Soulful Saturday - Day Well Spent

You know what? Sometimes you need some time with friends to really remember what is important in this life. I'm not talking about acquaintances-- I am talking about friends who know your secrets and still love you; friends that will tell you "uh, you know you are wrong for that" when you need to hear it; friends that call your parents mom and dad; friends that love your baby like she is their baby. 

Sometimes your mind needs you to be in close proximity to folks who just GET YOU. So you don't feel like you are losing yourself in fear, or guilt, or any other emotion that is presently all encompassing. Sometimes only close friends can bring a smile to your face and help you forget- even for a short time- that life can be grating. 

These last 16 months or so has been an especially horrid time for most of us. We have lived through some awful shit (and some of us haven't made it through). We have seen each other on Zoom, at the grocery store scrounging for the last fruits and vegetables, at funerals and masked up from six feet away. We have been cocooned in our homes, away from some of our loved ones. Since I got vaccinated I have been able to see a few friends, in very controlled situations. I am glad to say that today I was able to meet up with some buddies of mine, in a park, and really just kick it. Don't get me wrong, we have a text thread that is well used, because they don't live here, but it was just so nice to see their faces. The weather cooperated (mostly) and we were able to just shoot the shit, gossip and laugh. Me? I got to pet ALL the dogs and run from ducks and geese... and escape my house for a few hours. Can only be described as pure joy. Pure joy. 

Soulful Saturday - 1992

1992. The year I started high school. Jesus. Making these flashback posts really makes me feel old. That is fine because if I feel old then the fact that I say shit like "we had the best music back then" fits the conversation. There are so many songs that were released in 1992 that speak to me-- way more than the ones that I have posted below. Luckily, most of the ones that I want to post have made it on previous Soulful Saturday lists (like Mary J. Blige singing One with U2, or the EnVogue ladies slaying us with Giving Him Something He Can Feel or Boyz II Men, you get the idea). What an amazing time for music. What an amazing time to be growing up and experiencing this art. What a privilege to be able to look back and say that, in one year, you experienced both Eric Clapton and Blind Melon. Arrested Development and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Pearl Jam. Lenny Kravitz. Shit, even Billy Ray Cyrus. These songs stick with you, like a great meal... they automatically transport you back to those happy, carefree times. The sad times. Teenage angst. Love. Loss. Life.

Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers


Tears In Heaven - Eric Clapton


Damn, I wish I was your lover - Sophie B. Hawkins


Rhythm is a Dancer - Snap


Tennessee - Arrested Developement


No Rain - Blind Melon

Soulful Saturday - Soul II Soul

Y'all know what? After the last couple of weeks, I needed a pick me up that only old school music could provide. This week I got that from Soul II Soul. I could only think of two songs by this group-- but listening to these two songs gave me life! These Brits were the business in 1990... God, I wish music today moved me like this...

Life is heavy, y'all. Music alleviates some of that heaviness. Happy Saturday.


Back To Life





Keep On Movin'

Soulful Saturday - Heavy D

I am over here having a party! Today is my brother's birthday and I was looking for some fun music to put up and I came across Heavy D. These songs were in heavy rotation (no pun intended) on my radio when my brother made his debut into this crazy world. Heavy D has since passed away, but he was very representative of late 80s/ early 90s rap music for me. Something great to move to, and even now, 20+ years later, I still know all the words and bob my head along with the music. Happy Birthday to my brother... Happy Saturday to y'all.


Now That We Found Love



Girls They Love Me


**This should be my brother's theme song.**



Got Me Waiting



Somebody For Me




Black Coffee

Soulful Sunday - PM Dawn

Damn, the deaths that have happened in 2016 have been unrelenting. Y'all. I am not going to get over losing Prince and the deaths just keep coming. I think that one of the reasons I am so affected is because these folks are so close to my age. Like, I grew up listening to them... going through formative years TOGETHER with them. Take, for instance, this latest loss: Prince Be. Lead singer for PM Dawn. He was 46 years old. My husband is older than that. I am dangerously flirting with turning 40. These are my peers that are passing away. That shit, by itself, is disturbing. Scary. Add in that his music guided me through high school, y'all can see why I am extra upset.

Most folks know about PM Dawn because they were on the soundtrack to the movie Boomerang. That soundtrack made lots of folks famous. I remember when I heard "I'd Die Without You" when watching that movie... man. I had to find out ASAP who was putting out those melodies. Hearing these three featured songs always takes me back to 1991/1992. I was a freshman in high school... and trust me, that is enough explanation. Fourteen years old, trying to figure out love songs. Hot mess.

Music is funny, right? It allows the musician to put themselves ALL THE WAY out there. You don't have to accept who they are-- that is the beauty of differing musical tastes. Prince Be totally flew his "freak flag." I mean, this was the early 90s, folks were not wearing silk hoodies and lace over their eyes, making slow jams with their brother AND the guy whose music they sampled. These songs are beautiful. This is real R&B. Real hip hop. Here is to hoping that Prince Be rests peacefully.


Set Adrift On Memory Bliss I'd Die Without You Looking Through Patient Eyes

Soulful Saturday - The Cranberries

I am not exactly sure why fall weather makes me want to relive my high school days. Maybe it is because it is technically 'back to school' season or something. Could be. Ah well, here I am, up WAY past what should have been my bedtime, singing along to youtube videos of forgotten songs that once brought out teenaged angst. When I was in high school (oh my God, I just totally sounded like the old lady in the neighborhood IN MY OWN HEAD when I read that sentence back... What have I become?!) Back in the olden golden days of the mid 90s, the music was full of rebellion. Grunge was king of the airwaves, there was anger, combat boots and flannel shirts. Marry that with teenage hormones and there you have it, Hot, Black and Bitter, the high school years! One of the bands that regularly made it onto my mix tapes, and in heavy rotation were The Cranberries. Hauntingly beautiful sounds that you would not normally think would come out of a human... and notes that you should TOTALLY NOT TRY to emulate, but I do... every time. Hey, it is good singing... check it out.

Dreams

 


 Zombie


 


 I Still Do


 


Ode To My Family