I think I say, perhaps snidely, that I didn’t come into loving Sixties Soul Music via Punk, as basically every white DJ I’ve ever met has. That’s mostly because I’m a Black Queer of mixed ancestry that was born in 1982. In 1982, names that had set stages as diverse as The Apollo, Ed Sullivan,…
Tag: Diana Ross
Never Has It Been So Good As Ashford & Simpson (and sometimes Armstead)
New York of the 1960’s brought us the power of love in the writers booth in a profound way. The Brill Building gave young Jewish Newlyweds like Goffin & King, Greenwich & Barry and Mann & Weil lots of money and respect as they churned out hits for people coast to coast and even overseas….
That Seventies Show – Vol. 2: A Superfly Sequel Of Lady Soul From The Decade Of Me
About 18 months ago, I ventured out of the avenues of my typical fawning over 1960’s R&B and dropped the electronic needle on a bunch of 1970’s shadow classics. The 1970’s was also the first real era of the sequel blockbuster, so like any other producer, one looks at the returns of former successes and…
The Telephone Game: 30 Gabbing Soul Classics From The Land Before Text Messaging
What is a telephone in this modern world of 2017? Most of us use them as Cameras, Newspapers and Western Union Telegrams. What we rarely use them for at this stage of evolution is to actually directly talk to people. Rare it seems for people born after the Baby Boom to engage with the ritual…
Whisper & Screams, Lambs and Rams: The Aries Point Playlist
Here we are at Spring Equinox, and the beginning of the Astrological New Year. If you’ve been paying attention, I started this little Astro-DJ experiment last Spring with the sign of Taurus. I hadn’t intentionally thought of continuing it through all 12 signs. By the time I got to Gemini and Cancer I started linking…
Delicious Together: The Delectable Art of the Duet 1952-1973
The other component of Libra season, beyond balance and justice, is relationships and partnerships. Who are your others? Seems a perfect time to round up a bounty of the beauty of the duet. The call & response between two players on Vinyl goes further back that Vinyl itself of course, as singing is basically the…
The Supremes “Too Hurt To Cry, Too Much In Love To Say Goodbye” (1965, Unreleased. From Never-Released-Before Masters, 1987)
The Supremes “Too Hurt To Cry, Too Much In Love To Say Goodbye” (1965, Unreleased. From Never-Released-Before Masters, 1987) I’m like a number of people. When we look back on Diana Ross’s success as a performer for the past 57 years, I’m prone to put the metric of that squarely on her charisma and unstoppable…
Classic Soul Moment: Diana Ross and Ethel Waters on “The Hollywood Palace” (March 8, 1969)
Classic Soul Moment: Diana Ross and Ethel Waters on “The Hollywood Palace” (March 8, 1969) These are the moments that I’m thankful for the internet. Also thankful for the fact that we have such rich history at our fingertips. There’s a heavy bittersweet beauty of watching “Sweet Mama String Bean” and “Miss Ross” radiate such…
Diana Ross “Surrender” (Motown 1188, R&B#16 Pop#38, 1971)
Diana Ross “Surrender” (Motown 1188, R&B#16 Pop#38, 1971) Icon, legendary, mystery and controversy, where would the world be without Diana Ross, who celebrates her 71st Birthday today. 56 years of performing and still touring strong and gracefully, she has a remarkably vast catalog of popular song that one can barely begin to dissect and analyze and…
DJ Larsupreme 