It’s a Mondo Mondo Mondo Mondo World…

Hello, kiddies.

Another day in the life is coming to a close. It was a very productive couple of weeks to say the least, so let’s get the ball rolling.

Here’s where the overhaul finally begins. The page images will change radically, as well as the font. It should be a lot easier to digest when I get done. Additionally, the blogroll will go through a major change too. Each and every blog that is still active will get a visit from me in the next few days, just to say hi and thank you for all of your support over the years. I know I’ve lost touch with a lot of you, due largely to real life issues… believe me, I can dig it. It’s like I said back in November, the world as we know it, is in serious trouble on so many levels. In one way or another, we are all feeling the pinch. Besides the usual blessings that I certainly count each and every day, I am thankful for the role that my mixtape craft has played in my recent existence. It keeps me sane. The finished products usually always make me happy when I blast them on my iPod or in my wife’s grocery getter. (shrug)… why not share them, y’know? It’s only that simple. I’m equally thankful for all of the support of all of you who saw fit to visit and enjoy the small contributions. So to make a long story just a little longer, the future of Fufu Stew will unfold before your very eyes sooner than later. Moving on…

I caught up with my long-time colleague Mr. Mondo and the mighty Mr. Grogan last week. Both have invited me back to their respective spots to lay some 45′s down. Of course I can’t ever pass up an opportunity to make a mixtape or five…

For now, you can head over to Planet Mondo and dig on this batch of heavy fuzz and buzz.

He also turned me on to a sneak peek at the latest marvel from the Bongolian which should be available in the all the right places by the time you get this far in the post. I was given the go ahead to share just a bit of it, which you can check out in the form of a mini sampler over at my Mixcloud page if you like. Big cheers and mad love for the folks at Blow Up Records first, last and always for the opportunity. Click the image below…

…and since it’s a mondo mondo mondo mondo world, I will start the overhaul of this little ol’ slice of blog by restoring the exchange we did wayyyyy back in 2008. You can dig on those at my Mixcloud pages. Again, click the appropriate image if you wish…

Aside from the lack of visual changes, that should be a good start… more to come sooner than you think. I will change the imagery later on this week, so until then, have fun(k) and as always, please be safe.

Peace and blessings.

Hungry for vinyl…?

Hello, kiddies.

First off, I must wish all of you springtime holiday greetings, Easter, Passover and all the rest… I’ll kick off the festivities on a positive. Unfortunately since the last visit,  I wish I could say that the respite is going according to plan. As is always the case however, real life loves to rear its ugly head in the form of having to kick it in gear getting ready for a major face lift to the pantry. Boxing up all that vinyl will be a chore, but a labour of love just the same. It only stands to reason in that case that I have to fill up the ol’ life support system, I mean iPod, with plenty of new mixtapes. Here’s the first.

Inspired by the cutest Peanuts comic strip I ever read, here’s an on the fly funk fix full of 45′s that are pretty much chewed up as the image suggests. The perils of digging through dusty Rubbermaid bins, hoping that steam distilled water and alcohol will resurrect the errant gems. Some were easier to clean than others, but all the tunes were pure bangers so I went with it. No additional restoration was used.

As always, listen at your leisure or on demand (at least until I really figure out and resolve the embed issues at any rate)…

01 Put The Music Where Your Mouth Is-Olympic Runners (London)
02 Super Cool-Black Heat (Atlantic)
03 Little Ol’ Country Boy-Parliament (Invictus)
04 Keep On Doin’ What You’re Doin’-Bobby Byrd (Brownstone)
05 Gettin’ It On-Dennis Coffey (Sssex)
06 If He Can You Can-Isley Brothers (T Neck)
07 California Dreaming-Harley Farquart Express (Peon)
08 Too Many Cooks Spoil The Soup-100 Proof Aged In Soul (Hot Wax)
09 You’re What’s Happening (In The World Today)-Marvin Gaye (Tamla)
10 Raw Hamburgers-Kool & The Gang (De Lite)
11 Shimmy-Toussaint McCall (Ronn)
12 Hum Along And Dance-Temptations (Gordy)
13 Black And Blues-Chollo Rivera & The Latin Soul Drives (Cotique)
14 My Brother Pt. 1-The JB’s (People)
15 Funk Power-Creative Funk (Creative Funk)
16 HLIC-Bobo Mr. Soul (Ovide)
17 Turn On The Light Of Your Love-Four Tops (Dunhill)
18 Higher Than High-Undisputed Truth (Gordy)
19 Jam-Three Dog Night (Dunhill)
20 If I Can See The Light (Instrumental)-The 8th Day (Invictus)
21-Oh Baby I Love The Way-New Birth (RCA)
22 Magic Mountain-Eric Burdon& War (MGM)
23 Hard Times-Curtis Mayfeld (Curtom)
24 Be Thankful For What You Got Pt. 2-William DeVaughan (Roxbury)

Don’t go far, or keep reading on to the next post for even more new stuff. I’ll probably pop in a little later on with some more eclectic stuff but til then, have fun(k), and as always, please be safe.

Peace and blessings… and happy 4:20 too

Even More Warmed Over Leftovers…

Hello, kiddies.

I finally got the chance to put up this jam packed post.  Get comfortable and be sure to look at the extra links…

I am really enjoying the respite and everything it has to offer. I even got the gumption to bring Fufu Stew Too back from the dead with two new posts. Check ‘em out by clicking on the images if you like.

Now, as the times we live in continue to deteriorate (thanks a lot to those who already know who they are and what they’re doing wrong), I believe the only thing that really keeps me together anymore, my wife, family and friends notwithstanding, is music. News depresses me these days. Really, why can’t people just get along… I am trying to slowly ration the new scores, especially since I can’t afford another huge digging trip for a while. In doing so, I came up with this. Some old friends make their scheduled reappearance in this assortment of 45 rpm happiness. For the sake of relevance, I will say that it’s how the music feels at the time it’s felt, meaning that since I need music fed into my ears almost intravenously, oh well, you know! 8KC, one of my Mixcloud colleagues summed it up very nicely by saying this: “So many get caught up in the image of the music that they lose touch with the true source of the music, the Soul. It’s not about how expensive your 45’s records are but how you play them. You play from the Soul!” The quote was lifted from this post here. Truer words have never been spoken. As always, I do indeed put my soul into each mix that I make, and the tunes just have to flow together which may explain why each one feels the way it does at the time it’s felt. In any event, enjoy another heaping helping.

I have no idea what happened to the embed capability (probably full of bugs like another blogging platform)… oh well, you can still listen at your leisure or on demand just the same.

01 Hoochie Coochie Man-Skip Easterling (Instant)
02 Buster Browne-Willie Mitchell (Hi)
03 Boogaloo Tramp-A.C. Reed (Nike)
04 Here Come Da Judge-The Buena Vistas (Marquee)
05 Jerk It-The Gypsies (Old Town)
06 Hide Nor Hair-Earl Grant (Decca)
07 The Flea-The Five Du Tones (One Der Ful)
08 Misery-The Dynamics (Big Top)
09 Love Is Alright-Cliff Nobles & Co. (Phil LA Of Soul)
10 The Gallop-The Chevelles (Flaming Arrow)
11 On The Dock Of The Bay-The Da Kars (Josie)
12 Desiree-The Charts (Wand)
13 Hallways Of My Mind-The Dells (Cadet)
14 If This Is Love-The Percisions (Drew)
15 I Can Feel The Ice Melting-The Parliaments (Revilot)
16 I Got Lucky-The Ideals (St. Lawrence)
17 I Call It Love-The Manhattans (Carnival)
18 Soul Time-Jackie Wilson (Brunswick)
19 Lost In The Mood Of Changes-James Brown (Smash)
20 Do Do Do Bah Ah-Bert Keyes (Clock)
21 Dancin’ Master-The Bandwagon (Epic)
22 If You Love Her-Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers (Gordy)
23 Decator Street-Patti Labelle & The Blue Bells (Newtown)
24 Them Terrible Boots-The Orlons (Cameo)
25 Treat Her Right-Roy Head (Back Beat)

Speaking of which, I recently discovered it has been a year since I joined mixcloud. Time continues to fly, huh? I wanted to share some of the exclusive type stuff that I’ve been putting up over there, but since the embed feature is on the apparent fritz, I’ll have to do so in another way. Just the same, I can’t recommend it enough. Mixcloud is a beautiful place. I hope they never go away!

Well we’ve come to the end of another episode. Everything I did I really enjoyed immensely, and I plan to continue in that enjoyment for as long as the free time holds up. So far so good. Well,’til next time, have fun(k) and as always, please be safe.

Peace and blessings.

Happy Spring (Incuding Back To Basics…)

Hello, kiddies.

I’ll keep this short and sweet since respite time is at an all time premium. Three months to get a lot of pent up frustration out of my system, and I plan to use each and every day of it doing exactly what needs to be done. Gee, I wouldn’t know it was really spring by looking out of my front door. I just have to shrug my shoulders and move on I suppose. I played some nice 45′s last week; there’s a good start… nothing fancy,  just the basics, but they all sounded good. Enjoy.

As always, you can listen at your leisure, or, now that I’ve finally figured out how, you can listen on-demand with the player thingie below. Imagine that

Happy Spring (Incuding Back To Basics…), posted with vodpod

01 Can’t Be Still-Booker T & The MGs (Stax)
02 The New Breed-Jimmy Holiday (Diplomacy)
03 Boomerang-Tom & Jerrio (ABC)
04 Saturday Night Fish Fry-The Coasters (Atco)
05 Happy Feet-Robert Parker (NOLA)
06 You Ain’t Ready-Lou Courtney (Riverside)
07 Day Tripper-The Vontastics (St. Lawrence)
08 I’m A Man-Spencer Davis Group (United Artists)
09 Switch It On-Cliff Nobles & Co (Phil LA Of Soul)
10 Music Talk-Stevie Wonder (Tamla)
11 Grits N Cornbread-The Soul Runners (Mo Soul)
12 You Ain’t Too Cool-Cash McCall (Thomas)
13 Too Many Fish In The Sea-Jack McDuff (Prestige)
14 Much Too Much-James Crawford (Mercury)
15 Baby Don’t You Cry-Ray Charles (ABC)
16 Kansas City Woman-Bennie Gordon & The Soul Brothers (Enrica)
17 Ain’t It The Truth Now-Eddie Bo (Ric)
18 Popcorn Charlie-Chrles Spurling (King)
19 Modern Jive-Pretty Purdie (Date)
20 Elanor Rigby-Aretha Franklin (Atlantic)
21 Ode To Billie Joe-Mel Brown (Impulse)
22 I Take Care Of Homework-Syl Johnson (Twinight)
23 Devil Woman-Clarence Carter (Atlantic)
24 Are In Laws Really Outlaws?-Sir Douglas Quintet + 2 = Honkey Blues (Smash)
25 Knucklehead-The Bar-Kays (Volt)
26 The Barracuda-Leonard King & The Soul Messengers (Inferno)
27 Shing A Ling Baby-Willie Bobo (Verve)
28 Down Here On The Ground-Lou Rawls (Capitol)

Since time waits for no one, I’m off to enjoy what I hope will be a very therapeutic yet very fruitful respite. Until the next time, you know…

Peace and blessings.

Don’t Mess With Cupid!

Hello, kiddies.

Finally, some new 45′s were given a good home! It only took ten months to get down to the fire house, but I made the journey on Sunday and brought home over 150 pieces. Some gems, some common… some minty fresh, some hammered. Overall, it was a very fruitful digging session… Now we come to the payoff…

I wanted to join in on Rhythms in Black Satin’s 4th annual Cupid’s Hunt, but real life set in yet again. Oh well, like my pal Mr. Grundy says… everyday is Valentine’s Day!!! I know I am a lot late, but better late than never… After everything settled down, I ended up having a great weekend, spent with my beloved Leslie and that aforementioned huge stack of newly acquired 45′s. Here’s just a few of them, once again assembled on the fly. In keeping with the theme, all the tunes contain some element of love in the lyric. Essentially, they speak for themselves, so sit back and enjoy. NOTE: A few minor technical flaws were discovered after the upload was complete (track 19 in specific). I wish I had time to fix them, but I really don’t. It doesn’t help matters that my desktop took another shit, which I won’t be able to address until after March. I don’t think it shouldn’t hamper your listening experience too much though…

As always, listen at your leisure or on-demand…

01 Under The Influence Of Love-Love Unlimited (20th Century Fox)
02 I Wish It Would Rain-Marvin Gaye (Tamla)
03 I’m Sick Y’all-Otis Redding (Volt)
04 I’ve Got To Find Myself A Brand New Baby-David Ruffin (Motown)
05 La La For You-Al Green (Hi)
06 Hey Love-Stevie Wonder (Tamla)
07 Don’t Leave Me Starving For Your Love-Holland/Dozier (Invictus)
08 Love Insurance-Gwen McRae (Cat)
09 Unh Song-New Birth (RCA)
10 All I Need Is His Love-The Raeletts (Tangerine)
11 Since I Lost My Baby-The Temptations (Gordy)
12 Love Eye Tis-Judy Clay & William Bell (Stax)
13 I’m Living WIth A Memory-Barbara Acklin (Brunswick)
14 It’s How You Make It Good-Laura Lee (Chess)
15 Sitting In The Park-Billy Stewart (Chess)
16 I Only Meant To Wet My Feet-The Whispers (Janus)
17 Walk On By-Isaac Hayes (Enterprise)
18 Give Me Your Love-Barbara Mason (Buddah)
19 The Same Love That Made Me Laugh-Bill Withers (Sussex)
20 You’re Losing Me-Ann Sexton (Seventy Seven)
21 Don’t Mess With Cupid-Otis Redding (Volt)

Thanks to Mr. Grundy for inviting me to join in the fun… I really wish I hadn’t been fashionably late though lol!! Just the same, please visit and support his lovely website, Rhythms in Black Satin. There you’ll find all of the goodness that happened over the last week, including a few love type mixtapes that could very well be the soundtrack for your next intimate moment.

I really did buy a bazillion new 45s, so I may be back sooner than you think. Until the next time, have fun(k) and as always, please be safe.

Peace and blessings.

Come and get it… Fufu Stew No. 14 at long last!

Hello, Kiddies.

Yes, I’ve been away for a little bit, not that it matters much. Oh well, no harm, no foul. I deal with shit the best way I know how.

I am tinkering with background imagery as you can see. It’ll probably change a few more times so that the text in the sidebar can be read a little easier. I just wish I could get those pretty Mixcloud embed thingies to work. Speaking of which, I have to send a special shoutout to the Mixcloud family for their kindness over the past few weeks, and for keeping my inspiration level high. I did put up a couple of exclusive pieces over there in the past couple of weeks. I’ll do that from time to time so please drop by my Mixcloud page from time to time and the fine folks I follow as well. There’s some top notch people over there doing some great things which for me has been rather theraputic. I need that right about now, which brings me to this latest crop of old faves… I told y’all I was going to return to the freeform exercises that I used to do. Well here’s one, purposely made from crusty old 33′s. Pops, clicks and other anomalies are intentional. With a hard crunchy texture and heavy flavour kinda like rock candy, it only made sense to call it

It’s been an awful long time since I whipped up some Fufu Stew like I used to make when I first started this little ol’ blog over four years ago. I always went for specific ingredients which most of you may or may not pick up on right away, but it felt so good to do it again… and it’s awful funky too. Enjoy.

As always, listen at your leisure or on-demand…

01 Big John Is My Name-Rare Earth (Rare Earth)
02 Born To Move-Creedence Clearwater Revival (Fantasy)
03 American Woman-The Guess Who (RCA)
04 Every Hungry Woman-Allman Brothers Band (Capricorn)
05 Cross Eyed Mary-Jethro Tull (Reprise)
06 Must Be Love-The James Gang (Atco)
07 Mr. Big-Free (A&M)
08 Sunrise Dance With The Devil-Hot Tuna (Grunt)
09 With The Power-Jimi Hendrix (Reprise)
10 Politician-The Cream (Polydor)
11 Let It Ride-Bachman Turner Overdrive (Mercury)
12 Crazy Horses-The Osmonds (MGM)
13 I’m A Man-Chicago Transit Authority (Columbia)
14 Get Off Your Ass And Jam-Funkadelic (Westbound)
15 You Got Me Hummin’-Cold Blood (San Francisco)
16 Rock My Plimsoul-Jeff Beck (Epic)
17 Feelin’ Alright-Grand Funk Railroad (Capitol)

Until the next digging spree commences, it’ll be slim pickins around here, but I know how to make lemonade with life’s lemons… I’ve had lots of practice. When the feeling hits (or when I make a new mixtape for my personal enjoyment), I’ll certainly be back to share it with you… Until then, have fun(k) and as always, please be safe.

Peace and blessings.

On the virtual road again (Including It’s A New Dawn)…

Hello, kiddies.

Trying once again to begin the week on a positive note… studies and an endless myriad of other challenges is making it hard, but I gotta keep on pushing.

In the meantime, I was fortunate to be able to make a virtual trip to Russia to visit the good folks at Musicdawn, armed with a mixtape full of those heavy-duty funk 45′s that make me so happy. In an attempt to make good on my New Years resolution, it only made sense to call this one

This time, you can listen at your leisure by visiting Musicdawn.ru, or listen on-demand at their mixcloud page, and no, Ms. Palin is NOT invited, even though she is probably salivating at the thought of hearing the funk from her backyard!!!

00 Introspeak by Grace Slick
01 The Camel-Cliff Nobles & Co. (Phil LA Of Soul)
02 Getting The Corners-TSU Toronados (Atlantic)
03 Don’t Lose Your Groove-Lavell Hardy (Rojac)
04 Cool Strut Pt. 1-Bernie Hayes (Volt)
05 Funky To The Bone-Freddie Henchie & The Soul Setters (Reprise)
06 Funky Worm-Ohio Players (Westbound)
07 Chug Chug Chug A Lug (Push N Shove) Pt. 2-The Meters (Reprise)
08 Changes Pt. 2-King Curtis & The Kingpins (Atco)
09 Chinese Chicken-Duke Williams & The Extremes (Capricorn)
10 Ride Sally Ride-Dennis Coffey (Sussex)
11 Ain’t It Good Enough-Nu Sound Express LTD (Silver Dollar)
12 I Wanna Do It-Harvey Scales (Stax)
13 What It Is-The Undisputed Truth (Gordy)
14 Funky Thing-Ted Taylor (Ronn)
15 I’m Gonna Give It To You-Tomorrow’s Promise (Capitol)
16 Funky Way-Calvin Arnold (Virtue)
17 Take Inventory-Isley Brothers (T-Neck)
18 I Feel Like Dynamite-King Floyd (Chimneyville)
19 Detroit-Paul Humphrey & His Cool Aid Chemists (Lizard)
20 Soul Express Pt. 1-The Ramrods (Rampage)
21 Do The Funky Penguin Pt. 1-Rufus Thomas (Stax)
22 My Babe-Willie Mitchell (Hi)
23 Get Back Baby-Al Green (Hi)
24 Marvin’s Groove-BW Souls (Round)
25 Funkey Key-The Dynamics (Black Gold)
26 Funky Dollar Bill-Funkadelic (Westbound)
27 The Truth Shall Make You Free-King Hannibal (Aware)
28 God Bless-Wolfmoon (Fungus)

Big thanks to the Musicdawn fam for the invite. Be sure to check ‘em out and show your love… I’ll be back sooner than later with another batch of something special for your approval. Until then, have fun(k), and please be safe.

Peace and blessings.