Great Anytime Classics: Quincy Jones feat. Patti Austin on “Love, I Never Had It So Good”

‘Round Midnight Classics: Take a Nice Stroll with Dee Dee Bridgewater’s “Love for Sale” (Live at Yoshi’s)

If you haven’t heard Ms. Bridgewater’s version of this classic, you really don’t know what you’re missing! Brilliant interpretation.

Songs that Only the Heart Knows: Al Jarreau’s “All or Nothing At All”

Songs that Only the Heart Knows: Al Jarreau’s “All or Nothing At All”

Everyday we go through,
I do something that will please you baby;
Because I know having you around,
Well, just keeps me grounded…
I want it all or nothing at all,

That’s what I need from you
And baby it’s true;
I’ll be there whenever you call,
But I need all or nothing at all.  -  Al Jarreau from “Heart’s Horizon”

Notes on Love…

“Someday after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love. Then for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

My Top 20 Love Songs for Valentine’s Day – What Are Yours?

1. First time ever I saw your face – Roberta Flack
2. Simply beautiful – Al Green
3. Our love – Natalie Cole
4. You make me feel brand new – the Stylistics
5. A song for you – Donny Hathaway
6. At last – Etta James
7. So good so right – Brenda Russell
8. Good enough – Evanescence
9. Loving you – Minnie Ripperson
10. If only you knew – Patti LaBelle
11. I wish you love – Chrissy Hynde
12. I love me some him – Toni Braxton
13. Because you loved me – Celine Dion
14. All the things your man won’t do – Joe
15. Love ballad – LTD featuring Jeffrey Osborne
16. You give good love – Whitney Houston
17. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me – Gladys Knight and the Pips
18. I say a little prayer for you – Aretha Franklin
19. Forever for always for love – Luther Vandross
20. If this world were mine – Luther Vandross

*If the list was 21, My Funny Valentine – Chaka Khan would be here too!

Love Classics: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – Roberta Flack

Roberta Flack sings so heavenly on this beautiful song that was written in 1957 by Ewan MacColl for his wife, Peggy Sue.

Just broke up but still ‘crazy’ in love? Hold that Tweet!

Forget Reality TV or even the text-message ‘C’est la vie‘. Social media networking sites are winning the awards hands down in the break-up drama department  – complete with over the top characters and wacky storylines. Unfortunately, the cast members are often people we know.

There’s a very funny viral Facebook video about the perils of maintaining a relationship in the age of social media. While the couples shown are clearly a few cents short of a dollar, the petty arguments in which they engage aren’t far from reality. Mistaken nature of friendships, harmless flirting, misinterpretation of posts… the list goes on and on in the land of ‘reading between the lines’ online. But all the gloves come off when people break up in cyberspace and they’re just a Tweet or post away from letting the world know about the lurid details of the demise of their relationship.

Michael Douglas, Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction"

In the past couple of days, both National Public Radio (NPR) and the New York Times have run more serious articles about the potential dark side of dating and ending relationships in the world of social media. What may seem like protecting one’s ‘turf’ to one person can often be interpreted as threatening behavior to another. Serious offenses such as stalking and harassment have also reared their ugly heads in a number of cases, and even family lawyers are being drawn into the tangled webs woven when relationships go sour and one or more of the partners becomes obsessive and decides to ‘let it all hang out’ online.

Before social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Tagged, and countless others came along, people used to have better internal compasses of when to share their personal business with everyone and when to keep some things behind closed doors. Nowadays, however, very little is private anymore. Couples are squabbling over who’s Tweeting who, who ‘likes’ your Facebook content, or who ‘props’ your musical selections just a little too much.  Then of course, there’s the real stuff – people callous enough to use things like their Facebook status to ‘notify’ their partner of the end of their relationship – COLD. This stuff would be even more comical (albeit twisted) if people weren’t actually living out these absurd – and, in some cases, clearly painful – melodramas for all to see.

Worst case scenario: your ole boy or ole gal may indeed be using Facebook or other social media sites to live out Rupert Holmes’ “Escape/the Pina Colada song“ and find a new partner; once you learn the truth, the choice of what to do is yours, but your best bet is to keep it quiet – at least online (ladies, you can definitely reckon with him offline). On the other hand, truth is, no matter how much chatter you think you see, chances are things are quite harmless with your partner’s online buddies. Further, keep in mind, online dalliances are just like offline relationships: sometimes you know all of your partner’s friends and acquaintances and sometimes you don’t. But the mere fact that you see a new face or name in the mix doesn’t mean there’s a cheatin’ heart at play.

So, next time you get upset and want to send that stinger of a Tweet or post a venomous comment on Facebook or elsewhere to obliterate any final remnants of your relationship, think first. If you and your former significant other have already broken up and it’s clearly over, let it go. Period. If on the other hand you two still have any remnant of a friendship, do the logical thing and contact your partner – privately. He or she will likely save all concerned lots of headache and embarrassment.

Unfortunately, they will also keep me and a worldwide internet full of other spectators from enjoying a bit of mindless entertainment at your or someone else’s expense.