David (2:25 PM): well hello

David (2:26 PM): nice to catch you

Tim'm West (2:26 PM): hello.

Tim'm West (2:26 PM): yeah...rare.

Tim'm West (2:26 PM): LOL

David (2:32 PM): your time is limited and precious, so let's get started...........how did you get the idea for front porch to begin with?

David (2:35 PM): from what I read, front porch seems like an extension of your didactic and altruistic impulses

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Jamez has been immersed in the culture, language, artistic values and rhetorical gestures of hip-hop from his youth and he found in the genre's raw, freely expressed rage a way to combat oppression. "It was a combination of things that inspired me to rap," says Jamez. "The two artists I'd say had the biggest influence on me were KRS-One and 2Pac. KRS really brought intelligence into the game, showed that it was okay to be educated, to speak well.

They brought that element of it to the streets and Pac…" he pauses briefly, filled with reverence for the departed master. "Pac brought the rage. Hip hop is about being real and I found out I could be myself, express what I was feeling inside". If we lived in a perfect world, this writer wouldn't have to tell you who Jessy Jamez is.

At 16, he signed with his uncle's label. Later the label got a multi-million-dollar distribution deal, but the deal fell through and he was relegated to relative obscurity, in spite of his talent. "Greed just took over and things that should have happened didn't. That's all there is to it" says Jamez. This twist of fate allowed him to meet two individuals who would have a decisive impact on his life and art.

Although he received no formal training, Young was a profound musician with an uncanny grasp of phrasing and choral texture. He knew when to stretch a piece and when to quit and his colleagues learned much from his dazzling showmanship and sovereign musical instincts; the young lady who did much of the conducting for the service bore the unmistakable stamp of Young's style.

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He was also a faithful attendee at the conferences of the Gospel Music Workshop of America. The details about why and exactly how he died remain unclear; there is, however, one story that emerges with some semblance of clarity: a longtime choir member and a sometime visitor of the church, both in their early 20's, were dating and Donald became interested in the sometime visitor.

After the break-up of the choir member and the visitor, Young began to date the sometime member. In jealousy and anger, the choir member went to Donald's home and shot him. In an eerie twist of events, the choir member, who was trailed to the frequent Trinity visitor's home by police, questioned and released, sat in the audience the very same Sunday that Mr.Young's death was announced. Young was well liked and the announcement provoked a shocked gasp from the congregation.

A wake for Young will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the church. A funeral service follows at 11 a.m.

View WGN News Report below:

The recent news of the untimely death of Larry Bland has rocked Chicago’s African-American gay community. “The secrecy is killing us”, says Father Juan Reed emphatically.

Father Juan is the pastor of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, an open and affirming congregation in the city’s Austin neighborhood. “This is why being out is so important. It’s the way we’re forced to hide in the shadows” says Father Reed flatly.

What is perhaps more disconcerting than the death itself is the lack of press Bland’s death has received in the local press. Fox News devoted less than 30 seconds to the story, yet the death of Kevin Clewer, a white gay man from Edgewater who died in parallel, if not exactly verbatim circumstances as the victim of murder at the hands of a man he took home, galvanized the Edgewater community and received several mentions in both the gay and mainstream press.