I think one might be able to predict, with some degree of accuracy*, a person’s age by their response to the following statement:

“Texting is a great way to conversate with your friend.”

Response #1: “I agree!”  Age: 29 and under

Response #2: “I hate it when people try to have an ongoing conversation over texting.  That’s not what it’s for.  Also, conversate isn’t a word, it’s converse.” Age: 30-65

Response #3: “I haven’t gotten into that whole texting thing yet.” Age: 66-80

Respnse #4: “Texting? Conversate?” Age: 81+

*give or take a few decades

what do I got?

I’ve got a little Nina Simone to brighten your day.

As a side note, I don’t think any artist has ever, before or since, used the word “boobies” to such wonderfully dignified effect.

wantchu

Dayam… This performance had me riveted the entire length of the video.

I didn’t know you could convey so much angst with a single guitar chord.  Puts all the young kids to shame.

what???

Anyone seen my face? I think it’s on the ground somewhere. In a puddle.

answer me

Sharon Jones, Gabriel Roth, and the rest of the Dap-King crew laying down a track.  “Sounds like a record.”  Hells yeah.

national sheila appreciation day

What do these 3 videos have in common? The first is that they all made my spine tingle.  The second is: Sheila E!  –in my humble opinion, one of the baddest female performers ever.  I never thought that the Ellen show would make my spine tingle, but I guess I haven’t been catching up on her lately.

Unfortunately Sheila is off camera in this next video.  Why, who could possibly take the spotlight away from Sheila E?  Maybe only Prince, or perhaps… perhaps…

The 3 things I learned from the video below are: 1) Sheila is masterful at developing an exciting solo; 2) I’ve now seen the coolest looking chekeré player that ever existed  3) I will see the Clash of the Titans movie if and only if it features a character that looks exactly like this saxophone player.

Haven’t got enough yet?  Be sure to watch this solo performance and a beautiful interview on Tavis Smiley featuring her legendary dad!

album art ftw

I love this album cover.  If you ever take a band photo and one member is missing, forget trying to photoshop them into the picture realistically.  That never works anyways.  Just blow them up real big and put them in the background like you meant it that way.  Instant awesome.

Listen to the sample track too.  That Tony Allen-inspired drum beat? Siiiick.

a rough business

As hard as the music business is, I’ve seen with my own eyes that there is one business that is harder: the restaurant business.  My gf’s parents had the grand opening of their San Gabriel restaurant last year just as the world economy began to tank.  From that point on it was struggle after struggle, financially, emotionally, and spiritually.  There was a glimmer of hope when they converted the menu from a Hong Kong Cafe style  to one centered around Vietnamese Pho.  It immediately became the premiere and only place in LA to find authentic Northern-style Pho.  Unfortunately, even that modest success couldn’t prop up the business enough to survive.

This weekend will be the last days you’ll be able to try the most delicious Pho (in my and many of my friend’s opinions) in the LA area.  The restaurant closes on Monday.  Goodbye Pho Bac.

where’s your clap?

I’m not posting this video so that you can enjoy an awesome Ray Charles song on Sesame Street during its heyday.  That’s a side benefit.  But the fact that this is classic heyday Sesame Street does have to do with it.  Back then there was no heavily over-dubbed and autotuned kids singing (I haven’t watched any recent Sesame Street, so I’m not sure if they do it, but have you seen Glee? Ouch!).  If you observe closely you can see that the sound seems, for the most part, recorded live.  And because of that, you can see and hear the one hip kid who starts to spontaneously clap along on beats two and four.  If you’re a musician you’re well aware of this already, but clapping on beats one and three instead of two and four is a huge faux pas and deems you totally unhip.  The joke goes that white people clap on beats one and three, while black people clap on beats two and four.  While I’m the last one to support racial stereotypes, a quick listen to a Paul McCartney album (think Ram) versus any gospel choir won’t offer any discrediting evidence.

Anyways, this soulful little girl suddenly gets overcome by the music and starts clapping along, and even turns around to see if her comrades will join her.  They don’t.  But wait, in the final chorus they do start clapping.  Only it’s on beats one and three!  What’s worse, the claps aren’t even consistent and syncopated against the singing–they just follow along with the rhythm of the words.  And finally, to add insult to injury, the hip little girl, finding it too hard to be the lone sophisticated clapper, succumbs to the crowd and starts clapping along with the others on beats one and three.  As if to offer commentary on the tragedy, Ray says at the end, “Aw man, it’s terrible.”

It’s interesting to note that our heroic little girl is probably Puerto Rican while the offending squares are a multicultural front of Caucasian, African American, and Asian.  So there goes that theory.  I’d like to think that if I had been one of those lucky kids I’d be clapping along with the cool girl, but who knows.  I hope she became friends with the other cool girl who danced on the balcony in the Stevie Wonder Sesame Street video.

my new jam

This is so awesome I almost cried when I watched this.  I’ve finally found the Space Club theme song.  (btw I do a stupendous Carl Sagan impression, ask me about sometime, you won’t be disappointed)