Let The Music Play - Barry White

"I think I'm gonna be alright, ha ha ha

If I can make it through the night, oh lord

I'll just pretend she's here with me 

I'll close my eyes, her face I'll see (won't somebody help

me?)

My love of 70's soul music and fascination of Blaxploitation movies began after seeing the Wayans' Brother's 1988 classic, "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka." The movie spoofed 70's blaxploitation movies much like they spoofed the horror genre years later with the Scary Movie franchise. I found this movie hilarious as a kid and watched it repeatedly. Skip ahead a few years and you'd find my buddy and I combing the video stores looking for the original movies that were spoofed by the Wayans. 

I'm sure most of you had the mom and pop video stores growing up (you know the ones that had the back rooms where people kept their heads down while walking out?) Anyway, the great thing about these stores were the deep cuts they had on display. I suppose some of these movies were cheap to buy so they figured they'd load up and if they got rented once or twice they were making money. Well my buddy and I would go to the action section and be amazed by the covers. Three the Hard Way, Across 110th Street, Superfly, Shaft we watched them all. One standout for us was the day we rented Dolemite 2: The Human Tornado. At this point we hadn't seen part 1 (I don't think Video World had that one) but we were able to pick up on the plot fairly quickly. I posted the trailer below and I'll say if you're easily offended these are not for you. While I was working at Best Buy in high school the Rudy Ray Moore VHS boxset came out and I had to have it. The set featured Dolemite, The Human Tornado, Petey Wheat Straw : The Devil's Son in Law, and Disco Godfather. All had their merits and have a special place in my heart.  I was fascinated that movies like these were able to get made. I loved the clothes, the all out pandemonium, the shaky camera work and most of all, the music. 

Through these movies I discovered the amazing music of Curtis Mayfield and Isaac Hayes but the movie soundtrack that made me go further down the soul rabbit hole was 1995's Dead Presidents. I remember liking the movie when it came out but it was the music that really made an impression on me. Much like my Milli Vanilli tape, I was able to acquire Volume's 1 and 2 of the soundtrack through the BMG Music club. These albums featured Al Green , The O'Jays, Sly & The Family Stone, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, James Brown and many more. One of my favs though was this man, Barry White. Never Never Gonna Give You Up was the tune featured, but I picked a different song for this week's post. 

I realize Valentine's Day isn't a joyous occasion for everyone so we'll split between songs of love and songs of loss. I came across this video while searching for this song and it's pretty fantastic. Not sure what this footage is from as Barry doesn't seem to be singing to this particular song but his collar game is out of control (in a good way) If you've been unlucky in love or just have the rainy day blues this one's for you. 

The Human Tornado - Trailer

Into My Arms - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds

 

" And I don't believe in the existence of angels

But looking at you I wonder if that's true"

What's Love Got to do With it? What About Love? Love is a Battlefield, You Give Love a Bad Name...In my unscientific estimation 99% of songs are about love while the remaining 1% of songwriters really want us to dance. In fact they don't just ask, they demand it! For example The Bee Gee's commanded "You Should Be Dancing" ,J Lo  forcefully summoned us to "Get on the Floor" and Billy Idol sneered his proclamation that he was "Dancing With Myself" ...whoops, that one actually is in the 99% category under "self love" songs. 

My saga seeing Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds for the first time involved 14 hours in Toronto, border crossing issues, Vermont, fantastic seafood, minimal sleep and Ric Flair. 

My wife purchased tickets to see Nick and the boys for my birthday. At the time Nick only had a handful of North American tour dates. He had a show in DC but we were going to be in Burlington, Vermont for vacation. Well the vacation ended on a Sunday and that's when the Toronto concert was taking place....so we jumped in the car and drove from Burlington to Montreal to get on a flight to Toronto. Little room for delays or error's on this trip. If all went well we'd land in Canada after lunch and head to the Scotia Bank Arena by 7 to catch the opening band (Cigarettes After Sex) Luckily everything was on time and we checked into our hotel mid afternoon, immediately  jumped in an uber and headed out to Birreria Volo  for some pre-show brews. After some delicious mid west suds and snacks we headed out to make our way towards dinner. On the car ride over we stopped a few blocks away from the restaurant and walked through some type of Fall street festival (this trip was in October) I miss the feeling of getting lost and blending into a new city or town. After the festival we headed to dinner and while sitting at the bar overlooking the open kitchen we enjoyed one of the best seafood meals we've ever had (shout out to Grey Gardens )

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and walked over to the Scotia Bank Arena. I grabbed a Molson and some popcorn and away we went. What a fantastic show. Nick crawled around the arena like a deranged spider weaving in and out of out piano ballads and distorted rock and roll opuses. It almost felt like we were all some type of experiment to Nick while he tested his powers over the audience commanding us to touch him so he could steal our energy and at one point bringing people on stage and having them stand and sit at his command like a deranged cult leaded with a great voice. Anyway if you're into passionate performances mixed in with great song-writing and a little bit of madness I recommend heading to this show when we can again. I saw Nick months later solo in Washington DC which focused on songs like this one.  Figured I'd also share one of the wild tunes so you could get an idea of his range.

So Ric Flair. The picture above is from the early 2000's when I met Ric at a Verizon opening in Summerville, South Carolina. I don't remember what I said to him but he reciprocated with that million dollar smile. The only other celebrity I've seen "out in the wild" is Flavor Flav. That's a story for a different time. After the concert my wife and I crashed around midnight, got up around 4 to catch a 6am flight from Toronto to NYC and then back to Richmond. I was at my desk for work around 10:30 am thinking to myself "was that a dream? When we got off the plane at JFK I looked to my right and in a sleep deprived quiet voice I said to my wife "There's Ric Flair." I think she thought I was pointing to someone who resembled Ric but it was indeed Ric himself! Professional wrestlers don't exactly "blend in." He was standing behind some rope gate with a few security personnel around him looking tan as ever. Apparently there was a pay per view in Brooklyn the night before so I suppose he was heading home. I walked by and just offered a head nod to pay my respects. Anyone else miss traveling?

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Into my arms

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - From Her To Eternity - Live in Copenhagen

Girl I'm Gonna Miss You - Milli Vanilli

"Like a honey bee

You took the best of me

Now I can't erase those memories

Like a fairy tale

You were so unreal

You left a scar that's so hard to heal"

Happy Sunday everyone! Well we made it through another month. January definitely had it's ups and downs and unfortunately the stink of 2020 lingered for a few more weeks. Hopefully February will be a quieter month as we get closer and closer to some type of normalcy. Wanted to cool the temperature a bit for this week's post. On the eve of February with Valentine's Day and Black history month I've got lots of fun tunes to choose from. Why don't we kick off things by killing two birds with one stone. 

I vividly remember getting my copy of Milli Vanilli's 1989 record , Girl you Know it's True. Actually I had the tape thanks too the Columbia House music club. Remember where you could get a 1000 tapes for $2...but much like a time share you felt like you were in the club for life? Also when you forgot to send in the monthly card you'd end up getting Yanni's Greatest hits AND THERE WAS NOTHING YOU COULD DO ABOUT IT! I'm guessing my first exposure to the band was the video for Girl You Know it's True....then came Baby Don't Lose my Number, Blame it on the Rain, All or Nothing and this track (I think my fav of the bunch. Definitely a great video. This one has the best storyline but the dance moves in Girl you Know it's True are legendary) I wasn't alone in my admiration for Rob and Fab as the album was 6 times platinum and won a Grammy for best new artist. Well most of us know what happened after that.  Once the lip synching controversy surfaced the record became out of print, the grammy was stripped, and shame fell upon the Vanilli's. I remember once the news broke, Arista records put out an ad that you could get your money back for the tape if you sent it back to the record company. No thanks, I kept my copy.

Rob and Fab were a bit before their time. Nowadays pop musicians use auto tune, backing tracks and lip synch during live performances. As long as they're good performers who cares? I'm not expecting Yo Yo Ma precision in my pop songs. Unfortunately Rob passed away from a drug and alcohol overdose back in 1998 . I highly recommend checking out their VH1 Behind the Music if you get a chance. Just want to clarify that I'm not being ironic about my Milli Vanilli fandom. If you ask my wife she could verify that 1 of 5 songs  have made most of my playlists throughout the years. Also I'm keeping the possibility of being one of the boys for Halloween in my back pocket. If you live in the central VA area and one Halloween you spot Rob and or Fab it may be me...and if it's not please let me know who they are because I'd like to be friends with them. See you soon with songs of love, heartbreak and soul. Cheers.

Milli Vanilli - Girl You Know It's True