soul thursday

AP asap's Jaime Holguin (above, right) with me (left) after he paid a visit to Shore Fire's offices with AP asap staffer Donald King to interview soul man Ryan Shaw. Shaw talked about his background singing in the Pentacostal church, his unbelievable story about moving to NYC and his "lateral move" (his words) to soul music once here. He talked about "music that lifts the people up," a concept borrowed from James Brown and applied forcefully on 'This Is Ryan Shaw,' his debut disc out April 17 on One Haven/RED. Finally, he finished with an a capella rendition of "We Got Love." Gorgeous. Can't wait to see him again in concert next Thursday.

...and yes, that's a giant Bruce Springsteen record in the background, adorning the walls of our conference room.

...and yes, that is an attempt at a beard on my part. Not sure how long it'll last. Comments are welcome.