Ronnie James Dio - RIP

RIP – Ronnie James Dio

I am sure there will be plenty of wizard and dragon jokes (trust me, I would probably make one if I had one at the ready), but in all seriousness Dio’s passing is truly a sad loss for music.

Be it in the boogie woogie blues of Elf, climbing the Silver Mountain with Rainbow, raising the bar for vocalists replacing already mega-successful vocalists in Black Sabbath or just plain scaring the bejeesus out of Baptist parents raising teen boys in the 80’s, Dio was/is f*cking legend.

I am pretty sure I still have “Holy Diver” on vinyl (from Columbia House no less ) in my closet at my parents.

Slay a dragon for me little man.

Here is a small Dio playlist I put together on the fly this morning.

link: http://countryclubofthezeroseven.blogspot.com/

What's the Deal? Sugar Hill!!!

I was digging around through some old cd's and stumbled across this mix that I put together for a friend's birthday party a few years back, and thought it was worth posting.

I made a couple of tweaks here and there, but it is largely the previous mix in it's entirety plus some extra tracks, including my favorite disco era track "I Get Lifted", the KC and the Sunshine Band version. Outside of a couple disco tracks, and maybe one or two roller boogie classics, this is all standard issue classic Soul Train era funk, jazz and hip-hop.

If some of these songs sound familiar, it is probably because minus one or two, they have all been sampled extensively over the years. At least 2 or 3 have been picked up by the Beastie Boys, and a couple by Dr. Dre. In the meantime, feel free to shake yo' ass while you are trying to figure out where you might have heard these songs before.

Enjoy!