Good morning peeps! I'm back!!! It's been at least four months since I last posted on this blog thingy! I can't really say why it's been so long, other than I guess I had nothing new to say...I was "worded-out" for a spell. So why am I here today you ask? Well, I can only suppose that I felt an urge to be! My focus is still on the music that I love so much and other tid-bits of pop culture, trivia and life! In the world of music, we've suffered so, so many losses this past year: Teddy Pendergrass, Ron Banks, Randy Cain, Ollie Woodson, Harvey Fuqua, Marvin Isley, Robert Wilson, Al Goodman, Big Ron Carter, Abby Lincoln and the biggest name of all: Michael Joseph Jackson! These are obviously not in the order of their transitions and I am sure I am forgetting many others but this is a heartbreaking number as it is.
Yes, many of these artists lived wonderful and long lives...but it's always sad to lose such talented members of our universe. I like to remind myself that they are not really gone... their bodies of work assure us that they will always be around. They have just moved into the "Night Shift" to join the most soulful choir ever. If you close your eyes, open your minds and listen...you can hear them singing.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Hollywood Swinging - Kool and the Gang
Good morning peeps!! Did you watch The Oscar Ceremony last night? Being the pop culture "junkie" that I am, I watched in anticipation of the highly publicized hype of "something different from The Oscars that you've never seen before..." Well, unless I dozed off (which I did occasionally), I missed something. Sure, there were two hosts: Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, and less big production numbers; not much else seemed really new. Did they mean having former winners from each category offer commentary about the new nominees? Ho-hum. Nothing exciting there. However, what was somewhat new, was having at least three African Americans in the running for Oscars, at one time: Morgan Freeman (Invictus), Mo'Nique, (Precious), and Gabourey Sidibe, (Precious), and an African American in contention for Best Director (Lee Daniels; Precious). Can't remember when that happened before or if that ever happened. An African American won for Best Adapted Screen Play for Precious; Geoffrey Fletcher, a New Yorker who teaches at NYU.
Speaking of Precious, it is only one of three of the nominated movies I actually saw; the others being Avatar and The Lovely Bones. I don't go to the movies much these days, but I do see what I want on DVD. Now, back to the Oscars. Kudos to Mo'Nique for her winning her very first Oscar on her first time nominated! That is quite an accomplishment! I also have to say that she looked stunning in her royal blue, shirred front gown, and her beautifully coiffed hair! In watching her performance in Precious, I do agree that she was powerful, but I don't know if it was Oscar worthy...don't hate, it's my opinion. To me, it was "The Monster's Ball Syndrome" all over again. That is, when Black women play either overly sexualized women (Halle in Monster's Ball) or some convincingly brutal batterer as in Precious, they get Hollywood's attention! I have seen many other performances by African American women that I felt should have won Oscars but didn't. Angela Bassett as Tina Turner for example. This is progress though, in this sense: in the not too distant past, heavy set African American women were relegated to playing maids, mammies, slaves; or fair-skinned black women were always portraying "tragic mulattoes" "passing for white" or "exotic island dwellers."
Speaking of maids, I thought it was very gracious of Mo'Nique to pay homage to the late Hattie McDaniels, that I'll bet went over the heads of many in the audience, as well as home viewers. How many African American youth even know who Hattie McDaniel was! Do You? Hattie McDaniel was a heavy set African American actress who was very active in films during the thirties, forties and possibly fifties. She played...you guessed it...maids! She is also the first African American to win an Oscar in 1940, for her portrayal as a "mammy" in Gone With The Wind." In her real life, she supposedly quipped that she'd rather "play a maid than be one" as she laughed all the way to the bank!
Another first this time around, is that a woman won a "Best Director" Oscar for the little known film, "The Hurt Locker." This is significant for more reasons than one: the movie beat out the Goliath: Avatar, and the director, Kathryn Bigelow, beat her former husband...James Cameron in the Best Director category!
Congratulations to all the winners!!!
Speaking of Precious, it is only one of three of the nominated movies I actually saw; the others being Avatar and The Lovely Bones. I don't go to the movies much these days, but I do see what I want on DVD. Now, back to the Oscars. Kudos to Mo'Nique for her winning her very first Oscar on her first time nominated! That is quite an accomplishment! I also have to say that she looked stunning in her royal blue, shirred front gown, and her beautifully coiffed hair! In watching her performance in Precious, I do agree that she was powerful, but I don't know if it was Oscar worthy...don't hate, it's my opinion. To me, it was "The Monster's Ball Syndrome" all over again. That is, when Black women play either overly sexualized women (Halle in Monster's Ball) or some convincingly brutal batterer as in Precious, they get Hollywood's attention! I have seen many other performances by African American women that I felt should have won Oscars but didn't. Angela Bassett as Tina Turner for example. This is progress though, in this sense: in the not too distant past, heavy set African American women were relegated to playing maids, mammies, slaves; or fair-skinned black women were always portraying "tragic mulattoes" "passing for white" or "exotic island dwellers."
Speaking of maids, I thought it was very gracious of Mo'Nique to pay homage to the late Hattie McDaniels, that I'll bet went over the heads of many in the audience, as well as home viewers. How many African American youth even know who Hattie McDaniel was! Do You? Hattie McDaniel was a heavy set African American actress who was very active in films during the thirties, forties and possibly fifties. She played...you guessed it...maids! She is also the first African American to win an Oscar in 1940, for her portrayal as a "mammy" in Gone With The Wind." In her real life, she supposedly quipped that she'd rather "play a maid than be one" as she laughed all the way to the bank!
Another first this time around, is that a woman won a "Best Director" Oscar for the little known film, "The Hurt Locker." This is significant for more reasons than one: the movie beat out the Goliath: Avatar, and the director, Kathryn Bigelow, beat her former husband...James Cameron in the Best Director category!
Congratulations to all the winners!!!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
You Make Me Feel Brand New - Stylistics
Good afternoon peeps!!! It's been a while, but I am back with reason to smile! In a few more weeks, Spring would have sprung; no more snow (knock on wood); I'll be celebrating another year of living (God willing) because my birthday is April 1st, and my sister-friend Stephanie Jordan has redesigned the layout of this blog! So, I just wanted to make this piece an opportunity to say thank you to Stephanie, and to all of you who have read our collective blogs. I'll return soon with more commentary, more songs, more little gems of knowledge and hopefully...more reasons to bring a smile to your lips. Until we meet again,
Ciao my friends!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Dance, Dance, Dance - Chic
Good morning peeps!! You already know that, "I love music, any kind of music, long as it's grooving..." but, I also love to dance! The two go hand in hand of course. In my parallel universe, I was a "Solid Gold Dancer" like Darcel Wynn; memba her! Tripping back down memory lane, I can recall the many dance records and dances from my youth. The Two-Step, The Twist, The Madison, The Stroll, The Bop, The Mashed Potatoes, The Swim and The Pony to name a few, were from my really early years of dancing. That's when we were glued to the TV set watching American Bandstand.
Next phase: The years of The Motown Sound and The Philly Sound ushered in a new set of dances: Remember The Jerk (the original one), The Hitch Hike, The Monkey, The Boston Monkey, The Boogaloo, The Philly Dog, The Wobble, and The Twine? Now I know that many of these dances might have been local or regional favorites, but often, when a singing group picked up the dance and created a song around it, the dance became more widespread. The Twist is an example of this. Although it was first performed by the original creator of both the dance and song, Hank Ballard and The Midnighters; it was Chubby Checker's version that achieved world-wide fame and became an international dance sensation! To this day, even young children pick up this dance and work it! I taught it to my class of Kindergarten and First grade students, who performed it on stage, to the delight of everyone.
Moving into the Disco era, dancing re-emerged as an important social activity. In my East Harlem neighborhood, we were doing a latin dance called The Palladium. We had no knowledge of the club by the same name...we just knew how to do this particular dance to the Latin music that we all listened to at the time.
This style of dancing evolved into The Hustle that predominated the dance floor, when Van McCoy recorded a song by the same name, Do The Hustle. However, in the movie Saturday Night Fever, The Hustle was depicted as a line dance. That's not how we did it in the hood. It was also during this phase that line dancing became popular once again, after having all but disappeared from the local scene! If the song, "Moving" by Brass Construction came on, nearly everyone did a line dance very similar to The Electric Slide, called The Bus Stop. Solo dances around this time included The Bump, The Rock, The Freak (or Freaky-Deaky depending on where you were from), The Wop, The Skate and numerous other dances with names I can't recall. And I can't talk about dancing without mentioning the best music and dance show of all time...Soul Train of course! A party ain't a party without a Soul Train line!
Just as the music scene changes, so do the dancing styles. By now, Disco was fading and Hip-Hop was emerging as a dominate force. B-Boys and girls destroyed with their gravity-defying moves! Break dancing! Popping and Locking! The Robot! The Electric Boogaloo! By now, people in my age group had to go to dances given by organizations in order to hear "our" music and do "our" style of dancing. I know you can feel me on this. Oh the dances that have evolved out of The Hip-Hop culture!
Moving on through the eighties and nineties: The Cabbage Patch, The Snake, The Worm, The Running Man, The Pee-Wee Herman, The Charlie Brown. All the line dances that evolved from The Madison...Electric Slide, Mississippi Mud Slide, Cupid Shuffle and on and on and on! Walk It Out y'all, Walk It Out! We have danced into The New Millineum ...What's next? Dancing on the Ceiling for real?
Monday, February 22, 2010
Memories - The Temptations
Good morning peeps!! Lately it seems my mind has been a Tabula Rasa when it comes to writing; that is; a "clean or blank slate." Hopefully, I've inspired, entertained, amused or gave food for thought in my previous posts. A while ago, I was thinking about the past and in particular, my teen-aged years. What brought it on? I dunno; probably a dream I had last night or perhaps a song I listened to. Maybe the fact that my next natal anniversary is fast approaching and I'll be another year older (God willing). I am thankful for the life I've lived and lived through. I am thankful for the lessons learned and taught. I am thankful for the many struggles, hard times, rewards, punishments, experiences, encounters, disappointments, surprises and whatever has come my way; it made me who I am. Segueing to a trip down memory lane.
I present to you some of the fashions, slanguage, fads and other cultural phenomena from my teen age years.
Cute boys were not "hunks;" they were "fine"
Cute girls were called "foxes"
Cars were referred to as "my ride" or "my short"
Your parent's apartment was called "the pad"
You were lucky to have one TV and even luckier if it was a color TV!
Some of the more fortunate girls had their own Pink Princess Phone in their bedroom (not me; we only had that traditional black phone in the living room).
When you out grew toys, you probably wanted some "fly" new clothes or shoes for Christmas; maybe even ice-skates or roller skates. Perhaps a new bike.
You always wanted whatever "uniform" was in fashion at the time. I can't speak for guys but for girls, some of the items that were popular at the time were:
Stirrup pants, patch-sleeve sweaters, tan suede bucks with the pink, rubber soles, Clarkes from The Village in the Purple striped box; my favorites were called, "Bunnies;" wrap-a-round skirts, knee-socks to match your outfit and a "Greek Bag" also from The Village. Other desirables were: Chesterfield Coats,Rabbit Fur Coats, Leather or Suede Coats, Boy Coats, Pea Coats, All American Sweaters, fish net stockings in colors to match your outfit. The jeans of the day were tight, Levi's and were called dungarees.
Hairstyles varied; scarves and head bands were worn. French rolls, flips, bangs were popular. Boys who wore processes were considered cute, but "strange" or "different" from the rest. *Fights were with fists and girls always greased their faces with Vaseline so that scratching would be minimal; hair pulling and blouse pulling were a must! Earrings came off first of course!
You always repped your neighborhood wherever you went; traveling to another borough could be perilous unless you had cousins there, and if you invited other boys to your projects or neighborhood, they were often chased out by the boys that lived there.
Though not really a *fighter, I do remember three fights I had in particular. Now I have to say that when I lived in the Bronx prior to moving back to Harlem (East Harlem; Wagner Projects), I can't recall fighting. However, when I got to Wagner, I was provoked into fighting: one about a boy; one because a girl retaliated for her friend that I had beaten about the boy and one because I wrote something disparaging about a girl in a *"slang book." Remember "slang books?" Well, in my east Harlem neighborhood, girls and some guys would pass around a *notebook. Each page would be dedicated to a particular person. You were to write how you felt about that person on their page.(Some people do that now on Face book!) Guys were usually complimentary about girls: "she's a fox", etc. But, girls could be vicious! She's a scank! She can't dress! She thinks she's cute! I wrote that a particularly heavy set girl was a "fox without the f!" Did I know that she would see it? Of course! Did I think about the consequences...of course not!
She confronted me in the hallway of my building, on the seventh floor, as I exited the apartment of a mutual friend of ours (to this day, I think I was set-up to be confronted by this mutual friend)! Anyway, we fought and somehow ended up on the floor with her pinning me down. I remember wise cracking about being "hit by a truck!" I was trying to use humor I guess! I also remember biting her and declaring: "All is fair in love and war!" How corny was that?" I think that fight was a draw! Anyway, I gave up fighting and learned to be non-confrontational...I abhor physical violence and don't recommend it as a solution for anyone.
The music was mostly Motown, and parties were called sets. Invitations were written on index cards and the admission was usually 25 cents! This covered the costs of sodas and snacks! The lights were blue; parents were out and grinding was in! Oh, and when you wanted to ask a girl to be yours, you asked, "will you go out with me?" If you wanted to break up, you would say, "it's quits!" No texting in those days, Lol. Ah...memories... sweet, sweet memories! Please share some of yours...
Me on the left, in front of the building where I had the 3 fights; 2385 First Avenue; Wagner Projects
I present to you some of the fashions, slanguage, fads and other cultural phenomena from my teen age years.
Cute boys were not "hunks;" they were "fine"
Cute girls were called "foxes"
Cars were referred to as "my ride" or "my short"
Your parent's apartment was called "the pad"
You were lucky to have one TV and even luckier if it was a color TV!
Some of the more fortunate girls had their own Pink Princess Phone in their bedroom (not me; we only had that traditional black phone in the living room).
When you out grew toys, you probably wanted some "fly" new clothes or shoes for Christmas; maybe even ice-skates or roller skates. Perhaps a new bike.
You always wanted whatever "uniform" was in fashion at the time. I can't speak for guys but for girls, some of the items that were popular at the time were:
Stirrup pants, patch-sleeve sweaters, tan suede bucks with the pink, rubber soles, Clarkes from The Village in the Purple striped box; my favorites were called, "Bunnies;" wrap-a-round skirts, knee-socks to match your outfit and a "Greek Bag" also from The Village. Other desirables were: Chesterfield Coats,Rabbit Fur Coats, Leather or Suede Coats, Boy Coats, Pea Coats, All American Sweaters, fish net stockings in colors to match your outfit. The jeans of the day were tight, Levi's and were called dungarees.
Hairstyles varied; scarves and head bands were worn. French rolls, flips, bangs were popular. Boys who wore processes were considered cute, but "strange" or "different" from the rest. *Fights were with fists and girls always greased their faces with Vaseline so that scratching would be minimal; hair pulling and blouse pulling were a must! Earrings came off first of course!
You always repped your neighborhood wherever you went; traveling to another borough could be perilous unless you had cousins there, and if you invited other boys to your projects or neighborhood, they were often chased out by the boys that lived there.
Though not really a *fighter, I do remember three fights I had in particular. Now I have to say that when I lived in the Bronx prior to moving back to Harlem (East Harlem; Wagner Projects), I can't recall fighting. However, when I got to Wagner, I was provoked into fighting: one about a boy; one because a girl retaliated for her friend that I had beaten about the boy and one because I wrote something disparaging about a girl in a *"slang book." Remember "slang books?" Well, in my east Harlem neighborhood, girls and some guys would pass around a *notebook. Each page would be dedicated to a particular person. You were to write how you felt about that person on their page.(Some people do that now on Face book!) Guys were usually complimentary about girls: "she's a fox", etc. But, girls could be vicious! She's a scank! She can't dress! She thinks she's cute! I wrote that a particularly heavy set girl was a "fox without the f!" Did I know that she would see it? Of course! Did I think about the consequences...of course not!
She confronted me in the hallway of my building, on the seventh floor, as I exited the apartment of a mutual friend of ours (to this day, I think I was set-up to be confronted by this mutual friend)! Anyway, we fought and somehow ended up on the floor with her pinning me down. I remember wise cracking about being "hit by a truck!" I was trying to use humor I guess! I also remember biting her and declaring: "All is fair in love and war!" How corny was that?" I think that fight was a draw! Anyway, I gave up fighting and learned to be non-confrontational...I abhor physical violence and don't recommend it as a solution for anyone.
I am wearing a cream color patch sleeve sweater trimmed in olive green, and olive green stretch pants. The blouse was long sleeved, mint green with a Peter Pan collar. Suede green shoes completed the look. My hair was in a french roll, with my signature bangs...I never liked to show my forehead!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
"I'm Not In Love" - 10cc
Happy V-Day Peeps!!! No, I don't mean that V! I mean Happy Verification Day! You know, that day when your partner verifies that they really do love you afterall, even if they've neglected to tell you all the other 364 days of the year! Wow, you say? Why is she so cynical and bitter? I'm neither cynical nor bitter, but I do consider myself pragmatic...a realist. Yes, I used to be idealistic about love too...we probably all have been at some place and time in our lives. It's just that...well, I've come to the realization that while being in love feels really good, it can also feel really bad too. Even hurtful.
Now, along comes this once a year day, on February 14th; called Valentine's Day! Oh, the excitement! The anticipation! The thought of getting flowers, candy, marriage proposals, cards...or, the acknowledgment that you will probably not get any of the above because simply put...you are alone. You don't have a partner to share the festivities with. You broke up with someone you loved; You lost someone you love. For whatever reason, you don't look forward to the great Valentine's Day hoopla. They say misery loves company...well I'm not miserable, but I am willing to suggest reasons not to feel so down if you don't exactly look forward to this day! I ask you, what is so lovable about a little chubby naked baby flying around shooting people with arrows?
Bad poetry..."Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, Sugar is Sweet, and So Are You"...now what have we learned about sugar? It is bad for you!!!
Candy...Chocolates...love it, but if it contains certain nuts, I get really ill. Can't eat Hazel nuts, Brazil nuts, cashews. Thing is, there was a time when you didn't know which one's contained those nuts until you bit into the chocolate. I think they now include a description on the box to identify which ones contain nuts, but that would be most of the box!
Chalky little hearts with corny, outdated sayings...hate it!
Flowers...they die in two or three days and are so darned expensive!
And last but not least, hurt feelings if your sweetie forgets to give you anything. If you don't expect anything in the first place, you won't feel so let down. Besides, love should be shown 365 days of the year, don't you think?
My Favorite Love songs: not in preferential order
1. You Make Me Feel Brand New - Stylistics
2. You Are Everything - Stylistics
3. You Really Got A Hold On Me - Miracles
4. La-La-La-La-La-La Means I Love You - Delfonics
5. Cupid - Sam Cooke
6. I'll Always Love You - Whitney Houston
7. Oh, Baby Baby - Miracles
8. I Just Called To Say I Love You - Stevie Wonder
9. My Girl - Temptations
10.What's Come Over Me? - Blue Magic
11. Oh What A Night - Dells
12. Rainbow - Gene Chandler
13. I Want To Know - Joe
14. For You - Kenny Latimore
15. I Love You - Patti LaBelle
16. Here And Now - Luther Vandross
17. Make It With You - Bread
18. I Want To Dance To A Love Song - Manhattans
19. Love's Train - Confunkshun
20. Oh Girl - Chi-Lites
My Favorite Anti-Love songs:
1. What's Love Got To Do With It? - Tina Turner
2. Where Did Our Love Go? - Supremes
3. After The Love Is Gone - EWF
4. Love Is A Hurting Thing - Lou Rawls
5. Hate That I Love You - Rihanna
6. You Give Love A Bad Name - Bon Jovi
7. To The Left - Beyonce
8. I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
9. I'm Gonna Walk Away From Love - David Ruffin
10. I'm Not In Love - 10cc
11. Caught Out There - Kelis
12. Victim - Candy Staton
13. If You Leave Me Now - Chicago
14. Why Do Fools Fall In Love? - The Teenagers
15. Out In The Cold Again - Frankie Lymon
16. Mexican Divorce - Drifters
17. On My Own - Patti LaBelle
18. Tainted Love - Soft Cell
19. Hit The Road Jack - Ray Charles
20. Love Is Blue - Dells
Footnote: My darling granddaughter Kalila just brought up a card she made and...A heart shaped tin of chocolates! Happy V Day!
Now, along comes this once a year day, on February 14th; called Valentine's Day! Oh, the excitement! The anticipation! The thought of getting flowers, candy, marriage proposals, cards...or, the acknowledgment that you will probably not get any of the above because simply put...you are alone. You don't have a partner to share the festivities with. You broke up with someone you loved; You lost someone you love. For whatever reason, you don't look forward to the great Valentine's Day hoopla. They say misery loves company...well I'm not miserable, but I am willing to suggest reasons not to feel so down if you don't exactly look forward to this day! I ask you, what is so lovable about a little chubby naked baby flying around shooting people with arrows?
Bad poetry..."Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, Sugar is Sweet, and So Are You"...now what have we learned about sugar? It is bad for you!!!
Candy...Chocolates...love it, but if it contains certain nuts, I get really ill. Can't eat Hazel nuts, Brazil nuts, cashews. Thing is, there was a time when you didn't know which one's contained those nuts until you bit into the chocolate. I think they now include a description on the box to identify which ones contain nuts, but that would be most of the box!
Chalky little hearts with corny, outdated sayings...hate it!
Flowers...they die in two or three days and are so darned expensive!
And last but not least, hurt feelings if your sweetie forgets to give you anything. If you don't expect anything in the first place, you won't feel so let down. Besides, love should be shown 365 days of the year, don't you think?
Now, I give you my lists of favorite love songs and anti-love songs...
My Favorite Love songs: not in preferential order
1. You Make Me Feel Brand New - Stylistics
2. You Are Everything - Stylistics
3. You Really Got A Hold On Me - Miracles
4. La-La-La-La-La-La Means I Love You - Delfonics
5. Cupid - Sam Cooke
6. I'll Always Love You - Whitney Houston
7. Oh, Baby Baby - Miracles
8. I Just Called To Say I Love You - Stevie Wonder
9. My Girl - Temptations
10.What's Come Over Me? - Blue Magic
11. Oh What A Night - Dells
12. Rainbow - Gene Chandler
13. I Want To Know - Joe
14. For You - Kenny Latimore
15. I Love You - Patti LaBelle
16. Here And Now - Luther Vandross
17. Make It With You - Bread
18. I Want To Dance To A Love Song - Manhattans
19. Love's Train - Confunkshun
20. Oh Girl - Chi-Lites
My Favorite Anti-Love songs:
1. What's Love Got To Do With It? - Tina Turner
2. Where Did Our Love Go? - Supremes
3. After The Love Is Gone - EWF
4. Love Is A Hurting Thing - Lou Rawls
5. Hate That I Love You - Rihanna
6. You Give Love A Bad Name - Bon Jovi
7. To The Left - Beyonce
8. I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
9. I'm Gonna Walk Away From Love - David Ruffin
10. I'm Not In Love - 10cc
11. Caught Out There - Kelis
12. Victim - Candy Staton
13. If You Leave Me Now - Chicago
14. Why Do Fools Fall In Love? - The Teenagers
15. Out In The Cold Again - Frankie Lymon
16. Mexican Divorce - Drifters
17. On My Own - Patti LaBelle
18. Tainted Love - Soft Cell
19. Hit The Road Jack - Ray Charles
20. Love Is Blue - Dells
Footnote: My darling granddaughter Kalila just brought up a card she made and...A heart shaped tin of chocolates! Happy V Day!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Yesterday - The Beatles
Good morning peeps!!! Yesterday was Groundhog Day and I wrote about it. At the end of the piece, I posed a question.The question asked was: what did my song title; Charlie Brown by The Coasters have to do with the theme of Groundhog Day? Apparently, only one person read the blog, or tried to answer. That person will get honorable mention today: Keith G. aka Teddy Bear. However, he didn't figure out the connection. I have no other blog-ossip today because I want someone to answer yesterday's question...see ya!
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