Tuesday, April 06, 2004  

I actually love the 'burbs---Detroit-born, country-raised---and that burnt-out husk of a city that was my Silver Spring, Md., is actually getting some things to spend money on other than arson investigators. But for the most part we go through life asleep when we should be dancing---as My Favorite says, the band that provides the name for this journal.

Right now, however, at 3:33 a.m., 12 hours before I should be at JFK for a flight to South Africa, I should be sound asleep. Alas, type type type.

I love what Flux & Dr. Tofu do with their MP3 blogs, so I've decided to post the occassional song or 2 as well. (Songs will probably disappear over time to save space. Billy Gates Crew just right-click the link and Save As; Steve Jobs-ophiles should click link and hold until Save As-type option appears.)

Two tunes to kick off the reconstituted blog, both by the dancehall duo Michigan & Smiley.

Michigan & Smiley's "Nice Up the Dance" is one of the highlights of one of The Studio One Story and it originally appreared on the 1980 EP Rub-A-Dub Style.

I love the music that Studio One & Coxsone Dodd have produced---I just wish the guy would have met me in Kingston at the scheduled time back in January. He's the Barry Gordy of Jamaica, and dude blew me off. Then again, he blows off everybody because HE'S THE BARRY GORDY OF JAMAICA. If I could, I wouldn't entertain anyone either---except for the TV-repair guy. I would definitely display my Marcel Marceau impression to him for he provides the tools to fix our sweet, sweet lifeline.

Track two today by Michigan & Smiley is a dancehall version of Naughty by Nature's "O.P.P."---one of the greatest pop-rap songs ever. (Step off the podium for a moment, Young MC, and lower your raised fist and bunson burner from their protest positions, for I will give you yours in due time.)

Like "Nice Up the Dance," which borrows liberally from the Soul Vendors' 1967 song "Real Rock," Naughty's jam is a straight-up heist of the Jackson 5's "ABC." The song is from 1992's Reality Must Rule Again---is it ever thus.


Other than their rigid, deadpan flow, I love Michigan & Smiley because of their names---sleep well Sufjan Stevens, for I'm the O.G. Pasty-Face Great Lakes Gangsta with an Elecrtrifyin' Mojo lean and a chronic bad back---and because of the way the duo somewhat unwittingly and yet proudly rock a high-top fade. Reality Must Rule Again is out of print, but you can find the disc used.

Taking off the dancing shoes for the night.

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