Sarah Dash's New Single: "I'm Still Here"

I'm embarrassed to say that before her appearance last Friday on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick (SiriusXM OutQ108) I wasn't familiar with Sarah Dash.  Dash started singing in Philadelphia in the late 50's with The Ordettes, which became The Bluebelles before becoming Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles.  In 1971 the group changed its name one last time to LaBelle, and in 1978 Sarah released her first solo effort, a self titled album that included the top-ten disco hit "Sinner Man".  Check out Sarah's page on Wikipedia for more information.

After hearing Sarah's interview with Larry and a couple of tracks off her soon-to-be-released CD, The Seventh Child, I could only think that she may very well be the most overlooked diva in recent R&B history. Her brand of sassy, soulful wisdom was beautiful.  That's the best word to describe her as a person and an artist - beautiful.

I immediately jumped on iTunes and downloaded her new single, "I'm Still Here", which tells a tale of triumph and survival.  We've all gone through events in our life that we thought would surely destroy us, but from somewhere deep inside we found a strength we didn't know we had and rose from the ashes stronger and wiser for the experience.  It's the essence, the soul, of this experience that Ms. Dash has captured so beautifully.  This song moved me the very first time I heard it, and that doesn't happen easily or often.  I strongly encourage you to give it a listen.

On a side note, I adore Larry Flick and his show, The Morning Jolt, which he hosts weekdays at 7 am on SiriusXM OutQ108 with comedian Keith Price.  Larry has reminded me of so much music I'd forgotten about, but more important is that he's introduced me to new music from both established and new artists.  Thank you for doing what you do and being you who you are, Larry!

You can follow Sarah Dash on Twitter at @SarahDash, and Larry Flick at @LarryFlick.

Howard Stern Takes on the Anti-Gay Conservatives

Before you turn up your nose and huff "He's so disgusting!" you need to listen to this, but first I'll set the stage... In the final segment of each show Robin Quivers reads the news. On this particular day one of the articles she shared was about the anti-gay group One Million Moms demanding that JCPenney fire Ellen DeGeneres as their new spokesperson because she's openly gay, which set Howard off. He talks about why Rosie O'Donnell was upset with David Letterman's remarks about how she met her fiance, about One Million Moms and then why Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann are "the worst people on the planet."

For the record, One Million Moms is an arm of the American Family Association. In 2010 the Southern Poverty Law Center listed the AFA as a hate group because of the "propagation of known falsehoods" and "demonizing propaganda" about homosexuality.

The clip is about twelve minutes long, but worth listening to. As a warning, the language is colorful, so this is not safe for work or around little ears.

The Howard Stern Show & Howard 100 on SiriusXM

I also recommend that you listen to Ellen's response to One Million Moms after they attacked her as not sharing their values. "Here are the values I stand for: I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you'd want to be treated and helping those in need," she said. "To me, those are traditional values. That's what I stand for."