I promise….this is the first and last time i’ll put you through this…….

But it’s my first blog and i thought you should know a little about me, how i got started, blah blah blah.

I was born into a household where music wasn’t really prevalent. My dad was stuck in the talk radio world and my mom was an oldies/beatles lover.  Every once in a while my dad would treat me to some classic rock legends like Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Iron Butterfly, Janis Joplin…….you get the point.  Anything rap or hip hop was strictly forbidden in my household. I was in 5th grade when i got my first Beastie Boys cassette tape (yeah thats right). I got it at an air show parking lot. I snuck that shit into my house, headed straight for the bathroom with my lil’ boom box, plugged in my headphones, sat on the toilet, and listened. I loved that shit. The coolest kid on the playground had Paul Revere memorized……From that  came Run DMC, and Eazy-Duz-It soon followed……

I had a lot of school changes as a kid and I was always trying to fit in. I adopted the whole Metal thing for a while.  My introduction to this was Appetite For Destruction, the And Justice for All, Season’s in the Abyss, Lucifuge, Dead Embryonic Cells etc….. I had a few bands in highschool playing speed metal and Slow Core but we were all too fucked up to do anything with it.  Somehow in the midst of all that thrash shit i was introduced to funk music. I liked the change and the “lightness” of all that stuff. I was listening to all of the obvious shit, Parliament, AWB, The Gap Band, Roy Ayers, Isaac Hayes, Kool and the Gang….. College came and I was introduced to Drum and Bass music; the old school raga style shit. I loved it. Shortly after I was introduced to House music. I failed out of college and moved to Venice Beach.  I started getting into the club scene and rave scene.  I felt at the time like I had finally found people and sounds I could relate to.  I started going to these afterhours parties at this kids loft in Downtown LA and he had turntables set up. Every night he would play for us and every mix he would wreck.  I asked him if i could try figuring that i couldn’t be worse than him. He showed me what the pitch control does, the crossfader and the volume faders and let me go.  That night i matched my first beat……it was one of those things that just came to me.  Do to circumstances of life (hahahahha), I found myself living in my friend’s garage for a while.  The good part is he had turntables and a shit load of records. I spent months just practicing hardly sleeping obsessed with mixing……that was the beginning

I was a vinyl dj only from 97′ til 2005.  FUCK CDJ’s and IPODS!!!!! In 2005 I was introduced to Serato and that changed my life.  It broadened my library, furthered my mixing skills and creativity. In addition, it has allowed me the opportunity to travel the world playing music without all the heavy lifting.

I am grateful for the career that I have been able to create and the for the people who have helped me get to where I am today…….

Ok……..thats enough backround.

I hope you enjoy the music and mixes I post here in the future!

Chart Position: 18

• Lead vocals: James ‘J.T.’ Taylor
• Produced by Eumir Deodato

Kool & The Gang have been together for longer than I’ve been on this Earth – over 45 years. They’ve been known as Kool & The Gang for the past 40 years. In fact their very first radio single in 1969 was titled “Kool & The Gang”, and it was from their debut album “Kool & The Gang”. They got more creative – more funkier – and more rambunctious as the years and the decades rolled on. Their biggest success occurred during the early-to-mid-1980s when they racked-up 10 TOP 10 hits. But a full decade before that they scored this early TOP 5 funky Disco smash that had the whole nation movin’ to the “Jungle Boogie”.

Robert Kool Bell, American musician (Kool & the Gang)

The best friend of a soldier killed in Afghanistan has come through on an agreement they made by wearing a fluorescent green dress and pink leg warmers to his mate’s funeral. To this gentleman, i say well played. 

Obviously, a funeral is about showing respect. But it’s also about individuality, and celebrating the personality and wishes of the deceased. People deal with grief in different ways, and for a lot of people, laughter is the perfect release. Now i’m not suggesting we drag out the body and stage a re-enactment of our favourite ‘Weekend At Bernie’s’ scene, but i am in favour of a lighter approach to funeral’s.

In December last year, i attended the funeral of a dear friend, Richard Marsland. Some of you will be familiar with his amazing comedic talents from shows such as Get This, Rove, Pete and Myf, Newstopia etc etc. On a personal level, Richard was one of the most gentle, loyal, giving people you’d ever come across. If anything, he was too kind. He was constantly apologising. And if anyone pulled him up for too many unnecessary apologies, without a hint of irony he’d say ‘really?, oh, i’m sorry mate’. Brilliant. I’m not sure if there is such a thing, but Richard’s was the perfect funeral. His personality was stamped all over it. The music, the clips on the big screen, the eulogies, the whole shebang (incidentally, yet another show he starred on). But the moment that brought the biggest smile to my face happened at the end. As guests exited the church, we were greeted with two Black Thunder vehicles (Richard drove them for SAFM back in the day) – they were devoid of signage and were manned by two people wearing t-shirts that read ‘Generic Radio Station’. Guests were handed icy cold cans of coke and (Richard’s staple beverage) Farmers Union Iced Coffee’s. Superb. We walked away knowing that the afternoon filled with an equal quota of laughter and tears was exactly what Richard would’ve wanted. However, i was a little pissed off that the thunders didn’t have any movie passes or copies of New Idea. Disgraceful. How am i supposed to know how much weight Magda Szubanski’s allegedly lost now? 

It would be remiss of me to talk about the lighter side of death without an honorary mention to creator of The Goon Show, Spike Milligan. He has provided us with what has to be the funniest epitaph of all time. Spike’s tombstone reads, ‘I told you i was ill’. 

Now it’s time for Sam’s morbid question of the week! (wacky musical sting, 3-4 seconds). Have you ever thought of any light hearted requests you may have for your funeral? I managed to narrow mine to a top 3 list;

3 – Strictly NO BLACK CLOTHES allowed. The brighter the better. C’mon, it’s not a bloody fu….oh, actually, yes it is.

2 – Fairy Bread.

1 – Coffin is lowered to the tune of Kool and The Gang’s ‘Celebration’. I challenge you to not smile when those horns kick in. These guys are so cool they spell it with a ‘k’!

By the mid-1970s, soul had by and large left behind its R&B roots and the influence of funk and what would become widely known as disco was beginning to manifest itself — many soul acts of the period crossed back and forth between soul, funk and disco.

A few notes on some of the featured acts:

The Impressions had soldiered on after Curtis Mayfield went solo in 1970 (you might want to revisit the Mayfield tracks posted here). By the time they had a trio of hits in 1974/75, Mayfield’s successor as lead singer, Leroy Hutson had departed as well, having been replaced by Reggie Torian and Ralph Johnson (the latter left in 1976). The song featured here was not a hit, but might be the best Impressions song of the period. The Natural Four, incidentally, were signed to Mayfield’s Curtom label and produced by Leroy Hutson at the time of Can This Be Real.

William DeVaughn sounds vaguely like Mayfield channelling Timmy Thomas. DeVaughn paid $900 to record Be Thankful For What You Got in 1972 in Philadelphia, with the MFSB band backing him. On its release in 1974 it became a massive hit. Yo La Tengo and Massive Attack fans will know the song from those groups’ covers. It’s a boss groove which Squeeze must have known when they conjured the chorus of 1987’s Hourglass. Everybody now: “Diamond in the back, sunroof top, diggin’ the scene with a gangsta lean.”

The Soul Children were formed in the late 1960s by Isaac Hayes and David Porter for Stax. The group included John Colbert (who would take the stagename J Blackfoot), who before becoming one of the four soul children had been serving a prison sentence with Johnny Bragg of The Prisonaires. After his release he met Otis Redding who invited him to travel on the plane that would kill Redding and most of the Bar-Keys. There was no room on the plane… I’ll Be The Other Woman, written by Homer Banks and Carl Hampton, belongs in the canon of great cheating songs. Here “the other woman” warns her adulterous lover not to cheat on her.

Sidney Joe Qualls was billed as “the new Al Green” when he appeared on the scene. He never reached the Reverend’s great heights, but his How Can You Say Goodbye To Someone, written by Sam Dees, might well be one of the best Al Green tracks Al never recorded.

The Moments, whose Sexy Mama is much better than the title would suggest, soon would have to change their name for contractual reasons, despite having recorded under that moniker for close to a decade, even scoring two UK Top 10 hits and a UK #3 hit with Girls, their collaboration with the Whatnauts. We will meet them again in this series as Ray Goodman Brown. Sexy Mama would be a great companion piece to Billy Paul’s Let’s Make A Baby (posted here as a bonus track).

Gene Page, whose instrumental All Our Dreams Are Coming True is this set’s most conspicuous nod to disco, was noted more as an arranger, having worked with artists as diverse as Buffalo Springfield, The Righteous Brothers, The Supremes, Elton John and Barbra Streisand.

Syreeta featured on the second ’60s soul mix as Rita Wright, and on the 1970/71 mix as a co-writer of Stevie Wonder’s If You Really Love Me. She was briefly married to Wonder, who continued to promote her career after they split, to the extent that the 1974 album on which the bluesy Black Maybe appears was titled Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta.

TRACKLISTING
1. Billy Preston – Nothing From Nothing
2. The Main Ingredient – Just Dont Want To Be Lonely
3. The Tymes – You Little Trustmaker
4. Blue Magic - What’s Come Over Me
5. William DeVaughn – Be Thankful For What You Got
6. Sydney Joe Qualls – How Can You Say Goodbye
7. Major Harris – Love Won’t Let Me Wait
8. Rufus & Chaka Khan – Sweet Thing
9. Minnie Riperton – Simple Things
10. Latimore - Let’s Straighten It Out
11. Soul Children – Ill Be The Other Woman
12. The Impressions - If It’s In You To Do Wrong
13. Aretha Franklin – I’m In Love
14. Syreeta - Black Maybe
15. Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes – Wake Up Everybody
16. The Moments – Sexy Mama
17. Gene Page - All Our Dreams Are Coming True
18. Natural Four - Can This Be Real
19. The Spinners – Mighty Love
20. Earth, Wind & Fire – That’s The Way Of The World (Latin Expedition)

DOWNLOAD

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R (and includes a front and back cover, if needed). And as always there were a few tracks left over which even at my most ruthless I just could not cull. Both Labi Siffre and Kool & the Gang’s songs were prominently sampled, the former on Eminem’s My Name Is, the latter on DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince’s Summertime. Both are seriously funky; the high notes on Summer Madness should get your dog dancing. If I had included them in the mix, I’d have cued them after the DeVaughn track.

Labi Siffre – I Got The….mp3
Kool & the Gang – Summer Madness.mp3
Billy Paul – Let’s Make A Baby.mp3
Gil Scott-Heron – Back Home.mp3

.

More ’70s Soul
More mixes

Ok guys. Long time since my last mixtape. I made TWO. One for ATM, and one for the other amazing blog I contribute to, Ca Va Cool. The one below, is a longer version and IMO a bit better because it has some old school feel to it. The one at CVC is a shorter version, it has pretty much the same songs but less old school groove. Both are GREAT! It just depends how much longer you want your dance party to go on for.

=)

Download ATM’s “Leave Your 9-5 Up On The Shelf” Mixtape

Go to CVC to download CVC’s “Leave Your 9-5 Up On The Shelf” Mixtape
(give it possibly up to a week before it shows)

The playlist after the jump! GO GO GO!

Mixtape: Leave Your 9-5 Up On The Shelf

Playlist:

01 | DatA – One In A Million

DatA recently released his first album, Skywriter. It has a wicked cover and is full of that French electro that I’m so in love with. It’s a great listen if you like a low down version of TEPR and DJ Mehdi and is fantastic to put on if you want an easy playlist for your dance parties. But, there isn’t anything about super special about Skywriter so I don’t think it will be on any lists this year. And with the current albums from the likes of SMD, Calvin Harris, Sally Shapiro, Frankmusik, etc, I think DatA might be put on the back burner. Regardless, if you get the chance to see him live, DO IT! He kills the floor and would burn all those summer ice cream calories in minutes! “One in a Million’ is one of my favorites off the album!

02 | Duck Sauce – Anyway

Duck Sauce consists of A-trak and Armand Van Helden. Yes. You read that right. A-trak and Armand van Helden! This is the Moderat of house!!! Hooorah! I believe their name was inspired by the duck sauce that comes with chopped duck that you can get at Chinese vendors. But, this is a guess informed from the extremely sparse information on their myspace so, I could be wrong. Quack quack. They are working on an LP?! EP!? I have no idea. BUT! I do know that Duck Sauce is “coming in September” and that we should brace ourselves. Armand van Helden has disappeared for quite some time, and I honestly didn’t find anything he did after “Hear My Name” worth listening to. But this collaboration will be great for both of them, and their recent release of “Anyway” is MASSIVE. Infectious disco house. I am excited for September.

03 | Dizzee Rascal ft. Chrome – Holiday

Another Dizzee Rascal track produced by Calvin Harris. IMO, not as great as “Dance Wiv Me” but, still a great listen.

04 | Calvin Harris – Yeah Yeah Yeah La La La

Check out my review here!

05 | Misteur Valaire ft. Ariane Moffatt – Astronef (SP4 Lovers)

Ugh! How I heart Misteur Valaire, one of Montréal’s best kept secrets. Ariane Moffatt too. How these guys haven’t made it across Canada really boggles my mind. I had the pleasure of seeing them once more at the event where I first discovered them two years ago, the Montréal Jazz Festival. Their psychedelic grooves and experimental clings and clangs all mesh together into one massive pool of Awesome. They recently released a revamped version of their first and only LP, Friterday Night, in 320 aaaand a bonus song which happens to be this one! I prefer the original SP4 Lovers only because it’s longer. But this version with Moffatt is fantastic. You can DOWNLOAD THEIR ENTIRE ALBUM FOR FREE!

Check out my review of their show at MJF here!

06 | Cougarettes – Ego Head

I discovered Cougarettes this year at MEG Montréal, the part of Osheaga that is more dancy, hipster, and indie. The Cougarettes are so. bad. ass. That is the only way to describe them. They make every other music genre shudder like pansies. When I first walked into the show, I at first thought it sounded like Metric on ketamine. Bordering on the brink of absolute incoherence, the Cougarettes meld experimental, rock, metal, 8-bit, and electronic goodness into one big vat of noise that is not repulsive but rather, indulgent and audibly welcoming. You can hear it on their recent release, Milk Fangs EP.

Check out my review of their show here!

07 | Dub FX ft. Mr. Woodnote and Flower Fairy – Flow

He is a busker who performs predominantly in the UK. He uses loop and effects pedal, his amazing beat boxing skills, and the ocassional help from friends to make the sickest songs to be heard on the streets. Dub FX has only one studio album out, Everythinks A Ripple, which was released this year. If you’ve been following him the past few years, you’ve probably heard all the songs. He does have another live album, Live Onda Streets of Europe, which is better than the studio album because this man live is incredible. It’s just his voice, the pedals, and the occasional sax creating layers and layers of sounds that the studio can’t even replicate in quality. This is the unfortunate part…so buy the album for support but listen to his youtube vids for your parties jaja. You have to watch this video of “Flow” (and all his other live street videos up on the internets) to know what I mean. Dub FX is amazing.

08 | Modeselektor ft. TTC – 2000007

09 | Simian Mobile Disco ft. Alexis Taylor – Bad Blood

Check out my review here!

10 | Moderat – A New Error

One of my top songs of the year.

11 | Miami Horror – Make You Mine (Fred Falke Remix)

Surprise surprise. Fred Falke makes it into my mixtape! Miami Horror released a short EP, Bravado a month or so ago featuring his hits “Don’t Be On Her”, “Make You Mine” and a few others. Recently, the remix EP came out featuring the aforementioned songs by Fred Falke, Cassian, Treasure Fingers, and so on. Fred Falke proved to be the best one, once again! And plus, I find remixes of Miami Horror tracks to be better than the originals. Kind of like how I feel about Burns. Anyways, this remix is solid solid solid and nearly rivals Falke’s remix of Annie’s “Anthonio”, which I still hold to be the top remix this year so far!

12 | Miike Snow – Silvia

These guys came out with a self-titled album this year. It’s not too bad but nothing special. “Silvia” is defs my favorite track.

13 | Amanda Blank ft. Spank Rock – Gimme What You Got

Read ATM’s review of this album here!

14 | Spank Rock – Loose

15 | Mr. Hudson – There Will Be Tears

16 | Trouble Andrew ft. Diplo – Run, Hide

Read about Trouble Andrew, Amanda Blank, Spank Rock, and Santigold live here!

17 | Erykah Badu – The Healer (Live)

No amount of words can describe how much I love this Lady of Hip-Hop. Ugh. I love it. Read about her live show here!

18 | Erykah Badu ft. Lenny Kravitz – Back in the Day (Puff)

Such a classic, classic song.

19 | Stevie Wonder – Isn’t She Lovely

Love, love, loooooove this man! Read about his amazing performance at MJF here!

20 | Kool and the Gang – Fresh

Classic.

I don’t know what else to say that hasn’t already been said. For me, all those youtube tributes were fantastic. I especially loved how Toronto celebrated his life. Unforts here in MTL there wasn’t anything of the sort (that I knew of). But, I celebrated in my own way. For a few weeks one of my flatmates and I wore a white glove all day (one half of the day I got the right glove, woohoo!), started the day with MJ, ended the day with MJ…eventually they got tired of this and started singing the Jon Lajoie song over and over again. But I don’t think I’ve stopped reminiscing quite yet. Pas encore.

21 | Micheal Jackson – Get on the Floor

22 | Michael Jackson – Off the Wall

23 | Michael Jackson – Girlfriend

24 | Michael Jackson – We’ve Got A Good Thing Goin’

25 | Michael Jackson – I Wanna Be Where You Are

—

Download ATM’s “Leave Your 9-5 Up On The Shelf” Mixtape

Go to CVC to download CVC’s “Leave Your 9-5 Up On The Shelf” Mixtape
(give it possibly up to a week before it shows)

S W E E T I E S

I made an oath that as long as these fingers were clickety-clacking on that keyboard that every 100 posts would be a point of celebration!

YIPPPPEEEEEE!!!!

Here’s to another 100 and many more.

Thanks for all of the ♥ and support!

A special thanks to:

NEER ♥ LASHAE ♥ DEBRA

I have love for all the people who read Nightly Candy but I had to shout out these peeps for their longevity and constant support!

STAY TUNED for more SWEET DISH!

]]> http://bandplanb.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/viele-videos-school-of-rock-friends-und-schliesung-des-plan-b-shops/ Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:30:52 +0000 bandplanb http://bandplanb.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/viele-videos-school-of-rock-friends-und-schliesung-des-plan-b-shops/

5 neue Videos in unserem Youtube-Channel

So, seit heute morgen stehen insgesamt 5 neue Videos auf unserer Youtube-Seite bereit, die darauf warten bewertet und kommentiert zu werden. Eine schnelle Internetverbindung ist eben schon was Feines und dieser Umstand wurde gestern eiskalt ausgenutzt.

http://www.youtube.com/user/bandplanb

Eine kurze Zusammenfassung der Videos:

• Video 4:
  Tolle Lichteffekte bei I´m so excited, Christian als strenger Gesangslehrer bei Rockin´ all over the world und als Ladykiller bei Feel und die Unterbrechung von Janas Siegesserie beim Gesangswettbewerb bei Ein Kompliment.
• Video 5:
  Das Publikum stimmt Das geht ab an und wir machen einfach mal mit. Das war übrigens eine Spontaneinlage ohne Probe. Man achte auf Tobis Monster-Synthi-Sound, meine Captain-Future-Sounds in den letzten 10 Sekunden und natürlich den fliegenden König.
• Video 6:
  Eine kleine Reggae-Einlage bei Ein Kompliment, deutscher Schlager bei Aber bitte mit Sahne, wir haben eine gute Zeit bei Celebration und Benny beschließt, dass Zu spät zu lang ist und hört einfach auf zu spielen.
• Video 7:
  Sebastian hat bei Rockin´ all over the world ein Solo parat, Rumgespringe bei Tubthumping und deutsches Liedgut mit Westerland.
• Video 8:
  Die Band macht mal ein bisschen leiser und wir spielen die Nationalhymne. Oder Tausend Mal berührt. Christian zeigt, dass er auch ein guter Animateur wäre. Und das Publikum ist laut. Wozu brauchen wir eigentlich noch Sänger?

GastsängerIn bei School of Rock

Da in dieser Woche bereits einige Anfragen von ambitionierten Sängern gemacht wurden: Bitte setzt euch mit uns in Kontakt, indem ihr eine Mail an uns schreibt oder kurz anruft. Christian nimmt das Ganze in die Hand und wird dann die GastsängerInnen auswählen. Voraussetzung für eine erfolgreiche Bewerbung sind Gesangstalent, ausreichend Zeit für vorherige Proben mit Plan B und natürlich auch Zeit am 12.09.09. Habt aber auch Verständnis dafür, dass wir nicht alle Bewerbungen zulassen können, da wir in der begrenzten Zeit nur mit einer kleinen Anzahl von Gastsängern proben können. Trotzdem wünschen wir allen Bewerbern viel Erfolg!

Bye, bye, Plan B Shop!

Zum Abschluss der SSV-Aktion wird der Plan B Shop vorerst geschlossen. Bis dahin habt ihr noch Zeit die ersten T-Shirts von uns zu kaufen. Und das auch noch mit satten 15 % Rabatt, wenn ihr zwei Supporter Shirts kauft.

Ich möchte es mal so ausdrücken: Ihr könnt bis zum 23.08.09 ein Supporter Shirt ergattern, ihr müsst es aber nicht. Damit ist aber auch schon genug gesagt. Genug Hinweise sind gestreut worden. Wer jetzt was falsch macht ist selber Schuld. Nähere Infos hierzu gibt es ab dem 23.08.09. Natürlich wieder mal nur positiv für euch.

Bleibt uns gewogen und guckt eifrig Videos,

Der Peter

@domterrace.com

Slap on the Coolio CD – ‘cos it’s too hot, too hot, lay-deeee! — or if you’d rather the Kool and the Gang version it’s pasted below. But really, truly, it’s hot, and I couldn’t be bothered writing half a paragraph so all you’re getting is links today kids… 

1. Here’s some proof that it’s hot– so hot you could fry an egg on your pillion seat, if you had an egg that is… 
2. Here’s more proof that it’s hot, which when coupled with a power cut is an absolute nightmare for young babies, geriatrics and large pasty Paddies — I like the woman climbing a tree in the hope of catching a flicker of a breeze… if she served blended lemon juice I’d join her.  
3. Here’s some speculation on Denilson and whether he might be a very expensive lemon.  If the Haiphong fans get their hands on him he might be a blended lemon juice sometime very soon. 

Take it away JT… 

Kool and the Gang created the ultimate Celebration song. We passed the 10,000 page view mark last night.

Hey, folks,

Just a quick note to say that yesterday we passed the 10,000 page view mark!

Thanks very much for reading and please keep it going!

” Get Down On It”

-Geoffrey M. Gottlieb

Mamak shops have gone a long way from the good old days of wearing half sarung wrapped up at knee length to uniform bistro style. Some mamak outlets already equipped with free WIFI.

I was at a Mamak shop in Shah Alam earlier today and I saw these banners hanging around this particular restaurant. The waiter came to take orders instead I had to ask him about the banner. I asked “Mamak, ada music ka itu ladies nite?” He shook his head indicating No. “Ada beer ka mamak?” Again he said No. “Pompuan ada cun ka?” That he nodded in agreement. Hehe.

According to him, ladies get to drink free (like the ad) and chances to win free cinema passes under some lucky draw thingy. Not bad deal I suppose. Very creative mamaks we have these days.

Soon they will have Coke and ABC Promo Nite and possibly Tea Happy Hours. Keeping up with the times, not bad at all.

Ladies Nite At Mamak

Two of my very favourite things in my life are music and fragrance.  Music has been something I have loved from day one, and I never looked back: ever since I was little my mum and I would dance around the living room to Whitney Houston, Belinda Carlisle, Kool & The Gang records (on vinyl! Somewhere in my bedroom is Mariah Carey’s very first single “Vision Of Love” on vinyl, which I imagine might be worth some money!).  We’d sing along to Bon Jovi, Lionel Richie and the Pointer Sisters in the car (on cassette), and as soon as we had MTV I knew that my ideal vocation was a pop star.  I think by force of habit (I was singing long before I got my first Mariah Carey album, which was at age 12) I made myself a decent singer, and once I was 13 I broke through at my school singing anywhere and everywhere, making myself a little celebrity status and signing autographs at school (it was a stressful time with gossip and rumours, but also a lot of fun, and I enjoyed the renown.).  I did concerts, dance competitions, displays and random other stuff, and I made myself my own brand… it was good training for the real world!  But primarily, I did these things because I love to sing, I love to dance, and I have always enjoyed these things.  To sound corny, they make me feel free and allow me to escape the monotony, depression and pain of everyday life, and the fact that I seem to be genuinely talented (though I need occasional reassurance from my friends, now that I don’t do performances very often, that I’m not secretly shit – they are always supportive of me ) is a bonus.  But writing songs, making my own music, and singing along to everything is such an intrinsic part of who I am, and it’s something that can’t be taken away from me (unless you rip out my larynx) because it’s intangible.  It’s the air I breathe, the way I control my voice, the years of daily practice… it’s nothing tangible.  It’s more ethereal and spiritual to me.

On the other hand, my love of fragrance is something much more recent in comparison.  Though I realised, leafing through the Avon catalogue tonight, that I have had fragrance in my life since the age of 15, when I used to buy their cheap n cheerful classics Black Suede, Modern Balance, Mesmerise… I can’t remember what my first “proper” fragrance was (I know my mum bought me CK Contradiction when I turned 17, but I don’t know what the first one I bought for myself was), but I have always loved Black XS, Dior Homme and A*Men, and despite working at a perfume shop for a year and a half and coming into contact with all the brands and all the scents a guy could want, those are still probably my favourites (along with a couple of others )!  I think there is something so captivating and seductive about someone who smells intoxicatingly good, it’s like an addictive allure (wading into Bai Ling territory there…).  Although a lot of fragrances have a ridiculously long list of notes of which most normal people can only smell two or three, there is something mysterious about the way certain aromas or elements (well, they’re actually aromachemicals, but we can pretend it’s something more organic and exotic ) are combined to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.  And again, it’s something that travels on the wind, something subjective that triggers individual reactions and desires, something that is unique to each person and which suggests something primal about who that person is (and after all, the fragrance someone wears can tell you a lot about them! Perfume SAs around the world can vouch for this ).  I think that is why both of these things are so important to me, because they come from within, they are both things which are at once intangible and primal, and they are an opportunity for us to expose the essence of who we are.

Chart Position: NR

• Written by Ronald Bayyan and Kool and the Gang
• Produced by Kool and the Gang

Los españoles sienten más placer con la comida que con el sexo

Los españoles sienten más placer con la comida, sobre todo con el chocolate, que con el sexo, según un informe presentado sobre la ‘Evolución del Placer en España’, y realizado entre 8.351 personas, que recoge que asturianos y extremeños son los que más disfrutan del placer.

los cinco placeres preferidos en España son, por este orden, comer, la familia, viajar, el chocolate y el sexo

Las mujeres superan a los hombres en su capacidad de disfrute.

……mmmmmmmm……. entonces ……. ¿es la comida un sustituto del sexo? Aissssss …….me está entrando hambre…..
20 minutos.

¡¡¡¡¡CON INSERCIONES MALDITAS………!!!!!!!

Alright folks, this is gonna be a super quick recap for this day since not much happened…but I can tell you that something HUGE happened.

KOOL AND THE GANG!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!

My recap after the jump!

My first stop was this gypsy band called Gadji Gadjo. Very eclectic! The guy on the flute to the picture’s right is hilaaaaarious! Lots of good humor and overall a pretty fun show.

Next up, the Griffith Hiltz Trio. Great chemistry on stage. The dude on the left played amaaaazing electric guitar and he also had a bass pedal! Super cool. Also, the guy on the right is playing a TWO saxes. At the same time. Very talented man he is. Overall a great jazz show.

I only ended up seeing Inés Cánepá for a few songs before I got super paranoid about missing Kool and the Gang. I usually never go to openers and the opener for Kool and the Gang was Stéphane Moraille aka lead singer of the Bran Van 3000. Not that this wouldn’t be a good opportunity to see “Drinking in L.A.” being performed, but I just don’t go to openers and I wanted to see Inés Cánepá from the description anyways. From the few songs I did see, she mainly sang in French and Spanish and it was very eclectic. I was salsa-ing and having a good time. But like I said, I got super paranoid about missing Kool and the Gang ’cause it said they were billed for 2030, and Jazz fest time tables are pretty on time. So…I run on over to the Metropolis…

lo and behold! the opener is still on and will be on until 2130, which would’ve been the time I showed up ANYWAYS! Grrr. Oh well. Moraille was entertaining and it’s no doubt that after all these years her voice is still magnificent. But I just wasn’t feeling her music. I was feeling her though. She has such great stage presence, always interacting with us, always putting on little dance shows and she just looked fantastic in her dress! One of the songs I did end up liking is called “Sharpshooter” which you can hear on her myspace!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!

Ok so here’s how it went down. in the beginning, there was a Kool and the Gang greatest hits all fused into this five minute bender that played before they came on. Despite having not listened to them IN SO LONG, I still knew nearly the entire set. SO MUCH FIRE!!!

To be honest, I wasn’t originally going to go because it was quite expensive. But then I thought it over. This is the Kool and the Gang. Never will I get this opportunity again to see R’n'B legends. And I, along with the friends who tried to convince me, was SURE that live, they’d be incredible. I. Was. So. Right.

They started with “Fresh”. They sound so amazing live. So amazing. It’s as if time hadn’t passed at all. What an opener. Then they did “Take My Heart”, “Joanna” and a new song called “Step Into Love”.

MP3: Kool and the Gang – Fresh

Honestly, this is the sexiest man alive. The ladies were just going crazy and just the way he moooooves, the way he sings!! UUGH when he sang “Joanna” my heart melted.

He is soooo effin’ amazing. Anyways! I was super close to the front on the right hand side right in front of the speakers…without my etymotics!!! Man my ears were soooo dead after. Along with my feet! My friends and I conquered that section!!! No one else was dancing! Most of the people in the venue were much older but they didn’t dance at all! All the youngin’s were representing! We had so much space to dance and people were pretty impressed with us. I don’t mean this in a sarcastic tone jaja. We were breakin’ out dance moves like we were Stevie Wonder’s back up vocalists. Choreographing a few moves here and there, we were the LIFE on the right hand side. For real.

“Too Hot”, “Hollywood Swinging”, “Open Sesame”, a slower and jazzier version of “Summer Madness” and “Cherish the Love” were amongst the next songs played. So much fire. So much energy. These guys are OLD but they can fucking dance!!!! I would have loved to record some of the songs so you guys can see the mayhem but this was just one of those shows where I couldn’t simply hold still for even a nanosecond. I was sooo drenched in sweat and was trying to fan myself off best I could during the very rare slow moments during the show. But here’s a video that has parts of the beginning, including the RIDICULOUS dancing in the opening song “Fresh”.

Kool and the Gang then tell us we’re going to Jamaica! The beats become more tropical with reggae grooves. They tell us they’re gonna teach us the Island Shake. One by one each of them do a crazy dance, with Jamal’s being the sexiest and slowest, of course. After that short interlude, Kool and the Gang got right back into it, with oldies like “Ladies Night” and “Get Down On It”!

MP3: Kool and the Gang – Get Down On It

For their encore they played, you guess it, “Celebrate”. It was just the most perfect night, amazing live show, and easily the best r’n'b/funk/soul show I’ve ever been to in my entire life. So worth the cash. I just don’t know what else to say. Today was a good day.