People I Love (Fierceness)

Fall is a-coming, and while I dread going back to work, I love the impending need for coats and sweaters and boots and oxfords, not to mention the coming of fashion week. Hurray for fall fashion! In the spirit of fashion and the general need to up my fierceness, I thought I'd pay homage to a few folks I think are fly.

Let us start with a long deceased, but still beloved ambassador of fly. S/he sang, s/he danced, s/he was, in a word, fabulous. Give it up for Sylvester, Miss Ruby Blue, who gave us perhaps the world's greatest disco cuts such as "Do You Wanna Funk?", "Body Strong," "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)," and "Dance (Disco Heat)." I remember when I showed my friend, Solomon, the video for "Mighty Real"; he was horrified. I was amused. It was great.


I am often befuddled by people's inability to see the absolute all-out fierceness of this woman. For real, I think she is it. In Boomerang, her character was a joke, but let's be real, she is hotter than all these half-assed, faux-sexy broads clogging my airwaves. If you can't see it, you have bad taste.



This one, I catch a lot of flack for. Cicely Tyson? Are you kidding me? No, no I'm not. Miles Davis saw it, and he had great taste in women (see: Betty Davis). Unfortunately, he wasn't so great at appreciating if you know what I mean. The woman's in her seventies and still looks great.

Please ignore James Earl Jones.

So I've been watching a lot of TLC lately. On this station airs a show called "Ten Years Younger" in which the "Glam Squad" attempts to knock ten years off some woefully downtrodden individual. They are usually successful. On this show is where I discovered the "Eyebrow King," Damone Roberts (check out his website). I don't know why, but he so reminds me of Sylvester. His skin is flawless, his hair stays moisturized, and he's all about keeping the ladies (and the men) groomed and gorgeous. I just love him. If your eyebrow situation is shady or your face is in overall struggle mode, get to know him; he can help.



People love Pam Grier. I get it; her rack was quite phenomenal and she's aged well. However, I was always partial to the woman who played Cleopatra Jones, Miss Tamara Dobson. She seemed tougher, smarter and less like a pin-up (not that there's anything wrong with pin-ups). Plus she wore much cuter outfits in her Cleo Jones series. She recently passed (last year I think), but I still love her. I wish I had a picture of me trying to emulate her on old school day in high school. Oh well, it's probably much better that I don't.



You've all seen her in some questionable movie or other, and some damn good ones. She made appearances on "A Different World," "Girlfriends," and "That's So Raven" (RIP). She's always spicy, feisty, and generally too much. You just can't quite remember her name. Well you are sleeping ... hoard. her name is Jenifer Lewis and she is fiercer than your favorite actress.

New Knit Deez

Yay for me. I finish stuff.

New knit deez post here.

Music Week!

Recently, I've lived a very full life. I've gone places, seen people, eaten things. Not bad for a agoraphobe. However, I can't just keep running on empty (oh yes, I meant that). I've got to relax, sit back, listen to some tunes, and knit up a few sweaters. The other day (Monday, I think), I took to "acquiring" some tunes that got me goin' in the late-80's, early-90's. One of the artists whose tunes I acquired is Karyn White. I figured I'd pay some sort of bootlegged homage to her in this post. For years I've been insisting that she's Barry White's daughter. Yeah, I was so wrong about that. Oops! Anyway, enjoy the brief journey through Mrs. White's career. (Don't sleep on the tunes at the end.)

This is the album we all know and love (even if we don't know it). Arguably her biggest hit, "Superwoman," was spawned from this album. It also included other fantastic ditties, such as "Love Saw It" (duet with Babyface; I love this song), "Secret Rendezvous" ("It won't stop, it don't stop ..."), and "The Way You Love Me" (perhaps my favoritest song by Ms. White). (Damn! This was '88? God, I'm old.)

This second album was no slouch either. Ms. Karyn (or Mrs. Karyn, for she had married producer Terry Lewis by now) was still coming with the hits. "Romantic" was the song offa this one, but she also had "Walkin the Dog" (nice video) and "The Way I Feel About You," which I always regarded as a Janet Jackson knock off (it sounds like "Alright" merged with something; shame on you Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis!). No matter, she looks hot on the cover and sounds great on the songs.

This last album (that I know of) wasn't huge, but it was good. By this time (1994), my beloved genre of adult contemporary was starting to wane and crappier, more risque and unsubtle R&B was becoming huge (I can't be too mad; I love Jodeci). She still came with some hits here with "Can I Stay With You" and "I'd Rather Be Alone." Still good stuff.

Special treat for the people. My favorite Karyn White song, "The Way You Love Me," live (woo hoo!; thanks YouTube).



And Just Hits:

"Romantic"


"Love Saw It" f/ Babyface


"Super Woman"


"Secret Rendezvous"




Stay tuned. I'll be featuring Chuckii Booker next time. *wave*

Good Reading

© 1998-2007 Penny Arcade, Inc.

I do not read nearly as much as I used to. I think this is the major reason for my significant decline in intelligence over the years. When I was a kid/teen, I never went anywhere without a book, and because I had no adult responsibilities to contend with, I could read as much and as often as I wished. Now, I have a job and shit to worry about that sucks up my time and leaves me catatonic, unable to to anything but sleep and drool.

Luckily, I've found some time in the last few months to start a book, and I just finished it yesterday as Little Brother performed at the free Zune concert in Union Park. (Sorry y'all, I was listening.) Orson Scott Card, you've joined my pantheon of beloved authors simply on the strength Ender's Game. This book; oh, this book. Earlier this year I had decided to up my science fiction game, as I usually find myself rereading my old favorites (I, Robot, The Martian Chronicles, Cat's Cradle, Frankenstein) over and over again, so I made a list of SF classics that I simply had to read. This book fell somewhere near the top. As ComEd's shitty customer service would have it, our electricity was shot for an entire day, and instead of having a nervous breakdown over my inability to watch cable and eat food, I picked up Ender's Game and could not put it down.

I have no intention of reviewing it here, but I will recommend it. If you are the least bit interested in intergalactic scuffles with insect-like creatures, you'll love it. If you are the least bit interested in disturbingly bright adult-children with extraordinary abilities, you'll love it. Conflicted individuals with the weight of the world on their shoulders? Yep. Power and its sickly consequences? Uh-huh. For those of you who are a bit wary of the scifi identifier, first off, you're assholes. Secondly, don't be afraid. I tend to like scifi because it deals with the big ideas and is just cloaked in space travel and futuristic technology. Like all my favorites, this book takes a damn good look at our nature and creates an arresting story that forces you to keep reading. Pick it up, even if you think you'll hate it. You'll be mush by the second chapter.

Free Stuff Rocks

The Silver Room's block party was nice. Pevin put it down, people were out and about, I saw people I know ... good stuff all around. Today, I go to a free concert in Union Park. I'm all about seeing Bilal. Free stuff rocks.

New Knit Deez blog entry.

I Got Them!

After searching high and low, and suffering the disappointment of not having small enough feet, I finally got them. Yes, like the shop-crazy lunatic I am, I did, in fact, buy them one full size smaller than I needed, but that is not the point. The point is that these pretty babies will be constricting my feet in no time. Yay me!





In other news I finally finished a project (a knitting project). Go to my other site, Knit Deez, and check out my finished Ballet Tee.

Fat N' Lazy/Summer Songs

I've officially been on summer vacation for three weeks and I've done 3.5 things, four things tops. As I suspected would be the case, my days are spent sitting in the house, watching television, and eating. Yesterday, I felt picnic-y, so I made barbecue chicken, baked beans, and limeade. I followed the meal up with a blueberry cobbler and ice cream. That's the fat part, on to the lazy.

So far this summer, I've:

1. gone to get my hair done;

2. gone to my ex-job's gala; and

3. gone to day one of a friend of a friend's three-day party (completely disgusting and horrifying pictures to follow).

Actually, that's it. I've done three things in three weeks of vacation. That's pretty good, as I usually don't do shit.

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I've had VH1 Soul on all day and have seen Common's summer top ten video countdown twice. I love him; he has matured and still makes good music and has fantastic skin and seems genuinely nice, but I wasn't too fond of his selection, so I decided to do a list of my own.


Atrackbrown's Favorite Summer Jams

1. It's Spring Again - Biz Markie

It's the Biz; he's hilarious, and he rocks a mean wig in the video. To signal the beginning of hot weather in Chicago, I always play this song.



2. Shorty Swing My Way - K.P. and Envyi

Admit it, people, you like this song. So what it's uber-clubby and features a rapping/singing duo that spastically dances throughout the video like there's something seriously wrong, this shit bangs! When the ambiguously black girl (?) gets to the bridge, it's all over.



3. My Boo - Ghost Town DJs

This shit just screams summer. During the summer of '96, the summer after I graduated from high school, this song was everywhere. There was this particular Chinese spot I'd go to downtown, on Wabash and Washington, and every single time, I kid you not, this song would be playing (on B96, of course). So yeah, banger status. You just wanna wash a car or catch a venereal disease from some cute, buff stranger after hearing this.



4. MVP (Summer Smooth Remix) - Big L

BIG L, REST IN PEACE!!! (screamed obnoxiously loudly) Yeah, him being dead sucks, but the song lives on. This is his least offensive song by far, not his best, but definitely very summery.



5. Stakes is High - De La Soul

At the best party I've ever been to in my life, this song was played just as my friends and I had decided that we simply could not dance any more and had decided to leave. But, just as we had almost reached the door, on comes this song, and we run back and work it out for about five more minutes. I'm also reminded of the frenzy surrounding what was De La's first album in a number of years (i'm bad with exact numbers and years and stuff), and the Native Tongues "officially [being] reinstated." There were articles in all of the major magazines: Vibe, RapPages, The Source. (I recall being in a car accident as I read the article in RapPages. Damn good article.)

6. Bucktown - Smif N' Wessun

I can't quite recall the year, but one of Chicago's stations transitioned to 106.3 one year, and, for a while, it looked like they were going to be a decent hip-hop station. Unfortunately, music starting sucking and they couldn't keep it up. While the possibility was still a possibility, this particular station played the hell out of this song, this and the next song on my list (oh, and "Regulate" by Warren G). I didn't mind at all. I was dead in the middle of my all BCC, all the time phase. Good times.

7. The World is Yours - Nas

I can still feel being a young, dumb (and in my particular case, bitter and evil) teenager, the Chicago wind whipping through my probably braided hair, my aspirations of being the greatest black, feminist MC ever still in my veins. Oh, the ridiculousness. Yeah, this song reminds me of that.



8. Can You feel It - The Fat Boys

Again, just plain summer. One year, we went to visit my aunt in Niagara Falls. My cousin, Ray, her son, took me to the city (in this case, I think this means Buffalo), fat Boys all day. I still love their songs; they're so whimsical, and fun, and descriptive of my own love of excess. Fat Boys forever! (RIP Buffy)



9. Baby, Baby, Baby - TLC

Back before I could make my own decisions and before I had a driver's license, I was beholden to the parents and their plans. Part of my dad's yearly summer plans was to go to the Ellis Annual Family Reunion in Fayetteville, NC. We'd drive down in the minivan and my brother and I would bitch and moan about having to go as if we had other, more important shit to do. Of course, when we got there we were bored as hell, that is until our wonderfully unsavory cousins would show up and agree to wreak havoc with us. We were the gang. Driving around in my cousin Jeannie's old Caddy, eating at the Waffle House, and singing the popular ditties of the time. This song was a favorite, and I can still transport myself to the exact moment that my brother, cousins and I all sang the entire tune in unison like we were auditioning for Puttin on the Hits or some shit. It was fantastic. We shortly pulled up to the Waffle House wrecked more shop on some double waffles, omelets, egg sandwiches, enhanced grits, and flavored cokes. I miss those days.



10. Let The Beat Hit 'Em - Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam

This is an Alabama memory. Very simple, really. This was the jam. My cousins and I were aspiring starlets. You do the math. Hopefully, your calculations come to country and barefoot little girls on hot Alabama nights belting their precious little hearts out.