Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Blast Radius

Ground zero
The moon tower marks the spot
Not too far from the state cemetery
At the intersection where cable cars used to stop
A block away from the offices of the N.A.A.C.P.
The mural is being restored as a kind of testimony

The blast radius
Gentrification spreads outwards
Progress, as viewed from one perspective
For many parts, indeed, had fallen into disrepair
But what is the fabric of communities?
And how much hollowing can a place bear
Before it loses its identity?

Change is turbulence
For the reverse is also true
Things - and places, are to be used
The inexorable logic of our economy
The foundation of land use theories
Displacement, a shedding of skin
The debates are about the nature of this new molting
Prosperity's impact on demography


Aziel Garcia restoring East Austin mural


Soundtrack for this note


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Writing log: September 22, 2022

Saturday, August 16, 2025

Paul Laurence, Soul Man

Soul man, Paul Laurence, is more known as a producer and keyboardist than for his solo efforts. I always found it surprising that he didn't break out given his impeccable bonafides. The keyboard and bass-driven funk. Propulsive boogie dance music even when mellow. Even the ballads groove.

An interesting Rhythm & Blues column by Nelson George in Billboard 1985 discusses the roots of Paul Laurence's dilemma. Long story short: timing is everything.

1985 was Paul Laurence's triumphant year. Having written Rock Me Tonight For Old Times Sake for Freddie Jackson, he'd essentially assured himself a Grammy and a firm place in the black music pantheon. Entire careers never reach such heights.

By then, he'd paid his dues writing for the likes of Melba Moore and Evelyn Champagne King. The success of Rock me Tonight meant he'd finally get his shot at his solo debut album, Haven't You Heard. Only, then, for the first single, She's Not A Sleaze to stall on radio play.

Why, then, was She's Not a Sleaze not a greater hit?

It features both Freddie Jackson and Lilo Thomas on vocals having fun over an infectious beat. Sonically, it sounds like an SOS Band joint guaranteeed to fill dancefloors. What happened here? Why would Nelson George call Paul Laurence a 'victim of circumstance'?

The pull quote: "'Sleaze'-y lyrics create a problem for Paul Laurence". In a sign of the times, a few musical directors - browbeaten by the scrutiny of the Parents Music Resource Center, misintepreted an innocuous lyric, "They called her Loose Lucy", and pulled the track from airplay.

As Paul Laurence rightly noted at the time:

"Guys like Prince have made a fortune out of suggestiveness, saying things on record I would never say. Yet because of the fallout, I and other artists, are going to take the weight".
And yes, even as The Purple One smiled his way through those years and never looked back, Paul Laurence was, indeed, collateral damage.

He was not wrong. Darling Nikki, and perhaps Erotic City, the previous year, famously aroused Tipper Gore causing the furore that lead to those explicit content stickers you still see on cd covers or the Scarlett E letter on your streaming services. Moral panics and such prompted by Prince.

But perhaps the damage wasn't so bad. The royalty checks he started cashing from Rock me Tonight were very real. The For Old Times Sake guaranteeed nostalgia. You don't always win everything in the creative arts. And as a palate cleanser, he then produced Putting A Rush On Me for Stephanie Mills.

Furthermore, he also topped that by taking Prince's Do me Baby and produced Meli'sa Morgan's cover version and album of the same. He wasn't resting on his laurels and, in tipping his hat to Prince, proved that game recognizes game.

1985 was before Nelson George would turn to calling the music that made his fame Rhythm and Bull. It was a time when he actually paid close attention to that strand of musicianship. Perhaps it was the shenanigans of the record companies that irked him rather than the music...

Also note Nelson George's scoop in his column: "Janet Jackson is recording part of her next album in Minneapolis with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis"

Paul Laurence's craft is immense; his is a solid body of work. Evelyn Champagne King, Melba Moore, Freddie Jackson, Meli'sa Morgan, Kashif, Howard Johnson, Keith Washington... Legends like George Benson, Smokey Robinson, Stephanie Mills.

And when it was the dawn of the New Jack Swing era, he came hard, I Ain't Wit It remains one of my favorite swingbeat joints. The album title, however, does say it all however; it would be his second, and last, solo album: Underexposed.

In later years, he would continue writing for Freddie Jackson and others, producing much of the same quality. So Fine by Howard Johnson would be an exemplar. Along with Kashif he would blaze a trail in the vein of soul music with the songcraft, always tailoring things for the artists he produced.

And he's still bringing heat these days (see No Matter How You Rock It featuring Vincent Matthew). Again, however, that track was lost in our covidious lockdown. Foiled by the pandemic, a victim of circumstance once again.

In a sense, Paul Laurence could be considered in the same mold as Leon Ware, a legend more renowned for his production (and gifts to the like of Marvin Gaye) than for his solo releases even though those are no less excellent.

{And perhaps like Leon Ware, the singers he produced were better vocalists than him. Although I'd counter that I quite like when he deploys his falsetto - and I'm an aficionado of falsettos)

To conclude, Paul Laurence is not exactly unsung, but he was certainly underexposed. As a soul man who lives and breathes music, he deserves all the plaudits. He's also a minor victim of circumstance, perhaps, in terms of fame, but then timing is everything.


Paul Laurence



Paul Laurence, a playlist


A soundtrack for this note, a poor man's discography. Sadly I can't see any music videos so you'll just have to soak in the sounds of Paul Laurence. (a less comprehensive spotify version)


This note is part of a series, One Track Mind. See previously: Baby Me by Chaka Khan

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Writing log: June 4, 2025

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Sensor Calibration

The problem is often couched as one of recognition
The difficulty, as it were, of sensor calibration
For if you can't measure a signal as a matter of first principle
If you can't detect accurately, you might as well be invisible

The auto-focus systems in cameras that can't detect those darker than blue
The pulse oximeters giving false hope - the all clear, to those with a darker hue
Training data, darker skin tones - unusual, light exposure
Biometrics, facial recognition, fingerprint sensors

Architectures of participation and control
Resigned to playing the tenuous outsider role
In this rigged game of life (and death) with ever changing rules
Arbitrary boundaries, when lines are drawn, borders can be cruel

For those excluded from the system, then, a matter of quiet advocacy
A liberation struggle of sorts, forever teaching others how to see
File under the banner of cultural sensitivity in technology
Sensor calibration and relief from the burden of invisibility


disassembled


Sensor Calibration, a playlist


A soundtrack for this note, fodder for sensitive souls (spotify version)

See previously Cultural Sensitivity in Technology and Empire State of Mind

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Writing log: September 21, 2022

Saturday, August 09, 2025

Involuntary Termination

Register now! A ninety minute session
For human resources professionals
Update your knowledge about redundancies
And learn about terminating employees safely

As the latest research has shown
The risks of a former employee filing discrimination charges
Increases significantly - and therein lies the danger,
After they are terminated involuntarily

Hence the importance of documentation
And having the right steps and procedures
When conducting disciplinary discussions
For a termination should be handled well

Active preparation makes good business sense
Writing and following a script to minimize legal risk
Helps you maintain employee morale and productivity
The benefits of effective termination practices


demolition in East Austin


Involuntary Termination, a playlist


A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)
Previously, in the same vein:

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Writing log: September 22, 2022

Monday, August 04, 2025

Drama, a Playlist

The type of song that hits the sweet spot of drama and dysfunction. The subject matter may be petty and sometimes trifling, but the lyrics are sung with verve and, tellingly, the song always strikes a nerve. You can't look most of these singers in the eye such are the stories they tell.

I give you Drama, a playlist (YouTube / Spotify version)

  • I Feel Like Breaking up Somebody's Home by Ann Peebles

    I'm genuinely scared of Ann Peebles, she really is to be feared. Her mixture of ferocity and vulnerability will disarm the most hardened of hearts. And Memphis soul never hurt so bad (that voice, Willie Mitchell's production! Those horns!)
     
     
  • If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night) by Meshell NdegeOcello

    Talk about petty. She'll take what she feels is hers and taunt you in the morning. Sexy and attention grabbing, she doesn't care. "Call me what you like", she sings. It may hurt, but those are the breaks; you learn as much on the playground.
     
  • Who is he (and what is he to you)? by Bill Withers

    Well, is the jealousy justified? Was the look innocent? "When you cleared your throat, was that your cue?" Soul's premier storyteller paints a picture of suspicion with restraint and economy.
     
  • The Rain by Oran "Juice" Jones

    Cinematic storytelling, he gets down to the sweet business of betrayal. The legendary breakdown is most quoted part of the song but the silky soul setup and refrain make it worth the payoff. "I saw you (and him) / walking in rain / you were holding hands and I'll / never be the same"
     
  • Me and Mrs Jones by Billy Paul

    The apotheosis of Philly soul is this classic tale of adultery. The poet laureate of human weakness is not ashamed about the "thing" they've got going on. This is grown folks business, matters of the heart must be attended to.
     
  • Don't Explain by Billie Holiday

    Lady Day shushes the scoundrel she's in love with. "Skip that lipstick, don't explain". The terseness of wounded feeling. Note the slight pause before she sings "right or wrong don't matter". The effort hurts. Talk about battered women syndrome.
     
  • If loving you is wrong I don't want to be right by Millie Jackson

    I prefer Millie's version of Luther Ingram's opus of longing. The Caught up album is choc full of drama, and with the reversal of perspective, she found the formula that made her reputation: the conflicted soul.
     
  • The Rap by Millie Jackson

    But then, unrepentant, she added The Rap, a monologue where she revels in being the other woman, outlining the subversive pleasures in wearing the scarlet letter. And society's disapproval can hardly hold a candle to the excitement of the affair.
     
  • Yu-ma / Go away little boy by Marlena Shaw

    Relationships aren't easy by any measure. When your man quits his job, you can certainly understand why a diva like Gwen Guthrie would sing "Ain't nothing going on but the rent". Here, on the other hand, Marlena Shaw holds court, "Go away little boy", she sings. And how she sings. But, one wonders, does she really mean it?
     
  • Creepin' by Stevie Wonder

    The departure here is not of betrayal but of sweet obsession. By inclination, our greatest songwriter was more uplifting and personal in his writing. He simply can't get her out of his mind. And the chorus does the same duty as an earworm.
     
  • Woman to Woman by Shirley Brown

    Dysfunction laid bare, the phone call with the other woman. The song that spawned dozens of answer records. The back and forth with Barbara Mason and others made this the definitive talking piece. The rarefied heights of drama.
     
  • Hope she cheats on you (with a basketball player) by Marsha Ambrosius

    Bitter, petty, and endowed with a highly specific vindictiveness. Cross her at your peril. If this is what the reaction is like when she's "just a little bitter", god help you. A woman scorned, she sets a new standard for righteous fury.
     
sculpture


  • Down here in hell (with you) by Van Hunt

    Genius songwriting. I mean "What would I do if we were perfect? / Where would I go for disappointment?" is hard to top. Messy and complicated. A strange relationship for the ages
     
  • Creepin' by Luther Vandross

    By this stage, Luther was showing off. First doing the definitive cover of Brenda Russell's If only for one night then outdoing Stevie Wonder, no less, on the very next song. And check out the call and response with Darlene Love on background vocals. Creepin'
     
  • Next lifetime by Erykah Badu

    The heart desires, but practicalities arise. Timing is everything. Dilemmas of the "awkward situation". In life as in her art, Erykah Badu's entanglements are legendary. Call her the Elizabeth Taylor of the hip hop world, the best rappers were all moths to her flame.
     
  • She's got papers on me by Richard "Dimples" Fields

    The classic tall tale of the conflicted cad. Dimples's soft voice is perfectly pitched, the voice of a the set-upon. Then Betty Wright walks in on him hearing him pine for someone else and lays down the law. Yes, she's got papers on him. And rightly so!
     
  • I Hate U by Prince

    Prince goes all-in and even takes it to the courtroom, a funny prosecution of heartfelt jealousy. The breakdown is worth the wait. There's a remix with Eric Leed's flute that leavens the bitterness of the original somewhat. Also: that guitar solo at the end...
     
  • You know I'm no good by Amy Winehouse

    Confessing upfront her fickleness, she's the very definition of trouble. Guilty as charged, yet you still can't resist the pleasures and turmoil she promises. She's a diva. Well, what did you expect?
     
  • Tyrone by Erykah Badu

    The reaction of the crowd the first time they heard this song live overwhelms. This was manna for the Essence crowd. Erykah took it to the streets. She's done with you. Surely you know who to call
     
  • The girl is mine by Michael Jackson

    "Michael, we're not going to fight"
    "Paul, I think I told you, I'm a lover not a fighter."


    Even if you thought that the song was syrupy or that MJ had lost his mind, you couldn't help imagining the spectacle
     
  • Busted by The Isley Brothers

    You really can't avoid R Kelly when it comes to musical drama and this production of Ronald Isley is the prototype for the later Trapped in the closet series. Aimed straight at the chitlin circuit.
     
  • I don't want to do wrong by Gladys Knight & the Pips

    Decisions decisions. The secret sauce lies in the call and response. The tension in the blues, the interplay with the Pips. "I just can't help myself"
     
  • You could have had me, Baby by Esther Phillips

    From an album titled Black-Eyed Blues which announces just how problematic things will be. Like Etta James, her subject matter is trouble, love and loathing. The album closes with Tangle in your Lifeline which says it all as far as dysfunction goes.
     
  • I am your woman. She is your wife by Barbara Mason

    Why do people do this to themselves? Infidelity is an inherently unstable affair (pun intended) but Barbara fully embraces it. "You want your cake and eat it too". Consider also "From his woman to you", her answer record to Shirley Brown's Woman to woman.
     
Madam Long Mouth & Mrs Big Ear - every time talk talk


  • Jolene by Dolly Parton

    Taking matters into her own hands, begging Jolene to "please don't take my man / even if you can". That she manages to sell the idea that she, Dolly Parton, would play second fiddle to anyone is testament to her ear for drama
     
  • After the pain by Betty Wright

    She still loves him despite everything. The soundtrack of rationalization. She actually sings "Don't blame Mr. Charlie, Mr. Charlie is just a man. And he's doing the best he can". I mean, we need an intervention here, come on.
     
  • If loving you is wrong I don't want to do right by Luther Ingram

    1972 was a good year for adultery. Sounding the same theme as Me and Mrs Jones, Luther is not willing to compromise for anything, for she means that much to him. All obligations, vows and responsibilities be damned.
     
  • You can have him by Nancy Wilson

    Some say Nina Simone, but I go with Nancy Wilson's interpretation of Irving Berlin's song. The delusion is strong with this one. Regret is all, I don't even believe the words for one second. She's stuck on him
     
  • The other woman by Nina Simone

    Minimalist storytelling, four verses that trace the now familiar arc of disappointment. The bridge?
    And when her old man comes to call
    He'll find her waiting like a lonesome queen
    'Cause when she's by his side
    It's such a change from old routine
  • Clean Up Woman by Betty Wright

    Featuring the immortal break beat, her's is the cautionary tale of "making it easy for the clean up woman". It's an odd perspective really and quite reactionary too: regret and the blame game for dumping the man.
     
  • In My Bed by Dru Hill

    Goldilocks and the Three Bears revisited, Sisqó and company made the most of the ubiquity of this club classic. Even today, dance floors fill up immediately at the bass line. "Somebody's sleeping in my bed". Let the bump and grind begin. Drama
     
  • Shaniqua by Oran Juice Jones

    She turned him out. The player persona couldn't stand contact with this fly girl. Shaniqua got him whooped, turned him into a square and put his pimp days behind him, By the end, The Juice even admits he's "straighter than six o'clock". Big Daddy Kane sympathizes with him.

    I just discovered that he actually shot a video back in 1990, albeit it's the edited version of the song, without Kane's rap (Kane does make an appearance in the video). Still, who knew?
     
  • The Boy is Mine by Monica and Brandy

    The ménage-a-trois here is trifling, the stakes are not so high. One wonders if the titular boy is even worth fighting over. The vocal performances are the real battle in this case. Fighting words, perhaps, but I prefer Monica, she has a little spite in her approach. Brandy is all sugar.
     
  • Sh*t Damn, Motherf*cker by D'Angelo

    It starts with "Why are you sleepin' with my woman?" and devolves from there. Caught, busted. The sound of jealous rage is the old favorite trope of the blues, revived here for the hip-hop age. The last line is genius
     
  • Saved by the Bell by Roy C

    A very knowing comic masterpiece, a tall tale about the goings on in Infidelity, Georgia. The Wife would complain when I used to play this song in front of the kids. I demurred, the humour is universal even if racy. Effortless storytelling.
     
  • Just be good to me by The S.O.S. Band

    The things we do for love, the things we'll put up with. I'll end with this vintage Jam and Lewis soul concoction. Problematic lyrics. Drama:
    People always talking 'bout reputation
    I don't care about your other girls
    Just be good to me
    And so forth.
     
laff with jo mini - private secretary - talking drums 1985-10-14 page 19


Drama, a playlist (YouTube / Spotify version)


See previously: Love, a playlist

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Writing log: March 28, 2024