Some ol’ flossy floss business but we’re gonna bang it out.
Stylus, Jahsonic & Cuzzin B on 3 Floors
National Black MBA Association, Inc., Washington, D.C. Chapter - Pre-Conference Jam
Ultrabar
911 F St NW WDC
Open Buffet on the 1st Floor from 9PM to 11PM
Bacardi Open Bar from 9PM to 11PM in the Bacardi Loft
Bacardi Drink Specials All Night Long
NBMBAA Member Price: $20
Non-member: $25
Tickets will be $30 at the door
White people… BEHOLD THE POWER OF GO-GO!!!!
Word to Go-Go Granny in the orange.
Maybe we really can bridge the divide. Anyone willing to recruit The Good JYB to go out on the campaign trail?
Wow… as if Ruff It Off wasn’t enough. They took Tiddy Balls to New England.
EACH AND EVERY SUNDAY AT THE IBEX!!
DOWNLOAD:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zz6eitaqe9t
LINK UP (and laugh really hard):
http://coolceebrown.blogspot.com
I’ve been back for a while so I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m not going to get around to detailing all the historical, cultural and social experiences I had in Bahia. This weekend I carved out some time to hit a pile of not yet listened to vinyl so I can at least post the digging wrap-up of my trip (with covers, since that’s a big part of the fun.)
Unfortunately, the holy grail remains outside of my grasp, even though I did visit their hometown. I saw a couple of vinyl copies that cats were not trying to part with and it’s been out of print forever. I’ll probably have to find a questionable Japanese bootleg or something.
I didn’t have much room to bring stuff back to the U.S. so I kept my aspirations low. I scouted out four spots and managed to hit three of them. One of them had massive stock but everything was too beat to be worth buying. Record condition was a recurring problem that I had been warned about.
Right around the corner is another spot I highly recommend to anyone traveling in Salvador. Cana Brava is all CD so it caters to you normal folks that don’t share the wax addiction. Pardal runs the store with his wife and he’s very helpful and knowledgeable. We ended up talking music for so long that I almost forgot to shop. But on impulse I came away with…
Banda Black Rio - Gafieira Universal (CD) [Basically the Brazilian Earth, Wind & Fire. I saw the afros and the disc pretty much jumped off the shelf into my hand. My hunch was rewarded by not a single fast-forwardable track on the whole record. Word to reissues. They've got four other albums that you can find with some due diligence.]
The main transaction went down in this random closet of a store in Barra. The mission posed several challenges. I had to whittle down a huge stack to a handful of critical purchases while dealing with a language barrier, no turntable to screen the records and large holes in my knowledge about the artists.
Then I had to haggle. I was somewhat concerned that I might have been hustled but my gut told me that the proprietor was a serious music head who recognized a kindred spirit. As I dug and asked questions in infant level Portuguese, he went deep into the stacks pulling more stuff and explaining it to me. I definitely paid more than the pieces would be worth in the U.S. but I haggled him down by a significant amount, had fun and most importantly, learned a lot in the process. That’s worth a few reais. Here’s the haul:
Egberto Gismonti - Corações Futuristas (LP) [Fusion bordering on free jazz. Definitely bugged out. I asked for something like Chick Corea and Azymuth and this was the recommendation. Apparently out of print and not often seen stateside.]
Miucha & Antonio Carlos Jobim (LP) [Sweet bossa jazz that's been reissued on CD.]
Olodum - A Música Do Olodum Banda Reggae (LP) [The sound of Salvador and an organization for community activism as well as partying. They even reminded Mike that he's black.]
Cesar Camargo Mariano, Victor Assis Brasil, Helio Delmiro - Performance (LP) [Electric jazz cats I'd never seen or heard of. Quite luscious with killer guitar action. This is going to yield some juicy beat fodder. I think I made a come-up.]
Zezé Motta - Dengo (LP) [Lightly funky post-'70s tropicalia with pop accents from this major brazilian actress who also had a singing career.]
Elis Regina - Elis (LP) [If you're ever at a loss for a place to start exploring Brazilian music, you can't go wrong with Pimentinha. Her tone and phrasing are unforgettable]
MPB-4 - Antologia (LP) [This is a 1974 compilation of MPB (otherwise known as Música Popular Brasileira) and it's quite a goldmine. It sounds like an in-house vocal group at the record label doing medleys of the works of significant composers but I have to study up more to get the back story.]
Last year I was given the task and the honor of contributing to SoulBounce.com’s Top 100 Soul/R&B Countdown.
It was a pretty fun exercise, because rather than try to be some definitive encyclopedic assessment of the history of soul music, it’s only a few peoples’ favorite songs, ranked in order of commonality between the lists. A few people with really good taste and a personal investment in the music, of course.
We were instructed to not take into account historical impact, popularity or sales and just submit our favorite joints. The way the final list played out was pretty intriguing, which was the whole point. There were surprises and even better, a bunch of “I can’t believe I forgot about that” moments.
Now that the ride has come to an end, I figured I’d share my submission, if only to coax everyone else into sharing theirs. I definitely had a structure to my approach. My first rule was only one pick per artist, otherwise my whole list would have been Stevie, Donny and EW&F. And that would have crowded out so many phenomenal tunes that aren’t well-known enough to be in the pantheon of the greatness.
The other point of my list was that well, they should be. Despite the failings of the industry and the coonery that dominates the mainstream, black music is doing quite well. Timeless material is still being created and new styles and concepts are being pushed while building upon the traditions of the past. Ultimately I was pleased with the balance between decades, and the fact that my oldest and newest picks reflect the best elements of what I love about black music.
My definition of “soul” also encompassed some extended family tree members like electronica/dance music, afrobeat and go-go. But that just shows how vibrant the family is. There are even white folks in it. *LOL*
So if the mixes aren’t enough, here’s some more insight into what makes me tick musically. These songs will always inspire me, make me go off on the dancefloor, factor heavily into how I rock a set or simply hold some sort of personal significance.
(links to SB provided where applicable and other treats per my whim)
Hold It Down - 4Hero
Tired Little One - Bah Samba
Playing Your Game, Baby - Barry White
Pillory-like - Beady Belle
What You Won’t Do For Love - Bobby Caldwell (#35)
I Know You, I Live You - Chaka Khan
It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) - Chuck Brown
We’re A Winner (from “Curtis/Live!” album) - Curtis Mayfield
Spanish Joint - D’Angelo
See You In My Dreams - Deborah Bond
Masterplan - Donnie
The Ghetto (from “Live” album) - Donny Hathaway
Hard Times - Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band
Can’t Hide Love - Earth, Wind & Fire
Change For Me - Eric Roberson
Wonderful - Erik Rico
Water No Get Enemy - Fela Kuti
Lo Mein - Georgia Anne Muldrow
Groove Me - Guy (#25)
The Star of the Story - Heatwave
Guess Who’s Back In Town - Heaven & Earth
Give It Up or Turnit A Loose - James Brown
Where Do We Go From Here - Jamiroquai
Slowly Surely - Jill Scott
Dealt A Bad Hand - Kaidi Tatham & Dego
Cerca de Mi - Louie Vega & Elements of Life
Superstar - Luther Vandross (#53)
After The Dance - Marvin Gaye
Beautiful Ones - Mary J. Blige
I Can’t Help It - Michael Jackson (#67)
Inside My Love - Minnie Riperton (#14)
Umi Says - Mos Def
I Am The Black Gold of the Sun - Nuyorican Soul
Fallin’ - Omar
Fever - Platinum Pied Pipers
How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore - Prince
Body Moves - Rare Essence
Running Away - Roy Ayers
Love Is Stronger Than Pride - Sade (#70)
Days Like This (Spinna & Ticklah Club Mix) - Shaun Escoffery
Back To Life - Soul II Soul (#16)
Optimistic - Sounds of Blackness
Falling into (Swell Session’s Boy Wonder mix) - Stateless
Do I Do - Stevie Wonder
Show You The Way to Go - The Jacksons
This Journey In - The Rebirth
Don’t Disturb This Groove - The System
I Might Do Something Wrong - Tortured Soul
Spread My Wings - Troop (#43)
Let’s Get Small - Trouble Funk
and as a bonus, here are the next 10 that battled valiantly for a spot in my top 50 but couldn’t break through: (I ALMOST have some regrets on a couple of these not making it)
Journey To The Light - Brainstorm
Alright - Janet Jackson
Sweet Love - Anita Baker (#91)
Never Stop - Brand New Heavies
One Nation Under A Groove - Funkadelic
A Million Babies - Owusu & Hannibal
Can You Stand The Rain - New Edition (#28)
All That I Am - Bilal
Loving You, Holding You - Don Blackman
Penitentiary Philosophy - Erykah Badu
‘Nuff respect to hometown fam getting some much deserved shine.
Nice little clip here on the science of the beat machine. Thanks Al Gore!
I came late to the MPC party. I was an Ensoniq man for years, and I still put stock in the filters and fx on the ASR-X, if not the critically flawed sequencer. I’m rocking a little 500 now. It’s the younger brother to the rest of the crew, whose leadership is slowly being taken over by Reason.
That clip was damn near a commercial for Akai. Too bad they laid a rotten egg recently.
But let’s not dwell on the negative. I’d rather close it out with some more Damu flavor.
Damu The Fudgemunk - Soul Brother Number 3 - Damu’s 3 a.m. Freestyle from j. nota on Vimeo.
Your holiday weekend jump-off right here.
DJ Stylus
DJ Jahsonic
Harry Hotter
Adrian Loving
DJ Roddy Rod
Quartermaine
DJ Double o7
DJ Sonny
rocking everything that’s funky, soulful, deep and REAL.
from 75bpm to 130.
from b-boy beats to broken beats.
9pm - 5am
Sunday August 31 (yes, there is a typo in the flyer)
That Warehouse Spot
411 NY Ave NE, WDC
$15
Andre Harris - “10 Things Not To Say To A DJ”
I mean, how is it that stupid people ALL OVER THE WORLD all end up reading from the same script when they decide they want to inflict psychic pain on you while you’re trying to rock the party?
I’ve built upon this with scores of my DJ colleagues and the uniformity of the stories is fascinating. Someone has to do a psychological study on it. I’ve collected tons of data first hand over the years. Is there some shared genetic defect in stupid people that is triggered by a nightclub environment? Does that have to do with the fact that stupid people are statistically more likely to go out to certain clubs? It’s like a perverse feedback loop of causality. Do they all get together in a huddle before they come to the club to maximize the annoyance factor of their strategy? Perhaps it’s a conspiracy waged by an international cabal of stupid people with the shared goal of driving all DJs into early retirement.
The one that makes me want to beat myself in the forehead with ball peen hammer is:
“Everyone wants to hear it.”
AAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!
I’ve actually asked folks if they really polled the whole club to arrive at this assertion, just like in the song. Things usually go downhill from there.
I’ve grown pretty heartless over the last couple of years. My patience has been worn away to a cold, hard steely sheen, especially because there’s something about DJs that make people want to heap abuse on us in ways they would never dare in any other aspect of human interaction. Folks consistently say things to me that would automatically earn them a punch in the mouth if I weren’t behind the decks. Of course, I can’t do that, even if it’s warranted.
But woe unto the clubtards that approach me these days because I don’t hesitate to dispense liberal doses of non-violent face crack. And it doesn’t matter how fat your ass is and how much cleavage you jiggle in front of me. That will actually make me more likely to hurt your feelings. It’s funny to observe the strain on the faces of attractive women who can’t process the idea of a heterosexual man telling them no. Actually, that applies mostly to an environment where the primary goal of every man is to catch their attention.
Despite the effective coping mechanisms I’ve developed, I can’t WAIT to play this song. Thanks Andre.
RIGHT NOW.
It’ll only cost you a couple bucks, and it’s so sincerely and urgently not a game.
Pirahnahead… yo… SON!
Homie’s been on my radar ever since I heard that Diviniti joint and he makes quite a statement each time he drops something new.
I didn’t know he sang though. I just thought he was a wiz on the keys, the axe and behind the boards. The Take 6 vocal layering… sounding like Setembro up in this jont. MADNESS!!
Divine dropped this at Daylight last night and my brain short circuited. I caught an acute facial cramp at the 1:34 mark.
Lawd.
Pirahnahead, you are officially a bad ass muhflucker. I will have to slap you when I see you next. I should have slapped you preemptively the last time I saw you.
BTW, about my recent absence, I did cop goodies in Brazil. I’ve just got to get over this re-entry hump before I can share. For now, just make sure you BUY THIS DAMN SONG.
