Old school Funk - TOP 10 songs in the rotation at work

Muzak is better than no music, but it seems that we have a need for some more varied programming on the ever popular old school funk channel at work. Here is a sampling of some of the songs I hear every week, sometimes a few times in the same day:

"Bustin' Loose" - the classic Chuck Brown funk song (pre go-go Chuck)
"Strawberry Letter 23" - the Brothers Johnson version, which was, if I recall correctly, used a few years back in a Special K cereal commerical. Too bad we don't have the Shuggie Otis original, which is far superior.
"Lips like Candy" - Man this song is annoying. I hope I don't hear it for a while.
"You Dropped a Bomb on Me"- Frankie Beverly and Maze at their early electro best.
"Superstition" - A little Stevie will never get old, even if it's as heavily in the rotation as this track.
"The Big Payback" - James Brown, godfather of soul. This jam has obviously been sampled quite a bit as well.
"Love Roller Coaster" - Ohio Players. Just slightly less often played would be "Skin Tight"
"The Revolution will not be Televised" - Gil Scott Heron. I often want to go through the shop preaching that the revolution will not be Parkerized, will not be Parkerized, will not be parkerized.
"Hollywood Swingin'" - Kool & The Gang. James Brown's favorite funk band. This used to be very heavily in the mix, not quite as much recently, but holding steady with 1 play every week
"Genius of Love" - Tom Tom Club dancefloor filler, 100% pure, unadulterated fun, natural fun!

And once again, Les Cretes

As much as I liked their Torrette, I was looking forward to trying their Chardonnay. My expectation was that it would not lack for acidity, be very mineral and maybe even be built for some mid-term (5-7 years) cellaring. Sadly, it does not appear to be so.

The 2006 Les Cretes Chardonnay, from Val d'Aoste, is perfectly sound, decently made, fruity, boring Chardonnay. I give it credit for not being a Planeta international oak bomb chard, but the flavors in this wine are nonetheless rounded, pear and apple flavors - very similar to many Chards I've had from the Languedoc. I tried a second bottle which had been opened earlier, and it did come across as being a bit more mineral, with perhaps a little more acidity and nerve. Still, not quite what I expected.

Oh well. There is always Chablis and Chardonnay from the Jura....

My exploration into the '70s continues

This time the wine is a 1974 Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon. It was one of the big four Cab producers in those days (Beaulieu, Charles Krug and Inglenook are the other three). The first thing I noticed with this bottle was the mid-shoulder fill, which might have otherwise deterred me from purchasing it had the cost not been as low as it was. The second observation was that there was no foil capsule; instead, covering the cork there was a plastic closure with a place for you to tear it off, sort of like a plastic bottle of juice. Interesting...apparently low to mid-end wines used this type of closure back then.

So I poured a taste of this 33 year old Cab into my glass and noticed that the color looked surprisingly healthy, a mature, opaque brick color, with no noticeable browning at the edges. On the nose, there was lots of iron and beef blood at first. The palate showed very mature, but simple red fruit flavors, without a ton of complexity or length. As the wine opened up after 20 or so minutes, aromas became more complex, showing roasted coffee, green peppercorn, and some darker fruits. Similarly, the palate showed a greater depth of flavor, with dark fruits beginning to emerge and more complexity, greater weight and more concentration. By 40 minutes the wine was fading to what it was at first, and I imagine that had I drunk more another 20 minutes later the wine would have been going, going, gone.

Nevertheless, the '74 Louis Martini was no deadbeat cab, it proved to have just a little life in it yet.

Drink old wine. It's fun, and always an education.

Black Moon-Who Got The Propz

I'll tell you who got da propz. Why naturally, it's 5 F-T, Evil Dee and Buckshot! OK, the lyrics are so-so, flow is aiight, but this will always be a classic. Enjoy the video, and happy weekend.

OLD WORLD OLD SCHOOL GOES POP: BOYZ

Not only am I jumpstarting the weekend with an early youtube video, but it's a recent release! A rarity on this site. So much energy in this video, and the song is ridiculous - no, in fact it is RIDONCULOUS. The video reminds me of early De la Soul, with all the neon and pastels, images and messages scrawled onto the screen, and sense of movement. A bit more frenetic in this video, though. Filmed on site in Kingston JA.

My first wine from Val d'aoste

Les Cretes Torrette 2005. Located in the Italian portion of the alps, north (and west) of the Piemonte, east of France and south of Switzerland, the val d'aoste does not produce a lot of wine - it is the smallest region of wine production in Italy - and I can't recall ever seeing a Val d'Aoste wine, at least in a retail shop. Val d'Aosta lies to the east of France. As it borders the French alps, I wouldn't be surprised if the region's wines are reminiscent of Swiss wines and some of the wines of the Jura. This particular red val d'aosta wine, made from petit rouge, mayolet, tintorier, and coralin, is light in color, though not quite so light as a Poulsard. It had some very snappy mixed berry fruit, with an intense licorice note, about as intense a licorice as I've tasted in wine - it was literally like biting into a piece of black licorice. Distinctive, though it is not revealing a whole lot right now. With its moderately high acidity and apparent tightness, it might be interesting to lay a few bottles down for 3-5 years and see what happens. Cool stuff if you can find it.

Alpine wine - that's what's up.

QUINOA - it's what's for dinner

Quinoa is indigenous to the Andean regions of South America. It thrives in low nutrient, high pH soil, in conditions where no other fruits or vegetables will grow. Yep, it's similar to the vine.

Here is a lazy, last minute, no produce available, somewhat nutritious dinner recipe. It's vegan, throw it together, cuisine brut type cooking:

2c Quinoa
3.5c water
3 large cloves garlic, sliced into thin rounds
1/4 c olive oil
One half of one lemon
3 tbsp chopped walnuts
1/4c italian parsley, chopped
2 tbsp chopped sundried tomatoes
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2c white wine
salt and pepper to taste
extra olive oil to drizzle on top

Mix water and quinoa together in a pasta pot. Bring to a boil and then turn down to medium heat
Heat olive oil on medium in a large pan, and then add garlic. Cook for 40 seconds.
Add walnuts, sundried tomatoes, red pepper, white wine, salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. When finished, add most of parsley and stir into sauce.
When the quinoa has soaked up all of the water and is fluffy, add the sauce and stir well. Serve in a bowl and add a bit more olive oil on top. Garnish with parsley. Add freshly grated piave or pecorino if desired.

This dish would probably also be pretty good with a few tbsp butter in the sauce, and/or 2 sardines sauteed initially in the olive oil and garlic.