If you are over the age of 40, you understand the impact that Don Cornelius had on American life. Back in the ’70s, it was rare to see shows that involved Black people. Soul Train provided an atmosphere which promoted music and cultural harmony. Don Cornelius’ influence on our society cannot be underestimated. My prayers go out to his family and friends.

From RS:

Don Cornelius, who created the long-running R&B and dance-music showcase Soul Train, was found dead in his home in Sherman Oaks, Calif., early this morning. He was 75. Law enforcement officials suspect suicide; the body was found with a gunshot wound to the head.

Trained as a journalist on WVON, an African-American talk radio station in his native Chicago, Cornelius conceived of Soul Train during the Civil Rights movement, noting there was no showcase for black music on national television. Soul Train debuted in 1971 and quickly became a popular stop for major acts such as James Brown, the O’Jays and Michael Jackson. Cornelius hosted the show from its inception until 1993; Soul Train ended its long run in its original form in 2006.

The show had a huge influence on popular culture and the pop charts. One of its themes, “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),” became a hit record, and references to Cornelius and Soul Train have appeared in dozens of songs over the years. Cornelius famously closed each episode with the parting words, “We wish you love, peace and soul.”

(Read more)

Let’s see what we can come up with. Tell your friends. I look forward to your input.

From RS:

Etta James, one of the great voices of the 20th century, who fused R&B with gospel and blues and scored landmark hits with “At Last,” “Tell Mama” and “All I Could Do Was Cry,” died today from complications related to leukemia. She was 73. James had been battling health problems for years.

James had an enormously turbulent personal life with numerous periods of drug addiction and poverty, but she channeled all of that heartache into her music. “There’s a lot going on Etta James’ voice,” Bonnie Raitt told Rolling Stone in 2008. “A lot of pain, a lot of life, and most of all, a lot of strength. She can be so raucous and down one song, and then break your heart with her subtlety and finesse the next. As raw as Etta is, there’s a great intelligence and wisdom in her singing.”

Born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles in 1938, James was largely abandoned by her teenage mother at a young age, and was raised by her grandparents and foster families. She formed the the doo-wop singing group the Creolettes with her friends in the early 1950s, and they scored a minor hit with “Roll Me Henry” in 1955.

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Artist: Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera
Tune: Moves like Jagger

Artist: David Bowie
Song: Fame

Artist: Lady Gaga
Tune: Born This Way

Being on the internet and having a blog is a trip. You never know who is going to contact you. So, I got an e-mail from a dude who runs the web site RunHundred. This site is all about workout mixes. Who knew? So here are the top 10 work out tunes for November.

Tim Berg – Seek Bromance (Avicii Vocal Edit) – 127 BPM

Kelly Rowland & Lil Wayne – Motivation (Rebel Rock Remix) – 130 BPM

Wolfgang Gartner & Will.I.Am – Forever – 128 BPM

Britney Spears – I Wanna Go (Oliver Remix) – 129 BPM

Taio Cruz & Flo Rida – Hangover – 129 BPM

Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull & The WAV.s – I Like How It Feels – 129 BPM

Kaskade & Skrillex – Lick It – 128 BPM

Young The Giant – My Body – 130 BPM

Flo Rida – Good Feeling – 129 BPM

Kelly Clarkson – What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger) – 117 BPM

Artist: Flo Rida
Tune: Good Feeling

This was Michael Jackson’s last CD or release that was any good.  This was before he spent day after day in court stating, “I didn’t do anything.”  Anyway, nice video.  I’m thinking any time you can get Heavy D, Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan in the same video, that’s a good video.

Artist: Heavy D and the Boyz
Tune: Now that we found love

Artist: Guy with Heavy D
Tune: Do me right

From Rolling Stone:

Heavy D, the former leader of the hip-hop group Heavy D and the Boyz, has died at the age of 44. The rapper was rushed to a hospital in Los Angeles earlier this afternoon and was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. PT. Police are investigating his death but there are no signs of foul play.

Heavy D, born Dwight Arrington Myers, broke into the music industry with Living Large, his first record with the Boyz, in 1987. He went on to even greater success with the hit “Now That We Found Love” in 1991, and recorded theme songs for the television series In Loving Color and MADtv. In recent years, D recorded a series of reggae fusion albums.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/heavy-d-dead-at-44-20111108#ixzz1dA5DBP4u

This is my favorite Heavy D tune. It was smooth and playful.

Artist: Jill Scott
Tune: Lovely Day

Artist: Whitney Houston
Tune: Queen of the Night

I was kind of surprised that Senator Marco Rubio while talking about the death of dictator Muammar Qaddafi managed to thank British and French troops (warning: this link opens an audio file), but not American troops. I just found that interesting. A Republican thanking foreign troops first – curious.

There seems to be lots of people who are curious about how Muammar Qaddafi died. I’m sorry, maybe I’m just not inquisitive. I simply don’t care. I don’t care if a lightning bolt from Zeus hit him in the head or a sniper took him out at 300 yards with a 10 mile an hour cross breeze. I simply don’t care. From my standpoint, I’m happy for the Libyan people. They needed the dictator either captured or killed so that they could move on. Now they get to the difficult task of trying to make a nation out of Libya. Running a government is a lot harder than overthrowing the government. Running a government that respects all of your people is even harder. By the way, I wasn’t interested in the gruesome photos of Saddam Hussein or the photos of his sons when they were killed. Maybe it’s because I get enough blood and guts and work that I don’t need to see them at home. Maybe it’s because the blood and guts are beside the point.

Charles Blow has been writing some absolutely fabulous articles/op-eds in the New York Times. He has served up another one. This one is about Occupy Wall Street. There are a lot of people who feel a kinship with those who are doing the “occupying.”

Bank failure #84. Yes, there’ve been 84 bank failures so far this year.

According to the Financial Time,s the bondholders of Greek debt are expected to take a 60% loss on their current holdings.

I’ll have a little bit more on this later but I thought I’d start off now. Skeptics of global warming, some curmudgeon scientists, decided to prove once and for all that global warming was nothing but a bunch of hooey. They took a bunch of data than they crunched all the numbers and guess what, they found out what every other climate scientists of any stature has found out, that global warming is for real.

10 years since the anthrax attacks. There have been so many different things going on in the last 10 years, I really have not had a chance to delve into this case. I haven’t looked at the evidence. I know that both Glenn and Jim White have been following this case with more than a passing interest.

As I mentioned several days ago, Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan is nothing more than a fancy flat tax. Robert Reich agrees.

We should enjoy a little music on a Friday night:

Artist: Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto
Tune: The Girl from Ipanema

Artist: Dave Brubeck
Tune: Take Five

My news roundup in just a second.

Artist: Al Jarreau
Tune: Better than Anything

I found this on youtube. Steve Jobs in 2005 giving the commencement address at Stanford University. He is funny, thoughtful and insightful. He doesn’t spend hours droning on and on. It is almost a perfect commencement address.

When I was in my late teens and felt kind blue I played this tune –

Artist: Tom Scott
Tune: Shadows

Artist: the timeless Tony Bennett and Diana Krall
Tune: Diana Krall

Artist: Al Jarreau
Tune: Boogie Down

Artist: Fourplay
Tune: Bali Run