Day 19: Al Green's Greatest Hits (1975) by Al Green

So I been in an Al Green mood the last two days. I been bumping him before I go to sleep, while at work, driving, etc., etc. But how can I not be? How can you deny the man above?

In reality, this is partly due to the fact that I listen to an album based on the order that I have it in my Itunes. At the same time, once I start playin his albums, I can't stop. This guy is just too good. And to listen to a Greatest Hits album by this guy? Ho...ly...shenanigans.

On the real, I feel it's hard to listen to a greatest hits collection. It's always some aging band, on the downslope of their career, now amassing their singles to resell them to us. The singles, for the most part, were the only "good" songs on their respective albums. Sometimes they add a new song, but it's never as good as the originals. It's all marketing.

Maybe I'm being a little harsh. Not all bands that release a greatest hits collection are bad, nor are the songs the only good songs on their original albums. But every once in a while, we get gems like this:

Or:

(On a side note: if you play guitar, play the notes in the chorus of "Higher." Now change the lyrics to "Hero" by The Foo Fighters.)

Now, I hope I get no flack for posting N'Sync. "Hey, V, I understand hating on Creed, but N'Sync?" I don't want to alienate my female readers, all three of you. I'm just saying that this group came out with, what, three albums? I'm still waiting for the next N'Sync album. But a greatest hits album after a few years of existence? Psh! Get JT to call the rest of the guys, bust out another album, and then we'll see.

Anyhow, I don't think there's that problem with Al Green's Greatest Hits. It's hard to hate on this album because each of those songs have been played incessantly in the last 35 years and, let's be honest, they're pretty classic. Now I'm a pretty big hater, and had I been alive in 1975, I probably would have been hating. But I'm here now, and I gotta say, I'll probably be bumping this for a while. As a matter of fact, "Love and Happiness" will be the next song I'll learn to play.

Speaking of hating, it kinda reminds me of this:

"Haters Through Time" would have been more appropriate, but I like this one better. Anyhow, no matter what era I would have lived in, I would have been That Guy. Always hating, bemoaning all the new shit coming out, I-remember-when-I-was-your-age and the such.

But when you think about it, I'm 24, and I'm starting to sound like those old people that hate young people. Hell, most of the people I know do that.

The reality of the fact is that no matter what age you're from, for every sick "classic" album that existed, there's 10 shitty albums that came with it. I'm sure they did this back in Beethoven's time.

"Yo, that last Beethoven album was sick, but his new shit is whaaaack!"

Hahaha...I'm just saying. Everyone thinks their generation is the best, when it comes to music or otherwise. Let's appreciate each other, old school, new school, or no school.

Anyhow, that's it for today, boys and girls. Catch ya tomorrow when I do Alicia Keys' "As I Am."

Peace bruthas and sistas!

Day 18: Call Me (1972) by Al Green

Okay, so this post is a little late, so you got to excuse me. But I was recovering from a night of drinking, and went on about 4 hours of sleep to work. Anyhow, here is my attempt at this post.

By the way, my stomach feels like it's gonna explode. I was at Joe "Tostada's" place for another round of Culinary Combat. We really are a privileged group. since we get to eat every weekend from two great cooks. Anyhow, there was chili galore. I had four bowls of awesome...oof. Luckily, we worked off the extra poundage with a few intense games of Smash Bros. Brawl. And afterwards naps.

On another side note, does anyone else other than me feel like the police are constantly looking at you to see if you do something wrong? I do. All the time. White parents tell their kids that the boogeyman is hiding in their closets. My parents told me the police were. Sheesh.

Take last night. Tostada, my boy Marino, and I had just parted ways with our other friends, only to meet up at a bar later on. Now, I can see why cops don't like me (they still have friended me on facebook): I'm brown, constantly snarling and brooding, bald, and just plain out of my mind. I fit the profile, which sucks balls a plenty. But my buddy Tostada only fits the brown part. Marino is white; 'nuff said.

Now I can only assume that all cops aren't always jerks.They have their reasons for what they do. Hey, sometimes I want to call the cops too. So it makes sense that we were stopped by the cops last night...for getting in our car too fast. WHAT?!

Yup. Just as we were getting in our car, a patrol car happens to pass the street perpendicular to ours. And we were stopped. Actually, stop implies that we were moving. We were barely putting on our seat belts. And out comes this little female Asian officer, flashing her light in our faces and giving us the third degree. She said that it looked like we were up to no good business.

If only...

This is the funny part. From what I recall, she just wanted to make sure we weren't "terrorists or anything like that." DOUBLE WHAT?! Terrorist? How is that the first thing that comes to your mind? Gang bangers, I can see. Drug dealers; sure. But terrorists? I'm pretty sure terrorist don't just scurry around Orange County, Whiteyland capital of the world.

Anyhow, she let us be, and we traveled to the bar and made up for the shitty beginning to the night with a great ending to it.

Whew. Got that off my chest.

"Call Me," by Al Green almost takes a back seat. All I gotta say about it is that Al Green wouldn't take that shit. He would just make a great album about it...like "Call Me" (this is my attempt at a segue).

Of course, "Call Me" has very little political content. It's an album about love and heartbreak, something that Mr. Green is able to convey beautifully with his voice. Stand outs: "Jesus is Waiting," "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" and "You Ought To Be With Me." Actually, this whole album is dope. It almost seems like Al wrote this album with one person in mind. Well done, mystery woman. The world thanks you.

I'm actually listening to Jesus Is Waiting right now, and there's a tiny part in the song where there's a guitar solo. It's so simple and basic and last no more 15 seconds (check it out at 1:50), but I'm not gonna lie, it's now one of my favorite guitar solos.

On one final note, I just want to say I probably enjoy soul, funk, R&B, hip hop and all other types of black music mainly 'cause I feel they represent the struggle all minorities go through. We're all just bruthas and sistas trying to make a living, but sometimes the reality of things just bear down on our lives so much that when we express it in our arts, it comes with a fiery and soothing passion and rises above all.

Keep the struggle, passion, and the arts alive. Peace bruthas and sistas!

Day 17: Moon Safari (1998) by Air

I was in bed around 12:30 when I started listening to this album. I was chatting online, discussing through Gmail the upcoming free agency of Lebron James (funny how much I dislike this guy and how much time I spend talking about him) with my buddy Joe "Tostada" from Culinary Combat. Then I laid in bed further and played sudoku.

It is now 2:30, and I am in class, and I still haven't finished listening to this album!

Oh, the French, with your silly, long and trance-like albums. I'm just kidding, of course. This is a double album, so I can only expect to be sitting for an hour and half to get through the whole thing. I can't do that, since I have shit to do.

1 Hour Later...

Holy shit. Listening to this album is like time traveling as explained by Dave Attell:

I'm drinking Jack and I started blackin out. You ever black out? Or as I call it, time travel? You ever do that? Oh yeah! You know how it is -- you're drinking, you black out. You wake up, you're in another bar. You're drinking, you black out. You wake up, you're playing that knife game with a half-Indian somewhere in North Dakota, "Yeah! Yeah! Winner fixes the tranny! Yeah". You're drinking, you black out. You wake up, you're in White Castle -- working there 3 years, STILL not assistant manager. Your buddies tell you to quit, but you can't 'cause you're banging the slow girl on the fry-o-later. They say she's a little retarded, but those titties ain't retarded!

Dave, you sly bastard.

That's exactly how I feel while listening to this album. I listen to this album, I'm in bed. I listen to this album, I'm at Costco. Listen to this album, I'm at the bank. Listen to this album, I'm in class. Listen to this album, I'm eating Panda Express. Where did the time go?

Anyhow, this is one of the few albums where I enjoyed the remixes more so than the actual album. This album has got this whole trip-hop, chillax type of feel. Kinda like "In The Waiting Line" by Zero 7. That's cool, but it's kinda hard to listen to a song while you're rushing back and forth. This is one of those albums you sit down and listen to after chillaaaaaaxing for a minute. Nadadamean?

The remixes, on the other hand, had some funk on them. The type of shit that makes you wanna kick your feet and slap somebody. The song that was constantly remixed was "Sexy Boy." They really like sexy boys in France. But hey, who doesn't?

Well, I better end this before I get condemned to hell further.

Peace bruthas and sistas!

Day 16: Light of Worlds (1974) by Kool & the Gang

Post numero uno underway.

I was looking for an album to start my musical journey with, so I started going through my collection. The main criteria: short length. As I currently type this post, I'm cooking, eating, and waiting to go to work in about 45 minutes. Which means I really have about 30 minutes to listen to this album since I have to drive to work and get ready. Anyhow, the answer to my problem came in the form "Light of the Worlds" by Kool & the Gang.

Honestly, I only got this album because DJ Jazzy Jeff sampled "Summer Madness" on his and the Fresh Prince's song "Summertime." To be even more honest, most of my collection began as a means of finding songs that would be great to sample for my boy King Dom the Dominator. But I haven't really kept up with the whole process. This is probably the reason that I started this little project: as a means to find good music.

Anyhow, songs that stand out from this album as I listened: "Whiting H & G," "You Don't Have to Change," and "Higher Plane." All these songs are funky on this album, but for some reason I like these a lot. "You Don't Have to Change," in particular, was vaguely familiar, like I had listened to it elsewhere. Don't you just hate it when you have a jingle or lyric in your head and you can't remember where it came from? Well, that happens to me a lot. I'm horrible with lyrics and remembering songs. But this time, I prevailed! It was sampled by Pete Rock in a song called "We Roll" off an album consisting of purely instrumentals.

Holy shit. I just got to the most famous part of "Summer Madness." You know the part. The part where the synthesizer starts off low, then gets higher pitched and even more higher pitched! It was on the commercials by Nike "The Lebrons," when pimpalicious Lebron dives into the pool. I can't lie; as much as I hate on Lebron, his commercials have always been hilarious.

Anyhow, that will be all for the first post. I should really get back in touch with my funk roots.

Peace, bruthas and sistas!

Correction: I actually did fail...to an extent. "We Roll" did not sample "You Don't Have to Change." I did, however, get pretty close, since it did sample "Summer Madness," which is on the same album So BAM!

Mission Debriefing.

Welcome, lovers of art and creativity!

I am the V for Ventura, and you have been strapped in for launch.

I suppose it's only fitting that I begin my blog today, the night after seeing Del Tha Funkee Homosapien live at the Roxy. My small troupe consisting of my friends Joe, Linda, and Jean joined me in going to the free show after a mad dash to Los Angeles.

First off, I have to say, the girls I kick it with, my girls, have nerves of steel and balls made of brass. These girls will get down at the drop of a dime! Take last night for example: while waiting in line to get into the Roxy and just enjoying each other's company, you could almost instantly tell that there's gonna be trouble when you see a large bouncer dragging a very drunk, stout and round girl from the venue. Which brings me to another point: ladies, if you're gonna go ahead and get shit-faced drunk when at a club, make sure you wear underwear.

Anyhow, stumbling, rumbling, slurring and heading in our direction, she pinched Jean in the back and shoved her into our little group. If you know Jean, she is one of the sweetest girls I know (unless you're driving in her way or shoving her, of course), but the earrings almost came off. "Watch where you're going, BITCH!" Almost immediately, Humpty Dumpty came back our way, only to have me get in between the girls, letting her know she had to get through me. And then Linda got into it, and now I had to get through Linda. DAYAM!

Long story short, she left, we laughed it off with the bouncer, and went into the smoke-infested venue to see Del rock the show.

Wow. That was a long intro. Now we get down to business.

If you know me, I love the arts. I love to see a dancer get down, a dope graffiti piece on the street, read a good comic book, listen to someone bare their soul through poetry...the list can go on forever. Everything, to me, can be an art form, if it comes from the heart. Ask my boy The Passive Fist from The Squared Circle. This guy loves the art of boxing, and although I don't completely understand it, I see the beauty of it.

So my goal is to present you with my loves: the love of music and the love of comic books. First, the music part.

The Music

I have almost 600 albums in my collection, much of which I haven't had a chance to listen to. Now, I'm a fan of music, but I'm probably more a fan of hording. Haha...anyhow, I have decided to listen to at least to one album per day for the next, oh, TWO YEARS. For the most part, I have a hip hop bias, but I have many artists that I'm excited to listen to.

Let me begin by saying these are not reviews. There are too many fucking review sites and, quite honestly, who cares about what I think. Make up your own mind. Instead, think of this as the crazy rantings of the V, inspired by the music of the day. Here's a list of the albums I have already listened to:

Day 1: Aaliyah (2001) by Aaliyah

Day 2: Back in Black (1980) by AC/DC

Day 3: Labor Days (2001) by Aesop Rock

Day 4: Superfly (1972) by Curtis Mayfield

Day 5: Murs 3:16 (9th Edition) (2004) by Murs

Day 6: Flight of the Conchords (2008) by Flight of the Conchords

Day 7: Sea Change (2002) by Beck

Day 8: Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star (1998) by Black Star

Day 9: Showcase (1984) by Alton Ellis

Day 10: Illmatic (1994) by Nas

Day 11: A Love Supreme (1965) by John Coltrane

Day 12: Purple Rain (1984) by Prince and The Revolution

Day 13: Automatik Statick (2009) by Del the Funkee Homosapien

Day 14: Vampire Weekend (2008) by Vampire Weekend

Day 15: Best of Bootie 2005 (2005) by Various Artists

I don't have any posts for these albums yet, but I'll get back to them later. I'll try to post one new post per album a day.

The Comic Book

Now we get to the comic book, which I feel is one of the most misunderstood art forms out there. Most non-comic book readers assume it's all just superheroes and villains. Well...they're not. Don't get me wrong, I love superheroes, but I'm here to hopefully expose you to many more genres of comic books, including the superhero comic book.

Once again, I'm not posting reviews. Reviews are played out. Instead, think of this as a guide, where I'll explore some of my favorite comic books, posting general summaries and themes, what I like about the books, and recommendations for other books. My whole point is to open the doors to all sorts of comic books so you can make your own decision.

Since comic books take longer to read, I'll be posting these less often, but hopefully at least once a week. Also, I'm hoping that I'll be able to get other contributions from friends who read mangas to explore comic books on an international level.

Mission Debriefing

Your mission is to read this blog daily with an open mind. I'm not saying that my opinion isn't important or unimportant; YOUR opinion is important. Explore music and comic books, but explore all arts. I'm not saying that everything that's out there is good. There will be albums and comic books in this list that you won't like. But you won't know until you explore it for yourself.

Alright bruthas and sistas. Make sure your helmet is strapped on tight, seat belts securely fastened, and let's blow the lid of this joint.

Peace

The V for Ventura