Y’all. A long time goal of mine is starting to wrap up as we close out the second decade of this century. If you’ve been with me, following and listening, you know that heart & soul of what I love doing is highlighting the efforts by women, primarily Black Women, that crafted and created music…
Tag: Verdelle Smith
Movin’ On Blues: Gentrification and Relocation Inspired Jams From Your Relocated DJ
Did what I had to do. This is the first thing I’ve written as DJ Larsupreme of Portland, Oregon. After 35 years of calling the Bay Area home (if you’re keeping record, that’s been my whole life) I packed up a Cadillac full of records, clothes and cameras to give life another go in a…
So You Wanna Be Dionne Warwick? 30 Tribute Tunes To The Titan Of Sophisticated Soul
The influence of Dionne Warwick is one of the most underappreciated in 1960’s Soul Music. Her smooth, sophisticated work on Scepter Records, especially with Burt Bacharach and Hal David showed a mature, nuanced and complex way that many soul stars imitated. Coast to Coast after she flew in on the spaceship that was “Don’t Make…
Black Magic: Girl Group Solidarity, Queer Love and Black Lives Remembered – A Mixtape
I’ve said quite often, for little Black Queer Boys 20 something years ago like myself, Girl Group Songs saved a life quite often. Well, mine. I should really speak for myself. In the weird role play between gender expression and having even in the 1990’s so few cultural placeholders to identify with, I grasped full-hearted…
Civil Discourse – Civil Disobedience: Your Civil Rights Mixtape 1962-1971
When it comes to politically themed soul music, many jump to make reference to either “A Change Is Gonna Come” or the extensive performative politics of Nina Simone. One could say that’s a pretty cursory and surface look at how the politics during a period of social change showed up in a variety of ways…