Desert Island Jams #2 - LaTasha Barnes

Accompanying playlists: click HERE for Spotify and click HERE for YouTube.
Click HERE for the transcript of the podcast.

Support the show (http://www.patreon.com/desertislandjams)

LaTasha “Tasha” Barnes is an internationally acclaimed and awarded dancer, educator, coach and ambassador of culture from Richmond, VA - based in New York.

I know the remit of the show is to meet mostly musicians and DJs- but Tasha is so engaging to talk with about music, that it was an obvious ask for me. She thinks about music in a visceral and emotional way which is so nourishing to discuss. I hope that comes through in this episode.

LaTasha is globally celebrated for her musicality, athleticism, and joyful presence throughout the cultural traditions she bears, which include: House, Hip-Hop, Waacking, Jazz, and Lindy Hop. Her expansive artistic, competitive and performative skills have made her a frequent collaborator to Dorrance Dance, Singapore based Timbre Arts Group, Caleb Teicher & Co., Ephrat Asherie Dance and many international Jazz/Lindy Hop and Urban Arts festivals like LindyFest, ILHC, Summer Dance Forever, and Ladies of Hip-Hop Festival. In effort to further her service to her communities Tasha designed and received her Master's in Ethnochoreology, Black Studies and Performance Studies thru New York University Gallatin School to further community presence in cultural dance research, performance, preservation and pedagogy. In concert with these efforts she is also a part of the directing braintrust developing the ground-breaking stage production Swing 2020, set to premiere in New York (Joyce Theater) in August 2020. Accolades, endeavors and accomplishments aside, Tasha’s forever purpose is to inspire fellow artists and art enthusiasts to cultivate an authentic sense of self in their creative expressions and daily lives.

Tasha's current projects:
Guggenheim Virtual Commission Series,
PaperBack Crew,
Jazz Dance Continuum,
Gibney DoublePlus Residency,
Guest Lecturer/Residency University Wisconsin
Swing 2020,
Nefer Global Movement (Nefer on FB and Nefer on IG)
HellaBlackLindyHop/Black Brown & Beige,
Ladies in the House Series

www.latashabarnes.com ( launching soon)

https://linktr.ee/tasha_b_va

Transcript

LaTasha Barnes : 0:07

Hi, This is Latasha Barnes. I like meat. You're welcome. You're listening to the Desert Island Jams with Sarah Spoon

Sarah Spoon : 0:38

Hi, I'm Sarah Spoon. And this is Desert Island Jams, a monthly podcast where I sit down with people from the dance community, be they DJ, musician or just general music nerd and asking them which 10 tracks they would be taking with them if they were stuck on a desert island with a really tiny mp3 player. My guest this month is LaTasha Barnes. Tasha is an internationally acclaimed and awarded dancer, educator, coach and Ambassador of culture from Richmond. She is globally celebrated for her musicality, her athleticism and the utterly joyful presence throughout the cultural tradition she bears which include house hip hop, waacking jazz and Lindy Hop. Tasha's forever purpose is to inspire fellow artists and art enthusiasts to create an authentic sense of self in their creative expressions and daily lives. And her mantra is live love, dance, share, learn, repeat. And if you've ever had the privilege of meeting her, you will know how she is the physical embodiment of all of those words. Welcome to Desert Island Jams.

LaTasha Barnes : 1:45

So, so lovely to be here. Yeah.

Sarah Spoon : 1:49

So you started with I think 40 tracks and then managed to carve it down to these 10 How difficult was that for you?

LaTasha Barnes : 1:57

Ah, it felt like it Deep and painful existential crisis.

Sarah Spoon : 2:04

I wanted it to be fun.

LaTasha Barnes : 2:07

It It started off as fun like when we were talking about it. And then I started thinking about all the facets of myself and and now of course, as I'm, you know, continuing to exist and meditate on things I look at the song list again and I'm like, Oh yeah, but is this you know what? Nevermind.

Sarah Spoon : 2:26

All right, well, let's talk about the first one, which is a track by Snoh Aalegra. I want you around. Is it because she mentioned palm trees in a beach?

LaTasha Barnes : 2:38

I honestly did not even think about that. I know, for me, it's the, it's authenticity. It always comes down to authenticity. For me, that's one of my core values. It's the breathlessness with which she says I want you around like I I just I just I want you around. Like, it's not about the trappings or where we are. It's just you, I want you around. And what was fascinating to me about that was that I took that into myself. And it wasn't an outward projection of anyone in particular, I was realizing that I needed to remind myself that I wanted me around like I wanted to enjoy myself, I wanted to enjoy who I am as much as other people who seem to enjoy who I am. And then of course, the obvious like it does signal you know, to have romantic relationship as well. It's like, oh, that'd be cute. I'm gonna focus on me first. That is the correct priority. How did you find it? The viral success of her Whoa, video with Michael B. Jordan, who I have the hugest crush on,

Sarah Spoon : 3:51

Michael, if you're listening, you can get in touch.

LaTasha Barnes : 3:55

And I'm from Virginia, DC area. So you know, we got a lot in common. I really enjoyed her her presentation of her song like interacting with him. And then her voice was just so incredible. And it made me want to hear more. So I followed her on Spotify and the song just came out of left field just punched me in the back of the head. And it was just so amazing. It was just so incredible. she opens her mouth and I want to move on like okay, yeah

Sarah Spoon : 7:56

The next one has got some sweet 90s r&b vibes I mean like this is 1992 at its finest, is it not?

LaTasha Barnes : 8:05

Absolutely. This is this is a Tasha quintessential song like if anyone is ever again in the future when we're at parties. If anyone's ever had a party with me and trying to get me to stay, you drop this song or anything that sounds remotely like it. Yeah, it reminds me of watching my uncles practice their dance routines for their rec center shows and for like some of the performances that they were doing. It reminds me of the backyard barbecue, reminds me of everything. It just it reminds me of my family, it reminds me of home That's one of my happy songs.

Sarah Spoon : 12:34

It's a smorgasbord of good

LaTasha Barnes : 12:36

it's a smorgasbord of good! And honestly, for me, musically, that's what I feel like the 90s were and that's the timeframe that I grew up in. That's probably a large part of the reason why I look at a jazz and house and other dances that are that seem to be these these amalgamating times or represent these amalgamating times like so intensely because, like House was really moving and happening in the 90s as well, but yeah, it was this new jack swing sound that really... It was just encapsulating everything, mmm. Yes. Oh, Portrait 'Here we go again'. That's.....

Sarah Spoon : 13:15

so like when you're doing your one of your house dance competitions if like a house remix of this came on and it wasn't your round, would you still like would you like burst onto the floor and just take it anyway.

LaTasha Barnes : 13:28

Fortunately, like, if it's a organized battle type situation, I'll do my best to contain myself, you would definitely see me on the side. And that's one of the things that we you know, we talk about in battle, battle tactics like that you try to avoid doing if you know yourself to be like a more authentically connected person to the music. If you're moving about while your competitor is going, you're basically feeding them ideas. Like you try to try to hold it in for yourself, but if fits the song so well, sometimes you do

Sarah Spoon : 14:01

Are there people who aren't authentically connected to the music in house, so they do like fake house, would you say

LaTasha Barnes : 14:06

yes. I call this usually check the box house. And it's not so much that it's completely inauthentic. It's just it's very stratified. It's like and there's a break. I should jack. Oh, the music's going slow. I should loft. And it's like, oh, oh, oh, oh. people realize that that thing needs to go together. But they haven't sat with the things or themselves long enough to find an authentic way to move through the little compartments. So the more challenging work of actually figuring yourself out to move through the shapes is the part that people usually don't sign up for.

Sarah Spoon : 14:47

The next track is a collaboration between PJ Morton and Jojo, and I only know Jojo from her song like "Get out, right now,blah blah" and I've never heard of PJ Morton before, but I really enjoyed digging around on him. He has got a touch of the Al Greens!

LaTasha Barnes : 15:08

I absolutely weaponize this song, when I'm teaching to crack people open. And I ask that they move just as they're inspired to, not in any sort of overly cognitive. Oh, I'm in a class with Tasha. So I should be doing either jazz or house movement, or maybe whacking so understand that like, no, that's not the point.

Sarah Spoon : 15:36

If this is a secret weapon, where does it fit in your heart?

LaTasha Barnes : 15:40

That's a good question. This is a song when I hear it in my head it it does remind me to just do the damn thing. Like, I love my culture. Just say so. I love myself. Just say so. I love my friends. Just say so. I love being able to share. Just say so. Before you don't have the opportunity to. Like, you recognize the moment you recognize it. You're in that moment now. Oh the way it unlocks so Many ideas of movement or ways of moving is so beautiful. It's so beautiful. One of the instances of getting to see the power of that song, unleash dancers was when my Nefer sister, Niki Awandee, ("Awandee Awandee"), had myself, Tatiana Desartdouin, and Moncell Durden at Olsa dance school, the school in the woods, in Sweden. And I know all of those artists, those young artists are used to kind of abstract ways of thinking about their movement and trying to get into a space of moving so I was hopeful that the exercise and the song would land but I wasn't prepared. Even in myself, like all the times that I've seen it work. I wasn't prepared for the depth of emotion that came out of it. Every single person and watching them literally almost melt into space, and then moving it through themselves. It was just so powerful. And that's one of the things that I feel like the Nefer global movement itself represents, like our responsibility to ourselves as black women artists, like really making sure that we're putting out into the world, our voices just, yeah, it requires you to speak your truth.

Sarah Spoon : 21:29

Next up is a track by one of the all time greats, but I was really interested in your choice of this because this is one of his singles came out in 73, from one of the big albums, but it isn't. One that gets heavy rotation isn't as well known. I mean, it is a gorgeous slice of swinging soul. And like you're doing the happy dance already, just knowing the one that we're talking about. It's Come Get To This by Marvin Gaye.

LaTasha Barnes : 21:59

It's my Family dance song. We do the barns family dance. There have been some classes that I've shared the barns family dance. And it's, you know, a series of pivots and kickball changes, Pas de Bourree kind of steps. Or grapevines. It was all of my grandmother's favorite songs. But when they were all alive, especially my dad's mom would get up first and start hitting her little shoulder thing. And then my great grandmother would get up and hit her little hip thing. Yeah. And then my grandmother, she would get up and be dancing with somebody and start doing her two step thing and that's just the memory that I have just all my grandmother's getting up like, this is a song that made them move all the time. That's amazing.

Sarah Spenser : 22:50

Did you grow up in a musical household?

LaTasha Barnes : 22:53

Oh my god. Yes. There was always music. Always. Like, always, I think that was the juxtaposition of waking up to music, to waking up to arguing was literally when I was eight when I realized that something was deeply wrong with my family. When my parents were starting to divorce like, because every morning I would wake up to music. And once they realized I was awake, they would turn the music up. But still, it was like, yeah, there was always music. Like there was one of my deepest musical memories. And some of my other friends from Richmond will probably remember this. It was a local radio station. And they had a morning, morning song called shower time. That was playing literally at the time for a school bus. You should have been in or about to get out of the shower, but the song was on and like "it's shower time, early in the morning, time to brush your teeth and wash your face. Time to get to join the Human race, so take off all your clothes and let's get naked. Time to get yourself so squeaky clean. We simply mean its shower, shower shower, shower time", and then had like a big swing build up to do-do-do-do-do-do. Yeah. Anyway. There's just... there was always music and music just signified so much in my life in between r&b and gospel and the intersections there of it especially in the 90s. like yeah, this song in particular, like it has a gospel feel to it. And at some some parts of course it's Marvin Gaye. But really, it's just like I know the song is about the romance and like the physical act like, come, Come on, the way my family used to just groove to this was just Ah, yeah

Sarah Spoon : 27:38

The man is the sound of hope and sunshine

Unknown Speaker : 27:43

and love

Sarah Spoon : 27:44

and love.

LaTasha Barnes : 27:45

He is you're right. You're absolutely right.

Sarah Spoon : 27:48

I was really surprised there was no Ray Charles on here.

LaTasha Barnes : 27:51

Yeah, he was on there for a second. He was on there in the top 40. Ella, him and Aretha. I was like

Sarah Spoon : 28:00

Well, we've got Ella next, Air Mail Special from 57 Live at Newport Jazz Fest when she was sharing the bill with Billie Holiday. And this is like three minutes 50 of blistering Ella. I mean,

LaTasha Barnes : 28:16

it's an encyclopedia of all the rhythms that are possible for you in dancing jazz. Now, like, at that tempo? Yes, you might need to do a little training before you can actually attempt to hold it down at that speed all the time. But it's like everything that she liked the juxtapositions of, of some of the the more modern songs that she puts over top of these swing rhythms. And then some of her playfulness of things that are contemporary like the Bonanza theme. It's a song of possibility like that's, that's why I love it so much like it reminds me so much more as possible than we give ourselves room or space to think about. Ella's voice Just makes me move

Sarah Spoon : 29:00

and also Jo Jones on the drums makes you move.

LaTasha Barnes : 29:03

So much! Oh, I can't even .I have no words. I have no words.

Sarah Spoon : 29:10

Let's Let's have Ella's, then. Bit of Stevie Wonder next big, fan of that. 'Ngiculela- Es Una Historia- I Am Singing' is the like the three phase title of it. So the lyrics are in Zulu and in Spanish and in English. But when you look into this album, this is like the one track that doesn't get mentioned and people don't talk about it. And that's a real shame.

LaTasha Barnes : 33:24

It's deeply shameful that people would gloss over this really beautiful moment of intersectional humanity like yeah, this is beautiful. Like, I am singing like, this is my history. Like, this is my story. I'm trying to share all of who I am with you and all of what inspires me. But it's too complicated for you to say so. You'd rather you rather just compartmentalize it into something else. And this is something that like, you know, we talked about a lot now about normal life. Changing your, your opinion when you're presented with new information. Yeah, there's a very deep conversation going on in the street dance community about the use of the word urban dance. And where there were even, you know, some some of us who are practitioners and tradition bearers who were attempting to use the word as an umbrella term, just to be more respectful, and not refer to everything as hip hop dance, because not everything that brown people do is hip hop. And in recognizing that the way the word initially came into being was to be dismissive, and not have to say black when you met black, which has never been a problem for me, or even some of us who've actually employed the use of the word urban urban dance. Like recognizing now that even though it was meant to make things more succinct, that sometimes that's not good. It's not at all, especially when you're talking about a living, breathing culture. It's like oh, Yeah, it is easier to say I do multiple urban dance styles. It's stronger to say I do multiple African American social dance styles or black social dance styles, or black street dance styles depending upon how you choose to categorize it. But to actually say the thing to actually give, take up space with what the thing is not just trying to compartmentalize it into this, this little sectionable reductive, quote unquote understandable thing. But to actually allow what it is to take up the space that it should

Sarah Spoon : 35:40

do you think people have been using the word urban so long because of the comfort of the white dancers in that community?

LaTasha Barnes : 35:49

Yes, and like I think, a large a larger issue has been many of the educators themselves not required people to say what they're doing. But there's been no recourse. There's been no consequences for people not actually owning up to the fact that they're doing a black dance. And not owning up to like, they need to admit it, like actually recognizing, acknowledging that what they're doing is not their own. But there is space for them within it. But there's always space for you within it as long as you acknowledge it. And if you don't acknowledge it, then Yeah. What are you there for? What are you doing?

Sarah Spoon : 36:31

Yea h. And there's some similar conversations playing out in the Lindy Hop community.

LaTasha Barnes : 36:36

And, you know, there's a lot of us who are great that like, we're, we're happy that the conversations are happening on a broader scale. But at the same time, there are a lot of people who are, well, I don't hear from these people, and they teach and I don't hear from these people and they teach. But then there's those who are following up like, yeah, they've been saying that for years. You clearly weren't paying attention when you're in their classes. It's easy to just be Be accusatory in some ways about a lot of things. It's even more challenging to recognize where you failed yourself, and where you failed your culture. And where you haven't held people accountable to treating you with respect, because in essence, you weren't treating yourself with that level of respect. But this song is definitely it's also another another one that empowers me to, to tell my truth. And that's just what, what it means to be like, it's like I'm singing like, and I'm going to keep singing. I'm going to keep telling my story. I'm going to keep presenting my truth. Stay on the path, keep doing the work. Keep singing.

Unknown Speaker : 37:39

Keep singing with your lungs and I guess with your body

LaTasha Barnes : 37:43

Heehee, Yeah. So beautiful, but yeah, that song is just so powerful. It's so unbelievably powerful.

Sarah Spoon : 41:41

Yeah.To go from one lesser played song to I guess another I mean I know it but it's not one that I hear out and about on the dance floors of the world very often and this is 'Pickin' the Cabbage' by Cab Calloway with Dizzy Gillespie a few years before he fully went full Bebop,

LaTasha Barnes : 42:01

I, I've been so grateful to talk about this song so often. I had the great fortune of hearing this song for the first time played live. And Jonathan Stout's quartet, or Yeah, I don't know, quartet plus one. Either way, he had a baritone sax, and it was amazing. And just the way Oh, I still remember every time the way that melody just rolled down my back, like, I don't understand what I'm listening to. The way the melody undulated felt more like house at its first like intake than jazz. And I was moving in and out of like house dance movement while swinging out. So it was the most awkward thing. It's beautiful. It was a total Meet me at the rock step kind of dance. I know I love jazz, but I forgot I could love jazz that fucking much. But I've always been like, I've always had an intensely visceral response to music. And so when Pickin' the Cabbage, just Oh, it's just rolled in so deep and Oh. Oh, yeah. And the melody just is too so funky on top of swinging so goddamn hard. I didn't know what to do with myself. It was the apex of everything. I was like, it's funky, and it's swinging. And it's sassy. And it's Oh, it was just overwhelmingly incredible.

Sarah Spoon : 43:47

Cool.

LaTasha Barnes : 43:48

Yeah. So I love that song

Sarah Spoon : 46:38

It's sneaky, isn't it sneaky little thing?

LaTasha Barnes : 46:41

Oh, but the song Yeah, it just, oh,

Sarah Spoon : 46:47

it's the good shit.

LaTasha Barnes : 46:48

It's the good shit

Sarah Spoon : 46:51

change of pace now with a cover of a Brenda Russell song, 'Something' by Snarky Puppy and Lalah Hathaway. The daughter of the great Donny Hathaway. Where are you on your desert island? And what are you doing? While the song is playing

LaTasha Barnes : 47:09

I'm building a sandcastle and looking out at the ocean

Sarah Spoon : 47:12

cool

LaTasha Barnes : 47:13

and saying that to myself on what I'm building. It's something! It spans generational experiences for me again, because Lalah Hathaway was a huge r&b star still is in the 80s. And so listened 'Baby Baby Don't Cry' And her original presentation of 'Something' back in the 80s was something that my dad would play in the house all the time. And so, the first time I heard this version, and I had never heard Snarky Puppy, this was in the viral video of her doing her multi tonal singing, harmonizing with herself, which is later towards the bridge part of the song and actually hearing the words was like, wait, I think I know that song. And then of course, I went and found later, Hathaway's original version of 'Something', it was like, Oh, that's right. Okay. I didn't even know she could say like that. Anyway, getting introduced to Snarky Puppy, which was just like, what are you doing with this organ? I don't understand. When this song went viral and came back, it was like, all the different tempo changes and melody variations. I couldn't contain myself like this song just knocks. knocks it. It's so good. Oh, it's so good. It's something. The way this like the depth of her start just like where where How does like how, where is it in your throat? How do you sing that low?

Sarah Spoon : 56:15

How have we got to the eighth song and only now the house music kicks in how was that a thing? I was like, Where's the house in this? Oh, it's right. You've saved for the end. The first of your house tracks 'That Night' by Jazzanova but a Vikter Duplaix remix is that how you say his name?

LaTasha Barnes : 56:33

Yeah, his is another voice that's just it undoes me every time it's his voice creeps out. I'm just like, huh? lose control of all the faculties just like I dancing. Am I moving? I don't know. I think I'm moving. I don't understand. His voice is just it engulfs you. moves around in ways that you don't even expect. That's the thing I love most about Vikter to play his voice. And hey again, Vikter. Thanks for coming to my birthday party.

Sarah Spoon : 57:10

Oh, just gonna drop that in there no big deal.

Unknown Speaker : 57:14

It was great just Vikter to play just sitting there watching this dance like this is trippy as we listen to his music. This is crazy. Yeah, he's always been I think he was one of the first house music artists that I stalked. And that's in the communal sense, like back in the day like 80s and such. Everybody wasn't as accessible. So you found a DJ that you really liked if you got a hold of their tape or or or the record or whatever. And you just kept your ear to the ground and found out where they were going to be. Hopefully they were nearby but if they weren't you and your friends just loaded up in the car and just went to where they were gonna be. One time, a friend of mine, we were great friends and he knew how much I had fallen in love with Vikter Duplaix's music and he found out he was going to be at this regular party that they have at Silk City Diner in Philly. And so we jumped in the car. And I was like, Where are we going? Like, I'll tell you in a minute. Then like, after an hour of being on the road, leaving from D.C., I'm like Where The Fuck Are We Going. And then we show up at this random diner, and I'm like, okay, and we go have diner food, like, all right. And then I see some house dance friends that I know. And I'm like, oh, oh, it's a party. Cool. And he's like, it's not just a party. It's a party with Vikter Duplaix and King Brit. Like whaaaat? King Brit, another amazing house music DJ. I just lost my I lost my mind. And then it just started this snowballing of people who loved me and love my dancing, wanting to see me lose my shit on the dance floor. Like invited me to places where Vikter Duplaix was gonna be it was just like, Oh!!

Sarah Spoon : 58:58

so you got your wish. And they got their wish. because presumably you lost your shit on the dance floor.

LaTasha Barnes : 59:02

Exactly.

Sarah Spoon : 59:03

Yeah, I just needed to confirm that. We're at the final song.

LaTasha Barnes : 1:05:13

Are We?!

Sarah Spoon : 1:05:14

Yeah.

LaTasha Barnes : 1:05:19

This song was the second song to release my spirit in a house party. The first one was a song called soul fever by Sinbad. Both songs were implanted into me by Sam 'The Man' Burns. His uncanny ability to not just read a room, but to read the actors in it. And to just seamlessly like just tweak the music in a way that literally would make you make you jack. Or incite you to jump into the cipher. Or incite you to run up to him, like I always did. When he would drop, like just the dopest track. I would just leave the circle run up to the DJ booth and look at him like 'what the fuck are you doing to my life right now?!' And this song 'Traveling', it just reminds me so much of him and how, even though his name traveled the world he, because of the work he did at home, he was able to create this entire generation of dancers who have gone all over the world and inspired others to greater ways of being in themselves just through dance, just a movement and spark conversations about about humanity and race and possibility. integrity and community and purpose just from his music. This song in particular deeply reminds me of Sam realizing the, the angst, the passion, the the deep seated desire behind your passion. When you feel that you can't sleep, you can't eat like you just, you just keep working at trying to find this release and it's like, Alright, I'm just gonna keep going, I'm gonna keep moving. And finding my way in this world and the dance floor, the dance community, whatever it might be. And it's, it's about club life. To me personally, that's what I feel like the song is about. And I just love how it mirrors the experience outside the club. I think gives you so much insight into why you dance? Or why you tell the stories that you tell it's like. Yeah.

Sarah Spoon : 1:08:10

And what do you tell your stories that you tell?

LaTasha Barnes : 1:08:12

Honestly, it started off as just inspiration for others to tell their stories. And now I realize it's for me to take up space for me, to remind myself and others, that there is space for us, particularly black women. I deserve to tell my story, just like anybody else deserves to tell their story. And I don't need someone else's narrative on my life. So to continue to add to the conversation, I tell my story - as complicated, crazy, fun, delicious and engaging as it might be,

Sarah Spoon : 1:08:58

would you like to introduce to the track?

LaTasha Barnes : 1:09:03

this is 'Traveling', the Big Room mix big room referring to the big room at Shelter Club in New York by Quentin Harris That takes me back to amazingly great, powerful and like life changing times when urban artistry was just starting. We were just starting to learn each other in the cyphers. It reminds me of the beginning of my dance journey. And whether I talk to all those people more or not like I still love them all, and the role that they played in getting me to be comfortable and telling my story.

Sarah Spoon : 1:16:16

That's really important.

LaTasha Barnes : 1:16:18

Yep.

Sarah Spoon : 1:16:19

Thank you for sharing it.

LaTasha Barnes : 1:16:21

Thanks

Sarah Spoon : 1:16:22

It's so lovely. And I'm gonna listen to all of these again, through your ears, which is a real privilege.

Unknown Speaker : 1:16:29

Thank you. It's really it was really an honor to like even just share these because like just thinking about all the memories that are attached to all these songs. I'm grateful to even be in a place where people would want to hear anything that I have to say. But I also you know, I recognize very quickly at the beginning of the quarantine especially, like I needed to hear myself a little bit more and was grateful, as up ending, as it was, for the time to be able to do that. I'm going to make my chocolate cake. Or I'm going to skip around my house to Cyndi Lauper's 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' because ways of taking care of yourself is also necessary and music like I was saying at the beginning of this, like, I realized, like, I hadn't been listening to music, like, What the fuck are you doing? So I was like, you know, you are a musical human like, water music. That is your order of sustenance.

Sarah Spoon : 1:17:33

Yeah, water, music, meat.

LaTasha Barnes : 1:17:38

Hahahha!! But yeah, thank you so much for this. Like, really.

Sarah Spoon : 1:17:41

No, the honor is mine. And because you have been utterly joyful throughout as fucking standard.

LaTasha Barnes : 1:17:52

Hahahah!

Sarah Spoon : 1:17:54

You can find Tasha online at www dot lat. Tasha bonds.com that's LATASHABARNES.com. And you can find her on Instagram at @Tasha_v_ba. Tasha's current projects are pretty impressive. There's the Guggenheim virtual commission series, the Paperback Crew, Jazz Dance Continuum. Give Me Double Plus residency. She's a guest lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, there's Swing 2020 there's Hellablack Lindy Hop, Black Brown & Beige, Ladies in the House series, and Nefer Global Movement, collectively empowering females by building meaningful relationships through connection and collaboration. Thank you so much for listening. It was lovely having you around. Please tell your friends The more people who listen the happier the spoon is. If you would like to listen along to Tasha's musical choices, then you can find the playlists on Spotify and YouTube you just need to search Desert Island Jams. If you would like to support the podcast, of course you would, you're a very kind soul, then you can go to patreon.com/desertislandjams and help the spiraling costs of my fledgling broadcasting career. Desert Island Jams is produced by me Sarah Spoon, the graphics were magicked up by Sara Azmy, you can find her on Instagram at @sazmy_design. Jonathan Stout is the musical legend behind the absolutely delightful theme tune, please do go and find him on Bandcamp and buy all of his music. The music license for the year has been very kindly sponsored by Andria Helm who is an excellent vocal coach and you can find more about her and book lessons with her at voicesculptor.com if you're all about the clicks, then you'll be pleased to know that you can find Desert Island Jams on Instagram. Guess what the Instagram handle is? Yes, that's correct it's Desert Island Jams. If you'd like to see pictures of my face, which you might want to do, my username is @lazyvintagegxl but in gal there is no a there's an X as I'm a non binary person. Thanks for listening and Desert Island Jams will return next month.