Waiting on the mailman (including Fufu Pop Rox)

Hello, kiddies.

I’ve been gone a while, yes, but I have been busy planning the next move. Real life sucks, sure, but I now make it a point to take some time out for playing records whenever possible. As a result, the “kitchen” is in desperate need of a detail cleaning, but I don’t expect that to happen any time soon. That is what happens when one starts pulling out records that haven’t seen the light of a turntable in years. I blame that on the many and varied record appreciation groups I belong to on the ol’ Facebook machine.

Let’s see if I can’t get back into good graces with all of you as I present this live to drive session that I did on mixlr back in November. As always, you can listen at your leisure with the player thingie below…

Ooh Yeah-Betty Davis (Just Sunshine)
Pulse-Ten Wheel Drive (Polydor)
I’ll Bet You-Jackson Five (Motown)
South California Purples-Chicago Transit Authority (Columbia)
Prehistoric Boogie-Redbone (Epic)
River Boulevard-Pointer Sisters (Blue Thumb)
I Just Want To Make Love To You-Cold Blood (San Francisco)
Soul Soul Soul-Wild Magnolias (Polydor)
Sunrise Dance With The Devil-Hot Tuna (Grunt)
My Women-Pacific Gas & Electric (Columbia)
King Solomon’s Marbles-Grateful Dead (Grateful Dead)
Black Hearted Woman-Allman Brothers Band (Capricorn)
Joe Tex-Buddy Miles (Mercury)
Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On-Funakdelic (Westbound)
Peace Pipe-B.T. Express (Roadshow)
Funky L.A.-Paul Humphrey & His Cool Aid Chemists (Lizard)
Feelin’ Alright-Rare Earth (Rare Earth)
Baby I Love You-Cold Blood (Reprise)
Hey Bulldog-Bill Deal & The Rhondels (Heritage)
Stoned Woman-Ten Years After (Deram)
Treat Her Like A Lady-Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose (bonus 45 track) (United Artists)
Place In The Country-Fanny (Reprise)
Naturally-Sweetwater (Reprise)
Fan The Fire-Earth Wind & Fire (Warner Bros.)

The closing commentary this time around is pretty critical as it explains where I hope to go from here. I have always professed to be an armchair DJ, but with a newly acquired microphone, the possibilities are getting more and more exciting. All I need now is a proper pop filter. Remember, you can now follow me on mixlr by logging on to http://mixlr.com/vincent-soulchef/. I have to settle a few monetary issues there, but I do sporadic live sessions from time to time on random Sundays. If you do the Facebook thing, then please like my page right here for up-to-the-minute details. I hope to see you all sooner than later, but until then have fun(k), and please be safe.

Peace and blessings.

The Re-Re-Return…

Hello, kiddies.
The chef’s hat is back on my head where it belongs, as are the proverbial whites. It’s been a long time coming, but I am slowly but surely finding my way.
Allow me to explain the current situation: I haven’t gone away necessarily, but as I explained in the last entry, I found a comfort zone on social media, for what it’s worth at any rate. A friendly reminder to all of you who read this, you can certainly follow me on Facebook now. Friend me, and I will most likely friend you back… or you can follow me on my newly launched fan page. It is there that I was fortunate enough to reconnect with most of my old blogging colleagues from back in the day, and I am constantly meeting new like-minded friends on the regular. As a result, I have been rediscovering my precious vinyl collection, and play way more records than I ever thought possible. That in turn prompted me to get back into playing live from deck to deck, thanks to one friend in specific who will get a proper namecheck at the end of this post. My skills are awful rusty, but the experience is so much fun that I can’t resist the urge to do it week after week. That being said, I have finally compiled an extra large batch of 45s for your aural consumption. It was recorded live in one take, with the slight exception of gain issues that were fixed after the fact. Enjoy the session at your leisure or on demand with the player thingie as always.

Changeling-The Doors (Elektra)
You’re The One Pt. 1-Little Sister (Stone Flower)
The Overtime Man-Don Covay (Mercury)
Reach Out Of The Darkness-Friend And Lover (Verve Forecast)
Green Power-The Bagdads (Double Shot)
Dock Of The Bay-The Da Kars (Josie)
Keep On Keepin’ On-The Vibrations (Okeh)
Never had A Love Like Yours-Act 1 (Spring)
Let Me Do My Thing-The People’s Choice (Phil LA Of Soul)
Latin Strut-Joe Bataan (Mericana)
Don’t Lose Your Groove-Lavell Hardy (Rojac)
Night Owl-Howard Tate (Verve)
Sing A Simple Song-Sly & The Family Stone (Epic)
Pass It On Pt. 2-Pieces Of Piece (Twinight/Numero)
Baby Let Me Kiss You-King Floyd (Chimneyville)
Ease Back-The Meters (Josie)
In The Pocket-The Kingpins (Atco)
Hip Hug Her-Booker T & The MGs (Stax)
Right On Right On Right On-Milt Grayson & The Mystery Guests (Peak)
Fair But Uncool-Earth Wind & Fire (Kalimba)
Seeds Of Life-Harlem River Drive (Roulette)
Sneakin’ In The Back-Tom Scott & The LA Express (Ode)
Inner City Blues-Grover Washington Jr. (Kudu)
Cartoon People-Freddie & Henchie (DJM)
Cat’s Got Her Tongue-Joe Tex (Dial)
The Pot’s Hot-Sherlock Holmes Organisation (CRS)
You-Marvin Gaye (Tamla)
Keem O Sabe-The Electric Indian (United Artists)
The Stretch Pt. 1-Detroit Sex Machines (Soul Track)
The Electric Surfboard-Brother Jack McDuff (Blue Note)
Soul Breeze-The Ventures (Liberty)
Give Peace A Chance-Lonnie Liston Smith (Flying Dutchman)
Luv N Haight-Sly & The Family Stone (Epic)
Vacuum Cleaner-Isley Brothers (T Neck)
Get Out Of My Life Woman-Lee Dorsey (Amy)
I Been Watching You-Southside Movement (Wand)
The Burning Spear-Soulful Strings (Cadet)
Respect-Rotary Connection (Cadet Concept)
The Cat Walk-Village Soul Choir (Abbott)
My Love’s A Monster-Clea Bradford (Cadet)
Groove And Move-Jr. Walker & The All Stars (Soul)
Hot Potato Pt. 1-Rinky Dinks (Enjoy)

And now for the closing commentary…

I said I was going to namecheck the one who was responsible for my return, so here goes. She says she likes the education I provide with my records, much like the one I got from the many years of following blogs and such. It is always important to pay it forward as the old saying goes, so it is with that said that I have to say thanks to the one known as Snoopy Mann… yes, she helped me to “find my smile” through playing records, and as such, regain my place on the interwebs. This could be the start of something big, and quite frankly, I hope that will happen sooner than later. You’ll see. The eighth year of Fufu Stew’s existence is now upon us, so watch this space to see what happens. I hope you’ll be glad you did 🙂
Have fun(k), and now more than ever, please be safe.

Peace and blessings.

One more go at it (including Records Are Like Chocolate… The REVENGE!)

It’s been a long time coming, but it feels good to finally say…

Hello, kiddies.

The time has come once again to come out of hiding so to speak… now I can’t call it a comeback; to do so would be doing everyone a disservice. Additionally, I can’t say that it is another anniversary celebration, especially since I let that day pass without so mch as a whisper. Just like 2012, way too much has happened. Some good things, but mostly bad. I won’t elaborate though, for one can only beat the proverbial dead horse so much. We have certainly heard that phrase time and time again, I know I’ve said it more than enough times.

Just a bit of brief house cleaning (also referred to as my excuse for the lengthy hiatus): The computer equipment was out of commission for several months due to an unforeseen virus, and since I really do not want to invest in a new computer, I went through more trouble than necessary to get the proper restoration tools in order to get back up to 51 per cent speed. In the process of performing the restoration, I screwed up royally, resulting in the loss of over 200 gigabytes worth of prime 45 rips. That was a very distressing setback to say the least, but it only gives me more incentive to redo them so they sound even better. I started doing that several months back, but more on that in a future post, and yes, there will be a future post. I’m not quite sure when at this point, but it’s gonna happen.

Another one of the reasons for my apprehension about a full on return is I am on the hunt for another means to store the old recipes if they are still relevant at this point… I’m sure I have gotten a couple of visits from the health department regarding that matter, which should come as no surprise these days. While I’m thinking about it, I’ve gotta give huge jeers to a particular online payment service site for no longer accepting remittance for said storage means. These things, combined with the knowledge taken away from another break neck term of intense studying, and I have been given a little bit more incentive to finally ponder the future of this little piece of cyber-style real estate… as long as I can afford the luxury that is, and that hurdle seems to rise higher and higher with each passing second just like the national debt numbers. It should also come as no secret that the past year has not treated many folks well. It wouldn’t be sporting to revisit all the mayhem and the damage that it caused for way too many of us, but I want you all to know that you’ve been in my thoughts all along. One day we’ll get through the madness and come out on top. I’m praying the day will come sooner than later… think 2014, kids.

The one saving grace was that I managed to save the last mix I created just before the hiatus began. In it are some newly acquired nuggets from all the usual digging spots. Here’s my opportunity to give a shoutout to Gary and all the other fine vendors who successfully helped lighten my wallet at the fire hall as well. I don’t get to go digging as much as I’d like these days due to a pure lack of time and resources, so every chance that I get to bring new stuff home is definitely regarded as a treat. In addition, having moved to the city has been a blessing and a simultaneous curse. It’s certainly more difficult to get back to the old neighbourhood; what was once a five minute drive is now at best a half an hour! In any event, here’s the lion’s share of the relevant scores, with just the right amount of old friends that I always like to hear once in a while. It was just enough to make me smile each time I play it. I hope you enjoy it…

01 Rock Rock Rock-The Dixiebelles (Sound Stage 7)
02 Little Old Man-Bill Cosby (Warner)
03 Magic Key-Rare Earth (Rare Earth)
04 Desperate young Man-The Originals (Soul)
05 Use Me-Esther Philips (Kudu)
06 Hope We Have-The Artistics (Brunswick)
07 Let Me Help You-Al Green (Bell)
08 Instant Death-Eddie Harris (Atlantic)
09 Running For Jesus-Ernest Franklin (Checker)
10 Cool Broadway-The Fantastic Johnny C (Phil LA Of Soul)
11 Go Home And Do It-Joe Tex (Dial)
12 Love Vibrations-David T Walker (Zea)
13 Satisfy Me Woman-El Chicano (Kapp)
14 Casanova-Ruby Andrews (Zodiac)
15 You Shouldn’t Have Set My Soul On Fire-Inez Foxx (Dynamo)
16 No Sugar Tonight-The Shirells (RCA)
17 Do Right Baby-Mel & Tim (Bamboo)
18 There’ll Be Some Changes-Maskman & The Agents (Dynamo)
19 I Been Hoodoo’d-Dr. John (Atco)
20 I Need Someone-Linda Perry & Soul Express (Mainstream)
21 Do Whatever Sets You Free-Ramsey Lewis (Cadet)
22 If You Can Want-Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (Tamla)
23 Tramp-Otis & Carla (Stax)
24 I Remember You-The Ponderosa Twins + 1 (Astroscope)
25 Yes We Can Can Pt. 1-Lee Dorsey (Polydor)
26 Why Can’t We Live Together-Timmy Thomas (Glades)

Now before I deal with the closing commentary, I do want to acknowledge the fact that there are many among us who were in one way or another affected by the events that took place a few weeks ago; I will not go into details, but you all know how I feel. For the families, I am saying countless prayers and will continue to make my voice heard at the voting booth… each and every chance I get! End quote!

Okay, to bring this little mini-reunion of sorts full circle, I have one last thing to say: fufu stew dot com (or a reasonable substitute at any rate), is closer to reality than ever before. It all depends on how well I progress over the next five weeks. I do know that the old posts have to go! Detail cleaning is going on as I type this. All of the 2007 posts have been set to private, so that I can assess whether they are worthy enough to leave intact and edit them accordingly at some point. I think the hopeful reward will definitely be worth the amount of inevitable risk involved. Please continue to watch this space. I am so thrilled that you all still find it somewhat cool to drop by for a plate after all these years. I hope to be able to continue keeping you well fed for a long time to come. Until the next time, have fun(k), and as always, please be safe.

Peace and blessings.

Progress must progress (including The Return of the AntiDivas)

Hello, kiddies.

Shit’s getting out of hand. The whole damn world is going crazy…

Again, I didn’t expect the span of time between visits to be quite this long. So many things to factor in this time: the stress of another three month term in which I didn’t do quite as well as I wanted, power outages from the violent thunderstorms in June, a job which is forcing me to feel the effects of just how unstable this economy really is, and to top it all off, a computer that I had to put together with spit and a prayer. it’s easy to see how time can slip through your fingers like sand. I didn’t even get to play any records, much less, visit my mixcloud colleagues and friends. I must send a big shoutout to HeavySoulBrutha and Scapegoat for checkin’ in on a brotha. Your kind words are appreciated… and to those who prompted the good SoulBrutha to drop me an email which finally got me out of hiding, I say thanks to you as well. It’s gonna continue to be a tough road, but at least things are slow enough now to where I can finally sit down and play catch up on a number of fronts. My motivation levels may be at an all time low, but I gotta make a concerted effort to keep it moving…

So as not to get too long winded here, let’s get right to the heart of the matter. I’ve been wanting to do another AntiDivas mix for the longest time, so here goes… I had this one sitting in the queue which I had plan to post back in May before the inevitable shutdown began. It was somewhat of a response to the events that made up the senseless war on women being waged by certain legislators and aggravated by the media pundits. It wasn’t my intention to turn this into a soapbox moment, and for all intents and purposes it really isn’t. Basically it’s just some more of the new scores from the winter and a few old friends that just hit my fingers as I was filing through the crates, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge how the systematic destruction of women’s civil liberties will affect the overall landscape of our society. The way certain people are acting is beyond comprehension. I’m sure that all of you have had enough already; I know I have. I have a message for those aforementioned: at the end of the day, it’s time that you get their shit together and come to the realisation that if not for women, none of us would be here, so just give them their proper respect already! With all that said, I dedicate this installment of AntiDivas to each and every woman in the world, with “…due respect” because as Mr. Allen Toussaint said, “…remember we all have mothers.”

I’m off the soapbox now, sorry…
introspeak by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
01 Fire-Etta James (Chess)
02 Lies Lies Lies-Brenda & The Tabulations (Top & Bottom)
03 Baby What You Want Me To Do-Erma Franklin (Shout)
04 Niki Hoeky-Aretha Franklin (Atlantic)
05 Your Thing Ain’t No Good Without My Thing-Marie “Queenie” Lyons (Deluxe)
06 Collage-Three Degrees (Roulette)
07 Take Me-Betty Everett (UNI)
08 You Ain’t Changed-Marie Franklin (Maverick)
09 The Pusher-Nina SImone (RCA)
10 Garden Of Four Trees-The Explosions (Soul Jazz)
11 These Boots Are Made For Walkin’-The Supremes (Motown)
12 Slip N Mules-Sugar Pie DeSanto (Checker)
13 You Made A Believer Out Of Me-Ruby Andrews (Zodiac)
14 Trouble-Foxy (Double Shot)
15 Good Girls-Merry Clayton (Ode)
16 A Man WIth Some Backbone-Laura Lee (Chess)
17 Mercy Mercy Mercy-Marlena Shaw (Cadet)
18 Runaway Love-Linda Clifford (Curtom)
19 Baby That’s What I Need (Walk Tall)-Esther Marrow (Bluebird)
20 Hit Or Miss-Odetta (Polydor)
21 Treating Us (Women) Funky-Ike & Tina Turner (Minit)
22 Make Me Yours-Bettye Swann (Money)
23 Uh Uh Boy That’s A No No-Candace Love (Aquarius)
24 I Gotta Get Away From My Own Self-Millie Jackson (Spring)
25 Girls Can’t Do What The Guys Do-Betty Wright (Alston)
26 Silly Silly Fool-Dusty Springfield (Atlantic)
27 Let It Flow-The Glass House (Invictus)
28 The Fool On The Hill-Lena Horne (Skye)

In any event, I gotta go for now, but I hope that you are all doing well and maintaining as best you can. I hope I can get back up to speed soon, For now have fun(k) and as always, please be safe.

Peace and blessings.

Head in the clouds part two (including Po’ Boy)

Hello, kiddies.

First and foremost, I hope you all had a great weekend, you know, with Record Store Day and 4:20 day and all… and Earth Day too, imagine that! I sadly could not participate in the former for the obviously painful reasons… I won’t even comment on the latter. I do have a remedy for that though, I’ll get to that sooner than later, but allow me another quick indulgence if you will. It won’t disappoint, I promise.

I kinda got away from posting mixes with non-vinyl sources, and for good reason…they sound great and all, but the times have definitely changed in the land of blog over the past year. I kind of promised myself that I wouldn’t break out the soapbox too much, better yet, I wouldn’t let the soapbox get in the way of serving up the funky eats. Suffice it to say, the message is still very much in need of being spread, but there are so many out there that really tell the truth that very much needs to be heard. I hope you all can keep up with the Best of the Left podcast. It’s the best way to keep one angry enough… I’ll still do what I do in the name of doing my part though, and that’s the best I can do since I am clearly a victim of the madness.

Anyway, on to the meat of the conversation with another from the holidaze sessions.

This one was done around Thanksgiving of last year whilst hanging out with a friend and a bottle of something, most likely some sweet Belgian nectar… after much self doubt and (at the time) jonesing for some new 45’s. I was inspired to do it this way by a couple of my esteemed colleagues from the mixcloud fam. I’ve name-checked them before, sure, and will do so again in good fashion before too long. More on that in a bit…

In any event, this is the result. When the bottle was tipped, I was happy. It’s a collection of some great tunes that most of you should know well, and some you may not have heard in some years. It was also a means of free advertisment for the good folks at Freestyle Records. They also hold it down at Mixcloud too… check it out for some nice mixes and some exclusive ish from their rich catalog, and of course, please support their efforts if you are able. It’s also the answer to a question posed by the one called iDiO7 SAVAN7…I do owe a debt for the inspiration, the will to keep the soul a rollin’…

Nasty-Deep Street Soul
Micro Popcorn-Calypso King & The Soul Investigators
Heartbreaker-Boogaloo Investigators
Bag Of Soul-Soul Saints Orchestra
I Know What It Is-Shaolin Temple Defenders
Two Beat Beast-Speedometer
Let The Music Take Your Mind-The Soul Providers
Tramp-The Grits
Sexy Popcorn Pot-Breakestra
Heavy Soul-The Sound Stylistics
Hook And Sling Meets The Funky Superfly-Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
Don’t Joke With A Hungry Man-Spanky Wilson
I’m Coming Back To)The Coming Back-Osaka Monaurail
Stop The Bus-Funkshone
Cressy St. Breakdown-Cookin’ On 3 Burners
Lover And A Friend-Speedometer Feat. Myles Sanko & Ria Currie
What Have You Done For Me Lately Pts. 1&2-Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
Hot Funky And Sweaty-The Organites
Promised Land Pt. 2-Sugarman 3
Crazy Legs-The Grits
Hippy Skippy Moon Strut-The Mighty Showstoppers

and now for the closing commentary…

By request, I re-upped this post too. I will do the other two soon. it’s a good way to gear up for the next session. There’s no denying that it’s gonna be tough keeping it all together, all things considered, but I do intend to press on until an unforeseen inevitability comes along. Again, the best I can do. I intend to be back in some capacity though, so until then, have fun(k), and please be safe.

Peace and blessings

The first of May is coming… please join the fight in whatever way you are able.

Head in the clouds part one (including Records are like chocolate…? The Birthday Edition)

Hello, kiddies.

Just when I thought I’d find a great moment to do all the things that I wanted to do back before spring break, setbacks and lack of motivation rear their ugly head yet again. I may admit to the setbacks, but I will never admit defeat. With all that said, it’s time to get back up to speed here. I’ve got my seafood fix to a certain degree, the Flyers are in the playoffs and socking it to the Penguins, and there’s a few fleeting moments in between to keep the “stew” pot full (that little greeting was for Bill)…

Here is the first of four exercises that I did over the holidaze. All of the tracks except four were scored during a surprise downtown dig. I hadn’t been down to Fells Point in at least two years, so with an unexpected windfall of resources at hand (otherwise known as an early birthday present), I was able to return to my favourite spots, fill some more holes and discover some more real gems. I got so lucky. I finally got a chance to put it here for your enjoyment, either at your leisure, on demand with the little player thingie, or here…

Imagery provided by chocmocakes http://www.flickr.com/photos/chocolatemoosecakes/ Thank you.

01 Get On Down-Eddie Harris (Atlantic)
02 The Chicken-James Brown (King)
03 Buzzsaw-The Turtles (White Whale)
04 Love The Life You Live Pt. 1-Kool & The Gang (De Lite)
05 Broad Street-The Electric Indian (United Artists)
06 There’s A DJ In Your Town-Samson & Delilah (Black Prince)
07 (Do It) The Funky Dance-Dave Cortez & We The People (Sound Pak)
08 Humpin’ Thumpin’ and Bumpin’-Andre Williams (Checker)
09 My Thing Is Your Thing-Bobby Patterson (Jetstar)
10 Gotta Get Over The Hump-Simtec & Wylie (Mister Chand)
11 Do The Funky Chicken-Rufus Thomas (Stax)
12 The Goat-Freddie & The Kinfolk (Dade)
13 Give The Drummer Some More-Little Hooks with Ray Nato and the Kings (Enjay)
14 Mama Come Quick and Bring Your Lickin’ Stick-George Torrence & The Naturals (Shout)
15 City Dump-Dyke & The Blazers (Original Sound)
16 Things Got To Get Better-Marva Whitney (King)
17 Sweet Meat-The Zip Codes (Better)
18 As Long As I Got You-Laura Lee (Chess)
19 Party Hardy People-Act 1 (Spring)
20 The Funky Mule-Buddy Miles (Mercury)
21 The Emperor Pt. 1-Donald Byrd (Blue Note)
22 Thanks I Needed That-The Glass House (Invictus)
23 The Bottle-Brother To Brother (Turbo)
24 No More Water In The Well-Odell Brown & The Organizers (Cadet)

not much in the way of closing commentary this time around, except to say that I hope to have the rest of the holidaze exercises up soon as well as a couple of new joints. It’s all in an effort to restore some sort of relevance ti this piece of cyber real estate for a while. Just watch and see. Until then, have fun(k) and as always, please be safe.

Peace and blessings.

Grab Bag (a long time coming)…

Hello, kiddies (finally, I get to say that again, I’m excited).

…too many things happened in the last several weeks. Too many fallen icons. Too much workload. Too much politics. Not enough patience! I can only hope that it will get better. Being able to attend last month’s fire haul made it a little easier to endure for a few hours. I managed to score some much needed pieces this time, some of which I’ve been patiently waiting to get my hot little hands on for over five years! I’m gonna thank the three vendors I visited for making it happen. I only know Gary by name for now, and I know the nice lady who I believe to be the one who organises the show each month. There were actually two more who also had lots more heaters for sale. Back to the nice lady, I have to thank her especially for going to bat for me so that I could get one in particular for much less than its sticker price of $60 USD. It’s the first (and more than likely not the last) record that I will ever spend more than $30 USD on. Of course, I digress. In any event, I finally got to make a couple of mixes with the fruits. Here’s one of them.

01 Alvin’s Bag-Alvin Cash (Toddlin’ Town)
02 Afro Twist Time-Jerryo (Shout)
03 Mini Skirts-Bobby Kool (Expo)
04 The Bird-Jimmy McGriff (Capitol)
05 It’s Your Thing-Senor Soul (Whiz)
06 New Mother Nature-The Friends Of Distinction (RCA)
07 Groove N Move-Jr. Walker & The All Stars (Soul)
08 Good Grease-Mark III Trio (Wingate)
09 Finally Caught Up With Jody-Big John Hamilton (SSS)
10 O Me-O My-O-Lee Dorsey (Polydor)
11 You Must Have Put Something In Your Love-The Persuaders (Win Or Lose)
12 Fever In The Funkhouse-General Crook (Wand)
13 Funk In Wagnal-Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds (Dunhill)
14 Love Bug Leave My Heart Alone- Martha & The Vandellas (Gordy)
15 Cat’s Got Her Tongue-Joe Tex (Dial)
16 Stinger-Freddy (Creeper) Robinson-Cobblestone
17 Take It Easy Greazy-Billy Guy & The Coasters (Sal/Wa)
18 Funkadelic Sound-Little Beaver (Cat)
19 Let Me Get Close To You-Jerry Washington (Excello)
20 Funky Funky (Hot Pants)-Wee Willie Mason (Jay Walking)
21 Cherry-Jimmy McGriff (Solid State)
22 Crabcakes-Gunga Din (Valise)
23 JM’s Funk Factory-JM’s Funk Factory (Saluda)
24 I Wanna Jump-Ike & Tina Turner (Minit)
25 Hot Dog-Mongo Santamaria (Columbia)

and now for the closing commentary, because this time there’s plenty. I’ll try and keep it moving though.

For all intents and purposes, I have made my way to the extreme left. If you recall my rant about the 2010 midterm election debacle, well as we have witnessed, it’s gets better. The GOP candidate nonsense just makes me want to do and say unthinkable things. I intend to add another widget on the right with links to the truth as soon as I can. For your entertainment and your enlightenment, because there are so few who actually tell the truth. The new axis of evil is recruiting new members daily, and true to form, we the people are in huge trouble as a result. “YES WE MUST!!!”

For starters, check out the Best of the Left Podcast…

It’s only a matter of time before the next respite begins. I’ll do my best to make it fruitful. My ride’s slowly on the mend, so I need some new entertainment within. Y’all know the rest. I’ll also be playing another round of catch up. For those of you who check the Fufu Stew on Mixcloud link at the top of the page, you know that I have been posting there. It’s easier to do so because I have been relegated to a much slower internet connection since moving to the city, and yes, I’m pissed about that. I’ll put up some of those posts here in the coming days just because. And speaking of mixcloud, I know I do it all the time, but I really have to thank a couple of mixcloud regulars in particular who have provided me with a lot of incentive and inspiration over the last several months. Essentially, they helped me to rediscover what it is that keeps me here. More on that in a future post, I assure you.

In any event, I thank you all for your continued patience and your patronage, even in the midst of my extended hiatus. Thanks also for taking a few minutes to read this far. Until the next time, and yes, next time will be much sooner than last time, I promise, 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.

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.

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, now that I’ve finally figured out how, you can listen on-demand with the player thingie below. Imagine that 🙂

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.