Hey! On Saturday’s I highlight a podcast about being a creative professional. Sometimes it’s direct, sometimes it’s indirect, but it’s always entertaining and educational. This week’s Podcast of the Week is… Musician/producer extraordinaire - Raphael Saadiq on the Questlove Supreme Podcast. Raphael Saadiq started off as a kid trying to break into the local Oakland … Continue reading Podcast Of The Week: Raphael Saadiq, Renaissance Music Man
Tag: soul
Sunday Music: POW – Battlefunk!
Raphael Saadiq said that as a bass-playing kid growing up in Oakland, any band you’d want to play with was going to put you to the test with a specific song. You had to be ready for it because it was going to be sink or swim. What do you play, bass? Yeah? Ok. Let’s … Continue reading Sunday Music: POW – Battlefunk!
Sunday Music: I’ll Fly Away
Some songs just wreck you in all of the good ways. It's a song about struggle and release. It's a song about tension and peace. It's a song about freedom. The words go, Some glad morning when this life is overI'll fly awayTo a home on God's celestial shoreI'll fly away I'll fly away, oh, … Continue reading Sunday Music: I’ll Fly Away
Sunday Music: I’m Going Through Changes
When Charles Bradley’s producer asked him to sing “Changes” by Black Sabbath, he had never even heard of them. What’s a soul singer got to do with a heavy metal band anyway? He read the lyrics. He’d been going through a personal crisis caring for his sick mother. The song took him there. To her … Continue reading Sunday Music: I’m Going Through Changes
Sunday Music: New Playlist For June 2021
Spring turned into summer while I was making this one. We went from windows up to windows down and from sweatshirts on dog walks to t-shirts. This playlist kind of captures the transition with enough mood for each season. Here it is on Apple Music and Spotify. “Special Girl” by Dodie. The syncopations. So subtle … Continue reading Sunday Music: New Playlist For June 2021
Sunday Music: Stop Making This Hurt
Jack Antonoff and Bleachers are back. This one is just a rising well of emotions, full of 80s Jersey nostalgia, production tricks, and evocative lyrics. Three of those things to point out (in reverse order): Evocative lyrics: I’m not sure I can tell you what this song is about (the video won’t help), but it … Continue reading Sunday Music: Stop Making This Hurt
Sunday Music: Ain’t It The Truth
When you’re a PA kid and a bunch of home-state legends drop an album together - you pay attention. Way back in 2001, The Philadelphia Experiment dropped their one and only record. I just heard Christian McBride talk about it with Cory Wong and I had to throw it on for old time's sake. It's … Continue reading Sunday Music: Ain’t It The Truth
Sunday Music: I Only Got Time To Think About The Time I Don’t Have
Cody ChesnuTT’s The Headphone Masterpiece is the stuff of lo-fi r&b legend. Dropping in 2002 and getting most of its love thanks to a feature by The Roots (that’s his hook on “The Seed”), the whole record is creative, funny, and stylistically sprawling. He rocks. He rolls. He croons. And after putting it out, he … Continue reading Sunday Music: I Only Got Time To Think About The Time I Don’t Have
Sunday Music: Cause You’ve Got Soul, And Everybody Knows, And It’s All Right
How we talk to ourselves, how we think of our purpose, why we think we do or do not belong - these are the heavy, weighty, and extraordinarily beautiful concepts Soul wrestles with. I don’t care if you don’t have little kids in your life. I don’t care if you’re “too old for cartoons.” I … Continue reading Sunday Music: Cause You’ve Got Soul, And Everybody Knows, And It’s All Right
Sunday Music: Playlist for April 2021
I’ve had this one cooking for months and I am (finally) ready to call it done. As usual, we’re all over the place stylistically, but the connections are there if you look for them. From the poppy start to the folksy balladeer finish, I think these songs are as ready for springtime as I am. … Continue reading Sunday Music: Playlist for April 2021