Thursday, June 23, 2011

Get Soul in Your Life


Oh, Aretha. This track is off her 'Young, Gifted, and Black' record which has been living permanently in my car since I purchased it 3 weeks ago. How much do we love soul in this household? How does a dolphin love the ocean? How does Ice T love Coco? Oodles, my friends. Oodles.

Who do we dote on the most? Here are the usual suspects in our spinning lineup for the Lesch/Mackenzie residential record player:

1- ARETHA FRANKLIN Think
Aretha came into my life during my last birthday. I was moping since we were no longer in NYC (we'd just gotten back from a month long trip) and was a total Debbie Downer. B decided that some Queen of Soul would perk right me up. 'Soul '69' and 'A Best Of' later, I was back in the game and ready to jump into the ring. If you haven't experienced Aretha, I'd suggest either a 'Best Of' or 'Young, Gifted, and Black' which is a record everyone on the planet should own right this second.

2- Sly & The Family Stone Sing a Simple Song
Just get the Essential Sly & The Family Stone and you will be the life of any party worth going to. Need proof? Click the link. The End.

3- Stevie Wonder I Believe (When I Fall In Love)
OK, you know that amazing song that plays through the end credits of High Fidelity? This is it. This is Stevie Wonder before he wrote 'I Just Called To Say I Love You;' the dude actually had credibility! I picked up his 'Talking Book' record, which has this track on it, when I picked up 'Young, Gifted, and Black' and my ears have been spasming with joy ever since. It's a terrific record with so many great songs, well worth every penny I paid for it.

4- Bill Withers Use Me 
Withers also wrote 'Ain't No Sunshine,' 'Lovely Day,' and 'Just the Two of Us,' however it is solely due to this track that I think he is The Man. For a period of about 5 years I put this track on every last mix I made, I was adamant that people should listen to this song at least once, if not several hundred times. He has a lot of other songs that are brilliant, but please just listen to this one for now.

5- Marvin Gaye Ain't no Mountain High Enough    
You know when you first hear a David Bowie greatest hits collection for the first time and you go "No way! He wrote that?" for about every single song? Well, you sort of do that when you hear a decent collection of Gaye's earlier work. Then you can go "Well I'll be darned! Did he write that as well?" So it'd probably be a good idea to pick one up some time this week. Just sayin'.

My illustrious partner and music professional, B, always checks out a site called All Music any time he decides to get into an established musician. Their site is frightfully well organized and tremendously helpful, especially if you're unsure which records are worth listening to in a daunting discography. We often use it while music shopping since we have the interwebs on our highly intelligent cellular phones, and you should too.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Top 5 Dates For Under $30 in Auckland

                                           Thanks to Tim Parkinson for the photo

You may have noticed my mild obsession with eating well on the cheap.

I managed to claw my way through two degrees while living 'The Student Lifestyle' for 6 and some years and let me impart this nugget of wisdom to you: One doesn't go through THAT without learning a thing or two about thrift.

At any rate my partner would rather spend his dollars on Miles Davis records and I would prefer a nice pair pants over a swanky ass date. We are alike in our extreme sense of frugality when it comes to romance. In light of my last post wherein I spoke disparagingly about the lack of dating culture in New Zealand, here are some dates that Aucklanders can get behind:

1. The Chocolate Boutique, Parnell
Question: where else in Auckland would you be able to get a downright DIVINE slice of homemade chocolate mud cake for $5.50? NOWHERE. Most of the desserts here are under 6 clams and certainly don't taste it. I'd suggest going either earlier in the evening or very late as all school age children are also aware of the awesomeness that is The Chocolate Boutique. Luckily it's open late (an Auckland rarity).

2. Bitchin' Bingo, Vulcan Lane, Central City
A downright amusing mash up of stand up and gambling, Bingo Mistress Viv serves up a whip smart 2 hours of laughs and rad prizes for $7. She's only at Cassette #9 now, but as they also do tapas it could serve well for either an 'early on' date or just something to do for a less full on evening out.

3. Academy Cinema, Central City
During the last few months Academy Cinemas have totally redeemed themselves from 'that pokey place that's down like 6 flights of stairs' to 'that boss cinema that's playing classics for $12.' We saw a 35mm print of 'Casablanca' a couple months back and had a couple bucks left over for some ice cream cones. Everyone in the theatre was quiet as mice since it was a CLASSIC film and not the new X-Men.

4. Little Cake Kitchen, Upper Queen St, Newton
Do you know what most women like? Sweet, sugar laden baked goods AND small things. Few women are immune to cuteness, especially in food. This is where cupcakes comes in. We are hopeless suckers for small cakes that are well decorated. HOPELESS. SUCKERS. Men-! Take note! Little Cake Kitchen is cute as pigs and full of things your gal will go batshit over. Also, their cupcakes rock in at around $3.50, so you'd be able to spring for a couple AND a coffee or 3.

5. Bite Cafe 2nd Floor Smith & Caughey's, Central City
Bite is one of the best cafes in the central city. It still confuses me that nobody has done a decent write up on them and there are virtually NO websites with a review. The cafe is much more like a restaurant, it's relatively quiet, the food is very high quality yet reasonably priced, and the staff are unreal with their level of customer service. Go for lunch or their $9 high tea and be sure to get a coffee card, they're generous with the stamps.

6. *BONUS FOR NERDZ* Video Game Arcades on Queen St
There are two video game arcades in close proximity on Queen, Time Zone does a half priced Thursday on ALL their games. Now, call me corny & American, but in my book, it's the actual activity of a date that gives you stuff to talk about. Hence all the random cafes, they're all well placed for a good wander after eating lunch/cupcakes. Video game arcades, however, are just FUN. Spend $20 on credit (which would translate into $40 on a Thursday), then have $10 left over for two coffees.

How helpful! See? I told you I was helpful.