asked their advice for how I should proceed with any thoughts on our work this month.

David replys, "Ask the questions, 'What is music? What is politics? What is theatre?'" In other words, how can I be in process with my blog in a form parallel to my process associating at the Voice Intensive.

Crap, David. You gonna make me think!?

In the coming weeks I hope to look into some of these questions with more detail. Please stay tuned.

And I'm sorry about yesterday. Blame it on Susan!



peace.

Emcee of the Month: Eternia

Yes, let's get the obvious stuff out of the way right now. She's a white girl. And it doesn't matter.

My homie Marcel made a quick mention of Eternia on facebook about a week ago. The only bits of info I retained from what I read was "emcee" and "Canadian" and thought, "Oh! Maybe she could be my Emcee of the Month for May since I'll be in Canada the whole time." However, to be honest I thought I'd have to fall back on k-os or Kardinal Offishall; established cats with material.

WRONG.

Lemme tell you something. This girl embodies everything pure and primal about being a rapper. She actually reminds me of all the things that were wonderful about so-called "underground" hip hop of the late nineties; passion, hunger, playfulness, humility, and sophistication. Generally, the more visible artists of that period were quite lazy and took themselves way too seriously, which put a bad taste in the mouths of many hip hop fans. Fortunately for hip hop, the Bush Administration has allowed us to rediscover our focus; just ask Questlove.

Here's an Eternia freestyle from way back in 2005. And I'm telling you, since then she's only gotten better.



This is going to be a good month.



peace.