One song I heard this week for the first time(believe it or not) is Janet and Michael's Scream. In my neverending quest to create the perfect mix tape, I recently included the song. I mixed parts of Whitney's Wendy interview between segments, and for Scream, I tried to interpose parts of the "why you lookin' at me" chorus into the song, so that it becomes a trio. It came out pretty neat!I dig the "stop pressurin' me" chorus. Also included: Hole's Make Me Over, an excellent song I also recently just heard(I think I must have been comatose for most of the 90s...).

Whitney masterpiece I'm feeling at the moment: God Bless America, live in NYC in 1999. In this patriotic sequel to her legendary SSB performance, Whitney does what she does best: Combines earth-shattering power, clarity, and range, with a torn-from-the-gut gospelicious flair.