We’re coming to our last Mixcloud of the Astrological year as we welcome Pisces Season. The Jupiter meets Neptune sign of the fishes is full of inspired performers of mystical powers that tell tales of all that came before and release so it can all be re-born at the Aries point at the start of…
Tag: Barbara McNair
Your Sister Soul Ones For ’61: A Ladies List Of Uncovered Pearls from 55 years ago.
The further we inch away from the Mid Century Modern era in time, the more we try to unravel the gems of that era as well. 1961 was a pretty big breakthrough year in terms of Pop Music for women, and women of color in particular. I’ve presented at The 2nd Queer Astrology Conference and…
Hitsville Vaults ’66: The Top Twenty Motown potential hits you didn’t know existed.
You may or may not know, Motown records in its Golden Years from 1961 through 1968 was a constant hive of activity. The operations worked 24 hours a day each day of the year, some Motown gems were recorded and pressed on major holidays, some efforts saw release on others. Was December 31, 1965 a…
Standard Snuggles, Classic Cuddles: Late Summer After Midnight Merging of Classic Soul and Songs of Old
It wasn’t just Berry Gordy’s dream to cross over to the meat of the performance market during the 1960s. R&B singers early as Ruth Brown and Dinah Washington took to covering songs associated with Tin Pan Alley pretty early in their careers. The natural relationship between musical genres has always been an orgy; Jazz informed…
Barbara McNair “Forget You Ever Met Me, Baby” (From the LP The Real Barbara McNair, 1969)
Barbara McNair “Forget You Ever Met Me, Baby” (From the LP The Real Barbara McNair, 1969) It’s not like Barbara McNair needed her tenure at Motown from 1965 through 1969. Nevertheless, some of her finest output came from her brief stints in Studio A on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit between her nightclub appearances, Film…
Step Out From ’66 – Step Out Front in ’16. Your New Year’s Playlist
If you know anything about my vintage pop culture junkie ways is that I do ridiculous tie-ins to the eras I’m interested in. As we creeped into 2016, which makes 1966 50 years ago, I thought of an Oldsmobile slogan from that year as I started to craft the first mix I’ll be creating in…
Bye Bye ’65: The Golden Girls Golden Anniversary set of 1965
A lot of what I’ve done as a DJ, writer, and even public speaker has been carrying the legacy of R&B, Pop, and Soul female singers. For years, I’ve wanted to highlight the efforts and the narratives around the women in Post-War Popular Music, because they are far too often neglected or overshadowed. When DJ…
In An Alternate Universe: Potential Hit Singles From Hitsville U.S.A. from 1965 (Ladies Edition)
If you know your Motown as I know The Sound Of Young America, You’ll know, beyond the bevy of hit records, at the peak of the label the studios cranked out potential hits 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some records have release dates on Holidays: The Supremes “My World Is Empty Without You” and…
For The Venus Retrograde: A Lover’s Concerto of Love Songs For Your Ears To Endear & Endure The Days Ahead.
If you’ve been following this blog for any extended period of time, you’ll know that I tend to weave what’s going on in the Sky and the Stars. In writing, in lectures, in remembering our R&B legends with us and gone to the Apollo in the sky, I feel Astrology can weave the narratives a…
Barbara McNair “Here I Am, Baby” (Motown 1106, 1966)
Barbara McNair “Here I Am Baby” (Motown 1106, 1966) This is the absolute best single Motown released for Barbara McNair. I can even say it’s the best record she ever recorded with confidence. Because in a lot of ways it summed up what kind of woman Barbara McNair was: Independent, Powerful, Successful, Pioneering and (though…
DJ Larsupreme 