After my time with JBTV and AXS-TV, I first conceived TOWNIE during my KTQ Fellowship; as a Music, Arts & Culture program for Chicago public radio & television. But after my initial CSCI Cultural Ambassador / Citizen Diplomat experience, I expanded the concept to include travel, and Chicago’s many international sister cities.

The idea was to celebrate civic pride, cultural diversity-&-heritage, and global citizenship collectively —filtered through my urban arts sensibilities as music ambassador, journalist and artist. But after my third award for The DownNow Project (2020), I paused TOWNIE so I could concentrate my focus. This is still a favorite project though, which I intend to refresh, and was part of the motivation for my 2022 Euro Grand Tour.

The photo gallery below is in no specific order; it illustrates the kinds of interesting people (and stories) I routinely access through my professional and personal networks, history and activities. I embrace the media personality category which I most clearly fit —the “true-school”. hip-hop elder statesman (e.g., Sway Calloway, Ebro Darden, Elliott Wilson, etc.).

But my journalistic interests and aesthetics differentiate me from my contemporaries, especially with regards to international affairs and global cultures. My work at the intersection of journalism, culture and entertainment ranges from mainstream/commercial to esoteric and eclectic.