For the next couple of days, you can pre-order the lovely paperback of my novel Lessons in Magic and Disaster from Barnes & Noble for 25 percent off with the code PREORDER25.

Tonight (Thursday) I’m gonna be co-hosting a queer reading called Laughs and Lit at Medicine for Nightmares, alongside Baruch Porras-Hernandez. Featuring Kim Shuck, Gwendolyn Paradice, Ajuan Mance, Rebecca Hall, María Mínguez Arias,
Ginny Berson and Antmen Pimentel Mendoza.

And on Saturday afternoon at 3 PM, I’m performing at the Pride stage in the Tenderloin as part of Perverts Put Out, a queer erotica reading series featuring some incredible folks. I’m probably going to read my story about electrolysis. Details here.

Earth Wind and Fire Rarities: a Mixtape!

If you haven't yet seen Questlove's new documentary about funk supergroup Earth Wind and Fire, you should go check it out immediately. It's on HBO Max, and it's a spellbinding look at the history of one of the greatest bands of all time. 

Subtitled To Be Celestial versus That's The Weight of the World, this documentary takes a similar approach to Questlove's brilliant Sly Lives! documentary about Sly and the Family Stone. It's a character study of EWF founder Maurice White, showing how his childhood abandonment shaped him into someone who cowrote some of the greatest love songs of all time but had a hard time expressing love. 

I was particularly obsessed with White's tendency to bring on board new collaborators any time the rise of EWF seemed to be slowing down, culminating in recruiting frequent Chicago collaborator David Foster. White seems to have had two conflicting missions: spreading a spiritual message (rooted in African traditions), and creating a commercial juggernaut that reached the biggest "mainstream" audience possible. Those two aspirations were compatible, until they suddenly weren't.

In any case, my only complaint is that there's no new CD accompanying the Earth Wind and Fire documentary, like the one we got with Sly Lives!. I would have loved some unreleased tracks and remixes that highlight the incredible musicianship in so many of EWF's songs. So I took it on myself to create a mixtape of further listening. 

Note: I'm not including any tracks from any of EWF's main releases, which are all essential listening in my book. If you want an intro to EWF, pick up literally any of their 1970s albums. Or get the Eternal Dance box set, which is a great crash course. This is not that — this is some extra stuff from off the beaten track, that might give you a different view of their roots and their legacy.

The Pharoahs, "Damballa"

The Phenix Horns became a key ingredient in the EWF sound, and they got their start in the Pharoahs, a Chicago jazz-funk band. Maurice White also served as the band's drummer for a while. 

Charles Wright and the 103rd St. Watts Rhythm band, "The Joker (on a Trip Through the Jungle)"

Al McKay is my favorite rhythm guitarist of all time. Before he joined EWF, he was in the 103rd St. Watts Rhythm Band, and he arranged this guitar-heavy instrumental that shows off his incredible chops.

Earth Wind and Fire, "Power" (Live 1973)

Recently someone put out a compilation of a couple of live EWF performances that were broadcast on the radio in 1973 and 1974. My copy is called Earth, Wind & Fire - The Seventies (Radio Broadcast Recordings, 1973 & 1974). It has a scorching performance of their early anthem "Power."

Ramsey Lewis, "Slick"

Maurice White started out as the drummer for the Ramsey Lewis Trio, and he and some of his collaborators produced Lewis's albums in the mid to late 1970s, including the hit "Sun Goddess." The Sun Goddess album is worth listening to in its entirety, but so is the 1976 Salongo album, which includes the incredible jazz workout "Slick."

The Emotions, "Don't Want to Lose Your Love"

Maurice White also started producing a ton of other groups, including the Emotions, in the mid 1970s. Their biggest hit with him was "Best of My Love," but this is my favorite, because it goes so hard, and the entire roster of EWF is playing their faces off.

Deniece Williams, "Time"

One more mid-1970s Maurice White production! He also produced a few Denice Williams albums, yielding hits like "Free." I'm utterly obsessed with this spiritual, soaring dance song.

Deodato, "Tahitti Hut"

Eumir Deodato produced some of Kool and the Gang's albums, but he was also a jazz pianist in his own right, and he collaborated with Maurice White on this groovy song that sounds like an outtake from That's The Way of the World. Jermaine Jackson later added lyrics and performed a vocal version with the band Switch.

The Pockets, "Doin the Do"

Verdine White, the band's bass player and Maurice's brother, deserves way more props. Verdine produced a few albums by a funk band called the Pockets, and this instrumental shows Verdine's love of the bass. Also check out: "Funk It Over"

Free Life, "Smile"

EWF vocalist Philip Bailey produced Free Life's only album. I used to play this song when I DJed parties at Wiscon. It's one of the most uplifting things I've ever heard.

Roland Bautista, "Heat of the Wind"

Another EWF guitar player, Bautista released a couple of solo albums in the late 1970s, and this track shows why this Brazilian musician could hold his own alongside the GOAT, Al McKay.

Herbie Hancock, "Help Yourself"

Speaking of Al McKay... this is the song that convinced me McKay might just be the greatest rhythm guitarist of all time. His chord-heavy playing here is pretty similar to songs like "Let Your Feelings Show," but he's given a real chance to shine.

Phil Collins, "I Missed Again"

The Phenix Horns left EWF to join Phil Collins, and for a long time I sort of thought Collins had not found a decent use for one of the all-time great horn sections. But nope — this is great stuff.

The Tubes, "Tip of My Tongue"

Maurice White co-wrote this song, and his sound is all over it — and it feels like his rejoinder to Phil Collins, kinda. It feels like another exercise in putting EWF-style horn charts on a pop-rock song. 

Philip Bailey, "I Am Gold"

Yeah, Bailey had a huge hit with "Easy Lover" (a duet with Collins). But his later gospel releases knock my socks off. This is another song that features heavily in my motivational you-can-do-it mix.

Jevetta Steele, "Here It Is"

The "I Am Calling You" singer worked a lot with Prince on her only solo CD, but she also had this lovely Maurice White composition. It feels like a lost EWF classic.

Urban Knights, "Wanna Be With You"

White reunited with Ramsey Lewis and some other EWF stalwarts for a jazz fusion "supergroup" called Urban Knights, with White producing the first two albums. Some of it is very smooth jazz-oriented, but I love this cover of an old EWF song.

El DeBarge, "Thick"

One of the last albums White produced was El DeBarge's attempt at doing a straight-up funk album featuring some more political lyrics, In the Storm. It's one of my favorite albums of all time, and this song especially fucks.

Earth Wind and Fire, "Africano - P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up)"

EWF and Parliament-Funkadelic had a friendly rivalry going back to when EWF was P-Funk's opening act. So it's kind of awesome that in their 1995 live album (originally called Live at Velfarre, but you can find it as Greatest Hits Live), they snuck in a cover of a Parliament classic.

Devoted Spirits, "Fantasy"

EWF keyboard player Larry Dunn had a few side projects in the 1990s, including this EWF tribute album. His version of "Serpentine Fire" also rocks, and so does the original song "Rhythm of Love"

Phillip Bailey, "Once in a Lifetime"

Another Bailey solo track — in the 2010s he put out a couple of jazzy albums featuring unconventional covers, including this Talking Heads song.

Nathan East featuring Philip Bailey, Ralph Johnson and Verdine White, "Serpentine Fire"

One last EWF cover featuring three EWF veterans — plus Nathan East is one of the all-time great bass players.

Al McKay All Stars, "Heed the Message (Joey Negro Remix)"

And finally, one last bit of Al McKay fangirling. The Al McKay All Stars mostly have done cover versions of old EWF songs, but this song — which I've only over found via the Joey Negro mix as part of a compilation of various artists — is a fantastic bop in its own right.