Welcome to the Chaos that is Gemini Season! We’re getting it started fresh and sassy with a bevy of Gemini Singers. Being a Gemini myself, I probably got a bit too excited wanting to celebrate my sign with this episode, so it does span a little further than the 90 minute max of a typical…
Tag: The Isley Brothers
Everybody Sings Smokey: Motown’s Poet Laureate 50 times Over
It wouldn’t be Motown’s 60th Anniversary without visiting their premiere singer, songwriter and producer. As legend goes, Smokey Robinson met Berry Gordy with a notebook of songs, of which maybe one or two Gordy considered viable, yet he was impressed with the teenager’s moxie. So goes the template of who Gordy accepted into the fold,…
Under The Covers: 33 Outsourced Covers From The Golden Age of Motown
Berry Gordy was slightly notorious for being adverse to seeking outside material for hit songs for his singers. Very rare during the Motown classic hit era were any of the major hits for artists from the pens of someone that wasn’t attached to the Motown Family. I can only think of two off the top…
Heaven Must Have Sent You: Your Holland-Dozier-Holland History Lesson
I’ve been prone to these songwriter series playlists moreso. This time we make a visit to our first team. While Burt Bacharach’s mix featured him not exclusively tethered to Hal David, and Sylvia Moy found herself working with a round robin of partners, this one solely focuses on Holland-Dozier-Holland. Brothers Eddie and Brian Holland and…
Better Luck Next Time: 40 Hits that happened for someone else
Sometimes, it’s like, with a song, dust yourself off and try again. The perfect moment for a tune to become a success entrenched in the Pop Culture lexicon sometimes isn’t its first time up to bat. Sometimes it takes competition and revision to get things right. With this, I’ve gone a bit overboard, giving you…
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…
Sugar Town Sno-Ball: The Northern Exposure Set
Coming fresh off the high that is my oft-favorite DJing trip to the Pacific Northwest, I couldn’t wait to clip together some of the great songs that I played for such a swinging audience. Given I have a somewhat foggy memory of what I played that night, I’m going through the order of which I…
Sugar Town Soulful Strut: Pride Party Playlist Part 2
I remember as I sat at Po’Shines for my Birthday Dinner with DJ Action Slacks that I realized that I bought a huge quantity of records from 1965-67 for Sugar Town’s Pride Party. It’s the 50th anniversary of the Golden Summer of Motown, for some reason my tingle went to that time period and the…
Sugar Town Soulful Strut: Pride Party Playlist Part 1
Hello Swingers and Friends, Lovers and Lotharios. I’ve got the biggest gift to you all courtesy of DJ Action Slacks. She has upped the sharing soul game and has started recording the sets of the parties she hosts. She started with sets at Queer Country Junction and I’m overjoyed to share with you what our…
DJ Larsupreme 