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You are here: Home / Music / Music and Postcards – Tonight It’s Motown!

Music and Postcards – Tonight It’s Motown!

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I really enjoyed the music thread last Saturday; even though I am not a big country fan it was fun to find some songs that I liked and interesting to see that the genre encompasses a lot more than what I would have previously called country music.

So I asked brendancalling if he could put together a little something about Motown – and a Motown playlist – to go along with tonight’s postcard thread.  Here’s his playlist:  Balloon Juice Motown.

Skip right to the music if that’s what you’re here for!

There’s probably enough money flying around for this election to eliminate world hunger, so we aren’t going to promote any fundraising for this election, but we do have a link in the sidebar under Fundraising 2023-24 for anyone who wants to donate to Wis*Dems anyway.

POSTCARDS / WISCONSIN ELECTION April 4

This time around, postcards are one way we can make a difference.  

Addresses are from Voces de la Frontera.  If you want to write postcards, send email to WaterGirl at balloon-juice.com and let us know your nym, which campaign you want to write for and how many addresses you would like to start with.

We Have 3 Postcard Campaigns

Wisconsin Senate (SD-8) Race – African Americans who vote Democratic 80-100% of the time.  Writing in English.

Wisconsin Supreme Court – African Americans who vote Democratic 80-100% of the time.  Writing in English

Wisconsin Supreme Court – Latinos who vote Democratic 80-100% of the time.  Writing in Spanish.

You can start writing at any time.  Details are at the link just below.

Postcards for Wisconsin

If you have any postcard questions, chime in with a comment, or send me email.

MUSIC !!

A note from brendancalling, who did such a great job with the playlist last week!

Y’all will have to give me a little grace, as we say in the education business. I have a guest this weekend and we went on a run before I started making the playlist and blurb for today’s post. Well, it took a little longer than expected—three miles suddenly became seven—and so I’m, ahem, running a little behind.

This blurb will be a little shorter than last week’s post. I love Motown, soul, and funk—but my background knowledge is much shallower than my country music knowledge.

In this list, I tried to avoid the obvious choices like Smokey Robinson, the Supremes, etc (although those bands are so so so great). Instead, I tried to go with some more obscure bands and performers. I also generally leaned more toward early Motown and B-sides (like Marvin Gaye’s “When I had Your Love”). I just love that giant reverb and all that bleed between instruments and singers. It’s just so… it’s so awesome.

Some of these I literally heard for the first time when I searched them up. Check out Junior Walker doing “I’m a Roadrunner”—that’s one deadly groove. Or The Monitors’ “Greetings (This is Uncle Sam).” It’s raw and will rip your heart out. Or Chris Clark—a rare white performer on the Motown label—doing “Love’s Gone Bad.” Or Eddie Holland’s “Leaving Here,” on eof many Motown songs covered by hard rock giants Motörhead.

Anyway, enjoy the tunes, write some postcards, and let’s activate some voters!

Balloon Juice Motown

Thank you, Brendan!

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  • A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
  • Almost Retired
  • brendancalling
  • delphinium
  • eclare
  • H.E.Wolf
  • kalakal
  • Kristine
  • like a metaphor
  • Mousebumples
  • mvr
  • narya
  • NotMax
  • oldster
  • Omnes Omnibus
  • prostratedragon
  • raven
  • Soprano2
  • SpaceUnit
  • WaterGirl
  • zhena gogolia

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    110Comments

    1. 1.

      Kristine

      Hoping to grab some wording for both the WI-SC and WI-Senate races.

      Which WI-SC addresses did I receive? Do I need to write them in Spanish?

      Reply
    2. 2.

      narya

      I got my first list from postcards to voters . . . and I’ve already completed eight of the ten! And I ordered more postcards. I don’t know that I’ll be in this thread for long, but I bought 31 postcards today, so I expect to do 30 by the end of the weekend.

      Also, two close friends–one of whom spends a lot of time at my place–got covid this past week, after avoiding it for three years. Luckily, the one who spends time here got exposed last Monday, so he ended up w/ symptoms and stayed home this weekend, which means I was able to avoid exposure from him.

      Reply
    3. 3.

      WaterGirl

      @Kristine: Click on the box above that says Postcards + Instructions for Wisconsin – let me know if you have any questions about wording and scripts after you look at it.

      I can’t recall whether you asked for SD-8 or Supreme Court (SC).  SD-8 is ENGLISH.  If I gave you SC, then they would be AA addresses that are in English.

      There is a short script (at the link) for folks who can write in Spanish.  You don’t have to know Spanish – you can just copy the letters/word in the Spanish script, but if you know some Spanish you could surely write more quickly than if you don’t.

      If you want to write in Spanish, you can trade your AA addresses for the Latino addresses.

      Let me know either way?

      Reply
    4. 4.

      H.E.Wolf

      @narya:

      narya
      March 4, 2023 at 7:56 pm

      I got my first list from postcards to voters . . . and I’ve already completed eight of the ten! And I ordered more postcards. I don’t know that I’ll be in this thread for long, but I bought 31 postcards today, so I expect to do 30 by the end of the weekend.

       I’m on my 2nd batch of 5 for WI, from Postcards to Voters. 30 by the end of the weekend fills me with awe!

      Doing a quick fly-by on the thread. Thank you, music provider(s), for Motown!

      Reply
    11. 11.

      narya

      I found some national park postcards on sale, but the ones I got today (in a store) were by Sarah Angst (sarahangst dot com), and they’re quite lovely. I might buy more from her, too.

      Reply
    19. 19.

      Mousebumples

      I’m here! Just got the kids to bed after a busy family day, but once I catch my breath, I’ll be back to postcarding!

      I’m hoping to finish my 50 SD-8 cards tonight, to get them ready for mailing. I was hoping to be more ahead of schedule, but this week has been crazy and exhausting. But, at least as of this morning, we’re all still covid negative, so whew! Vaccines work! (my husband and I have 4 shots each, and the kiddos each have 3x Moderna

      Eta – I look forward to checking out the music later, but I’ll be watching Bucks v Sixers on ABC in a few. #FearTheDeer🦌

      Reply
    22. 22.

      WaterGirl

      @eclare: He’s still got it!  Strutting like he’s on a runway.  Barack and Michelle look beautiful, as always.

      Everybody bopping to the music, especially Barack and Michelle.  Everyone except Sasha and Malia, who were clearly bored!

      Reply
    23. 23.

      eclare

      @WaterGirl:   Y’all are getting to me.  Even though I have the handwriting of a serial killer (if you get the quote), I may buy some.  I will look into all the links tomorrow.  I am less than a mile from a post office, so I can get supplies quickly.

      Reply
    28. 28.

      oldster

      If you like Motown, I highly recommend the remixes of a DJ named “Mosogotam” on YouTube (he died early in COVID, alas).

      Mosogotam takes a classic hit — “I was made to love her,” say, and shows you how the song is built up from the individual parts. You get to hear each of the guitar textures, the drums by themselves, and of course James Jamerson’s incomparable bass. Finally after appreciating each of the elements in the rhythm, he brings in Stevie to sing it. And all of this is done, not as a teaching session, but as a remix of the song itself.  Each remix is like a perfect love song to the Funk Brothers, but also allows the  main artist to shine, as well.

      He did dozens; here is one: https://youtu.be/Q4H_pWQaa2I

      Reply
    33. 33.

      Mousebumples

      @WaterGirl: And special elections, non-presidential elections, and spring elections are All. About. Turnout. SD-8 checks all 3 boxes, and the Supreme Court race is 2 is 3.

      Whether you guys are writing with us/Voces or #PostcardsToVoters or another group, thank you, from this Wisconsinite! ❤️

      Reply
    34. 34.

      brendancalling

      Hey gang! Sorry I didn’t include any hits—I always tend toward the B-sides and obscure, and after my run w/my friend, I fell asleep for 2 hours and really didn’t get a chance to update.

      Reply
    36. 36.

      SpaceUnit

      Check out this doughy white kid who sounds like Wilson Picket.  Also the Blues Brothers dance moves.  St. Paul and the Broken Bones . . . 

      Call Me

      Reply
    39. 39.

      Almost Retired

      @eclare:  I hear you.  I’m going to start doing these postcards, even if the only tangible result of my effort is to increase support in Wisconsin for penmanship education in elementary school.

      Reply
    45. 45.

      Soprano2

      Sorry I can’t join, but we’re waiting for “Hamilton” to start. Super excited, this is a high quality production and probably my only chance to see it.

      Reply
    52. 52.

      Kristine

      @Almost Retired:

      I’m going to start doing these postcards, even if the only tangible result of my effort is to increase support in Wisconsin for penmanship education in elementary school.

      FWIW….

      I recall some discussion during one of last year’s postcard sessions about the need to print instead of writing in cursive because younger people don’t learn cursive in school and have trouble reading it. So I posted that question in my FB group and replies were pretty one-sided–most kids don’t learn cursive in school these days (yes, some do) and even younger middle-age adults have trouble reading it.

      So I am making a conscious effort to print and boy it’s a struggle. I’m a natural-born letter connector.

      Reply
    60. 60.

      eclare

      @Kristine:   I am middle aged and I have trouble with cursive!  Plus my cursive is so sloppy, my signature is a straight line.  But if I print, I get letters.

      Reply
    62. 62.

      raven

      Beg Scream & Shout: The Big Ol’ Box of ’60s Soul Review
      by Richie Unterberger

       [-]

      Six CDs and 144 songs of classic ’60s soul, including selections by every major performer in the idiom (except for Sam Cooke and Sly Stone, who were unavailable for licensing reasons), as well as numerous influential minor performers, one-shot artists, and just plain unknowns. The music is classic, and the packaging is an event in itself, with the discs enclosed in a mock briefcase for carrying 45 singles, and trading cards for each song on the volume that have photos and trivia questions on front, and mini essays on the back. Yet it ultimately occupies a rather perplexing space on the collector’s shelf. Anyone who’s enough of a soul lover to fork over the dough for this production will no doubt have a good many of the tunes already, particularly the Hall of Fame hits like “Sweet Soul Music,” “(I Know) I’m Losing You,” “Don’t Make Me Over,” and “La-La-Means I Love You.” There are numerous great rarities here — Jay Wiggins’ magnificent melancholy ballad “Sad Girl,” and the rare original versions of “Shake a Tail Feather” (the Five Du-Tones), “Tainted Love” (Gloria Jones), “Mustang Sally” (Sir Mack Rice), and “Piece of My Heart” (Erma Franklin). Yet the tracks used to represent some superstars — “You’ve Been in Love Too Long” for Martha & the Vandellas, or “Fly Me to the Moon” for Bobby Womack — seem almost deliberately idiosyncratic, even though this method also yields underrated off-the-beaten-tracks by Ray Charles (“In the Heat of the Night”), Al Green (“Back Up Train”), and others. It’s almost as if some guys stayed up several nights running trying to make the ultimate ’60s soul party tape — one which demonstrated both their impeccable taste and the depth of their record collection — and got so carried away with the idea that a box set resulted

      Reply
    68. 68.

      raven

      @WaterGirl: Yes, I never thought of those guys as R&B back in the day but they damn sure are.

       

      And when you watch Live From Daryls House check out the keyboard player. Eliot Lewis from the Average White Band.

      Reply
    89. 89.

      Mousebumples

      I’m still going. Have my 50 for SD-8, but need to get the front sides done (addresses, stamps, etc.). Just quiet as I’m focusing I guess, haha!

      @Kristine: I am planning to be here Tuesday night, hopefully. 🤩

      Reply
    95. 95.

      WaterGirl

      @Omnes Omnibus: I had to look up Memphis music.  Is there a difference between Memphis and Memphis Soul?

      Guessing that Memphis Soul is a subset of Memphis?

      There must be a hundred thousand different labels for kinds of music.

      Reply
    97. 97.

      Soprano2

      @zhena gogolia: It’s a touring company; I figured this would be my only chance to see it. I don’t know much of it although I can get the gist even when the lyrics are hard to understand.

      Reply
    98. 98.

      mvr

      @Mousebumples: I’m not doing cards tonight but mean to do some soon. I want to do them for WI SC and I can’t write in Spanish. Whom do I ask for addresses (Mouosebumples, aka postcard patriots?/Watergirl?).

      And last time I managed to print good ones on cardstock from some suggested templates. Are such templates still around?  Actually I guess the ones from last time may still work since I wrote in the candidate names.

      Finally what is election day and when should I be mailing them by?

      Thanks!

      -Mark

      A

      Reply
    99. 99.

      mvr

      @Almost Retired: ​
       “Penmanship education in elementary school” was nearly the death of me. I think I was the only kid ever kept after school for bad penmanship. I also nearly flunked typing, so perhaps there is just something wrong with my communication skills.

      Reply
    100. 100.

      WaterGirl

      @mvr: You can get addresses from a number of places.

      If you want to print postcards on your own cards tock, you can download templates from  Postcard Patriots.

      We have targeted addresses from Voces de la Frontera –addresses for African American households that vote Democratic 80-100% of the time.  I think those are the best bet, but of course it’s up to you.

      If you send email to watergirl at balloon-juice.com, I can send you addresses.  Just let me know your nym, that you want to write for the SC race, and how many addresses you want to start with, and I’ll get those to you

      Dates:

      The election is April 4.

      Early voting starts March 21.

      You can start writing right way, but the EARLIEST DATE TO MAIL postcards is Mach 10

      Scripts and suggested language are here: Postcards + Instructions for Wisconsin

      Reply
    105. 105.

      kalakal

      @WaterGirl:  It doesn’t help that the lists aren’t alphabetical. Folk will be in there. there are layers and layers. Frankly I find it too granular, a similar site is Chosic

      Reply
    107. 107.

      kalakal

      @WaterGirl: Sorry that was a misprit, meant to say traditional folk

      There’s British Folk, prob American Folk in there as well. It would help if the lists were sorted

      Reply

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