Throwback Thursdays

Deniece Williams has one of those voices that calls to mind all that is sweet and good and pure. I swear it sounds like the clearest of chimes and bells. I've been a fan of her music ever since I was a kid. "Silly" got me through many a grammar school crush... In high school, "Free" seemed like the perfect thing to be when a relationship I thought was going to last forever came to that parting fork in the road. "Let's Hear it for the Boy"... "Black Butterfly"... "It's Gonna Take a Miracle"... I could go on and on listing songs of hers that I love. I wish I could hit those high notes like her. Here's a live performance of "Free."



Free

Do you remember Deniece Williams? What songtress from the 80s did you love? I could probably add folks like Stacy Lattisaw, Gwen Gunthrie, Shirley Murdock and many more. But Deniece Williams will always be high on my list of female vocalists with voices that just take you there. Who's on your list?

much love and peace,

Gwyneth

Throwback Thursdays

Things that Make You Go Hmm…

That was an old Arsenio Hall line for those of you old enough to remember the show… Anyway, ever since Mariah Carey married Nick Cannon folks have been wondering what in the heck she could have been thinking. And I have to say, at first I raised my eyebrow because he’s so much younger than her. Then I figured she got a little “Tender Roni.” Good for her! But then I started thinking and I thought Mariah might be on to something... I came up with the a little theory. So bear with me…


In 1987, Patrick Dempsey was a dorky looking guy who played in the film Can’t Buy Me Love . It was all about a, well dorky guy who paid this rich beautiful girl to pretend to date him so that he could be popular.


In 2003, Nick Cannon was a dorky looking guy who played in the black remake of Can’t Buy Me Love , Love Don’t Cost a Thing . Now before you start saying so what, Gwyneth… Let me say… Patrick Dempsey went from skinny dork to McDreamy.





And I’m not saying Nick Cannon is going to all of the sudden morph into a stud muffin in about ten years… although brother is getting cuter and buffer as the years go by…



But I’m just saying Mariah might be on to something and she might have picked her future McDreamy a little early so that she can watch him blossom… I’m just saying… What do y’all think?

Throwback Thursdays

This is how we do the old to the new…

Because there’s something about Mary…

“Real Love”




Just so you know, I will be a Mary J. Blige fan for life! She had me ever since she came out looking for a “Real Love” in 1992. Hell, I was feeling her when she was singing back up hooks for Father MC in “I’ll Do For You.” There’s just something about a Mary J. Blige fan. We will buy her CDs no matter what. Even those fans grumbling that they don’t like her music now that she’s happy and in love will fork down their cash and purchase each new release. We can’t help it. I’m so happy that her last two CDs have been ones that I can rock track after track after track without skipping. Honestly, I haven’t done that with a Mary CD since My Life . I don’t really know what it is about Mary that inspires such diehard loyalty in us fans. It could be because she’s so real. Or it might be because she makes us feel . It might be because she gave a generation of young women a voice when no one was speaking our pain. And now that some of us have grown up with her, found love, feel content and know that real love and happiness comes from within, we’re all feeling “Just Fine.” Do you think that there’s something about Mary? Has an artist ever touched you the way Mary touches her fans?


“Just Fine”

Throwback Thursdays

Where are they now?

TOTAL

I liked the girl group from the 90s, Total. They were a part of Puffy's Bad Boy label when Bad Boy was hot. And speaking of Puffy, or Diddy, or Sean "Diddy" Combs, or what ever the hell name he's going by at this second... Why do they keep letting this fool make bands? Seriously, if MTV airs one more season of Puffy making one more band... But I digress...

As much as Puffy works my nerves--and trust and believe me he makes me sick to just look at him--he was the hit maker in the 90s. Bad Boy had it going on and Total was one of those rough and rugged girl groups that sisters could vibe to. Sort of like ole school What's the 411? Mary J. Blige ... Anyway, instead of Puffy making new bands, why doesn't he do something with one of the old bands that we actually liked at one point? I think I'll dedicate the next few Throwbacks to girl groups of the 90s that are no longer with us. I want Total to do a tour with SWV, Xscape and 702. That would make my nostalgic self very happy. Until then... I'll just have to check out Total's "Kissing You."




much love and peace,

Gwyneth

Throwback Thursdays

Old School Movie Memories: Mahogany



Okay since I was probably all of six years old when this movie was released in 1976, I didn’t exactly catch it in the theaters. I must have seen it for the first time on television. Probably a Saturday or Sunday afternoon… You know back when they used to show those back to back Karate flicks and every now and then you’d catch a movie like Mahogany , Claudine or Let’s Do It Again …. I will say that while I liked Lady Sings the Blues I LOVE Mahogany . After Claudine , it is probably one of my all time favorite old movies. The chemistry between Diana Ross and Billy Dee Williams is amazing. And it’s even worth enduring that weird relationship she develops with the character played by Anthony Perkins. Because in the end she “gets her ole man back!” I also loved that even though she becomes this big time model in the film, for a large chunk of it she’s just a regular Chi-town girl. We don’t have nearly enough black love movies. But this one is a classic and it will always be in my top ten. What older romantic movies make your top ten list? And while you ponder that question think about these… “Do you know where you’re going to? Do you like the things that life is showing you? Where are you going to? Do you know?” LOL. Have a great weekend!

Throwback Thursdays

Those Magic TV Moments…

Living Single: Maxine “Max” Shaw Attorney-at-Law and Kyle Barker





Honestly, I like friends to lovers plots; they warm my heart and make me smile. But rivals to lovers plots done right... They get my blood racing and heart pounding every time. I love them! My all time favorite TV couple is Max and Kyle from Living Single . Those two were constantly at each other’s throats from the very first episode. Who knew under all that dislike was a simmering, ready-to-boil-over passion? I’ll never forget when Max lost her job and couldn’t find her best friend Khadijah to drink away her blues. She ended up drinking with Kyle and they ended up doing the horizontal hokey-pokey for the first time. The episode where they woke up and realized that they had gotten drunk and slept together was worth waiting all summer for the new season to see. They were constantly insulting one another, but there was something that just made them seem so right for one another. If they weren’t on TV, I’d say that couple is toxic and should seek help or better yet split up... They certainly took the ‘playful banter’ to the tenth degree and back again. And who can forget the “Funny Valentine” episode when Kyle made his come back after freezing while singing in front of Max. He had the sistah squirming in her seat when it was all said and done.



I think they remain my all-time favorite TV couple because Max was just my kind of girl. The sistah was driven, sassy and way too commitment phobic to give in to love without a fight. And only a guy as confidant and smooth as Kyle Barker could give as good as he got and keep coming back for more. I loved that in the end neither of them could run from love. Fate intervened and the anonymous sperm donor that Max used ended up being Kyle. I know, that kind of thing only happens on TV, the soaps, or in romance novels… But I told y’all I’m such a girl and I eat this kind of stuff up like cake. So who was your favorite TV couple?

Throwback Thursdays

Toys of yesterday...

These are two toys that I absolutely hated.



RUBIK'S CUBE



AND



KERBANGERS

Why did I hate these toys you ask? Because I couldn't do them of course. I could never get that stupid rubik's cube right. Unless I cheated... I remember taking all the stickers off and putting them back on so that it looked like I'd won. LOL. And those kerbangers? Forget about it... I'm lucky I didn't put my eye out trying to get those stupid balls to go fast. My sister could do the kerbangers really well. She was irritating like that when we were kids...

Yep. I hated those toys. Just thought I'd share. Any toys from your childhood that you hated?

much love and peace,

Gwyneth

Throwback Thursdays

This is how we do the old to the new…

Maybe it’s about a sweet melody and an inspiring message… I don’t know. But I do know that I get almost the same hyped-happy-I-can-accomplish-anything feeling when I hear Kanye West’s “Touch the Sky” that I get when I hear Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up.” I don’t know if it is the melody, or the thought of moving on up and touching the sky. But I do know that Kanye did well by the Curtis Mayfield classic. And I love the video for Kanye’s video because it takes us back to the early 70s. Nostalgia. Gotta love it! I also like the nod to Evil Kanevil. I could have done without Pamela Anderson and Tracey Ellis Ross in the video… But other than those two, it’s a pretty cool video. I can almost see why he threw a fit when he didn’t when an award for this video a few years back. I mean he did spend a million dollars for it… He should have won that world video award… LOL. Just kidding… Anyway… Enjoy!

Curtis Mayfield, “Move On Up”



Kanye West, “Touch the Sky”



much love and peace,

Gwyneth

Throwback Thursdays

Those Magic TV Moments...

Do you remember the soap's first black super couple, Angie and Jesse from All My Children?



Well, they're back!



And all I can say is black don't crack for real! Debbie Morgan and Darnell Williams have reprised their roles on All My Children and they look like they haven't aged a bit it the twenty years that have passed. I have to admit this super couple predates my soap addiction. I vaguely remember some of their story line. But I didn’t really become hooked on soaps until college. I wasn’t so addicted that I scheduled my classes around them or anything, but…. Anyway, I have weaned myself off of the soaps too many times to count. And now they’ve taunted me by bringing the first black super couple back, complete with a “back from the dead” storyline. You know I couldn’t resist. I mean there’s no secret baby or anything… But back from the dead is just as intriguing to me. I had to see what she would do when she saw him after twenty years. I knew what I would do. I would hug him and kiss him and cry and scream and just be so happy before I hauled off and slapped him and said, “Nucca! Where the hell have you been for 20 damn years?” But this is daytime TV we’re talking about and I guess they didn’t want to go there. I know I’m probably the only one who has been sucked in by the return of Angie and Jesse. I’m the only one watching it on Soap Net when she comes home at night. But at least the return of Angie and Jesse has cured me of my Food Network addiction for now….

Check out the promo for the return here:

Throwback Thursdays

This is how we do the old to the new…



lady in red
i waz missin something…
… i found god in myself
& loved her/ i loved her fiercely
From Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf

“I wanted Shange’s language to arm me with the awesome power of self-definition. I left realizing this was impossible. As much as I appreciated the artistic, cultural, and historical significance of this moment it wasn’t mine to claim… As a child of the post-Civil Rights, post-feminist, post-soul hip-hop generation, my struggle songs consisted of the same notes but they were infused with distinctly different rhythms. What I wanted was a for colored girls… of my own. The problem was that I was waiting around for someone else to write it… This complacency is typical of my generation…” (21-22)
From Joan Morgan’s When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks it Down

The memory of the first time I ever saw Ntozake Shange’s groundbreaking choreopoem performed is burnt into my memory. I had to be about eleven or twelve when I caught it on PBS one Saturday. I remember sobbing when Beau Willie threw the children out of the window. I had no real understanding of all the things the women in the play were talking about. But I remember being captivated. A lot of what Shange wrote about in 1975 is timeless… "somebody/ anybody/ sing a black girl’s song/ bring her out/ to know herself…" It only seems fitting that girls who grew up in the 70s like hip-hop feminist Joan Morgan and Nuevo-Soul singer Erykah Badu would find ways to re-work and re-mix for colored girls who have considered suicide . Shange ends with the women finding god in themselves, learning to love themselves. Morgan’s entire book is a quest for women of the hip-hop generation to find their power. Morgan’s book is just as provocative and thought provoking as Shange's. And Erykah Badu’s classic song “Bag Lady” seems to take up Morgan’s plea for women in the hip-hop generation to acknowledge the ways they are complicit in their own oppression: “Bag lady, you gonna miss your bus. You can’t hurry up, cause you got too much stuff.” She even takes up Shange’s message of love: “I betcha love can make it better…” And the entire video is a ode to for colored girls… Have you ever seen for colored girls… performed? Do you think the Badu video carried on the tradition nicely? Enjoy…

Erykah Badu – Bag Lady

Throwback Thursdays

So, I’m flipping through last week’s Jet Magazine and there is an article titled “Where is the Cast of Good Times ? I read it with some interest. I like those where are they now pieces. But what really piqued my interest in the article was the small side bar where they listed the lyrics to the theme song. Now, y’all know how much I love song lyrics and learning the lyrics to TV themes is one of my favorite things. I’m a dweeb. I know. But yes, I sing the theme to Friends , Veronica Mars , The Jeffersons , A Different World , Living Single and many many more… Anyway, I love to sing theme songs even when I don’t know all the lyrics. Case in point… Good Times … I don’t know about you guys, but I can sing along fine with the Good Times theme until the last part. I’ve said everything but what the lyrics really are. And I would have never guessed what the lyrics really were. I bet you all wouldn’t have either. Who would have guessed they were singing “Hangin’ in and jivin.'” I’m so happy I found these lyrics. Because from now on I won’t be saying, 'la la la la…' for that part of the song or 'hanging in the gutter…' No, I know the lyrics now and so do you. Here they are. You can even sing along by playing the You Tube clip of the opening and closing. Have fun. LOL. How many of you already knew they were saying "hangin' in and jivin'"? Do we have any more theme song singers in the house? Or am I the only dweeb...

Opening Theme Lyrics to Good Times

(Oscar-winning composer-arranger Dave Grusin wrote the music. Singers James “Jim” Gilstrap and Saundra “Blinky” Williams performed the song.)

Good times!
Any Time you meet a payment,
Good Times!
Any time you meet a friend,
Good times!
Any time you’re out from under
Not getting’ hassled.
Not getting’ hustled.

Keepin’ your head above water,
Makin’ a wave when you can.
Temporary layoffs –
Good times!
Easy credit ripoffs –
Good times!
Scratchin’ and survivin’ –
Good times!
Hangin’ in and jivin’ –
Good times!
Ain’t we lucky we got ‘em?
Good times!!

The opening and closing of Good Times

Throwback Thursdays

Those Magic TV Moments…

Martin Proposing to Gina



Thursday nights used to be TV night in the late 80s and early 90s. If it wasn’t The Cosby Show and A Different World on NBC keeping us glued to our tubes it was Martin , Living Single and New York Undercover on Fox. This strike has me nostalgic like crazy and I started to think about how funny Martin Lawrence's show used to be before he went crazy and folks quit and sued for sexual harassment… Anyway...

Remember when Martin proposed to Gina? The first proposal wasn’t romantic at all. The brother felt a little pressured and put his foot in his mouth big time. But it was the funniest proposal ever and provided the classic lines: “Okay fine! Fine, baby, Gina… Your little plan worked. You plotted and you schemed and clank-clank you finally got me, Gina. Okay... fine… Gina, I will marry you! Damn! I mean are you happy now?” Probably not the proposal every girl dreams of, huh? I guess having her man compare being married to her as being handcuffed and on lockdown didn't cut it. Because Gina left Martin and he had to work to get her back.

Sounds like a romance novel to me… Anyway…

In the second proposal the brother pulled out all the stops and even got Brian McKnight to sing to her. It was cute. But to me the first proposal will always be the true classic. It might not be romantic, but it was hella funny… “Clank-Clank…”

The First Proposal



The Second Proposal

Throwback Thursdays...

Those Magic TV Moments…



So, I’ve decided to rename Thursdays “Throwback Thursdays” here on my blog. That way I can feed all of my nostalgia whims in the same space depending on what I’m feeling on any given Thursday. Since I’m a pop culture junkie those whims can be old school movies, songs, books or TV shows. And today I want to talk about one of my favorite shows, the show that had a high school senior in “can’t hardly wait mode” to graduate and be able to attend college during the 1987-88 school year. Between A Different World and Spike Lee’s School Daze , I just knew I was going to have the time of my life in college! Granted, the predominately white university I attended was nothing like the show A Different World. It was a different world but that's a different post... And I didn’t meet and fall in love with my own Dwayne Wayne in college. (I had a major crush of Kadeem “Dwayne Wayne” Hardison by the way… But that’s also another post…) Anyway, Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert’s journey from friends to lovers made a believer out of me. The show where Dwayne and Whitley get married is still one of my all-time favorite TV moments. “Whitley, please, baby, please!” Wow!

And you wonder why I write romance… I’m such a girl! Enjoy…