Gracious Words From "Soul Patrol"
Hey everyone. I wanted to share a newsletter from Soul Patrol that included a very nice mention for me and my new single "Everything My Heart Desires." It was written by DJ/Editor Bob Davis in response to Amy Winehouse's Grammy win and the flak with Natalie Cole. I can't tell you how pleased I am to be in the middle of this and to be mentioned along with some other super artists. Preach, Bob!
Peace & Disco Beats
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From the Soul Patrol Newsletter:
Natalie Cole on Amy Winehouse: "I don't think she should have won. I think it sends a bad message to our young people who are trying to get into this business, the ones who are trying to do it right and really trying to keep themselves together ... We have to stop rewarding bad behavior. I'm sorry. I think the girl is talented, gifted, but it's not right for her to be able to have her cake and eat it too. She needs to get herself together." - Natalie Cole
Fair statement? Hypocritical? Sour grapes? What do you think?
Well given that Natalie Cole has had her own well documented problems in this arena, I suppose it's a fair statement for her to make as a person "who has been there & done that." I suppose that she is also saying that she would be willing to return her own Grammy and other awards that she received, while being a self-admitted drug abuser?
On a slightly different point... I'm getting a little tired of mainstream Black artists criticizing Amy Winehouse for doing what THEY should be doing. Amy Winehouse is NOT great, however she in mining 1960's R&B style music. She's going with a formula that has a proven track record of success. And she has been sucessful in doing so.
These artists who are complaining could easily do the same thing. Many of them are already 80 percent there. They just don't seem to want to go the other 20 percent. For some reason they don't want to (with the exception of Ryan Shaw, who was also nominated for a Grammy this year).
There are a few others... For example Norman Kelsey (yeah I know you have never heard of him.....lol) has a dreamy mid 1960's style slow jam that we are currently featuring on Nu Soul @ RadioIO. It almost sounds like the kind of song that might have appeared on top 40 radio in the 1960's.
When you see me talking of Nu Soul, that is what I am looking for. Artists who are trying to go back to that classic sound (dated?....LOL) and going against the grain in doing so.
I saw a GREAT example of it this past Saturday night in Brooklyn, where our friend Nadir "tore the roof off tha sucka", in front of a crowd of 300 WHITE FOLKS that had never heard of him before, and did so with extreme showmanship that had the crowd eating out of his hands by the time the show was over. Nadir put on a GREAT, classic FUNK show, that was in the mode of Sly Stone/Ohio Players/Fatback using a local/average NYC band to back him up.
I'm way behind in writing my reviews, so I'll post something more complete later on Nadir's GREAT concert (plus all of the cool albums that I have been listening to recently). The people who actually BUY MUSIC want REAL Soul music. They don't want something close. They don't want something "slick" They want it RAW and they want it REAL.
This is probably the biggest lesson that I learned from our Virtual Album experiment. When I talk to these people they go on and on about Sharon Jones, Bettye LaVette, etc and they ask me who are the others that are operating in that kind of groove. Hell, they don't even care if it's rap music at this point, they just want something that DOESN'T SOUND like it came from a "marketing department", that sounds mlike it comes out of the REAL tradition of R&B music.
- And of course I tell them about the Ryan Shaw's, Nadir's, Norman Kelsey's, Ledisi's, Angel Risloff's, Rahssan Patterson's Square Egg's, Angie Stone's, etc. of the world.
- I tell them about Chuck D's new album, where he takes the JAMES BROWN catalog and "does it to death."
- I tell them about the teenaged HOMEMADE JAM BAND and what they are doing with the music of Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke and others when I saw them on the CBS Morning News and kickin some serious azz out on the Blues circuit.
- I tell them about Rhonda Benin, who is now pretty close to SELLING OUT her show at Yoshi's in the Bay Area on the 18th, with a great album & show that evokes Etta James, the Rascals, Stevie Wonder and others.
- Add Marc Broussard, Carlton Smith, Kyle Jason, Queen Latifah, SounDoctrine, Stephanie McKay, Joseph Wooten, Mena, Angela Johnson, Will Wheaton and a few others to that list
- And don't forget about the ORIGINAL ARTISTS who are still kicking out GREAT R&B/SOUL MUSIC.
It is there and it's being created by folks who are busy actually CREATING GREAT MUSIC, instead of COMPLAINING about "other people"!!!!
My point is that the Black artists who are complaining are too damn lame to truly mine their own tradition for both style and material.
They are trying to "walk a tightrope", that they don't even have to walk!!!!
This is NOT a difficult thing to figure out folks...
They need to just start doing "THA REAL THANG".
If the white artists like Amy Winehouse can do it, why can't they?
And THAT my friends is the real issue...
By Bob Davis
Peace & Disco Beats
###
From the Soul Patrol Newsletter:
Natalie Cole on Amy Winehouse: "I don't think she should have won. I think it sends a bad message to our young people who are trying to get into this business, the ones who are trying to do it right and really trying to keep themselves together ... We have to stop rewarding bad behavior. I'm sorry. I think the girl is talented, gifted, but it's not right for her to be able to have her cake and eat it too. She needs to get herself together." - Natalie Cole
Fair statement? Hypocritical? Sour grapes? What do you think?
Well given that Natalie Cole has had her own well documented problems in this arena, I suppose it's a fair statement for her to make as a person "who has been there & done that." I suppose that she is also saying that she would be willing to return her own Grammy and other awards that she received, while being a self-admitted drug abuser?
On a slightly different point... I'm getting a little tired of mainstream Black artists criticizing Amy Winehouse for doing what THEY should be doing. Amy Winehouse is NOT great, however she in mining 1960's R&B style music. She's going with a formula that has a proven track record of success. And she has been sucessful in doing so.
These artists who are complaining could easily do the same thing. Many of them are already 80 percent there. They just don't seem to want to go the other 20 percent. For some reason they don't want to (with the exception of Ryan Shaw, who was also nominated for a Grammy this year).
There are a few others... For example Norman Kelsey (yeah I know you have never heard of him.....lol) has a dreamy mid 1960's style slow jam that we are currently featuring on Nu Soul @ RadioIO. It almost sounds like the kind of song that might have appeared on top 40 radio in the 1960's.
When you see me talking of Nu Soul, that is what I am looking for. Artists who are trying to go back to that classic sound (dated?....LOL) and going against the grain in doing so.
I saw a GREAT example of it this past Saturday night in Brooklyn, where our friend Nadir "tore the roof off tha sucka", in front of a crowd of 300 WHITE FOLKS that had never heard of him before, and did so with extreme showmanship that had the crowd eating out of his hands by the time the show was over. Nadir put on a GREAT, classic FUNK show, that was in the mode of Sly Stone/Ohio Players/Fatback using a local/average NYC band to back him up.
I'm way behind in writing my reviews, so I'll post something more complete later on Nadir's GREAT concert (plus all of the cool albums that I have been listening to recently). The people who actually BUY MUSIC want REAL Soul music. They don't want something close. They don't want something "slick" They want it RAW and they want it REAL.
This is probably the biggest lesson that I learned from our Virtual Album experiment. When I talk to these people they go on and on about Sharon Jones, Bettye LaVette, etc and they ask me who are the others that are operating in that kind of groove. Hell, they don't even care if it's rap music at this point, they just want something that DOESN'T SOUND like it came from a "marketing department", that sounds mlike it comes out of the REAL tradition of R&B music.
- And of course I tell them about the Ryan Shaw's, Nadir's, Norman Kelsey's, Ledisi's, Angel Risloff's, Rahssan Patterson's Square Egg's, Angie Stone's, etc. of the world.
- I tell them about Chuck D's new album, where he takes the JAMES BROWN catalog and "does it to death."
- I tell them about the teenaged HOMEMADE JAM BAND and what they are doing with the music of Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke and others when I saw them on the CBS Morning News and kickin some serious azz out on the Blues circuit.
- I tell them about Rhonda Benin, who is now pretty close to SELLING OUT her show at Yoshi's in the Bay Area on the 18th, with a great album & show that evokes Etta James, the Rascals, Stevie Wonder and others.
- Add Marc Broussard, Carlton Smith, Kyle Jason, Queen Latifah, SounDoctrine, Stephanie McKay, Joseph Wooten, Mena, Angela Johnson, Will Wheaton and a few others to that list
- And don't forget about the ORIGINAL ARTISTS who are still kicking out GREAT R&B/SOUL MUSIC.
It is there and it's being created by folks who are busy actually CREATING GREAT MUSIC, instead of COMPLAINING about "other people"!!!!
My point is that the Black artists who are complaining are too damn lame to truly mine their own tradition for both style and material.
They are trying to "walk a tightrope", that they don't even have to walk!!!!
This is NOT a difficult thing to figure out folks...
They need to just start doing "THA REAL THANG".
If the white artists like Amy Winehouse can do it, why can't they?
And THAT my friends is the real issue...
By Bob Davis
posted by Norman K at 9:06 AM
2 Comments:
DAMN straight!
-Numero Dos
Good for you Norm!! Big Ups and Good Lookin' Out (as Randy Jackson would say to AI contestants)!!
-Numero Quatro..why? because sometimes you just need a 4th..
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