The Gap Band. Venice Beach 1983. Charlie Wilson dancing in the surf in a Speedo.
Yep, Spring is in the air.

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If you have not checked out the video for Erykah Badu’s new single “Honey” then you need to get over to dailymotion to check it out.
Links: Official Site | MySpace

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One of the categories I forgot to include on my Year in Music post was “Best Aged Album Discovered This Year”. Undoubtedly, it was 1974’s Inspiration Information by Shuggie Otis. Some buddies on my defunct Prince forum recommended Shuggie as sort of a “Prince 1.0″; or Prince, rather, as Shuggie 2.0.

He released his first album [...]

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I have one of these sweet little Apple Airport Express gizmos that allows me to play my iTunes on any stereo inside or outside my house. So when it was time to string up the Christmas lights this past weekend, my 4 year old girl and I fired up the iTunes, set it to shuffle, [...]

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100 Days, 100 Nights by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings could very well have been recorded and released in 1965. This record absolutely drips in the southern fried soul of the ‘good ol’ days’, though this record will undoubtedly (albeit criminally) be compared to more recent outings from Amy Winehouse. The fact that these ladies [...]

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There’s just something about Alice Smith. I’ll admit it, I dug this one out of the pile of CD’s marked “Must Listen To Again” and I’m kicking myself for having slept on it for so long. With comparisons ranging from Patty LaBelle to Fiona Apple to Billie Holiday the one common factor is the presence [...]

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21 Nights of Prince and the question stands… will he play the same set every night? Will we get 21 identical sets? Add 21 after shows with 21 versions of “Footprints”, “Stratus” and “Crazy”?
What do you guys and gals want (or not want) to hear?
It looks like the whole UK shebang was kicked off [...]

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It’d be easy to pass Amerie Mi Marie Rogers by as just another Beyoncé clone to be filed neatly before Ciara and Rihanna in the record industry’s attempt to strike gold more than once (as displayed perfectly by the latter’s more than 2 month stint atop the UK charts with her infectious “Umbrella”). It’s not [...]

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I’ve been reading up on the latest happenings of Jazzie B. and Soul II Soul. It’s good to see that Jazzie is still going strong as a DJ around London. I really enjoyed the club / R&B groove of their first two U.S. releases, Keep on Movin’ and Vol. II: 1990 - A New Decade. [...]

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James Mtume actually started out as percussionist for Miles Davis in the early 70’s. By the early 80’s he had formed his own group, Mtume. He hit #1 on the R&B charts in 1983 with “Juicy Fruit”. His follow up a year later was You, Me and He. The title track went all the way [...]

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