When you think about, it all holidays are basically the same -- days of celebration, all similar,  just with different names.

Father's Day, Mother's Day, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, Memorial Day, BIrthdays and the million other "days" that we celebrate are all pretty much one and the same thing: days where we stop to celebrate life, sometimes past, but usually present. 

It's about the love...for life: a time to sing out on the positives and to vow to live each day to the fullest.

Hence I think it appropriate on this "day" (or any) to re-watch that celebratory scene from Hal Ashby's 1971 film Harold and Maude (avail on DVD @ Amoeba) in which Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort's characters sing Cat Stevens' "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out."  Immediately below that clip is Cat Stevens performing "Father and Son."  Another appropriate Father's Day song is the 1991 hip-hop single from Ed O.G. & da Bulldogs "Be A Father To Your Child."  The third video below is "Father and Daughter" which is "animacion con acuarela por Michael Dudok de Wit," and below that  is "Father's Day Poem: to Dad" -- a stop motion animation by YouTuber indiestopmotion.

Oakland band Subtle pictured left to right: Jordan Dalrymple, DoseOne, Alexander Kort, Jeffrey 'Jel' Logan, Marty Dowers, and Dax Pierson.

In 2004 Subtle released A New White and in 2006 they dropped the second installment, For Hero: For Fool.  Very recently they released their third full-length, Exiting ARM on Lex Records. Amoeblog caught up with DoseOne to learn more:

AMOEBLOG: For those who may just now be hearing your band's music for the very first time, can you bring them up to speed on what Subtle is all about and in particular the central character Hour Hero Yes? Additionally, how important is it to be familiar with the previous two Subtle albums, with their ongoing intricate themes, to fully appreciate Exiting ARM? In other words, is it like that TV show 24 where if you missed the previous episodes you feel kind of left out in following the storyline?

DoseOne: To be honest: all along we have woven these themes and motifs into the music knowing that the music should also remain accessible from any point in listening. These works should be accessible as both a work of song and as a timeless four minute chunk of layered creativities. So that being said, there is by no means "homework" that comes with Subtle records. It's meant to be rich and abound with things to interpret: next decade proof, if you will.

Otherwise the lore runneth over. Hour Hero Yes is a modern man. As flawed as he is brilliant; both hero and fool. The three Subtle full-lengths follow his arm and ascension entirely. A New White is the writings of the shell and man Yes once was, the man he must reconcile with. It all takes place in one bedroom in
Oakland. And as his quest for self intensifies, his one bedroom begins to come to life as his night terrors and day dreams begin to flood with omen and creature. At the end of A New White, Yes opens his door and takes to the world, fear at his back.

Exhibit A
THIS IS NOT FUNK:
Blame it on the music? Maybe. But watch the first video below and ponder the fact that for such a large gathering of "dancers," nary a one possessed even a grain of soul or funk in their groove. And was that the electric slide?

Exhibit B
THIS IS FUNK:
May James Brown rest in peace, but his music, the funk and nuthin' but the funk, lives on, especially when it's James Brown and band live in concert. For best results, play Exhibits A and B together with sound down on Exhibit A.    
 
Exhibit C 
THIS IS NOT FUNK EITHER:
Classic episode of The Larry Sanders Show where Wu Tang Clan are guests and during sound-check beloved dufus sidekick Hank "hey now" Kingsley (actor Jeffrey Tambor, right) comes out on the set to introduce himself to the group, with their CD in hand -- one song off which he particularly likes. At the end of this hilariously disastrous encounter, Jon Stewart apologizes to the group on behalf of his people. 

Put your THIS IS FUNK or THIS IS NOT FUNK in comments below-- include video or images or links.

Exhibit A: 
 

In 1988 Public Enemy released their groundbreaking album It Takes A Nation of Millions To Us Back (Def Jam). 

In celebration of the twentieth anniversary of this historic hip-hop album (considered  by many to be the greatest hip-hop album ever), Public Enemy did some concerts in Europe as part of the Don't Look Back concert series, playing the entire album.

Don't Look Back is the concert series produced by All Tomorrow's Parties in which established artists perform in concert an album of theirs (generally an agreed-on classic release) from start to finish in its original sequence. Sonic Youth partook in the series when they performed their seminal Daydream Nation and Girls Against Boys did the Don't Look Back series last year when they performed their Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby, for which Johnny Temple of the group was interviewed for the Amoeblog.

For the recent Public Enemy Don't Look Back performances of It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, they did a short series of shows, including stops in Manchester, England and in Dublin, Ireland.  Tall Paul Lowe, today's special guest Amoeblogger, attended the group's Dublin, Ireland performance two weeks ago (5/25), which was at the Tripod in the Irish capitol. Paul's report follows, below the track listing to the classic 1988 LP. Note that the photo above and the photos below of Public Enemy in Dublin two weeks ago were all taken by Tall Paul Lowe.