The conversation this morning went something like this:

Prime: Happy Entrapment Day!
EJ: Well thank you! I've never been imprisoned for so long!

Of course this is all in jest, but it has been quite a long time. 6 years. You would think it would be 60, considering all that's transpired, but all that is good comes from it.

The love is everywhere, you know.

And in case you didn't know, it was absolutely fantastic to meet Crackmonkie and her boo this past weekend. She rules, you know. Time is more of what we needed.

You know what time it is. With a birthday coming up this weekend, I'll get this out of the way and spread my love in one direction, know what I mean?

Introducing Flavors Friday, Volume III.

01 - Rosie Gaines - I Can't Get You Off My Mind. The first song on You Gave Me Freedom, her new album which came out this year.
02 - Mica Paris - You Can Make A Wish. Off of Contribution and The Best of Mica Paris. Contribution was one of her finest albums and yet it was slept on. 'Sup with that?
03 - Tortured Soul - If You Want to Feel Alright. Possibly the best classic house albums I've heard so far this year comes from those three.
04 - The Real Thing - Rainin' Through My Sunshine. A cut from Jamiroquai's Late Night Tales.
05 - Jamiroquai - Mr. Moon. From the second CD, Return of the Space Cowboy.
06 - Big Brooklyn Red - Time. He was on Showtime At The Apollo, and is now present on several compilations.
07 - Amerie - Need You Tonight. Now the CD was pretty good, and unique for it's time. This is one of the cuts that won't stay out of my head. Check the bass.
08 - Lina - Waiting. From Stranger on Earth. More neo.
09 - Lisa Stansfield - I've Got Something Better. From last year's Face Up.
10 - Michael Franks - Now I Know Why They Call It Falling. From Skin Dive. Sometimes I get into the old school new age mood.
11 - Goapele - Got It. From Even Closer.
12 - Santessa - Nighttimes. From Delirium. Album produced by Stuart Matthewman of Sade and Sweetback.
13 - Satoshi Tomiie - Heaven - D'Influence Remix. From Chocolate Soul. A mellow drum-and-bass remix. Absolutely.
14 - Blackbyrds - Walking In Rhythm. If you were growing up in the 70s, then this should be a staple.
15 - Adriana Evans - I Hear Music. From the just-released CD Nomadic. Don't sleep. Trader Mike knows what I'm talking about.
16 - Coldplay - The Scientist. Good music transcends R&B.

Everyone's got an opinion. Your take?

If you're hangin' out at the house and it's too hot outside, cool down and check out the new exponent [rss feed]/[xml feed with comments].

I'm sure you were wondering what the heck was going on with the old exponent. Well, me too. I've been doing a little revamping lately. First thing's first. I decided after all of the MovableType 3.0 drama, I felt it would be more beneficial to move exponent from Typepad to a subdomain of yours truly. That way, I could centralize weblogs to one location and also take advantage of payment and licensing issues (although now, the situation seems to have relaxed with Sixapart and people seem to be happier, but I digress). This also means that I can continue my donations in one central location as well.

Moving exponent around was no easy task. After exporting out of Typepad, I had to import into MT, which doesn't work with MT 3.0. The solution? To import into MT 2.6, and then upgrade to 3.0, which worked like a charm. I would have patiently waited until redesign was finished, but the Amp Fiddler concert along with Music of the Millenium put an abrupt stop to taking a blog vacation.

With the help of Anzi, and his MT 3.0 excellence, the revamp- which I'm sure would have taken at least a day- took less than an hour to be done. I'm proud of him. Major daps.

That along with the temporary blog hiatus of Nova and Sunray, it's been that kinda weekend. Then again, those aren't the only things happening. S-Train and Tyrone are doin' their thing, and there's J. Brotherlove, still on hiatus also. Good things come to those that wait, they say.

Remember, things here on exponent will change without notice. Tell your friends, tell your enemies. I'm back.

*Photos by the effervescent, everloving Matt Lambert present at the Apache Cafe, 06.12.2004*

I'd like to think of myself as one of those people who are more laid back, who absorb the music, and envelop all the love. Calling me a dancer would be a misnomer for the most part. That is, until someone kicks the beats to me and makes me move and groove. When the grooves are funkier than normal, it's impossible for me to absorb them all. And so, for that reason, I gotta dance.

Take Joseph 'Amp' Fiddler. If I attempted to elaborate on the long list of his accomplishments, it might as well be a couple of chapters of a book, if not a short encyclopedia. Think of Prince, the Brand New Heavies, Ramsey Lewis, George Clinton, the P-Funk All-Stars, the Dramatics, Primal Scream, Was (Not Was), Giles Peterson, Maxwell, and Too Short in the same sentence, and that gives you a good idea on what this man has done. He lit up the Apache Cafe on a Saturday night. The funk was in the air, and with the heat and humidity, the last thing I wanted to do was sweat.

I'm really glad I did, though.

His CD Waltz of a Ghetto Fly is the representation of his abilty to touch the masses. Live versions of his songs kick it up a notch by not only providing most of the songs on his CD, but also some interpretations added to his reportoire (mixing up Dreamin' with I'm Still In Love by Sean Paul is merely one example).



With a man with this musical resume, it's hard to imagine him having a short concert. He did not dissapoint, giving us a performance that had us standing, clapping, and singing along with him for more than two hours. This included having Paul Randolph (above left), playing his bass across his shoulders in Superficial, or Patrice and Stephanie (above right) having numerous solos between themselves (particularly in the cuts Unconditional Eyes and Possibilities, which was not only a great display of the perfomers' instrumental techniques, but also vocally superb), in as well as giving us their freestyle vocals - giving me a vibe that would be hard to shake - that is, if you felt like you needed to shake it.



The following tracks from his CD Waltz of a Ghetto Fly along with one from Only Child's Solitaire are present on the 'musical melodies' on the right:

You Give Good Vibes (with Only Child)
Dreamin'
Superficial
Unconditional Eyes
Soul Divine

He's got the power. He's got the charisma. Check him out.

It's incredible that I'm still up tonight, and I have to be up before the sun rises. The stress and strain of the week keeps me up, but the music is keeping me happy.

Introducing Flavors Friday, Version II .

01 - Only Child - You Bring Me Vibes (Featuring Amp Fiddler)
02 - Amp Fiddler - Dreamin'
03 - Amp Fiddler - Superficial
04 - Amp Fiddler - Unconditional Eyes
05 - Amp Fiddler - Soul Divine
06 - Tortured Soul - Why
07 - Clara Hill - Silent Distance
08 - Beady Belle - Hindsight
09 - Reel People - Runaway
10 - Rahsaan Patterson - Don't Run So Fast
11 - Adriana Evans - Moonlight in Bahia
12 - Lewis Taylor - Positively Beautiful
13 - Lewis Taylor - Won't Fade Away
14 - Beady Belle - Pantile

I've spoken a little about Amp Fiddler, so he's included here. The concert last weekend was great- hotness coming soon.

I've also spoken about Lewis Taylor and Beady Belle as well...oh, just go check them out.

(Please note that the Blog Deficiency Correctional Facility officers have been after me again. They're crackin' the whip. What can I say?)

Contracting sucks. I just thought I'd tell you that.

As a rule, I've never been one to have trouble finding- or keeping- a job. The problem with contracting, however, is perpetual renewals of contracts which are less of a real job and more like carrots stringing the dutiful along.

I've been eatin' way too many carrots these days. And now it seems that my contract, which used to be renewed every six months had moved to renewal every season, and now finally, every calendar month. Not good.

Plan B- to find a full-time job, is now in full effect. Need a technical architect? I'm your guy. Resumes available on request.