fripodding and office space

So it’s Friday again, and we all know what that means…

Pay day? (Not for me.) Pizza for lunch at school? (Perhaps for those schools that are still open on Friday.) TGIF on ABC? (Does that still come on anymore?) New movies in theaters? (Well… yeah, but how often do I go to the movies on a Friday for a new release? …That soon may change though.)

Basically, it’s time for my friPod iPick brought to you by my iPod iSaac. [This is where I’d have my in-house band play a little jingle as the previous words animate themselves on the screen.]

Today’s pick really should’ve been last Friday’s pick. And I’ll tell you why–I bought the CD last Friday and didn’t listen to it until AFTER I wrote about Al Green. Now don’t get me wrong, I would’ve still iPicked Al Green’s Stay With Me, but just not that day. I recently made a Genius playlist from it too. But these things happen for a reason. And it makes sense that I waited, and really got to get into this new album. What album do I speak of?

I highly recommend you run and pick up a copy of this masterpiece. Most of you know of my endless search for today’s artist with yesterday’s sound. That Motowny, classic R&B sounds from the 60’s… like The Tempts, Marvin, Smokey, Diana, Four Tops, etc. Joss Stone made the list. Solange made the list. Leela James made the list. I’d even say John Legend made the list. Raphael Saadiq is the list. I couldn’t stop listening to this album. I was watching TV and every commercial break I’d switch on iSaac featuring any of the 13 songs from this CD. I will quickly complain about 1 thing I disliked about this nigh-perfect album… It’s too short. I don’t seriously mind the songs being as short as they are. Again, that’s how the songs were back then. But this CD clocks in UNDER an hour. HEY! Compact discs can have up to 74 minutes! And probably more with today’s technology! Let’s fill it up! I want more! You could have like 21 songs, Saadiq! C’MON! Growl…

So, this is a CD I can listen to all day long and barely skip a track. I’ve been iPoding it all week. So it’s hard to pick just one. So I’ll pick three. The first one that caught my attention is actually one of the last songs (and for good reason–save the best for last): Sometimes. This song channels my hero Sam Cooke to a wonderful degree. I was sensing A Change is Gonna Come. No doubt this is a song I’ll memorize and sing to myself. Next… Big Easy which is an upbeat fast moving song and an obvious tribute to New Orleans and what happened with Katrina. I couldn’t get past the instruments to get that message, but that’s why I listen to songs over and over again. Between that jazzy feel this song has and feeling like you are at a jazzy night club, this could easily be one my favorite songs. My third choice would be Calling which has one of those 60’s slow jam vibes to it. The earliest song I can think of is Jerry Butler’s For Your Precious Love. I actually made a whole playlist of songs past and present that have that sound. Again, it’s in the instruments. But this also has a slight latin twist with some Spanish speaking lady soothing the ears of the listen, probably telling the guy why she isn’t answering his call. It’s a wee bit sad, but I love this song.

I could sit here and tell you about each track, but I won’t. It’s rare that I find a CD I can listen to from beginning to end and just… love it. But this one has done it. Instant classic and throwback to that classic 60’s 70’s R&B sounds. Oh, and Stevie Wonder is on this too! I can’t tell you enough how awesome this CD is! Eargasms all around! I even put the picture of the album up. But we’ll move on.

So I decided to finally post a pciture of my new wall. I forget the official Japanese name for it, but here it is.

It’s not the best picture, but I was rushing. I took it at night so I could utilize the lights on my desk to show the bamboo design. You see 5 panels, but there’s actually 6. I recently moved it again so you can see it. I didn’t take pictures yet. But I will.

I want to talk about the news, but I’ll save it for later. What news-worthy topics do I feel like sharing? What else? Politics and the economy. Instead of getting deep into discussion, I’m just going to leave my opinion for both issues in one word that I will elaborate on later: inevitable.