And it goes a little somethin' like this:

Old School Wednesday: Mainline
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01 - Black Ivory - Mainline
02 - Colonel Abrams - I'm Not Gonna Let
03 - Chaka Khan - This Is My Night
04 - 9.9 - All Of Me For All Of You
05 - Con Funk Shun - Ms. Got The Body
06 - Narada Michael Walden - Divine Emotions
07 - Kashif - Call Me Tonight
08 - Evelyn Champagne King - Betcha She Don't Love You
09 - The Fatback Band - I Found Lovin'
10 - Mystic Merlin - Mr. Magician
11 - Chic - My Forbidden Lover
12 - The Sugar Hill Gang - Passion Play
13 - Mary Jane Girls - All Night Long

Let's see...I believe I've gotten input and vibes from no less than 10 people for this Old School Wednesday, and I've got to say I have the biggest smile on my face because of it. Starting off with Mainline (which I started to hear countless times when I lived in Chicago), I'm Not Gonna Let - a classic Colonel Abrams track - was a natural choice for a followup, and was inspired by Will, Carmel Complexion and DJ Diva. Thanks to Miss Jo Ladie, I had to drop another track from Chaka, This Is My Night- with thumbs up from Cecily. I think I fell out of my chair when G-Fresh surprised me with All Of Me For All Of You which I haven't heard in a LONG time. Con Funk Shun's Ms. Got The Body (thanks to Barry and Derrick) and Narada's Divine Emotions are followed by one of my absolute favorite Kashif tracks which was not included on the showcase a couple of weeks ago, the irresistable Call Me Tonight.

I had to follow up Kashif with Evelyn (another Kashif-produced track) Betcha She Don't Love You. Thanks to Kristasphere's thumbs-up, I dropped I Found Lovin'. The Fatback Band track is followed by Magic Merlin's Mister Magician. I'm sure you remember the lead vocalist on the track. Sound familiar? It's Mr. Freddie Jackson. Chic's My Forbidden Lover is followed by the hidden gem from The Sugar Hill Gang, Passion Play, and All Night Long- the signature track from Mary Jane Girls- ends the blend, thanks to Kaia.

I Love this and I hope you love it too. Got requests? Send an email to ejflavors at gmail dot com. For those who'd like to subscribe to these podcasts, enter this link manually into iTunes. Also, please be sure to check out on Flowink.com - always keeping you in the loop. Take it light.

This one reqiured a bit more work, especially from getting sidetracked and being a little under the weather. Pardon my slowness:

Old School Wednesday: Heaven Bound
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01 - Heatwave - Boogie Nights
02 - The Whispers - And the Beat Goes On
03 - Kool & The Gang - Get Down On It
04 - Earth, Wind & Fire - Win Or Lose
05 - Zapp and Roger Troutman - Heartbreaker
06 - George Duke - I Want You For Myself
07 - The Crusaders - Street Life
08 - Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan - Heaven Bound
09 - Steely Dan - Black Cow
10 - Zoom - Love Seasons
11 - Rufus - Stay
12 - Bobby Caldwell - Open Your Eyes

Due to being a little under the weather and sidetracked with a G1 (review coming soon), this mix didn't get as much work as it normally does, and for that I apologize. I will be placing two tracks from Rufus and Chaka in the next couple of months, since trying to spotlight Chaka on one mix would be pretty impossible. For this week, I chose Rufus and Chaka Khan's Heaven Bound and Stay. My personal spotlights for this mix would be Street Life (full version), I Want You For Myself (always a steppers favorite), and Zoom's Love Seasons, a great track with very unusual synthesizer elements that I get an absolute kick out of. Got requests? Send an email to ejflavors at gmail dot com. For those who'd like to subscribe to these podcasts, enter this link manually into iTunes. Also, please be sure to check out on Flowink.com - always keeping you in the loop. Take it light.

Ricky McCarthy made a suggestion a couple of weeks ago. I was intrigued, because making compilations are much more involved than compiling a mixture of songs. With a person or group, it's pulling out the best and the most popular. In my case, however, I try to include some of the lesser known and obscure ones as well, which is why it took me more than a little time to pull together a mere sampling of one particular writer, producer, and keyboard synth genius. He was born under the name of Michael Jones, but you and I know him under his actual name today:

Old School Wednesday: Kashif
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01 - Howard Johnson - So Fine
02 - Melba Moore - Take My Love
03 - Tavares - Love Line
04 - Kashif - I Just Gotta Have You (Lover Turn Me On)
05 - Evelyn Champagne King - Love Come Down
06 - Whitney Houston & Kashif - Thinking About You
07 - Stacy Lattisaw - Jump Into My Life
08 - Kashif - The Mood
09 - Kashif - Ooh Love
10 - Kashif - Baby Don't Break Your Baby's Heart
11 - Kashif - Stone Love
12 - Kashif - Help Yourself To My Love
13 - Kashif - Love Letter Out Loud
14 - Kashif & Meli'isa Morgan - Love Changes

From Wikipedia:

Kashif (born Michael Jones in 1959) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and record producer. Kashif became well-known from playing keyboards in the renowned funk band B.T. Express. He played synthesizer bass using the miniMoog while touring with the group. After leaving the band in the early 1980s, Kashif recorded demos with the band Stepping Stone, which led to his eventual solo signing with Arista Records.

Introduced to Arista by Gerry Griffith it's A&R Director in 1983, his self-tilted debut Kashif (1983) spawned the hits "I Just Gotta Have You (Lover Turn Me On)," "Stone Love," "Help Yourself to My Love," and "Say Something Love." With this release, Kashif was well received as an innovator in music, as R&B artists were only beginning to experiment with synthesizers and other electronic instruments. He is said to have been Arista Records' attempt to respond to Warner Bros. Records' Prince.

Although I was fairly familiar with some of Kashif's earlier tracks, it's Howard Johnson's jam So Fine that really piqued my interest in Kashif while in high school, perfect for an intro track. As always, as I kept discovering Kashif's musical portfolio, I found out that this cat was producing Melba Moore back before So Fine was being dropped. For this reason it was logical to continue the flow with Take My Love, released in 1981. Digging in a little further, I found Tavares' track LoveLine also from 1981.

Starting with the line 'E! E!' and with an absolute killer bass synth line, I Just Gotta Have You (Lover Turn Me On) is not only a fave of mine but also a fave of a close friend of mine, my homie Theresa. Evelyn King and Lillo Thomas dropped background vocals for the track. Speaking of Evelyn, thanks to three other musical-savvy internet people (Barry, Kaia, and A.), her track Love Come Down gained the place after Lover Turn Me On and before a track which I still consider one of my absolute favorite jams from Whitney, Thinking About You, with additional vocals by Kashif himself. Stacy Lattisaw's Jump Into My Life, a solid cut from 1986 that hit #13 on the R&B charts continues the vibe.

Kashif's The Mood is a fantastic track - just ask the one and only music maestros Fresh! and Macedonia. I practiced playing percussion with this track back in high school. 1984's Ooh Love follows this mix, keeping the groove right into Baby Don't Break Your Baby's Heart, from the album Send Me Your Love. The flow continues into Stone Love, with Evelyn, Lillo, and BJ Nelson providing background vocals. Help Yourself To My Love, with a fantastic vocal lineup of BJ, Lillo, Evelyn, Brenda White, Phillip Balou, and two other heavy hitters you may be familiar with, Fonzi Thorton (think Luther Vandross), and Tawatha Agee (from Mtume).

I pulled out the CD Personality and revisited my love for the forgotten slow jam Love Letter Out Loud which was a perfect segue to the hit song, the duet between Kashif and Mel'isa Morgan, Love Changes. Staying true to my old-school rules (the tracks shouldn't be used within a 4 month period, and the mix needs to fit on a CD), this was more than a little difficult, as you can see. I'm already envisioning a part II coming up in the near future. Special thanks to everyone who was involved with this wonderful 'cast. Feedback like this keeps it flowin' every week. Got requests? Send an email to ejflavors at gmail dot com. For those who'd like to subscribe to these podcasts, enter this link manually into iTunes. Also, please be sure to check out on Flowink.com - always keeping you in the loop. Take it light.

Continuing the fall:

Old School Wednesday: Big Guns
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01 - Teena Marie - Behind the Groove
02 - Change - Paradise
03 - Sharon Redd - Beat The Street
04 - T-Connection - Take It To The Limit
05 - The Whispers - Rock Steady
06 - Midnight Star - Midas Touch
07 - Heatwave - The Big Guns
08 - Tomi Jenkins - Do Ya
09 - Shalamar - Help Me
10 - Luther Vandross - Better Love
11 - Chaka Khan - Stronger Than Before
12 - Earth Wind & Fire - You and I
13 - Patrice Rushen - Settle for My Love

Continuing the goodness from last week, I thought I'd kick it off with Teena's Behind The Groove chosen by G-Force , Change's Paradise, Sharon Redd's Beat The Street as requested by Ricky, and T-Connection's Take It To The Limit requested by Big Daddy. I then wanted to get into a little SOLAR sound, so I paired The Whispers' Rock Steady with Midnight Star's Midas Touch.

One of the great singles from Heatwave's Candles LP continues the mix with Big Guns. If you're familiar with Cameo then you know Tomi Jenkins, who released a solo LP in 1989 solo LP entitled Tomi. The track Do Ya was chosen for this week. Shalamar's Help Me leads the way to Luther Vandross' Better Love, a request from no other than Rodney L. Luther is followed up from one of my favorite cuts from Chaka Stronger Than Before from the LP I Feel For You. Earth Wind and Fire's You And I and Patrice Rushen's Settle For My Love are great quiet storm cuts that end the mix.

Special thanks again to G-Force, Big Daddy, Rodney L and Ricky McCarthy. Feedback like this keeps it flowin' every week. Got requests? Send an email to ejflavors at gmail dot com. For those who'd like to subscribe to these podcasts, enter this link manually into iTunes. Also, please be sure to check out on Flowink.com always keeping you in the loop. Take it light.