Five in the Name of Love

Hey everybody,

First off, let me say that it took ENTIRELY TOO LONG for me to turn over this blog.
(I’m scolding myself; don’t mind me.)

The title of the blog might be pretty definitive, but the subject is not…and will always be open to changes, trust.

My counterpart and best friend Jig at Romancexpress (see the link on the right, folks) are posting up five of our fave love songs. The discussion was interesting, and we threw a lot of songs out there, and it was cool just to look ahead and think back at what we considered definitive love songs.

His list is already up at Romancexpress, and once I drop these five, then I’ll get to cross-examine his top five.

Hopefully, that won’t take another 1-2 weeks.

Love you guys, thanks for your patience as always, and I’m convinced that if I had a secretary, and if my job paid more, and if…

Eh. Whatever.

Here’s the five, off the top, while I ease the mood with these Yankee Candles…
Roberta Flack’s ‘Feel Like Making Love’, Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn’s “If This World Were Mine”, Kem’s “I Can’t Stop Loving You”, Raheem Devaughn’s “You”, and Da Muzicians’ “Camera Phone”.

Well, there’s one of those that just doesn’t fit, ha? Hmmm…looks like you’re going to have to read this one out to see where I’m going…

But c’mon folks, it doesn’t stop there. You know a brotha’s got to break it down…these are love songs, after all.

--My girl Bert—-
First of all, I bet a lot of you guys are sleeping on my girl Bert. But let me tell ya, she can hold down a song all by herself, and the songs that she’s done with Donny Hathaway…put it to you like this. They’re the best 1-2 punch since Marvin and Tammi, Meth and Mary, Shaq and Penny/Kobe/Wade (speaking of, Detroit finna go fishin’, but I digress).
Concerning the song “Feel Like Making Love”, this has been one of my top 2 love songs for a long time because it’s very short (a little too short for my tastes) and concise…

Strollin’ in the park/watching winter turn to spring/walkin in the dark/seeing lovers do their thing/ooh ooh ooh/that’s the time/I feel like making love to youuuuuu

Hey, when you’re by your lonesome, and you see a pair of significant others, that’s a pretty defining moment, I must say.

Speaking of…
Saw two lovers kiss/I thought about you/Had to hold back the tears/I thought about you

Same concept from Luther Vandross’ “I Thought About You”…we miss you Luther.

Speaking of…

--Luther and ummm…wow, what happened to her?—-

I just don’t know. I mean, if I do a duet with Alicia Keys, I’m thinking that’s gonna jumpstart the boi’s career…episode on Cribs, blah blah. Not Cheryl Lynn, though…she just pulled out the one-hit Wayne Wonder on us. But man, she sounds incredible on…

If this world were mine/I would make you a king/With wealth untold/You would have anything/If this world were m-iiiiii-ne/I’d give you each day so sunny and blue/And if you wanted the moonlight/I’d give you that too/If this world were…

Alicia Keys said what on “You Don’t Know My Name”!?!?!??! She was kicking what game to this ‘Michael’?!?!?!? It’s sounding like white noise right now, Mos Def.

Oh, but Luther wasn’t slouching…

If this world were mine/I would place at your feet/All that I own/You’ve been so good to me

Love this song because you have that chemistry between two ‘lovers’, and they’re sacrificing all to each other. You guys know from reading the 100 things about me that I believe love is sacrifice, and Luther and Cheryl hold that department down well in this one.

I don’t know how I’m supposed to make a clean transition from Luther to…oh wait, I was just talking about Kemistry, I mean, chem.-*ahem* that’s good enough.

--Love Calls—-

Yeah, “Love Calls” was ok, but this song…whoooooooooo! Don’t you just love it when you hear something fresh from a new artist, then their second single is just…whoooooooooooo! Yeah, but Kem…guy is really talented, and this is a great song..

I think about the day I met/the perfect stranger/I think about us/I think about the day I got wrapped/around your finger/I think about us/the sun was shining on you/the Lord was smilin’ on me/and love was callin’ us/I had my mind made up

Basically, my man chronicles his relationship with this woman that he can’t stop…well, loving…and it gets worst through the track…I mean, he’s basically feenin’. But I like it because, for one, I haven’t heard this much emotion from a new jack since Fantasia on ‘Free Yourself’ (shawty from NC was singing for choir robes on that one), but my man is DYIN’ on the second verse…

There will be no more lies/somebody tell me why/I feel like I’m dyin/(editor’s note: told you)/Lord what’s come over me/Ooh baby can’t you see/That I/Can’t stop/Lo-vin youuuuuuu

By the way, this is the only song that if you have my cell phone number, and we cool like that, and you have an XX chromosomal set and 19.99, a brotha will sing for you.

You…ha ha ha ha, now we got some transition here…

--The Ludacris look-alike—-

Raheem DeVaughn. I ain’t gon’ lie, I was sleepin’ on this cat…my girl Neika was talkin’ bout him earlier, and I heard dude on Brown Sugar soundtrack. Eh. But this song…well, I’ll let him tell you

You
got me (you)
thinking (you)
of you
for you
got me
telling my mama (you)
and my friends
all about
you
in my daydreams are
you
touching (you)
holding (you)
kissing (you)
as I’m sweaty with (you)
came right on time (you)
hey you
every word in this song

EVERY word in this song’s gonna be about you. EVERY word in this blog…oh, look at me getting carried away. I’m really sorry about that. But that’s what a good love song does…you have a nice beat…you know, the beat that you hear it, and you automatically go back to that situation, or that situation ;-) then the words come in, and they melt on your heart like butter, and then before you know it, you’re singing in the shower on the freeway with headphones on while people are looking at you. Or maybe all of those things, just separately.

Now, I know I breezed through the first four, and I might not have been as serious as a love song blog should dictate (blah, blah, stop ya cryin). But I’m about to have to take a deep breath for this one...no transition needed…all I need to say is…

--Jeff, you a fool for this one—-
--Love Togetherness and Devotion—-

Now, see, I can hear it now.

I should put Lenny Williams here. How dare you not put Marvin Gaye here…no Isley Brothers…I thought they was your favorite group…(man, footsteps in the dark…). I KNOW, people. But ya boy Jeffrey Osborne and LTD (group formed in 1968 in Greensboro, NC..4sho) got it.

I’m start this breakdown from the end of the track…

And what we have is much more than they can see/So much more now/What we have is much more than they can see…

The second-most beautiful thing about love to me, other than two people sacrificing, of course is transcendent love. I mean, love that can’t help but grow no matter what. I tell you what…you find me two people that make their own executive decisions in a relationship and don’t listen to their homegirls or homeguys…I mean, two people that know that what they have is…Jeff, talk to the people!

--What we have is much more than they can see—

Thing is, Jeff evolved during the course of the song to get to that point. I’m telling you, the man broke down love like Oprah broke down James Frey, like Wade is breaking down the heat, all of that (I said I was going to be serious, I’m sorry.)

Love/I never been so much/In love/Before/What a difference/A true love made in my life/

I’m just going to say it like this. “Love Ballad” is, for this moment in history, my favorite love song because it’s a guy describing how love changed his existence, and he understood that people’s opinions couldn’t measure how he felt for his companion.
And when we walk hand in hand/I feel so real…
Lovers come and then lovers go/that’s what folks will say/don’t they know/they’re not there/when you’re loving me/holdin, sayin you care…

Man, I had so much fun with you guys today! Let’s see here…about 2:30 a.m. on a Tuesday early-early morning…figured I’d cut loose with you guys and enjoy myself on the blog tip. Love you guys, and hopefully there’s more where this came from in the upcoming weeks.

The Good Doctor

Lookin’ for lyrics…the Good Doc went here to make sure he had his right…
http://www.lyricsdir.com

P.S. Pretty girl, I hope you’re happy. And ummm, if you want to share some of these love songs…oh wait, I’m sorry. We’re in public; we’ll have to talk about this later.

Sundays in May

Hey everybody,

First off, I want to jump off this post by saying Happy Mother’s Day in advance to my mother, if you’re reading this ma, I love you!

Since she’s probably not though, and since she probably already knows, we got moms some perfume (Beautiful by Estee Lauder)

Oh yeah, here’s a poem I wrote about a year ago to all the mothers entitled "Sundays in May"…you guys check this one out:


To mothers, mommies, cousins, grannies
Guardian angels, aunties and nannies
Second Sunday
In may
Waking up at 5
Just before mother will arise
Usually I work from sun to sun
But today I am the one
Making breakfast
Preparing for church
The one to search
For dad’s socks
Putting sugar blocks
In tea
I know it sounds country
But I do it for mommy
Because from birth to birth
I never misunderstand the value of a woman’s worth
Not to place my mother in roles
Mothers are the soul
Of a family
Emotional ties are hard to deny
And that’s why
I write on Sundays in May
To my favorite lady
Who’s been taking care of me since I was a baby
And this year I decided to extend the gift
To mothers all over the world to close the rift
Just in case your loved ones were short on the paper stack
Or couldn’t find a nearby clothing rack
Making sure that the lovable poet has your back
House of cards are usually flimsy but this is a hallmark
To a mother’s love that feels like a day in the park

Hope you guys enjoyed that one. Truth is, I wanted to do this post to open up some discussion on mother-daughter relationship (by request) :-D Here’s what one of B.L.O.G.’s insightful readers said:

You should do a blog on mother-daughter relationships…(concerning) the struggle to find one’s identity when you have been raised by a strong, independent black woman. (It’s especially a struggle) when you greatly admire them and their opinion really matters to you. This causes problems because you make a lot of decisions (based) on what you think they will approve…until you (search) to gain some sort of independence.

That was just the tip of the iceberg for one of the readers, and hopefully the beginning of conversation. Ladies, I’m curious to receive some input on mother-daughter relationships, in the hopes of better understanding how certain relationships work.

The reader was inspired to start such conversation based on my ‘Fathers and Sons’ blog, and to be honest, it would be interesting to see how you guys (errr, ladies) respond. Hope to hear from you all soon,

The Good Doctor

Cien Things to Help You See In :-)

Hey everybody,

By request, I drew up a 'quick' list of 100 things about myself. Hope you guys enjoy,

The Good Doctor

1. My middle name starts with J.
2. I have two younger brothers that I take pride in.
3. I was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Augusta, Ga…
4. In 1983 (I share a b-day with Penny Hardaway)
5. My parents have been divorced since Summer ‘02
6. Now here’s something interesting…July 17th was their anniversary
7. My youngest brother was born on Friday the 13th
8. My hobbies include hooping, Bible-reading, writing, and spending time with family and friends.
9. I take pride in the fact that I’m maintaining the goody-two-shoes trifecta; never smoked, never had a drink, and I’ve never had sex.
10. Oh, and I haven’t cursed since the 10th grade.
11. To my left sits my favorite number.
12. I stopped cursing because I heard something Lauryn Hill say about people sounding less intelligent when all they did was curse.
13. I have hitchhikers’ thumbs.
14. I’m nearsighted.
15. I enjoy the night a little bit more than I enjoy the day.
16. I wear socks all the time (except in the bathtub, c’mon folks)
17. I’ve worn glasses since the third grade.
18. I’m a very competitive person.
19. I’m a pretty confident person, as well.
20. I take pride in being a passionate person.
21. I’m also something of an optimist.
22. I guess that’s why I think all any situation needs is love and a little hard work.
23. The person that I feel most understands me is my Aunt Joyce…we both can be very meticulous.
24. The people that have sacrificed the most for me are my mom, dad, grandma and aunt. It seems all they do is sacrifice…
25. A lot of the reasons I do the things I do is so that their sacrifices aren’t in vain.
26. I’m not ticklish.
27. It’s not flirting if it’s just trying to be a charming gentleman, right? Ok, ok, maybe I like to flirt. Periodically. Next, dang it.
28. I enjoy rainy days (except when I just finished washing the car)
29. Speaking of cars, I own (well, kinda) a 2005 Kia Spectra5 hatchback
30. I have brown eyes
31. I don’t have any known allergies (though stupid people make me twitch)
32. I wear size 12 ½ shoes
33. My hat size is an astonishing 7 7/8
34. I’m 5’8”.
35. At heart, I’m the biggest kid.
36. That being said, there’s nothing more beautiful than the mind of a child.
37. I frequent toy stores…keeps me really young.
38. I’m an avid reader of Marvel Comics (all the X-Men and Spidey heads make noise)
39. I have some green 1-up dice sitting in my car right now, but…I still take Sonic over Mario.
40. My fave color is Carolina Blue
41. I really don’t have a favorite restaurant, but…
42. My favorite food (if you want to call it that) is Strawberry Fig Newtons, ha ha ha ha!
43. I really want to visit Cairo, Egypt.
44. The church I attend is Greater Young Zion Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.
45. I love God, but I still feel that I can get that much closer to Him.
46. I read my bible, but not as much as I think I should.
47. At my church, I teach bible study every Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
48. My favorite verse is Matthew 6:22
49. My best friend…well, one of my best friends is, funny enough, named Matthew.
50. I’m really, really into sports (the preceding was an understatement.)
51. I think nothing captures the human condition like sports, and the parallels between it and everyday life are astounding.
52. Still, there’s nothing I like more than being around family and friends, and I feel like I’m oriented in both.
53. I prefer a great pass over a great shot. I think that speaks to the fact that I like to give people my best, and that I appreciate the power of having a vision for my life.
54. My favorite athlete is Michael Jordan
55. My favorite sports team used to be the Chicago Bulls…now it’s the Carolina Panthers (’07 NFL champs)
56. The closest major sporting venue to my house is Augusta National, home of the Masters
57. I’m looking to work for the Associated Press as a sportswriter after graduating, and also write a few books.
58. The writers I’m most inspired by are Ralph Wiley and David (king of Israel, etc.)
59. My favorite magazines are ESPN, Slam, and Black Enterprise
60. My fave movies are Malcolm X, Mo Better Blues, Blazing Saddles, Willy Wonka (with Gene Wilder…Depp is a lame), and V for Vendetta.
61. Judging from the first two movies, you guys probably figured I’m a big Spike Lee fan.
62. I would really like it if they came out with a DVD for the Martin TV show. That’s one of my top 5 TV shows of all time.
63. My favorite? Yep, you guessed it…Sportscenter.
64. My fave TV show as a kid was Uncanny X-Men. (I missed a BUNCH of episodes because of youth choir practice, dang it!)
65. I’ve worked and/or interned for NASA, Radio Shack, Delta Airlines, and currently the (censored).
66. I’ve never worked at a fast food joint…I hear it’s the worst though
67. I graduated from Aiken High School in Aiken, SC
68. My high school is just across the street from where I currently work
69. My high school crush was a girl named Nikki. She wasn’t feeling me though, which was cool, because…
70. My high school sweetheart was a young lady named Kim.
71. She’s one of two people that I’ve ever felt a deep affinity for outside of my family.
72. I want to learn how to play the piano very badly.
73. I believe that true love is sacrifice.
74. I believe once I meet a significant other that believes the same, my search for that significant other will be complete.
75. Back to no. 9. A lot of folks tend to define me as being a good guy, which is mostly true. Thing is, I have desires like everyone else.
76. For example, I like, the way, you kiss me, when we’re playing the kissing game. (Hey, I like to kiss)
77. I think beauty is skin deep, but a girl that’s willing to listen and laugh has no excuse to be single. I’m right here, beautiful.
78. I enjoy the smell of something so much more than I enjoy the sight of something.
79. One of the things I like allows for me to enjoy smell and sight…I love candles.
80. I don’t think MLK or Malcolm, W.E.B. DuBois or Booker, nor Professor X or Magneto had it right. I think the answer comes with prayerful collaboration. That being said, I don’t mind a fight with a friend or friendly fire. As long as we’re both using rubber bullets.
81. Some of my favorite poems are Langston Hughes’ ‘A Dream Deferred’, and Gwen Brooks’ ‘We Real Cool’.
82. My favorite artists are old school cats: Earth, Wind, and Fire, Stevie Wonder, and the Isley Brothers.
83. My favorite love song, though, is Roberta Flack’s ‘Feel Like Making Love’
84. The only new jacks that I really like Outkast
85. I really hope music hasn’t lost its way, but I’m starting to have my doubts
86. I think Leela James was right. I think a change is gonna come, even if that change has to come from me.
87. I think that the song ‘Carolina Girls’ is dead wrong. I think the VA-DC-MD area has the best girls in the world…even though Southern Girl, here’s to you (Frankie Beverly and Maze)
88. The best time of my life was my freshman year at Florida A&M University
89. The most eye-opening moment in my life was orientation at FAMU
90. I want to settle down in either Charlotte, NC or the greater Atlanta, GA area.
91. I’d like for my kids to have either Biblical first names or African first names.
92. The reason why I don’t always follow through with my promises is not because I’m dishonest, but rather I’m overly ambitious at times.
93. I think if my drive matched the speed of my thoughts, I would be unstoppable
94. My first memory is my dad covering me up in a blanket, and running to take me to the babysitters’ house.
95. My eyes are my best physical feature
96. I think I have a pretty good sense of humor, but the funniest guy I know is my younger brother.
97. If I could, I would wear a jersey to church, work, everywhere
98. Still, I enjoy dressing up, and like the feeling that a suit and tie gives me.
99. I don’t consider myself a materialistic person.
100. When it’s all said and done, yes, I’d love to be remembered for the things I wrote. Most importantly, though, I want to be remembered for the contributions I made to society, and the lives that I helped changed through my words, especially if those words bring this world closer to God. Amen.

Masterful pictures

Hey everybody,
They say a picture's worth a thousand words, so I have a nice, condensed blog of 3000+ right here.
Sorry it took me so long to holla at you guys, but it's been an interesting two weeks for me, and I'm sure it's been the same for you guys.
I'll tell you about it in the upcoming weeks...love you all.

Enjoy the pics!

The Good Doctor

...Earl Woods, we'll miss you immensely. Thank you for your contributions to our existence. Take care friend, and rest well.

The pics:
One is the Masters leaderboard, the other is of Tiger and his best friend on tour, Mark O'Meara, and the other is of a shot of the first green. He writes, and he takes pics as well...The Good Doctor is a bad boy, you knooooooooooow.

Holla back, ya'll.