Come on...admit it...most radio sucks in the Twin Cities. With the exception of KMOJ, the Beatbox (Radio K), and to please some of my emo and alternative rock friends...the Current 89.3. Everything else on the radio is only appropriate if you're trying to send a message to the passenger in your car that you don't like them or if you really really need to stay awake on a long drive. [Insert any Lil Wayne song or Country music.] Better than 5 Hour Energy, but at the end of it you still crash. I'd venture to guess that a lot of accidents happen in the Twin Cities because a song that has no business being heard [Insert Taylor Swift or any American Idol winner song] comes on and the driver frantically searches for the tuner to switch the station, only to instead hit a patch of black ice, lose control and get stuck in a ditch. That is Twin Cities radio stations in a nutshell.
With the emergence of the internet people locally and in other places have managed to break through the spectrum and provide us some musically titillating programming. Never Not Working is a radio show featured on East Village Radio from New York. Hosted by Radio Rios and Oskar Mann this show throws complacency and commercial music out the window. In their words:
With a deep respect for the past and a keen ear to the future, Rios and Oskar deliver the best in deep soul, funk, disco, breaks and hip-hop. The best New York and the world has to offer.
Its reach and impact could never compete with the likes of Kool 108, but their content would make Kool look like cheap posers. Their song selection will have you constantly checking back with the playlist, and writing that shit down. What I dig the most about it is their appreciation for all types of music and all types of people. They routinely feature guests that bring their personal flavor and style. The vibe of NNW, even if through an online medium is one of building community through music.
Their show airs every Friday night from 12am to 2am ET, but don't fret, you can listen to Never Not Working anytime of the day by visiting East Village Radio's website.
Among my favorite episodes:
July 25th
August 15th
September 26th
October 10th
It's all fire though, you can't go wrong. Check them out.
It was also the first time that I paid attention to an album's liner notes. It was here that I could learn of Parliament-Funkadelic's influence on the album; a group that I, regrettably, never heard of until that point. Another name that is mentioned twice is Donny Hathaway. His recording, including his vocal, was sampled on the track "Lil' Ghetto Boy", the last song Side A (I'd only had a dubbed cassette of Side A from 
Years past, and when I finally had money to buy my own CDs (16, believe it or not) I hunted any album I could find at the Barnes and Noble at Har Mar Mall in Roseville, and found 
Well, after further reading about him, I learned that he was born in Chicago 1945, and went to Howard University to study music. He returned to Chicago, and released his solo debut album in 1970 , 
He was also played keyboards on Aretha Franklin's album 
Hathaway slowly withdrew from the music business in the mid-70s, although recorded a hit with his long-tine duet partner Roberta Flack with "The Closer I Get to You" in 1978. Sadly Hathaway fell to his deah from a hotel window in 1979. It was not known if it was an accident, suicide, or murder, but it was know that he had been suffering from depression, and even possibly schizophrenia, for the past several years. His children which includes Lalah Hathaway, continues to carry his music legacy.
The success of their first single demonstrates the group's ability to tackled the smooth ballad, and the pre-disco uptempo, dancefloor killer of the Philly Soul sound. This would lead to cut their 1972 classic debut album "Don't Turn Around" back in NYC with most of the songs written by Adams and the group. Along with the groups first sides, the album contained the groups biggest hit ballads, "You And I", and "I'll Find Away".
By the start of the 80s, Pop critics were calling for the death of disco in the mainstream, but that did not stop club goers from dancing, nor did it ruin Burgess' career. He began utilizing a new style called "boogie" which is more mid-tempo disco/funk that featured synthesizers. In late 1980, he began recording with his main songwriting partners drummer Sonny Davenport, bassist James Calloway, what was to be a new album by their new group name, Convertion. After finishing "Let's Do It", it was cut as a single during the sessions on SAM records. Once they discovered that SAM were lcking funds for a decent budget for the rest of the album, The group took the songs to SalSoul released the self-titled album 
