Where inna hot potatoe is ZZ Packer????? She does not need to be writing novels per se…but I do miss her voice and would like to hear from her….interviewing other writers….essays in the Times……the Village Voice…her own Blog!?!?!?!?!?!
On to the soul singa’s………
1. Lizz Wright……I listened to some of her music at Virgin….she has a pretty voice….the songs were melancholy though…which can be dope….but generally I like to be cheered up…unless I am listening to Illmatic;o 
Ledisi is officialy Town business….her range….the rhythms….ALL TO THE GOOD! I picked up her album a few years ago….the dopest joint IMHO is the title track…feeling Orange Again…makes me wanna breakdance and SALSA all at once. 
I learned about Julie around the same time that I learned about Ledisi….In fact I saw her perfom…in ‘Frisco a couple summers ago and it was such a pleasant surprise…her music is rich. warm and sultry…
I fucks with Julie Dexter. Her “Peace of Mind” EP is phenom, “Conscious” is OK but better than most music out there and her track “Never Will I Marry” from an old Perrier Jazz comp is luminous.
I’m wit you on ZZ Packer too but the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house in other words NYT and VV and every other white publication (even the ‘liberal’ ones) do not and will not respect or regularly employ black people no matter how talented as long as the greater society maintains such a bone deep disdain for we who are darker than blue.
Damn gina…..you comin’ real deep w/it b/c according to your quote,
“the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house” I am going to be assisinated any moment now….b/c I am trying to take what magic is doing…and freak it on some McDonalds type presence and duplication…