Digital Grinder

$12.19

Sick and Tired of Feeling Sick and Tired

$9.95

We’ve named this certified-organic blend after the Quechua word for

$20.95

The beans from Tarrazu mature slowly, learning patience from their infancy. Sheltered by the Pacific mountain range, these sought-after beans share their sanctuary with colorful birds and enchant

$13.58

Since her acting and writing have proved she’s more versatile than her standup lets on, it’s a shame Wanda Sykes’ CD debut is like so many other recent standup albums, simply ripping the audio from a DVD that shares its title. Something new — a skit or two, something that respects the comedy album’s long history — would have been nice, but seeing as how there’s no Sykes on record otherwise, it’s hard not to call Sick & Tired a must for fans. That is, for fans of her very adult material, since families who gathered every Friday to watch her Wanda at Large TV program need to be warned that this gets rough. If there’s a big benefit for releasing your debut after years on the stage, it’s how comfortable Sykes sounds in front of her audience. She’s relaxed, in control, and charmingly appreciative of anyone who paid to see her, which makes her bold, cocky, and sometimes downright mean material all that much easier to take. Matter-of-fact observations like “if you don’t believe in gay marriage, don’t marry anyone of the same sex” fill the album, yet there’s still room for some deeper material, like when Wanda “does it” to the Bush Jr. administration on the great “Arrogant.” A couple of visual jokes could have been edited out; otherwise, this is a satisfying presentation of this hilarious and gruff comedy diva. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi

$12.71

A burned out actor begins to question his sanity in this French comedy that stars the writer/director Michel Blanc in a dual role. In the first role Blanc plays himself as an exhausted actor. He has been doing too much TV and too many movies. Odd things begin to happen and Blanc becomes convinced his sanity is slipping away. He is seen going berserk at Cannes with a series of starlets. At Cannes, he meets festival head Gilles Jacob whom he persuades to give the room number of Gerard Depardieu. After Blanc is accused of attempted rape, he goes to a psychiatrist who prescribes peace and quiet in the country. He goes to the Provencial estate of his friend Carole Bouquet. It is there Bouquet and Blanc meet Blanc’s devilish double Patrick Olivier. After a lengthy chase the two sit down and decide that Blanc will take only the high quality roles while Olivier will do the rest. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

$15.18

Dubbed by some as “this generation’s Ella Fitzgerald” for her uncanny brilliance at blending vocal jazz and gospel sensibilities, the veteran singer was hardly inactive during her years between her last Tommy Boy date in 2001 and this brilliant re-emergence on Shanachie in 2009. Craftily balancing secular and religious recording and performing endeavors, she’s continued to be the toast of the gospel world while working with everyone from Chaka Khan and Stevie Wonder to R. Kelly and, in 2009, George Clinton on the funkster’s George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love, also on Shanachie. She reminds listeners of her secular and jazz vibes in a single swoop on the “Prelude” to this disc, scatting her way through a Wonder riff. Then she launches her full-on praise report with the vibrant, uptempo declaration “Happy,” composed with her co-producer, Chris “Big Dog” Davis. Working with a colorful palette of arrangements, styles, and tempos, she follows a bold and brassy choir singalong like the title track and a thoughtful and contemplative “I Surrender All” with a lovely, passionate rendering of “Someone to Watch Over Me” — a secular song she reinterprets as an expression of worship. From there, it’s a mix of infectious renditions of well-known church tunes and beautiful originals (which could easily become standards of their own) like “Jesus” and the choir-enhanced “Yes to Your Will.” In her liner notes, the powerhouse singer writes: “What an amazing life to live…music.” Longtime fans waiting impatiently for this emotionally and spiritually compelling album to come along will be glad that she’s making her own music again after years of applying her talents to the works of others. ~ Jonathan Widran, Rovi Performers: Chris Davis – Various; Christie Oscar – Vocals (Background); LaKeisha Lewis – Vocals (Background); Anthony Nicholson – Bass; Chris Edwards – Keyboards; Jay Williams – Drums; Joey Oscar – Drums; Kathy Burrell – Vocals (Background), Vocals; Kim Burrell – Vocals (Background), Vocals;

$15.57

Linking alchemy, anthropology, politics, and science, Antony Wild uncovers the intrigue that coffee has woven into its 500-year history. Coffee trader and historian Antony Wild delivers a rollicking history of the most valuable legally traded commodity in the world after oil–and an industry that employs one hundred million people throughout the world. from obscure beginnings in East Africa in the 15th century as a stimulant in religious devotion, coffee became an imperial commodity, produced by poor tropical countries and consumed by rich temperate ones. Through the centuries, the influence of coffee on the rise of capitalism and its institutions has been enormous. Revolutions were once hatched in coffeehouses, commercial alliances forged, secret societies formed, and politics and art endlessly debated. Today, while coffee chains spread like wildfire, coffee-producing countries are in crisis: with prices at a historic low, they are plagued by unprecedented unemployment, abandoned farms, enforced migration, and massive social disruption. Bridging the gap between coffee’s dismal colonial past and its perilous corporate present, Coffee reveals the shocking exploitation that has always lurked at the heart of the industry.

$14.01

A year after his debut CD, blues guitarist Jimmy ”Duck” Holmes returns with a slab of deep country blues. Done Got Tired of Tryin’ features 10 new songs performed in the haunting Bentonia, Mississippi style of Holmes’ predecessors, Skip James and Jack O

$9.77

That Feeling