Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 5:25PM So it's official! My new radio show launches Sat Jan 23rd at noon ET, from the SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL!! The whole band will be in effect giving me some musical backup as we set the stage for a new kind of dialogue on the world we want to live in. You can peep it live on Oprah Radio, XM 156/Sirius 195 or online at www.oprahradio.com. Hope you guys will join us! Peep the announcement here:
Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at 10:33AM Alright so the interview aired on Monday. I was going to post some thoughts yesterday, but real life was all up in my grill aallll day! So now as I sit quietly pon the couch as the ISDN tech hooks up my phat new digital pipe, I'm taking a moment to reflect & give y'all a lil bit of the inside scoop on what all went down.
First off, MUCH thanks for all of those who tuned in on Monday. I got a gang of great emails, FB msgs, phone calls & txts with mucho love & inspiration! For those of you who didn't get to catch the full hour interview, you've still got two options to get w/ el programa:
1) Peep the 8minute Excerpt from Oprah.com
2) Tune in this weekend to hear the FULL interview again:
Oprah Radio (Sirius Channel 195 - XM Channel 156):
Saturday Nov. 28
6am ET (3am PT)
2pm ET (11am PT)
7pm ET (4pm PT)
Sunday Nov. 29
6am ET (3am PT)
2pm ET (11am PT)
If you haven't already heard it, in the interview we talk about everything from ancestry, to faith, social entrepreneurship & of course artistry, music & Soulfège. We also talk about The SHIFT movie and the growing global awareness of our need & power to make change in our world. We talk about S. Asian Rockstar Salman Ahmad and his Concert for Pakistan, which had hundreds of heads bobbin' at the UN General Assembly. We talk about how on earth I've gotten to do such insanely cool things as sit on a panel with the former President of Ireland & the Queen of Jordan (turns out Oprah & I have some common roots), and we both concur that I've got cute ears (thanks Mum! You too Pops).
We talked about serious things: the role of spirituality in our lives, and those of members of my generation. About the place of religion in our world today and the idea that God is bigger than any given doctrinal "box." We talked about the poetry of Hip Hop and she played "Fight On" and "Do Right". In a nutshell, I got a chance to kick it with a kindred spirit, and it turns out she's also the most powerful woman in the world.
If I'd really taken the time to think about the magnitude of having an hour to vibe with Oprah Winfrey, or the serendipity of a little African boy from Accra by way of Brooklyn & The Middle East, having such an audience at this particular stage in my life, I would have probably been too nervous to be my best.
And to be honest, I did have a few nights prior to that day when I'd wake up in a cold sweat after a dream along the lines of this:
I'm in a giant palace, where medieval guards usher me briskly down a long hallway adorned with ornate fixtures and flush with light from a chorus of chandeliers. I nervously chomp on a handful of peanut M&Ms in an effort to calm my harried senses. I arrive at a grand doorway and as it opens a voice booms from the ether: "Behold...Oprah." She floats through the doorway ringed in light, surrounded by a phalanx of courtiers and smiling extends her hand to me. I smile back & eagerly thrust my own hand forward to grasp hers, too late realizing that my sweat filled palms are covered in a muddy residue of melted chocolate, peanuts & synthetic coloring.
Oprah recoils in shock as she beholds her now sullied palm; four obervers faint in protest, and the booming voice booms again: "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!!" I spin helpless, searching for the nearest escalator. As the whole room descends on me in anger I leap onto the stunned shoulders of a courtier and bound atop a sea of angry heads in the direction of what I hope to be the exit. President Obama stands in a corner shaking his head in quiet disdain.
Fortunately this did not actually happen (I know, you were worried for me huh?). If you want to know what DID happen, listen to the interview this weekend! :) And tell your friends & fam to join the gang. I will be eating Thanks-filled leftovers & dreaming of faraway lands.
Beijinhos,
D.N.A
P.S. If you haven't already signed-up for the free Sirius/XM Trial you can do so here:
Happy Giving of Thanksing!
Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 11:13AM
It's pretty much to be expected in these so-called dialogues between representatives of the "Left" and the "Right" that an argument will shortly ensue. But this one was a bit beyond the pale even for politijunkies like me. At the end of a pretty heated exchange, Gaffney tells Ron Reagan that his father would be ashamed of him. Now you know I'm pro peace & dialogue and such...but I would have smacked the metaphorical taste out of the old coot's mouth right then. Check it out:
How crass must you be to drag a man's dead daddy into the fray. All politics aside I'm guessing President Reagan loved his son as much as any father, and knowing Reagan's own neo-conservo-iconoclastic reputation (yes I made that word up), was probably proud of him for having the guts to "go his own way".
You can peep the full exchange here.
D.N.A
Afghanistan, Argument, Ashong, Cheney, Chris Matthews, Derrick N Ashong, Father, Frank Gaffney, Hardball, Obama, Ron Reagan, debate, derrick ashong, political, war in General, Politics Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 11:29PM Ashong, DNA, Derrick N Ashong, Invention of Lying, Jennifer Garner, Movies, Review, Ricky Gervais, derrick ashong in Film, General 
