My Uncle Tony had been knowing just how much I loved music, in fact, he had made me several tapes since I was around 9-10 years of age. These cassettes spanned from Robert Palmer to Queensryche. My Uncle George on the other hand, he might have seen this appreciation flourish a bit later, but once he noticed, he proceeded to put me on my way with style. “Hey Joe Joe, put this CD on, song Sign In Stranger, you’ll like that.” And I most certainly did. Steely Dan was about to do what Hip Hop does, create introductions to music you couldn’t imagine you would later search for. They are a booster injection of eclectic styles, so intertwined with jazz, rock, soul, that once I had a taste of a Decade of Steely Dan (from my grandparents CD Collection) I collected as many of their CDs as possible. Steely Dan sets the mood for a perfect casino experience that reminds you of the potential pitfalls as you wager. There are some people that knew me in high school and could vouch that I actually named my cat AJA. The first concert I ever went to was with my mom at Shoreline Theatre to watch Steely Dan, seats of course, and mom pulled out the bud. I was wet behind the ears thinking we might get ushered out by security. 🥴 I don’t think there has been another band that has played a more instrumental involvement in my musical taste more than Steely Dan, maybe Queen. So many important memories have been made with their music as the soundtrack. I can’t tell you that The Royal Scam is my favorite Steely Dan album, but I can tell you that I wouldn’t want to live without it. Front to back, start to finish is how you play this album. Nothing worth skipping in my opinion, but if I had to pick a couple favorites they would be “The Fez”, “Sign In Stranger”, and “Haitian Divorce”. The price tags on most of my Steely Dan records WAYYYYYYY undervalue the content, and I am okay with that.

Sounds like a title to a Transformers movie. This album can peek interest just by the cover images. I wanna say I was first introduced to this album by my friend Casey. I know he put me onto this version of James Brown - Give it up or turn it loose. This album has all the ingredients that I consider make a great record. The artwork, the thick glossy gatefold cover, and a variety of songs and styles. I think I am adhd in that manner. Funny enough, maybe it’s because it’s a moog record, but I still find these in the $1.00 bins. The copy I have here (out of the many copies I own), is pretty mint. My favorite songs are Alfie and Give it up or turn it loose, but it’s worthy of needle drops on other titles as well. Definitely worth $5.00, and I’ll buy as many $1.00 clean copies as I can.

Boy do our musical tastes have a way of changing through the years. I can recall a time when I was only looking for big drum breaks and sold off whatever wasn’t fitting. Another time when I would blindly trade away records I had for hip hop, then had to refind years later (Dexter Wansel) to re-add to my collection. This album was passed over several times in my younger age. I heard the song “Love Song” while going through music on Spotify, it might have been a recommendation based on the playlist I was creating, but knew right away that I had passed by this album cover photo several times. It’s pretty recognizable. Fast forward to a couple months ago, after at least a year of asking my buddies and record dealers if they had a copy, going to another record guys house to grab a different record, finally getting a copy. This dude Eddie had came up on the Main Street Antiques left over records and invited Mike (ModCityRecords) and Pat (VinylFever) over to go through the pile. I had my son Rylee with me, “I just gotta stop by real quick and grab a record.” That old lie. 😂 When I walked in and saw them dudes going through the piles Pat says, “Hey buddy, I thought you might like this” and handed me a Dj Format - English Lesson 12” (which I honestly think was one of mine I had traded some 20+ years ago). Pat is in touch man!! After some dry digging through the Turlock leftovers, and a shot to Christen the affair, Pat says, “Hey, weren’t you looking for a Lani Hall Record!?!” There it was. This record hunt can feel rewarding, even if your buddy just unearths the gem for you. Morals of the story, “Keep learning, Create bonds in your community, and Keep searching for what you love.” P.S. I should have looked at the players on this album long ago. Lani Hall sang with Sergio Mendes Brazil 66, this album produced by Herb Alpert, and has players Pete Jolly, Tim Weinberg, and Larry Carlton, to name a few. 💪🏽

I was at my friends Keven and Traci’s house last night and Kevin and I while discussing music came across a mutual admiration for Frank Zappa. He showed me a live version of “Duprees Paradise”, a favorite of his, that includes a Jean Luc Ponty solo that equally matches the Zappa solo work, both brilliant. Frank Zappa was something special. So much substance to his offerings. So many top notch players on his albums. It is still often a rarity for me finding people that listen to The Mothers Of Invention or Zappa Solo stuff. My first introduction to Zappa was wayyyyyyyy back in 99-00. A coworker of mine had given me some albums, some real serious stuff, mostly Kraftwerk, Art Of Noise, and a Queen bootleg. His name was Frank, he was from Connecticut, and he was a short, stubby cat, with so much character that when he cared about something, you listened up. His absolute favorite artist was Zappa. He would always mention Joes Garage, play on my name, most likely, but it stuck. I remember buying Joes Garage based on his recommendation and was baffled, “What the fuck is this!?! 🤯 Wet T-Shirt night!?!” Intrigued. Side note: Years later, at a stop light my youngest son had seen a girl he was into at the crosswalk with her friend, I rolled down the window, put the window lock on, and cranked up “Why does it hurt when I pee!” to max level. 😂 The looks👀, thank you Zappa. 200 Motels is a Mothers Of Invention double album with full orchestra that is also the soundtrack to the movie “200 Motels”, which I haven’t seen yet, but I feel like it could be sensory overload. The Trailer is a bit much, similar to what you would come to expect from anything Zappa is a part of. I listen to this album at work often, most times making aware that others aren’t around, but in the instance a homeowner or random other tradesman hears what I am playing, I assure them it’s great music, but I can turn it off if they don’t like it. 😂 We can all agree, Zappa is not for everyone. My favorite tracks of this album are “Would you like a snack?!” And “Half a dozen provocative squats” and “Shove it right in” and……… definitely take the whole experience in. It’s got something for everyone human and alien alike.

Raw Data grew up out of Modesto California and made its way around the world. Ghost Bot Bum aka Ikabod Bum spearheaded a series of compilations that ran parallel with the live sets him and his buddies had been performing in and around the Central Valley, and even branching out of state. Bum preceded many of the known “Hip Hop” producers and rappers in the Modesto area, and was one of the first guys I knew, his brother Hypeski included, that were recording and releasing music when I met him in the late 90s. I had been on a couple other Raw Data releases (Raw Data Chips, Raw Data Jazz) and both were pretty exceptional. The list of characters on the releases were stacked within our beat scene, but I could not imagine where Bum would be taking us. All I knew about Pragmatic Theory was that they were a UK label, and I had heard of a Blap Deli, and I had seen their vinyl releases floating around. When Bum asked if I would like to be apart of a collaboration Raw Data Release with Pragmatic Theory I was with it almost immediately, but I was not quite aware of the vision. Raw Data / Pragmatic Theory = Raw Theory: California And to my surprise, it would be released on Vinyl! Extra SUPER DUPER surprise, it included my homies Coco and Cache, but one of my all time favorite producers, Dibia$e! Bum did that. He knocked two things off my lifetime bucket list with one project. I am forever grateful.