Top 10 Forgotten Early MTV-Era Songs
Here are my top 10 songs from MTV’s first few years that seem to have been all but forgotten even by those with nostalgic memories of that era.
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Cooking Failures and their Lessons, Volume 1
This entry begins a series of posts about different sorts of kitchen calamities and the corresponding lessons. In honor of the forthcoming holiday season, the first entry focuses on two meals that helped me learn how NOT to cook for a special event.
Continue ReadingTop 10 Stevie Wonder Tracks
I love Stevie Wonder so much that coming up with a Top 10 list for him is really hard – hard to even know how to approach it. So I have ultimately decided on approaching it as the top 10 tracks I cannot imagine living without.
Continue ReadingBasic Garlicky Kale (and other greens)
I love kale and other leafy greens, and for reasons I’ll explain in a little bit, this is something of a miracle. With a little flexibility, this basic technique can be applied to a number of green things, which is great because a) it tastes really good and b) contains only 4 ingredients (5 if you count water, I guess) and is very simple to make.
Continue ReadingShould I Study at a Conservatory?
Every year around this time, I have students on the verge of big decisions. Some of them are undergrads considering grad school and, perhaps even more potently, some of them are teenagers considering music school, which entails the dual debate of whether to pursue a career in music AND how best to do so. The…
Continue ReadingTop 10 R&B Duo or Group Vocal Performances
Marvin and Tammi, the Isleys, Four Tops, Impressions and some surprises . . .
Continue Readingbaked falafel and the veggieburger conundrum
I’ve figured out how to make good falafel without frying it (!) and I think I figured out how to translate the concept into making veggie burgers that avoid most of the usual pitfalls (!!).
Continue ReadingTop 10 R&B Female Vocal Performances
This was a fun list to compile. Note that there is a separate category for duo/group performances, so some folks whose omission may seem puzzling will appear there. And here we go with our surprise #1 . . . 1. Fontella Bass: “Rescue Me” I went out on a bit of a limb by putting…
Continue ReadingCornbread
I loves me some cornbread, and this is my fallback recipe. Virtually guaranteed to be a hit.
Continue ReadingTop 10 Albums That Have “Stuck With Me”
After taking a few days off from Facebook, I returned to find that many of my friends (both musicians and not) are posting lists of their top 15 albums that will “always stick with you.” Obviously I enjoy lists and enjoy talking about music that’s important to me. So to have my cake and eat it too, I’m turning that into a top 10 list.
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