Funk Reactivated

Hello, folks.  I am happy to report that, after a relatively slow first half of 2009, the phone has been ringing regularly in the last few months.  Beginning with the Love Boat fund raiser for the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod in August, I have been working regularly on mobile gigs through September and into October.  I have even put my first event on the calendar for the 2010 season.  Whether it was the state of the economy over last off-season or increased networking on my part through the summer 0f 2009, things are moving in the right direction for the purveyance of the funk.  WOO-HOO!

To break it down in a little more detail, I was thrilled to get a call from Kim Shkapich to participate in a promotion for the ASGCC.  We took one of the Boston-P’Town ferries for a cruise around the harbor while shaking a tail feather for a good cause.  The event was spiced up with the addition of Squidda to the bill, and I was excited to work with them as I had enjoyed their shenanigans a few times in a variety of settings.  The nature of the cause easily lent it self to the Love Boat theme, and it also meshed with the theme of carnival the following week in P’Town.  Needless to say, the ’60’s and ’70’s love-child thing was not a stretch for me in the least.  Kim and I had worked together previously on an event for Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, so I knew that I was in good hands.  With the event being in the second week of August, I knew my posse from the restaurant biz was ready for a good party.  It had been an exceptionally stressful summer at the old day job, and all of us needed a reason to set aside the worries of the day-to-day and just get loose.  Well, get loose we did, and although there could and should have been more people on board, the people that were there all had a ridiculously fun time, and I think all of us are looking forward to doing it again.

The Love Boat dancers

Obviously, we are a coastal community here on old Cape Cod, but I am not by nature much of a maritime character myself.  That being said, there seems to be a bit of a nautical theme to the events on my calendar this season.  In addition to the Love Boat, I worked a cruise for a private family reunion sailing out of Marina Bay in Quincy.  We spent four hours on the water enjoying a fabulous day sailing around Boston Harbor, exploring just about every nook and cranny, from the airport to UMass-Boston to the financial district to Charlestown.

Harbor Cruisin'

Continuing the nautical theme, I worked two private events at the Pamet Harbor Yacht and Tennis Club in Truro.  Both of these were on rather unexpected referrals.  One was from Beth O’Rourke, a fellow WOMR DJ, who had double booked herself for the date.  I was grateful for the opportunity, and, as it turns out, it was another ’70’s disco themed party.  Sometimes the stars align themselves to allow us to shine among them.  Disco has not always been my favorite genre, to put it politely, but I have come to understand that it has a certain quality that promotes the shaking of the booty.  When it comes to the waving of the backside, I am entirely in favor, so if I have to endure a little cheeziness to produce the desired effect, then so be it.  Besides, I also happen to be a fan of the cheesy comestibles.  The other event at the Pamet Harbor club was a wedding I booked on relatively short notice through Rick Miller, a business associate of my wife.  Rick is known by all who have worked with him as an extremely friendly and effective networker, so I am very pleased to have made his acquaintance.  I can also report that his friends seem to share his love of life and generosity of spirit.

Looking forward, the folks at Castle Hill have booked a date for a Halloween party with yours truly, and I am thinking of booking a regular lounge date for the off season on the outer Cape.  I need to touch base with Castle Hill to make sure that it is an open party, but I would love to be able to bring some of my crew out for what is sure to be a real hoot.  I can only imagine that the denizens of an outer Cape art colony know how to dress up and freak out for All Hallows Eve.  I’ll let you know.  As far as a regular off season gig goes, I am looking for the right venue with the right feel and the right timing.  I am thinking Pig or Vixen on a Sunday night once a month.  Weekly seems too often as it takes the luster off the gem a bit, and those two rooms seem to have the most positive energy throughout the year.  It occurs to me that the Pig has been closing in the off season for a while, but the whole idea is a work in progress.  I am thinking lounge hang rather than dance party, since the whole dance floor thing is hard to maintain over time, and there is lots of music I’d love to share with people that isn’t necessarily dance-floor stuffing.  If anyone has any ideas on how to keep the vibe alive in the colder weather on the outer/lower cape, let me know.  That’s all for now, stay funky my people.

Late Summer/Fall DJ Fun

I am excited to be able to announce a number of shows in the coming weeks.  After a slow spring and early summer season when I think people were waiting to see what the tourist season would bring, the phone has been ringing and some unique opportunities for DJ fun are on the calendar.  The run begins with a disco-themed party at the Pamet Harbor Yacht and Tennis Club in Truro.  Many thanks to fellow WOMR DJ Beth O’Rourke for the referral on this one when she could not be at the party.

The nautical theme is further developed a couple of weeks later when I work two sunset cruises in a matter of a few days.  We will be sailing around Boston Harbor with a private family reunion on Aug. 8 and then the big event of the near future, a boat party with Squidda to help raise funds for The AIDS Spport Group of Cape Cod on Wednesday August 12.  This blowout will be held on board the Provincetown II, run by Bay State Cruises, the ferry company.  We will be sailing out of Provincetown around 5:30 to return by 9 pm.  Tickets are $30 and there will be cash bars and snacks available on the boat.  I recommend you get your tickets early, as this promises to be a wildly good time that you will not want to miss.

Looking a little further into the future, we are working on putting together a couple more dates for the Turo Center for the Arts at Castle Hill.  These folks were great to work with in the spring, and we have been looking for ways to throw another party together ever since.  Right now, it looks like we will be celebrating the full moon in the first week of September with a freaky funky fete, and we will be socializing with the spirits at a very special Halloween soiree.  I can only imagine what Halloween at an artists’ colony might be like.  Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

Groovalicious

Many thanks to everyone at Castle Hill who made our event of a couple weeks ago such a success.  Cherie, Kim, Andy and all of the participating artists clearly got into the seventies vibe, and a great time was had by all.  With any luck (and sufficient advance planning) we will be able to do this again before we all get too busy in the summer months.  End of April/beginning of May anyone?  Unfortunately, many of my snaps of the evening didn’t come out that great, but here are a couple which should help give the flavor of the party.

Castle Hill Party

Castle Hill Party

On another note, I’m looking forward to doing a regular radio show this week, after having dealt with major madness last week.  In order to celebrate WOMR’s 27th anniversary, we invited everyone into the studio to enjoy a whole lotta live music, free beer and food and tour the offices.   Well surprise, surprise we got approximately 1.25 million people to show up.  Of these, I think half of them were involved in the production in one way or another.  It was cool to see so many people excited about community radio, but it will also be nice to get back to my normal routine where I have the place to myself.  Making radio is definitely a bit strange in that it is a social experience that one engages in while sitting in a room alone.  It is not entirely unlike social networks on the computer in that way.

BTW, here are the links to recent playlists on The Soul Funky Train:

March 7, 2009

February 28, 2009

February 21, 2009

February 14, 2009

Matty Dread @ Castle Hill 3/14

Check this out, my fine funky friends.  A spin for a live audience on the outer Cape!  It’s a fund raiser for the Truro Center for the Arts, but they are more interested in having fun than raising money.  It’s billed as a party around the theme of 1971, but I will include joints from other years as well.  It would be great if we could spike the crowd with some funkateers to get the artists flowing in the right direction, so I really hope to see some of my people there.  Here is the press release from the promoters:

CASTLE HILL INVITES YOU TO “DANCE LIKE IT’S 1971”

ON SATURDAY, MARCH 14

In 1971, leisure suits and bell bottoms were in fashion; pet rocks, lava lamps, 8-track tapes and string art were seen as cultural innovations; and streaking was considered a revolutionary act.  Cleary, not everything is timeless.   But one thing that originated in 1971 is.  A Cape Cod treasure for 38 years, the TRURO CENTER for the ARTS at CASTLE HILL continues to remain vital and current today.

In honor of 38 Years of Influence: Celebrating the Castle Hill Community, a retrospective show on display at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum from March 6 – April 19, Castle Hill invites the Outer Cape community to “DANCE LIKE IT’S 1971” on Saturday, March 14 from 7 – 11 pm at the Castle Hill barn at 10 Meetinghouse Road in Truro.

Featuring a chili taste-off from 7 – 8 pm followed by dancing to 1971’s top hits spun by DJ Matty Dread from WOMR until 11 pm, this is going to be a great opportunity to reminisce, spend time with friends and have a wild, fun time.

Since 1971, Castle Hill has offered a signature array of workshops in writing, painting, ceramics, printmaking, sculpture and mixed media arts that have earned them the reputation as one of the premier small art schools in the country. They serve a diverse, multi-level student population ranging in age from 6 to 86 with an ever-expanding calendar of exhibitions, artists’ receptions, lectures, auctions, readings, concerts, and celebrations that works to connect artists to the community and the community to the arts.

Tickets to the event are $10, with a cash bar.  1970’s clothing is encouraged, but not required.

For more information on the exhibit and the weekend of festivities,

call (508) 349-7511 or visit www.castlehill.org.

Best Funky Soul of 2008

Last year has been over for a while, so I thought that it was about time to share some of the golden nuggets I have found that were released during that arbitrary calendar period.  I have always been confused by those critics who feel it necessary to start releasing their “best of…” lists starting sometime around thanksgiving or earlier.  Not only is there a significant portion of the year remaining at that point, but it also seems that it might take a while for some of the best gems to be discovered after their release.  On the other hand, one does want to be somewhat topically current with such a list, and if we let much more time pass the exercise might seem like a trip down memory lane, not that there is anything wrong with that either.  Perhaps the main point that I want to make with my list is that the retro sound is back with a vengeance, and while I have been accused at times of running an “oldies” show, I would take issue with the perjorative sense of that term and emphasize that some of the hippest hipsters are down with the analog sound.  Of course, if you are already one of these hipsters, you need no convincing of that point.  Anyway, here it is (in no particular order):

1. Al Green – “Lay It Down”

What can I say?  The master of the genre has not lost his touch.  In fact, with the help of many members of the younger generation, the sound has been updated with production values that may help introduce many new fans to the genius that is The Reverend.  Co-produced by ?uestlove of The Roots with cameos by John Legend and Corrine Bailey Rae, among others, and backed up by my beloved Dap-Kings horns, this album absolutely drips with the emotion for which Mr. Green is rightfully so famous.  Just go buy it.  Incidentally, Al Green’s 2003 release “I Can’t Stop”, produced by Willie Mitchell is also fabulously worth your time.

2.  The Diplomats of Solid Sound featuring The Diplomettes - “The Diplomats of Solid Sound featuring The Diplomettes”

While the title may be a bit clunky and long winded, the album itself is tight and to the point.  It has a great old girl-group sound with fantastic harmonies and hard-hitting rhythms.  Great emotional content and relatively sophisticated melodies are conveyed through a traditional 3 minute pop song format.  While there is nothing tremendously experimental or ground-breaking about this sound or this record, these folks hit the nail squarely on the head in bringing that classic Shirelles-meets-Supremes sound to a new generation.  The Diplomats themselves had released several records of Booker T. style instrumentals before this, and those albums were quite entertaining, but the addition of the vocalists takes the whole enterprise to a new level.  Right now the Iowa-based outfit is still a regional phenomenon in terms of their touring schedule, but I can’t wait for them to get the wider exposure they deserve.  This is the new album I have been spinning the most since its release.

3.  Menahan Street Band – “Make The Road By Walking”

It is physically impossible for me to make up a favorites list without including something from the Daptone crew.  Luckily that obsession is rewarded once again in 2008.  While we all eagerly await a new release from Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, we have been placated by this tasty instrumental morsel from some of the same musicians.  It is slinky urban soul in a downtempo mode that is perfect for background music or contemplative personal consumption.  It has appeared on many critics “Best of” lists and has been used as a back track for some contemporary hip-hop singles, but neither of these facts is very important to me.  What is important is that it is original, creatively inspired music that doesn’t suck.  You get the distinct atmospheric feeling for the neighborhood mentioned in the name of the band while listening to these tracks, and although it is not exactly dance music, I defy you to avoid tapping your feet while this music is playing.

4.  Brownout – “Homenaje”

Bad-ass low-rider latin funk.  Primarily instrumental with some pointed vocalizations such as “Con el Brownout No se Juega”.  Think Santana meets War in a Blaxploitation flick.  These are the guys you want on your side in a dark alley late at night.  They may not actually be violent, but their mere presence is enough to scare the bad guys away.  The same band releases more traditional sounding latin music under the name “Grupo Fantasma”, but I find this variation much more rewarding.  This sound has something in common with Menahan Street Band, but these guys are much more about the dance floor and the party than the introspective hang-out.  Austin Texas once again proves why its reputation as a music town is much-deserved.

5. Clutchy Hopkins – “Walking Backwards”

While I’m on the instrumental tip, I thought I’d include this purposefully obscure record.  The name of the act is clearly a pseudonym for some contemporary hip-hoppers who want the freedom to record without the baggage of their previous reputations.  The result is a refreshingly experimental project that expands the boundaries of the genre while still maintaining an overall listenability.  There are probably a couple of tunes I could do without, but the rest of the record is intellectually challenging and creatively exciting in a way that few records are.  The cultivated fictional underground back story is a bit pretentious, but I am willing to put up with the airs if the result is of this quality.

6.  Eli “Paperboy” Reed and The True Loves – “Roll With You”

Getting back to a more straightforward soul sound, we have this little record which takes a traditional soul-meets-rock sound and injects it with a heavy dose of caffeine.  The guy’s voice is a little on the screamy side for my taste, but there is no denying his chops, and the intensity is perfectly appropriate to the material.  Think James Brown and Otis Redding crossed with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and a dash of Little Richard.  Although the guy is apparently from the Boston area, he honed his skills in the South, and it shows.  There is an authenticity to the sound that makes me feel like I know what it was like to be in a jook-joint in the late fifties.  These are original songs that have an old-school feel without being jaded or cliche.  There is an emotion in the presentation which seems to be gained through hard work and experience rather than through cultivation and affectation.  Good work.

7.  Eric Lindell – “Low On Cash, Rich In Love”

Doesn’t that title just about say it all?  This is roots music for the ages.  Stories of hard times and good feelings, hard feelings and good times.  Blues, soul, country and reggae are all represented here.  Not in any forced way, but in a way that comes natural to someone who has spent many years traveling around the gulf coast and soaking up all of the influences that can be found there.  Mix this with a pop sensibility that may come out of time spent in California and you get a catchy, soulful stew that demands listening over and over again.  I can also vouch for the fact that the guy puts on one hell of a live show, as you would expect from such a tested road-warrior.

8.   JJ Grey and Mofro – “Orange Blossoms”

I can’t believe I got this far down the list without mentioning this record.  This is blue-eyed southern soul in the same vein as Eric Lindell, but the sound is a little bigger, a little fuller.  More emphasis on arrangements and song structure and a little less on the personal magnetism of the front man.  Which is not to say that  JJ Grey is a lightweight front man.  On the contrary, this guy paints a picture of life as lived which leaves you feeling as if you grew up in the back waters of Florida with him.   This album is relentlessly hard-hitting, and continues to grow on me upon each listening.  I really can’t say enough about it, except that it is stuff like this that makes extremely happy my ears work.  These guys also put on the best show I saw last year.  Do yourself a favor and dig it.

9.  The New Mastersounds – “Plug and Play”

I have to include this album because, judging by my playlists, this is my favorite active band.  I like them for their instrumentals which sound like an updated Booker T. or a slightly harder edge Meters.  This album is half tracks like this and half vocal tracks led by Dionne Charles.  She’s fine in her own way, but not what I want to listen to out of this band.  The instrumental tracks are as strong as ever, something I was concerned about given their relatively recent personnel change.  The new keyboard player seems not to have missed a beat, however, and the band continues to maintain an active touring schedule.  Unlike The Diplomats, which I feel added to their overall concept with the addition of vocalists, The New Mastersounds have so much going on with their instrumentation and arrangements that I don’t feel like the singer really belongs in the mix.  That having been said, this is still one of my favorite albums of the year, and perhaps the only reason I am so critical of it is that I was so in love with their previous releases.

10. Lefties Soul Connection – “Code 99″

This is cheating a little bit since this is a single released in advanced of the new LP coming out in March 2009, but it was released in 2008, it rules, and you need to know about this band.  They are from Amsterdam, and Europe seems to be in the forefront of the new deep-funk movement.  Like England’s New Mastersounds, these guys hit hard with the instrumental funk.  It’s like The Meters with a punk-rock attitude.  They like the loud, in-your-face beats with top-notch musicianship.  It’s old-school music informed by almost forty years of innovation since its origination.  You can hear the suggestions of hip-hop, electronica, punk and acid rock even though there can be no doubt about the canon that they take as their main influence.  Almost every time I put this on the radio, someone is motivated to call in and ask “What the hell was that thing that just kicked my ass?”  These guys are that good.

I didn’t think this was going to work out to be a top 10 list, but this seems as good a place to leave it as any.  You’re welcome.

Accumulated Funk

At long last, I give you the entry in which I review the live performances I have taken in over the last few months.  The fourth quarter of 2008 was particularly good to me with its blessings of opportunities to enjoy some of my favorite bands in person.   With one extremely tasty show already behind me in 2009, I am optimistic about the potential for live music in the future.  All shows were up in Boston, and I simply decided I was not going to let the distance stop me from having a good time.  The Cape is not really a hotbed for live music, and this becomes even more pronounced as we head into the depths of winter.  In order to get my fix I am going to have to put some miles down, that’s just the way life is when you live out on a sandbar.  So I went to the Paradise to see Galactic and JJ Grey and Mofro on separate nights.  Mofro had the Hill Country Revue open up for them, which was cool because I had seen North Mississippi All Stars last summer at the Beachcomber.  Also appearing at The Paradise over the course of last fall was Deep Banana Blackout.  My wife and I saw Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings at The Wilbur Theatre and Michael Franti and Spearhead played the Orpheum Theatre on Beacon Hill.  More recently, the Roxy in Boston hosted the Red Bull Sound Clash with The Roots and Antibalas.

I went stag to both Galactic and Deep Banana Blackout, and the two shows were not dissimilar in other ways.  Both bands have been around over ten years and enjoyed reasonable success on the jam band circuit.  They have also both endured changes that at one point or another threatened their very existence.  I am happy to report that both outfits seem to have come through their difficulties with great aplomb and continue to make great music for the people.  Galactic used to be fronted by the Houseman, a great wailer of a soul singer whose voice dripped with experience gained from a life fully lived.  That voice is gone from the band now, so the remaining members have chosen to focus on the instrumental funk that already formed at least half of their catalog anyway.  A couple of their later records seem to have transitioned to a more electronic/house type beat compared to their earlier, more traditional New Orleans sound, so I really wasn’t sure to expect.  They have also recently worked with several prominent hip hop artists, so the show could have really been just about anything as far as I knew going in.  In fact, the show was great jazz funk played by a group of people who know what the hell they are doing.  The set was very interesting as well, with several light screen boxes of various sizes around the stage which could do a wide variety of lighting effects, including showing video art.  Although the technology was very impressive, it was used in an understated way and never distracted too much from what the artists were doing live.  The show ended with an outrageously funky version of Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit”.  The only downside of the show is that it seemed like their drummer, Stanton Moore, was distracted by technical issues throughout the show, as he kept calling roadies over to chat while he was playing and then making stinky faces.  I wished he would just suck it up and jam at some point, which he did, but not as soon as I would have liked.  Overall I would give the show an A-;  absolutely great, but not without room for minor improvements.

Deep Banana Blackout I had less invested in than Galactic.  Galactic is a band that I have spent a fair bit of time with over the years.  DBB is just a fun band that I thought might be good live.  In fact they were great live.  The crowd was into it, the band seemed into it, and it was a much more funk and soul based sound than I expected.  I thought they were more of a hippie-dance band, but they really stayed pretty tight to the original almost JB’s type funk.  Can’t argue with that.

Speaking of old-school sound, Sharon Jones put on another great show at The Wilbur.  Particularly exciting to me about that show was the chance to see Menahan Street Band open up.  They are a silky smooth downtempo instro-funk band on the Daptone label that is getting fair bit of recognition despite the fact that their style will never get them on pop radio.  They have however, been used as the backing for some rapper who does get pop culture status, so there you go.  As it turns out their bass player is also the bass player for Antibalas, and I have a tremendous respect for this guy, as those two bands are out ahead of the cutting edge of hip, IMHO.  The show was not as well attended as I might have hoped, but it was Halloween night, so there were a lot of other parties to choose from.  The people who were there had a great time and no one let a half empty room stop them from sharing the love in a major way.

JJ Grey and Mofro might also be described as old-school, but it means something slightly different in this context.  This sounds like Delta blues meets Memphis soul crossed with back porch country music in a most wonderful way.  JJ Grey is the personality of this band and through his storytelling and songwriting, you feel like you know him personally by the end of the show.  I was overwhelmed by the crowd response at the Paradise, as they clearly seem to have a well established fan base in Boston.  This is a pleasant surprise to me for relatively underground band from Florida.  It also came as somewhat of a shock since there was very little energy in the room for the Hill Country Revue as they ripped through a smokin’ opening set.  Duelling lead guitars and a hyped-up biker type lead singer were not enough to get people going, I guess.  I thought they were great, and they stuck around to watch the main event from the dance floor, which was very social of them.  There is no way for me to effectively communicate the rapture in the crowd for the Mofro performance.  Whether you were familiar with the material or not was completely irrelevant, as all of the songs felt like they were a part of your very soul from time immemorial, tapping on deep sources of emotion like some sort of deep tissue massage.  Of all the shows reviewed here, it was this one that had the highest return versus expectations.  It is hard to say which one was the best, but I did not know what to expect going in to Mofro and they completely blew the roof of the sucka.

Expectations were also difficult to formulate going into the Spearhead show, as his music has crossed many genres over the years.  I did have a better feel for Michael Franti than JJ Grey, having become well-familiar with most of the Spearhead records.   The show was no disappointment as Michael whipped the Orpheum crowd into an almost gospel like hysteria for the moment and the message.  Regardless of how one feels about Obama, there was no denying the sheer contagion of joy for the victory of the underdog.  Michael has been on the road for so long at such a pace that he has a number of tour-heads with their own traditions, which helps to create a family vibe about the whole thing.  Indeed, there were a number of small children in attendance, and it did not feel inappropriate to have these youngsters in the room where one or two laws might have been overlooked for the evening.

Finally(!) there was The Roots and Antibalas at the Roxy just a couple of weeks ago.  This event was completely different from the others for a variety of reasons.  First of all, it was a corporately sponsored event in an upscale nightclub environment.  Second, it featured the two bands playing nearly simultaneously in a format dictated by the show’s host.  They moved through a series of “rounds” where they played their own songs, the other band’s songs, cover songs, genre-twisted versions of their own songs etc.  The structure seemed a little forced at times, a little too much like a game show, but the bands themselves were clearly enjoying it, and it gave us all an opportunity to see some very talented people operating outside of their normal comfort zone.  I think for most fans of live music, there is something delicious about watching the improv in action, and this show had that in spades.  Right up to the encore, which featured an impromptu version of Michael MacDonald’s “What A Fool Believes”.  A very mainstream, whitebread kind of tune performed by the combined membership of two of the funkiest outfits going who had just finished ripping us all a new earhole with a Fela number.  Thanks very much to Ahbi from The Vixen in P’Town for turning me on to this show, which was also an outrageous bargain at $15 for those of us lucky enough to get our tickets.

Here’s to hoping the months ahead are as rich in quality beats as these shows were.  I’ll see you there!

A Spin In The City

I just got back from Boston where I had a chance to drop some beats for the crew from the Simmons MBA program celebrating the end of their semester at Church.   They are a very nice group of people from all over the world who seem likely to be the movers and shakers of this world.  The club is also a very nice room with a pretty impressive sound system set up for live music.  The whole aesthetic of the place reminds me very much of another club I was once associated with.  An alternative rock vibe populated by a lot of tattoos and a couple of really nice pool tables.   I got the call because my wife is in the MBA program and one of her fellow students is part owner of the establishment.  I was absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to play before a live crowd and in such a nice room.

As is the norm when I play in front of an audience, I tried to keep the set fairly accessible, although the nature of the event and the setting did seem to call for a few deeper nuggets.  In particular, the hit of the night seemed to be The Apples cover of the Rage Against the Machine tune “Killing In The Name Of”.  While the hook is unmistakable, this Israeli combo takes it in sort of a dub-meets-Booker T. sort of direction.  Great good fun, but kind of left me wanting to hear the original again.  As for the rest of the set, it was mostly old-school, although I did throw in a couple of DJ-driven type numbers and a few contemporary purveyors of the fine funky music that we love.  I was particularly interested to see if the Eli “Paperboy” Reed tune raised any eyebrows, since I understand that he is from the metro area, but it did not seem to.  The MBA students are mostly from other places, and the few regulars that seemed to be in the house were definitely more hard rock than sweet soul.

One of Beth’s colleagues talked about introducing me to a crowd of like minded individuals who apparently have some kind of DJ night at an establishment in the city somewhere, which stimulated ideas in my head of having a night out of my own.  So much of my recent playing out has been before a wedding crowd, where the pressure to keep the dance floor going can be a bit overbearing.  It would be great to play for more of a lounge-type environment where people are genuinely interested in hanging out and maybe learning about some tunes they haven’t heard before rather than listening to a bunch of top 40 tracks that no one will like by next week.  I am thinking about a sort of musical salon where the program might be shared by a number of individuals over the course of the night, and mingling is de rigeur.  Every week is probably too often for such an affair, so let’s shoot for monthly or bimonthly.  (As I just learned, “bimonthly” is conveniently ambiguous.)  There may even already be such an affair in the Boston area, so if you know of such a thing, give me shout.

Motivated

Without further ado, and specifically without dwelling on the extended hiatus that this author has enjoyed, I am jumping back into the blogosphere with both feet.  I recently discovered that my friend and colleague has a blog very similar to the idea that I have been trying to execute, and if he can do it so can I.  Today I’ll just make a few quick remarks on last Saturday’s show.  The set list for The Soul Funky Train of  December 6, 2008 has been posted.  The only guiding principle for the show was to eulogize the great Odetta.  While she was not in heavy rotation in my sets, I definitely did play her music from time to time, and she deserves immense respect for her contributions to music and culture over a long career.  The best way for me to show my respect is to simply take advantage of my venue and play some songs, so that’s what I did.  Due to the fact that I play quite a few artists who began their careers 40 or more years ago, it is not rare that I have the chance to pay respect to an individual on the occasion of their recent passing.  Rather than make it a somber occasion, I prefer to celebrate the work of those who demonstrated greatness by giving it some extended air time.  So there you have it.  This week it was Odetta’s turn in the spotlight.

The other major feature of this week’s show was the fact that we continued the membership drive for WOMR.  It is an honor and a privilege to be a part of such a fine organization, and I am willing to do what is necessary to ensure its continued existence.  This week I was further honored by several guests in the studio who were helping me to raise some cash for the cause.  First of all, Astranada stuck around after finishing her show to get on the mic a few times during mine, despite the fact that she has a very new baby at home.  Big ups to her for showing the love to me even though I know she would have rather been with her beautiful bundle of joy.  Just after Astranada went home, I was blessed with a quite unexpected visit from two of our Board members, T. Gandolfo and John Yingling.  Both of these guys have been with the station for many many years, and it means so much to me that they would come by late on a Saturday night to participate in my show.  The big gold star for the evening has to go to someone else however.  After T and John left, I received a further unexpected visit from the illustrious Charles Fields.  Charles has visited the show a few times this year, and I really value the opportunity to develop a relationship with such a talented and intelligent individual.  This time around Charles offered up a tremendous incentive to get people to call in with their pedge of support.  For a pledge of any amount (!) during my show, Charles was willing to give away a signed and numbered copy of the new book “Sam Feinstein” from Fields Publishing.  This volume also includes a DVD of the artist Hans Hoffman at work and is valued at $100.  This was the push that people needed apparently, as it got the phones ringing, even after 11pm on a Saturday night.  Thank you so much, Charles, for your contribution to the effort.  It is always a difficult job asking people for money, but it is much easier when so many people that I respect stop by to help out.

That’s all for now.  Maybe next time I’ll tell you about all the shows I went to this fall.  There were some good ones to be sure.

Up-To-Date

I really don’t know the etiquette of the bloggy world, but I am sure that it must be against the rules to write two posts back-to-back on the same day.  I have never been much about following rules anyway, so screw it.  I need to start writing more, and here it is.  This is inspired in part by the fact that I spent most of the day up at the station doing administrative work.  I may be entirely crazy, but I am now a part of no less than three committees at WOMR.  Two of them met today and one of them meets tomorrow, so I get to spend the better part of two whole days pretending that I do something that I love for a living.  I do get to do something I love, unfortunately I have to do something else to pay the bills, so I don’t always get to spend as much  time as I would like working on radio business.

Nothing particularly exciting to report from the Programming committee, other than that we had a chance to remedy what we now perceive to have been a mistake made on our part.  We had taken someone off the air for no good reason, and today we reinstated that DJ to his program in the way that he had requested.   Some folks will probably be unhappy with this decision as well, but you cannot please all of the people ever.  The Website committee meeting was much more exciting and productive, thanks to the presence of new participant in the proceedings.  As an organization, we have been trying to improve our internet presence for at least two years since the formal incorporation of the committee.  While we have a general idea of what a web site could do and how it could further our overall mission, there really hasn’t been anyone involved who has had the knowledge and initiative to bring us where we want to go.  We have a part time staff member who has as part of his job description the maintenance of our web presence, and he has been very diligent in trying to teach himself the skills necessary to perform this task, but it was not an area of expertise for him or anyone else on staff.  As of today, we have someone involved who actually works with these issues on a regular basis for fun and profit.  She was absolutely full of ideas about how to improve our act, some of which will work and some of which may not, but the mere presence of someone who knows what they’re talking about brings us light years ahead of where we have been.  I hope in the very near future to be able to report on the fruits of her labors.

One final note for today.  I love what I do on the radio, and I am very grateful to the organization for giving me the opportunity to do what I do, but occasionally I miss out on some other activities because of my commitment.  This week was one of those occasions.  Some good friends of mine were having people over to their house on Saturday night, and I very much wanted to go, but simply could not justify missing the show.  I am not looking for sympathy or an award or anything, just an acknowledgment of the level of commitment that we all have to the radio station.  My commitment happens to fall on Saturday nights, which is when many other social engagements are scheduled.  As a restaurant worker, I am used to missing social events because of my work.  I have made a conscious decision to make my life’s work that of helping to provide the party for others.  As such, I don’t get to participate in the party in quite the same way as everybody else.  I am quite proud of the contribution I am able to make to other people’s good time.  I just ask that when you are having a good time on your day off, remember all the people who are working to try and make that possible.  And tip your server well.  Thank you.

Let’s Dance

After having received some less than entirely subtle kidding from a friend about my lack of posts, I ran straight home and revved up the computer to add another installment of The Soul Funky Train blog. Since last we spoke, our protagonist has participated extensively in the life of a certain community radio station. I did a guest appearance as host of T-Bird’s Wild Ride, which gave me a fabulous opportunity to reach a morning audience. The last time I did a morning show, I tried to work slowly into the full-lathered frenzy that usually characterizes my show. The show is vaguely a blues and r’n'b theme, so I started with some old-time acoustic blues, mixed in some soul-jazz and gradually worked into some more rockin’ tunes. This time, for whatever reason (perhaps caffeine-induced), I just jumped right into the loud get-you-moving type of funky rock and soul. I would have posted the set list on the WOMR web site, but that platform does not allow me access to post for a show other than my own. Here is the list I played on February 7th:

Booker T and The MG’s – Time is Tight

Lorraine Ellison – Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)

Lee Moses – Bad Girl

Otis Redding – Satisfaction

Howard Tate – When I Was A Young Man

Mavis Staples – Eyes On the Prize

Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint – On Your Way Down

Tommy Guerrero – Tatanka

Donovan Carless – Be Thankful For What You Got

Maceo and All The King’s Men – Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf)

Soul Destroyers – Blow Your Top

Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings – 100 Days, 100 Nights

Al Green – I Want To Hold Your Hand

Bobby Womack – Put Something Down On It

The Yards – BMW

The New Mastersounds – Bus Stop No. 5

The Link Quartet – Crosstown Traffic

Cream – Tales of Brave Ulysses

Blind Faith – Can’t My Way Home

Jimi Hendrix – Rainy Day, Dream Away

Merl Saunders – The System

Jimi Hendrix – Electric Church Red House

Howard Tate – Get It While You Can

Los Lobos – Hurry Tomorrow

Mofro – Lochloosa

Lee Dorsey – Yes We Can Can

Los Lonely Boys – My Way

All That – Back to Broke

The Meters – Just Kissed My Baby

The Brotherhood – The Monkey That Became President

Galactic – Start From Scratch

Lee Dorsey – Everything I Do Gohn Be Funky

King Floyd – Groove Me

Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm – Funky Mule

Fried Chicken – Funky DJ

Funkadelic – Hit It and Quit

Aretha Franklin – Rock Steady

Robert Randolph and The Family Band – Deliver Me

Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings – Answer Me

Morcheeba – The Music That We Hear

The JB’s – Monaurail

So there you have it. A couple of weeks late, but what can I say? A couple of further notes – Got a phone call from a listener during the show who enjoyed the first Hendrix tune, so I went back for more. Got a call from another listener who was digging on the Lee Dorsey, so I constructed a set of more New Orleans music. This is never a stretch for me since I love that vibe and have tons of Big Easy sounds in my library. Big thanks to T Gandolfo for giving me the opportunity to reach his audience.