Page 12 - MILConnection_Spring_2024

Brian Green: It’s a family affair

I guess you could say it’s in the DNA for Brian Green. His grandfather was a trombone player
in the legendary Duke Ellington band and his dad was a singer, so Brian’s musical gift for Go-
Go was probably no surprise to those in the know.
Brian’s natural talent first revealed itself in the early 1980s while he was serving in the U.S. Air
Force. After listening to his roommate’s rapping rhymes, Brian thought, I can do better. And
then he did. A dare from his roommate eventually propelled Brian to take the stage at the “Rat
Race,” a Tuesday night party for servicemembers held on base. His performance surprised
everyone in the audience and inspired a fresh new path.
Brian’s new direction began with performing in shows outside of the Rat Race along with the
studio recording sessions that followed. His brother was so impressed with the music Brian was making at the time, he began
playing his tapes for his barbershop patrons. And then one fateful day, Big Tony from the Go-Go band Trouble Funk heard one
of his recordings and expressed an interest in working with him. Brian’s music career was really starting to pick up momentum.
With his military service behind him, the early 1990s found Brian making music and touring through Asia and Europe,
performing in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, and Osaka—and rapping on the same stage as headliners like the Red Hot Chili
Peppers and War. Brian eventually went on to produce music, including rapping on the title track of the 1998 Bruce Brown film
Street Wise (Taraji P. Henson’s first movie). He even wound up in the movie’s final cut, playing a character named 11:30. But if
you ask Brian, he’ll tell you that the highlight for him was spending time with and getting to know fellow musicians—hanging
on Bootsy Collins’ tour bus and becoming friends with Go-Go music legend Chuck Brown.
Once those heady days of touring and performing wound down, Brian again launched himself in yet another new direction in
2000. This time following an aptitude for accounting and eventually finding a home on MIL’s Accounts Payable team in 2016.
But never fear, there’s yet another generation of Greens carrying on the family’s musical tradition. Brian’s son is a rapper and
music producer, and his daughter plays multiple instruments including the trombone, which she once played as a member of
the Redskins band.

James Parnell in light and shadow

People create art because it’s their passion and escape. MIL staffer James Parnell creates his
art to capture life in its purest and most organic form. With a love of photography formed
in his earliest years, James has pointed his unfiltered lens at the faces of newborn babies
as a professional in-house photographer as well as at countless other subjects to forever
memorialize a moment in time. Since picking up his first point-and-shoot camera, through
his middle school days learning the basics of black and white photography and darkroom film
development, James transformed an early fascination with his dad’s 35 mm camera into a
hobby, then a craft, and eventually into an artistic expression of his own personal perspective.

With no formal training outside of that middle school Technology class, James learned the craft of his art by doing. Asked
to describe his artistic point of view, James replied, “I enjoy monochrome photography with relatively high contrast, and
interesting interaction between light and shadow. I feel my style strips away the distractions, presents a purer view of the subject
and intensifies the emotional component of the subject.” Also adding that his unfiltered vision reflects his desire to “get it right
in the camera.” He prefers not to fuss with too much post-processing through ”Photoshopping” or filtering his images. His goal
is to get his camera settings, lighting, and composition right in the moment.
Along with photographing some of life’s first moments, James has also shared his vision and talent to create portraits and
professional images for his friends and family. His affinity for photographing people has led him to appreciate the challenges of
photographing the many shades and tones of his human subjects. “As a student of physics, I know that darker objects absorb
more light than lighter subjects, and a photograph is a drawing of light,” he noted, adding that within an African American
family, it’s common to encounter a wide variation in skin tones. For the past 10 years, he’s focused his attention and artistic eye
on properly representing the full spectrum and diversity of the subjects stepping in front of his lens.
When not freezing time with his camera, James serves as a Business Analyst at MIL. Since 2019, he’s supported MIL’s
Department of State mission in Charleston, SC., applying his love of technology and technical training to lead continuous
improvement projects, identifying areas to streamline through business process reengineering and automation.

12 | the MIL connection | spring 2024