"See, Bobby Womack? I CAN DO IT TOO. CALL ME. #THEGODBobbyWomack #morelikeWHOAMACK #Cleveland #MuscleShoals #Swampers #RogerHawkins #BarryBeckett #JimmyJohnson #originalpressing #instavinyl #vinyllove #BobbyWomack #DJPaul #NickSpeed "
You want me to talk about how your Caucasian-psych-swirly-bass band reminded me to do Fantasy Football again this year? WELL OK THEN.
Jimmy Miller, production god who never really got his propers, made some real walking-down-the-street bangers. "Can't You Hear Me Knockin" immediately comes to mind, a shining example of pure hot-weather-in-a-sundress magic. That song's 41 years old and still sexual as all hell (especially those first 45 seconds, mmm). "Gimme Shelter," with the way it builds and builds? I'M SWEATIN. Be a lamb and put an ice cube down my back, would you.
When fall comes along, his stuff is employed for colder-weather activities - "Tumblin' Dice" for walking down the street in jeans ("cold-weather activity" in my city means doing the same thing as during summer, except in jeans because it's 5 degrees cooler.) Mick's platform in the song is that women are terrible and sexy and not to be trusted, and playing into that is rather fun, so what better way to be a jezebel than to paint on some stretchy denim that shows off your lady-shape. "Gimme Some Lovin," a personal favorite because of the holy trifecta of kick drum, tambourine, and copious church-y HEY!s like a pre-pre-pre-cursor to "Power," is perfect to have on when it's a frigid 65 degrees out and I'm making some baked chicken. You should see my kitchen moves, guys. I shake it like a combination of the girls in that 2 Chainz video and 2 Chainz.
Mr. Fantasy isn't in the same category. It's dreamy and filled with sitars and tambura, too dreamy and slow for a walk. It's got that classic Miller style, though - driving bass, vocal build-ups and cascades, loud, clear drum punches. "Being a drummer," he said, "I was very rhythm minded." Being a Fantasy Football manager for the 2012-13 season, I too am rhythm minded. Everything must flow. The guys on the squad don't have to be best friends, but they have to respect each other as men and support each other to get the job done. (I know how to wrangle some big personalities, just like Miller had to. He worked with The Rolling Stones, you see). My guys execute driving routes, clear punches; tight and right, balanced, nothing sloppy. The pieces of my offense all fit and complement each other, a powerful machine that runs on VitaCoco and maybe a little HGH. I was rifling through my records and came across Mr. Fantasy; a couple hours later, I had my team for this season, drafted and ready. I'm giving Jimmy Miller co-manager credit this year.
The rules were the same this year as every other: 1. do minimal research on who’s really hot - meaning projected to possibly be hot, provided everyone's knees and psyches hold up - for the 2012 season. Check Rotoworld and CBS Fantasy ONLY, in other words - not Rotoworld, CBS Fantasy, SBNation, FantasySharks, "Fantasy" by Guy, The xx, and Earth Wind & Fire, or Final Fantasy 4, big big shout to Danny Brown and DeShay that I should just get out of the way right at the beginning of the post. 2. GET RODGERS; failing that, GET STAFFORD. 3. Draft no Raiders, as I cannot have my real life allegiances and my Fantasy allegiances getting crisscrossed and tied into knots. Drafting dudes from the RVIDXR KLVN, however, is acceptable.
Fall is the finest of all the seasons. My apologies for being truly unpleasant to be around between now and December, but LEH', as my 17-year-old cousin Kevin and all his lame friends said circa summer/fall 2011, GO:
Starting QB:
Nickname(s): None to my knowledge, but I like thinking about dudes walking around Michigan with STAF written above the dark blue oval of the Ford logo on their shirts. IT'S DETROIT; they definitely do this.
Pros: •63% completion last year. • Poised and in control at all times, much like myself. • Thinking of him gets me all revved up to yell "KITTY PRIDE" at the TV 2-3 times this season after a really big Lions play.
Cons:• The Goonies was on the other night. Stafford looks like Chunk from The Goonies, mixed with a little Temple Grandin.
Do-Gooder Twitter Score (1 - 10 scale): 6. Lots of support for the Wounded Warriors Project, but this is offset by boring self-promo ("Check out my exclusive video with SWAG, a new digital magazine"). The rest of his feed is all Republican-sounding notes on golfing with dad, NASCAR, and the on-the-couch-with-a-bag-of-Doritos-NFL-fan-favorite "leading a healthy lifestyle." Then he demands to see Obama's birth certificate and lays out his plan to keep troops in Afghanistan for the next 200 years.
Backup QB:
Nickname: "Pretty Flacco."Drafted because it was the 12th round and neither Ryan Leaf nor Tim Tebow were looking appealing. Plus I'm always on the prowl for a big goofy white guy to recruit for QB, as they all seem to be great at throwing a football with speed and accuracy. (Ryan Lochte!, I've got my eye on you, buddy.)
Flacco's ability to throw the ball with accuracy lessens every year; honestly, his appeal as a player is purely emotional for me, because of his rad name, his do-gooder qualities (see below), and the fact that his team's been in the news alongside the name of THE GOD Chris Kluwe, soldier for equality. Flacco will do for now. I'm just biding my time until Andrew Luck has one awful week and someone in my league drops him because nobody has loyalty.
Do-Gooder Twitter Score: 9. Being a dad, Joe says, is amazing. He also pushes the Special Olympics and something called Boys Hope Girls Hope Baltimore. Get 'em, Joe.
Starting WRs:
Nicknames: Dez "Dickerson" Bryant; "Trouble Man*," "The Modernaire."
*Invoking the Toddler Clause in his contract, Jerry Jones has decided that, just like my 2-year-old niece, Bryant cannot stay out too late or drink anything bad for him. Dez Bryant is 24 years old.
Desmond had his barrow in the marketplace, and by "barrow" I mean "bands" and by "marketplace" I mean "Magic City." I fail to see what any of this has to do with him catching a ball and running while avoiding defenders, but the impact Dez's off-season behavior has on his teammates is just the latest in a whole mess of things that Jerry Jones and I don't see eye to eye about.
"Pacman Jones might be a rich man today," a Deadspin commenter noted re: athletes needing to be treated like children, "if there was someone hanging around him all the time trying to keep him out of trouble." Ridiculous. Incorrect. In the immortal words of Nathan Arizona, "And if a frog had wings he wouldn't bump his ass a-hoppin'." Listen, the physical feats of human males are completely separable from their psychological workings and their feelings about their mothers and whether they like their strippers with tattoos or without. Dez Bryant is a grown-up, as was Pacman Jones when he was a part of the esteemed Cowboys organization. The plot of Get Him to the Greek as a real-life scenario with a professional athlete in the Russell Brand role is just not meant to be, guys.
Pros:• Pimp C being a Cowboys fan decreases some of the symptoms of acid reflux in my trachea due to my searing IRL hatred of the Cowboys. • It's kind of cool that Dez is now an NFL Cowboy after being a Cowboy at Oklahoma State, which reminds me: that Mike Gundy video never gets old!
Cons:•Psychological trauma from an elderly man making him kiss the ring will mess with his head on game days. • Tendinitis. (Really though, who in the NFL doesn't have tendinitis.)
Twitter do-gooder score: 4. Mostly he just talks about beating his bros in Madden and tweets Bible verses. Love the bio/location up top, though: the lovely and understated "Cowboys Stadium."
Decker? I hardly know her! Now that that's out of the way:
Drafted on the strength of his head-to-neck-thickness ratio and the fact that he will be catching balls thrown by Peyton W. Manning (goofy white guy!). Decker went to Minnesota, just like Manning's beloved Tony Dungy. The fuzzy feelings this stirs up in Manning due to this association will no doubt make Decker a favorite target. I mean, I already have fuzzy feelings about all things Minnesotan due to Prince connotations.
Nickname(s): None so far, but if he starts to do real well I'm prepared to introduce the name "Eric Wrecker" to the world.
Pros:• Tall, lanky• Good route runner • Manning.
Cons: • CORNBALL. He and Demaryius Thomas "have been trying to get the nickname 'Salt & Pepper' to stick since 2010 when they were rookie roommates."•Is a Bronco. This is inherently offensive to me, because RAIDERS ALL DAY AND SOME OF THE NIGHT AS WELL; the Chiefs, Chargers, and especially those fucking Broncos can all go to HELL (a Drake concert in Mitt Romney's backyard) but that doesn't mean I can't use them to get points in Fantasy. I want their players to fail; I want their players to kill it. On Sundays, therefore, catch me at the bar/on my couch in apt. 680/on Mom's couch, practicing some meannnnn cognitive dissonance.
Do-gooder Twitter score: 6. His shoutout to a kid with cancer is offset by relentless pushing of the VitaCoco brand, thanking a dude who said, "Just took you in my Fantasy draft," and saying, "LEZZZZZGO" in response to somebody yelling for the Golden Gophers to start the season off right.
Nickname(s):Moore Rhymin'? I don't know. I tossed around "Faith No Moore" for a hot sec but then I realized it's a negative phrase. I don't need any of that on the field.
Pros:• Plays for the RAIDAHS, the greatest team in professional sports according to my dad, Bishop's chest, every Los Angeles MC in 1985, and the ghost of Al Davis. •Elicits mega underdog soft girly feelings in my heart - he's from Tatum, Texas, where the backyards are filled with flowers, the median household income is less than $30,000/year, and people are fond of voting against their own self-interests based on the fact that this guy is their representative in Congress. I will obviously be pulling for Denarius Moore with some fiery enthusiasm this season.
Cons:• Plays for the RAIDAHS, a terrible omen. I broke my rule about drafting no members of the team I like in my actual life, but because it's the Raiders, he'll probably rupture or tear something in his soft parts and then spend the rest of the season tweeting about it ("Coming back strong! Trainer says I'm recovering so fast it's a miracle!"). Every time I picture him while rearranging my roster in my head, he's got a raincloud over his head like Schleprock and his leg in a jacuzzi full of ice. Al's gone, though, so maybe the dark days are over? Maybe the coaches will be allowed to coach? Greg Knapp, let's get it.
Twitter Do-Gooder Score: 3. He's got the occasional shout to a kid with cancer, but his feed is identical to your cousin's at Arizona State whose current favorite song is that Tyga joint. "What's up kinfolk," "Whad up," "dm me your gamer tag," "preciate it brah," and the especially powerful "2 chainz!"
Backup WRs:
Nickname: Titus Andronicus. "Young Titus" is pretty good, though.
Drafted because I saw that aw, he just had a baby! and we ladies have all kinds of chemicals running through us that make us draft guys to our Fantasy team if we can picture them holding a newborn. He's also Poised for a Breakout Season, says the completely impartial DetroitLions.com, and it's rad that he went to Uni High, yet another thing he has in common with Darby Crash and Kim Gordon.
Pro: • Not Greg Little, whom I almost took. Unless of course Greg Little develops some kind of magical symmetry with QB Brandon Weeden (big goofy white guy!), which will turn "not selecting Greg Little" into a Con.
Cons:• Not Calvin Johnson. • Not Nate Burleson. • Comes in at 5'11", according to the Lions' PR team. So, he's 5'9¾". • I will probably drop him for Nate Washington, at which point Titus will have a string of 2-touchdown, 100-yard games because the gods don't want me to be happy.
Twitter Do-Gooder Score:N/A. He appears to have an account, but it's unverified.
Nickname: Killer Mike? Pirate Mike? Pirate Mike!
Not USC's Mike Williams, who, fun fact, is the proud possessor of the terribly appropriate middle name "Troy." This Mike Williams will probably not be the flashiest guy on my roster, as he is competing with IRL teammate Vincent Jackson for receptions.
Pros: • Will give me ample opportunity to share my "How much does a pirate pay for corn? A BUCK AN EAR" joke after too much Ciroc • Vincent Jacskon can't catch every single pass, right?
Cons: • Double-talker, according to a quick scan of his Twitter feed:
"I'm never cutting the beard!" - 07/15/12. "OK everybody I'm CUTTING THE BEARD!!!!" - 08/28/12.
Ha, I kid. This is just a pretend Con. I still need this confirmed, but I heard once that sometimes people say things that shouldn't be taken literally (?). The beard saga was probably for preseason press, just to get his name out there and distract us from his fragile, glasslike body. Actual Con, however: his public back-and-forth with a grown lady who has chosen to call herself "Mulatto Mami."
Starting RBs:
Nickname(s): Stevie J, of course! Yall are ridin his bus!!
Pros: •Quick legs and a bountiful head of hair. The longer the locks, the wiser the Rasta. • Playing for new coach Jeff "Fischer," who's introduced the disgusting/sexy sounding "ground and pound" offense, according to Bleacher Report. I guess I'll believe this, even though the site doesn't know the correct spelling of Jeff Fisher. • Alum of Oregon State, just like my beautiful mother who is contractually obligated to bring up "the radness of Houshmandzadeh during the '08-'09 season" every September, getting all wistful when we're in line at Target.
Cons: • Maybe assaulted his girlfriend a few years ago, allegedly? Various articles note that she was his pregnant girlfriend, which on the Lady Crime Ranking Scale is up there with "not being there when you said you would" and "hanging out with Benzino all the time." • His blog and Twitter feed are dull collections of inspirational cliches. "Desire, dedication & being 6'2" & having genes that have made it easy for me to build muscle determination is what's required to live a dream."
Twitter Do-Gooder Score: 1. There's of course a pic of him at a military base, but this was with several of his teammates and a camera crew, so I'm assuming terrible things about his motivation for showing up. I see zero pleas for helping fellow humans, unless of course you've entered the Rawlings Football Sweepstakes, an event in which Steven wishes you much good fortune. Mostly Steven wants you to know that Steven is ready for a great season and Steven Steven Steven. "Everyone please join me in telling my beautiful mother happy birthday!," "It's official my fighting weight .. Haha 234.8 LBS and 5.1% body fat." I gave him 2 additional points for a kid-with-cancer tweet, then realized #cancers was referring to his son's astrological sign and had to take 'em back.
Nickname: None necessary; baddest name in the NFL. I just hope he'll come out from behind his big desk in his office in downtown Gotham in time to take the field on Sundays this season. Should I decide one day that he needs a nickname, it will certainly not be the tired old "Frank the Tank" that everyone else is going with; I shall call him The Captain, for he inhabits that role on the 49ers. (He's one of four total captains, but that doesn't make him LESS of a captain, youfeelme, also yadadamean since we're talking about the Bay here.)
Drafted because of his numbers, simple as that. He's little, but he's got the numbers. Physical stats in the NFL are just like those in modeling. The numbers get padded, because nobody cares enough to take the time to check. The NFL says Frank is 5'9", which means Frank is 5'7½" like most jockeys and rappers.
Pro: Same height as me!; i.e., destined for greatness.
Con: Mentioned in a Wayne song, which means that multiple times this season I will throw a Dorito at Stuart Scott's face on my TV when he's doing postgame 49er highlights.
Twitter Do-Gooder Score: N/A. No Twitter.
Backup RB:
His nickname's "The Engine," he's so young that he was born around the time Ice-T donned that floppy beanie to film scenes for New Jack City, and he's yet another longhair on my squad. He's also yet another guy with a hurt knee on my squad, causing much chair-gripping and teeth-gritting by this little lady while watching him run a sweep and get shoved out of bounds and fall and roll. I have a trick knee, too.
Pros:• 21 years old. His team's awful but there's nowhere to go but up. • Trent has no Twitter account. He also plays in the city of Cleveland, where there's nothing to do - which proves he has an active inner world and a healthy imagination and probably just goes to the gym and the bookstore during training camp, leading to increased strength and focus when he suits up. These are what we refer to as "intangibles" in the sports world.
Con: He might not be starting against Philly in the opener. I'm not a Fantasy expert but this seems like an inefficient way to get me points during Week 1.
Starting TE:
The Falcons aren't playing any away games against New York teams this season, so my dream of chanting "T-O-N-Y invade NY, beef somethingsomething BEEF" will have to die. Anyway, I love to hate Tony. He's durable and probably underrated so he might not get covered like, say, Gronkowski definitely will. But having this guy on my team is unpleasant because I have numerous memories of his receptions when he was on the Chiefs, playing against my beloved Raiders and then "dunking" the ball over the goalpost crossbar in a giant display of HEY I USED TO PLAY BASKETBALL, I'M 6'5"! What a goddamn showoff jerk. Fuck him. I mean, outside of him getting me Fantasy points.
Backup:
Nicknames: "Greg Nice"; And because he's HUGE and spends a lot of time in Miami, "Blond 2 Chainz."
Pros: • Olsen is the very definition of my beautiful mother's favorite thing in football, a "Big white tight end who doesn't try to be too flashy." That's not racist because a white woman making a joke about white men of a certain physical type is not racist. • I now have "Radiation Vibe" in my head (Greg's from Wayne, NJ).
"So now it's time to sayyyyy/WhatIforGOT to say, ba-byyyy, ba-by ba-byyyyy."
Hi there, 1996! Missed you!
Con: He's not the Gronk. I really wanted the Gronk.
Twitter Do-Gooder Score: 10. See but he sneaks up on you though. His feed itself is littered with birthday wishes and pics of his baby and gratitude toward fans; then you look up and under his avatar it says Founder of Receptions For Research Foundation ("established in 2009 to provide hospitals, doctors, and researchers the necessary resources to save those affected with various types of cancers"). Greg's mom is a cancer survivor and he started the foundation in her honor and do you think Greg likes record dorks who make really good baked chicken? I know a gal who might be available. She needs a baller for the purposes of these but other than that her love don't cost a thing.
Defense:
Chicago!
eXquire's from New York but he swears there's good somethingsomething in Chicago and I'm pretty sure it's DEFENSE. The Bears need to defend better against the pass rush and have old dog Brian Urlacher only for the next 5 minutes before his knee gives out and his body crumples like a Jenga tower. But they’re still ranked high because of Lance Briggs and Charles Tillman, both of whom have the names of drill sergeants, and Julius Peppers, a towering hulk of a man whose name makes me hungry. Plus Devin Hester will be returning punts again this year, I think? Everybody pray he has a great season for me, please, as this will help me forget the pain of not getting Chicago’s Matt "Rappin" Forte on my offensive squad.
Cons:•The Bears' corners and safeties are TINY - 5'8", 5'9", 5'10". Good look covering guys like the SIX FOOT FOUR A.J. Green, dummies. • The mother of one of Lance Briggs' children is named "Brittini." This isn't his fault but it's still so terrible that it belongs on the Cons list. • Lance Briggs no longer owns a sweeeeet Continental, affectionate hello to Danny Brown for the second time in the post; coincidentally, I no longer have any interest in DMing Lance Briggs naked pics of myself.
I apologize in advance once again for being truly insufferable for the next few months. Steve Winwood!: take me out.
Most trained record-scavenging machines out there only need a big fat ATM withdrawal before a Beat Swap Meet. They'll usually get coffee and a muffin too, time permitting.
This machine, however, is a lady machine, with long, misbehaving hair that needs to be smoothed down. Nails need to have a nice sheen like a pool of motor oil or candy paint; I know this from years of UGK listening. Coming through looking clean is the name of the game (UGK again), so I need to iron my clothes and "bring a pocketbook that matches," according to my proper southern grandma. Coming through smelling like cupcakes doesn't hurt either (cocoa butter-vanilla oil combo).
Laundry, an absolute must, is the foundation of my pre-BSM routine.(I'd take it personally if MCs ever stop rapping about the foxiness and Snuggle-fresh clothing of LA women.) I went off to wash clothes the morning of June 10, bringing along an iced coffee and that silly Parade "magazine" that comes in the Sunday paper. Normally I read strictly highbrow fare while I'm at the laundromat (WaxPo, Harper's, Adario-era Source, Utne). I'm not embarrassed about reading Parade, though; I'm secure in myself. (Only God Can Judge Me, according to Pac, Master P, and Mike Bibby's calf.) Besides, Parade sometimes provides pretty useful bits of information - like the fact that June 10 was THE GOD Saul Bellow's birthday. Saul's a great writer, known for Augie March, a white American male alienation classic, right up there with Nevermind, I suppose, and Labor Days. But Saul should be known for having a perfect name for a shouty preacher (SAUL BELLOW, c'mon), and for once saying, "Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door," a phrase so lovely that it cannot be improved upon unless you put a squiggly bassline under it. I'm getting it tatted on my calf this weekend.
Just the way players I play, all day every day. Honestly, guys. I don't know what else to say.
It turns out, appropriately enough, that June 10, BSM day, new/old record-gettin day, was the god Howlin' Wolf's birthday and the g.o.d. The D.O.C.'s, too. (Not mentioned in Parade, though lord knows they should've been.) I came up nicely - spent around $80, got 13 records, and didn't have to travel more than 5 miles round trip from my doorstep.The high in LA was 76°. I smelled good (cupcakes). And I exchanged smiles with so many people, because, you see, unlike the employees of Time Warner*, Beat Swap Meet sellers and buyers - music people - do not find it unusual that a woman enjoys record albums.
* "Whose records are these?" - 3 separate technicians during 3 separate visits, upon entering my apartment.
The original-pressing "Player’s Anthem" break that's been hard to find now lives in apt. 680 (even though the true player’s anthem is obviously either "Freddie’s Dead" or "Superman Lover"; duh, Clark Kent. And God's favorite DJ is actually Derrick May. DUH, CLARK KENT.)
1. The New Birth, Birth Day (RCA Victor, 1972). $8.
It's 2012 and everyone knows Queens and Harlem are the rapping-est boroughs. But it's still fun to summon the spirit of someone jocking Brooklyn super hard in '94 and exclaim: Biggie! Jeru! (Clark Kent and Premier both used the "You Are What I'm All About" pencil-tapping-the-side-of-a-mason-jar sound!) An automatic purchase because it's an original pressing as opposed to a '90s rapstalgia reissue, I saw Birth Day on display when I was walking out. It was the end of the afternoon and the end of my cash supply. The allure of this damn thing made me trot (ha, J/K; I sashay) across the street to the ATM to pull out more cash and come back. John was the seller's name, I think. Thank you, John. The freshness of your Van Exel jersey was not lost on me.
"HAPPY LISTENING FOR YOU AND ME."
Their cover of Womack's "I Can Understand It" opens the album. Lovely. The New Birth version lacks the crucial "yeah-uh" that kills me every time in the original (01:11), but when a DJ at the swap meet played "Across 110th St." while my weak arms were struggling with the weight of record bags during my exit walk to the car, it was a clear sign that I had to get something Womackian before I left. I was raised by leftist heathens in a weed den, but even I have to give in when God and all the angels send a message directly to me ("Womack, Logan. WOMACK"). And there was John, suddenly, with his clean copy of Birth Day to sell me. "You Are What I'm All About" (Biggie and Jeru) and "Got to Get a Knutt" (De La, PE, Doom!) are the rap-break superstars, but there's so much material on this record to be mined. More use should be made out of "Buck and the Preacher," for example. Current producers are scared to compete with G Rap and Large Pro, obviously, and this is why none of them have tried to chop and loop it. What an air-tight theory. Except that nobody but me and the Ego Trip guys and you currently reading this blog post even think about G Rap or Large Pro or anyone else in AARP anymore, unless there's a lawsuit involved and we're forced to care out of loyalty to the old dogs and our mutual hatred of Mac Miller. Twitter stuntery and ass injections are mostly the move in the industry now, with the scary, cold eyes of Riff Raff overseeing it all. Everybody get ready for my "Cashin Out" freestyle, which the world definitely needs.
Birth Day's other standout is "Easy, Evil." (Sorry; no link.) It's a better song title than actual song, a feat last accomplished by The Dirty Projectors' "Gun Has No Trigger," but it's got this weird, sexy line "Sometimes I don't know what I'm doin' 'til I'm done," which would be perfect as a UGK hook. It doesn't matter that Chad isn't around! He's still around, kinda! He resurfaces every couple of years like a new Batman movie! (It does matter that K.R.I.T. is way more interesting when he produces than when he raps. What am I to do about this? Somebody, please.)
Person on this record around whom I'd probably feel most comfortable: Harvey Fuqua, New Birth's producer and the uncle of Training Day director Antoine. Harvey's got lots of music industry tales I'd love to hear, details about Berry Gordy making out-of-wedlock babies. And he co-wrote and -produced Edwin Starr's "25 Miles," road trip playlist heaven. Plus I might be able to get him to call his nephew so I can find out whatever happened to Alonzo's stunning black Monte Carlo. I still send that thing love letters and naked pics of myself.
Suitable for bonding with: Clark Kent, Premier. And Daniel Dumile, provided that I can compose myself in his presence and not shake like a naked Chihuaha. (Unlikely.)
Free line for the taking: "Beatin down Joey Bada$$es/Cracks in stacks and masses," my take on that one part from "Player's Anthem." It'll turn up on a fake-diss track that Joey's A&R suggests to Action Bronson's people, to reignite the Queens v Brooklyn flame, with the end result of course being promo and profit. Remember where you heard it first! I'm also working on a post-iPad-world version of "My mind's my nine, my pen's my Mac-10," a line that's so old-timey, Big might as well be talking about his quill and inkwell.
Feminist points: Minimal. The New Birth had a strong female contingency, but the men were the ones in control of the writing, production, and marketing. And when it comes to The New Birth breaks-usage, there's little to be thrilled about in terms of feminist deconstruction. Jeru's voice is legendary; that authoritative tone really does it for me. Maybe I have a thing about being dominated, but maybe I just admire his ability to flow beautifully while looking bored with his own genius. Jeru’s judgment about the way ladies choose to dress themselves, however, is awful. "Skin-tight jeans, everything all exposed"; then the hook kicks in, blah blah, preach, not in my house, young lady. Groan. Dad raps are the absolute worst, even when there's a Premier beat involved. The ladies of the '90s apparently needed to be reprimanded for letting their asses show. Good thing it's 2012 and I'm grown. Settle down with the slut lectures, J.
Side B, track 2: "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child." Sometimes I feel like I already heard someone say that, and it was on a song by GHOSTFACE. Nice try, biting-ass El Chicano.
2. El Chicano, Viva Tirado (Kapp, 1970). $7.
Bullfighting, in the words of Chicago fetus Chief Keef, is that shit we ladies DON’T LIKE. For the record, we do not care for those Subway commercials with adults talking like little kids, being cold, Mitt Romney, Drake, or people coming at us crazy (which includes Mitt and Drake, politically- and musically-speaking) either. "Viva Tirado" is about a bullfighter. Cringe. I don't like. However, it is a scientific fact that women love drums in general, and women with exceptional hips love congas. So when the god Andre Baéza enters the picture, bullfighting somehow becomes tolerable. Women with exceptional hips and great taste in music genuinely love the musical productions of Scoop DeVille - the son of the man whose hit song is based on "Viva Tirado" (there's baby Scoop at 00:31 and throughout!). Tony G, an LA institution like Fred Roggin and dads at the mall in Kobe jerseys, produced "La Raza" and "Mentirosa" which means that, like me, he was cool with Mexicans and Cubans.
Feminist points?: I can't think of anything overtly feminist about this album. Tangentially, however, I could point out that the liner notes mention that it was recorded at at 3840 Crenshaw. Formerly a restaurant, the address is now home to a Social Security office - which, in providing benefits that act as a safety net for thousands of LA women and their families, is a place with feminist/humanist connnotations.
Suitable for Bonding With:Houston Los Angeles old heads.
Person around whom I'd feel most comfortable: Baéza, the conga player. Drummers just understand me.
Nov. 25, 1970. Reagan’s just been reelected governor of my state, and it’s not even the cool Reagan who wears checkered Vans. The prosecution has just rested in the Manson trial. The city seems a little, I don’t know…tense? On the plus side, "Super Bad (part 1)" is #1 on the charts, and Pharoah records Thembi at the Record Plant. Then he goes and stands on some rocks and looks at the ocean like Madlib's weird old uncle who rents a room in Port Hueneme.
3. Pharoah Sanders, Thembi (Impulse!, 1971). $14.
Listen, the jazz cat knows women. "This album is dedicated to and named after Thembi Sanders," it says in the upper-right corner of the inside (gatefold!) cover. This is a classic "I love you, wife" dedication and I am powerless against its charms. While nothing tops the Tess, Tess, Tess, Tess, Tess dedication from bookwriting cat Raymond Chandler, the jazz cat knows women. Create something, name it after us: become immortal in our hearts.
$14 is normally outside of my price range but I absolutely had to have this record. Thembi's got a KMD breakand Lonnie Liston Smith, two things that occupy the "obsessions" part of my brain. It also boasts old-timey names like Cecil McBee and Clifford Jarvis on the credits (bass and "bird noises," and percussion, respectively), both of whom sound like they were either quarterbacks for the ’52 Packers or members of the ’71 Globetrotters.
Feminist points:Lillian Douma, a LADY, was a co-engineer on this record, making her the Syd tha Kid of the '70s jazz world! (This is how I explain it to my 13-year-old cousin, to try to get him interested in '70s jazz). For extra credit, there were female pharaohs in ancient Egypt, so Sanders gets feminist points just by association.
LOL: "Production and engineering by Bill Szymczyk," a man whose name'll get you 500 points on Words with Friends. He produced people like The James Gang and Bill Walsh, and then right in the middle of his discography is this Pharoah Sanders record. Love it.
Suitable for bonding with: Weird old jazz guys who close their eyes when they're talking to you and trying to remember details about that show at The Lighthouse in '61. And Dante Ross, on account of the KMD factor - though Dante would not allow any bonding to take place because that would interrupt his constant name-droppery.
Person around whom I'd feel most comfortable: Lonnie Liston Smith, astronaut and boss - bosstronaut - whose credits on Thembi include "Fender Rhodes" and "shouts." Delightful. There's also an appearance by Chief Bey on this album. He is Mos Def's uncle, maybe.
LOOK AT THAT BEAUTIFUL FACE. Art Blakey said, "Whatever truth drops on, it eventually grinds to a powder," which you'll recognize as the inspiration for my future coke-paranoia-themed mixtape (Truth to Powder). Harry Fraud, send me some beats.
4. Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, 3 Blind Mice (Blue Note, 1962). $4.
I recommend Tom Catfor true Blakey percussive loveliness, but 3 Blind Mice's personnel includes THE GOD Wayne Shorter, plus THE GOD Billy Collins wrote a poem about it, plus it's got face sweat on the cover along with Art looking heavenward. I had to get this. The Muslim held most dear in apt. 680 is Ghosty. (He's a Sunni.) But the Muslim with the best album-cover face sweat is Art Blakey.
The nursery rhyme about the mice has a truly horrific story of origin (a Catholic queen murdering Protestant dissenters), which just serves to make it more entertaining and tragic. This is simply the power of melody - it'll make you forgive a horrible story that angers you, or just make it go down a little easier, in what feminists such as myself know as the He's Not Talking About Me Theory (ho raps, violence-against-hoes raps, side-chick raps - they are pleasing and fun, because the MC is never talking about me). Today I'm referring to it as The Wham! Theory. "Everything She Wants" is a song about a greedy whore whom a poor, defenseless man marries. He's captain-save-em. The man takes 4 whole minutes to whine and cry about it, the material is so morally repugnant, there's really no point to the song at all, and it just fucking bangs so hard, with fun chord progressions and that great synth-y bass from what I'm told is the Linn LM-1? (Dave Tompkins with the future information-confirmation assist here. Thanks in advance, Dave!). I'm trying to think of a way I can draw parallels between Art's hard bop (jazz influenced by R&B, with more hip-friendly, bluesy rhythms than bebop) and Wham!'s shiny, electronic, we're-not-gay-we're-just-British pop of the '80s. Who says you need an profound reason for an "Everything She Wants" interlude, though? And how come George Michael never gets credit for his production skills?
Suitable for bonding with: Cornel West, Pete Rock, Madlib, Mark Gonzales, David Byrne, skate shop employees in Portland and SF.
Person around whom I'd feel most comfortable: Wayne Shorter, superboss and the Jazz Messengers' musical director, who once said, "If all you have in life is music, then you haven't got music." I feel comfortable around music people who are secure enough in their musical-ness to say things like this.
5. The Sons (Capitol, 1969). $9.
This one's got a break used by charming pornographic goofballs The Beatnuts, who'll remind you that rappening is, in fact, what’s happening. Or at least it was back when Relativity Records was poppin. To get that simple, clean melody for "Straight Jacket," the boys slowed down The Sons' "Boomp Boomp Chomp" - a song with the satisfying one-two punch of a Dilla-esque title and a quick, sustained hi-hat that makes me file it in the same place in my head as the intro of "Boogie Nights" and that k-Os song, based on a "Hot Music." Marsalis!
I play "Hot Music" when Clams comes over, just to remind him of the sound DRUMS make. But then he just goes back to making those "Eyes Without a Face"-ish instrumentals because that's how he stays paid.
After forming the Sons of Champlin, then disbanding it, Bill Champlin became a member of Chicago. It was pre-"I’m a Man" and -"Street Player" Chicago, though, so that fact is a bit of a throwaway. He did cowrite EWF’s "After the Love is Gone," which proves that just because a man looks like a cross between Huey Lewis and Ian McKellen you shouldn't assume he can't write a floaty '70s makeup sex jam. Bill Champlin also convinced an entire band to call themselves his sons, a feat that I dare you not to respect. Champlin sonned his bandmates, then ordered them to do this song, best one on the album.
Suitable for bonding with: JuJu, Les, C-Rayz Walz. I don't know how often I'll listen to The Sons. If I clamor for white men who bleed funk, I'm listening to The Talking Heads or AWB or The Mothers. But it was a great find - a rare original pressing, including the lyrics booklet with pictures of unshowered Americans of European descent just like the ones who live next door and breathe up all my air at Trader Joe's.
Oh hey Justin and Sara and Ben! WHAT'S GOOD.
The Duke of Earl and The Iceman just walkin through the woods together in some tweed and leather, probably writing some hits. No big deal.
6. Gene Chandler & Jerry Butler, one & one (Mercury, 1971). $4.
Do you speak fluent Yancey? You are basically telling the world that you do if you bought this after 2005.
Gene and Jerry didn't really dominate any hearts or ears with one & one, probably because it was 1971. Marvin and Sly and Funkadelic were doing it absolutely to death at the time. It's hard to compete with Maggot Brain, you feel me. But Gene, the voice, had THE voice. Akon's got Gene's picture in his wallet like a prayer card. He stares at it before he goes into the booth to try to reach that upper-register sweet spot, solid and high (Barrington Levy; Frankie Lymon; the guy from Supertramp). Jerry, the songwriter, is from Chicago and has always insisted on putting his own voice on recordings despite its limitations, instead of letting his gifts as songwriter/arranger simply send his messages to the world. Jerry Butler's the Kanye of Cabrini-Green.
one & one lacks any true bangers, but good lord: Dilla Dilla Dilla. It's comforting to think that his beats continue to inspire the diggingest of diggers and the J Dilla Foundation continues to get donations because of this man's beloved status - even if me buying a 40-year-old record on a lovely June Sunday results in no funds actually ending up at the organization. (I am also comforted to think that Nate Dogg's family is maybe getting some extra money from the licensing of "Till I Collapse" from the Savages trailer that shows every 12 minutes on my television. The music industry is fair and nobody ever gets fucked over. Rainbows, kittens!)
Notes from an annoyed feminist: Women love the voice, according to Q-Tip, who is from Queens but is not Action Bronson, Nore, Simon, Garfunkel, or Monch, so I'm not all that familiar with his work. Brothers dig the lyrics. How silly! What a limiting thing to say! Linden Boulevard, you lost me with that one. Disrupting Q-Tip's entire theory, I adore the talents of Gene (voice) and Jerry (lyrics) equally, even though I am a lady. My male buddies feel the same way about Gene and Jerry, enjoying each man's contributions irrespective of anatomy. We all need to taste life, enjoying it fluidly, unbound by gender roles or societal constraints. Let's be swingers, ok? But just when it comes to DatPiff and our record collections. Voice, lyrics: love it all. Kittens, rainbows.
Suitable for bonding with:Ha, Dilla nerds. ("You Just Can't Win" is the grandpa, or maybe the wise old uncle?, of "Glazed"). Owning this record means you've signed up for a lifetime of bonding with these people. Good luck with that. They're nice enough; just a little intense.
If your nickname is "Fats" you're either a jazz professional or a large, inept man in Miami who insists on releasing grunt raps.
7. Lou Donaldson, Mr. Shing-A-Ling (Blue Note, 1967). $11.
HOLY HELL IDRIS MUHAMMAD ON DRUMS, back when he was Leo Morris, went the shout of the outspoken lady who lives inside my head when I saw the unmistakable pink and green on the cover. The real-life me, however, said nothing, due to being raised right (taught not to scream like an idiot in public). I just clutched this one to my lovely bosom and asked how much. Original pressing; I thought it would be at least $20. Nope - just above $10! And all I had to do was trade sexual favors! FEMINISM, YALL.
"Ode to Billie Joe" is the reason for this purchase, with Idris' Leo's shuffly drums making me feel like I'm in the marching band if the marching band were made of Bond girls in bikinis who are librarians in their spare time, think about Wham! songs at work, and happen to love coke raps. Snare snare, shuffle shuffle shuffle, til it gets to that liquid center around 02:40, the hot magma. That's when the bass kicks in and I realize I'm not meant to be in a marching band; what was I thinking. I'm meant to take Stage 2 at Magic City. Throb throb, bassbass throb.
Ignore the fact that the woman who wrote the song was not actually named Bobbie Gentry and probably didn’t have any working-class southern roots. Her father was definitely a senator, Republican of course, and she went to prep school and once kissed a black guy so she felt like she could write songs about struggle and heartache. She made millions. That’s just how the music industry works, sweetie. Even in 1968. Wake up. Bobbie was a semi-cold piece of work, however, with all that big black hair. Plus she wrote her own material and lived my fantasy life of lounging in some tight pants with nothing but her daydreams and a hi-fi to keep her company, and for this I must respect her.
Suitable for bonding with: Kutmasta Kurt. ("Ode to Billie Joe" begat "Sex Style"). Feminist points: KEITH THORNTON. Bisexuals on stage eating Fruit Loops, pornographic thespians, the ladyboys of Thailand: Kool Keith is accepting of all types of femininity, and he's one of the top 10 most feminist MCs ever*. Raps by guys like Keith and El-P and Danny Brown will always be more inherently feminist than those by Drake, because they don't pander to us.
* Just relax, think, let it marinate. I'll do a full explanatory blog post in the future if you guys beg for it.
Impossible: The first 10 seconds of "Kissing My Love" has allegedly only been looped once or twice on major-label rap songs (??). IMPOSSIBLE. Im possible. Internet, you a goddamn liar.
I am not allowing my hips to reach their full potential because: I have yet to walk down the street to this. Too busy walking down the street to this. (The entire melodic structure and overall hotness of "Loco-Motive" makes up for the previous release from that new Nas album, the Rawse-tainted "Accident Murderers." That's the one with Nas' line about dudes who "rubbed each other wrong like a bad massage," which is terrible and should be relegated to that inevitable Bieber collab.)
Hustlenomics professor: ME. Finding Thriller! at all is rare; finding Thriller! for $5 in the middle of a major city, surrounded by record dorks who want it so bad, is the result of such a tight hustle that people assume I am tricking or have a record shop connection. I have neither; it's just the patience hustle, sprinkled with a little dumb-luck hustle. Best hustle of all, though, is the one belonging to Cold Blood's singer Lydia Pense. She got the band to name their 1974 album Lydia. TIGHT WORK, doll. This would be like Curren$y getting the 504 Boyz to name one of their albums Shante Franklin.
Suitable for Bonding With: Dudes who love everything embodied by Cold Blood - breakbeats, the Bay Area, songs about getting down, and yellow-haired ladies who show their midriffs. So, Danny Brown.
9. Chairmen of the Board, Bittersweet ("Fuck Off, Motown" Invictus, 1972). $12.
Shoutout to greedy bastard Berry Gordy, who is directly responsible for this album.
(Money disputes. Control disputes. Of courrrrrse. Berry doesn't enter into disputes about anything else, silly.)
It's not their fault, but Chairmen of the Board get feminist points deducted because "Give Me Just a Little More Time" is used on that goddamn mop commercial about a lady whose life is passing her by because she cannot stand living with a dirty floor. That fucking floor rules her entire world. Even when she gets the new, quick-use mop, allowing her lots of free time, she chooses to spend this time sitting on her front porch with a cold drink because the housechore goblins have stripped her of all life-force. Blaming Berry Gordy for this whole charade just feels right, so let's go with that. Anyway, the lady should be using her free time having a super-hot love affair and then going through some heartache, with the closing move of walking away from her man in slow motion, looking at him over her shoulder while "Bittersweet" plays. Please erase any Kanye associations from your brain and only acknowledge this, the one true version, complete with heavenly tempo change right around the 2-minute mark, hands in the air if you ever been in love of the hurtin' kind, C'MON:
Suitable for bonding with: Kanye West. Lucky me. Also suitable for bonding with Lee Stone, who used a Chairmen break on Method Man's "The Motto." I wouldn't be able to pick Lee Stone out of a room of people, but I love him for being Nyshiem Myrick's production sidekick and somehow never becoming a member of The Hitmen and padding Sean Combs' bank account. That's some integrity, Lee Stone. A person still listening to Method Man in ’04 probably also has plenty of integrity, along with an intense loyalty I shall never possess. I’m pretty sure the rest of us gave up on Mef around ’99-? He owned ’94 and maintained his stats for the next 4 or 5 years, rap game Olajuwon. And now he is old and has the classic old-rapper-problems duo of irrelevance and unpaid back taxes.
10. E.L.O., Face the Music (United Artists, 1975). $2.
MECHANIC ROCK, YALL. I know so many of this stupid band's songs from my time spent waiting in the lobby at Jiffy Lube.
E.L.O.'s got evil cachet but it's that crazy-old-person concept of evil (Satanic backmasking). It's a clownish, silly kind of evil. So it makes total sense that El-P, supergrouch and master deconstructor of concepts, uses "Fire on High" for a break in a song about the way life wears a man down to the point that he keeps razors and angel dust on his person, I mean the whole song's so serious that it does a loop-back and somehow becomes clownish and surreal, two of El-P's fave things, next to cigarettes, the word fuck, his cat, and Cipro.
E.L.O.'s also got the '70s prog hair, and Jeff Lynne produced some pretty good Tom Petty stuff (though Lynne is no Iovine or Rubin when it comes to Tom Petty production). This is an impressive list of facts about E.L.O. Impressive indeed. It's just that this doesn't solve the case of my missing enjoyment. I own 3 or 4 of their records because I'm open-minded and willing to give anyone a chance. But they are terrible. I mean, in the words of headband aficionado and current global analysis object Frank Ocean, Sweet baby Jesus, E.L.O. is a terrible, boring band.
"Evil Woman" sucks, apart from that banging piano intro. On the feminist front, I cannot legitimately complain about the "Evil Woman" lyrics, because they are too stupid to entertain. "Ha ha, woman - what you gonna do/You destroyed all the virtues that the lord gave you," goes this terrible piece of music written by professional songwriters with Romney-sized buckets of money, "It's so good that you're feeling pain/But you better get your face on board the very next train." Just my face, E.L.O.? Or the rest of me too? I'm awarding "Evil Woman" Most Feminist Song of my record haul, just to annoy the band because this is the opposite intention with which "Evil Woman" was written. Ha ha, E.L.O. Women have all kinds of tricks up inside of us. You're just scratching the surface, dummies.
I would not have purchased this record were it not for:
"Special thanks to: Ellie Greenwich." AMEN, BROTHER.
Suitable for bonding with: El-P, as if I need yet another thing over which to bond with him when we run into each other at that store that sells Camels, Chomsky books, black-market iPad replacement parts, cat food, sandwiches, and old DAT machines in pristine condition.
Also suitable for bonding with Curren$y. It says "Copyright Jet Music" on the credits, which is a 1975 nod to the empire Curren$y would build 3 decades later. Here's hoping this post gets seen by one or both of these men, because I'd love a Curren$y x El-P something, and I am not referring to a song in which one of them gets a "featuring" credit by simply chanting the hook. I am comfortable and cozy around music people, but THE WORD "FEATURING" USED INCORRECTLY is lowdown and dirty. Until you can convince Premier to go back and re-title it "Mass Appeal (feat. Da Youngstas)," the Hook Chant shall cease to merit a "featuring" credit. Good day.
NOT EVER.
11. Pato Banton, Never Give In (Primitive Man, 1987). $1.
THIS IS TO ALL YOU FUCKIN BUGGED OUT COKE HEADS, someone comment-shouts under "Don't Sniff Coke." This is an individual who understands that coke always brings with it, to steal a NBA-draft-day phrase from Jeff Van Gundy describing the Washington Wizards, a huge knucklehead factor. Freeze, rock, etc. Don't do it. It would be nice to say that I grew up on Pato, my parents had a deep appreciation for the intricate rhythms of UK and Jamaican reggae and finding this record in the dollar bin was like getting a piece of my childhood back. Alas, no. Everybody, including me, snatches Never Give In outta the dollar bin because of "The Sounds of Science." C'mon. I'm not a complicated woman. That song also made me get a Range Rover and drop an orange like Galileo. Plus I have a fondness for not giving in, not ever. Jimmy V taught me. And really you can't go wrong with buying anything with the (fake) last name Banton on the cover. [Same rule for the (real) last name Hayes. Lil Scrappy is whining all over the TV in 2012 but I can make lemonade out of his whiny southern lemons by savoring good old snappy "Money in the Bank," produced by Isaac's son and accompanied by a video fulla Banner screwface.]
Suitable for bonding with: Josh in apt. 694, who works at the dispensary. Josh, like me, prefers live instrumentation to digi-riddims but Josh, like me, cannot resist the digi-seductions of "Hello Tosh."
"Mr Pato, you’re a lyric computer/I can find no fault with you whatsoever/How'd you like to earn yourself a quick fiver?/Just repeat that line into my tape recorder."
Jeopardy! fact that somehow I was unaware of before this post: "Sensimilla" comes from the Spanish words for "without" (sin) and "seed" (similla). "Coke" comes from the Spanish word for "knucklehead."
"Any color you want, but it'd be, like, blue and cream." GET EM WITH THOSE WALLYS, RICHARD ASHCROFT! I also approve of that Sen Dog/SBQ/Smoke DZA/EPMD on the cover of Unfinished Business/Omar Epps in Juice bucket hat.
12. The Verve, Urban Hymns (Virgin, 1997). Price classified, like that Sade record I bought a few months ago.
Contrary to what track 4 says, everybody knows that the drugs actually do work. They work nicely. Urban Hymns's strings make it fancy, the lyrics make it Caucasian-mopey, and there are just enough drug songs to satisfy. That song "The Rolling People" is about me and my slutty cousin Natalie hanging out with Juicy J and some yellow pokeballs backstage.
"Lucky Man" is the best song on here, prime material for an R&B god to do a version of that makes me cry and want to take my clothes off, but I'd be a fool to ignore the epic influence of walking-down-the-street banger "Bittersweet Symphony." Rocky rapped over it; I don't remember a single bar but I'm sure there was something about purple stuff and his stunning beauty. Though successful, this whole Pretty thing remains a tiresome branding technique. Anyway, thinking of Rocky in combination with hearing Naughty By Nature's "Craziest" on KDAY yesterday has really crystallized my discomfort regarding the lack of a Treach-like flow in 2012. We have Texas flows from New Yorkers and '90s flows from 17-year-olds, so seems appropriate that we should have a new, baby Treach on the come-up. Let's go, random baby-voiced teenage girls in Florida with laptop cameras. Rap game's yours for the taking.
Suitable for bonding with: the same jazz guys I bonded with over Pharoah Sanders and Art Blakey, plus Madlib, because they all think I mean Verve Records when really I'm talking about THEEE Verve. Sigh. It's hard to talk to space cadets. Also suitable for bonding with people who enjoy making fun of diminutive professional rapper Big Sean, who is like 5'8", maybe 5'9" at the most. Replace every one of his "swerve"s with "VERVE" and you can magically turn "Mercy" into one hell of a song.
Yawn: The boring courtroom-bitchery history of "Bittersweet Symphony." The Verve v. The Stones is no Prince Paul v. The Turtles, trust me.
Person around whom I'd feel most comfortable: Ashcroft, the band's chief songwriter. He doesn't play bass or drums so I will not be having sex with him. We'll just hang out and talk about Leonard Cohen.
13. Black Science Orchestra, "New Jersey Deep" 12" [Junior Boy's Own, 2003 (originally '94, though)]. 99¢.
If this purchase needed justification, that justification would go in this space.
Suitable for bonding with: Other carbon-based life forms who have ears and a soul and are constantly dodging the wolves of insignificance.
My guiding philosophy of the day at the BSM could've easily been "I like nice shit and I know how to get it/Hustle, dumbass. It's not rocket science or Quantum Physics." Nobody likes a dude who brings 2 Chainz or Wiz along, but aside from that, Curren$y's got that slurry charisma and he's fantastic, my personal motivational speaker, a tiny Tony Robbins from the bayou who loves a classic Chevelle. His motivational speeches were in my car speakers during the drive to the venue; "Nice shit" refers to records available for purchase; "hustle" might mean Girl I would suggest you bring your hips, but because I am a feminist and I was raised right plus I'm just really shy, this is a corny as hell negotiation technique that I never employ. During the BSM, it was Bellow's words that turned out to have more staying power in my brain, though. Do your best, wolves; new memories tied to these records are pending, as we speak. Music persons of Los Angeles and parts nearby: see you guys at the next one!
Caramel complected/body like heaven (ummm no). Your favorite nerdy bikini-clad sarcasm peddler.
Tomboyish tendencies in a girly package.
Music nerd making my way in the world. The more emotion I put into it/the harder I rock.
I bow at the altar of Phil Spector, Rick Rubin, and Large Pro.
I find that I can amuse myself to no end. I got front & back, and side to side. I am a real person and NOT viral marketing for Stones Throw. I also have a government job so please don't tell too many people I'm in my bathing suit on the Internet.
Nothin else to tell, really.
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