I'm up late at night workin' and I have to stay awake. Good thing music's keeping me up. Yesterday as I went to the record store to purchase a couple of new CDs, two interesting things happened:

1. Trina Broussard was playing;
2. Incognito's new CD had just arrived.

Trina Broussard's most familiar song was on the Love Jones soundtrack - a remake of the Minnie Ripperton song Inside My Love. Although the song is not on her new CD, The Same Girl, the album is not a dissapointment. Three songs are included here for your listenin' pleasure.

Incognito's back with the CD Adventures in Black Sunshine, this time with Maysa on seven tracks. Needless to say, I'm very impressed with the CD. Hope you will be too.

Flavors Friday VIII.

01. Trina Broussard - No Way Out.
02. Aquanote - True Love.
03. Incognito - Don't Turn My Love Away.
04. Trina Broussard - These Are The Days.
05. Incognito - The World Is Mine.
06. Magic Number - Everyday (Instrumental).
07. Trina Broussard - Joy.
08. Walter Jones - GC's Theme (Instrumental). from Lounge Candelas Version II, also released this week.
09. New Birth - It's Been A Long Time. The wayback machine was stuck in front of me for a sec.
10. Incognito - Listen to the Music.
11. Incognito - True To Myself.
12. Aquanote - Come Around.
13. Mocca Soul - Deep Sea So Blue. Soul || Soul anyone?
14. Cee Lo - Evening News (featuring Chazzle and Sir Cognac). You know how I do.

KB sent a little query out for us yesterday and asked us to come up with one of our favorite disco cuts. Without hesitation, I came up with All Night Thang by Invisible Man's Band. It was one of those songs that had superior instrumentaton, flowed, and the words were extremely seventies. If someone walked up to you and and said "sugar booga/honey could ya", would you run? That's all I'm sayin.

However my song is one of 27. With Vaughn Mason, Rick Dees, and The Villiage People (yeah, I had the cowboy outfit when I was growin' up, alright?!) in the mix, it's a stone groove, people.

And no, I'm not ignoring Disco Duck.

Bounce, skate, roll, bounce.....

Exhibit A:

Sometimes I Blog Slow from J. Brotherlove.

Exhibit B:

Sometimes I Blog Slow by Khary.

Discuss.

I'm trying to elevate myself out of the stress that is work to hang out in New York City with the cool people this weekend. I find myself needing to be more mellow and less postal.

In my mind:

1. The blogpham is scheduled to hang in NYC on Sunday. Want to hang? Email me and/or stay tuned to this site as things develop.
2. I got inundated with spam so some comments got deleted inadvertedly (memo to Six Apart: bring back MT Blacklist!) I'm restoring the comments from previous posts, but it's a lot of cutting and pasting. Don't worry, the love is there, even if you can't see it.
3. I've got three double plays in this arby:
You'll see two cuts from Brigette McWilliams. When the album came out, J. Brotherlove bought Take Advantage of Me and played it nonstop, and of course I had to purchase it, its tunes etched into my brain forevermore. It didn't stay in my house long, floating away like half of my collection always seemed to. He had it in his hands again a week ago, and of course I had to spin it.
4. I now have the Magic Number CD That Day, and it's my favorite Neo Soul, Electronica, mellow groove CD so far this year. Seeing it sell out at the record store not once but twice made me feel good about getting one of the first 5 to enter into the store. I feel a review coming on.
5. Who dropped the knowledge 'bout Miguel Migs? Jason T aka NegroPlease, and being in the mellow mood, I had to pick it up again and spin it around.

Flavors Friday VII.


01. Brigette McWilliams - Cherish This Love. A cut from a decade ago.
02. D'Influence - Shake It.
03. Magic Number - Suddenly.
04. Miguel Migs - One Wish For Me.
05. Magic Number- Fly Away.
06. Alexander O'Neal - What Is This Thing Called Love? Minneapolis old school still in effect.
07. Don Blackman - Holding You, Loving You. From Another Late Night.
08. Miguel Migs - The One.
09. Brigette Williams - No Groove Sweating. A Marvin Gaye vibe in full effect.
10. Miguel Migs - Soul Vibe. Speeding it up a little.
11. After 7 - No Better Love.
12. Cameo - Skin I'm In.
13. Blackalicious - Green Light: Now Begin. Still movin'. Still groovin'.
14. Lenny Kravitz - Fly Away.
15. Heart - There's The Girl. Nothin' wrong with a little pop rock to end it off.

Green Light: Now Begin.

Throw away yesterday / Today is a brand new day

-Sia, The Church of What's Happening Now, Colour the Small One.

I'm searching. I'm looking for another gig. I mentioned that contracting is good for quickies but you know what? It's absolutely bad for seeking a permanent gig. While I haven't gone postal yet, if you see me wandering about the streets with a suit on, wrinkled paper in hand, foaming at the mouth, and babbling words, then just direct me to an employment agency. Remember, technical architects can be your friend too. Four words: resume. available. upon. request.

I'm travelling. Despite all that's going on the homefront, I'm still heading to New York City this weekend, even after having to change my flight twice. If you happen to be in the area during the weekend, drop me a line. There's a meetup brewing. Don't sleep. Doesn't look like I will.

I'm reading. You would think I would read books right? Well this time I have an excuse. What do I do during rest time? I sit and read Bloglines all damned day like a neverending story. I'm known as the blog stalker ho enthusiast. Trying to keep the blog limit to 200 is my ongoing quest.

I'm still celebrating. You should too. All Cancer birthdays rule. Thanks for all of the emails/IMs/phone calls. If you're thinking 'what can I give the man that has everything', then I've got one answer for you: An ipod.

It's my birthday weekend and I'll do what I want.

Right now, I'm:

....looking at bukknekkid artwork. (I'm still laughing, Ofrenda)!
....being Blackalicious. Someone please, please tell me how I slept on them (Trent? Tito? JT? Hashim?) I'm trying to understand just how I haven't heard any of their stuff until I saw the video for Make You Feel That Way on MTV2 not one month ago? Have I lost my hip-hop badge of honor? Although The Roots' The Tipping Point just came out, I'm gravitating more towards Blazing Arrow right now.
...listening to Lizz Wright and Blackalicious (Thanks, Sister Outsider).
...getting hip to Sia, thanks to Mister JT's voice in my ear. After one listen, I'm thinking this will be going into serious rotation this year.
...bobbing my head to Uschi Classen. The CD Soul Magic was played by D-Nice and all of a sudden, it was in my hands, along with hearing the echo of the words 'Happy Birthday'. Big ups to Mood's Music.

Flavors Friday VI.

01 - Uschi Classen with Dee Ellington - Soul Magic. From the CD of the same name.
02 - Blackalicious - Nowhere Fast. You know, there's so much good stuff on this album I'm warning you now, this will be on heavy rotation for a good while.
03 - Tortured Soul - I Might Do Something Wrong. Yes, them again. Again --- who's birthday?
04 - Beanfield f. Bajka - Home. A track from the album Seek.
05 - Uschi Classen with Eska - Dizzy Heights.
06 - The Roots - Star. From The Tipping Point. My next purchase? A Sly Stone compilation.
07 - Blackalicious - Rock The Spot. My anthem for this weekend.
08 - Hil St. Soul - For Your Love. This is the where I break it down into a feel good mood. I'm an 80s kid. J-Notes can relate.
09 - Teedra Moses - Be Your Girl. Comparisons to Cherrelle have been made. More new-school combined with old-school.
10 - MJ Cole with Shaun Escoffery - Nice and Slow. From HoneyForOshun. Huge, huge thanks.
11 - Sia - Natalie's Song.
12 - Lizz Wright - Lead the Way.
13 - Sia - The Church of What's Happening Now.

Let it soak. Show love.

*Ahem*

Tomorrow, people, tomorrow. Do you have the day off? I sure do. And yes, I'm just as annoyed as Nakachi is. But she's a river. Well, what about me?

Which Extremity of the World Are You?
From the towering colossi at Rum and Monkey.

YOU ARE THE ATACAMA DESERT

You are the driest area on Earth. Your annual rainfall is roughly the depth of a dollar bill. In fact, often you can go for several years without any precipitation whatsoever. If you wanted to fill a pint glass by rainfall alone, you would have to have started in 1704, five years before the invention of the piano; to get enough water to drown a man of average height would take 3600 years, or the time between us and the Hittites. You really put Canadian "dry" ginger ale into perspective.

Meme police: Tomorrow should be a national holiday. I'm entitled.

Note to Eric Roberson:
1. You're fly and you're songs are very nice, this is true.
2. I don't blame you for the holdup of your money, but mentioning it more than once is a little disconcerting.
3. When your performance is delayed for 2 hours, please just sing the songs. Improvisation after midnight for people who've been waiting for you to perform is not the move. Luckily I was hanging with the Double Ds, otherwise I would have left sooner.

I've often thought of radio blogs and how they interact. Interesting view about Livewire (via Anil's Daily Links from July 7th.). Big ups to Trader Mike.

I wanted to mention my feelings about Fahrenheit 9/11, but somone else echoed my sentiment.

Enough typing. Time to groove. Flavors Friday V.

01 - Aquanote - Nowhere (Crazy P Remix). Should I tell you what the P stands for? Naaah. Find out for yourself.
02 - Arvid and Ernesto - Try. Nice remix from Bare Essentials, Volume 2.
03 - Angie Stone - Lovers Ghetto. From Stone Love. Big ups to Girlwonder.
04 - Eric Roberson - Please Don't Leave Me. He exhibited a great, albeit extended, performance of this song.
05 - Kiss The Sky - Don't Take Your Love Away From Me. Where's Paul Hardcastle and Jaki Graham these days?
06 - DJ Stef with Rahsaan Ahmed - Floorwax. From Sunset Scavenger. iTunes is destined to make me go broke. Big ups to George. Thanks for the tip.
07 - Digital Underground - Kiss You Back - From Sons of the P.
08 - Outkast (Dre 3000) - She Lives In My Lap. Come on now, you knew it was coming, right?
09 - Kelis - Perfect Day. From Wanderworld. I love No Doubt.
10 - Rufus featuring Chaka Khan - At Midnight (My Love Will Lift You Up).
11 - Erykah Badu - Cleva. From Mama's Gun.
12 - Soul II Soul - Fairplay. Featuring Rose Windross. (R.I.P.)
13 - Eric Roberson - Rock With You (Remix). I would have loved to have heard that, but a man has to jet, you know?

Push it along.

Damn. Sucked into another meme.
From these three people.

Tis true, yes?

The month of July, and it's my month. Let's all celebrate it like a national holiday.
You should have started it off with Nova. Let's continue on with Flavors Friday IV.

01 - Terror Squad - Lean Back [Uncut Version]. Because someone graced us with the hotness, you know?
02 - Blackalicious - Make You Feel That Way. From Blazing Arrow. I saw the video on MTV2 and was instantly hooked.
03 - Aya - Uptown. This comes from her album Strange Flower. Janet Jackson-esque? You decide.
04 - Donnie - Rocketship. One of my favorites from his CD, The Colored Section. Special request from the Fly Girl around the way.
05 - Eric Roberson - Past Paradise - From The Vault, Vol 1.5.
06 - Sweetback - Jesus Girl. From the new release Stage [2]. I did my take of it. It's all about Chocolate Genius.
07 - Shaun Escoffery - Space Rider (DJ Spinna Mix). From Soulonica.
08 - Brandy - Should I Go? From Afrodisiac. Girlwonder did her take on it. I'm not yet impressed. I do like this cut, which uses Coldplay's Clocks rather beautifully.
09 - Eric Roberson - Lil' Money.
10 - Donnie - Turn Around.
11 - Sweetback - Lover. featured by Aya. It's still haunting me.
12 - Sweetback - Circles. It's very safe to say that this is my favorite song right now, and one of the top ones so far this year. If you see me walking around playing air guitar, you'll understand why.
13 - Maktub - Then We'll Know. From Khronos. Some enigmatic lady turned me on to them and had a couple of things to say about them.
14 - Vikter Duplaix- I'll Do It For You. I went and saw his show at MJQ. He's a very nice guy.
15 - Brandy - Afrodisiac. The title track.

Carry on.