Tonight on The South Side, it's a birthday tribute to the great Taj Mahal.

His forty-plus year career has found him integrating musical traditions from around the world, and tonight you'll hear blues & soul music tracks from the man born Henry Saint Clair Fredericks on this day.

"Even at the end of forty years, in many ways my music is just getting started."

Check out The South Side each Friday night for down home blues and hip shakin' soul music, from classic tracks to new releases.

Friday the 3rd is the birthday of Soul Brother Number One, the incomparable James Brown.  Along with the usual mix of classic, long-forgotten blues
treasures and new releases, expect to hear a healthy dose of Mr. Dynamite
on The South Side, 7 to 10pm.

Tune in Friday nights as Chas brings you the best in Blues, Soul and Rhythm & Blues, with occasional excursions into Funk, Zydeco & other Roots music.

Stay tuned at 10pm for 2 hours of Frank Zappa
on Zen Through Zappa with Scatch.

In an unusual Op-Ed on the eve of marijuana's high holiday*, the Gregory Brothers (best known for making music from TV news clips) are given some facetime on the New York Times' opinion page. 

In this case, Autotune is the news. 

"There must be something amiss if Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, former Representative Ron Paul of Texas and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, despite having different views on drug legalization, can all agree that the War on Drugs is fundamentally flawed. Mr. Paul has long favored ending the federal War on Drugs, while Governor Christie recently called it a failure. Though he does not support legalization. Governor Cuomo has introduced plans to bring fairness, through decriminalization methods, to the racial imbalance of marijuana-related arrests in New York City.

To us, the harmony of these criticisms begged to be recast as harmony of the musical variety. With the help of a supporting cast (including Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes of “Jay and Silent Bob” fame), the governors and the former congressman are almost able, in song, to resolve the dissonance of this failed policy."

*No pun intended whatsoever. Seriously. 

Today at noon, soulful funk band River Valley Mud made their radio debut. They play at The Jambalaya tonight at 9pm. 

River Valley Mud audio

Excerpts from this performance air tomorrow on KHUM Encores, 1pm.