ANTHONY ANTOINE provides an indispensable voice for so many who have not found the courage to speak for themselves. What is most profound about Anthony is the range of mediums he uses to testify, signify, and wail vital messages challenging our apathy, homophobia, erotophobia, and our inability to see (especially ourselves) clearly. In an era where pop stars boast keeping it real as a marketing strategy, Anthony Antoine makes keepin' it real for real both revolutionary and sexy. That's what's up!  BARON He avoids the cliche' and predictable theatricality of many making moves on the Spoken landscape. With language that cuts to the core of his and our collective nigga blues, Baron wails lyrical manifestos for black boys who love black boys and who still struggle to taste the truth off their tongues... and spit it. Too boot, beyond spittin on forthcoming projects, Baron's gonna be making beats for DDC. EMILE BENJAMIN I have been known to capture the sublime through words, reflecting it back to an audience in a poem or song. There's something about the conversion of the thing itself into that something beyond that artists do: with words, with music, and yes, with pictures. Beyond being a Brave Soul comrade, Emile is one of my dearest friends who I've been encouraging to shine for some time. He's a brilliant, if understated, photographer who understands that the lens behind the lens is God's gift. I'm glad he saw and found me. BIG TRU  A hip hop head of many hidden talents. He's also a bit of a big little brother. I first met Tru while speaking and performing at a Duke Hip Hop conference sponsored by Mark Anthony Neal and also featuring Byron Hurt (Beyond Beats and Rhymes) and Joan Morgan (When the Chickenheads come to Roost). Tru has become a very close friend whose guidance and support has been indispensable. What i love most about Tru is his resolve about standing by those he believes are taking black folk to the next level-- never pausing for a second where others would let their isms and phobias get in the way of, not just progress and meaningful collaboration, but life-long friendship. He's also the designer of the all new RedDirt.Biz . BRAVE SOUL COLLECTIVE is an education, outreach, and support organization for gay / bisexual / transgendered / questioning HIV positive and negative individuals living their lives in truth through the arts. BSC aims to help stop the spread of HIV&AIDS, by serving as a platform for honest discussion about prevention, stigma, and personal responsibility. BSC is committed to encouraging artistic freedom, expression, and creativity in members of the arts, and same gender loving communities. bsixtee6  (AKA Briian Dargon) has been a good friend since about 1997 and my days, burgeoning as an artist and intellectual, in Brooklyn. A gifted designer, he's grown as both an artist and entrepreneur. Beyond this, he captures what it means to be both a beautiful and gentle spirit and a powerful force with great resolve about social justice. We've grown closer, though apart, for many of the years between, but got reconnected through our work with Brave Soul Collective, as he's been a principal supporter of our vision. I admire him greatly and am likely blushing if he's around. It's quite a sight to see: HOT! ButtaFlySoul Long before there was a Def Poetry, ButtaFlySoul was that lil good boy in church waiting for the right moment to make the choir burst into revolution, rebuke all the the hypocritical judgementals, and exchange old and new testaments for Audre Lorde and Essex Hemphill. I don't know many brothas who can spit and saang (not sing) with the well of passion and energy of ButtaFlySoul. He's a catalyst in the movement of DDC to the East (my brotha to the East) CASA DI CENZO Casa Di Cenzo is Cenzo’s site for multi-media design including print, illustration, photography, branding and a good resource hub for multi-media artists. Among Tim'm's closest friends, activist comrades, and artistic collaborators this Cenzo site features some of the more popular photographs of Tim'm (OUT 100 photo from 2004, BARE Cover, other treats). He's an amazing multi-disciplinary artist, so check it out. DEEP DICKOLLECTIVE tim'm is also known as 25percenter of deep dickollective. We be something like a cross between Wu Tang and De La but with feminist bibles and drag queens at our shows. We are not a group but a collective and a movement-- a den for homiesexuals, banji boys, and fag rappers with interest in the reclamation of hip hop. enter the world of lyrical gifts, intellectual bliss, satirical twists, and nigga riffs. bourgiebohopostpomoafrohomo, baby!  Tim Dillinger If you take the fire of the most emotive gospel singer, the passion of the most infamous soul men, and the poetic introspection of the “serious” singer/songwriters and put them together, the result is the music and artistry of Tim Dillinger. "I wrote in a song "Deeper", "deep....like a white boy being soulful". With Tim, it's not a put on or outfit. This brave soul brings it by being much more than a vocalist: journalist, radio personality, activist, poet, and much more. For those who've wanted to hear more Tim'm sangin' expect a soul collaborative/concept project between Tim'm and Tim in 2008. SOL EDLER "you got it" like an Eric B and Rakim back-sample: sol. the essence of a baritone that resonates with some feeling we've all felt before: a crush going a step further than packaged "neo soul" catagorization, a porch wailer, a deacon call, the embodiment of love that sirens bless us with to remind us of songs we'd thought we'd forgotten. Sol is an amazing songwriter, beautiful person, and among the first new friends I made in DC.  But we go back way before that... and continue to uncover the convergences. Lions and Tigers and GAY RAPPERS! (oh my) who is the gay rapper? Well it depends on what style you're into, since there are so many. This UK based site bridging some of the strongest talent in the hip hop underground....Period! Bust some rhymes, organize a colloborations with a beat maker or emcee, support artists who gaze in the cipher without shame. JaHipster we go waaaaaay back! Before my associations with SMAAC or emcee daps was Cackalack revolution in a Gothic Wonderlack. If you don't know then you don't know... but it was no surprise that this sista, like me, has more degrees than a themometer, the literary acumen of a scholar, and still connects beyond dots and boxes where some are anxious about crossing borders. exemplary poet, revolutionary, and friend. Glad to have her in my life again. Tenea D. Johnson Tenea D. Johnson's Starting Friction is the challenging enjoyment of moving on to the next deciphering, in order to return to a more cumulative understanding. The poems are already ready to be read again, for Johnson's language is sweetly complicated, yet invites the reader to connect with the images, music, and tastes of a woman vulnerably exposed as both cosmopolitan and country, urban and earthy, her politics best illuminated through her hopefulness. Read these "songs" understanding that herein lies the blood-memory of a nation breathing through her pen. Starting Friction raises the dead; it is life, often taken for granted, being immortalized where text is given flesh. OMAR This man has everything to do with my finding my voice. i first heard Omar on a song with Mica Paris and it made me feel alright about singing from the gut... approaching a pitch imagined in the head first... seeing my voice as one of many instruments i cannot play (though he can). my dream would be to have him produce something for me... or do some other collaboration. I had said that he was the only person on my links page I did not already know personally... but that's not true anymore. start anywhere with omar... and if you don't dig... don't tell me. he ain't half-bad on the eyes either! Mai-Lei Pecorari Mai-Lei Pecorari is a friend, ally, sistah, soul-mate, and primary consultant for Tim'm and his numerous faces. If you own a copy of Red Dirt Revival or will be picking up a copy of "Songs from Red Dirt" you have Mai-Lei to thank for cover-art that reflects the man behind the muse-ic, the pencil behind the poetry. It should be no surprise that folks with apostraphes and hyphens in their names would connect...and that's real. DORIA ROBERTS she's someone I wished I'd met somewhere back when I couldn't seem to find myself. doria and i did meet in 2004 while touring in Boston and Maine with Queerstock and, since then, can't seem to get enough of each other. She's among the more talented people I've met in my life. Her music? My muse. I don't know that I've learned more about how to be on stage than through watching her "do her" guitar strummin vocalistics: folk, blues, rock, and most definately soulful blackgirl.... is among the best new gifts in my life these days  CARL HANCOCK RUX among tim'm's most profound inspirations. A Renaissance brotha who has for some time been setting the path for rhyters, wailers, poetry people. "Pagen Operetta" is a profound testimonial. "Rux Revue" is a classic waiting to be heard over and again. And if that wasn't enough, there's "Talk", the proverbially brilliant "Asphalt" and the Giant Step album "Apothecary Rx". Even will all that going on...ain't he phyne? More importantly he is my friend, a muse, and a guide through this maze of life in which we anticipate next breaths.  The Soupy Gato Show (Podcast) So I haven't much been into the whole podcast thing, save a few connections with people I know who do them. There's certainly a thirst for real variety beyond the humdrum the radio offers. Then this cat Dan writes me about doing a GLBT showcase, so I obliged. More than being interested in giving his audience a range of good music, he's makes me nostalgic for the 80's, when good rock and good soul and good hip hop harmoniously filled the sound waves. Honored to be a main ingredient in the soupygato. DJ LA THOMAS I have a lot of deejay friends, but I don't know many who've given space on their mixed CDs to support my house-head musings, inspirations, and soul-stirrings more than DJ LA Thomas. He has Tim'm in the mix on several of his mixed projects. All are quite strong, soulful reminders of why house music, like hip hop, is here to stay! Check out "Blessed Rhythm", "Calm Waters", and one of my favorite mixes "Appreciate". House music all night long...say what?  VINCENZO Vincenzo is the most lightskindid brotha i have in my life right now. He's an exemplary poet, world-famous deejay, and an up and coming poet whose "Forbidden Fruit" will be a great contribution to our literary landscape... and, he makes sure I look good in pictures and on camera. If you need some excellent, professional design consultation he's your man. and if you need a lil' somethin somethin extra... you gotta ax him. i ain't tellin no secrets.  HANIFAH WALIDAH if tim'm was not a bio-boy, he'd try to be something like Hanifah Walidah-- an amazing life force with a profound and beautiful voice for social commentary. She moves through the world like the wind leaving its impress on everything it touches. Peep the Crookedletter and Trustlife releases. Also peep the "The Blue State" compilation, featuring: Hanifah Walidah, Mrk. Drkfthr, and your n truly MARVIN K. WHITE yes, he has an amazing chest cut, i know. but more vital than this is his nurturing. it would almost not be a stretch to say that there wouldn't be tim'm as you know him without a marvin. he's among the things I most miss about the BayArea. Indispensible poet, revolutionary brotha, and fun to party with too. Besides, i have something to do with him becoming a house head. LOL  AVERY R. YOUNG He's the CHI-West MI Crookletter bent North over asphalt crack. He be Hip Hop's breaker gone Humpback channeling his blues in a notebook backpacked. He's the word-charmer, making them shout before he spits or sangs them on stages or on pages. I admire a writer who is as careful about his simplicity as many "poets" are simply careless. Watch him work magic... Then wonder why we call each other "twin". The fire next time got sparked somewhere between Over the Rhine Cincy and Chi-Westside. The moon was full. It was July.