Most Popular

  • Sexual Healing
    Sad stories and otherwise freaky tales from Florida's last sexual surrogate
  • To Hug a Porcupine
    Three little boys set out to destroy the parents who loved them. This isn't how adoption is supposed to work.
  • Smoked Tuna in the Can
    He was the first big bust of the War on Drugs. That and two bits won't get you a cup of coffee.
  • Backbreaker
    A half-kilo of blow, machine-gun blasts, and a millionaire chiropractor. Does this make sense?
  • Rubber Doll
    Polite businesswoman by day, international fetish icon by night

Recent Articles

Recent Articles by Jason Ferguson

National Features >

  • Houston Press

    A Dirty Picture

    What mainstream publishers don't want you to know about door-to-door magazine sales.

    By Craig Malisow

  • Riverfront Times

    Welcome to Cougar Heaven

    When these huntresses on are on the prowl, the prey very much wants to be caught.

    By Unreal

  • Broward-Palm Beach New Times

    Sweet Deal

    How rumored McCain veep choice Charlie Crist wants to bail out Big Sugar.

    By Bob Norman

  • SF Weekly

    All-American Girls

    Are Asian women getting their jawbones cut to look whiter?

    By Lauren Smiley

Donnie

The Daily News (Soulthought)

By Jason Ferguson

Published on June 28, 2007

If there´s one thing missing from the recordings made by most current neo-soul artists -- besides, of course, an unprocessed rhythm section -- it´s a sense of urgency. All too many of these contemporary R&B artists better hope the revolution gets televised, ´cause that´s gonna be the only way they´ll know anything´s wrong. Atlanta-based crooner Donnie is under no such illusions, and on his second album, this cousin of Marvin Gaye strives to emulate not only the structural aspects of ´60s and ´70s soul goodness but also, well, its soul. The Daily News is a decidedly unsubtle state-of-the-world record, running down a checklist of societal ills in its lyrics. Donnie continues to do right by both his relative and his most obvious vocal influence, Donny Hathaway; the social commentary of The Daily News is rendered both immediate and engaging by Donnie´s rich voice. Still, it´s a third antecedent that presides most noticeably: The warm and funky yet completely synthetic arrangements here are straight modernizations of Stevie Wonder´s playbook. Whether it´s the multitracked gospel harmonies on ¨For Christ Sake¨ or the off-measure vocalizations that drive the melody of ¨911¨ home, Donnie clearly gave Key of Life a few spins before heading into the studio. While Stevie wasn´t singing about Big Pharma or homophobia in the ´70s, Donnie´s trying to bring the same sort of conscious-party sing-along choruses and sneakily subversive lyrics to the present.