Category Archives: music

November 29, 2011 · 4:31 pm

Tunes from soul night

I’m honored to be included in the Missing Link soul nights.  Featuring a bevy of thoughtful soul DJs (Mantease, Adam & Matt, Jay Morg) the night has been a grand success.

On saturday 11/26 I took the stage  to play an all-45 set to an appreciative crowd of about 200 people at that point.  Here is a rundown of the tunes:

1. J.R. Bailey – we need love

2. Eddie Bo – hook and sling 1

3. Ripple – funky song

4. Bobby Freeman – four piece funky nitty gritty junky band

5. Betty Wright – Let me be your love maker

6. Gladys Knight & the Pips – Nitty gritty

7. David Robinson – I’m a carpenter

8. Jamo Thomas – Arrest me

9. Shadows of Knight – Shake

10. David Batiste – Soul p2

11. Gaturs – cold bear

12. Aretha Franklin – this is the house that jack built

13. Calvin Arnold – I better rest

14. Voices of East Harlem – sit down

The next Missing Link soul party is December 15 at Humbrews. You can also catch King Maxwell on December 11th at the Blue Lake Roller rink for EIGHTIES SKATE!  And I’ll be playing 45 of the best funk and soul 45s at the Alibi on December 17.

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November 5, 2011 · 1:40 am

MF Doom~!

Damn.  All-time MVP MF Doom emerges to give a lecture?  I’m about fifteen minutes in.  Enjoy.

Thanks to Fleamarket Funk for the connect!

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October 19, 2011 · 6:09 pm

Anika – yang yang

I went to see Anika last night.  The show was quite enjoyable.  The Nico comparison is obvious, but the backing band sounds slightly more hip (keyboards) than the VU (guitar).

I really enjoyed the set, and the highlight for me was their tune “Yang yang.”  Yoko Ono cover FYI.

Also playing were the Starving Weirdos, Humboldt’s best particulate-noise band.   I enjoyed the first tune a lot — with a whiny feedback loop that seemed to be at the core of the song.  Only to find out that it was unintentional.  Whoops.  But that tells you a lot about the Starving Weirdos — the experience, acoustics and responses are part of the music itself.

 

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October 1, 2011 · 4:39 pm

Promesas Temporales

Saturday morning inspired by coffee, roller derby, and Ecuador’s folk/prog stunners Promesas Temporales.  Make today happen for you and yours with no regret!

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October 1, 2011 · 4:01 pm

I’ll never party like Billy Idol

I was talking about Slick Rick last night.  I was saying that even if I ever (hoping this never happens) lose an eye, I wouldn’t rock an eye patch with as much swagger as Rick the Ruler.  Likewise, I think it’s safe to say that I’ll never party like Billy Idol.

Checking into a sumptuous suite at the Mandarin Oriental – an imposing, regal hotel perched on the banks of the Chao Phraya River – peroxide rocker Billy Idol set about cooking up a maelstrom of debauchery with an assembly of prostitutes. Stuffed to the gills with drugs, Idol demolished furniture, reduced his TV to rubble and spilt all manner of liquids on the carpets. Unable to restrain the spiky haired libertine, the hotel was forced to call in the Thai army who resorted to shooting the unhinged Billy with tranquilliser darts after he refused to leave his suite. He was checked out of the hotel on a stretcher.

via The world’s most rock’n’roll hotels | Travel | The Guardian.

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September 28, 2011 · 7:15 pm

Fela’s Toenail to the laughing lady

I was talking to my friend Michael on the phone.  We were discussing family and while we were chatting, I discovered some video of my uncle playing some tunes.  Turns out the internets are filled with connections to my kin!

First up, my aunt Sadie, aka the laughing lady.  You can find the laughing lady streaming out of Guerneville’s radio station every sunday night.

Ten to midnight: Stay up late and chortle/giggle/hoot out loud with the Laughing Lady Show. She reads humorous pieces from all over, shares the funniest writing she can find, and sings/plays you songs to crack you up. The Laughing Lady will relax you and soothe and am use you, and then strike for a belly laugh. No one resists her for long. She considers Humor to be the sixth sense, able to heal physical and emotional woes. Try it–it’s free. See you Sunday night!

via KGGV-LP 95.1 FM “The Bridge” Guerneville, CA.

Howsabout my uncle Laurence giving some quality New Orlean’s trumpet work? Playing with a band called Big Money in Jazz.

Or my Uncle Barry with a tune called “Fela’s Toenail? Band is called Zuela.

Love you family!

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September 28, 2011 · 2:22 pm

My country tis of thee: Troy Davis

I had nothing substantial to add to the outrage over the killing of Troy Davis.  After he was killed, I struggled to find something to write that expressed my feelings of lament.  Nothing came clear.

This weekend I was driving with my sweetie and this Ani DiFranco tune came out of the speakers.  “Why don’t you just go ahead and turn off the sun. We’ll never live long enough to undo all the things they’ve done to you.”  That is what I’ve been feeling.

 

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September 23, 2011 · 3:05 am

Cyborg Synth

She even built her own wearable MIDI controller and sewed it into a leather/snakeskin jumpsuit, controlling her audio and visual set single-handedly. She called it “The Chakakhantroller.” “I named it after Chaka Khan because one, it looks badass,” laughs Rucyl, “and two, Chaka Khan needs no assistance to give an amazing performance.”

via Sleeping Giant | Philadelphia City Paper | 09/22/2011.

As an animal lover I’m not a fan of the leather/snakeskin combo, but I like the name.  Respect to Rucyl and King Britt and to all those who push sound around.

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September 20, 2011 · 9:06 pm

Los Jaivas: Mambo de Machaguay

I was listening to this song on vinyl, thinking about how much good music is out there in the world.  Thought I’d share it with ya!  Support your favorite hippie psychedelic indigenous instrument banger!

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September 13, 2011 · 3:38 pm

DJ Screw vinyl archived at University of Houston

DJ Screw made a huge difference in the way hip hop fans understood the sound.  Local, exceptional, slowed down, Texan, and all that made a package that made his 90 minute tapes (TAPES fool!) a necessity.  Screw died a few years back and what we have are memories of him.

This University of Houston librarian knows the deal — someone should swoop in and try to save all that history.  The vinyl, the photos, and all the rest from the Screw lab should get archived, and shared with the public.  Now it’s happening.  Kick ass.

Check Rap Radar for some photos of the collection.  RIP DJ Screw.

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