Sample

Samples

*Michael's poem from "The Black President Suite", "On the Occasion of Obama's Blackness Being Questioned", appears in the latest issue of "Cerebration".

*ComFest 2011. Michael was Honored Community Artist. The band was tight and wonderful. Roger Hines, bass; Roger Myers, drums; Brett Burleson, guitar; Michael Vander Does, poetry; Naima van der Does, special vocal guest on the medley. Put this on your playlist. These are kind of big files, so be patient.

Footprints: The ComFest version updated for 2011. Brett & Roger Myers tear this up and get us started.

Advice From My Father: Wait for it ....

The Weak Side Rotation: A new piece in its premiere performance. Dedicated to Gil Scott-Heron & Geronimo Pratt. Thanks to Yvette Wyman for the inspiration and the first few lines. Things have got to change.

Make Jazz Not War: Unfortunately this never gets old. But the band makes it new every time. Listen for Roger Hines near the end.

ComFest 2011 Medley: Some selections from older pieces. Starts off with the beginning of "Taking Liberties", which is about censorship and Allen Ginsberg's visit to Columbus in 1985. Naima van der Does uses "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round" to move us into a section of "Demonstration Music". Then we look back to the anti-gay-marriage amendment with a bit of "We Are Not Going Away". The medley finishes up with another section from "Demonstration Music" which starts with a quote from Arthur Kinoy and finishes with Brett's unbelievable "We Shall Overcome". The people united will never be defeated.

*Great show at the Comfest Community Awareness Benefit at Woodlands Tavern yesterday afternoon. Roger Hines, bass; Brett Burleson, guitar; James "Smooth" Elliott, drums; Michael Vander Does, poetry. Download some of the stuff we played.

Advice From My Father

Jones Coming Down

A Breath From the Bronx

The Ultimate Truth

*Check out Michael Vander Does's short collection of poems, The Basketball of Tao: Meditations on Jazz in The Scream Online at http://www.thescreamonline.com/. Please note this is the magazine's Flash intro page and you will need to click on the page to enter the magazine.

*Michael Vander Does's poem Thanamattapoeia is still available in Tryst at the new address http://www.tryst3.com/issue20/contents.html. Again, please note this is the magazine's Flash intro page and you will need to click on the page to enter the magazine.

*Download selections from our performance at the Hot Times Festival 2010. Paul Brown & Brett Burleson, guitars; Roger Hines, bass; Roger Myers, drums; Bob Mills, keyboard; Michael Vander Does, trombone & poetry. This was a really fun show.

Whoooo R U

A Breath From the Bronx

Advice From My Father

The Ultimate Truth

Footprints

*Watch This Train Song (This Mbombela) - Short Version from the world premiere of The Black President Suite at Comfest 2009, Sunday, June 28,on YouTube.

*Watch selections from the world premiere of The Black President Suite at Comfest 2009 on YouTube. These are four sections, including the three Black President sections and the inspiring finale, This Train Song (This Mbombela).

*Download We Can't Wait from our performance at Hot Times 2009. The edited version is the poetry with Brett Burleson's solo. The full version (at over 13 minutes) includes the instrumental introduction, Joe Crump's solo, Roger Myers's solo, and Paul Brown's solo as well. Please be patient as some of these downloads take a little while.

We Can't Wait - edited version

We Can't Wait - full version

*Download songs/sections from The Black President Suite at Comfest 2009.

Black President Pt. 1

This "Train Song" (This Mbombela)

*Listen below to songs from our album: Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Live at Hot Times 2005 (In the wake of Katrina)