Been speaking to a respected journalist, not directly following Liverpool but, hears a lot around the club and two words interested me in conversation.
“Timeline alignment.”
@CataPaul2 Walter Winchell: The Man Who Named the DJ
Alan Freed: The Catalyst of Rock 'n' Roll
Wolfman Jack: The Spirit of the Airwaves
Frankie Crocker: The "Chief Rocker" and Visual Visionary
💿 The 16 most important DJs in history
1. 🇳🇱 Tiësto — Netherlands
2. 🇫🇷 David Guetta — France
3. 🇳🇱 Armin van Buuren — Netherlands
4. 🇳🇱 Martin Garrix — Netherlands
5. 🏴 Calvin Harris — Scotland
6. 🇸🇪 Avicii — Sweden
7. 🇫🇷 Daft Punk — France
8. 🇬🇧 Carl Cox — United Kingdom
9. 🇸🇪 Swedish House Mafia — Sweden
10. 🇳🇱 Hardwell — Netherlands
11. 🇨🇦 deadmau5 — Canada
12. 🇺🇸 Skrillex — United States
13. 🇩🇪 Paul van Dyk — Germany
14. 🇺🇸 Steve Aoki — United States
15. 🇳🇱 Afrojack — Netherlands
16. 🇺🇸 Frankie Knuckles — United States
@KP24 There are all too many people in your “mediocre” category that know if they enjoyed your abundance of safety nets and soft cuddly parachutes would be higher achieving than you. That is often - not always - the source of their angst.
@orleansway Louis Johnson brilliance. Thanks for posting. Always hear JR Walker & The All Stars - Walk in the Night when I hear Get On The Floor same as I hear Get On The Floor when I hear George Michael - Outside.
Born on This Day, Shirley Murdock
(@ShirleyMurdock)
(Wednesday, May 22, 1957)
Born in Toledo, Ohio, Shirley Murdock grew up in a music-filled household where blues, jazz, soul, and gospel all had a place. Her earliest foundation was the church: she sang at Calvary Baptist Church in Toledo and later traveled in ministry with T.E.T.R.E.C., The End Time Revival Evangelistic Crusade. Before the R&B world knew her voice, Murdock already understood singing as testimony, discipline, and service.
Her professional path changed when a cassette of her singing “Jesus Is Love” helped lead her to Roger Troutman of Zapp. Roger moved her from Toledo into the Dayton studio world, teaching her how to sing “in the pocket” and how to shape a church-trained voice for the recording booth. From there, Murdock became part of the Ohio funk orbit surrounding Roger Troutman, Zapp, Troutman Sound Labs, Sugarfoot, New Horizons, and other Dayton-connected projects.
Murdock’s contribution to “Computer Love” deserves its own place in the record. In her own words, she has said she co-wrote the song, sang on it alongside Charlie Wilson, and helped give Roger Troutman’s talk-box futurism a human, emotional center. Her solo breakthrough came with her 1986 debut album “Shirley Murdock!” and the signature ballad “As We Lay,” a Top 10 R&B hit that crossed into the pop Top 25. Songs like “Go on Without You,” “Husband,” and “In Your Eyes” extended her presence across grown-folks R&B and quiet storm radio.
But Shirley Murdock’s story never belonged to R&B alone. She carried her voice into gospel, stage work, film, and ministry, with gospel projects including “Home,” “Soulfood,” and “Live: The Journey” earning Stellar and Dove Award recognition. In 2024, she was inducted into the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame, honoring her place inside Ohio’s larger Black music legacy. That legacy is still moving: “As We Lay” has also been adapted into a stage play written by Suless Burton Francis, with Murdock billed for a special finale performance on Saturday, May 30, 2026, at the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago.
Shirley Murdock remains one of the clearest bridges between church-rooted testimony, Dayton funk innovation, R&B womanhood, and songs that tell the truth about desire, consequence, faith, and healing.
Photo: Shirley Murdock, Instagram, 2026
@funky_southern@HBO@hbomax Listen to the Gratitude live album. It’s not about rules and a correct answer. The prize is already won by us and millions of other listeners. Listen how they improvise; how they segue-way between music; how they jam. From Africano/ Power to Yearnin’ Learnin’. It’s always there.
@JonAndre@HBO@hbomax Nah they didn’t when up to 99% of their music was Soul / R&B sure they made some gospel, jazz, pop etc but it’s doesn’t even make up 1% of their music catalogs
@funky_southern@HBO@hbomax Perhaps that’s the point about Earth Wind & Fire. They made it as complicated and simultaneously as simple as we wanted it to be.
@JonAndre@HBO@hbomax Dude, you’re making it way too complicated cuz 99% of their music is soul. The main thing they had in common with Fela Kuti and other African artists from that era is that they were all heavily influenced by James Brown and Miles Davis and other American jazz, soul artists.
@funky_southern@HBO@hbomax 9/ closely mirroring the extended, hypnotic rhythmic setups popularized by West African musicians at the time.
This was the exact period when Maurice White was bringing the kalimba into the studio, to test how an ancient thumb piano could mesh with an American rhythm section.
@funky_southern@HBO@hbomax 8/ This material features the original Chicago line-up assembled by Maurice White, before core members like Philip Bailey or Al McKay joined the group.
The percussion on these tracks is much looser, longer, and heavily improvisational.