RANDOM SIGHTS + SOUNDS

Mikaela Straus came out loud and proud last year with her first single, "1950" under her professional moniker, King Princess. This song, about imaging the time when people had to keep their sexuality a secret, brought the now twenty year old Bronx native plenty of attention. This lead to her meeting musician/producer, Mark Ronson who featured her on a track on his latest album, "Late Night Feelings" and signed her to his label, Zelig. Now King Princess has just released her debut studio album, "Cheap Queen". This self-described genderqueer singer-songwriter explores issues facing today's LGBTQ youth and creates pop anthems that will not only speak to them but anyone feeling alone and isolated.





Here is a selection of some new songs that perfectly merges together music and image:









During this year's "Black Girls Rock!" celebration, three of hottest female dance vocalists from the '90's came together to perform their big hits from the era. Check out Robin S. ("Show Me Love"), Crystal Waters ("Gypsy Woman") and CeCe Peniston ("Finally") who take us back and deliver glorious live renditions of their songs.



And we close with some thrilling duets by some great singers. We have Mamas & Papas vocalist, Cass Elliot teaming up with John Denver on a cover of the melancholy ballad, "Leaving On a Jet Plane". Cheryl Lynn and the very missed Luther Vandross delivering some vocal dynamics on their live version of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "If This World Was Mine" during an appearance on "Soul Train".

THE 100 BEST SONGS OF 1969

Woodstock. The Manson Family murders. The Apollo 11 moon landing. The Stonewall riots. These were just some of the life-changing, mind-altering and Earth-shaking events that occurred fifty years ago this year. And this was the year when we began to see a shift in popular music. The era of factory-written, easy-listening expressions of life and love was being pushed away by singer/songwriters who were pushing the envelope to fuse together musical genres and communicate with unconventional ideas.

The staff of Billboard magazine have put together a list of the best one hundred songs that were released and charted in the year of 1969. As I went through the list (and I was a seven year old during this year), I found many songs that I loved and some that I had never heard of before. But what they all have in common is that they are all inventive and creative songs that helped shape and define a generation.

Click below to read the article:

The 100 Best Songs of 1969

And here are a few songs from this list that are my all-time favorites:

99. Friends of Distinction - "Grazing in the Grass"



89. Cass Elliot - "Make Your Own Kind of Music"



67. Blood, Sweat & Tears - "Spinning Wheel"



56. Tommy James and the Shondells - "Crystal Blue Persuasion"



44. Laura Nyro - "Save the Country"



24. The Foundations - "Build Me Up Buttercup"



5. Isaac Hayes - "Walk on By"