I am struggling.  I've been struggling for a good while.  I'm pretty sure we all struggle at points in life.  The speedbumps that motivate us to do better.  My struggle has been with the job, career path and real fulfillment, and I have been seeking, researching, meditating, all the "INGS."  But the one place I find sanctuary, even if only temporarily, is on Monday 11 am - 2 pm, broadcasting on WWOZ. 

    The feelings or emotions I may be dwelling on seem to melt away as I climb the stairs to the WWOZ studio.  The songs and artists begin to bubble in my mind's cauldron.  What are we going to listen to today? What am I stewing and grooving on?  This past Monday, I was feeling mellow (the struggling thing,) but calm, so that's how the show began its flow.  Jimmy Thackery and John Mooney doing "I'll Comming Running Back,"  from their record, Sideways in Paradise.  A beautiful album, recorded on a front porch of a Jamaican villa (how about that for atmosphere.)  I close my eyes and can feel the breeze coming off the trees as I lean on the railing of that villa.  I am relaxed and feeling nothing but the songs.  Immediately, Sam Cooke comes to mind as the next tune., and probably more than one song.  "I'll come running back," was Cooke's first secular hit,  recorded in 1957 here in New Orleans.  The two songs are the spontaneous magic of music.  Not only the songs themselves but how they connect to one another.  Mooney/Thackery flow very easily into Cooke that slides into John Boutte,( He was singing on a Mark McGrain song, but it still gets the feel across.)  Boutte is my Sam Cooke of New Orleans today.  The connections have been feeling and Sam Cooke, through time and song, and most importantly, New Orleans.  

      Sometimes, the connection may be represented in other ways.  New Orleans Nightcrawlers - Meschiya Lake & The Little Big Horns - Bionica - Sweet Crude - New Orleans Rhythm Conspiracy.  My goal was to incorporate Bionica's "Our Town."  Bionica was a new discovery for me and an exciting one because I was hearing musicians pushing envelopes.  As a music explorer, hearing new sounds or new combinations is an adrenaline rush.  What's That? How are they making those sounds? I'm smiling or I'm thinking wondering, excited curiosity.   Bionica also has a Gang of Four and Stereolab feel.  The game I was playing was how to find the right Bionica song that will fit on the show.  I have an image of the folks I think are listening, but really I have no idea.  So, I need Meschiya Lake and Sweet Crude as "buffers" easing in and out of Bionica.  On the ends are two New Orleans bands with rhythm-heavy songs.  The Rhythms help relax and if you let them, will take you places, if you follow the beats.  

   Inbetween or sometimes the whole show will have my New Orleans "hits."  The Artists (Allen Toussaint, The Meters etc.) the sounds (Brass band, or Mardi Gras Indians) helping to define MY New Orleans.  These songs can never be forgotten.  We can better and understand the new music by keeping the past alive through the music and songs and learn from them. The glue and tree trunks that hold up the music that is being made now.  Like I said, 11M-2PM is a magical place for me on Monday's and I get to share it with you.  

The playlist can be found at:

https://spinitron.com/radio/playlist.php?station=wwoz&sv=l&playlist=2427...