Returning to CAAC, the Motown sound of Mayer Hawthorne
Thanks for allowing me to be apart of your day. In case you missed it and are interested, yesterday, I shared the outcome from my latest BOTB. Last month was hectic, not because of my involvement in the the A2Z challenge but life’s happenings as explained in April Reflections Of My Life post. I’m happy to report we got the water heater leaky incoming pipe and the garden hose facet repaired. Just when I thought we would have to wait on getting a freezer because it was on backorder I took another look the other day and the one we want is back in stock, so I ordered one and is set to deliver this week. I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hallelujah!
It’s Monday again which means it’s time to hit the dance floor on Monday’s Music Moves Me!
Today is a good time to introduce or refresh your memory of an artist I stumbled on in 2017. I was recently reminded of the group when I came across on the older post where I featured this band. If you like Motown music, then you’re sure to enjoy the throw-back sound of Mayer Hawthorne with his YT Rare Changes album playlist.
This is a music linky party. Your co-hostess are Stacy, Alana, and Me. Every other week we have a suggested music theme (see weekly prompts here) to build your song set around and all participants share YouTube or Vimeo videos for our music enthusiasts. Failure to meet this basic guideline puts your URL in danger of being removed or labeled – NO MUSIC.
In case you missed the announcement Marie, the brain child, felt the need to step down to tend to her health needs and has asked that I take over for her. You will always have a place when you’re ready to come back, my friend!
I made the decision last week to cut down time spent in Blogosphere. I will continue to bring to you the first BOTB of each month and as always the weekly 4M dance party. I’m unsure how long I plan to keep this schedule, maybe it’ll last through the summer or go until the end of the year. I am doing way too much and I have other pressing things to tend to. This is CAAC signing off, have a boogietastic week! X💋X💋, Cathy
22 Comments
Alana Mautone (@RamblinGarden)
Happy to know you are finally seeing light at the end of a long everything-going-wrong-at-home tunnel, and it isn’t an oncoming train! This music and artist is all new to me. I enjoyed it. Nice and easy listening.
Eugenia
Hooray for things going smoother on the home front! 🥳 Our kitty is very finicky about food. Our grocery store has a difficult time keeping her faves in stock and I had to resort to Amazon. She’s a happy kitty now – hopefully. 😻
Sognafaret
Not all food is good food
Cathy Kennedy
This is true, not all food is good. It’s fun to poke fun of cats because they are notoriously finicky. Thanks for dropping by!
messymimi's meanderings
My cats are very good food critics. The grand-dogs mostly eat everything, edible or not.
Hooray for a new freezer and fixed plumbing.
Thanks for the music!
Cathy Kennedy
Mimi,
Of course it’s the kitties that are the food critics. Dogs just want to make you happy unless they eat something they aren’t supposed to like your shoes. lol
Brian
Hooray for an appliance actually being in stock, we got lucky when our washing machine crashed and found one in stock. Good tunes, we like us some Motown too.
Cathy Kennedy
Brian,
I’m so glad the freezer showed up in stock! I was prepared for a month’s wait. I think this it Divine intervention making all this possible. 😉
15andmeowing
Sorry you had so much going on. Glad it is all sorted out. I understand your needing time away from the blogosphere. Glad you are still going to blog a couple times a week. XO
Cathy Kennedy
Who knows maybe, I can write more but I’m not planning on it. I’ll just let things evolve as they may except for schedule posts. Thanks for understanding, Ellen.
Nicole/DVArtist
It really does happen, ya know one thing after another. Glad it is all coming together. Have a really lovely day.
Cathy Kennedy
Nicole,
Yep, things that go wrong happens in multiples. I’ll be one happy camper when this storm passes. 🙂
Sandee
Aw on the cat. It’s so cat like indeed. They are wonderful family members though.
You’ve sure had lots on your plate of late. Stepping back is a good thing and you just finished the A to Z Challenge and I’m sure you’re still feeling that weight.
Love your playlist. I love all things Motown. My kind of music.
Love your common sense graphic. So very true.
Thank you for joining the Awww Mondays Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Awww Monday and week, Cathy. Love and hugs. ♥
Cathy Kennedy
Sandee,
Pulling back will be good to allow me to regroup and get my sanity charged. Internet traffic will begin to dwindle in the next few weeks anyway so this is good timing. Thanks for dropping by for a visit, my dear!
Birgit
You had a month of unexpected fixings which always hurts the budget and sets stress into gear but it all got fixed thankfully. Our gas, here is 1.98 litter which is something like over $8 in your land. It’s crazy!
I love the sweet kitty who has the correct attitude for a pusdy cat. I had a dream about my Lucy who looked healthy and I hugged her so.
I listened to the album which I gave to admit, is not my fav but it’s easy listening. Have a beautiful day
Cathy Kennedy
Birgit,
Anything to do with home repairs, appliances breaking down, … is a headache. I’m just thrilled that everything fell into place for us to buy what we needed given the struggle many have dealt with in getting things. The economy is horrible and we have people in power to thank for most if not all of the world’s messy going-ons. Gas is steep here but not as bad as it in Canada. Again, we have elected officials to blame for much of these woes heaped on us. They like having power over people. How sad! Oh well…it is what it is. Hopefully, the tide in power will change bringing better days for the people…instead of for Big Government.
Thomas Anderson
Hi, Cathy!
Happy Paw-some 4M Monday to you, dear friend! I already know that you and DH had a nice Saturday with DS. I hope your Mother’s Day was also a special one.
Awww… I just wanna smooch that little food critic kitten, but maybe I shouldn’t interrupt him while he’s eating. I could end up with a bloody kisser. I’m very happy to learn that the household hassles that plagued you in April are being resolved one by one, especially those worrisome plumbing issues. You were smart to keep checking that store’s stock for the freezer you wanted. I’m glad you will be getting it sooner rather than later.
I honestly don’t remember you introducing Mayer Hawthorne in 2017, but I certainly enjoyed listening to this album by the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Grammy nominated neo & retro soul singer, songwriter and musician. I read that he performed with Daryl Hall and appeared on the TV shows Conan and the Late Show with David Letterman. Hawthorne’s dad taught him to play bass and influenced his “throwback style” by constantly playing records around the house and telling him about the artists he was hearing. His diverse list of influences includes Curtis Mayfield, architect of the Chicago soul sound, Isaac Hayes, a key figure of the Southern style Stax – Memphis soul sound, Barry White, who popularized smooth, romantic, heavily orchestrated 70s soul, and Holland-Dozier-Holland, the songwriting and producing machine that cranked out dozens of great Motown hits. Hawthorne’s latest album, Rare Changes, the one you posted, is highly listenable. It is categorized as Contemporary R&B, a genre explained as follows on the Discogs site: “Contemporary R&B evolved from traditional Rhythm & Blues and urban R&B, and combines elements of soul, funk and pop with an integrated approach and a slick modern production.” Hawthorne plays most or all of the instruments on his albums.
Okay, I’m finally starting to listen to the album. From the outset, the title song, “Rare Changes,” reminds me of the disco hit “More, More, More” by Andrea True Connection, and the outfits and dancing in the video appear to be inspired by the Disco era. Hawthorne’s vocals also remind me of Justin Timberlake. I love the vocals and horn arrangement on “The Game.” As I’m watching the mewsic video for the song “Over,” it immediately occurs to me that it was inspired by Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive and other David Lynch works. There’s a little man who resembles the Twin Peaks dwarf and various bizarre acts that perform on a stage in a darkened room with a spotlight shining on them. The video for “M.O.” has more Lynchian touches including a magic act that is funny yet disturbing and a scene with Hawthorne in a small room bathed in red light. I love the lyrics of the next song “The Great Divide” – “Such a small world after all, except for the space between us.” How true! The video offers more mysterious, hard to fathom visuals that include Hawthorne walking on a treadmill in a tunnel of lights as the song laments the complexities of a volatile romantic relationship that is about to “blow-up”:
Oh no
Houston now we have a problem
Brer Rabbit lit the dynamite
And that sucka ‘bout to blow
The video for “Healing” seems inspired by Star Trek, Lost in Space and low budget sci-fi films of the 1950s.
To sum it up, I very much like the smooth funk sound of Mayer Hawthorne. In addition to sounding like Justin Timberlake, Mayer also reminds me of Canadian blue-eyed soul singer Francesco Yates of Toronto, an artist I introduced on my old blog six years ago. Listen to Francesco as the featured lead vocalist on “Sugar,” a hit song by EDM producer Robin Schulz:
Oh man, does that closing meme ever tell the truth! That’s a great one, Cathy, and immediately brought a smile to my face.
Thank you for the Monday morning mewsic and smiles. Have a happy day and a wonderful week ahead, dear friend Cathy!
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Cathy Kennedy
Tom,
I had forgotten about Mayer Hawthorne. Other than fixing the bad links an added perk to this chore is it jogs my memory or inspire new post as with this one. I’m glad you got a chance to listen to this singer. I do remember Francesco Yates featured on your blog. I got a tickle out of the music video you shared. 😀
We managed to get the old freezer out of the house yesterday in preparation for the arrival of the new on later in the week. We took the door off and anything else to lighten the load. DH did the heavy part using a dolly and while it made the job more doable it was quite a handful. It’ll be twice as hard to get the new freezer into the house which I’m not looking forward to doing. The end of this mess is in sight, so I’m very happy about that and I will be ready to relax once it’s done.
Thanks for dropping by, my friend. Have a boogietastic week!
My GBGV Life
Glad things are coming together on the home front. It seems like when it rains it pours with things breaking down. Hope May is a better month for you.
Kathe W.
Darling food taster and love the quote! Have a terrific day!
Cathy Kennedy
Kathe,
A tough little food critic. The quote is funny and sadly true. Common sense is something that eludes many.
Cathy Kennedy
That’s for sure and it rained bucketfuls last month! 😀