Playlist for 2/20

Clipse - Let God Sort Em Out

Cecile McLorin Salvant - Oh Snap

Thelonious Monk - Standards 

Doc Pomus - Songs for Elvis (the Demos)

Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately (Documentary) 

I’m Chevy Chase and You're Not (Documentary) 

Happy and You Know It (Documentary) 

Poll: Top 77 Songs of All-Time

  My first time voting in this yearly poll. Vote for 10 songs. I didn’t spend too much time on my picks. Just thought of 10 all-time faves. If I had to vote in this again, I might change a song or two. But this is still a varied list of 10 songs I love.

Top 77 Songs All-Time

Here's how you voted this year:

 1: Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley (1969)

 2: You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' - Righteous Brothers (1965)

 3: Respect - Aretha Franklin (1967)

 4: Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell (1968)

 5: I Only Have Eyes For You - Flamingos (1959)

 6: Midnight Train To Georgia - Gladys Knight & the Pips (1973)

 7: Stop In The Name Of Love - Diana Ross Supremes (1965)

 8: The Love I Lost - Harold Melvin& the Blue Notes (1973)

 9: Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac (1977)

10: Could It Be I'm Falling In Love - Spinners 

Favorite Love Songs for Valentine's Day

All of these Valentine's Day type tracks have meant something to me at some point in my life.

If you want to find out what other songs I'm adding, then check out my Spotify playlist
A Not On Every Best Love Songs Ever Playlist

Al Green - Sha-La-La
Alexander O'Neal - If You Were Here Tonight
Atlantic Starr - Send For Me
Aretha Franklin - Day Dreaming
Barry White - Can't Get Enough
Bill Withers - Lovely Day
Boz Scaggs -  We're All Alone
Bread - Make It With You
Con Funk Shun - Love's Train
Daryl Hall & John Oates - One On One
DeBarge - All This Love
Earth, Wind & Fire - Love's Holiday
Ella Fitzgerald - I Concentrate On You
ELO - Strange Magic
Elvis Presley - Fame and Fortune
Flamingos - I Only Have Eyes For You
Frank Sinatra - You Make Me Feel So Young
Gap Band - Yearning For Your Love
Gladys Knight & The Pips - You're The Best Thing That's Ever Happened To Me
Gregory Abbott - Shake You Down
Isley Brothers - Voyage to Atlantis
Janet Jackson - Let's Wait Awhile
Jackie Wilson - To Be Loved
Jason Isbell - If We Were Vampires
Jimmy LaFave - Into Your Life
Joni Mitchell - Case of You
L.T.D.  - Love Ballad
Luther Vandross - If Only For One Night
Major Harris - Love Won't Let Me Wait
Manhattans - Shining Star
Marvin Gaye - After The Dance
Maxwell - Whenever, Wherever, Whatever
Maze featuring Frankie Beverly - I Wanna Thank You
Merle Haggard - That's The Way Love Goes
Michael Jackson - Lady In My Life
Neil Young - Harvest Moon
Norman Connors - You Are My Starship
O'Jays - Lovin' You
Patti LaBelle - Love, Need and Want You
Peabo Bryson - I'm So Into You
Prince  - Adore
Randy Travis - Forever and Ever, Amen
Ray, Goodman & Brown - Special Lady
Rene & Angela - Your Smile
Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway - Closer I Get To You
Rodney Crowell - After All This Time
Rose Royce - Wishing On A Star
Roxy Music - Avalon
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan - Sweet Thing
Sam Cooke - Nothing Can Change This Love
Smokey Robinson - Quiet Storm
Spinners - Could It Be I'm Falling In Love
Stevie Wonder - You and I
Stylistics - I'm Stone In Love With You
T-Connection - Best of My Love
Teddy Pendergrass & Stephanie Mills - Feel The Fire
Terence Trent D'Arby - Let's Go Forward
Tom Jones - Move Closer
Tony! Toni! Tone! -  Anniversary
Whispers - Lady
Willie Nelson - Moonlight In Vermont

Ranking: Songs from Teddy Pendergrass - TP

   Released in 1980, TP is Teddy Pendergrass' greatest album.  And famously, despite being released on Philadelphia International Records, it has no songs produced or written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.  But expertly chosen songs from Ashford & Simpson, Peabo Bryson, Cecil Womack and others more than make up for G & H's absence.  There are two incredible duets with Stephanie Mills.  Too bad they never did a duets album together.  I've said this about many R&B albums from this era.  You won't find these types of records listed on various greatest album countdowns ever lists.  This era of R&B was and still is vastly underrated in history.  Having said many of the best albums from that era, TP as well, were critically praised when they were released.  

1.  Love T.KO.

2.  Feel the Fire (w/Stephanie Mills)

3,  Is It Still Good To Ya

4.  Take Me In Your Arms Tonight (w/Stephanie Mills)

5.  Can't We Try

6.  Girl You Know

7.  I Just Called To Say

8.  Let Me Love You

Playlist for 2/5

Rosalia - Lux

Beatles - Anthology 4

Beatles - Anthology Episode 9

Paul Anka: His Way (Documentry) 

It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley (Documentary) 

Colter Wall - Memories and Empties

Ken Pomeroy - Cruel Joke

Crystal Gayle - Somebody Loves You

Anne Murray - Together

Dick Feller - Some Days are Diamonds

Lefty Frizzell - Classic Style

Steve Young - Honky-Tonk Man

Jerry Jeff Walker - Ridin' High

Oxford American Southern Music Issue #27 Austin Live - Various

For Our Una (2012-2026)

  The day after Una passed away was a rough one.  The house was too quiet.  My routine of taking care of the dog's daily needs was gone.  I still couldn't grasp that she won't be back. She spent the night with someone I said.  Or she's outside running around.  But she'll be back in the house, I know she will.  There are now reminders everywhere of Una.  Her beds.  Her food and water bowl.  Her dog food.  Her walking leashes.  Her blankets.  I picked up one of her blankets just to inhale her smell again. Her sweaters for those cold days.  And even more sadly, her medicine that she had been taking since last November.  Una suffered from epilepsy/seizures from last November until the day before she died.  These are awful things to watch your dog go through.  But Una was a fighter.  And until the last week of her life she would always recover.  But the seizures took a toll.  She was not the same Una anymore.  The light and sparkle in her eyes had disappeared.  She had trouble walking.  She was telling us its time. 

  My wife named her Una. Meaning “the one”. Although we had no idea when we got her in September 2013 that she would be “the one”. But something in that initial meeting told my wife this dog was special. We never owned a dog before. Or any pets. My parents had cats. Her parents had dogs. But since we lived together we never owned a pet. Particularly for me, having a dog was a brand new experience. But Una was special from day one. She made me feel less nervous. And she made us feel like we were meant to be together. 

  Una was born on December 10, 2012.  But she was given up by her owner nine months later.  We'll never know why.  And I always felt bad for her that someone let her go.  My wife knew about Una through her friends.  And outside of one photo we never met Una before.  My first reaction was how small she was.  Una was a long-haired Chihuahua.  It's not a rare breed, but not the most common seen of the Chihuahua's. It was love at first sight.  From the start she changed our lives.  My son had moved out of the house and the timing was right for a pet in our life.  Una opened up a whole new world in our eyes.  For 13 years her enthusiasm and curiosity about life was fascinating.  She would get excited to go for car rides.  She'd jump in the car and have that "take me somewhere" attitude. Holding and getting kisses from her was special.  She was my walking companion.  No change that.  I was her walking companion. Almost every night she sat or slept next to me on the couch as I watched television.

  Una was a special dog loved by everyone.  She passed away from the effects of too many seizures, which in turn caused some dementia.  I don't want to remember her last weeks.  I want to remember how she was always there with a kiss when i asked for one. Today there is sadness at her passing.  Much grief. No, change that.  Much devastation.  Like every dog, Una deserved to live a long life free of illness.  She did not deserve to suffer in her last days.  I wonder if she knew how much she was loved in her final moments. She is no longer in pain.  I am comforted in knowing she is running free once again a healthy dog. On her last day we walked around one of her favorite spots, a lake. She couldn't walk as well anymore, so we held her the whole way.  In her last hour we sat on the front steps holding her.  It was a beautiful, peaceful moment.  Just Mommy, Daddy and our beautiful Una.  Together one last time. I choose to remember all the wonderful moments we had with her.  After she passed I took walks around areas we always walked.  I brought her leash with me. Like the old days.  Just me and my Una out for a walk.  

  On the first night without her she came to my dreams briefly but as a reminder.  From my bed I saw her in the hallway.  I heard her scratching herself next to me in her own bed.  She's letting us know that we are all still together.  She was a precious angel. We hope our little Una Buna knows that she will never be alone.  We are indeed all together. And we will love her forever.