Slow Jam of The Night 5/27: “Happy Feelings” – Maze feat. Frankie Beverly

It was the summer of 1980-something when my Dad called me into his room to tell me to get dressed, "We're going to a concert". As a young kid who loved music, I was totally excited even though I didn't know who we were going to see. But I was so swept up in a wave of excitement, that I didn't ask who was performing until we got to the arena. "Oh, we're going to see Maze" and to be quite honest, my excitement dropped, but I would soon learn why Maze is one of the greatest bands EVER!

To be clear, I "liked" Maze as a kid. I grew up being essentially "force fed" they're music, but at the time of this concert, Bell Biv Devoe's "Poison" was the HOTTEST song on Earth and to give you some perspective, THEY were the "opening acts" which I didn't get at all. So, BBD comes out and does their set and I'm the only one in the audience that's EXCITED to see them. The older folks would "politely" applaud after their set, but they weren't who this audience came to see. I stayed on my feet through BBD's entire performance before Maze took the stage. That's when my eyes were truly opened when they kicked into the opening stanzas of "Happy Feelings".

It was literally magic to me. The arena was half empty but by the time Maze got started, it was like thousands of people suddenly were in the arena. And this audience knew EVERY. SINGLE. WORD. to every song. I was entranced by this and it changed my view about music forever. That's why "Happy Feelings" is tonight's Slow Jam of The Night on the all-night flight we call "The Kiss Goodnight"! Rock with me starting at 11:00 pm CST.