Undercover Black Man

Blowing UBM's Cover...

2010-04-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

I have had the good fortune of having David Mills as an uncle for the entirety of my life. I won't take long but I wanted to take this time to blow UBM's cover and share with you all the real David Mills.

David was the youngest of five children and was born to his parents later in their life. His father was close to 51 when he was born and his mom in her mid thirties. Early in David's life his mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and her decline was both dramatic and life altering. Dave was an inquisitive child and a voracious reader...a true "old soul". His love for words became evident at an early age as he would pore over his dad's unabridged dictionary and read the Washington Star.

Due to his parents age and health Dave spent alot of time with me and my mother (his older sister by 19 years) growing up. He had an incredibly mature wit for a kid and would cause me to have multiple belly laughs due to his jokes. He created this character called "The Ghost of Chareshema" and would stand at the top of the stairs and scare the life out of me...this was likely the first character he ever created. We also LOVED "Charlie's Angels" as kids...I preferred Jaclyn Smith while he was more of a Kate Jackson guy. He would write scripts on 3 X 5 cards and create his own stories for the show while I drew cartoon strips showing how the scenes should look.

Dave was an involved uncle. He was five years my senior and always checked in on me. He flew me to Chicago after he got his first real job, gave me cash while in college, and always provided a listening ear. He taught me to love music from the Average White Band, Beatles, Elton John, Bee Gees to the Ohio Players, Spinners, Gap Band and of course Funkadelic. We used to sing B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets out loud in fake microphones an play pretend instruments. He was a boatload of fun!

Everyone knows his accomplishments and his intellectual heft but what most did not know is that Dave was a devoted family guy. He loved his parents and siblings. He had a father who modeled modesty and frugality for Dave and was equally brilliant. His mother had a wicked sense of humor in spite of her illness. David was a beautiful combination of the both of them...sensitive yet strong, compassionate and analytical.

David adored his mother and in spite of his success made time to regularly check in on his mom and provide anything she needed or wanted while she spent her last years in a nursing home. He always shared his success with his family, inviting them to awards ceremonies, premiers etc., but he always seemed to feel uncomfortable with the accolades. He hated the shallowness and fakeness of Hollywood, preferring to keep a small circle of friends. While insular in nature he shared his skills and talents with so many people.

Dave was an incredibly brave guy. As a young man he beat Cancer and always had the balls to confront ignorance from a purely intellectual vantage point, never letting the noise of the exchange get to him. Being a "red bone" brother he constantly was exposed to racial ignorance...from black folk in Northeast growing up to dumb rednecks on the internet and even uninformed Hollywood producers. He never let this paralyze him...it was like mental weight lifting to him...it made him strong. Interestingly enough for him to pass in diverse, Creole, Mullatto New Orleans was somewhat ironic. I truly feel that he felt peace there...he fit in.

Dave approached me a couple of years ago and said to me that "I hate to do this to you Clifie but in the event something happens to me I have designated you to take care of my business". I told him that I hope we will be old farts when that happened and that he is only five years ahead of me so he may need to have my back instead. He spent Christmases with me and my family. He was a super uncle to them coming to spelling bees, graduations and other stuff. When Uncle Dave came over we held Scrabble tournaments with the kids and played a newer game this year called Smart Mouth. He would always SPANK us but my oldest son would give him a run.

While on vacation on March 30th I got a frantic call from a close friend of Dave's telling me that Dave had an aneurism. I immediately made arrangements to fly to New Orleans but he left us that night. I am now forced to "take care of his business" but in classic Mills fashion he has made it easy. He died filming a scene in front of Cafe DuMonde...very quickly and apparently painlessly. I visited the spot and had the pleasure of sitting in a directors chair while a scene on his project was being filmed. I put on the headphones and looked through the computer screen at the scene and at that moment I fell apart. It was surreal, I felt him and I understood why he loved his craft so much. I witnessed how the script of his life closed, with a surprise ending but no less beautiful. I smelled the air, experienced the people, ate the food, marinated in the multi-cultural Gumbo called New Orleans.

David leaves so much for us to cherish and it is much deeper than his professional accomplishments. Dave never ever talked about himself. He rarely used the word "I", he hated the spotlight and always expected the best from himself. David was about excellence and exemplified it in an unassuming way.

I have the good fortune of telling my children that when they look at David Mills' life they can see what CHARACTER actually looks like. He modeled for us all how to shut up and put up, how to be the best and not talk about it. I recognize that I am blogging on hallowed ground but I feel it is important to reach out to his UBM peeps. The family will keep this living memorial available for all to see.

The service for Dave will be on Monday April 12th at the University of Maryland Chapel in College Park, MD. The wake will be from 9AM to 11AM and the service will begin at 11AM. You can google the chapel for directions. On behalf of UBM I want to thank you and let you know that he loved the exchange this medium provided.

Clifton Porter II
Nephew and Fellow Funkateer

‘Treme’ is less than two weeks away.

2010-03-29T11:12:00.001-07:00

And HBO has uploaded a 14-minute preview. You can check it out below. Also, TV critics are starting to weigh in. The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik dug the first episode.

I, Obama

2010-03-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

Have y’all noticed something peculiar – and a little off-putting – about Barack Obama’s rhetorical style as president? Have you noticed how he over-personalizes shit? Makes it all about him?

I’ve noticed this for a while, but felt compelled to blog about it tonight... after President Obama’s surprise visit to U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Where he said this:

“I’ve made a promise to all of you who serve. I will never send you into harm’s way unless it’s absolutely necessary. I anguish in thinking about the sacrifices that so many of you make. That’s why I promise I will never send you out unless it is necessary.”

You anguish, Mr. President? You anguish? Dude, nobody wants to hear about your “anguish.” Least of all soldiers who gotta go out tomorrow and get shot at.

It’s your job to anguish about stuff like that, Mr. Obama. Being president is the hardest job in the world, and you wanted it. Now just do the job without congratulating yourself for having to do it... and without soliciting sympathy.

I found the complete text of Obama’s Afghanistan remarks online. Check this out:

“I'll tell you right now the same thing that I said at West Point last December. If I thought for a minute that America’s vital interests were not served, were not at stake here in Afghanistan, I would order all of you home right away.”

Did previous presidents talk this way? I don’t think so. Nor do I think a president should talk this way... constantly referring to himself personally, to his own feelings, to his own power.

Let’s keep an eye on this moving forward. I will surely blog about it again.

Playlist: Killer musicians

2010-03-28T07:18:00.001-07:00

Today I’m streaming tracks by four recording artists with something in common. These men are notable not just for making music... but for taking a human life. All four ended up convicted killers.

(Isn’t this a cool concept for a playlist? I semi-ripped it from another blog: Any Major Dude With Half A Heart.)

1. “Fever” – Little Willie John

A 1950s R&B hitmaker who would influence James Brown, Little Willie John was the first to record “Fever,” a tune made much more famous by Peggy Lee. I never knew about this original version, though it was a million-seller.

Now a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Little Willie John died in 1968 as an inmate of Washington State Prison, serving time for manslaughter. Several years earlier, the volatile little man stabbed a guy during a fight.

2. “A Way From It All” – Don Drummond

Trombonist and composer Don Drummond, a founding member of the Skatalites, was one of Jamaica’s greatest musicians. He was also mentally ill. Drummond died in a Kingston mental asylum in 1969, put there after murdering his girlfriend, an exotic dancer.

3. “Shame On You” – Spade Cooley

Fiddler and bandleader Spade Cooley was a country-western star. He had a popular show in L.A. during the early days of television. This recording, “Shame On You,” was No. 1 on Billboard’s country chart for weeks in 1945.

Spade Cooley’s enduring legend, however, has not to do with music. In 1961, he beat and stomped his wife to death after an argument. Did it in front of their teenage daughter. Cooley was sentenced to life in prison, and he died of a heart attack in 1969.

Dennis Quaid has been trying for years to get a movie made about Cooley.

4. “I’m Gonna Murder My Baby” – Pat Hare

Catchy title, huh? Memphis bluesman Pat Hare cut this track for Sun Records in 1954, but it wasn’t released until 1990... long after Hare had actually murdered his baby and died in prison.

A guitar player with a distinctively aggressive sound, Pat Hare gigged and recorded with the likes of Muddy Waters and Bobby “Blue” Bland. Hare moved to Minneapolis in the early ’60s to perform in Mojo Buford’s new band.

Alas, in 1962, a domestic dispute ended with Hare shooting his girlfriend dead. He also shot and killed a policeman who responded to the call. Hare got a life sentence.

UBM goes to Metairie

2010-03-27T13:11:00.001-07:00

This morning, for the first time since coming to Louisiana, I drove through Metairie (the nearest suburb to New Orleans). Needed to pick up my new jacket after alterations, and had time to kill.

Hey, remember that Smith & Wesson cologne I mentioned? The haberdasher hit me off with a few free samples. I’ll try it out tonight at the charity event I’m going to.

I’ll be like, “Ask me about my scent.” (And people’ll be like, “Yeah, dude... we been meaning to talk to you about your ‘scent.’ ”)

Anyhoo... New Orleans may look like no other city in America, but Metairie looks like every other suburb. Veterans Boulevard gots nothing going on except for convenient shopping. And I decided to make a few quick stops.

Passed by a pet store. On a window were painted the words “African and South American Cichlids.” I was like, “Ohhh shit! They got cichlids?”

Then I was like, “What the fuck is a cichlid?” (Turns out it’s a family of fish.)

I ducked into a CVS drug store. Made an impulse purchase of CVS-brand cookies. The dark-chocolate-topped butter cookies.

Know what I like to do with those bad boys? Y’all should try this. Get you some chocolate-topped butter cookies... and spread peanut butter on ’em.

Mmmm... yums. I’m doing it right now, bitches!!

Saturday morning cartoon

2010-03-27T05:19:00.000-07:00

Sending love to Garry Shider

2010-03-26T22:44:00.001-07:00

Word comes via the online grapevine that Garry Shider of P-Funk has been diagnosed with brain cancer.

Shider has been a loyal soldier in George Clinton’s musical army for nearly 30 years... a guitarist, songwriter, vocal arranger and diaper-wearing hype man.

And, of course, a singer. Garry Shider is an amazing singer.

To channel some loving energy in Garry’s direction, let me stream a couple of 1970s tracks on which he wails.

Click here to hear “Sexy Ways.” You’ll notice... it ain’t just about how Garry swings a lyric. It’s about the vamping he does between lines.

Then click here and listen to “Baby I Owe You Something Good,” with special attention paid to the second verse (“I’ve loved, I’ve lost...”). Simply mindblowing.

I had the pleasure, alongside my colleague Larry Alexander, of interviewing Garry Shider back in the ’90s for a P-Funk oral history. He was generous with his time and cool as can be.

Happy birthday, Martin Short.

2010-03-26T03:13:00.001-07:00

Martin Short, probably my all-time favorite improvisational comedian, is 60 years old today. Which is all the excuse I need to stream this tune...

“A Big Black Lady Stops the Show” is from Short’s 2006 Broadway show, “Fame Becomes Me.” (The big black lady is Capathia Jenkins.)

Click here to listen.

Smith & Wesson makes a fragrance.

2010-03-25T15:11:00.000-07:00

I drove to Metairie today during my lunch break to buy a sportcoat, dress shirt and tie. I went the “big & tall” route to make sure I found something that fits.

Anyway, at the cash register, I noticed some colognes on display. And one of them – swear to God – was Smith & Wesson eau de toilette.

Smith & Wesson. Eau de toilette.

Smith & Wesson has been making firearms since 1852. Revolvers, shotguns, pistols, rifles. The world-famous .357 Magnum.

I don’t know how fucking long they’ve been selling men’s cologne. Or why. But I thought it was worth noting.

Random whiteness

2010-03-25T01:39:00.001-07:00

Random wrongness

2010-03-24T05:01:00.000-07:00

Marva Wright (1948-2010)

2010-03-23T18:02:00.001-07:00

Another New Orleans music star has passed away.

Blues woman Marva Wright – who sang on Bourbon Street, in the White House and throughout Europe – died this morning. She had suffered two strokes last spring.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune obituary is here.

Click here to hear Ms. Wright’s 2007 recording “Katrina Blues.” Her New Orleans home took almost eight feet of water when the levees broke.

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘Got to Give It Up’

2010-03-23T04:54:00.000-07:00

New cuts from Bernie Worrell

2010-03-22T20:05:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite living musicians has a new album out, and I never would’ve known except for a casual search of the eMusic database.

Keyboard wizard Bernie Worrell is way off the radar screen of today’s commercial music. That is why God invented blogs.

Having previously declared that I’ll purchase any track Bernie ever played on, I might come off as uncritical. Not the case.

Indeed, I must declare that Mr. Worrell’s new release, “I Don’t Even Know,” isn’t quite making my panties damp. The tracks sound like one-man products of a busy weekend in the home studio. For example, click here and check out “Hearin’ Dis, Playin’ Dat.”

Still... when we’re talking about a prime architect of Parliament-Funkadelic’s greatest hits, any new recording is like a handwritten letter from an old friend.

Click here to hear “Shades of The Kid.” Feel what I mean?

God bless you, Bernie. Keep on speaking through your fingertips.

Bernard “Bunchy” Johnson (1952-2010)

2010-03-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

Quite sadly, I pass along news that longtime New Orleans drummer (and part-time actor) Bunchy Johnson died today, according to the Louisiana music website OffBeat.com.

Mr. Johnson will be seen acting in the premiere episode of “Treme” on April 11. (He also appears in Episode 5.)

As a drummer, Bunchy (or “Bunchie”) worked with a Who’s Who of New Orleans legends: Dave Bartholomew, Allen Toussaint, Lee Dorsey, James Booker, Dr. John, Aaron Neville, Lloyd Price...

Click here to hear a Bunchy Johnson composition – “Pass It On” – from a 2000 album by Wardell Quezergue & His Slammin’ Big Band. It’s a song about the Mardi Gras Indian culture.

And here’s a video of Mr. Johnson backing Jeremy Davenport during last year’s JazzFest:

A free Lightspeed Champion download

2010-03-20T17:16:00.001-07:00

Seattle’s KEXP.org provides a nice new FREE MP3 from the eccentric hipster known as Lightspeed Champion.

Click here to hear “Marlene” on my Vox blog. To commence downloading the track right now... hit this link.

Lightspeed Champion’s new CD is called “Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You.”

Saturday morning cartoon

2010-03-20T08:57:00.001-07:00

Name this band, win a prize.

2010-03-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

Tonight is St. Joseph’s Night, and that’s a big deal in New Orleans... because the Mardi Gras Indian tribes will take to the streets in their elaborate costumes and strut.

So I’m doing a contest, like the ones I used to do. Click here and listen to a mystery track on my Vox blog. The first person to correctly name this band – in the comments section here – will win a prize. (Please, only one guess per person.)

That prize is a beautiful little picture book, “Eyes of Eagles,” by New Orleans photographer Christopher Porché West. It’s all about the Mardi Gras Indians. Here’s one of the photos:

Another sneak peek

2010-03-18T22:51:00.000-07:00

A free Geri Allen download

2010-03-18T07:15:00.001-07:00

Pianist Geri Allen, one of the great women of modern jazz, has a new album out called “Flying Toward the Sound.”

The title track is available as a FREE MP3.

This project is a solo piano suite Ms. Allen composed as a Guggenheim Fellow.

Click here to hear “Flying Toward the Sound” on my Vox blog. To download it, click below.

“Flying Toward the Sound” (MP3)
Album available at iTunes Music Store
Album available at Amazon MP3

Playlist: Irish soul bands

2010-03-17T14:44:00.000-07:00

In honor of St. Paddy’s Day, I went searching for some Dublin funk. If you saw “The Commitments,” you know that the Irish dig soul music. Matter fact, the city of Dublin sponsors a soul festival every spring.

Here are some tracks I found from funky Irish bands:

1. “Nutbush City Limits” (live) – Santoria

This group’s influences include Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5 and (of course) Ike & Tina Turner. Santoria’s website is here. Lead singer Linzi Mckeon is hot as balls.

2. “Pass the Brack” – The Candidates

Influences include the Meters, James Brown, P-Funk and Kool & the Gang. The band’s MySpace page is here. I don’t know what “brack” means.

3. “Ghetto Life” – Mob Fandango

Mob Fandango’s website is here. These chaps don’t declare any specific musical influences... but I can tell from this track that Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” album is one.

4. “Voodoo (Hoodoo)” – Ali & the DT’s

Here’s one with a bluesier vibe. Influences include Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and Otis Redding. The group’s website is here. Ali De Mora and his band are coming to America, with a Baltimore pub gig scheduled for early July.

The New York Times Magazine on ‘Treme’

2010-03-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend, the New York Times Magazine will run a cover story on my old bud David Simon and his new HBO drama series, “Treme.” The article is up online as of today.

I haven’t read it yet, except to see that I’m quoted early in the piece, sounding intelligent. (And that I’m pictured alongside Simon in the photo slide show.)

As a consequence of the sterling reputation of “The Wire,” the media will be all over “Treme” in the coming weeks. Fun fun fun.

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love’

2010-03-16T12:02:00.000-07:00

Speaking of Stevie...

2010-03-16T06:04:00.001-07:00

... I never knew that “All I Do” – one of the great tunes off of “Hotter Than July” – was originally written for Tammi Terrell, and that she recorded it in 1966. (Yes, Stevie Wonder was a teenager when he co- wrote that song.)

Click here to hear the Tammi Terrell version. It was never released... until 2002, when Universal Music Group put out a compilation in the U.K. called “A Cellarful of Motown!”

Random Japaneseness

2010-03-15T18:26:00.000-07:00

A free Balkan Beat Box download

2010-03-14T06:56:00.001-07:00

Here’s a new FREE MP3 from Balkan Beat Box, a crew of Brooklyn hip-hop fusionists with roots in Israel.

Click here to hear “War Again” on my Vox blog. To download it, follow this link to Spinner.com.

‘Treme’ trailer

2010-03-13T17:17:00.000-08:00

Coming on April 11...

Saturday morning cartoon

2010-03-13T08:52:00.000-08:00

A free Mulatu Astatke download

2010-03-12T06:32:00.001-08:00

I first blogged about the Ethiopian jazz master Mulatu Astatke a year ago. The vibraphonist has a new album coming out at the end of March. It’s called “Mulatu Steps Ahead.” You can cop a FREE MP3 right now.

Click here to hear “Green Africa” on my Vox blog. To download it, follow this link to RCRD LBL.

Random hipness

2010-03-12T05:40:00.001-08:00

UBM’s first annual ‘Nice Try’ Awards

2010-03-11T01:44:00.000-08:00

Why? Because I give. I’m a giver. And now, without further adoo-doo...

Third place:

Second place:

First place:

Before/after

2010-03-10T16:29:00.000-08:00

Meet Kayotic, a New Orleans rapper. I don’t know this cat or his music. Just stumbled on him on YouTube.

But we filmed part of an episode in this housing project, known as the Calliope (pronounced “Calio”). Master P was raised here. And as kids in the 1940s, the Neville Brothers lived in the Calliope for a while.

A free Garaj Mahal download

2010-03-10T05:06:00.001-08:00

The jazz-funk jam band Garaj Mahal (which I blogged about in 2008) just dropped a new album. Want a FREE MP3?

This track was composed by the band’s bass player, Kai Eckhardt, whose fusionist credentials include close work with John McLaughlin and Billy Cobham.

Click here to hear “Witch Doctor” on my Vox blog. To download it, click the title below.

“Witch Doctor” (MP3)
More on this album

Random hotness

2010-03-09T06:05:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘Let’s Start the Dance’

2010-03-09T05:32:00.000-08:00

Bohannon-hannon-hannon...

Playlist: Recently downloaded from eMusic

2010-03-07T05:34:00.001-08:00

I’ve been a subscriber at the MP3 retail site eMusic.com since 2001. And for most of that time, eMusic did not offer major-label albums.

So I downloaded mainly jazz. Lots of ’50s and ’60s jazz. Several thousand tracks. If I wanted major-label stuff, I copped from iTunes or Amazon.

Well... in recent months eMusic has struck deals with Sony and Warner Bros. to distribute their back catalogues. Now I’ve been on a renewed binge of MP3 shopping.

Matter fact, I’m getting back into my funk bag. Hereupon, a few of my latest eMusic downloads for your streaming enjoyment:

1. “Loose Booty” (alternate version) – Sly & the Family Stone

2. “Heartbeat” – War

3. “Mind Over Matter (Pts. 1 & 2)” – The Isley Brothers

4. “Celestial Blues” – Andy Bey

5. “To Sir With Love” – Chaka Khan

Saturday morning cartoon

2010-03-06T04:56:00.001-08:00

This slick animated short, “Logorama,” is up for an Academy Award tomorrow. It starts getting good at 2:42. (PARENTAL WARNING: Adult language.)

Scandalous!

2010-03-05T08:26:00.000-08:00

We’re in the midst of filming the second episode of “Treme” written by me. I titled it “Smoke My Peace Pipe.” (The old heads know why.)

Coolest part about being on set for this one? Chatting with Tim Reid, whom we cast in a guest role as a tribute to “Frank’s Place,” a great show about New Orleans.

Being a comedy nerd, I asked Mr. Reid about his early years in standup comedy... that is, his partnership with Tom Dreesen in a pioneering black-and-white comedy act. (They wrote a very entertaining book in 2008 – “Tim and Tom” – about those days.)

If I’d known about the YouTube video below, I would’ve asked Tim Reid about this. Reid’s big break in Hollywood came as a sketch player on “The Richard Pryor Show.”

Check out this uncensored clip from the final episode of “The Richard Pryor Show.” It is scan-do-lous! You’ll recognize not only a young Tim Reid... but Marsha Warfield and Paul “Miss Thing” Mooney. (“Spoon on the end” is John Witherspoon.)

To see the next clip in the sequence, where Richard flames Robin Williams and Sandra Bernhard, click here.

Playlist: We want Bootsy!

2010-03-04T20:13:00.001-08:00

Bootsy Collins is cooking up something in his kitchen, y’all. He has been tweeting about various folks coming to Cincinnati and working on his new album... like Snoop Dogg, Cornel West and Béla Fleck.

Last week Bootsy wrote: “I just talked to Sheila E. about playing her Drums and Percussions on the New Album, STAY TUNED COULD GET FUNKY, REAL SOON.”

In the meantime between time... let’s have our own little Bootsy party right here.

’Twas 40 years ago that William “Bootsy” Collins, at the tender age of 18, was thrust into the limelight as James Brown’s new bass player. Bootsy was hired, along with his young bandmates, when Mr. Brown fired his old musicians in a dispute over money.

Several years later, Bootsy was taken under wing by George Clinton and became a primary architect of P-Funk. Bootsy Collins quickly evolved from songwriter and session musician to one of America’s most flamboyant stage performers.

I’m streaming some choice cuts on my Vox blog, tracing Bootsy’s path to glory. Click the titles to listen. (And if your computer speakers don’t deliver the low end... I recommend earbuds. Seriously.)

1. “Super Bad” (live) – James Brown

Here’s Bootsy backing the Godfather of Soul at a 1971 Paris concert. Bootsy also played on the hit single version of “Super Bad.” Hot hot high-energy bass line.

2. “What So Never the Dance, Pts. 1 & 2” – House Guests

Bootsy and his boys only stayed with James Brown for one year. Generation gap type thing. J.B. was like the stern stepfather, and Bootsy was doing stuff like dropping acid.

After leaving the James Brown camp, Bootsy and his band called themselves House Guests. This is one of two singles the House Guests released in 1971.

3. “Together” – Parliament

Bootsy first hooked up with G. Clinton in 1971, contributing to the Funkadelic double-album “America Eats Its Young.” Bootsy soon departed, but he rejoined P-Funk in time for Parliament’s 1974 debut on Casablanca Records – “Up for the Down Stroke.” And he was home to stay.

This track (written by Bootsy) is from the 1975 “Chocolate City” LP. Bootsy flexes with a Mu-Tron effects pedal. Around this time he started rocking a custom-made star-shaped “space bass”... and Bootsy’s reputation soared as a musician and as a showman.

As he told Bass Player magazine a few years ago: “Once I discovered the Mu-Tron... I could almost talk through my instrument.” (To hear Bootsy’s original version of “Together,” minus the Mu-Tron and minus G. Clinton’s vocal polishing, click here.)

4. “Disco Lady” – Johnnie Taylor

Bet most of you didn’t know Bootsy played on this 1976 smash hit, which was the first single ever to be certified platinum (meaning 2 million units shipped).

On loan to Detroit producer Don Davis (along with fellow P-Funkers Bernie Worrell and Glen Goins), Bootsy didn’t stretch out on this track. Kept it in the pocket for the most part.

Coincidentally, while “Disco Lady” was dominating the singles charts, Bootsy’s Rubber Band released its debut album on Warner Bros. Records. Bootsy was about to become a hit-maker in his own right.

5. “Freak to Freak” – Sweat Band

Bootsy Collins flourished in partnership with George Clinton as a songwriter and producer. In 1980 Bootsy co-wrote and produced this track for Clinton’s new label, Uncle Jam Records. All the old heads remember.

Random blackness

2010-03-03T05:58:00.000-08:00

To find out what became of this gifted lad, follow this link.

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘Forget Me Nots’

2010-03-02T16:30:00.000-08:00

Bow down to Freddie Washington.

‘The Best of Soul Train’ on DVD

2010-03-01T20:35:00.000-08:00

This was a long time coming. Time Life is offering a 9-DVD set called “The Best of Soul Train.” List price: $149.95.

The DVDs won’t ship till the end of March... but Time Life is soliciting pre-orders now.

What I’m waiting for is the kick-ass half-hour infomercial. Till then, you can check out preview clips on YouTube:

Black History Month à la Britannia (pt. 2)

2010-02-28T16:09:00.001-08:00

In America, the most famous “slave narrative” was written by Frederick Douglass. In England, the most famous such book was written by Olaudah Equiano.

“The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African” was published in 1789... more than 50 years before Douglass’s autobiography.

The book was popular and very influential in the British anti-slavery movement.

Olaudah Equiano, according to his memoir, was born near the River Niger and kidnapped into slavery by other Africans. But there is controversy about this. Some scholars say he was born in South Carolina.

The details of Equiano’s adult life are unchallenged. Owned as an adolescent by a British naval officer, Equiano was trained as a seaman and taught to read. He was also baptized a Christian in Westminster, England.

Sold to a Quaker merchant, Equiano was able to buy his freedom in his early twenties. He moved to England, became an active abolitionist, married an Englishwoman, and fathered two kids.

The text of Equiano’s autobiography can be downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg.

BBC Radio produced a dramatization of Equiano’s autobiography in 2007. I’m streaming a 5-minute excerpt of “Grace Unshackled: The Story of Olaudah Equiano” on my Vox blog. The adult Equiano is portrayed by Afro-British actor David Oyelowo.

In this excerpt, Equiano tells the story of his purchase by Michael Pascal, the British naval officer, who assigned him the name Gustavas Vassa. Click here to listen.

A free MillionYoung download

2010-02-28T13:22:00.001-08:00

South Florida’s Mike Diaz, a.k.a. MillionYoung, is giving away FREE MP3s to draw attention to his music. Good on him.

Click here to hear “Feel the Same” on my Vox blog. The style is called “chillwave,” though I would simply call it electro-pop.

To download the track, follow this link to MillionYoung’s official website and look in the upper left corner.

Canada’s Little Richard

2010-02-28T04:10:00.000-08:00

Bet you don’t know who Jackie Shane is.

I didn’t know... until Toronto-based music writer David Dacks (an occasional commenter here at UBM) reached out.

Jackie Shane was a popular performer in Toronto’s R&B clubs during the 1960s. He was openly gay, and his flamboyant stage persona invited comparisons to Little Richard and Esquerita.

David Dacks worked on a radio documentary called “I Got Mine: The Story of Jackie Shane” for the CBC, Canada’s national broadcaster. This one-hour documentary airs today... and you can hear it streaming live on the Web at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.

[UPDATE (02/28/10): This was a great show! Turns out you have a couple more chances to hear it today. It’s re-playing at 3 p.m. in each time zone. So follow this link and look for “Inside the Music” in the “Listen Live” directory.]

Jackie Shane had only one hit single – “Any Other Way” (1963). To hear it on my Vox blog, click here. And to see the man in action with your very own eyes, check this:

Playlist: White chicks got the blues

2010-02-27T12:13:00.000-08:00

Not till I spent a few weeks listening to B.B. King’s satellite radio channel did I realize... there’s a lot of white women singing the blues.

I am most intrigued by Fiona Boyes, who isn’t even American. She’s Australian. And a hellified guitar player. Hellified!

I’m streaming on my Vox blog a Whitman’s Sampler of white-chick blues... including a 2009 track from Maria Muldaur, who has been performing American roots music for nearly 50 years (though she’s most famous for her pop smash hit “Midnight at the Oasis”).

1. “I Want to Go” – Fiona Boyes

2. “Fried Chicken” – Eden Brent

3. “Watermelon Time” – Marcia Ball

4. “I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl” – Ingrid Lucia

5. “The Panic Is On” – Maria Muldaur

Saturday morning cartoon

2010-02-27T11:32:00.001-08:00

‘A Walk Through Fort Greene’

2010-02-26T07:23:00.001-08:00

Renaissance man Nelson George and Brooklyn filmmaker Diane Paragas are working on a wonderful-looking project. Check this teaser out:

This is my 2,500th post.

2010-02-26T05:40:00.001-08:00

I like marking these little milestones. Ten months ago I hit 2,000... and used that occasion to announce my retirement from blogging.

The retirement didn’t take, but clearly I’ve slowed my roll since 2008. I used to be a freak about this shit. Some of y’all remember.

Anyway... thank you to all my readers and commenters. Your feedback sustains me. I’m on a horse.

Vulgarity defined (or, Keith Olbermann serves up six liters of pus and another ‘goddamn’)

2010-02-24T21:19:00.001-08:00

Tonight MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann delivered a 14-minute “Special Comment” that’s setting the left-wing blogosphere on fire.

You’re a hero, Keith! Stay strong, Keith! Everyone in Congress should hear your words, Keith!

I didn’t have that reaction while watching Olbermann speak at length about his near-dead father... as prelude to a mawkish appeal for health-care reform.

To me, it was jaw-droppingly vulgar. From start to finish an insult to the dignity of persons... and an assault on such old-fashioned values as family privacy, public propriety and on-air professionalism.

It was a bizarre bit of broadcasting that I cannot imagine coming from any other broadcaster in the history of broadcasting. It was morbid narcissism dressed up as moral indignation. And was politically incoherent to boot.

It’s embedded below... the whole shit. Watch for yourself if you think I’m tripping. I am too sleepy right now to unpack all my thoughts. But I’m sure I’ll stay wound up about this into the weekend.

Status update

2010-02-24T18:22:00.001-08:00

(Click it if it’s too small to read.)

A free Rufus Reid download

2010-02-24T06:46:00.000-08:00

Face it. You need more jazz in your life.

Bassist Rufus Reid, who has played alongside such great ones as Dexter Gordon, Freddie Hubbard and Jack DeJohnette, has a new album coming out in two weeks. But you can cop a FREE MP3 right now.

Click here to hear “Glory” on my Vox blog. To download it, click the title below.

“Glory” (MP3)
More on this album

Hot rocks

2010-02-24T02:09:00.001-08:00

I dig women’s curling.

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘Sultans of Swing’

2010-02-23T11:59:00.001-08:00

Not saying I miss ‘MADtv’...

2010-02-22T04:51:00.000-08:00

... but this is cute.

Random hipness

2010-02-21T11:57:00.001-08:00

Seventeen days on YouTube... and 2.4 million views. For an Old Spice commercial? Yes. You need to see it. (Hat-tip: Harry Allen.)

I really like old newsreels.

2010-02-21T07:26:00.000-08:00

Here’s Louis Armstrong visiting Africa 50 years ago.

I like old newsreels.

2010-02-21T05:02:00.000-08:00

And Internet Archive’s got ’em. Here’s one that’s certified kosher for Black History Month:

Saturday morning cartoon

2010-02-20T11:36:00.000-08:00

For Ricky Gervais fans only. This animated version of his famous podcasts debuted last night on HBO.

A free Disco Biscuits download

2010-02-19T18:04:00.001-08:00

Want a FREE MP3 from the Disco Biscuits? Have you ever even heard of the Disco Biscuits? (I hadn’t.)

The type of music they play is called “trance fusion.” (Never heard of that either.)

Click here to hear the band’s new single, “On Time,” on my Vox blog. To commence downloading, hit this link.

Get in that ass!

2010-02-18T18:59:00.000-08:00

Another YouTube legend is born. (Hat-tip: Acting White.)

Random hipness

2010-02-18T13:47:00.001-08:00

Black History Month à la Britannia (pt. 1)

2010-02-17T04:18:00.001-08:00

Are you bored with Black History Month because you know all you wanna know about Harriet Tubman, George Washington Carver and the same old short list of African-American luminaries?

I’m about to spice your shit up, friend, by casting my gaze across the pond. England has its own Black History Month – in October. But I shan’t wait till then to showcase a few intriguing cultural figures from Britain’s past.

We begin with George Bridgetower, a virtuoso violinist who rocked the stage with Beethoven two centuries ago.

George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower was born in Poland circa 1780. Black father, white mother. As a child prodigy on violin, Bridgetower was taken under wing by England’s future King George IV, and received an elite education in music.

In his twenties, he was introduced to Beethoven. They jammed in Vienna. Beethoven was so impressed, he dedicated his new Violin Sonata No. 9 to “the mulatto Brischdauer.”

Beethoven and Bridgetower debuted the sonata together on May 24, 1803. It was a triumphant performance.

But then, so goes the story, Bridgetower made an insulting remark about a woman Beethoven happened to know. Pissed off, Beethoven re-dedicated the piece to another violinist... named Kreutzer.

To this day, the composition is known as the “Kreutzer Sonata,” while Bridgetower is said to have died in obscurity.

(Click here to hear the sonata’s third movement, as performed by Itzhak Perlman.)

George Bridgetower’s name and story have been resuscitated in recent years. Afro-British pianist Julian Joseph has composed a “jazz opera” about Bridgetower’s life. And American poet Rita Dove last year published “Sonata Mulattica,” a poetry collection inspired by Bridgetower’s relationship with Beethoven.

Check the two vidclips below:

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘It’s Time to Party Now’

2010-02-16T06:10:00.000-08:00

Ray Parker, Jr. bites Chic.

Random genius

2010-02-15T14:50:00.000-08:00

~~More where that came from... BAM!~~

The new Gil Scott-Heron album...

2010-02-15T09:25:00.001-08:00

... came out last week. Anybody checked out “I’m New Here”? Any reactions?

Frankly, I’m not feeling it. Happy as I am to hear any new stuff from Gil, this set comes up short. Literally. There’s less than 30 minutes of material. And four of the tracks aren’t even new writing.

“Your Soul and Mine” is an inferior remake of one of Gil’s earliest pieces, “The Vulture.” There’s a Robert Johnson cover (“Me and the Devil”) and a Bobby “Blue” Bland cover (“I’ll Take Care of You”). The title track is a cover of an underground rock tune by Bill Callahan.

I also don’t dig the soulless electronic soundscapes designed by Gil’s new British sponsor, Richard Russell. For example, click here to hear “On Coming from a Broken Home (Pt. 1).”

Contrary opinions welcomed.

UPDATE (02/15/10): I must report that “I’m New Here” is getting rave reviews in the British press... particularly in the Daily Telegraph (“...a revelation”) and the Guardian (“... one of the year’s best albums”).

For whatever that’s worth.

Random wrongness

2010-02-14T20:57:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe that Smokey Robinson, Morgan Freeman and President Obama don’t know the first verse of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by heart. This is embarrassing. (Hat-tip: Deron Snyder at The Root.)

UBM presents: Racist Audio Theatre

2010-02-14T01:09:00.001-08:00

A longtime hobby of mine is collecting racist literature. Fascinating stuff... especially when it comes from the mind of a well-educated man.

There was no better-educated racist writer active in my lifetime than Revilo P. Oliver. Dude was super-intelligent... a philologist and professor of classics at the University of Illinois for decades. He was a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar.

As a right-wing anti-Communist, Prof. Oliver was an early writer for National Review and a founding member of the John Birch Society.

In the 1960s, he became stridently anti-black and anti-Semitic until he was no longer welcome at National Review. He even broke with the Birchers.

Revilo Oliver’s style of political rhetoric involved casual disdain for his racial enemies (referring to blacks as “the savages”) and lots of smirking sarcasm (the “civil riots movement”... “snivel rights”), all presented with high-toned eloquence.

I find him quite entertaining to listen to.

Yes, some of the professor’s speeches are available on the internets. I’m streaming a couple of pops on my Vox blog.

Click here for a 4-minute excerpt from “Can Liberals Be Educated?,” a 1965 address to the John Birch Society.

Click here for a 5-minute piece of Oliver’s 1968 lecture “Race and Revolution,” presented to the Canadian League of Rights.

By the 1980s, Revilo Oliver felt the white race was doomed to extinction, weakened by its attachment to Christianity. (“... hoping [for] a pat on the head from the ferocious old Jew-God’s son...”)

He committed suicide in 1994.

A free Budos Band download

2010-02-13T17:32:00.000-08:00

The Budos Band out of New York City is another American group doing the Afrobeat thing. Wanna sample a FREE MP3?

Click here to hear “The Proposition” on my Vox blog. To download, follow this link to Amazon.com for a 2009 sampler album called “CMJ 2009: The Bands, The Music, The City, Vol. 3.”

Saturday morning cartoon

2010-02-13T05:42:00.000-08:00

Not for kids.

A free Gigi download

2010-02-12T16:40:00.001-08:00

Two years ago I blogged about the Ethiopian-born singer known as Gigi. Now I got another FREE MP3 for those who may want. She’s the guest vocalist on a 2009 track by her countryman Tommy T.

Click here to hear “The Response” on my Vox blog. To download, click the title below.

“The Response” (feat. Gigi) (MP3)
Album available at iTunes Music Store
Album available at Amazon MP3

Growing up in America.

2010-02-12T05:33:00.000-08:00

With a soundtrack. It’s all about the soundtrack.

Amiri Baraka on African-American literature

2010-02-11T18:09:00.001-08:00

Nope, I didn’t forget it was Black History Month. Just been busy is all.

I always like to do something a little deeper for February. Particularly I’m into audio artifacts (such as an actual phone conversation between Martin Luther King and President Lyndon Johnson).

Today, I’m sharing a 1984 classroom lecture by Amiri Baraka, the writer and radical-left activist, on the development of black literature.

Click here to hear a 9-minute excerpt. For the entire 95-minute sound file, follow this link to Internet Archive.

This lecture – delivered at Naropa University in Colorado – is part of the Naropa Poetics Audio Archive, a repository of hipness that demands further examination.

The Internet is a free university at your fingertips, y’all. Blows my mind sometimes.

Anyway, Baraka begins with a reference to his essay collection “Daggers and Javelins,” which was published in ’84.

New cuts from Fishbone

2010-02-10T17:32:00.001-08:00

Ever go through the pockets of some old clothes and find a long- forgotten $10 bill? And it feels as good as if you’d found it on the street?

That happened to me today online.

I hardly remembered joining the Amie Street music site two years ago, let alone that I had nine bucks and change sitting in an account there. Hey... found money!

So I started looking for tunes that might be worth downloading. (Amie Street seems to specialize in artists I never heard of.) Guess what I found? A Fishbone live album I didn’t know about.

“Fishbone Live” (a.k.a. “Live in Bordeaux”) was recorded in France in 2008. The 2009 CD/DVD combo is only available as a high-priced import. The MP3 version, released last week, will cost you $8.49 on Amazon.com.

On Amie Street I paid $2.76 for it. That’s 77 minutes of Fishbone music for less than the price of a Big Mac. (That price isn’t set in stone. The site’s “demand-based pricing” model means the price goes up as a track gets more popular.)

Let me stream a couple of cuts so you can hear how good it sounds.

Click here to hear “Hide Behind My Glasses,” which is one of my favorite Fishbone rarities. I am absolutely delighted to have a live version of this song.

Click here to check out “Party at Ground Zero”... a tune now 25 years old.

A free Scott Amendola download

2010-02-10T03:14:00.001-08:00

Want a FREE MP3 from hipster drummer Scott Amendola? It’s kinda Afrobeat-ish. Click here to hear the 2005 track “Oladipo” on my Vox blog. To download, click the title below.

“Oladipo” (MP3)
Album available at Amazon MP3

Random hotness

2010-02-09T19:00:00.000-08:00

Ever notice how the German language makes everything sound filthy?

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘Cutie Pie’

2010-02-09T09:32:00.000-08:00

A Super Bowl commercial worth noting

2010-02-08T19:27:00.001-08:00

I don’t go all twerky over Super Bowl commercials. That’s not me.

I mean... yeah, Betty White is a game old broad. And it was cool to see one of my old “Kingpin” cast members, Shay Roundtree, in that house-made-of-beer-cans commercial.

I giggled at some other shit too. But I’m not going to devote a whole post to Super Bowl commercials.

This post is about Christopher Guest, filmmaker and comic actor, and his new source of income. Did you happen to catch the commercial for the U.S. census? (Follow this link if you missed it.)

It was directed by Mr. Guest. And it features familiar faces from his “mockumentary” films such as “Waiting for Guffman” and “A Mighty Wind.” (Ed Begley, Jr., Bob Balaban, Don Lake...)

I’m not wild about that census commercial. Just sort of puzzled by it. Nevertheless, I am digging the fact that Chris Guest is in the ad game big time.

Perhaps you’ve seen his spots for DirecTV. Those are comical.

His biggest campaign so far has been for Healthy Choice frozen foods. Surely you’ve seen those Julia Louis-Dreyfus commercials.

I can’t stand ’em. Thirty seconds is not the ideal length for Christopher Guest’s brand of whimsy.

Actually, there’s a Healthy Choice commercial on YouTube that I’ve not seen on TV. And I like it. Because it’s got Jane Lynch, who is No. 4 with a bullet on my list of favorite dykes. Check it out:

A free Shilts download

2010-02-08T13:44:00.001-08:00

Wish I had time to do another full-blown Funky Whiteboy Appreciation Week. For now, let me give Shilts some dap.

London’s Paul “Shilts” Weimar is a sax player formerly with the Brand New Heavies. He’s better known in the U.K. for his involvement with another acid-jazz group... Down to the Bone.

I’ve got a FREE MP3 from Shilts’s 2006 solo album, “HeadBoppin.”

Click here to hear “Break the Mold” streaming on my Vox blog. To download that track, click the title below.

“Break the Mold” (MP3)
Album available at iTunes Music Store

D.C. represent!

2010-02-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

You know I’ll be rooting for dem Saints tonight in the Super Bowl. But I’m glad to have this occasion to recall my hometown Redskins: Offensive lineman Russ Grimm was just elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Big fella earned three Super Bowl rings during the Joe Gibbs era.

The last white mayor of New Orleans

2010-02-06T09:45:00.001-08:00

It’s election day in New Orleans. Even though the city is caught up in Super Bowl fever... plus, of course, being smack in the middle of Mardi Gras season... today’s mayoral primary is a pretty big deal.

Chances are, New Orleans will have its first white mayor since 1978. Mitch Landrieu has been polling far ahead of his competitors.

Interesting thing is, Landrieu ran four years ago against incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin, who by then was a national joke for his handling of Hurricane Katrina.

The way the story is told, Mitch Landrieu lost in 2006 because old-line white New Orleanians simply loathe the name “Landrieu.”

Why?

Because Mitch’s father, Moon Landrieu – the last white mayor of New Orleans – did so much to empower black people. The “progressive” Mayor Landrieu appointed many blacks to public office.

On the flip side, while many black New Orleanians respect the Landrieu name, they were reluctant in 2006 to return the keys of City Hall to a white man. Black voters went four-to-one for Nagin in the runoff.

Times change. If Mitch Landrieu wins today’s election, it’ll be because of black support. As this campaign ad illustrates.

I’m finding that New Orleans has a fascinating political history. Would you like to hear a little of it from the mouth of Moon Landrieu himself?

I’m streaming a 3-minute excerpt of a 1974 Moon Landrieu interview on my Vox blog. Click here to listen. (Certified kosher for Black History Month.)

Saturday morning cartoon

2010-02-06T03:46:00.000-08:00

Bow down to Louis Armstrong.

Mallia Franklin (c. 1953 - 2010)

2010-02-05T14:55:00.001-08:00

Word spread today through the P-Funk online grapevine that vocalist Mallia Franklin has died. She had suffered a stroke last summer.

I hope her passing does not go unnoticed by the news media... at least in her home town of Detroit.

Mallia Franklin was a lead voice in George Clinton’s first female spinoff group, Parlet. Her credited background vocals with Parliament- Funkadelic date back to the 1975 “Chocolate City” album.

Deeper still, Ms. Franklin introduced G. Clinton to a young and struggling Bootsy Collins in 1971, thus changing the course of pop-music history.

Click here to hear the 12-inch version of Parlet’s biggest single, “Ridin’ High,” streaming on my Vox blog. That’s Mallia singing lead.

And she is the first one speaking in the Parlet retrospective vidclip below.

Meet the ‘lint-licker’ lady

2010-02-05T12:53:00.000-08:00

If you thought me frivolous for showcasing a daggone chewing gum commercial on this blog, hang on... I’m not done.

For one thing, the “lint-licker” ad has been hailed far and wide across the internets. Last May, the PopEater blog declared: “This Orbit commercial is one of the funniest things we’ve ever seen.”

On first viewing (mere weeks ago), I tripped out on “Pickle you, kumquat!” But now, it’s all about “You lint-licker!” – about as perfect a moment of comic acting as you will find in any medium.

I had to find out more about that actress.

Her name is Jesse Copano. Actually, that’s her married name. She’s also known as Jesse Meriwether.

I would’ve bet money that Jesse had an improv background... like Stephanie Courtney from those Progressive Insurance spots. That doesn’t appear to be the case, though. She got her start doing plays in New Orleans.

Jesse Copano is doing well for herself as a commercial actress. (Movie blogger Joe Blevins calls her “the Meryl Streep of TV commercials.”) But I hope bigger things are in store for her.

Below are two of her other spots. Matter fact, these are the first two jobs Ms. Copano got after moving to Los Angeles.

This is my favorite commercial.

2010-02-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

And I am not alone...

A free Rene Lopez download

2010-01-31T08:42:00.001-08:00

New Yorker Rene Lopez is the first Latin cat I know of to jump on the ’60s soul revival.

Click here to hear “Not the Same Day” on my Vox blog. Sounds kinda Staxy. If you want it as a FREE MP3, hit this link to commence downloading.

Saturday morning cartoon

2010-01-30T06:19:00.000-08:00

Random wrongness

2010-01-28T10:46:00.000-08:00

Random hipness

2010-01-27T19:58:00.000-08:00

Random blackness

2010-01-26T18:45:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 12-inch Flashback: ‘That’s Where the Happy People Go’

2010-01-26T12:40:00.000-08:00

Two free Soul of John Black downloads

2010-01-25T17:25:00.000-08:00

Former Fishbone member John Bigham now performs as The Soul of John Black. He just released a six-song EP with solo acoustic versions of tunes from last year’s album “Black John.”

I’ve got two FREE MP3s for you tonight.

Click here to hear the acoustic version of “Black John” on my Vox blog. To check out the original version, click here.

You can download one or the other – or both – by clicking below. I like the acoustic one better.

“Black John” (acoustic version) (MP3)
EP available at iTunes Music Store

“Black John” (original version) (MP3)
Album available at iTunes Music Store
Album available at Amazon MP3

Prince’s song for the Minnesota Vikings

2010-01-24T15:11:00.001-08:00

As the New Orleans Saints prepare to throw down against the Vikings for the NFC Championship, it has come to my attention that Prince wrote and recorded a “fight song” to inspire his hometown team.

You can hear a bit of it below, courtesy of a Minneapolis TV station. I think Prince is about to get his feelings hurt. WHO DAT??

First official images from ‘Treme’...

2010-01-24T11:14:00.000-08:00

... are up on HBO’s website. Look for the photo gallery. The series premieres in April.

Stumping for Jesus

2010-01-24T05:30:00.001-08:00

God isn’t gonna like me for that headline. But I mean no disrespect.

Matter fact, Nick Vujicic is the coolest guy I’ve ever seen on the internets. I just wish he was a standup comic. That would rock.

Saturday morning cartoon

2010-01-23T10:23:00.000-08:00

Worst. Cartoon. Ever. Depressingly worthless in every way.

If this music triggers happy memories...

2010-01-22T21:25:00.001-08:00

... then you’re as big a TV nerd as I am. I used to love me some “ABC Movie of the Week.” Who’s with me?

Remember “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”? (Especially the bit with the flashbulbs?) How about “The Girl Most Likely to...”? (Written by Joan Rivers, this one provided Stockard Channing her first starring role.)

I remember “The Feminist and the Fuzz.” (Even before my first hard-on, I was totally into Barbara Eden.) “Shirts/Skins.” (Turns out this was written by Bruce Paltrow... who returned to the subject of basketball with “The White Shadow.”) “It Couldn’t Happen to a Nicer Guy.” (A comedy about a man raped by a woman at gunpoint.)

Wasn’t there one where a guy was trapped inside a department store all night with some pissed-off Dobermans? I think James Brolin was the star. Hang on, lemme check IMDb right quick...

Yep. Brolin. It was called “Trapped.” (U.K. title: “Doberman Patrol.”)

Can’t remember whether I actually saw “Killdozer” or just heard so many other kids talk about it.

Anyway, that “Movie of the Week” theme music... always loved it.

Just found out it was written by Burt Bacharach. A tune called “Nikki.”

Now for a treat. Click here to hear on my Vox blog Mr. Bacharach’s own version of “Nikki”... originally released on his 1971 solo album.

“Nikki” was named after Bacharach’s daughter with Angie Dickinson. Sadly, Nikki Bacharach committed suicide in 2007.

Compare and contrast

2010-01-22T04:29:00.001-08:00

A free Santigold download

2010-01-21T00:35:00.000-08:00

Coming next month is a peculiar collaboration from David Byrne and Fatboy Slim... a double-CD called “Here Lies Love.”

Evidently it’s a dance-music concept album about the former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos. (What?)

“Here Lies Love” features a hip lineup of guest vocalists such as Sharon Jones, Alice Russell, Theresa Andersson, Cyndi Lauper... and the one and only Santigold.

Mr. Byrne is giving away the Santigold cut as a FREE MP3. Click here to hear “Please Don’t” on my Vox blog.

If you wanna download it – and you’re willing to share your email address – here’s a widget:

Random hotness

2010-01-20T01:25:00.001-08:00