(Click to play and read on)



This came on after American Bandstand on Saturdays when I was a kid. I always liked Soul Train better. I used to love when they did the Track Dance.

Some little known facts about Soul Train...

The original host of Soul Train was David "Big Dave" Davidson, who premiered the show in 1947 as a local dance show in Scranton, Pennsylvania on the now defunct WASP station.



His popular sign-off..."We aren't going to let a silly little thing like a restraining order come between us, now are we? Good night, Scranton!" became a staple catch phrase in the local market and quickly spread across the country.

The show became so popular that it went into syndication nationwide in 1952. Soul Train's national exposure attracted bigger acts and top notch artists such as Squeeze Box Three.



The show began featuring Black people in the mid sixties...



...in the early seventies, Don Cornelius took over as the host.



The Asian version of the show, called Seoul Train, never achieved the same popularity as the original and was soon cancelled.



SOOOOOOUL TRAIN!

T

"What the %#$* is THIS #@$%ing $%#??!! Helloooo...I distinctly asked Santa for an Easy Bake Oven. %$#@!"

T

Ever heard the phrase "Up to your ass in alligators"? I'm kinda feeling that way. The past couple of weeks have been like a tornado..in a good way mostly though. Trust me...I aint complaining...I'm just glad to get a breather tonight after a short day of work.

I got a little funky last night and started the "I don't deserve success and I'm not equiped to even handle it" shit that I go through sometimes. It passed. It always does. It sure kicks me in the head on those late nights when it happens though.

First...I really really really really appreciate all my Streamer friends that shopped HeliotropeHome last weekend. It's been a little overwhelming on our silly little website lately. You guys ROCK! And...uh...I love some of the notes yall left in the comments on your orders. Anyways...you all should have all your fun stuff now. Hit me up at thomas@heliotropehome.com or call me at 404.371.0100 if you had any problems, ok?

So aaanyways...I promise I will catch up on comments soon. Just getting a few minutes to whack out a post up in here is a luxury for me these days.

Say...I know we all have moments when we just can't think of anything to post, but right now I have so many things to post about that I'm about to explode. So I'm going to try to remember them for later and just do a silly little "Best Of" post tonight.

_____________________________________________________________________

Drum roll please........

Marc and I received an advance copy of Atlanta Magazine's Best of Atlanta 2007 this week in the mail with a fancy little invitation to a little meet-n-greet in Midtown December 13th. Yup. We got Best One Stop Gift Shop 2007.



We get to dress up for a change and drink free booze and walk up and get our award next month. How wild is that???

_____________________________________________________________________

So anyways...here are Biggie's picks for the best new Christmas CDs this year.



_____________________________________________________________________

#1... Miss Patti's Christmas by Patti Labelle - A+



...I have to say that this one is one of the best Christmas albums by an established star in years. I can't get enough of it. I played it over and over the other day. Part hot R&B and part hot Spiritual. When she sings some of the Spiritual numbers, I get the distinct impression that she is paying homage to Mahalia Jackson. (She pronounces "God" as "Gooooaaawd", and "Lord" like "Load", and pronounces "Jesus" as "Jeeezzzus-ah" on some of the cuts just like Sister Mahalia used to.) I love that.



Hands down, NOBODY could sing a Christmas hymn like Mahalia Jackson, but Patti goes for it on this CD. If you like R&B and like Christmas hymns and appreciate Gospel delivered with genuine heart and soul, you will LOVE this CD.

____________________________________________________________________

#2... Christmas With Dino by Dean Martin (remastered by Capitol Records) - A



OK...granted...he's definitely my favorite Rat Packer anyway, but this project is amazing. Remember the dub thing they did where Natalie Cole was singing the duet with her dad? On the re-release of this Dino classic, they have Dino doing a dubbed duet on "Baby It's Cold Outside" with Martina McBride. AWESOME. The rest of the album has been remastered and cleaned up and the whole album sounds phenominal.

That voice...man...the vocal spin Dino put on Christmas songs was sublime. I'm just now really appreciating that after listening to this little jewel a couple of times. I can't listen to track 6 "It's a Marshmallow World" without getting a big ol' grin. I love this CD.

_____________________________________________________________________

#3... The Best of Christmas Cocktails by various Capitol Records artists - B+



For the past ten years, Capitol has been going into their vaults and issuing these Ultra Lounge: Christmas Cocktails CD's every couple of years. They are mostly culled from the slick and suave Christmas tunes from the 50s and early 60s. Some of the unearthed stuff on each volume has been awesome, but some of the tunes have been just so-so. They put all the best cuts from all these volumes together on a "greatest hits" compilation this year. This CD is awesome.

_____________________________________________________________________

Dishonorable Mention...Noel by Josh Groban - D+



Dammit. This sucked for me, because I actually like him alot. I guess I expected more maybe. Maybe I have to try to listen to it a couple more times. Maybe I haven't been in enough of a chilled out mood to really appreciate it. I dunno. I haven't been able to get through it all the way yet. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

_____________________________________________________________________

So anyways...I'm currently obsessed with the DVD of The Devil Wears Prada.



I haven't done this in years. I finally rented the DVD and now I've watched this movie like 4 times in the past week. Meryl Streep kicks ass as the editor of the fashion magazine. The movie has awesome lines. Marc and I have been looking at each other from time to time at work saying the two classic Meryl Streep lines to each other from this movie... "That wasn't a question" and "That's all".

Disclaimer: My obsession with this film has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that uber-freakin-gorgeous Adrian Grenier is in it.



No really...the fact that uber-freakin-gorgeous Adrian Grenier is in the film has nothing to do with it. Ok...so I already said that. OK...whatever.

Nite nite.

T

The tune is "Whover You Are" by Geggy Tah. I love this little easy jam. I'll insert some more in depth commentary and explanations later...when I aint so crunk on bubbly.



Cupcakes and champagne and Yoohoos and Swiss Cake Rolls...that's how we rolled.



Awww yeah.



Biggie T, with the new Nazi haircut, serves up the bubbly to a couple of hotties.



Another shot of Biggie T's new 1940s gay Nazi style haircut. Not so sure he will be visiting that particular barber again. Plus...I can't figure out what that stuff on the side of my face is.



Marc with Michelle. Michelle is like every female comedian rolled into one. We have customers now that will only shop when Michelle is going to be working in the store. It's sick, I'm telling ya.



Michelle in action on the sales floor.



Michelle again...serving up the bubbly last night...wearing the infamous black bar sunglasses. Don't ask.



Random hottie...



Jessica modeling the black bar sunglasses. Again...don't ask.



Random hottie customer last night who...uh...shall we say reminded me of a certain person whose first name begins with "M" and ends with "o", and whose last name starts with "L" and ends with "opez".



This picture is from left to right...me, and whomever (I think it was his wife or something or whatever), and Mario.



I love parties.

T

This picture was from our Grand Opening party last year. Our store will be a year old this Friday on the 16th. A YEAR OLD. That freaks me out. This year has gone by so fast. Marc and I are really really blessed and that is something I never take for granted.

We are having a big ol' party Friday night from 6 to ? at the store. When the ? hour rolls around, Marc, John, Jessica, Michelle, Heather, and I are going to open a bottle of Dom and get all emotional and crazy.



Two things...

1) If you are close to Atlanta, I would love for you to come meet us and help us celebrate Friday night. You KNOW who you are.

2) Marc and want to do this. Just for our Blogstream friends, we want to do something special. This coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we want to give you guys a special thank you for putting up with us ranting on and on about Heliotrope over the past few months.

If you happen to see something you like at the Heliotrope website this weekend, enter the code BLOGSTREAM at check-out and you will get a 20% discount off of everything on the site this weekend.

www.heliotropehome.com

If nothing else, check out our "staff favorites" just for giggles.

(There is also a hotlink under my "Sites I Like" down on the right hand side)

T