texas toast

a little barrio soul for yo ass!!
sunny & the sunliners - get down (197?)


i came across this jimmy-jam on youtube (again in the mecca of musicland) and almost pissed my knickers. now this song is one of my favorite tracks by war from their "all day music" lp (1971). i dont know which came first the scrambled eggs or the fried chicken. war or sunny. buy what i do know is that war is one of my top 10 favorite bands; they represent the west coast and LA funk scene strong & HARD! but just as a chameleon changes its appearance, war changed its sound. from soul to tejano funk to the all-american chicano representatives. por la razza! in others words from black to brown. which i dont mind...you know im color blind since were all the same color in the dark. but they had lost their original audience so quickly that it became appalling how different they were which is suprising that they noticed a change...weedheads! but thats for another time. so now i have a brown to black sit-ch & it actually works!.... really well! i checked out a few of sunny's 1st albums & its the traditional texas tejano music...then all of a sudden here they go sounding like the opening act for fred wesley or the jb's. and just like war's fans, im sure sunnys people were shocked at the transition. but for me, i welcome it with open arms & dancing feet. the raspy crushed velvet voice of sunny keeps me lifted & groovin'. im not sure how much sunny & his sunliners explored the world of funk & soul, but i hope there is much more out there in cyber-funk space! checkout their history...who knew something good beside bbq tri-tip came out of texas?! well of course selenas...si mon!  and what the hell is a sunliner anyway?

sunny & the sunliners

get lifted

this is a dedication to all the cannaheads that truly understand the powers of the peace pipe, the flower of jah! we are about to embark on a monumental journey in the upcoming 2010 election. a YES on 19 will ensure the freedom of all who have struggled to fight this fight for decades!

smoke my piece pipe - the wild magnolias (1975)


crazy black indians! hey thats me you're talking about....sorry.

you need it...i got it

the four tops - baby, i need your lovin (1964)


the four tops vs. the temptations is like comparing your left breast to your right one. you might favor one over the other, but essentially they are a package deal so nevertheless you end up loving them both equally. dont get me wrong, i love love love me some temptations, mostly cause i know more about their personal history. but the four tops are like the uncles i actually have, but more talented! they are more manly in a way that sets them a part from the tempts. more gritty...rougher, you know, more stank! their love songs make me feel pretty in that threatening, gangster wife, aggressively hard way. its funny cause david ruffin, the lead singer from the tempts, sounds like he would have been the perfect fit for the tops. it was motowns way of trying to promote their clean soulful sound by competing with the likes of sam & dave and otis redding. the more artist they have, with the same flavor but different amounts of sugar, the larger the sales. motown was right and it worked out perfect for everyone; motown, the tempts, & the tops! praise berry gordy! love-joy

get in there baby

you know what?? i have no words...not today!

janis joplin - try (1969)

black man's burdon

eric burdon & war - tobacco road (1970)


i will say this everytime i present eric burdon & war "what a combo" & "probably the most under appreciated acts of the 70s." the gutter drunken melodic sounds of mr. burdon mixed with the soulful church rhythms of war, blend nicely for the "coolest bar mitzvah" sound ever. it is one of my favorite renditions of this song along with lou rawls' & jimi's version. i read somewhere that blues guitarist & legend, edgar winter, has a 17minute version of it...oh my, cant wait to dig into that one!

expiration date

betty everett - you're no good (1963)


now!! we have a classic case of "say what?" here's the short story: this song was originally cut by dee dee warwick (sister of dionne) in 1963 for lieber & stoller. these are the same devils that produced most of elvis' hits & got credit for creating songs like "houndog" & "kansas city" (dear black moses give me a break). so when "producers" from vee-jay records heard it, $$ cha-ching $$, and they picked it up (bought the rights) in hopes to be recorded by dee clark, another r&b singer who happened to be tall, strong, & a man. but as pre-recording rehearsal continued, the corporate heads felt that the song was too insensitive for its enormous female consumer clientele, especially coming from a masculine male figure. really? a man telling a woman that she's no good. yeah right brotherman, get the steppin...so they split that scene & handed it off to singer betty everett. til this day, it is obvious that anti-male songs have always been a top seller for pop music and betty did just that...she took the tune to the top 50 on the r&b charts. wow. what a year 1963 was for this little diddy. it moved around more than ice head! NOW! fast foward 11 years to 1974, and with more soul than ever, ladies....its my pleasure to bring to you:

linda ronstadt - you're no good (1974)

bet your ass

the jackson 5 - i'll bet you (1970)


creep creep creep...man did we sleep on this track or what? i know i did, but since i have columbus-ed this shit & psuedo discovered it, i havent stopped playing it. i keep forgetting that its the jacksons at some points & times, like when im grinding the chair im sitting in...good grief charlie brown. this song reminds me of the isaac hayes tracks where he is rappin his game to some fine philly thats besides him, not some snotty nosed teen idols. this is my get down, get down track. hello mr. nasty time! i wonder whose idea it was berry's or joseph's ....hmmmmm. love-joy.

battlestar galactica pt.2

to all whose lives were lost at the hands of greedy capitalist.

simon & garfunkel - sound of silence (the graduate, 1967)

now back to the goodness....ding. ding! the graduate vs. jackie brown opening scene

i love quentin tarantino & "jackie brown" OBVIOUSLY my all time favorite tarantino flick due to (1) PAM GRIER and (2) the soundtrack. the opening scene is an identical tribute to mike nicolas' opener for the 1967 cult classic "the graduate". the film stars the fresh & uncomfortable dustin hoffman along side with the impeccable ann bancroft. the entire soundtrack / score was written by simon & the other guy & received quite the reception, taking cinema music to the 12th degree. it was this movie that i like to think started the phenominan of the importance of an amazing soundtrack. well like a true blue nerd, quentin learned by example, put on his oj gloves and killed this soundtrack. the opening song for jackie brown, is the also the opening song for the movie with same title "across 110th st" by bobby womack. it is known within the nerd world that quentin is heavily influenced by not only martials art, comics, and action movies, but soul cinema or blaxploitation flicks as well. so it is no surprise to see a perfect marriage between music & vision. this song was written specifically for the 1972 movie starring anthony quinn & yaphet kotto, so when it came to filming "jackie brown" quentin directed a great tribute that will only inspire the minds of todays youth. just doin my piece to help educate. love-joy!

bobby womack - across 110th st (1972)



1972 - across 110th street soundtrack



indian stones

jamiroquai - half the man (1994)


jam - iroquai taken from iroquois, which were the indigenous people of north america associated with several tribes within the northern region. they believe in "the power of peace". so in other words the band can be referred to as jammin' indians? i dont know. anyhow. usually its a dance off, pants off, sit-ch when it comes to jamiroquai, but this song touches me in places where no man should be allowed. of course this was during my fanatic stage of obsessing over lenny, dmb, blues travelers. you know the pseudo hippie era, when baby boomers were still raising teen adolescence and letting them express their freedom within the musical realm.oddly innocent, yet rebelliously deviant. all this "love" jive! jamiroquai's tune takes me right back to that place. nostalgic to my teenage years, this simple dedication is just as powerful as otis redding crying and snottin all over the stage askin for a little tenderness, but it is as cool as little stevie's "hey love" shout out! give it a try. tell me what you think.

tight like handcuffs

parliment - handcuffs (1975)

"do i have to put the handcuffs on you mama?" this isnt the most charmin way to say "hey baby, you now what?  i love you. i want to be with you & have children & protect you." but if you listen to the words, its more like "look bitch, youre mine... i dont care if im possessive... if i have to lock your ass down & tie you to the toilet, i will. cause i cant lose you. you hear me bitch?" ok ok ok, that was more of my ike turner's interpretation of the song, but im not that far off with my dramatics. its some goodness nevertheless. the only thing i know about the parliment is that they are a direct product of sun-ra. now i cant take this time to discuss sun-ra...thats for the next time, but i will tell you that he was the genesis of the space-age in black music. as far as gimmicks (dont shoot me) go, sun-ra was the utlimate cosmic brother. although the parliment did put the "P" in funk and beemed us into a news galaxy, sun-ra gave them the foundation to act a fool, not that they needed help or permission. lawd help us all!

battlestar galactica pt.1

ladies & gentlemen!!! step right up & watch the battle of the century!! bigger than ali & foreman or holyfield & tyson, even bigger than amy fisher vs. mary jo buttafuoco!! you decide...which version would you prefer? the beatles or earth, wind, and fire's version of "got to get you into my life"? ewf's version was remade for the "sgt. pepper lonelys heart club band" movie starring the bee-gees, peter frampton, & billy preston. ahhh chuck-e-cheesey 1970s cinema. gotta love it!

beatles (1966)


ewf (1978)

rise & shine

the gap band - early in the morning (1982)


charlie wilson wrote this song with the purist intentions and in all of its naked honesty charlie's broken heart led to this r&b/funk jam. story goes that charlie found out that his girlfriend, annette, had cheated on him (i even think with a friend of his). the nite of the breaking news, charlie decided not to react but to let it go & move on. he went to bed, didnt put up a fight, but woke up the next morning & got the hell out! also known as the "thank you, i'm done!" method. moooooving on! love-joy.

does the milk smell funny to you?

gloria jones - tainted love (1965)


i love this tune and unfortunately i was one of lost souls who swore that soft cell wrote this song in 1981. but again i have come to see the light of tru-isms! gloria jones was a prodigy that drifted lightly from the motown label. they were looking to promote her like the next p.p. arnold, which didnt work well for sue records either. but as you know motown was too cookie cutter and couldnt grasp a solid market for glorias church by day - juke joint by nite gritty voice. it is too bad that she didnt get picked by stax, by way of atlantic, cause she would have given some women a run for their money. but atlantic already had their soulful sweetheart in aretha franklin...ive heard a few of her songs...gloria never did make a huge impact on the pop scene, but more on a local & european level as did p.p. arnold & jimi hendrix. you know thats why the majority of black artists went over seas, cause they werent seen as domesticated animals with a gift of entertaining. anyhow, gloria is the widow of the eccentric original glam rock star, marc bolan, of "t-rex". sadly gloria was driving the actual car in which her beloved was killed as he sat in the passenger seat during the accident. what a tragedy?! im sure the checkboard pair would have taken the pop scene to a level of astro-funk rock that we will never know. hope all is well gloria! love-joy!

i got a crush on you...

ike and tina tuner - crazy about you baby (1972)


honesty is the best policy.