Peppermint Patty is a Peanut

We don't have Song of the Day anymore--even when I'm home the BG gets herself up now--but I started something similar last week.

My office is on the fifth floor of an apartment building.. It's actually two large apartments that have been connected. My guess is that the tenants are equally divided between businesses--lawyer, dentist, "agrominerals" (?)--and residents.

I walk up the stairs every morning, and last week I decided to try freestyle rapping up the stairs. "I'm on the one, like my name was James Brown, you've got to go up if you want to get down." was my first line I think, and I've had fun with it all last week. It's absolutely amazing what you can come up with on the spot: things that would just never occur to you.

Anyway, today, I cheated a little bit. I started thinking about the rap as I was walking down the street. I had the first couplet in my head when I was still a block away. After I unlocked the door, I started. For the purpose of the verse, it's important to know that in Serbia, what we would call the second floor is the first:

You don't start at one around her, it's zero.
I'm talkin' to you like I was Robert Deniro.
You take one to get one and then you're there,
Finally making sense of the whole affair.
After eight is a mint, after one it's two,
Peppermint patty is a peanut, who
chills with Charlie Brown, but isn't friends with Linus,

I had something about "your highness" coming but "Peppermint Patty is a peanut" cracked me up and I spent the rest of the trip congratulating myself on my cleverness.

I Love the 80s

Serbian radio stations--at least the ones I hear--seem to be stuck in the 1980s. Since those were my salad days (and Yugoslavia's as well, I suppose), that's not such a bad thing, but sometimes it can get a little ridiculous. Yesterday, at my hotel in Nis at breakfast, and while I was doing some work in the lobby, I heard the following chestnuts, among others:

• Gary Numan, Cars
• Sheena Easton, Morning Train
• J. Geils band, Freeze Frame
• Quarterflash, Harden My heart
• Toto, Rosanna
• Tommy Tutone, 867-3509
• Laura Brannigan, Gloria
• Flock of Seagulls, I Ran

That playlist arguably demands a post, but a subsequent event sealed the deal. In a conversation with the Chief Judge of the Basic Court, it somehow came up that he was a music expert, and he spent some time telling me what a vibrant scene the town had, particularly in the 1980s. When I mentioned the radio programming, he nodded knowingly:

"Oh yes, that European pop was huge," he told me. "Kajagoogoo was extremely popular."

I couldn't manage the witty riposte that formed on the tip of my tongue about one-hit wonders. Too shy, I suppose.

Song of the Day

I know it's only been one day since the last post of this nature, but I'm so pleased with today's edition that I had to share:

If you want time for your cereal
Than you better get up, do you hear me girl;
Saying why must I be awake?
Hey! Must be the morning.

Song of the Day--European Remix

My daughter lies over the ocean
My daughter must not oversleep
My song's in the form of a blog post
Please wake up my daughter for me.

Wake up
Wake up

Wake up my daughter for me, for me

Wake up
Wake up

'Cause it's time for school, Love,  Big D.

Big D is Jumpin'

A Slate article today about the untimely death of one of the members (Mack Daddy) of 90s hip hop group Kris Kross discusses the popularity of songs about jumping throughout our history, That seems like an invitation to share this playlist, which I made for the OG to celebrate February 29th last year.

Aztec Camera	Jump
Aretha Franklin	Jump
Kriss Kross	Jump
House of Pain	Jump Around
Pointer Sisters	Jump
Flo Rida (feat Nelly Furtado)	Jump
House of Pain	Jump Around
Count Basie	One O’Clock Jump
Brian Setzer Orchestra	Jump Jive and Wail
Harry Belafonte	Jump in the Line
Sugar Hill Gang	Jump On It
Jacksons	Jump for Joy
Jr. Walker and the All Stars	Monkey Jump
Koko Taylor	Jump for Joy
Cab  Calloway	Jumpin’ Jive
Fats Waller	The Joint is Jumpin’
Joe Jackson	Jumpin’ Jive

If you're a Spotify user, here's a link to the playlist.

Song of the Day

Why do I, suddenly appear,
Every day, up in here;
Just like me
You need to be
Waking up.

This is What's Going On

Speaking of Marvin Gaye's better work, the OG just purchased her first record to play on the MP3 turntable Young Jeezy gave her for Christmas. How much fun it was to put the needle on the record and peruse the pictures, lyrics and other information on the album cover and liner notes. Makes me wanna holler in a good way.

I also learned via the Internet (an excellent complement to liner notes) that Detroit Lions Lem Barney and Mel Farr (who went on to become well known Detroit car salesman Mel Farr Superstar) sing backup on the song.

30 Years Ago in Pop...

I was in 12th Grade on January 22, 2013. If you asked me what the kids were listening to back then, I would have acknowledged Thriller, by Michael Jackson, but also Prince, Run DMC, The English Beat, the Police and various other new wave and rap dilettantes. Arena rock was dead and the world was a better place.

Coverville has a show out featuring covers of the Billboard top songs of the day, and I was excited to fire it up on Friday at the Y. Ye Gods, as Grandma Anna would say. Was it really this bad? Were we not the tastemakers we styled ourselves to be. Check out the list of songs:

Title	Original Artist
Heartbreaker	Dionne Warwick
Kitty (Mickey)	Racey
Rock the Casbah	Clash
Baby Come To Me	Patti Austin with James Ingram
Maneater	Hall & Oates
Africa	Toto
Sexual Healing	Marvin Gaye
Dirty Laundry	Don Henley
The Girl Is Mine	Michael Jackson
Down Under	Men At Work

Not exactly the Golden Age is it? I'm a little weary of Maroon 5, Pink and Ne Yo on Pulse 102, but I'm not sure I prefer this group. I will say that, of this list, the only two songs in my Library are the Clash and Marvin Gaye, and both represent great artists past their prime, who have done much better work. In fact, the former has risen in my view from "they're ok" (1983 me) to "they are one of the best bands ever (2013 me). I highly recommend the Box Set.

When You're Ready for More Cookies...

I wrote earlier this month about my variation on Alton Brown's chocolate chip cookie, and today, as we get back into the grind after two days off (the holiday plus a teacher development day yesterday) I tried another one of his recommendations, and the poetry of it is so perfect that I thought I would share it.

The basic idea is that, rather than putting the last sheet of cookies into the oven, you put them into the freezer. The next day, you can take them off the parchment and put them in a plastic bag for later use. When you're ready for more cookies (don't you just love the way that sounds?) take the bag out of the freezer and arrange the cookies on a sheet.

Put the sheet in the oven and set it to 375. The cookies will thaw while the oven heats up and then cook as normal, so the total time is whatever time it takes to preheat your oven (ours helpfully beeps when it hits the desired temp) plus 10 minutes for the baking.

The elegance of this recipe speaks to me, and I'm also keen to try making mini-batches in the toaster oven. But for today, the Gs came downstairs to the smell of freshly baked (though pre-made) cookies. Recompense for the Song of the Day, which channeled the BG's beloved Taylor Swift:

I knew you were sleeping when I walked in,
And that's just wrong.
I need you to get up out of your bed,
So heed my song:

Song of the Day

Stop your sleeping right now,
Better think of your future.
It's Two thousand thirteen,
Time to wake up for school.

Evie, I'm waking you up Evie.
I'm waking you up Evie.

Sugar Hill to Compton

When we returned from England in 1981, I discovered Prince through some of the older guys on the basketball team. This led me to the local R&B station in Detroit, WJLB, which, in addition to funk, had the Sugar Hill Gang's Apache and The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, in heavy rotation. These were soon followed by, among others, Run DMC and the Def Jam records family, and my love for hip hop was born. I loved the rhymes, the boasting, the beats, and everything about the culture.

1984-87 was a bit of a gap for me, as no-one at U of T liked that music and there was no radio station playing it. At Notre Dame, MTV's Yo MTV Raps helped to fill in some of the gaps, and introduced me to the Native Tongues Family, most notably De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, whose erudite rhymes and adventurous sampling ushered in another new era for the genre.

In the period of 1990-95, I finally bought a cd player and began to put together a collection, a practice made easier by the appearance of lots of "old school" compilations. Hip Hop is a format dominated by singles and many of the now classic songs appear on hastily assembled bad albums. It was also the heyday of West Coast rap and the various feuds were played out on the Video Jukebox Network, a 900 number service that allowed you to select a video from their library and put into the station's queue for play on their cable channel. My collection was later enhanced by the magic of peer-to-peer file sharing and the Internet, and my knowledge was similarly augmented by the rise of podcasting.

All of this led me to put together a compilation for my 21 year-old niece as part of our Secret Santa exchange last Sunday. I tried to organize it roughly chronologically, along the following lines: Old School; Def Jam/New York; Native Tongues; Early 90s; Gangsta. There aren't too many deep cuts or obscure numbers, but if you wanted to introduce someone to the rise of rap and its cultural high points from the beginning up until 1995, this, I think, would do the job pretty decently:

Sugar Hill to Compton: The Ancient History of Hip Hop, According to Big D

The Sugar Hill Gang,Rapper's Delight

The Sugar Hill Gang, Apache

Afrika Bambaataa And Soul Sonic Force, Renegades Of Funk

Afrika Bambaataa, Zulu Nation Throwdown

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Superappin

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, The Message

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, New York, New York

Kurtis Blow, The Breaks

Kurtis Blow, Christmas Rappin'

Kurtis Blow. Basketball

Slick Rick, Children's Story

Newcleus, Jam on It

Egyptian Lover. Egypt, Egypt--Egyptian Lover

King Tee, Payback's A Mutha

U.T.F.O, Roxanne Roxanne

Chubb Rock, Treat 'Em Right

MC Breed, Ain't No Future In Yo' Frontin'

Lady B, To the beat y'all

Rock Master Scott & The Dynamic Three, Request Line

Funky Four Plus One, That's the Joint

Run-D.M.C., King Of Rock

Run-D.M.C., Sucker M.C.'s (Krush-Groove 1)

Run-D.M.C., It's Tricky

Fat Boys, Fat Boys

The Beastie Boys, No Sleep Till Brooklyn

The Beastie Boys, Shake Your Rump

LL Cool J, I Can't Live Without My Radio

LL Cool J, Mama Said Knock You Out

3rd Bass, Wordz Of Wizdom

Biz Markie, Turn Tha Party Out

MC Lyte, Cold Rock A Party (Bad Boy Remix)

Eric B. & Rakim, Paid In Full

EPMD, I`m Housing

Rob Base, It Takes Two

Roxaanne Shante, Have A Nice Day

Pete Rock & CL Smooth, They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y)

Big Daddy Kane, Warm It Up, Kane

Heavy D & The Boyz, Don't Curse

Kid 'N Play, Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody

De La Soul, Eye Know

De La Soul, Me Myself And I

De La Soul, A Roller Skating Jam Named ''Saturdays''

Jungle Brothers, Feelin' Alright

Jungle Brothers, Doin' Our Own Dang

A Tribe Called Quest, Check The Rhime

A Tribe Called Quest, Electric Relaxation

A Tribe Called Quest, Can I Kick It?

Brand Nubian, All For One

Black Sheep, The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)

Black Sheep, Flavor Of The Month

Monie Love, Monie In The Middle

Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Dr. Bombay

Digital Underground, Doowutchyalike

KMD, Nitty Gritty (Remix)

The Pharcyde, Ya Mama

Arrested Development, People Everyday

Stetsasonic, Talkin' All That Jazz

Guru, Loungin'

The Fugees, Nappy Head

Naughty By Nature, O.P.P.

Queen Latifah, Latifah's Had It Up To Here

Public Enemy, Fight The Power

95 South, Whoot, There It Is

Duice, Dazzey Duks

The Beastie Boys, Root Down

Coolio, Fantastic Voyage

Us3, Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)

Wreckx-N-Effect, Rump Shaker

Tag Team, Whoomp There It Is

Young MC, Bust A Move

Outkast, Rosa Parks

Das EFX, They Want EFX

Patra, Queen Of The Pack

Salt-n-Pepa, Shoop

M.C. Luscious, Boom! I Got Your Boyfriend

Digable Planets, Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)

Naughty By Nature, Hang Out And Hustle

George Clinton, Bop Gun (One Nation)

N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton

N.W.A., Fuck Tha Police

N.W.A., Express Yourself

Dr. Dre, Nuthin' But A "G" Thang

Eazy-E, Real Muthaphuckkin G's

Eazy-E, We Want Eazy

Snoop Dogg, Gin And Juice

Cypress Hill, Insane In The Brain

Too $hort, Money In The Ghetto

Ice-T, New Jack Hustler

The Notorious B.I.G., Big Poppa

The Notorious B.I.G., Juicy

2Pac, California Love

2Pac, Changes

Too Short

Listening to Saturday's WeFunk, a guest DJ played Too Short's Money in the Ghetto, a song that was in Heavy Rotation when we were watching the Box on Independence Avenue Southeast in 1993. Some of the lyrics came in handy later, when I was teaching a young OG who those faces on the bills were. She can still recite the rhyme:

On the one dollar bill if you look on the front
You'll find the face of George Washington.
Make money baby, that's all I do,
That's why I know Thomas Jefferson is on the two.
Abraham Lincoln got shot and died,
Freed the slaves, so they put him on the five;
And Hamilton, my old time friend,
They put his face on the front of the ten.

Not as historically informative as you might like, but memorable nonetheless.

Song of the Day

In honor of casting this week for the BG's school musical and loyal reader G-Lo's newfound appreciation for Schoolhouse Rock, this weeks' songs will draw inspiration from the beloved series. Here's today's SOTD:

This, is the end of slumber;
Yes it is. It's the end of slumber.
6:50. You know what that means.
You have got to get up; Pronto.
Tuesday morn; Big D sounds the horn.
Come on down for breakfast; right now.

Song of the Day

It's a little bit funny, this song of the day.
The tune's a bit different but, the goal is the same.
I hope you don't mind (I hope you don't mind) that I made up this song,
It's time to wake up sweetheart, breakfast is on.

Gettin' Funky

Since it's her birthday tomorrow, and she's helping get BG to her Lego team meeting tomorrow while the OG and I travel to Charlotte to watch the Wizards open the preseason (more on that later), I made our friend and neighbour Sarah a playlist/cd. I'm pretty pleased with the result, so I thought I'd share the track listing and give you a taste of an oft overlooked chestnut from the Commodores.

The Commodores, Gonna Blow Your Mind

Lakeside, Fantastic Voyage

Aretha Franklin, The House That Jack Built

Bar-Kays, Shake your rump to the Funk

De La Soul, A Roller Skating Jam Named ''Saturdays''

Edwin Starr, Twenty-Five Miles

The Fatback Band, (Are You Ready) Do The Bus Stop

Herbie Hancock, Watermelon Man

War, Sing A Happy Song

Afrika Bambaataa, Zulu Nation Throwdown

Graham Central Station, The Jam

Little Milton, Grits Ain't Groceries

Breakestra, Family Rap

Macy Gray/Black Eyed Peas, Request line

Prince, Pope

Queen Latifah, Latifah's Had It Up To Here

Rufus Thomas, (Do the) Push and Pull (Part 1

Sly & The Family Stone, Loose Booty

The Staple Singers, I'll Take You There

Whispers, Rock Steady

Jungle Brothers, Doin' Our Own Dang

Charles Wright & Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, EXPRESS YOURSELF

Barenaked Ladies, Fight The Power

Song of the Day

Now what you hear is not a test, I'm rappin' to the beat,
And Big D is here to see that you get on your feet.
Now so far you've heard my voice, but I brought two hands along,
And next on the slate is Shake and Wake to get your body in the song.

Totally 80s

My boy Brian Ibbott delivers a great podcast of covers of and by 80s icons the Human League. Where else could you hear:

• Covers of songs from the soundtracks of Electric Dreams and The Neverending Story
• Human League covers of Gary Glitter, Iggy Pop and the Righteous Brothers
• An appalling cover of Human by Rick Springfield.

New York, Ice Cream, TV, travel, good times

Song of the Day

Waking my daughter up again in Chapel Hill.
Searching for another song of the day.
Some people claim that Big D's songs are lame,
But I know... that they're mostly OK.

Rappin' Basketball

Two songs in heavy rotation in our house are deep cuts from the 1980s, Kurtis Blow's Basketball and One Way's Cutiepie. The OG knows the former by heart and I am prone to sing the latter in the morning, when one of the Gs is looking particularly smart.

Today at the gym, Professor Groove introduced me to the NBA rap, which I later learned is by forgotten rapper "Hurt-em bad." Not too often you hear Jack Sikma, Caldwell Jones and Norm Nixon singled out for praise in the same song.

Song of the Day

First day of school. 179 to go. Apologies to Maroon 5:

It's time to wake up,
Evie, it's Big D and I am talking directly to you.
Where has the time gone? Daddy, it's all wrong,
There is no way that I'm ready for school.
If happy ever after did exist,
Definitely, I'd be sleeping in.
All those fairy tales are full of it.
Can I have just 5 more quick minutes.
(It's time to wake up).