[Editor’s Note] ...To Make a Thing Go Right

Rob Base! Ah, the memories! Very cool! One of my favorites was the Fat Boys song "Can You Feel It?" Do you have any recordings of the mixes you did back then?

Racism and prejudice suck.

I hate I'm going to miss the Boom relaunch.

I will say summer in Colorado has its benefits.

I do have recordings *somewhere*. Lord knows where at this point.

I do have a fun memory of the Fat Boys stuffed into the deejay booth at Palladium in NYC when I cocktailed there (deejaying was way above my pay grade there). The DJ was the guy who used to remix Madonna's records (blanking on name; anyone?), and I had to squeeze by the Fat Boys to get to the *real* VIP room -- which you had to pass through the booth to get to! (There was an official VIP room elsewhere called Michael Todd, but this was the one that counted.)

Ah, memories. That jock used to sample Rob Base a lot, and that one Information Society song (you want to know what I'm thinking) throughout the name. He could raise energy like no one I ever heard. Amazing stuff.

Ah, the memories.

(One time I took cocktails to the little VIP room and it turned out that i was serving Sly Stallone. He's so short that I was looking down on this head!)

;-)

Ahhhh, Donna Ladd....Is there anything that you haven't done?

That jock used to sample Rob Base a lot, and that one Information Society song (you want to know what I'm thinking)

Must be "What's On Your Mind" from Information Society.

A few things, Queen. ;-) Life has been an adventure, and never more exciting than it is here now in Jackson, Mississippi. In fact, never as exciting. And I mean that. Meaning matters.

So what was your DJ name?

Junior Vasquez?

Donna. One word. ;-)

I've always wanted to know which law school you attended, Donna. Tell me privately if need be.

Once upon time I wouldn't listen to so-called white music because the radio station where I'm from only played so-called black music for one hour. We listened 1 hour and promptly turned off the radio. The only exceptions I remember were the Average White Band and The Tower of Power, which didn't have the so-called typical white sound.

I wouldn't even listen to a white girl until I saw and heard Madonna. She was and still is sump nother. Once I saw and heard her I forgot all of my learned and trained prejudices or bias about white female singers. Strangely, I also liked Dean Martin but not Frank Sinatra and would watch the Dean Martin show but not anything Frank Sinatra starred or was featured in. I think Dean Martin's humor made me watch him.

When I got to college I started hearing Elton John and hated him. Then I heard the Bee Gees and said those white boys can sing and play. Then I hear Hall and Oates and said the same thing. Incidentally, I was staying at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis recently and as I walked out of the door of my hotel room I saw Daryl Oakes leaving his room too. I told him I love their music and shook his hand. I considered telling him he was instrumental in breaking down my prejudice in musical taste but decided not to do it.

I wanted to be a musician as a child. At this point I can say I love all kinds of music - blues, reggae, r&b, rock, classical, african, indian, soul, et al. College opened my eyes. So did Madonna.

Walt, I think you mean Daryl Hall. Or did you meet John Oates (the one with the mustache)?

I think that my first (and this is me trying to recall years back on my first cup of coffee) introduction to "white" music came with Duran Duran. I've been singing all my life so I have always been partial to REAL SANGING. Never really thought white folk could sing. Not the kind of singing I did, or that was played in my childhood home. It wasn't until recent years that I learned that, although different, there are plenty of talented singers who just so happen to be white. This is just my preference and opinion. You MUST remember that there was NO exposure to anything that wasn't black in my household.

I remember when we moved to NY the only radio station I knew when I first got there was Z100. One day I was at school and a black male friend asked me what station I listened to and I told him. They laughed at me a lovely while and explained to me that that was the "white" station. They told me I should be listening to 97 (I think). I never listened to Z100 again from that day forward.

Now though, I am proud to say, I'll listen to any kind of music that moves me and that just doesn't happen if there isn't a CLEAR and PRECISE vocal talent - meaning the artist MUST be able to SANG. I even like country (although one of my buddies says real country music is dead - not sure I understand that). Carrie Underwood and Faith Hill ROCK!!!!

Point to Note: There is no black/white music anymore. Just music. Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke, and our very own Storage 24 (among others - too early to think too hard) are proof!

It was the same way with me, Queen. I'm not one who will limit my world by only doing things that are "black". I choose to expand my horizons by listening to all kinds of music. But these days, it seems like younger people are not so caught up in only listening to hip-hop (if they're black) or rock and country music (if they're white). I was in a Subway one day and heard a black girl singing to a Colbie Caillat song that was playing on the radio. And how many white kids do we hear playing rap music loudly in their cars?

GE, I don't have any idea who Colbie Caillat is. I'm still deficient in my exposure. I consider myself really reaching the extreme when I listen to Greenday or Creed. Oh, I was a fanatic for Nivana; now they were another level for me. LOL

I'm into the rock music myself. Nirvana was cool but not my favorite. I really liked Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam more.

Hey, I know Pearl Jam. Dennis Rodman wrote about them in his book. LOL! Alice in Chains...hmmm....not a clue.

OK Donna, you have just been hired as the DJ for the next JFP function of your choice.

Nah, that's in the past, justjess. ;-) I'm *way* out of practice. Although with a good assistant to read the labels ... naaa.

;-)

Once again, carpetbagger!
Did you play any Ministry, KMFDM, Skinny Puppy, Kraftwerk, etc.?

Golden Eagle I met the black hair one. John Oates, I believe. The one who was the second vocalist. Not sure if he had a mustache at the time I greeted and shook his hand. He had a child with him at the time.

Drummin, Donna played music of real and known talents. Commercially successful!

By the way, I finally saw THIS IS IT last week. Michael Jackson was an amazing performer. Watching him sing and dance to Billie Jean is like watching an artist who is in another world altogether. You have to be born with his gifts from the Almighty.

Glad to see Walt found someone else to argue with in my absence... LOL. I missed him.

"(I still love George Jones, Lynn Anderson and both Hanks)" Donna, surely you know about Hank Williams III, He's WAY better than his Dad, looks and sounds almost just like Sr. He does both traditional country and punk/metal, both exceptionally well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6B-X6EEiHE