Cooking High PODCAST

Tomorrow Is My Turn (Back to the Future Mix)

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:13:39 -0400

Track List:
1. Tomorrow Is My Turn/ Nina Simone
2. "Head Title" aka Distant Lover/ Marvin Gaye
3. Money Don't Matter Tonight/Prince
4. Heaven Help/ Lenny Kravitz
5. All This Love/ DeBarge
6. Edith and the Kingpin/ Joni Mitchell
7. Sugar Man/ Rodriguez
8. I've Seen That Face Before/ Grace Jones
9. I Was Made for Loivin' You/ Kate The Cat
1. Stone Me( Into the Groove)/ Trombo Combo
11. Speed of Light/ Alphawezen
1. 1940/ The Submarines
2. Walk in the Sky/ Bonobo feat. Bajka
3. Inject love Song/ Nesekomix
15. Breath/ The Cinematic Orchestra

Boys + Cameras

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 15:38:10 -0400

1. I've Been Thinking / Cat Power | Handsome Boy Modeling School
2. So Fresh, So Clean / Outcast
3. Before the Night Is Over / Joe Simon
4. Bed Stuy / Spec Boogie
5. Saffron / MF Doom
6. Nautilius / Bob James
7. Gone, The Promises of Yesterday / Mad Lads
8. Summer Breeze / Ray Conniff
9. Morning Sunrise / Weldon Irvine
10. Let Me Go / Kenny Latimore
1. Trouble, Heartaches & Sadness / Ann
Peebles
12. One Step Ahead / Aretha Franklin
13. Ms. Fat Booty / Mos Def
14. Black Coffee / Heavy D & the Boyz
15. Straighten It Out / Pete Rock & CL Smooth
16. Betta Listen/ De La Soul
17. Tosca/ Heidi Bruehl (SA-RA Remix)
1. Everybody / Gonzworth Bently feat. Andre 300, Kanye West & SA-RA
19. Shine / Lamont Dozier
20. Give Me Your Love / The Sisters Love
21. Melting Pot / Booker T. & The M.G.'s

Breakfast Gyuvetch

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 21:11:12 -0500

Kosta Kostov is not a nickname! Born in the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, Kostov grew up in the unique Balkan way of celebrating. Moving to Germany didn't stop his passionate search for the best rhythms and melodies from the Balkans. Today working as a music journalist and dj, Kosta Kostov is the mastermind and resident "machinista" of the balkanXpress, the turbulent party in Cologne’s club Gebäude 9.

In April 2004, the balkanXpress started in Cologne’s club scene first as a regular party, to introduce and represent the many-facetted music of Southeastern Europe. It quickly became a reference for people who love spontaneous and passionate celebration. The balkanXpress takes you on a dance journey through the valleys and hills of the Balkan beats and breaks, always with view out to new horizons... The rhythms of typical music and dance-styles like horo, račenitza, čoček, rembetiko or klezmer are quite similar to the beats of drum ’n’ bass and breakbeat and offer a great space for fusions. The Balkan music also share a common ground with musical phenomena like the sounds from the Orient & Maghreb, the hispano-brazilian flavas or the Bhangra beats. The trip with balkanXpress will take you beyond the Balkans, to the music related neighbours that have more similarities with Southeast European music than expected.

Love in 4/4 Strictly for the Dancers

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:59:00 -0400

It’s almost April, when did that happen? Spring still shies away and the temperature is slowly crawling up the thermometer but I’m so ready to be outside, soak up the sun, and run the streets of Brooklyn. Since I have way too much time on my hands being unemployed for a first time in my life I try to keep busy with my favorite activities. I can’t afford a gym membership but it doesn’t cost a thing to dance your heart out in your living room and that’s exactly what I hope you do while listening to this episode. The blending is not perfect but since I don’t have pitch control the idea is what counts. So all the dancers out there - pull the baby powder out and let’s go. Those of you stuck behind a desk, ya’ll can tab with you feet. And don’t look like you’re having fun because you know how much your boss hates to see you having fun during work hours. Like that automatically excludes productivity. So here’s some love in 4/4 for the dancers.

Nu Cool Bed-Stuy Sessions

Tue, 3 Mar 2009 00:21:00 -0500

Waiting is a b**ch, especially if your mind is as busy as the devil’s workshop and you feel like you have energy to lift up the world and change it’s direction. I’m waiting for the spring, waiting to hear from the million people I sent resumes and cover letters to. I’m waiting for things to be better, so while I’m waiting I thought I should drop another Cooking High episode, maybe it can make your boring work day shorter, the cold winter night warmer, or just give that overstimulated brain of your a little brake.

I went to the Studio Museum Harlem last weekend with a group of new found friends to see Barkley L. Hendriks: Birth of Cool. If you haven’t see it yet, go. Black is beautiful brothers and sisters! Not to mention now I feel much better about my nude self-portraits although I

Rollin' In My Cutty

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:20:00 -0500

Here it is - the last 2008 Cooking High episode! Don’t say I didn’t give you anything for Christmas. Yeah, I know it's been a while since I last cooked for ya'll but I have a good excuse – I've been taking pictures and the trill they gives me can be only compared to cooking of course or making love. No, I did not say sex, I said making love. And the main ingredient in all of this is inspiration.

This Christmas episode is dedicated to my friend Chance Morrison and the car she inherited from her grandmother – a 1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, 2 door coupe. 1984 was Oldsmobile's best year ever which saw them churn out 1.2 million cars. If you know me well you probably know how I feel about vintage cars, mainly American made from the 50s to the 80s. The Cutlass is in great condition! I don't know if it is because everything made back in the day seems to last much longer than things made these days or because grandmas know how to take good care of things, like the 50 year old sweater I

Headphone Treat by Miasha Williams

Sun, 1 Jun 2008 10:45:00 -0400

Awww, I’m so late! I have the nerve to publish our May episode on June 1st. I hope you forgive me but the warm nights and sunny days kept me outside hanging out with a you, my friends.
This episode we are having a guest but she’s not a stranger. She’s been here before as half of the Student Body Presents. You had a chance to first hear their debut album promo back in July 2007 and it still available in our archive:
For this episode of Cooking High I asked Miasha to put together a selection of the music that inspires her to write and create. What I find in my mailbox few weeks later definitely deserves its name: Headphone Treat.
It’s a treat for me to have her here and I hope you enjoy Miasha’s company in the next one hour while she takes you on a journey through the sounds that shaped her cosmic mind.

Anatomy of a Love Affair

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 01:10:00 -0400

Hello again, my dear friends! Welcome to yet another episode of Cooking High! Some of you may be just joining me for a first time and some of you have been with me a whole year. Yes, Cooking High turned 1 year on March 7th an oh, how happy I am to be around! I guess this is a time to look back, reflect on what I have done and decide if it is worth the time and energy. Well, what I HOPE I have done is give you an hour of good music, possibly good read, and a cool cover art once in a while. I hope you have heard a song you liked or you’ve never heard before. I hope you have read something that has moved you or made you think positively. I hope the music, imagery, and words have taken you to places in your memory and imagination long forgotten or newly found. And I hope you are happy to share your time with me as I am with you.
This anniversary episode is inspired by the sound and cultural phenomenon of girl groups from the 1950s and 60s. Black girls rule! It is dedicated to my mother Miglena, who used to rock a 60’s hairdo and a mini skirt like no other, and to the Hancock Street Ladies – Shannon Washington, Theresa Johnson, Danyell Rascoe, Shannon Pridgen, and Yolanda Daniels. Ashaki and Miasha, although you are not in Brooklyn anymore, my heart is with you! These girls are my sisters. I got nothing but love for them!
In the beginning of the 20th century African American music put its foot on the door of the fast industrializing music business and changed the world forever. In the late 50s, after the phenomenal success of jazz many indie labels were putting out new performers and creating new sounds like Stax , Blue Note, Motown, and Atlantic Records.
Among the earliest acts categorized as a "girl group" are The Chantels, whose 1958 hit “Maybe” had many of the qualities of what would become the classic girl-group sound: looser harmonies mixing elements of pop and rhythm and blues, an identifiable lead vocal within a harmony arrangement, and subject matter centered around young love. The girl group genre was closely associated with the Wall of Sound technique of recording developed by producer Phil Spector. He created a dense, layered, and reverberant sound that reproduced well on AM radio and jukeboxes by having a number of electric and acoustic guitarists perform the same parts in unison, musical arrangements for large groups of and various orchestral musicians and then recording the sound in an “echo chamber.”
The short lived but prominent genre swept Europe, Africa and Asia, and what was later called British Invasion started simply as covers of black music pressed on wax 5-6 years or more in the US. These days the songs are considered naïve and

Bed-Stuy Afternoon Cooking High presents The Blue Note Collection

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:18:00 -0500

In the loving memory of my grandmother Yordanka Todorova
Dec 18th 1918 - Feb 18th 2008

It is February and technically, it is time for another Cooking High episode. The truth is, walking down on Hancock Street I noticed once again how beautiful my neighborhood is. Century old brownstones pleat through the tree lined sidewalks with sandstone stairways, round wooden doors, and stain glass windows. In the summer kids play Double Dutch on the street and old men gather on the stoop of one ‘s house to share stories, people watch, and hang out. Music is coming out of cars, windows, and some times even speakers put out on the sidewalk. Like Biggie says Bed-Stuy is “the livest one”. Smell of food is in the air as soon as the sun warms up the Brooklyn streets and house music echoes through the summer Sunday evenings in Von King Park.

Bedford Stuyvesant is one of the oldest free black communities in the U.S. and a cultural center for the African American population in Brooklyn. Among the natives of this area are Shirley Chisholm, Notorious B.I.G., Chris Rock, Lena Horne, Mos Def, and James "Rocky" Robinson. I even heard that Coltrane once lived on my block and I believe it because I swear I can hear music when I step out of my apartment. This is the place I call home 4882 miles away from where I was born.

Although it has been considered a desirable neighborhood in the last two or three years with new small businesses and organic food section in the grocery store, I remember very well when people would not come to visit me or just raise their eyebrows when I tell them where I live. The stigma of the “do or die” years is still clearly visible from the careless thrown garbage on the sidewalks to the boarded houses or empty lots full of junk that are often part of the landscape. Call that urban charm if you want but it is simply poverty.

But Bed Stuy wasn’t always a ghetto; in the late 1800s the village of Bedford was an exclusive and highly desirable suburb for rich New Yorkers of Dutch and German descent. Market pressure led to rapid urbanization of the area: “the suburban district of freestanding frame and brick homes was gradually transformed into a more urban neighborhood of brick and brownstone row houses.” Crucial for popularizing the area was the construction of the electric trolleys and the Fulton Street Elevated. With the rapid urbanization the demographics of the neighborhood changed dramatically. Jews, Italians, West Indians, Irish and other ethnic groups settled in this declining yet still comparatively appealing area. Many homeowners were becoming too poor to pay their property taxes or just wanted to sell before their property devaluated further. The depreciation was corresponded to the massive migration of black Southerners and West Indians to New York that began in the 1910s and 20s. Bedford became port of call for black immigrants due to its proximity to already existing Black communities in Weeksville, Carrsville, and Fort Green. The brownstones quickly switched ownership and Black in-comers filled up the houses abandoned by previous immigrants but not without the resistance of white homeowners who tried to persuade people not to or simply refused to sell to the black newcomers. Often black families were forced to pay $20 000 for a house that at the time was sold for $3000. The construction of the A train in the 1930s made the commute between Harlem and Bedford much easier and many people came from uptown to central Brooklyn, which offered more jobs and better housing. Institutionalized racism, segregation, economic crisis, unemployment, and predatory real estate practices were some of the main reasons for the decline and “slumification” of Bedford-Stuyvesant. “The schools were not receiving adequate support, city services and public works were almost non-existent,” and the police is still feared rather than reassuring. In the late 70’s and early 80’s crack hit the streets and some of the darkest times begun. For a glimps of what is it like to live in the ghetto just play a Biggie record and you’ll get a pretty good idea.

Cafe Au Lait

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:52:00 -0500

Happy New Year to all of you my dear friends! It’s great to be here and have you all in my life. I know you are GOOD friends because every time I procrastinate or can’t find time to do what I love so much somebody pokes me “When is the next one coming?” So here it is, the first 2008 Cooking High episode!
Café Au Lait was inspired by La Nouvelle Vague or French New Wave cinema from the 60’s. This hasn't been the first episode inspired by this particular time of our collective past. The 60’s were an era of social and political change that echoed through out every continent. Time that brought counter culture, social revolution, and alternative point of view to the forefront.
The New Wave film directors were part of this phenomenon through their work, making radical experiments with editing, visual style, and narrative. Godard, Truffaut, and Resnais brought international acclaim to this genre. Although never formally organized as a movement they had in common the self-conscious rejection of classical cinematic form, deliberately deconstructing the dogmatic ideas of time, space, and reason of the past in search of new prospective and self- expression.
I remember when I first saw Breathless. I must have been about 15 years old. Although on that young age I didn’t understand some of the discrete allusions I was so impressed with its

English Breakfast

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 03:37:00 -0500

Alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity. `What a funny watch!' she remarked. `It tells the day of the month, and doesn't tell what o'clock it is!'

`Why should it?' muttered the Hatter. `Does your watch tell you what year it is?'

`Of course not,' Alice replied very readily: `but that's because it stays the same year for such a long time together.'

`Which is just the case with mine,' said the Hatter.

Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. `I don't quite understand you,' she said, as politely as she could.

`The Dormouse is asleep again,' said the Hatter, and he poured a little hot tea upon its nose.

The Dormouse shook its head impatiently, and said, without opening its eyes, `Of course, of course; just what I was going to remark myself.'

`Have you guessed the riddle yet?' the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.

`No, I give it up,' Alice replied: `that's the answer?'

`I haven't the slightest idea,' said the Hatter.

`Nor I,' said the March Hare.

Alice sighed wearily. `I think you might do something better with the time,' she said, `than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.'

`If you knew Time as well as I do,' said the Hatter, `you wouldn't talk about wasting it. It's him.'

`I don't know what you mean,' said Alice.

`Of course you don't!' the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. `I dare say you never even spoke to Time!'

`Perhaps not,' Alice cautiously replied: `but I know I have to beat time when I learn music.'

Music For Films

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 23:16:00 -0400

Sometimes in order to see you have to close your eyes. This is what my father taught me when I was about 12 and I first started paying attention the music he was playing on the sound system at home. Charlie Parker was pouring through the speakers in our small apartment and quite frankly was driving me insane.
‘How can you listen to this, sounds like cacophony. You can’t keep beat, I just don’t get it...’ I was complaining.
‘Every instrument has a story to tell,’ my dad said. ‘Close your eyes and listen.’

My dad introduced me to jazz, imagination, and creativity. He encouraged to me push boundaries, redefine ideas, and search for balance, and harmony. For this episode of Cooking High I asked him to put together an hour of his favorite jazz tunes and few days later I found a link in my mailbox.

Aphrofantastique

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 10:44:00 -0400

This episode of Cooking High is devoted to a portrait of a person and an era. Just like the rest of the world, West Africa in the 60’s was full energy and excitement, swept with social and political upheaval. Time of independence and optimism. Everything was new, modern, hip, and fashionable. Malick Sidibe captured this phenomenon in his work and what you are about to hear in the next one hour is a humble attempt reflect the sound of Africa in a time of a cultural revolution.

THE STUDENT BODY presents Arts and Sciences debut album promo

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:08:00 -0400

THE STUDENT BODY PRESENTS is like a breath of fresh air! Their debut album ARTS AND SCIENCES was released on the German label Phazz-a-delic last year and sneaked its way in to the US. Behind the intriguing project are MIASHA WILLIAM vocalist/writer and producer ERIC PORTER, based in Oakland, California. The album in fact wasn’t their first commercial release. The third track, Boxes, was featured on the Black Rock Coalition’s 2005 promotional compilation Rock n’ Roll Reparations II. And in 2006, the track Rush Hour was featured on Rubaiyat’s Female Future Transatlantic. Boxes also shared a 7” single with German Band, The Messerschmit Twins.

The Student Body’s avant-garde electro sound is spanning through genres with ease and finesse. Warm and acoustic in Driftwoodit, progressive and experimental in Eunice, or just straight head banging in Boxes. Eric Porter is a downtempo mad scientist. He started as a DJ back in the mid 80’s and has opened shows for Rakim, Outkast, and Dead Prez. He has previous releases on the Bitasweet and Almalgama. As a performer, he has played in venues such as Blue Note in New York City and the Jazz Cafe in London, as a part of Julie Dexter’s band. Porter creates a new reality with his chilled, beat-driven, and dark at times sound. His delayed lingering synthetic keyboards are combined with heavy, often complex bass lines.

And the rest is history is probably the best way to describe the significance of Madam Williams and Sir Porter’s encounter. Miasha’s lyrics are powerful and stream of thought like on this retro futuristic, whimsical, sonic background. Her clean yet distinctive vocals range from whispers to holler with the same command. She takes us on a journey

Ginger Beer Jamaica’s Finest

Wed, 4 Jul 2007 13:57:00 -0400

There’s nothing that says summer in Brooklyn more than reggae music. Your stoop is too hot to sit on, the air is full of coal fumes, and little beads of sweat are running down your skin like water drops on an ice cold ginger beer. There’s nothing that taste like Jamaica more than an ice cold ginger beer.
This episode is a retrospective of Jamaica’s finest from Ska to Dub, from Kingston to Zion, pass me Rizla, pass me the herb!

Luckie 6-07

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 23:20:00 -0400

It is my pleasure to present this episode’s track selector -- my dear friend Henry Ng, an awesome graffiti writer and illustrator who was supposed to be born in London in the late 60’s, start a rock band and marry Kate Moss. Somehow due to a mix up in the paperwork and delay in the application of the Ng family, Henry popped up on the North Side of Chicago with a spray paint in hand and appetite for destruction. Check out his website: www.zheik-one.com
And these are Henry’s June Tunes....

Mecanica De Amor

Wed, 16 May 2007 10:29:00 -0400

I'm happy to present you with the new episode - Mecanica de Amor devoted to the beauty of modern Brazilian music and the dream of my friends and me to go to Bahia. Forced by political circumstances most of my life I traveled only in my mind and music, and books helped me go to places my body has never been. With the anticipated changes in the US immigration law my life is about to change, dreams are about to become reality, and borders are about to disappear. Close your eyes and let the rhythm take you to the Tropic of Capricorn, and Ms. Rascoe... I'll see you there! :)

“Num cantinho um violão
Este amor, uma canção
Prá fazer feliz a quem se ama
Muita calma prá pensar
E ter tempo prá sonhar
Da janela vê-se o Corcovado
O Redentor, que lindo!

Quero a vida sempre assim
Com você perto de mim
Até o apagar da velha chama
E eu que era triste
Descrente deste mundo
Ao encontrar você eu conheci
O que é felicidade
Meu amor “
Corcovado,
Antonio Carlos Jobim

Kalamata Mix

Thu, 10 May 2007 14:56:00 -0400

I love the corner of Fulton and Bedford where one of the biggest mosques in Brooklyn is located. I often drink Millie’s Ice Tea in bushbaby across the street and watch the beautiful muslim brothers pass by with their crispy white thobes and rolled above the ankle pants... This episode is devoted to the beauty and mysticism of Islamic culture. Let the beat take you on a journey through ancient lands and civilizations where beauty is purity and God is Love.

Ginger Twist

Mon, 7 May 2007 01:37:00 -0400

“At the heart of Jamaican music, ‘sounds’ continue to the present day, as may be attested to by anyone who has attempted to get a night’s sleep in Kingston on a Friday, the favourite party night. Whenever Jamaican communities have moved, sound systems have accompanied them - London’s annual Notting Hill carnival features tons of boxes, tons of house of joy, as they are known in Jamaica.”

Chris Salewicz & Adrian Boot
Reggae Explosion
The Story of Jamaican Music

Dark Natural

Sat, 7 Apr 2007 01:24:49 -0400

Now we demand a chance to do things for ourselves
We're tired of beatin' our head against the wall
And workin' for someone else
We're people, we're just like the birds and the bees
We'd rather die on our feet
Than be livin' on our knees
Say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud!

James Brown (1933-2006)

Pomegranate Tea

Wed, 7 Mar 2007 20:15:47 -0500

Dedicated to my ancestors, the victims of
the genocide, and the holly mount of Ararat.

“I sigh not, while thou art my soul ! Fair one, thou art to me A golden cup, with water filled of immortality. I sit me down, that over me may fall thy shadow, sweet; Thou art a gold-embroidered tent to shield me from the heat. First hear my fault, and, if thou wilt, then slay this erring man; Thou hast all power; to me thou art the Sultan and the Khan.”
Sayat Nova’s Love Song