Vicki aka ThezeEyez  

I am a huge fan of Cathy Holloway-Hill's Show-- Living By Design. She absolutely has a strong platform that speaks to everyone, but embraces issues that women and sisterhood can relate to. She hosts the show with Tony and the two deliver a quality show every time I have listened in.
She tackles issues of Motherhood, Depression, Divorce,Keeping our children safe from predators & abductors, to interviewing authors like Kimberla Lawson-Roby to discussing family values as well as family dysfunction. Well, I was waiting with baited breath, anticipating her latest show because she and Tony were doing a "Listener's Appreciation Night" featuring The incomparable Howard Hewett. I have been waiting for this show for weeks now  and with the demands of life and trying to juggle too many balls,  caring for my mom who is now up in age and now  ill,  I missed it anyway!  Thank God for archives! (smiles)  As I listened to the show post it's 'LIVE' airing, it was indeed a pleasure to go back down memory lane and to feel the good love, good vibrations and positivity in this show's segment. Howard was down to earth, connected to his fans and so open to all. He is  a spiritual being and thats just one of the character traits I love about him. Though I have never met him in person, I know several people who know him, and the mutual words like  integrity, humility,humorous,family man,God-fearing,  sincere and genuine ways are always mentioned. he can not just heard but felt  when he speaks and  it makes you feel like you truly are up close and personal with him. I have always dug this bother, this man! 
I have heard so much about him from sources who have met or do know him, its nice to hear of someone of his caliber being consistent,committed and true to God and family.. As I listened to him sing Happy Birthday to Linda (a caller), sing some of his old school tunes  to make us swoon..lol...and then of course the ever popular and always requested song 'Amen', it moved me to ponder what has happened to great music today? I remember my father (a music buff) when he often times seemed stuck  in the past to me in the late eighties, early nineties...always making reference to "This new music this or that" and  being very vocal about its  beginning dis-connect, lack of respect and mediocre lyrics...I would accuse him of  (my  thinking at the time) I would accuse him of being  stuck in a time warp of some kind. There were a few current artists of the day that appealed to his tastes, but they weren't many! Now in my mid-forties and having experienced a definite change in music....change in the times...and having to keep current because as a parent you are constantly monitoring your kid's musical diet....I hate to say that I now understand where my dad was coming from. There was always music being played in our home. I know not a day went by that we didn't hear music. It is the heart soul and yes...the soundtrack of our lives. It chronicles our loves, losses, struggles and triumphs. It reminded us that we were somebody,talented beyond measure and it uplifted us to higher heights! Personally, emotionally, racially and spiritually. There was a pride in our music that translated over into our own self esteem and self worth! It was music with a message, feel good music. It was as much a part of us as eating and breathing!  From the sounds of  Sam Cooke,Wilson Pickett, Etta James, Millie Jackson, The Temptations, The Supremes, The O'Jays,The Four Tops,  The Isley Brothers, Brother's Johnson, Peaches and Herb, Betty Wright, Sam People's,Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, BB King, James Brown,Smokey Robinson, The Jackson 5, Aretha Franklin, Patti Labelle,  Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, James Cleveland, Mississippi Mass Choir, The Crouche's,  The Hawkins Family, The Winans, Shirley Ceasar, Gladys and The Pips, Phil Perry, Miles Davis, Dizzy,Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, Gerald Albright, John Coltrane and on and on, we could  and did listen, sing along, and enjoy music as a family.Not just my family...but the black community as a whole. The solid gold seventies brought an extension of that good music onto American Bandstand,Soul Train, Ed Sullivan Show and so many more. Music was essential!
I just wanted to express my thoughts regarding the major shift in music as we know it today. My son now turning 18 in a few days, has been fortunate to develop  a wide variety of tastes in music due to his environment and my refusal to allow him to just digest "any old kind of music"  loves everything from classical, to Jazz, R&B, House music, old school, fusion, and some Hip hop and rap. This show really made me take a look back and long for the strong music we once had and shared together as a people. Music like  Heatwave,Tina Marie, Angela Bofill, Atlantic Starr, Shalamar, Jodi Watley, R-Kelly's Steppin' in the name of Love & , Turning Back the hands of time, The Gap Band, Earth wind & Fire, and you all know the list is endless. Howard mentioned Mary J Blige, Neyo, Chris Brown, Jaheim, and there have been and are  others...Gerald Levert, Trey songz, MusiqSoulChile, Joe, who are trying to keep the legacy going. It is a necessity that we do that. While lil Kim gets to ponder the number of licks it takes  to get to the center of a lollipop and lil Wayne says she wants to lick him like a lollipop, I wonder if we haven't really realized what we have lost through the last two decades. I am all for change. But great change. I like many hip hoppers and rappers out there, but where are our conscious people...India Arie, Anthony Hamilton, Jill Scott, Flowetry? Is that it? How do you feel about this great shift and what can be done to change it? I would love to hear you sound off. As Mary J says..I will be just fine....but it would be nice to hear from some new Keith washington's, Chante' Moore's, and yes ...Howard Hewett's. my dad wasn't stuck although he was mourning...grieving the loss of quality and integrity in music. I so wish we could get that back.Erykah Badu says Next Lifetime...Angie Stone says Black brotha, Luther wanted to dance with his father again and Beyonce' wants you to Listen....there are some things that truly are irreplacable...sometimes we do have to sound the alarm....will we ever get back to the standards that were so highly set? Will our tomorrows ever be re-filled with the Love and Happiness  of (Al Green) or the  reassurance that a Change gone come? I sure hope so. They say things return in cycles. Hopefully we will find our way back to Teddy's sexual healing, The Temps treat her like a lady and Barry White's Never Gonna give you up! Lets hope that instead of just pulling songs back from yester-year and using them for advertising commercials and remixes, that a new breed will become motivated, moved and inspired to give us a taste of and the feel of the magic we know good music can bring. Thank you Cathy for such an awesome time with Howard. Much continued success to you.And may we all strive to try a little tenderness.Especially towards one another...the world is really in need of love today....and music is the corded strand that can sew us back together. I am always listening...I know you are too.
God bless you for reading my thoughts.
Vicki