This Songs Still Speaks To Me!

Ooh...
Never seen a sunshine like this
Never seen the moon glow like this
Never seen the waterfalls like this
Never seen the lights off like this
Never dug anyone like this
Never had tasty lips to kiss
Never had someone to miss
Never heard a song quite like this

1-Fortunate, to have you girl
I'm so glad, you're in my world
Just as sure, as the sky is blue
I bless the day, that I found you

Never had room service all night
Never took a trip first class flight
Never had a love affair so tight
I never felt a feeling so right
Never seen a winter so white
Never had words to recite
Never had a flame to ignite
And I never sang a song with all my might
(repeat 1, 1)

Can you hear the silence shout?
(Silence shouts, I hope you hear, I'm calling out to your body)
I'm calling out
(Baby you know just what to do, close the door, no interviews)
Put your hands together now

Do I really need to explain posting this? The harmony, percussion, are quite simple but the way that Maxwell interprets R. Kelly's lyrics makes this truly a classic!

Take It Easy!

That's My Song!

Happy Thursday to All!

"Bump and Grind"--R Kelly
"Feenin'"--Jodeci
"Nothing Ever Felt Like This"--Will Downing/Rachelle Ferrell
"Billie Jean"--Michael Jackson
"Summertime"--DJ Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince

Some of the songs for the soundtrack of my life. What are some of the songs that are the soundtrack of your life. It's just amazing to me how some songs, by the introduction, first 8 bars, or even when the lead singer opens their mouth to sing the first note, take you there. Take you to place in your life: good or bad, loving or hating someone, a particular event, or just a special moment in your life. I don't know how that works, I need to research that to tell you the truth. But whenever my "soundtrack" songs, the 4 W's come right to mind. "What, When, Where, and Why".

Music is a powerful thing but school administration are quick to look at the Arts when its time to trim the budget. So, take some me time today and listen to some songs that represent the soundtrack of your life!

Take It Easy

Daniel Snyder Has Pulled Out The CheckBook Once Again!!

As I start to get my mind right to gather who I might be on my NFL Fantasy Football team, my team has made a crucial decision for their defense and is looking to acquire former Miami Dolphin star, Jason Taylor. When I saw this in my Yahoo mailbox, this puts the 'Skins defense back at the top my list. For those of you who are fantasy football freaks, you know that the defense you choose is as just as important as the QB. Truthfully, I picked the Skin's defense mid-season and I fared pretty well.

Last year was my first year coming into the fantasy football world. I didn't take it seriously at first; I didn't even participate in the league draft. But after getting spanked my first two games, and not having a reliable QB (can you say Chad Pennington and Joey Harrington?), I really got into it. I picked up Big Ben from Pittsburgh and the NFL network became my friend on Sundays starting at 1PM. So, I am really looking forward to this season and being prepared for the draft! If you are a sports fan, I would highly recommend trying to join a league.

Oh, I can't forget....Hail To The Redskins, and thank you to Daniel and not sparing the checkbook!

http://www.haruth.com/RedskinsHailtotheRedskins.html

Take It Easy

See Mom...I Didn't Forget!!

I was thinking about my mother so I had to write a post about her. Those Sunday mornings when she has the kitchen crackling with fresh bacon,eggs,and her homemade pancakes.I am upstairs in my bed, "pretending" to be sleep so I can miss the bus to go to Sunday School. But that's not going to happen today. Mom gets out of the kitchen, goes to the bottom of the stairs and screams "Get up and get ready for Sunday School because I know you are not sleep!" But hey can't a fault a brotha' for trying.

Whether it was Shirley Casear, Rev. James Cleveland, Walter Hawkins, The Clark Sisters or Dottie Peoples, I will never forget my mother having the good old-school gospel show by WHUR 96.3, hosted by Patrick Ellis. I think it was her way to thank the Lord because she always didn't get the chance to the House of The Lord, but that show was on without fail. So, as I get older, and moving to the QC, I am still looking for a new home, I find myself now listening to these same songs on a daily basis. The technology I have, (Ipod, Itunes), allows me to explore new gospel music, but sometimes search for those songs that Mom had on Sunday mornings.

http://www.wowgospelonline.com/

Thank you Mom! I love ya, you are always in my thoughts!!

Who Do You Think Is Going To Make The Cut Down The Line?

Let me set the scene for you. It's Friday afternoon and you have already made plans to leave work extra early. You first go to Wal-Mart, to get that last party tray of buffalo wings, Sam's Choice cola and party favors for the young people. You slide over to the ABC to get some Corona, Heineken, Jack Daniels, and Smirnoff. You race home to do to quick clean up and move your expensive stuff to your room for the fear of breakage. At this point your cell phone is ringing off the hook of your people just trying to get verbal confirmation that the event is still poppin' off.

Hey, everything is set for you party, but there is one critical thing left to do: the music!!!! So, you go to the Moto and call up Uncle Junebug to bring the music equipment. We all know Junebug is outside our demographic but he knows his music. What is the first song he plays to get things right? "Before I Let Go" by Maze of course, and instantly, the blue paper cups are put to the side, cigarettes in the ashtray, and the rugrats are asked to go on in the backyard, and the party officially begins!

But artists that offer classic jams like Maze are quite rare these days, so in your mind, which of today's artists do you think will offer the classic hits that we will play at our parties 10-15 years down the road?

Let me give you some examples and let me know how you feel about these:
Anything by Guy, a la "I Like" "Teddy's Jam"
Rob Base "It Takes Two"
Slick Rick/Doug E. Fresh "The Show"
Boston Area Artists New Editon "Candy" "NE Heartbreak", "If It Isn't Love"
The Classic Hip Hop Artists of Late 80's-Early 1990's a la Heavy D, Salt N Pepa, Special Ed, EPMD, Eric B and Rakim, Big Daddy Kane,Biz Markie, Tribe Called Quest, etc.

I just don't see any too many party jams of today's music making to your living room in the next couple of years.

But to celebrate the season, I did find one song that seems to never go out of style.



Take It Easy

Living In The Information Age...Sometimes I Think It Can Be Too Much To Deal With

Let me explain, let me explain! Sometimes information is too accessible and we all know that some information is not meant to spread across bandwith, you know what I am sayin'?

On some levels, I think the internet has been wonderful. Any possible thing that you could possibly need, desire, inquire, learn about, read, listen to, or watch can be found with just a few clicks. Any news that occurs in the world, can be found instantly on the internet. But on the same token, do you think it makes corporations, entertainers, officials, members of government wide open for anything? Anyone can just go online, "google", and find these people contact information in minutes. In this microwave society, fast and right now, sometimes I think we need to sit back and think about how far the internet has come. And the funny part, this thing called internet is always changing. Now, that it is here, could you imagine your life without it?

http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/

Having said that, do you remember still how to sit at your desk with old fashioned stationery and write a letter and use the United State Postal Service to communicate with someone? How about actually going to a library and using the card catalog and the Dewey Decimal System to conduct some research? And finally, my 30+ readers are going to get me for this one, but how about asking the librarian for some microfiche to read old articles for research purposes? LOL. These ideas are quite extinct now, but goes to show you how far technology has come.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microfiche
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dewey_Decimal_classes

So can you deal the information age?

Gordon Gartrell Radio

I have another podcast for you to check out. I still got much luv for Steph Renee Soul Sanctuary podcast but to shake things up, and with a little edge, try the Gordon Gartrell podcast. He mixes up a lot of good hip-hop music with some colorful commentary mixed in. Check it out when you can.


http://www.gordongartrellradio.com/

Take it easy!!

Raphael Saadiq New Album...The Return To Vintage Soul

You know how bad the music scene is these days....so its rarity for me to be excited about new music release. But after the phenomenal release by Mr. Al Green, I am starting to get my musical taste back again.

http://www.algreenmusic.com/

Now, the little birds are telling me that I have another album to look forward to: Raphael Saadiq. I don't know what it is about the brother, but I think its because that I have grown up listening to Tony, Toni, Tone, his intricate bass lines that I love to follow, and his numerous songwriting assists he has done over the years, I just can't wait. According to reports, Saadiq has taken it back to the old school and is really trying to extract that vintage Motown soul sound. The late 60's-70's is my favorite decade about all things soul music. So, I am really looking forward to this new release.

http://www.raphaelsaadiq.com/

Riding his coattails, is Mr. Michael "D'Angelo" Archer. Virgin(correct me if I am wrong) has just released a greatest hits album (so far) and we can expect to his new album early 2009. So, will I be able to go to Best Buy now and don't leave empty handed? I guess time will tell! Stay tuned and go pick up that Al Green album and get to lovin' and thats an order!!

Take It Easy!!

If You Could Change Anything About College Life..Would You?

I don't think so. Life is pretty good right now minus some incidental drama but I don't think I wouldn't change too much. I think I made the right decision by attending the real HU, but knowing what I know now, I think I would have pursued another major so that music would have played a more prominent role in my life. I think I would went to either mass media or music technology if I could do it over again. But the friendships, experiences, and life lessons that I learned I am glad that I had the opportunity.

The most important thing about college for me was the foundation for me to grow up as a man. Beyond what was learned in the classroom, time management, discipline, and responsibility were also critical factors that were learned. I think another key element that I learned through college was effective problem solving. Not relying on my mother anymore, knowing what to do to solve a problem, whether it was how to delegate a group project, how to finish 3 projects that were all due on Friday, how to handle a wacked-out roommate, or how to survive and not go hungry for 2 weeks with only $20 dollars to your name. Effective problem solving back then, and those life lessons continue to pop in my daily life today.

So if you could change about college would you???

http://school.familyeducation.com/college/independence/37681.html

PS I am trying to maintain this blog, so please stick with me. I will continue to keep you entertained.

Take it Easy

Music Tag

The Soultress has tagged me so here we go:

"List seven songs that you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now, shaping your spring summer. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to."

1. Chuck Brown "Woody Woodpecker"--Some days I miss home, so it's good to listen to the Godfather and the rhythm instantly takes me back home.

2. "Wear It Out"--Gerald Levert--This is from the "Stroke of Genius" album. The title says it all, so there is no explanation needed.

3. "Da' Butt"--EU----Got to love this song!! For your young people, this song came off of The School Daze soundtrack.

4. "Stepped on My J'z" (Nelly/JD)--....trying to avoid the rotten tomatoes thrown my way. I know I know, before you say anything....I like the song, it's quite catchy, and I know MJ cut a nice check to Nelly for this one!!

5. "Round and Round"(LSG) This album was slept on! There are some serious tracks on this album and I am glad R Kelly didnt make the cut because I don't the group would not have the same chemistry.

6. "Soon and Very Soon" (Andre Crouch)--I have a gospel playlist on the Ipod and I try to get some gospel in before work and this songs seems to get in on many mornings.

7. "Brooklyn" (The Fuzz Band)---This is a jazzed up tune by my peeps from HU. If you don't know about the The Fuzz Band and I am going to need for you to google!!

Soulstress...now you can stop cutting your eyes at my outdated blog!! LOL