The other day I saw the legendary keyboardist from The Doors, Ray Manzarek, shopping at Amoeba. Seeing him brought back a flood of memories of hanging out with my stoner friends during my high school years that absolutely worshiped The Doors. They bought into the whole "Jim Morrison’s mystique" and his “Lizard King” persona.  Personally, other than a few songs, I was never really into them. The record we would listen to over and over again was posthumous An American Prayer.

American Prayer was released in 1978, a record that combined spoken word that Jim Morrison recorded in 1970 with music that the remaining members of The Doors created in 1977. It was a possible glimpse of what The Doors would have sounded like if they stuck around that long. I remember hating it. For one, it didn’t have any of songs I liked and two; I never liked Jim Morrison’s poetry.  There were even a few Discoesque tracks on the album. It seemed like all the rock artists at the time were trying to play disco back then: David Bowie, The Doobie Brothers, The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, all had Disco hits on the radio. For most Blacks and Latinos in the 70's/early 80's, it was our first tastes of those classic rockers because they were playing music we familiar with.

A few years back I heard L.A. DJ Garth Trinidad spin “Ghost Song” at a club. It fit perfect with other R&B tinged house tracks he was playing that night. I few days later I was at a record shop in St. Paul, Minnesota, and found a copy of American Prayer for 99 cents. After a few listen it occurred to me that American Prayer was way ahead of its time. It was an updated version of the Beat poetry records that came out in the 50’s at a time when no one was doing anything like this. Most of Jim Morrison’s poetry on this album is dated but set with the semi-funky beats it comes off as modern club tracks.

Everyone's favorite Reggaeton group, Calle 13, released their second album on Tuesday. "Residente O Visitante" packs as much of a punch as their first release with many collaberations with other artists. Working with Calle 13 on this release are, Tego Calderon from Puerto Rico, La Mala Rodriguez from Spain and Orishas from Cuba. By far the most interesting pairing is Calle 13 with Bajofondo, the electro-tango group from Argentina. If you can imagine Kanye West, Luny Tunes and The Gotan Project getting together to make a song, then you get an idea what the song Tango Del Pecado is like. Check it out for yourself:


I know the infamous Viola Galloway, Amoeba Hollywood's world music buyer and Tango enthusiast, is just going to love the new Calle 13. She has been rallying for Reggaeton to fuse with Tango for the last three years!

Soundways Records out of England does it again. Their Panama and Afro-Beat releases are excellent but this release is their best by far. Discos Fuentes are to Colombian music what Stax & Motown are to soul, Trojan to Reggae, Blue Note to Jazz and what Sun Records is to rock music. They released thousands of records since 1934 and still do to this day. The compilation covers the classic years of Discos Fuentes (1960-1976) It is mostly Cumbia and Salsa music with Champeta and some modernized versions of traditional South American music.

Much of what is on this comp hasn’t been released in quite some time and has only been available through out of print records. Included are rare tracks from well known Colombian artists, Fruko Y Su Tesos, The Latin Brothers and Afrosound, plus the classic tracks from Los Corraleros De Majagual, Pedro Laza y Su Pelayeros and Lucho Bermudez. This is straight up dance floor madness. Even those who can't dance will have a tough time resisting the rhythms produced by this release. Great liner notes with many pictures of the original album covers to make the record collector in you salivate.

Babe’s & Ricky’s on a Monday night is something that everyone should experience. Owner Laura Mae Gross, or Mama as many call her, greets you at the door. At eighty- seven years old, she is still at the club every night. The eight-dollar cover gets you a free soul food dinner and all night of Blues, including a brief set by Mickey Champion.

My first Babe’s and Ricky’s experience was last Monday. I got there early to walk around Leimart Park. I didn’t see the late night chess matches that once went on into the wee hours of the night. There used to be these intense chess matches just outside the legendary 5th Street Dick’s.  I hadn’t seen them the last few times I been to Leimart Park. I passed by Project Blowed and The World Stage, both closed for the night. All these locations mentioned are known promoting culture, creativity and improvisation in the black community. Leimart Park is the place you need to be to improve your musical and word skills, with multiple Blues, Hip-Hop, Poetry and Jazz open mic sessions.

Babe’s & Ricky’s have a varied selection of beers, From New Castle to Ole English Malt Liquor. I noticed they had Guinness and I wondered if anyone had the nuts to make their own Black Eight at the bar. For those who don’t know, a Black Eight is a concoction of Ole 8 and Guinness, a throwback to my youth often done as a tribute to Tha Alkaholiks. (…Oooh don't I sound great when I down a black eighth, my style is much hotter than the enchilada plate) I thought about doing it for a sec, then thought against it, as it’s a long drive from Leimart Park back to Cypress Park.