RIP David Mills (Wire, Corner R)

fishmongerfunk

NEW ORLEANS ? An HBO spokesman says David Mills, a veteran television writer who worked on "ER" and "The Wire," has died in New Orleans.HBO spokesman Diego Aldana says Mills died Tuesday night but didn't know the cause of death.Mills also wrote for "The Corner" and "Homicide: Life on the Street" among other shows.He is co-writer and co-executive producer of the new HBO series "Treme."The drama is set to premiere April 11. The series is set in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and is being filmed in the city.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/31/david-mills-dead-the-wire_n_520036.html

tripledouble

damn...
well, he left quite a legacy.
RIP

fishmongerfunk

In 1979, Mills graduated from DuVal Senior High School in Lanham, Maryland. Afterwards he attended the University of Maryland, where he was on the staff of The Diamondback, the independent student newspaper. While he was a student, Mills published This Magazine, a tabloid that failed after three editions. Later, he and a group of his friends published Uncut Funk, a newspaper that focused on the music of George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic.

After graduating, Mills became a features writer. He worked for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, and The Washington Post. Among the many articles he wrote, Mills produced a number of controversial celebrity interviews.
[edit] Professor Griff
See also: Public Enemy (group)#Criticism

In 1989, Mills interviewed Professor Griff, a member of the hip hop group Public Enemy, for the Washington Times. During the interview, Griff made a number of antisemitic remarks.[1][2]
[edit] Sister Souljah
See also: Sister Souljah moment

Mills spoke with activist and rapper Sister Souljah in 1992 for the Washington Post. During the interview, the two spoke about the race riots that had taken place weeks earlier in Los Angeles after a predominately-white jury acquitted four police officers who had been videotaped while beating a black motorist named Rodney King following a high-speed car chase.

The most controversial portion of the interview came when Mills asked Souljah whether violence was a rational response to outrage. Imagining the thoughts of a participant in the riots, Souljah said that it was:[3]

Mills: But even the people themselves who were perpetrating that violence, did they think it was wise? Was that wise, reasoned action?
Souljah: Yeah, it was wise. I mean, if black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people? You understand what I'm saying? In other words, white people, this government, and that mayor were well aware of the fact that black people were dying every day in Los Angeles under gang violence. So if you're a gang member and you would normally be killing somebody, why not kill a white person? Do you think that somebody thinks that white people are better, or above and beyond dying, when they would kill their own kind?[4]

Within weeks the interview achieved national fame ? one sentence of it, that is. Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton criticized Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition for inviting Souljah to speak at its convention. Quoting Souljah as saying "If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?" Clinton said that "if you took the words 'white' and 'black' and reversed them, you might think David Duke was giving that speech".[5][6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Mills_%28TV_writer%29

CousinLarry

The p-Funk references in his work are hilarious.

willie_fugal

he apparently had a brain aneurysm while they were shooting outside Cafe du Monde.

RIP.

SIRUS

thats so sad.

DCarfagna

Mills' short-lived publication Uncut Funk was the first real funk collector fanzine to my knowledge.
I've long since lost my copies and would love to replace them.
They were oversized newsprint.

DocMcCoy

Never realised this was the same David Mills who did the Undercover Black Man blog either. Very sad. RIP.

maocontent

Mills' short-lived publication Uncut Funk was the first real funk collector fanzine to my knowledge.
I've long since lost my copies and would love to replace them.
They were oversized newsprint.

for Mills' Ruth Copeland album review alone.

Secret_Chimp

When I was 16 my mom came home from work at the Washington Post where she and David worked for the Style section. She randomly brought home a copy of one of his Uncut Funk magazines (I wish I still had it). I had just discovered Funkadelic, and I completely freaked out over it, wanting as much of the P as possible. Next thing I knew David was sending me CDs and inviting me to shows, he was so excited to meet a young white kid who was into the funk! He was a true funkateer.

He invited me to some incredible shows, including one at a tiny jazz spot called HR-57 here in DC which featured Garry Shider and his son playing nothing but P-Funk. And a private Bernie Worrell show at BET studios with maybe a couple hundred people in attendance.

He was one of the nicest, most generous dudes I've known, always wanting to share whatever cool P-Funk thing he came across.. And I used to love watching NYPD Blue, which he wrote episodes for, waiting for the hidden references.. I remember having a big chuckle when there was a character named named Eddie Hazel.

He was a big Mingering Mike fan, too.

He will be missed by many.

RIP.

SIRUS

wow, thanks for sharing that.

Secret_Chimp

Man, I just remembered one of the coolest things he gave me. It was a video that he took the day of Eddie Hazel's funeral, immediately following the service in Plainfield, New Jersey. He filmed Billy Bass Nelson walking around the neighborhood where the original funkadelics grew up, telling stories about Eddie with some other guys from the neighborhood. They even went to the exact spot on the sidewalk where they would hang out and sing on the street, right across from the barbershop where George Clinton worked (by that point the building had been torn down, and I think it was a basketball court). Anyways, that's what I'm talking about. David was deeep into the funk, and he loved to share. I have that video here somewhere.. I need to watch that again, and actually I'd love to transfer it from VHS. Die hard P-Funk fans would love it.

nzshadow

Man, I just remembered one of the coolest things he gave me. It was a video that he took the day of Eddie Hazel's funeral, immediately following the service in Plainfield, New Jersey. He filmed Billy Bass Nelson walking around the neighborhood where the original funkadelics grew up, telling stories about Eddie with some other guys from the neighborhood. They even went to the exact spot on the sidewalk where they would hang out and sing on the street, right across from the barbershop where George Clinton worked (by that point the building had been torn down, and I think it was a basketball court). Anyways, that's what I'm talking about. David was deeep into the funk, and he loved to share. I have that video here somewhere.. I need to watch that again, and actually I'd love to transfer it from VHS. Die hard P-Funk fans would love it.

Wow.

I think the strut would appreciate this.

RIP one of the good ones.

barjesus

SIRUS

:melt:

seriously.

DCarfagna

As some may know, when I lived in Miami at the end of high school, I moved into an apartment next door to Professor Griff. This was a few months after the PE breakup/scandal, which was fueled by Mr. Mills' article in the Washington Post. Like Secret Chimp, I had been corresponding with Mills about the P and other things Funk. I eagerly awaited any new issue of Uncut Funk and even offered my weakling skills to contribute some record reviews. I put it together and told both Mills and Griff about how I was some kind of honky glue between these two polarizing figures. Each of them were kind of curious about this arrangement. All Mills wanted were photos of Griff's then wife, a beautiful proto-Badu type woman that was easily a foot taller than Griff. I obliged! All Griff wanted was some copies of Uncut Funk. I think I hooked that up as well. Both men were pretty intelligent and I knew that they were just pawns in this much larger game (no pun) that led to Griff being relatively marginalized as a music figure and Mills getting hot screenwriting gigs.

Small, small world.

dreskieboogie

What was that Unkut Funk mag like? Was it all p-funk related content?

Thanks,

Dress

Secret_Chimp

So perfect. "Uncut Funk" in the premier of Treme. This show is going to be f*cking great.

To answer your question above - the zine was almost, but not completely, about P-Funk. At least that's what I remember of it.