Top 8 Songs: Week Ending June 27, 2009

1. "Fire Escape," Diane Birch (from Bible Belt)
2. "Magic View," Diane Birch (from Bible Belt)
3. "Sulphur to Sugarcane," Elvis Costello (from Secret, Profane and Sugarcane)
4. "Lola," The Coasters (from The Coasters)
5. "Forgiveness," Diane Birch (from Bible Belt)
6. "Change Is Gonna Come," Bettye LaVette (from Change Is Gonna Come Sessions)
7. "Can You Feel It," The Jacksons (from Victory)
8. "Ain't No Sunshine," Bettye LaVette (from Change Is Gonna Come Sessions)

On Being a Twit

Dear Fans,

Apologies for having been away so long. Four and a half months ago, I left New York and moved to Savannah, GA. I meant to post about it on the blog but was overwhelmed with the nuances and minutiae that come those first few weeks when you begin to bond with your surroundings.

Anyhew--until I figure out what to do with the blog, I'm going to try to dig my way out via twitter. Check me out at http://twitter.com/BourgeoisDork#/BourgeoisDork.

Looking forward to working my way back to the blogosphere.
L.

Diagnosis: Mediocrity (Re: FW: Charts...)

Response to an email about SOHH.com's "Sales Wrap" posting: Wednesday, May 27, 2009)

What the hell is a "Freeway" or a "Sheek Louch"? I can't tell which amazes me more: that they thought of those names, or that they followed through on that thought. I was curious about the new Eminem album, but I feel like it's the wrong way to start a study of him--which I've been meaning to do for some time now.

I know how out of touch I am because I have no interest in about 95% of the people listed. I used to like Busta, but...I got bored and he became Mr. "Pass the Courvoisier." Jamie Foxx: yawn. Ludacris, Jadakiss, Cam'ron, Ciara--it's all another language to me. It is interesting--and somewhat sad--to see what has become the most celebrated stuff of all the R&B out there. Also interesting that a lot of the "hidden gems" are retro-styled, don't you think?

I was thinking about the days of 45s--and how this digital single thing isn't really new. It's always been this way--starting with the release of sheet music--then records (which went from glass to vinyl)--then "albums"--and 45s and lots of independent labels releasing them. Remember when artists used to get tried out via single--and how their careers rose and fell based on their success, which would lead to an album? An album--which, in the early days, was more a collection of singles (let's face it) than anything else. Then we got into the idea of an expanded body of work--a work with commerical appeal (which, back then, consisted of one or two singles).

I'm really trying to remember when it all started falling apart. Oh, wait--when the artists started getting those ridiculous deals. Janet got it started, then Madonna had to get in there, and Bruce Springsteen and a few other rock-and-soul legends got in before Michael got the $100 million deal with Epic/Sony...which was the beginning of the end. The industry started becoming producer-heavy: Jam & Lewis, L.A. Reid & Babyface, Teddy Riley, et. al--became what HDH, Goffin & King, and Norman Whitfield were to the era before the singer-songwriter took hold.

I wonder: Do you think the sharecropper royalty for artists forced the singer-songwriter thing to become as huge as it has? Do you think as many artists would have written their own work if the royalty rate had been better? Do you think that that, in turn, has led to the current deluge of green-eyed (as in Benjamin Franklin) mediocrity when it comes to songmaking? Has the greed reached such a point where it exceeds the creative impulse?

I think I just answered my own question.

On Cajones

There's another one with a speedwalker, but it seems to have been disabled due to the outcry from the gay community--which I think is a bit ridiculous. There's nothing in the commercial--save for the yellow shorts--that says the man's gay. The dude looks pretty hetero to me, but I've been wrong before--like when I agreed with the Chicago weatherman who said it was "a balmy 10 degrees" outside.


Updated: Found the speedwalker commerical. As you young people say, "Check it, yo!"

Top 8 Songs: Week Ending January 24, 2009

1. "Blood of Eden," Peter Gabriel (from Us)
2. "Washing of the Water," Peter Gabriel (from Us)
3. "New Romantic," Laura Marling (from My Manic and I - EP)
4. "Nemesis," Aaron Parks (from Invisible Cinema)
5. "JAMIROQUAI/Main Vein," Timmy Regisford (from Live From The Shelter Restricted Access Vol.1)
6. "Real Talk," R. Kelly (from Double Up)
7. "Goodbye," Tracy Chapman (from Let It Rain)
8. "You Got What You Wanted," Ike & Tina Turner (from So Fine)

Top 8 Songs: Week Ending January 17, 2009

1. "Somewhere," Caron Wheeler (from UK Blak)*
2. "Only the Lonely," Aretha Franklin (from Aretha Sings the Blues)
3. "You're the One," Kate Bush (from The Red Shoes)
4. "Supreme Balloon," Matmos (from Supreme Balloon)
5. "Washing of the Water," Peter Gabriel (from Us)
6. "Blood of Eden," Peter Gabriel (from Us)
7. "Riding on a Railroad," James Taylor (from Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon)
8. "New York Is a Woman," Suzanne Vega (from Beauty and Crime)

* In memory of Andrew Sam (1981 - 2009)

My Tribute at My Cousin Andrew Sam's Funeral (January 15, 2009)

My cousin Andrew was an original—no small feat in a family of 10 children, 27 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren. And though each of us is unique—otherwise known as “a character,” Andrew stood out in a number of ways.

I often referred to him as our family genius, because no one was as adept at numbers, percentages, and stats like Andrew was—especially when it came to sports. Name the sport, and Andrew could tell you about its movers and shakers as well as its underdogs. He was a one-man ESPN. I always thought it was a shame that he never had the opportunity to work in the sports field—that he managed to escape their notice—but being an undiscovered gem was Andrew’s fate. Those of us who knew him knew how bright he was and how rapturous that brilliance was to behold. We shone because of him.

Andrew also managed to hold his own in a house of three Forbes matriarchs. He was the man of the house—not because he was the only man in the house—but because of the seriousness with which he took the duties of father, protector, handyman, grandson, nephew, brother, and son. My father may have taken the reins from his father, but Andrew took the reins from him and watched over his grandmother, Aunt Pauline, sisters Paulette, Sonia, and Christine—and last, but really first and foremost, his mother.

It was his masculine energy that balanced, grounded, and held the household together. His grandmother knew she was in good hands with him around, as did his Aunt Pauline. His sisters knew they were in good hands with the bratty brother who grew into a protective brother, surrogate father, and trusted friend. And his mother knew she was in good hands with the one man who did what the men before him failed to do: never let her down.

If I have a regret, it’s that I failed to take the time to deepen the bond between us. We talked during my visits to the house, my calls to find out how grandmother was doing, whether it was a good time to visit, or the zip code I often forgot, but there never seemed to be enough time. My trips to 27 Veronica Place were focused on maximizing the quality time with the woman of our shared adoration—our grandmother—and he knew and respected that. He also knew I loved him, and I know that I was loved by him. Still, that kind of love is addictive and makes me wish I’d had more of it.

But love was one of Andrew’s many gifts, and perhaps his greatest. He gave it, truly, generously, and unconditionally. Those of us blessed enough to have received it understand the profundity of Saturday’s loss. We also know the importance of today’s sendoff; the body is being laid to rest, but the spirit lives on. And though I miss and will miss Andrew for the rest of my life, I am trying to think of this less as my/our loss and more as his cousin Camille’s gain. Like her grandmother, aunts, and cousins before her, she knows she’s in good hands--as does he.