I told ya’ll long ago that I will travel up and down the East Coast on a whim for a show. Someone left  this comment on my latest column over at Urban Thought Collective,

” What a life to be able to go to tons of shows and be around people that are making music from the heart. Blessed.”

Indeed.

This past weekend, I had to take time and get away and made my way down to Atlanta for the weekend in part to see Julie Dexter and Heston in concert at Sugar Hill inside the Underground. Yet another venue that puts DC’s options to shame. Get. it. together. I’ll be reviewing the show once I get the videos up. Check back for that later this week. It was a hell of a show and I can’t wait to share it with you.

A highlight of my trip was a visit to Moods Music in Little Five Points. As we drove up, I immediately fell in love with this eclectic, artsy fartsy section of the A. Lots of creative energy there. I could totally see myself spending many a day there chatting folks up that look different than me…because you know in the South they speak. And digging deep in the crates which is what I did at Moods.

I almost had a musical orgasm when I walked in and saw shelves filled with joints from the likes of Eric Roberson, Coultrain, Alice Russell, Amp Fiddler, Bugz in the Attic, Carol Riddick, Marie Tweek, Deborah Bond, J*Davey, Yazarah, Davina, Stephanie McKay, Vikter Duplaix, Eric Lau, Sa-Ra, Sam Sparro, Omar, DJ Spinna, Russell Taylor, and Martin Luther to name a few.

To see Brittany Bosco’s uniquely packaged EP staring back at me was like a dream.

I could have spent all day browsing through entire sections devoted to rare finds in classic soul, reggae, world music, afrobeat, and real hip hop. I couldn’t even get through the stacks and stacks of compilations and “mixtapes”  of all the music I mention here and link to on other sites.

Nothing could make the experience any sweeter than Foreign Exchange’s “Take Off the Blues” and “All or Nothing” over the speakers.

I enjoyed great conversation with music aficionados, particularly the owner, Darryl “D-Nice” Harris. I majorly co-signed when he was introducing virgin ears to Eric Roberson. Later I asked whether he follows The Life of An Independent Artist, Erro’s blog. Of course he does and saw my video that was featured there. Thrilled was my middle name.

I left there with much lighter pockets but with a much bigger smile than when I came in. I pledged a long while ago not to buy any more physical CDs until I had a place to store them all. I couldn’t help it if I wanted to.

I was most excited abut adding Ledisi’s second rare and hard to find release album to my collection. Ironically, this was my least expensive purchase. After listening to this collection of standards and original tracks, I would have paid twice that.

I’ve been trying to get my hands on this release every since I first discovered Natalie a couple of years ago. I’ve listened to a few songs so far and it’s definitely a must-have. I’ll feature her here soon with a couple of tracks from the album. I also need to get my hands on her debut, Yours Truly.

This was a great find. I only have Vikter’s latest album so I’m excited to get my hands on his earlier works.

This one was at Moods but I knew I’d be able to get it at the show. Before his set was over, I was hunting down the CD man. I was pressed. Soultracks got it right on this one.

Do you have any spots like Moods where you are? What were your last CD purchases?