We're jumping from acid jazz and going into the skating rink. That's right, from acid jazz to rollerskates....

Old School Wednesday: Rollerskating Rink.
(Problems with javascript/browser? Click here.)

Podcast/mix available here. [Click to play or right click-save as to download.]

01 - Vaughn Mason and The Crew - Rock Skate Roll Bounce
02 - Evelyn "Champagne" King - Love Come Down
03 - Meli'sa Morgan - Fool's Paradise
04 - Taana Gardner - Heartbeat [Club Version]
05 - SOS Band - SOS Theme Song
06 - Kool and the Gang - Straight Ahead
07 - Newcleus - Jam on It
08 - Whodini - Freaks Come Out At Night
09 - Captain Rapp - Bad Times (I Can't Stand It)
10 - Status IV - You Ain't Really Down
11 - Stevie Wonder - All I Do
12 - Michael Jackson - Rock With You
14 - Michael Cooper - Quickness
15 - Chic - M.M.F.T.C.F.

How many of these do you remember skating to back in the day? More details to come later today, along with an extra podcast...but for now, groove with this one. Take it light.

Back and in full force.

Old School Wednesday: Incognito.
(Problems with javascript/browser? Click here.)

Podcast/mix available here. [Click to play or right click-save as to download.]

01 - (Featuring Jocelyn Brown) - Always There
02 - Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing
03 - I Love What You Do For Me
04 - Change
05 - Givin' It Up
06 - Step Into My Life
07 - Where Do We Go From Here
08 - Still A Friend Of Mine
09 - Deep Waters
10 - Where Did We Go Wrong
11 - Good Love
12 - Spellbound And Speechless
13 - Hold On To Me
14 - All That You Want Me To Be
15 - Labour Of Love
16 - Centre of the Sun
17 - Nights over Egypt
18 - Marrakech
19 - Magnetic Ocean
20 - Barumba

At first, when I started designing an OSW, I thought I would start out with a nice post-disco mix, but a friend of mine from Chicago, DJ, suggested (rather surreptitiously, I might add) that I do a mix with Incognito. At first I shrugged at the thought, believing that they they didn't have enough material to fulfill the OSW requirement. I was seriously mistaken. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that they had quite a bit of material before 1997. It was on!

I started asking friends what their favorite cuts were. James, the man behind J-Notes, asked about Inside Life, one of their first CDs, which is why Always There is the first cut in the mix. Among the acid jazz playlists I put together, Tribes, Vibes and Scribes was being played heavily while I was searching for more songs, which is why Change and I Love What You Do For Me were picked. It was all about the remake of Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing that made me take notice of the group. As I noticed, I wasn't alone.

As expected, the CD Positivity was the favorite among all the people I taked to, with the warm Still A Friend of Mine and the introspective Deep Waters being the two cuts that were on everyone's request list. Givin' It Up and Step Into My Life were tunes that I hear among clubs everywhere, "Step" being one of my all-time favorites, with Maysa's wonderful scats which would become her signature.

During 100 and Rising, Maysa went to pursue her solo career, which introduced Pamela Anderson-Lee (cousin of Jhelisa and Carleen Anderson) and Joy Malcolm. The same vibes present during the previous two CDs were present in this one as well, with Where Did We Go Wrong and Good Love starting out the album. Spellbound and Speechless is also a personal favorite of mine, having been used on OSW a couple of months ago.

During my time on the west coast, Beneath The Surface was released, signalling the return of Maysa to the fold. All That You Want Me To Be was the extra track on the CD that I kept playing continuously. Hold On To Me was another standout on the album, as was Labour of Love, sung by Chris Ballin.

Finally, I had to add tracks from the CD No Time Like The Future. I had to play Centre of the Sun, the melancholy love track and counter it with the great remake of Nights Over Egypt sung beautifully by Jocelyn and Maysa, and also add Marrakech, which gets us ready for the instrumentals to close out the set, Magnetic Ocean and Barumba.

Special thanks to the trio from Chicago, along with the music maestros T. Grundy, Todd Kelley and J-Notes for adding their thoughts into this OSW. Take it light.

In between all of the Old School Wednesdays, new gig and miscellaneous issues with my site, I finally found time to drop a new rotation. Here we go:

Rotatin' : Volume 11, June 2007.
(Problems with javascript/browser? Click here.)

[Podcast/mix available here. Click to play or right click-save as to download.]
[Want to listen online? Click here.]

01 - Shaun Escoffery - Days Like This (Danny Dee Main Mix)
02 - Miguel Migs - Shake It Up
03 - Ananda Project - Into The Sunrise
04 - Ernesto - Held
05 - Wade O. Brown - All Night, All Love
06 - Raw Artistic Soul - Zaab (Main Mix)
07 - The Brand New Heavies - Let's Do It Again
08 - Nicole Willis - Didn't Feel No Pain
09 - ISoul8 - Give It Up (Featuring Valerie Etienne)
10 - Santessa - Irresistible
11 - Nate James - Back To You
12 - Nick Clow - Don'tcha Know
13 - Nagaraj (Tajh) - Most Beautiful Soul
14 - Carl Thomas feat. Lalah Hathaway - Thought You Should Know

Shaun Escoffery is one of the most underrated singers out there these days. Thanks to Oyster Music's Om 1...This is Oyster Music, you get to hear great tracks from him and Nick Clow in this mix. Miguel Migs' Those Things is still in serious rotation. I am pleased to say that Ernesto is out with this third CD, Find The Form. I was very impressed by his last album and his cuts done with Beanfield. Wade O. Brown's underrated second album, All Night, All Love is represented here with the title cut.

Raw Artistic Soul's Zaab follows up in this mix, along with the Brand New Heavies and Nicole Willis, leading up to ISoul8's wonderful cut with Valerie Etienne's vocals. With those cuts, it was only fitting to put in some Santessa (anxiously awaiting a new album from her) and another track from Nate James' Kingdom Falls.

Remember The Boys? Well, they're back as The Suns Of Light and Jajh has an album called Ancient Ways that has an awesome cut called Most Beautiful Soul that I had to include here since I've been playing it so much lately, and I had to finish this off with Carl Thomas' cut with the wonderful Lalah Hathaway Thought You Should Know.

Thanks for your patience, and I hope you enjoy this one. Take it light.

Everyone - I apologize profusely for the min-vacation I took, but I had a couple of things go haywire. Work of course has taken up much of my time these days - literally about 70%- but that’s not all.

Seems that I decided to be gung-ho in changing up my site and participating in a beta program, which initially started out as a great idea but has it’s share of challenges, as anyone who has recently commented can attest to. I was unable to post this past week until I could find a way the madness.

Three mixdowns are on the way, as well as some podcasts to some previous Old School Wednesdays, so stay tuned. Appreciate it!

Earlier this week, Beats and Rants posted that Tony Thompson, the lead singer of Hi-Five, had passed away. This OSW remembers him.

Old School Wednesday: Tony Thompson.
(Problems with javascript/browser? Click here.)

Podcast/mix available here. [Click to play or right click-save as to download.]

01 - Hi-Five - I Like The Way (The Kissing Game)
02 - Hi-Five - She's Playing Hard To Get
03 - Tony Thompson - I Wanna Love Like That
04 - Tony Thompson - I Know
05 - Tony Thompson - My Cherie Amour
06 - Tony Thompson - Sweat
07 - Hi-Five - Unconditional Love
08 - Hi-Five - Quality Time
09 - Tony Thompson - Come Over
10 - Hi-Five - She Said
11 - Hi-Five - I Can't Wait Another Minute
12 - Hi-Five - Fly Away
13 - Tony Thompson - Dance With Me
14 - Hi-Five - Never Should've Let You Go

As I listened through the discography of Hi-Five and Tony Thompson, I realized how much I missed the songs like Quality Time, I Wanna Love Like That and Fly Away. What I had totally not realized were songs written by Babyface (Dance With Me), songs written by Mary J. Blige and Faith (I Know), oldies he complimented (the awesome remake of My Cherie Amour). Tony was a great vocalist and he will be missed. Special thanks to Trent for his tribute to this man. Definitely on point.

Two more podcasts will be posted here in the next 24 hours. Watch for them. Until then, take it light.

NOTE: If you submitted your comment, it's definitely here, but may not show up due to some software errors. I'm working to get this fixed. Thanks for your patience and THANKS for leaving a comment. Much love.

I thought I told you that I don't stop.....

Old School Wednesday: New Jack Swing, Volume IV.
(Problems with javascript/browser? Click here.)

Podcast/mix available here. [Click to play or right click-save as to download.]

01 - MC Lyte - Ice Cream Dream
02 - Guy - 'Round and 'Round (Merry Go 'Round of Love)
03 - Today - I Got The Feeling
04 - Heavy D and The Boyz - Somebody For Me
05 - Father MC - I'll Do For You
06 - Al B. Sure - Rescue Me
07 - Wrecks-N-Effect - New Jack Swing
08 - Jasmine Guy - Try Me
09 - Krush - Let's Get Together (So Groovy Now)
10 - Keith Sweat - Something Just Ain't Right
11 - The Gyrlz - Jam Jam (If You Can)
12 - Tara Kemp - Hold You Tight
13 - Teddy Riley feat Tammy Lucas - Is It Good To Ya
14 - Keisha Jackson - Mama Told Me

Let's see, with MC Lyte, Guy, and Today starting you off, you didn't think it could get any better, right? But see, there's Heavy D, Father MC, Al B, and Wrecks-N-Effect to bring it to you, only to be followed by Jasmine, Krush (where are they now?), Keith, The Gyrlz, Tara, Tammy Lucas, and ending with understated Keisha Jackson. You forgive me for being late, right? Right? C'mon....

...and yes, there will be a rotation coming this weekend. Watch for it.

Take it light.