When I started PlanetSoul.com in January 2007, I did it to promote the indie soul artists who I love and respect immensely, and expand on the SoulTalk audio interviews that I’d been doing since 2005. Unfortunately, the endless hours and energy required to manage and maintain the website, interviews, net radio station, artist submissions, eStore, contests, the weekly 2-hour local radio show, MySpace profile, etc. and then promote it all meant very little of me was left for my husband and two young children. As much as I loved the music and having a vehicle like PlanetSoul to promote it, days quickly turned into weeks and months of not existing in the present and enjoying my primary gig as a wife and mom, but instead constantly working to maintain it all. And the fact that the time I was putting into the site wasn’t contributing to my family financially made matters worse. Of course, I didn’t create PlanetSoul for the money, but I also didn’t anticipate the costs required to develop and maintain it and the lack of revenue it ultimately generated. 

So I’ve had to make the difficult but necessary decision to entirely refocus my energy on my family and put PlanetSoul.com on hiatus. Consequently, I’m now a familiar fixture at my kids’ elementary school, both as volunteer and substitute teacher. In the Fall, I’ll be looking into a new career as an elementary school teacher and spending some time volunteering for the Obama campaign (yes we can ). I’m excited about this new chapter and how it will benefit my family. And who knows? Perhaps I’ll hip some kids and voters to a little indie soul.

As I prepare to leave for a vacation with my three favorite people (see above ) this week and go “offline,” I wanted to take an opportunity to thank all of the indie soul artists, radio, media, and website folks, promoters, publicists, managers, and others who’ve put their hearts (and in most cases, their money) into this indie soul movement, and have provided so much encouragement, support, and inspiration to me as I tried my best, like them, to promote and share this music we all love. Thanks a million to Craig Chapman, Chai Footman, Detrel Howell, Pam Nichols, Chris Rizik, George Littlejohn, Selina Robinson, Elsa Lathan, Silawn Lewis, Mike Kitchen,  Brandon Felton, DJ Sean Sax, Soul Jones, Son of Soul, John Dean, SOBO Magazine, Jodine Dorce, Francis Jaye, Drake Phifer, Terry Bello, the PlanetBloggers, my online fam (Pink Room Fam at lalahhathaway.com, Rahsaaniacs at Rahsaan Patterson’s Yahoo! Group, the ERFs at ericrobersonmusic.com, eVangelists at vanhunt.com, Bravebirds at blisslife.com), and of course, artists like Rahsaan Patterson, Lalah Hathaway, Eric Roberson, Van Hunt, Adriana Evans, Angela Johnson, and countless others who inspire so many with their one-two punch of artistry and hustle in an industry and economy that’s endlessly challenging. (Sidebar: please check out SoulTracks.com’s fantastic new article on indie success and PlanetSoul.com’s new SoulTalk interview with indie soul artist on the rise Ra-Re Valverde.) 

Thanks again to all who continue to create, support, and promote the music - the world is better because of your contributions and passion.

I’d like to end this lil’ diatribe with a classic from Sade - an artist/goddess I’ve been missing something terrible lately . This groove right here completely describes how I’m feeling at the moment, and hopefully, how I’ll feel for the next 40 years.  

Please take some time this Summer to savor the sweetness and warmth of the season and may we all remember to Cherish The Day…every day.

With love & gratitude from my soul,
-D.
xoxoxoxo

Thanks Rah…I know I speak for so many when I say, that as far as singers go, YOU are THE PROTOTYPE. 

In honor of his birthday, I asked Rahsaan’s mother, Paulette Waters, to share a special memory about Rahsaan as a child, and she provided this gem of a story:

“Rahsaan actually sang before he talked. Everything about music and the love of melody must have been hard wired into a special place in his brain. From the time he could sit up, he responded to everything musical. The records we played at home and especially television commercials. I started to use the tv commercials to teach him how to spell. Letting him sing the commercials and telling him the letters that were in his name. One day, he announced to me that he could spell his name. Naturally I was delighted and asked him to please spell it.

He responded by singing “R-O-L-A-I-D-S” Rolaids!! Well I must admit he got the “R” right. He also got the pitch right as well as the actual tone and voice of the person who sang the commercial. Not bad for 1 1/2 years old.”

This year, Chris and his team have taken the awards to the next level, with the SoulTracks Awards show. The SoulTracks Awards are THE awards show for indie soul.

Tickets are available now: SoulTracks Awards Show

Back in the 90’s, as a singer and songwriter with a toe-hold in the business, I read trades and other music-based magazines. I had seen Rahsaan Patterson’s picture in passing, but did not buy his debut album when it was released in 1997. He was one of the artists being touted in the “Neo-Soul” category/publicity moniker. I recall the video to ”Where You Are”. I didn’t bite, for some reason. Life’s trajectory must be positioned correctly in order for one to truly dig certain experiences that may be encountered, I guess.

Two years later, I stumbled by chance across a song called “Any Other Love”. Caught the artists’ name. “I gotta check that out”, I thought to myself. About a week later, I hear the same artist, this time singing “Get Here”. Same album (by the way, thank you Music Choice!). That did it. Later that same day, I’m at the house of my friend, and I ask him if he knows who Rahsaan Patterson is. “Yeah, I got both his albums”. He GIVES me the debut, saying he’s run his course with it, but won’t part with hs new album, LOVE IN STEREO.

I literally went straight to Circuit City after leaving, and picked up LOVE IN STEREO. I should have listened to the debut first; I’m a slave to chronology. This story might have been quite different if I had. But I wanted to hear “Any Other Love”, so I popped LOVE IN STEREO first. And…that was it. It took me a cool 3 weeks to get to listen to the debut. I was stuck on “Sure Boy”, “Friend of Mine, “Humor”, “So Right” and so on. I was sold. I was suddenly telling everyone in earshot about Rahsaan Patterson, the Mad Genius of R&B.

Okay, that was a long setup, but there is a reason. When I was a kid, rarely a day went by that I didn’t hear something on the radio that got me excited. Spoke to me about the possibilities in music. I don’t hear it too much these days, sad to say. And his was one of those moments. And it feels good to say that, on his fourth release, that same artist has released perhaps his most rewarding collection to date. Mind you, this is not a straight-up review. Just a testament to the power of music that resonates on more than a surface level.

In the last 8 years, Rahsaan has released one album, 2004’s AFTER HOURS. This was a welcome addition to his canon, yielding many favorites of mine (”So Hot”, “Burnin’”, “April’s Kiss”, and especially “Sometimes (You Gotta Let Go”)). But with his new album, WINES & SPIRITS, it feels as if a thread between LOVE IN STEREO has been bridged, intertwined with both artistic growth, progression and the growth that life changes can’t help but bring. 

The album begins appropriately enough. “Cloud 9″ doesn’t begin- it fades in. The experience is already underway, it seems- jump on in. The atmosphere is comfortable and familiar, Rufus-esque. “There ain’t gonna be no downtime”, Rahsaan informs us. A great track, and a lyric that’s a harbinger for things to come.

“Delirium (Come and Goes)” seems to be getting alot of buzz from folk (it’s the only track besides first single “Stop Breaking My Heart” that’s been posted on youtube). As a hallmark of Rahsaan’s work, he wears his heart on his sleeve in the lyric. “Not trying to be cool, I’m hopeless and lonely for you”, he declares. It might be the frantic, remix-friendly production that’s adds the extra edge for people, but the overall tone of the track is a map of desperation, in its’ sweetest form.

“Feels Good” will appeal to those who have been hooked to a integral facet in Rahsaan’s work. In short, he can deliver a report on the greatest aspects of love or heartache, and package it in such an unaffected, ingratiating work, one in which you can’t help but crumble within its own delights.

“No Danger” finds Rahsaan in a less organic, more ethereal environment, one which will house much of the disc. The lyric and vocal are both reassuring in the promise that something beautiful will prevail. It’s a sentiment not shared with the next track. “Pitch Black” is a great song, not only because it challenges conventions within some man-made confines of what a ‘genre’ should entail, but because it harshly addresses an artists’ feeling, in a manner that is palatable and relatable. It deserves a repeated spin, on first listen.

On “Time”, featuring Johnny Onyx, he finds a balance. With Hip Hop as a catalyst, all feelings, sights and sounds are bared. As the hook suggests, all is ultimately uncovered, and Rahsaan’s emotive voice is the one to deliver the news.   

This brings us to the albums’ leadoff single, “Stop Breaking My Heart”. I’ll be honest in saying I didn’t immediately appreciate this song. At first listen, it doesn’t really deviate from what some may classify as a ‘classic Rahsaan Patterson cut’. But it deserves further consideration. The song plays much like the final declaration of a heart that has endured many struggles. At this point, every aspect of the track works in conjunction with past experience- there’s a finality in the hurt, up to Rahsaan’s own impassioned screams near songs’ end…

On “Water”, those same feelings are explored on a much more adventurous landscape. The same climate of contemplative desperation permeates. “Lifesaver please…is there anyone there to sense my need”, he wonders, while all around him, down to his own musings, suggest he’s on his own. For all its’ lyrical restlessness, the track floats on such a lushly thoughtful production that it never dares to bog us down.

The opposite is true with the next song, arguably the album’s best cut, “Deliver Me”.  A moment of dour lament is not permitted- the song launches into a infectious, uptempo groove, to which Rahsaan’s falsetto politely informs “gotta get away from you”. Those are the opening words, and he could be addressing any number of things. But by the time the soaring, unexpected hook comes in, it doesn’t matter. This is where the true artistry of Rahsaan Patterson comes into play. Regardless of the circumstance, that pained plea of the hook- the simple “deliver me, oh love”- cuts through to somewhere deeper than it may have seemingly intentioned. Let its impact sink in, then listen again. Listen to those ever-ascending keys during the lyric, “escape to love, make way for love, in space, my love…”  It’s a trip and a half forward.

Keeping this same agenda, the next track, “Oh Lord (Take Me Back)” might seem a basic excercise in returning to one’s spiritual roots, but the song has as much to do with the understanding those roots. Rahsaan has rarely sounded more spirited. Likewise, on “Higher Love” he confidently asserts a reason for renewal, under more contemporary surroundings. These 2 tracks could be used as examples of how an expression of praise, of joy, can be presented on the most disparate of platforms, despite the source of its’ own prompting.

The set closer, Janis Ian’s “Stars”, is appropriate in that its’ own musings- confused, unclarified, open-ended- mirror the sentiment of the whole album. “And all you see is glory”, he concludes. The lyric relates to the paradox of our stars, but there is, of course, a parallel to the balance in Rahsaan’s own observations.  

WINES & SPIRITS stands as witness that there is still an outlet for music to take adventure, to relate, yet influence. It is means of mutual release and ingestion. And this man, the “Mad Genius of R&B”, as I once called him, has once again allowed his soul to reflect the conscious need and awareness in all of us…

my only hope is that the rest of the world will wake up to the artistry of Rahsaan Patterson, already…     

Visit www.SoulTracks.com to cast your vote and find out about this year’s awards ceremony being held at Detroit, Michigan’s Cobo Center!

1) Lenny Kravitz is releasing two albums in 2008. His first release “It’s Time For A Love Revolution,” is expected to drop in February. The second release, “Funk” has long been anticipated by uber obsessed fervent Lenny Kravitz fans such as me. Back in 2002 Lenny announced his next album was going to be “Funk,” but instead of releasing “Funk” he released “Baptism.” “Baptism” was a pretty good album, but I wanted “Funk.” Once both albums are released, I will have all nine Lenny Kravitz studio albums and “VICTORY WILL BE MINE :^D!!!”

2) Martin Luther (McCoy) will hopefully be releasing “Serial Thriller” or at least songs from it. Martin can thrill me anytime he wants with his music . His voice is so beautiful. I would pay him to sing the phone book to me. In terms of live performance, he and his band are on fiyah! Martin is staring in the recently released film, “Across The Universe.” Promotion for the film has given him mainstream exposure on such shows as Good Morning America and Oprah. Watching him perform on Oprah, I was so excited for him. Like other musicians, I am sure he has worked plenty hard to get to where he is in his career. Hopefully all the exposure he has received from being a part of “Across The Universe” takes his career even higher.

3) Raheem DeVaughn is going to release “Love Behind The Melody” on November 27, 2007. I became a huge fan of Raheem with his last album, “The Love Experience” and his mixtapes. Hopefully I will finally get a chance to experience Raheem live.

4) Van Hunt will release his third album, “Popular” in January 2008. I am a fan of Van’s first two albums, and hopefully with the release of his third album, he will fully experience what being “Popular” is all about.

5) Hopefully the following artists will release new material in 2008;

Anthony Hamilton, Gnarls Barkley, Dozie, Kelis, Corinne Bailey Rae, Maxwell, Jimi Hendrix…hey if Maxwell can release new material, anything is possible.

Special guest Detrel Howell (one half of “One Nation Under The Soul Shack” and longtime moderator of Rahsaan’s Yahoo! Group) will be joining Deb for the Tribute to discuss some classic Rahsaan cuts and his contributions to music.

At 10 pm EST, it’s time for the SoulTalk artist interview. Deb will have Rahsaan live on the air to discuss his new CD “Wines & Spirits” and she’ll be playing selected songs from the new album, which hits stores September 25th.

The PlanetSoul Radio show is broadcast on Tampa, Florida’s WMNF. Listen to the live stream of the entire show at http://www.wmnf.org. (NOTE: you’ll need to have WinAmp loaded prior to listening - visit http://www.winamp.com for free download.)

Congrats to Silawn Lewis for coordinating this worthwhile and much needed recognition of independent soul aritsts!

Visit the Agape Artist Promotions MySpace Profile

Visit http://www.artistrymusic.net to hear the new song.

 Check out Van’s MySpace Profile for the full story and to hear a couple new joints.