Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Just Because...Janet Jackson
 |
| All For You Janet Jackson |
See Janet being quite the fashionista, See Janet filming her latest video under the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn, New York, See Janet, well looking at you...
I'm coming out of the closet, "Yes" minions I am a Janet Jackson fan. It all started in 1986 when the notorious JJ declared she was in Control. She then declared herself the leader of a Rhythm Nation I followed. Then she became simply Janet and damn that was one amazing ride!
Although there were many great songs on her first name basis opus the one that really was my ultimate jam was Throb -
"I can feel your body
(Ooh baby)
Pressed against my body
(Ooh baby)
Wrap yourself around me
(Ooh baby)
Love to feel you throbbin
(Ooh baby)"
Save your judgement calls and move on - this is about the wonder of Janet. Janet was of her time and really amazing. I wish her the best moving forward. Her call to arms anthem Rhythm Nation is especially relevant right here, right now.
"With music by our side
To break the color lines
Let's work together
To improve our way of life
Join voices in protest
To social injustice
A generation full of courage
Come forth with me
People of the world today
Are we looking for a better way of life
We are a part of the rhythm nation
People of the world unite
Strength in numbers we can get it right
One time
We are a part of the rhythm nation"
Janet on IG:
https://www.instagram.com/janetjackson/?hl=en
Monday, July 23, 2018
Monday Motivation
 |
| Zen Anderson Cooper |
This weeks Monday Motivation is brought to you by Anderson Cooper. "Yes" him sitting peacefully poolside is a reminder to us all to take the time for some self care.
What's do I mean by "self care" you say? Tending to ones mental and spiritual well being is as much a part of feeling good as is a hot and sweaty Spin Class or doing a few rounds of boxing on a punching bag.
One also needs to appreciate the little things in life. The quiet times, to recharge and regroup.
Personally this is something I need to do more of than when I hit the mat in yoga once a week. One of my personal fave things to do is to take a walk and enjoy the moments of the things that I see along the way, whatever those may be.
Also starting the day of with a positive affirmation helps to set the tone for it. You'd be amazed how standing in a Superman pose to kick off your day really affects you.
So bend it like Anderson & Myself today and make your Monday magic!
Anderson on Instagram:
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Queen For A Day
 |
| Sea Gals Nicole Kidman & Amber Heard |
Why did I find this eye catching? Because I had no idea until I spied this photo that Nicole Kidman was in Aquaman, that's why.
"Yes" I realize the movie isn't called Queen Atlanna (Kidman's character in the opus) but usually you hear a bit more noise when Nic is going to appear in something on the big screen.
Moving on she and her co-star Heard (who I was aware was in the movie) who plays Mera are all smiles and look like they are having a blast meeting and greeting fans of the below sea level hero.
"Under the sea, Darling it's better, Down where it's wetter, Take it from me..."
Aquaman on IMDB:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1477834/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Take A Ride On Your Disco Stick
 |
| Look! It's Linda Clifford...!!! |
FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS FROM R&B LEGEND and “FIRST LADY OF DISCO” LINDA CLIFFORD TO BE RELEASED ON AUGUST 24 BY BLIXA SOUNDS
Newly re-mastered editions of Linda Clifford’s classic hit-filled Curtom solo albums return on Blixa Sounds. Features bonus 7” single versions and 12” Disco Mixes of her chart-topping smashes produced by Curtis Mayfield and Isaac Hayes.
Blixa Sounds keeps the music coming with series of re-mastered reissues.
On August 24, Blixa Sounds, a new Los Angeles based label, will release four classic albums by American R&B and Disco Icon Linda Clifford, If My Friends Could See Me Now (1977), Let Me Be Your Woman (1979), Here’s My Love (1979), and I’m Yours (1980).
Linda Clifford emerged as a powerhouse vocalist during the 1970s, bridging pop, R&B, and disco with her phenomenal voice and electrifying stage presence. Her #1 Billboard disco hits, including “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” “Runaway Love,” “Gypsy Lady,” “Red Light” (from the Grammy-nominated Fame soundtrack), “Shoot Your Best Shot,” and “It Don’t Hurt No More,” accompanied her American Music Award nomination for “Favorite Female Disco Artist” (1979). Her marathon version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” even yielded a Top 20 hit in the U.K. Blixa Sounds celebrates Clifford’s white-hot streak from 1978-1980 with four albums originally released on Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom label, featuring productions by Mayfield, legendary Motown arranger Gil Askey, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame icon Isaac Hayes.
Currently based in Chicago, Linda Clifford is still spellbinding audiences with her solo performances and sold-out shows alongside Martha Wash, Evelyn “Champagne” King, and Norma Jean Wright as the First Ladies of Disco, recently climbing the Top 10 Billboard dance charts with a remix of “Show Some Love” (2015). However, If My Friends Could See Me Now, Let Me Be Your Woman, Here’s My Love, and I’m Yours show where it all started.
After years of singing jazz and releasing one-off singles, including a minor hit on the R&B singles chart with Mayfield's "(It's Gonna Be) A Long Winter" (1973) for Paramount Records, the Brooklyn-born singer made with her full-length Curtom debut with Linda (1977). "Curtis was such a poet," Clifford says. "He had a way with words that everyone could relate to. His poetry was so magnificent.”
If My Friends Could See Me Now, Clifford’s second Curtom album, propelled her to international success. The title track hailed from the Broadway musical Sweet Charity (1966). Clifford herself had even appeared in Bob Fosse's 1969 film version starring Shirley MacLaine years before completely recasting the song for the dance floor. “I had no idea that the song affected so many people the way that it affected me,” she says. “In spite of everyone saying, 'Oh it's disco,' it was not just disco. It was pop. It was R&B. It was dance. It was everywhere! You couldn't turn the TV on without hearing it being played at some sports event.”
Her recordings of "If My Friends Could See Me Now," "Gypsy Lady," and "Runaway Love" would all crown the summit of Billboard's disco chart for the entire month of May 1978. The album itself rocketed up the album charts, landing inside the R&B Top 10 and peaking at #22 on the Billboard 200. Accolades poured in from industry trades: Cashbox named Clifford "Top Female Vocalist," Billboard awarded her "Most Promising New Disco Artist of 1978," and Record World honored Clifford with "Best New Female Vocalist" and "Best Pop Album.”
The following year, Clifford’s double LP Let Me Be Your Woman arrived via Curtom’s partnership with RSO Records, home to the Bee Gees and the blockbuster soundtracks to Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Grease (1978). The album became Clifford’s second highest-charting album on the Billboard 200 (#26) with standout cuts like “Don’t Give It Up” (#15 R&B) and her sizzling, ten-minute cover of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (#11 Disco). The latter tune landed in pop culture history when it helped ignite the aerobics phenomenon on Jane Fonda’s Workout Record (1982).
By the end of 1979, Clifford released another full-length set for Curtom/RSO, Here’s My Love. Produced by famed engineer Juergen Koppers (Donna Summer) and Philly soul legends Norman Harris & Ron Tyson, the album spawned Clifford’s eighth Top 40 R&B hit (“I Just Wanna”). Billboard proclaimed, “The range of Clifford’s style is shown to great advantage as she gets down to a funky beat, sings a sweet ballad and keeps feet dancing on hot disco tunes.”
After recording The Right Combination (1980) with Curtis Mayfield, Clifford sparked the Fame soundtrack with the #1 disco hit “Red Light,” also featured on her final Curtom/RSO set, I’m Yours. Written and produced by Isaac Hayes, I’m Yours brought Clifford back to the top with “Shoot Your Best Shot.” Coupled with several television guest spots on Soul Train and American Bandstand, including two hosting stints on The Midnight Special (NBC), Clifford regularly performed at the nation's hottest discotheques. "I worked Studio 54 so many times, it was like a second home to me," she says. "The people there treated me so well. The crowd always seemed to enjoy my show and I always had a good time with them. It was the place."
Beyond Clifford’s successful tenure with Curtom, she signed with Capitol Records and released I’ll Keep On Loving You (1982). The album generated another #1 single (“Don’t Come Crying to Me”) and featured “All the Man That I Need,” later popularized by Whitney Houston. She recorded two albums on the Chicago-based Red Label, Sneakin’ Out (1984) and My Heart’s On Fire (1985), and continued releasing a series of Top 20 dance hits throughout the ‘90s and ‘00s while establishing herself as a successful jingle singer for top brands like McDonald’s, Maybelline, and Tropicana. In 2005, she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Music Awards and received the GEMA Foundation’s “Golden Mic Award” in 2014 for her contributions to music. James Arena also profiled Clifford in his best-selling book First Ladies of Disco (2013).
40 years after Linda Clifford began ascending the pop, disco, and soul charts, Blixa Sounds has remastered If My Friends Could See Me Now, Let Me Be Your Woman, Here’s My Love, and I’m Yours from the original master tapes. Each album is packaged in a lavish gatefold sleeve and features several bonus tracks making their appearance on CD for the first time ever. With these four releases, Blixa Sounds tells the definitive story of why Linda Clifford remains a disco and soul icon to all generations of music lovers.
Amazon retail links:
Friday, July 20, 2018
Here We Go Again!
 |
| Dancing Queens Cher & Meryl Streep |
Now if I was a betting man I would have to say this is a casting only a studio executive with their eye on the box office could have made. I mean Cher & Meryl doing ABBA in the ultimate Mom (and Gay) friendly film?! It's a no brainer...
I will be sitting this one out. I really didn't care for the first one. As Meryl explained that she took the movie mainly to embarrass her children, I say "mission accomplished."
This does not mean I don't enjoy seeing the two hit the red carpet together to promote the venture as seen here at the London premiere.
Hey, I may be a tough audience when it comes to the content of what actually watch, but I still love the glamour and cache these two have together.
It's time for me to get the Mama Mia outta here and get on with my Friday...ciao!
Mama Mia! Here We Go Again on IMDB -
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6911608/
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Musing's Musings
 |
| It's A Small World After All... Michael Shinafelt |
Woweee...this has been quite the week! You know what I mean. Thus I present this message to all of you, let's have some fun!
F#ck Trump and in the immortal words of the late Starman David Bowie - "Let's Dance!"
"Ain't it funny how, when I say let's go out, You're always saying someone else will get me What's a girl to do - I like to have fun too. But you're so jealous - you never let me" I Wanna Have Some Fun - Samantha Fox
Do You Roller Skate In Polyester Pants?
"Hey you, what do you see?, Something beautiful or something free?, Hey, you, are you trying to be mean? If you live with apes man, it's hard to be clean" The Beautiful People - Marilyn Manson
This one time, at band camp, I stuck a flute in my ____ "yes" it's fill in the blank time
 |
| Slower Than Usual Ariel Beesley Photo: Michael Shinafelt |
My Booscratch aka My Sharona
You can ring my bell, ring my bell...
Freak Out!
Let's go for a vacation in Funkytown
Come Alive with Traci Lords
"I can't understand, What makes a man, Hate another man, Help me understand" People Are People - Depeche Mode
"Music makes the people come together" Music - Madonna
"I need you, by me,Beside me, to guide me, To hold me, to scold me, 'Cause when I'm bad I'm so, so bad" Last Dance - Donna Summer
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow" - Mike Clifford
And then there's Michael Shinafelt at -
https://www.instagram.com/michaelshinafelt/
https://twitter.com/mshinafelt?lang=en
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)