The Blog

Posting will be light for the next couple of weeks. Will explain more soon.

Michael’s best material was produced in his youth: from the Jackson 5 era to right around the time the Thriller album peaked. And if I’ve being completely honest with myself, and not too many Michael fans are, Mr. Jackson was all down hill after Man In The Mirror and Earth Song. (Send all hate mail to comments section.) What came before his decline, however, is more than enough to tide me over. RIP, Mike.

I Wanna Be Where You Are is my favorite Jackson 5 song.

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I Can’t Help It, from the “Off The Wall” album … Michael’s best by far, in my humble opinion.

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What can I say about Stevie Wonder that hasn’t already been said. Not much, really. He’s one of the greatest. I can’t imagine what I’d really know about music without having ever heard Knocks Me Off My Feet, As or Don’t You Worry About A Thing. And I can go to my grave knowing I’d seen him perform live, right in front of my eyes, even if for a brief moment. (Last year. Fred Hammond concert in L.A.)

Here’s one of my many favorites, Ordinary Pain.

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Don’t be alarmed. The term food porn is only a “provocative term variously applied to a spectacular visual presentation of cooking or eating.” Enjoy.

(Best viewed in HD)

Music – “It’s Oh So Quiet” by Björk.

Funk music is often imitated these days. But no one left it waft like Sly and the Family Stone. Their music was in heavy rotation during our family road trips growing up. I have too many favorites to name. The track I’m posting is reminder to me and those of my generation struggling to find their place in a hostile job market. The chips are stacked against us…but we can make it, if we try.

Here’s You Can Make It If You Try.

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Having ranted about the treatment of Helen Thomas this week, I’d be remiss in not saluting two respected African American reporters who had long careers doing what I aspire to do. Both passed away recently.

Bob Ellison, 67, was a radio reporter who was the first African American journalist to serve as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association. He spent 14 years as the White House correspondent for the Sheridan Broadcasting Network (a.k.a. American Urban Radio Networks). He covered the Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations. Read more here.

Evelyn Cunningham, a civil-rights-era journalist and later an aide to Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York. She worked more than 20 years for The Pittsburgh Courier, a black weekly newspaper. Read more here.

I have an interesting history with Ray Charles, in that I was afraid of him as a toddler. Knowing I was terrified of Mr. Charles, my biological father, before he and my mother divorced, used to chase me around the kitchen wearing dark shades. What made me afraid of him? I couldn’t begin to tell you. I eventually came around to liking Ray, right around the time I became terrified of Freddy Krueger.

The track I’ve posted is one of my favorites. Imagine sitting in a black Protestant church. The organist begins playing the overture that signals it’s time for offering. The congregation stands up in the pews, awaiting the instructions of the church ushers. The choir members stand and begin to sway rhythmically, readying themselves to sing. That’s what this record sounds like to me…

…except it’s titled Let’s Go Get Stoned. Listen for yourself.

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Apparently, now even old people aren’t allowed their golden gaffe-pass.

Last week, social media and TV broadcasters weighed in after 89-year-old White House Press Room icon Helen Thomas’ admittedly insensitive and historically ignorant comments about Israeli-Palenstinian relations in the Middle East.

I get that voicing any unflattering opinions about Israel or the Jewish people invites a firestorm of criticism, calls for your firing or voluntary resignation from a job and, perhaps, obnoxious campaigns to tarnish any legacy you might have had prior to said gaffe. Fair or not, it’s always been like that. And the same can be said for comments made about Blacks, gays, Hispanics…must I list it all?

But come on! Helen Thomas? Eighty-nine-year-old Helen Thomas? The wrinkly old lady asking Press Secretary Robert Gibbs questions about troop withdrawal timelines in the middle of a briefing about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? You want to pick a fight with the woman who was caught speaking off the cuff by a RabbiLive.com videographer and only gave her opinion because she was asked? The same woman who was a reporter covering U.S. presidents when the parents of the inventors of YouTube were just kids?

Surely else someone has to see the irony in this. In your 80′s you are supposed to be able to say pretty much whatever you want. My late grandmother did. And we just laughed it off. Hell, recently I interviewed a woman in her 80′s who inferred that I was gay and not corporate material because I have a pierced ear — “hardware” as she put it. I shrugged it off.

Am I saying that Helen Thomas should be exempt from exhibiting a certain degree of professionalism because of her age? Absolutely not. As a (now former) member of the press, she should not have made those comments if she knew they were going to end up on the web. But she should not have to think that she isn’t entitled to an opinion because said opinion might be unpopular, unflattering or ignorant of history. What messages are the reactions to her comments really sending?

“No, Grandma Helen, Jewish people should not go back to Germany or Poland. When we get back to the retirement home I’ll read you a history book while you enjoy your apple sauce.”

Enjoy your retirement, Ms. Thomas.

I’m not going to pontificate on James Brown’s greatness. There’s not another performer like him on earth. Looking for a song to get you pumped up? Need a workout song? Need a jolt of “revolutionary” in your spirit? This ought to do the trick.

Here’s Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved Part 2 from his live recording “Revolution of the Mind.”

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I want to try this. I wonder how long you need to train for this…