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Weekly Mix 16: April 23, 2017

On today’s show we’ll chat with Ned Raggett about the art of writing album reviews. Ned has been published in AllMusic, The Quietus, Pitchfork and many other fine publications. While I’ve been a deejay and a podcaster for several decades, I’ve only done the odd album review. If I’m going to do The Weekly Mix properly, I need to hone my skills at album reviews and who better to learn from than a master like Ned Raggett?

I’ve known Ned online for quiet a while and discovered him through my friend Steve Howard’s Facebook feed. I’ve always been impressed with his insightful album reviews as well as his political commentary. When I launched the Pop Culture Intelligentsia podcast I invited him to become a co-host because I respect his skill as a wordsmith and I knew he’d really add to the roundtable. Due to Ned’s busy schedule he rarely appears on the show but when he does he delivers the goods. The best example I can give was when Ned came on Pop Culture Intelligentsia to review Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly album.

I’m out of here. See you next week!

  1. Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy “INS Greencard A-19 191 500”
  2. Kendrick Lamar “DNA.”
  3. Beyoncé “Formation”
  4. Ravyn Lenae “Free Room (feat. Appleby)”
  5. 18scales “Wayout”
  6. Lizzo “Coconut Oil”
  7. Kadhja Bonet “Fairweather Friend”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 15: April 16, 2017

Before we get to today’s show I want to wish everyone a Happy Easter. I’m not a religious guy myself but any chance to spend a day with the people I love is okay by me. This Easter we had lunch with our friends Alex and Thelma. We get together with them on a regular basis for outdoor movie nights, Halloween parties and trips to wineries in Ensenada. This time Alex and Thelma had us over for barbecue and it was delicious! With summer around the corner I really need to step up my grill game. Fortunately, I have my Patio Daddy-O cookbook my friend Diana gave me for a birthday present oh, a couple of decades ago. I’m going to pay it forward and give a copy to our oldest for his birthday. Cooking on a grill is a rite of passage for men and having a recipes like Cracklin’ Sugar-Charred Cowboy Steak or Dragonbreath Corn on the Cob in your back pocket is a necessity.

I ate too much at Alex and Thelma’s because later we went to our friends Jason and Tawnya’s for Easter and dinner and I barely had room for another meal. That’s a damn shame because Jason is a chef and he had cooked up some smoked ham; a salad of mint, peas and and beets; and another salad with black carrots. Black carrots, who knew there was such a thing. And Tawnya made a cheesecake dessert that was half lemon meringue. So good! Oh, yeah, and they were plying us with ice tea made with homemade limoncello! I was uncomfortably full and wished I hadn’t eaten so much earlier.

At least I could eat. Our boy Townes had a bout of food poisoning and threw up almost a dozen times during the night. Poor boy! Between me and you, I suspect when my boy throws he calculates how much collateral damage he can do because he seems to throw up everywhere. His bed, the sheets, the floor… I was up at three in the morning mopping up his vomit and washing his sheets.

Anyway, Townes felt terrible and wasn’t up for barbecue or smoked ham or chocolate eggs or jelly beans.

So that was my Easter.

  1. Bernie Worrell “At Mos’Spheres”
  2. Mylene Cruz (Herizen Guardiola) & The Soul Madonnas “Keep A Light In My Window”
  3. Organized Confusion “Open Your Eyes”
  4. Quindon Tarver “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good)”
  5. Rotary Connection & Minnie Riperton “I Am the Black Gold of the Sun”
  6. David Axelrod “The Human Abstract”
  7. Solange “Cranes in the Sky”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017