St. Etienne – Foxbase Alpha
The lyrical, soothing soundtrack of Foxbase Alpha has returned to heavy rotation on the iPod rescuing me from crowded subway trains and elevating me from a dense urban jungle to wide-open landscapes attached only to the distant horizon. Visions of green grass fields, late evening sunsets reflecting golden rays on my blank walls. This debut...
Pink Martini – Hang on Little Tomato
Ma, guess who’s coming home for dinner? China Forbes. If I bring her will you give her a chance? Actually, in addition to her, we would have to set at least fourteen more place settings at the dinner table. China is backed and fronted with a fourteen piece band. This is Pink Martini. The introduction...
Mos Def – The New Danger
The mighty Mos Def has finally returned to the masses or a least to the aficionados of hip-hop. It has been years since the Black on Both Sides record dropped and we rocked to Ms. Fat Booty (“Ass so fat you can see it from the front!”) or vibed to the beautiful Umi Says even...
Maxwell – Urban Hang Suite
Chances are you have this. This is one of those modern, sexy, soul classics records that need to be in your collection; otherwise they will revoke your ghetto pass. The legend is that Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite was conceived during one of those New York City nights; one of his nights. This is a personal...
The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come For Free
The Streets is Mike Skinner, a Brit geezer that crossed the Atlantic and injected a new flavor and dimension to this thing called hip hop. My introduction to Mike was while I was working hard on one of the computers, had the electronica music channel on the tele (wired to the input of the stereo,...
Sweetback – Stage (2)
Sweetback resurfaced at Sounds on St. Marks, NYC; not the small one, but the larger store upstairs. I was curious about replacing a CD and came across the latest Sweetback album. I was like when did this drop? (June 22, 2004) Where have I been? (Sleeping) It was one of those instant purchases that did...
Raphael Saadiq – Ray Ray
You know about the ground breaking, but under appreciated 3T (Tony Toni Tone) – It Never Rains in Southern California, Little Walter. And you should know about the short lived, but awesomely original Lucy Pearl – Dance Tonight. And if you were down about two years ago you knew about Raphael’s solo debut record, Instant...
Rhubarb-Blue Tart Sort of Pie
Now during the summer months, one does not want to deal with too much fuss in the kitchen. It’s prime to enjoy the outdoors and the true simple pleasures of life; golden sunlight on your skin, pretty women with open toe shoes, and of course good food. A truly simple thing I’ve discovered has been...
every morning the sun ignites the new…
“We’ll crucify the insincere tonight…” – Smashing Pumpkins “Tonight, Tonight!” Every day, every morning the sun ignites a new day, a new promise. And there are infinite possibilities to everything and for everyone. You know nothing is written in stone; and if you discover it is then you could find a new stone and create...
Ron’s Brooklyn New York Cheesecake
I don’t remember exactly when cheesecake became my favorite dessert, but I know it was when I was a teenager. As a kid, I wondered why anyone wanted to make a cake out of cheese; an equally perplexing question was why anyone would want to make a cake out of carrots. I guess it all...
Wine. A Passion
“Wine to me is passion. It is family and friends, warmth of heart and generosity of spirit” – Robert Mondavi Open your mouth. Breathe. Insert your nose into the wide-brimmed Bordeaux wine glass. Inhale. Inhale and devour the power of this essence of the clear, deep red fluid with the aroma of blackberry, currants, her,...
Martini Afterthoughts: Bombay Sapphire (panty remover?)
What is gin all about? Well it’s distilled from grain and infused with juniper berries. The berry infusion is not the same as the flavored vodka so the actual spirit is a product of the distillation and infusion process and thus has a cleaner and subtler taste and aroma.
