You all know what time it is. And please, don't sleep. Spring is here. I'll bet you haven't heard these in a while, have you?

Old School Wednesday: Springtime Freshness, Volume I.

From the lesser played cuts:
01 - The Jets - I Do You.
02 - Paula Abdul - My Foolish Heart.
03 - Whitney Houston - Thinking About You.

To the jams:
04 - Gwen Guthrie - Padlock.
05 - The Mary Jane Girls - In My House.
06 - Eurythmics - Who's That Girl?
07 - Taja Sevelle - Love Is Contagious.
08 - The Brothers Johnson - Strawberry Letter 23.
09 - DeBarge - I Like It.

To the slow cuts:
10 - GQ - I Do Love You.
11 - Heatwave - Mind Blowing Decisions.
12 - Tony! Toni! Tone! - Slow Wine.
13 - Alexander O'Neal - The Morning After.

The tracks from Paula Abdul (produced by Peter Lord and V. Jeffrey Smith from The Family Stand) and Alexander O'Neal were never released. Whitney's track was produced and sung with Kashif.

Enjoy it, y'all. Xquizzyt1 has one for next week, and it's gonna make you groove. Watch for it.

Baker's Dozen: I Went AWOL on the Easter Bunny. From KB's Bakers Dozen.

1. I purchased a plane ticket to NYC for the weekend of April 9th. Seriously hyped and wanting to set up something else besides the event on Sunday evening. New Yorkers: you game?
2. The temperature hit 70 degrees, but I found myself in the house, fixing the site some more. The technology hit me.
3. Friday night, I immersed myself into some more Law And Order: Trial By Jury. For those who watched it, yes I wanted to drop-kick the judge....
4. Looks like I'm a Flickr admin for the BLOGGERS group. Jeneane got me! The digicam is now permanently in my backpack.
5. Friday Melodies is back in full force now. Watch for it, because this weekend I went to the rekkasto, and....
6. As I was ripping CDs, I was getting involved with Audioscrobbler and even coughed up some coins to upgrade my membership (look to the left for the radio station icon).. Then....
7. I got an IM from Honey who told me to turn to Oxygen to see John Legend and India.Arie, which was very cool.
8. Then I got stuck listening to Project Vibe...immersing myself in that too... (hello Nikki!)
9. Was Easter yesterday? Ooops.....
10. ....I was stuck watching The Incredibles and missed the Easter Bunny. That's my story and I'm sticking to it....
11. ...besides, who wanted to go all out in the rain anyway?
12. I watched the premiere of Greys Anatomy. I am officially a fan. Sucked into the TV yet again on Sunday night. Man, I need help.

First thing's first. Mr. Todd Kelley lit the spot up with his design skills....we're still working on the site, so any kinks, etc. that you see, let the brothers know. Appreciate it. Now back to our regularly scheduled groove....

It's cosmic when two people are on the same vibe, you know.

Take Xquizzyt1. Homeslice that she is, as I was putting this together, I decided to take a break and catch up on some blog reading two days ago. She posted her mix which (I kid you not) was more than 60% of the songs here. So, what did I do? Why, I had to pick up the telephone and call to get her blessing. In fact, she had so many other suggestions, she's going to be the doc that rocks the speakerbox next week. My people, I'm talking:

OSW: The Xquizzyt1 Mix, Volume 1.

01 - Today - Girl Got My Eyes On You
02 - Ralph Tresvant - Sensitivity
03 - Hi-Five - I Like The Way (The Kissing Game)
04 - Lisa Stansfield - All Around The World
05 - Jodeci - Come & Talk to Me
06 - Expose - Let Me Be The One
07 - Chuckii Booker - (Don't U Know) I Luv U
08 - Mary Davis - Get Nervous
09 - Breakin' (There's No Stoppin' Us) - Ollie And Jerry
10 - Whodini - The Good Part
11 - Mantronix - Got To Have Your Love
12 - Teena Marie - I Need Your Lovin'
13 - Kashif - Say Something Love
14 - Kenny G - What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)
15 - Joyce Sims - Come into My Life

Is this hot or not? Vibe on, my peoples.

I love it when someone does a meme, and I can kill two birds with one stone. 25 things about me (plus 5 other things), which would take care of 25% of the 100 things about me, and therefore, make a dent into the 101/1001. Follow along, everyone:

1. IF YOU COULD BUILD A SECOND HOUSE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE?
I would build one in Hawaii. I'm happy with what I have here in the ATL though.

2. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE ARTICLES OF CLOTHING?
Sweatpants.

3. THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT?
Pete Belasco - Deeper.

4. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING?
Between 4:30am and 5:00am (thanks, Anna.)

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE KITCHEN APPLIANCE?
Microwave… I haven't cooked in a while. Now whether I can cook or not, it depends on how you talk to...

6. IF YOU COULD PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I played percussion, but I'd love to learn to play piano/keyboards.

7. FAVORITE COLOR?
Indigo.

8. WHICH VEHICLE DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR, Motorcycle, OR SUV?
SUV, because that's what I have now, and will definitely have, for the next 3 years. (Remember the breakdown?)

9. Do you believe in the afterlife?
Yup.

10. FAVORITE CHILDREN’S BOOK?
Curious George by H.A. Rey and Margaret Rey.

11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?
Autumn.

12. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT?
I don't have one, but if I did, it would be on my right arm.

13. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPERPOWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Omniscience - to understand the past, to know about the present, and to predict the future.

14. CAN YOU JUGGLE?
3 things, maybe.

15. ONE PERSON/PEOPLE FROM YOUR PAST YOU WISH YOU COULD GO BACK AND TALK TO:
Little Johnny Newsome, my best friend in elementary school.

16. WHAT IS UNDER YOUR BED?
CDs, Magazines, CDs, socks, CDs....

17. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE DAY?
My birthday.

18. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SUSHI OR HAMBURGER?
Got beef?

19. FROM THE PEOPLE YOU WILL EMAIL THIS TO, WHO’S THE MOST
LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?
Paging Todd Kelley...paging Todd...Kelley...

20. WHO’S THE LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Ronn Taylor...he's like anti-meme....

21. WHO DID YOU RECEIVE THIS FROM?
Future Perfect, of course.

22. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER?
Baking flour...oh, you mean FLOWER....um....honeysuckle.

23. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEAL?
Steak and potatoes. (Got beef?)

24. WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY?
July 16th

25. DESCRIBE YOUR PJ’s.
T-Shirt and red Georgia Bulldogs sleepwear.

26. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BREAKFAST?
International pancakes with lemon butter, cheese eggs, cheese grits, and sausage.

27. DO YOU LIKE YOUR JOB?
Yep!

28. WHAT IS YOUR DREAM JOB?
Chief Technology Officer.

29. WHAT AGE DO YOU PLAN TO RETIRE?
55 is the plan, but being that I'm such an workaholic....

30. WHERE DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE OR SIGNIFICANT OTHER?
NYC. Christopher Street. You know the story, right? Sure you do.

31. BONUS: SOMETHING YOU’D LIKE TO DO THAT YOU’VE NEVER DONE BEFORE?
Spend time in Europe.

Todd made me do it on Monday, and I just couldn't leave well enough alone. Since it's Wednesday, I felt that I needed to come up with mellow cuts for old school which are some of my favorites. Note that these are just a few of my favorites; when you have more than 50 songs to choose from its never easy. Here's my:

OSW/T12: Low-tempo, old school.

01 - Anita Baker - Good Love. The last song on Giving You The Best That I Got. I remember playing this song countless times- but even more than that, I felt Gary Taylor's lyrics, which made me pay serious attention to him from that point on. Seriously powerful.
02 - Rufus & Chaka Khan - Live In Me. The first album I ever bought was Masterjam, and I played this album incessently on my portable turntable. I also felt that anything that Jerry Hey touched turned to gold.
03 - Donny Hathaway - Someday, We'll All Be Free. Donny always made me smile. This live release made make me nod my head back and forth.
04 - New Birth - Wildflower. The words and the melodies were powerful, but even more than that, every man I knew - my stepfather, my grandfather, one of my uncles - had this song and even played it on my turntable. The horn section and the breakdowns are priceless. This full version is so striking and haunting, I'm totally wrapped up by the end of this song.
05 - Prince - Adore. I know all the words to this song...and I can even ad-lib it. Don't ask me to do that in front of you, please. One of his best cuts, in my opinion.
06 - Stylistics - People Make The World Go Round. 1972 turned out to be a really good year for me. I might have worn glasses and had the blowout hair (you remember that picture, don't you?) but I knew all the words to this song in kindergarten. As a matter of fact, at one time, I even had three remakes - from The Jamaica Boys, Marc Dorsey, and Karen Ramirez.
07 - Stevie Wonder - For Once In My Life. My mother used to play this during her parties while I was stuck in the room. When I was growin' up, Stevie did absolutely no wrong.
08 - Bill Withers - Let Me Be the One You Need. I had to put this back on the arby, which is why I have 13. Yes, I bent the rules a litle.
09 - Switch - There'll Never Be. The guitar solo and harmonies are what got me hooked, and since this was one of their biggest hits, it stays on my mind.
10 - Alexander O'Neal - A Broken Heart Can Mend. From his first album, back when Jam and Lewis were breaking into the big leagues. The chords and the simplicity of this song were just overwhelming to me. Add the lyrics in, and it smoothed me out. Only drawback: the song was way too short.
11 - Average White Band - A Love Of Your Own. The sooner you give, the sooner you get to have/a love of your own. Damn. This song always made me feel hopeful when I didn't think love was anywhere to be found.
12 - Earth, Wind & Fire - Can't Hide Love. This song stands out during the last section of the song, there's two things that are prominent - the brass section and the vocal harmonics. Classic.
13 - Heatwave - The Star of The Story. I bought The Best of Heatwave and cursed myself because I didn't pay much attention to this song when Heatwave was hot. I concentrated on the disco side of them. I wore this song out two years ago. It's impossible for me to describe this song fully. It just hits me in all the right spots. It cheers me up too.

There's plenty more- but that's what OSWs are for, right?
Groove with me.

I was victimized into a meme this weekend. This time, it's a music meme from no other than Todd. The rules from Todd:
- An artist is only allowed one song on the list.
- Post radio.blog (if you can).
- A sentence or two on why each song makes the list.

Seeing that I have a serious music vibe (purchasing at least 2 CDs a week), I had to limit the playing field for this meme: no old-school cuts (anything older than 10 years got dropped) and, for this meme, no fast cuts and no hip-hop.

Make no mistake - it's still hard. Here's 12 that came to mind just over a 12 hour period....

The 12 From Todd: Low-tempo, new school.

I could talk about the lyrics and the meanings of these songs all day, but I'm going to keep myself to a 2 to 3 sentence minimum....

01 - Rahsaan Patterson - Come Over. I remember when this cut came out and I was living and working on the west coast for two seasons. Every evening, I'd play this before I went out on a date and sing this.
02 - Esthero - Half A World Away. Esthero's "Breath From Another" is one of my favorite CDs. I still play it from end to end, but this song always had me playing percussion on a desk.
03 - Sade - Somebody Already Broke My Heart. Keyboards, drums, and Sade. Envision it: Sade in the studio with a drink in her hand. I felt her for this one.
04 - Jhelisa - Friendly Pressure. The best thing about a relationship is friendly pressure to keep it new. Jhelisa always said it best.
05 - Lewis Taylor - Whoever. Don't get it twisted, I was a bitter brother when it came to a breakup- when I was the one being dumped. During one relationship breakup I would play this song incessantly.
06 - Adriana Evans - Looking For Your Love. An admission: this song is one of the songs that I played so much in my stereo, I bought 2 cassettes before even purchasing the CD. I can't express why I like this song, but I believe when it came out, there was so much in my head from being working 3000 miles from home.
07 - Anthony Hamilton - Since I Seen't You. My favorite Anthony Hamilton cut. I think it's ingrained in everyone's head that's asked me about this album.
08 - Maysa - More Than You Know. You know I could watch Maysa sing "Mary Had A Little Lamb", right? It's all about love, pure and simple.
09 - Miguel Migs - One Wish For Me. It's the drums, guitar and the chimes first off, and then her vocals and harmonies. I love it.
10 - Beady Belle - When My Anger Starts To Cry. When I get mad, and upset, I embrace the lyrics that Beady Belle drops. The bassline and the break in the middle are priceless.
11 - Mint Condition - U Send Me Swingin'. I will sing this song in front of you. Make sure you wear earplugs, though, because I will try to hit all of these notes.
12 - Swing Out Sister - You Already Know. Very ethereal and very truthful.

Honorable mentions, since he didn't allow me 25 (and watch as this list expands this week) -
Everything But The Girl - Troubled Mind.
Sade - Kiss Of Life.
Maxwell - Drowndeep: Hula.
Incognito - Spellbound and Speechless.
Swing Out Sister - Forever Blue.
Mint Condition - If You Love Me.
Massive Attack with Tracy Thorn - Protection.
Esthero - Country Livin'.

I need a drink.