LeRoy Hutson Totally under appreciated soul singer/producer/songwriter/instrumentalist from New Jersey. Sequel records put out a Greatest Hits 2-CD set in 2000. Curtis, Marvin, okay...we need a LeRoy Movement!
Random Trivia: -LeRoy replaced Curtis Mayfield in The Impressions when Curtis left to pursue a solo career -LeRoy was Donny Hathaways roomate and co-wrote "The Ghetto" -Began his musical career while attending Howard University
This track is an instrumental gem! Check out "Lucky Fellow" from the same album
Been laggin on the Sunday Soul posts so here are a couple to make up for it....
Bar-Kays: From Memphis, they started off as a studio backing band for Stax Records artists, most famously for Otis Redding. Unfortunately most of the members of the original line-up died in a plane crash in 1967, flying en route to a show with Otis. The 2 surviving members Ben Cauley and James Alexander re-built the group and continued recording after the tragedy.
Woke up with a lil' pep in my step...last night at Poleng was a good time! It was Pam The Funkstress (The Coup) and Dj Zita's monthly party Everlasting B.A.S.S. Shoutout to Fiyah Lilly! It was an honor to be asked to play at their party! Dope ass dj's that happen to be females...
The release of the "Rollin' High" dice game at The Medicine Agency, 1262 Mason at Jackson. MIKE GIANTS illustrated the label artwork for the game. It's cool. There will be lots of free booze for y'all. They will also have a SFSS photo booth set up to capture the fresh fashions on the night. Hope to see you there!
Disco/Boogie compilation called The Boogie Back is available now on BBE records! Available on itunes, Traxsource.com, Dancetracksdigital.com and www.bbemusic.com.
A week or so back I departed on a journey spanning San Diego --> San Francisco --> Seattle --> Portland --> Seattle --> San Diego
The last stop on this lil mission was in Seattle for Supreme La Rock's Sunday Night party. It was a sexy party nice ratio of ladies & fellas. I got to drop some of that smooth sh*t I've been holding out on lately.
Check this set of the MAN in Seattle Supreme La Rock "Live @ The Fix" (the fix is a monthly party in Portland their blog here)
here's Supreme gettin' down on his own turf:
some of Supreme's lady friends:
the hostess for the night even welcomed me with a San Diego tan:
Bruce Lee has had the greatest influence on the martial arts in modern times. He is the most recognizable martial artist ever--a man who transcended "just" martial arts greatness to become a cultural icon. Slate magazine called him "the Jesus Christ, Elvis, and Abraham Lincoln of the martial arts." The Bruce Lee mystique has touched fans across the world.
Bruce Lee: The Actor
As an actor, Bruce Lee almost single-handedly spawned the martial arts movie genre in western cinema. Prior to the landmark film Enter the Dragon, martial arts movies were mostly imported, subtitled movies shown in the Chinatowns of large cities. Enter the Dragon was the first martial arts movie backed by a large Hollywood studio, and today the standard for all martial arts films--all because of the star power of Bruce Lee.
Bruce Lee: The Philosopher
As a philosopher, Bruce Lee's words and thoughts live on through the Bruce Lee Archives, collections of his writings maintained by the Bruce Lee Educational Foundation. Some of these writings are available in book series by Tuttle and Contemporary. Lee's innovative approach to transforming the martial arts, namely by absorbing the facets that are useful to the individual, and discarding the unnecessary, can be applied to many other disciplines. Bruce Lee: The Martial Artist
Bruce Lee was a superstar by any metric. But his most extensive and everlasting contribution to the world has been in the martial arts. By improving and evolving classical martial arts to emphasize freedom of expression for the individual, Bruce Lee advanced the martial arts to a new level. Adaptability and efficiency were now the rule, rather than conformity and tradition.
The resulting "art of no art", jeet kune do (JKD), or "the way of the intercepting fist," incorporated the techniques Lee felt were the most efficient and effective. A voracious reader and student, Lee merged the best of his friends' martial arts, including Filipino martial arts from Dan Inosanto, tae kwon do kicking techniques from Chuck Norris and Jhoon Rhee, judo techniques from Gene LeBell and Hayward Nishioka, even fencing theory and footwork. The result was, as Lee pointed out strongly in his essay, "Liberate Yourself from Classical Karate," not "a distinct style--be it kung fu, karate, streetfighting, or Bruce Lee's martial art." Instead, Lee wrote, "JKD possesses everything but in itself is possessed by nothing."
Bruce Lee: The Legacy
While most remember Bruce Lee through his movies, and thusly as "merely" a martial artist, in real life he was a multifaceted person: a father, a teacher, a renegade, and a student, all at the same time. Lee contributed to the world in all of these roles.
Some fans exclaim that Bruce Lee was the greatest martial artist ever. Lee was truly a great martial artist, but this notion disparages the accomplishments of many other great martial artists, including the monk Boddisharma, who is credited with bringing the martial arts to the Shaolin Temple in China, spawning all martial arts from that point on.
Lee did have the greatest influence on the martial arts in the past century. The growth and widespread adoption of the martial arts has much to do with the movie industry's embrace of martial arts in film--which began with Bruce's film career.
When we look back at his accomplishments, it's hard to believe that Bruce Lee did so much in just 32 years. It wouldn't be difficult to assume it took the past 60 years to have the same impact on the world. How much more could he have accomplished, had he lived to be 60? The world will never know. Happy Birthday, Bruce!
BEEN DIGGING THE NEW RAY RAY ALBUM FOR A MINUTE. IT'S REFRESHING TO HEAR GOOD QUALITY SOUL MUSIC. THIS MODERN SOUL TUNE WITH STEVIE WONDERS IS MY FAVORITE NUMBER ON THE ALBUM. KEEP THEM HITS COMING... ENJOY
British producers Jez Colin and Matt Cooper pulled together a diverse collection of seasoned vocalists and players to form The Latin Project in 2002. Since its inception, the Los Angeles-based group has delivered an iconic signature sound that fuses deep house, broken beat and hip hop with Afro polyrhythms and vocals to deliver a high-energy, danceable sound with electronic experimentation and virtuosic live players throwing down notable performances in equal measure. The sounds of Costa Rica, Mexico, Puerto Rico Guadalupe and Cape Verde ring through in The Latin Project's vibrant, cutting edge Latin-Electronica productions.
“Dirty soul meets a clean positive groove, ruff with the smoove, dark and light, all the opposites are in harmony: this is the sound of ‘Scrambled Negg’…” (E.A.S.E., Nightmares On Wax)
WAX ON records is proud to present the next level of soul drenched electronica. Finally, Leeds born and bread producer / DJ Dan Ward aka NEGGHEAD delivers “Scrambled Negg”, a stunning fusion of future bound funk beats and refined stand out tunes way beyond the ordinary…. from a space in time where musicianship meets dj attitude, where the essence of HipHop, Soul and Jazz is (still) what’s making people dance (and smile of course) – and where therefor the beats come a tiny bit larger than usually.
Hours and hours of focused studio work, state of the art recording sessions with top notch musicians, the musical and personal friendship with label boss and DJ colleague E.A.S.E. as well as the constant evolution of those soulful aspects of “dancefloor influenced” sound shaped this very special longplayer in a true “all killer, no filler” fashion – made with a “little” help from an illusive bunch of friends (in this case: top notch studio muscians like keyboardist JD73 and drummer Issac Haywood, as well as former Nightmares On Wax vocal queens Chyna B. and Ella May a.o.). NEGGHEAD - BEING 2009
Every Tuesday Euro babes, business men, and the most seen scenesters descend upon the Ambassador for the biggest SF party named after a sitcom. Come try to impress your friends by using big words like circumvent and accolades. This week we will be holding a contest to see who has the most bdazzled t-shirt. Prize will be 3 shots of well tequila. Come see Kool Karlo (the 2million dollar DJ) & Waitin' Clayton (the 2hundread dollar drink tab DJ) go dumb to Folk Step, Retro Rap, and Appalachian bass twang. Never a cover. All beers & all wells $2 all night. $2 apps till ten.
It’s Funky… Sweaty… Nasty… Danceable Fusion Jazz that cuts Down To The Bone! The name is “Future Boogie” from the UK Groove kings DTTB.
Getting loose since 1995, Stuart Wade and the Down To The Bone crew defy us to stand still while their musical gumbo is cooking. The formula remains the same. Piano + Horns + Funk + a few vocals = Relentless Rhythms. The instrumental trance continues on “Gotcha!”, “We’ve Always Got The Music”, and “In The Pocket”.
Joining DTTB on two tracks is the lovely Hil St Soul, who adds a bit of vocal spice to the mix on “Should’ve Been You” and “The Brighter Side”. Legendary Jazz Fusion trailblazer Roy Ayers teams up with the group for the supercharged jam “Good To Me”.
IF YOUR ENTERTAINING SOME FRIENDS OVER AT YOUR PLACE MUSIC IS ALWAYS ESSENTIAL. I RECOMMEND THIS JAZZ MIX FROM JAZZY DRUM AND BASS DJ/PRODUCER MAKOTO ON LTJ BUKEM'S GOOD LOOKING RECORD LABEL. THE MAN KNOWS HIS JAZZ. GREAT MIX
This post is a little late but better than never. I was in New York for CMJ during the third week of October and ran into all sorts of folks. The Honor Roll Crew was out there reppin' the bay hard...Mike Baker The Bike Maker, Josie Stingray, Tap10, Trackademics....I was also able to catch Sake1's monthly party EST at Sutra, where he had Wajeed as a guest.
Did you know there is another Vinyl Richie in this world? Very charming man.
The next night me and my homegirls headed over to East Village Radio to see Chino and Capital P's show live...a nice surprise to see our bay area brother Shortkut tearing it up (see video below), beatjunkies were in the building as well
Mamabear & Capital P
The rain was not a good look for the hair.
Stumbled upon Jon Oliver's party "I love viNYL" which had some major dance floor action...the DJs took turns taking quick pictures of the record cover (of the track that was playing) and then posting it on the flatscreens throughout the club. Brilliant! Check out Jon's blog about some of his Dj requests...its a good laugh
I packed an empty record bag in my suitcase with hopes of coming back with some goodies...and I did. A gang of prelude/SOLAR records I was looking for (e.g. Vicky D-The Beat Is Mine) Thanks A1 & TTL- Shoutout to Matt aka Cmish for the fun afternoon geeking out over some records he thought I would like.
Matt told us about his party with Snack at APT on Sundays...it was almost like a Eastcoast Sweaterfunk (Snack on the left, Cmish on the right) Vna$ty and Michi enjoying Maryjane Girls
On my last night I played with Stimulus and Eli Escobar at 105 Riv (A party Moma and Stim created called The Good Spot) in the Lower East Side. Moma and I switched places that night because he was in San Diego/Vegas with our HTS brother Beatnick. The place was sexi as hell. I mean every single person in the joint was good looking. Weird.
DJ Chela and I were rolling together that night, such an inspiring woman. We met in at Carbon in LA when I played at Funkmosphere. It was a nice way to end my trip. As soon as we shut things down at The Good Spot, I was picked up and taken to the airport, and hopped on a plane back to San Francisco. Until next time...
