The FOCUS: mixes are a culmination of almost everything that influences me musically. This presented a problem when it came to naming them. How could I convey at first glance what these mixes were about? I mean, they change so much - one day i'm doing classic house, then I'm doing rare funk, then I'm doing acid jazz, then i'm doing 80's, then I'm doing dubplates - i'm a mess...
----CHECK OUT MY RESUME!----
So you know what? I just named the mixes FOCUS: - there! That should fix it! I'll just add whatever mood I'm in to the end of it. For example, if you look/listen to the right, the FOCUS: is CLASSIC HOUSE. However, next month it could be Dancehall...or jazz...or Classic Rock - I'm everybody's DJ, yet I'm NOBODY'S DJ! I never know what I'm finna do next, ain't that exciting?
Let's listen...but before you do that...
----CHECK OUT MY RESUME!----
(lemme know if you hear anything!)
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June 21st, 2008
My musical influences? Where do I start? I was born in 73, but my musical interests suggest that perhaps I died young in the 60's and reincarnated almost immediately (lol). I mean, I'm a Pink Floyd fan for God's sake (Meddle is my favorite PF album). I was nowhere near any of these legendary clubs or scenes, and it's not like we listened to that stuff in OUR house, so let's explore...
Let's start with one of my great escapes - Classic Jazz. Yes I said it - CLASSIC JAZZ. I'm talking Art Blakey, John Coltrane (featured on my Java Mix 5 - check it out!), T. Monk, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Wes Montgomery, Horace Silver, Kenny Dorham - oh I could go on, but you get it...now that's REAL jazz (none of that insipid watery 
bourgieblack contemporary remake drivel that you hear on "jazz stations" nowadays). Despite my distaste for some of the jazz scene, Jimmy Smith said it best on his "Off The Top" album (f George Benson, Ron Carter, Grady Tate, and Stanley Turrentine), "Jazz is the only real music that's gonna last, all that other bulls**t is here today and gone tomorrow..."
Now this brings me back to one of my other loves - Classic Rock!! Yes! I love me some America (who doesn't?), Lynrd Skynrd (is that so wrong?), Grand Funk Railroad, Led Zeppelin, the Doors, Strontium 19 (who are they? The Police before they were the Police!), Procul Harum, Country Joe & The Fish, Fleetwood Mac. Now that leads me into ANYTHING from the 80's - I mean, shit - Dire Straits, Tony Basil, Kajagoogoo, a-ha, Loverboy, Joe Jackson, Prince, Michael (the black one), Tears for Fears, Men At Work, The Cars, J Geils Band, Peter Gabriel, Human League, Simple Minds, Toto, Thomas Dolby, The Police, Wang Chung, Culture Club, Billy Idol, The Fixx, Yes, INXS, Hall & Oates, oh jeez - lemme just stop it right there...but before i go on...
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MOST IMPORTANT!!! - You can take what you want from me, but don't you TOUCH my Reggae/Dubplates/Early Dancehall!! Nah touch! What y'all know about Johnny Osbourne, Little John, Admiral Bailey, U-Roy, King Jammy, Barrington Levy, Nitty Gritty, Pad Anthony, Beres Hammond, Gregory Isaacs, Nicodemus, 
Chaka Demus, Delroy Wilson, Roots Radics, Denroy Morgan, Josey Wales, Eccleton Jarrett, Half Pint, Jacob Miller & Third World, King Kong, Bob Marley (of course), Wailing Souls, Treasure Isle Dubs, the Heptones, the Abyssinians, Lone Ranger, Barry Brown, Clint Eastwood, General Saint, Yellowman, Jimmy Cliff, - WHEW! And how about Rockers the Movie? With Horsemouth and Jacob Miller and Gregory Isaacs, etc.?? Check out Rewind Vol. I for Dancehall classics from cats like Tenor Saw, Sister Nancy, Spanner Banner, Shabba Ranks, Foxy Brown and others!!! Free Download!!
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Now. Let's talk about Classic House. Ok, you're probably thinking Raze, Mr. Fingers, Liz Torres, etc. - yeah, we'll get to them later - right now we're gonna go back to before it was called house music. Before the 4/4 became the signature for house music. Before all this insipid greed inspired anal genre classification. When Nicky Siano 
(Gallery, NYC), Larry Levan (Paradise Garage, NYC), Frankie Knuckles (The Warehouse, NYC), Tony Humphries (Zanzibar, NJ), & *David Mancuso (the Loft, NYC), all ruled the club scene with tunes like "Girl You Need A Change Of Mind" by Eddie Kendricks, ANYthing by First Choice, Cymande, Chakachas, Booker T & The MG's, James Brown, MFSB, O'Jays, Loleatta Holloway, - oh I could go on forever...BUT...back to Liz and alla dem...go to the FOCUS:DJ page to hear/download CLASSIC HOUSE II!! Go! And by the way...
----CHECK OUT MY RESUME!----
(lemme know if you hear anything!)
Let's not forget my coming of age - Old School Hip Hop! Stetsasonic, Sparky D, Roxanne Shante, Real Roxanne, UTFO, Marley Marl, BDP, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, LL, Kool Moe Dee, MC Lyte, Ultramagnetic MC's, Audio Two, Brand Nubian, Cash Money & Marvelous, Three Times Dope (I KEPT a gumby), Public Enemy, Eric B. & Rakim, Fat Boys, Jungle 
Brothers, Slick Rick, Supa Lova Cee & Casanova Rud, Newcleus, Afrika Bambaata & the Soulsonic Force, Treacherous Three, Sweet Tee (remember the Winley's?), MC Shan, - lawd, imma just stop...
So THAT oughtta learn ya - don't be asking me no foolishness about music thinking i'm too young to know mah stuff- next time imma go git a switch!
*um, yes I know there are more, but shit, i only got so much space...
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June 21st, 2008
