Funk and soul has always partaken of the image of family to express unity.

But then for some, it ain't just an image. Kindred the Family Soul started when Fatin Dantzler and Aja Graydon met to write songs together. Count those lucky who get to go on tour and still have their honey on the bus with them.

Go get it, you. They've been at it for a while, though now they're coming out of Little Rock instead of the burg that gives them their name. The CD that comes with it is a guaranteed home run, and makes the inflated $8.50 cover price a bargain.

One last southern music festival (let a guy dream, after all...) Atlanta's Midtown Music Festival. Large portions of the website are bustid, but a handy PDF with the schedule is here.

The Boss has made known his support for the Dixie Chicks, recently lambasted in many backwards-thinking sectors for expressing their opinions on Bush's war. You can find more detail on what the DC have been through lately here.

It's always nice when someone reinforces your faith in them. Makes you wanna listen to one of Bruce's better known covers. (Note that last link is courtesy of some folks who know of what they speak)

Alert reader K. Jo points out that if you're going to be in Louisiana, you don't want to miss Festival International de Louisiane (yesterday through Sunday). It's not only the largest francophone festival in the U.S., it's free. And of course, there's a heck of a lineup.

By now you know the sad news.

She created her share of sweetness along the way, but didn't blink at the reality of racism.

P2P networking isn't just for downloading anymore. With the open source app Peercast, you can listen streams from other music freaks, or broadcast your own. Much like gnutella, it will be much harder for the RIAA to take down, since there's no central server.

The important thing about it is that it distributes the bandwidth -- when you're listening to a stream, someone else might be getting the stream from your connection. That may sound esoteric, but there are actually good reasons why that democratizes online streaming.

Not too many Jazz trios write songs dedicated to long haul truckers (the title is "Keep the Bugs Off Your Glass and the Bears Off Your Ass"). Or play covers of Blondie or Nirvana.

The all-too-brief 30 second sound snippets don't really give you a fair sense. They're just enough to make you crave seeing them live.

Meshell Ndegeocello's 2002 record is enough to make you believe in funk again. And it ain't just because of the slowed down and stretched out rendition of Funkadelic's "Better By the Pound" she does on it, thought that sure doesn't hurt. (Slowing the tune down makes you realize that George's song, which he recorded as psychedelic rock party tune, is political too.)

Also check out her track asking calling out for peace (anyone remember that?) in reponse to recent world events

Radiohead, Beastie Boys, Beck, The Roots, Blackalicious, and s'mores. No, s'mores isn't the name of a band, (though it should be), it's what you consume (besides smuggled booze) if you go to Field Day at Enterprise Park at Calverton (huh?)

Tickets (courtesy of the great satan) go on sale tomorrow. (tip of the pin to Pitchfork for the scoop)

Best thing about Prince fans is all the noise they kick up on the message boards. It's a love-hate relationship, which leads on one side to album reviews longer than than the neck of Larry Graham's bass, and on the other to some mighty funny spoof posts.

On Ween's website, they have some mp3's posted from a gig they nearly, but didn't quite, get. Pizza Hut asked them to pen a jingle for their latest gimmick pizza, one that has the cheese inside the crust.

Listening to this version, you can't imagine why Pizza Hut bailed. Listening to this one, you maybe understand why after all.

Need more Ween do http://www.weenradio.com. And you really need to visit their website and check the mutant cow (flash version only) too.

Everyone knew that little Norah would clean up at the Grammys. But there's someone else who's been waiting for his a long time who finally picked up a little gold record player too.

Solomon Burke's release on Fat Possum, Don't Give Up On Me, put him back on the map where he belongs. It's a bit of a twist on get-a-bunch-of-your-buddies-to-guest-on-the-record formula pioneered to great effect by Santana -- guest songwriting credits go to the likes of Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, and Brian Wilson. Still, it's the bishop's pipes that star in this thing.

Just 10 more days until heaven, albiet a tad more sticky and warm than the traditional rendition of it, rescends to earth. If you don't find something you'll dig here, then there's pretty much no hope for you. (Note: those 4 links are just the schedules for the first week. There's another one just like it.)

Spring is in the air, and festival season is right around the corner. Like you needed more reasons to love summertime.

Hey, Lucinda's new one is out!

Don't get me wrong here, I'm a big fan. But is this creepy as hell or what? I feel like big sister is watching when I visit the page.

For whatever reason, springtime sends the mind to thoughts of Lyle. It's probably the summerstage show last summer that creates the warm weather / Lovett connection. Then again, he is from the balmy state of Texas.

(Yo, sorry for the hiatus kids. Rock'n'roll cures the soul, but it doesn't make a day longer than 24 hours.)

He's been putting out records and touring for about forever. The ladies dig him, that's because he writes very good songs.

And as a true American songwriter is wont to do, he's got a way with an automotive metaphor -- check out the third to last question on the FAQ -- "What is the meaning of the title of Greg's album, Slant 6 Mind?"

Cheesy. Embarassing. Totally backwards as far as images of women's position in society go.

And insanely catchy. This came on in the pool hall yesterday, and I tell you, your humble author caught no fewer that 4 people swaying or shaking their booties to it. (Status of my own booty classified, but hey, I'm posting about it, draw your own conclusions.) It's gotta be that beat.

Fact is, Wishing Well and Dance Little Sister were a couple of the high points of 1987. Since then, he did keep releasing records, though their sales seemed to put them in the category where he probably could have hand-addressed a thank-you note to each person who bought 'em.

Since then, we've had a name change to Sananda Maitreya and a new record that you can listen to in its entirety online.(Hmm, a genre of two: iconoclastic falsetto-rockin soul singers who get wacky names. At least TTD's new name is pronounceable, and even a bit mellifluous.)

The record's quality (it's a good 'un, kids) testifies to the fact that TTD/SM restless creative soul, as does its busy history. Nice to the Internet used to open up the create process, as well as its product.

the Not in My Name Music Project will release an EP soon, but until then, just visit the site and the music will stream right out at ya. September 12 has about the best beat of the antiwar tunes so far.

And R.E.M.'s The Final Straw, for my money, is the first anti-war tune to actually have a shot at some radio play. Well, it would, if the music industry had any stones(warning: NYT link, reg required).

And as you may have seen in the mainstream press, Thurston Moore has started Protest Records, where you can get mp3's from the likes of Cat Power and some pretty cool stencils. Not that I'm suggesting anything, of course.