Sweet Sweetback

It was 50 years ago this week that Melvin Van Peebles landmark black film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song from 1971.

I saw this movie right when it was released in a theater in downtown Philadelphia while killing time waiting for a bus back to the naval base in Norfolk. I didn't know anything about it and I was by myself but it was around the corner from the bus station and I had a few hours to wait even after getting something to eat.

It was a sparse afternoon crowd that turned into a party. People were screaming and yelling every time the hero beat up or killed a white cop. I was probably the only white person there and in uniform but it was an amazing film experience especially in that time and place. I really only felt threatened for a moment when I had been sitting very low in my seat during some commotion but I stood up and people saw my Navy uniform and didn't bother me.

The 50th anniversary of the release of this film is getting some attention because of the current Black Lives Matter movement and the things going on between the police and black people. In 1971 this was very intense.

It was also one of the last times I would be wearing a uniform while out on leave or liberty. The Chief of Naval Operations issued an order around this time allowing sailors to wear civilian clothes and keep them in barracks or aboard ships.

Years later I would get the soundtrack album for the film by Earth Wind & Fire.

More Mixes From Trades

Another batch of mixes I traded for with AotMers back in the early to mid '00s. They still sound good. 

Backyard Boombox

 

I bought this backyard boombox several years ago. I think it was the summer of 2018. This device works for me in many ways and in different places. It has been especially good for me during this pandemic because of it's flexibility and potential for even more uses.

It has an aux jack to plug in my iPod which has probably been the biggest use for me this past year. It is a decent CD player and a radio. It has a USB port and includes a media player. I can play my flash drive based mega mixes on this device too. It also has bluetooth capability which allows me to pair it with my phone or tablet to access Spotify and play music or podcasts through it. I mostly use this device plugged into a power outlet but it has battery power options too.

This Sony player also only cost about $40.

I've mostly using this player in my backyard cabana sunroom for personal use but I have also used it for playing mixes when people have been over before the pandemic and the few times since then too. I've had it plugged into an outlet on our front porch and look forward to doing that again when we have some folks sitting there enjoying an evening together.

Another place I've used it during the pandemic is upstairs in the sitting room next to our bedroom. I placed a nice chair by the windows so that I could sit there during the past winter overlooking the street. It was a very nice view and a comfortable place to read a book and listen to music.

Overall I've gotten a lot of use from this little Sony boombox and look forward to using it for a long time.

Mixes From Trades

Here are some of mixes I’ve been listening to recently that I got over the years through trades with folks on AotM, the Splitters group, etc. One of the joys of being retired the past several years has been exploring my music collection of albums I’ve acquired and mixes I’ve made over the last 50 some years. This challenging last year has intensified that effort and has also included listening to the many mixes that I got from so many people that have all have made a part of my collection.

I did a little AotM research to try and identify all the mixes in this group and found all but one. I don't know who gave me the yellow CD mix. But the rest... left to right, top to bottom would be Hemizen, Erik*, Valis, Siobhan, Laura, Siobhan, Gerry M, French Connection, Jenergy, Steve, A Nest of Vipers, French Connection, Miss A, ?, Chris James, Erik*

Songs 1971 Mega Mix - Volume 1 - All Day Music

Songs 1971 Mega Mix 

I'd been seeing a lot of articles about different albums that were having a 50 year anniversary release or story about the album. Of course this has been going on for a few years now concerning so many of my favorite albums in my collection and I've been making many regular CD mixes based on years. 

Recently I decided to make a mega mix for the year instead of the usual group of hour long CDs. I stopped making CD mixes and don't even have a CD player in my car anymore. However, I wanted to do something different this time and decided to base the mix on sets of songs from a group that would be two or three songs which of course would be from the same album since this was a by year mix. I then had the music flow through the year with sets of songs. Sometimes there would be single songs from a group but mostly two or three. I was set on creating a musical experience of the year from my perspective.

These Songs by Year mixes are not a best of the year or a sample of a year but rather they are my year from my collection. Only albums on my hard drive are included in the mix. The mixes also sound good on shuffle although they then lose the sets concept.

• Volume 1 - 114 songs, 8 hr 6 min
• Volume 2 - 118 songs, 8 hr 2 min
• Volume 3 - 100 songs, 8 hr 7 min

Here is Vol. 1

1	All Day Music	War
2	Slippin' Into Darkness	War
3	Get Down	War
4	What's Going On	Marvin Gaye
5	Inner City Blues	Marvin Gaye
6	Mercy Mercy Me	Marvin Gaye
7	Melting Pot	Booker T. & The MG's
8	Night Bird Flying	Jimi Hendrix
9	Room Full Of Mirrors	Jimi Hendrix
10	Angel	Jimi Hendrix
11	Cry Baby	Janis Joplin
12	Move Over	Janis Joplin
13	Get It While You Can	Janis Joplin
14	Love Her Madly	The Doors
15	L.A. Woman	The Doors
16	Riders On The Storm	The Doors
17	The WASP	The Doors
18	The Battle Of Evermore	Led Zeppelin
19	Stairway To Heaven	Led Zeppelin
20	Going To California	Led Zeppelin
21	Moonlight Mile	The Rolling Stones
22	Brown Sugar	The Rolling Stones
23	Dead Flowers	The Rolling Stones
24	Seeds And Stems (Again)	Commander Cody
25	Lost In The Ozone	Commander Cody
26	Hot Rod Lincoln	Commander Cody
27	Nobody	The Doobie Brothers
28	Strawberry Flats	Little Feat
29	Willin'	Little Feat
30	Maggie May	Rod Stewart
31	Mandolin Wind	Rod Stewart
32	(I Know) I'm Losing You	Rod Stewart
33	Hot Love	T.Rex
34	Bang A Gong (Get It On)	T.Rex
35	Jeepster	T.Rex
36	Day After Day	Badfinger
37	Baby Blue	Badfinger
38	Changes	David Bowie
39	Queen Bitch	David Bowie
40	Life On Mars	David Bowie
41	Imagine	John Lennon
42	Gimme Some Truth	John Lennon
43	Jealous Guy	John Lennon
44	Without You	Harry Nilsson
45	Coconut	Harry Nilsson
46	Gotta Get Up	Harry Nilsson
47	Jump Into The Fire	Harry Nilsson
48	Everybody's Everything	Santana
49	No One To Depend On	Santana
50	Everything's Coming Our Way	Santana
51	I've Seen All Good People	Yes
52	Yours Is No Disgrace	Yes
53	Getting In Tune	The Who
54	Baba O'Riley	The Who
55	Behind Blue Eyes	The Who
56	One Of These Days	Pink Floyd
57	Fearless	Pink Floyd
58	Bad Side Of The Moon	Elton John
59	Take Me To The Pilot	Elton John
60	Wild Night	Van Morrison
61	Tupelo Honey	Van Morrison
62	Another Day	Paul McCartney
63	Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey	Paul McCartney
64	Too Many People	Paul McCartney
65	Here Comes The Sun	Richie Havens
66	One Man Rock and Roll Band	Roy Harper
67	Strawberry Letter 23	Shuggie Otis
68	All For The Love Of A Woman	William Bell
69	Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer	Stevie Wonder
70	If You Really Love Me	Stevie Wonder
71	Nathan Jones	The Supremes
72	Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)	The Temptations
73	Smiling Faces Sometimes	The Undisputed Truth
74	I Can't Get Next To You	Al Green
75	Tired Of Being Alone	Al Green
76	Have You Seen Her	The Chi-Lites
77	You Are Everything	The Stylistics
78	Betcha By Golly, Wow	The Stylistics
79	Ain't No Sunshine	Bill Withers
80	Grandma's Hands	Bill Withers
81	Harlem	Bill Withers
82	Sun Is Shining	Bob Marley & The Wailers
83	African Herbsman	Bob Marley & The Wailers
84	Keep On Moving	Bob Marley & The Wailers
85	Family Affair	Sly & The Family Stone
86	Runnin' Away	Sly & The Family Stone
87	Luv N' Haight	Sly & The Family Stone
88	Rock And Roll Stew	Traffic
89	Medicated Goo	Traffic
90	Gimme Some Lovin'	Traffic
91	Statesboro Blues (Live)	The Allman Brothers Band
92	Trouble No More (Live)	The Allman Brothers Band
93	One Way Out (Live)	The Allman Brothers Band
94	Locomotive Breath	Jethro Tull
95	Aqualung	Jethro Tull
96	I'm Eighteen	Alice Cooper
97	Be My Lover	Alice Cooper
98	Walk Away	The James Gang
99	Do You Know What I Mean	Lee Michaels
100	For Ladies Only	Steppenwolf
101	Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress	The Hollies
102	Long Dark Road	The Hollies
103	20th Century Man	The Kinks
104	God's Children	The Kinks
105	Muswell Hillbilly	The Kinks
106	Too Bad	The Faces
107	Maybe I'm Amazed	The Faces
108	Stay With Me	Faces
109	Darkness Darkness	Mott The Hoople
110	Message From The Country	The Move
111	The Witch Queen Of New Orleans	Redbone
112	Beware Of Darkness	Leon Russell
113	Stranger In A Strange Land	Leon Russell
114	It's All Over Now, Baby Blue	Leon Russell