What put West Coast rapping on a larger map was an undeniable hit. But with the benefit of hindsight, we’re able to see that N.W.A. was substantially worse than the sum of its parts. Ice Cube didn’t reach his potential until he got mad, after he left. There’s an opinion that Eazy-E was similarly better off without the…

Hey! How bout them Bears, huh? Happy times at the dog palace! (We will not be speaking of the Saints any time soon….)

Happy 70, Neil.

To paraphrase Kurtis, “these are (where the) breaks! (are from).”

A wicked groove from bill withers. Who is he (and what is he to you)

An awesome Friday night groove for a Tuesday. Junior Parker “taxman”. If I’m not mistaken I think Cypress hill’s ‘I wanna get high’ took a sample from the beginning of the song

I know the feeling. This is a great track from Gang of Four.

Patsy Cline would’ve been 83 today.

A catchy tune written by Tommy James and performed by the band Alive and Kicking, “Tighter, Tighter”.

You should tell me about your first time in this open thread.

Dave Clark was a baseball player and he never wore number 5.

Again:

One of my favorite albums ever. The bass in Black Man’s Cry, my God.

We were late for my cousin’s now defunct wedding because my brother had to spend the morning looking for his wallet in a neighbours garden, amongst his vomit. STRAYA!

Your post was great. I hadn’t seen or heard that particular one, and you are so right about how unbelievably tight they played. This is my favorite JB cover. It’s A Man’s World. Dude had quite the reputation. This song, though, so awesome.

Get Up Offa That Thing. A collection of the Godfather breaking it down.

James Brown on synth?

Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac with “Black Magic Woman”, a song Green wrote and would later give to his friend, Carlos Santana.

S.L. Price’s Heart of the Game centered on the incident that killed Mike Coolbaugh and the devastating effect it had on Tino Sanchez, the batter whose line drive killed Coolbaugh. Excellent, but very sombering, read.