SAN FRANCISCO TKO'S :: BAY AREA SOUL

SAN FRANCISCO TKO'S - MAKE UP YOUR MIND

LEE FIELDS :: YOU'RE THE KIND OF GIRL :: MUSIC VIDEO

Lee Fields - You're The Kind Of Girl (OFFICIAL VIDEO) from Truth & Soul Records on Vimeo.

Director: Jeff Bierman
Photography: Autumn Durald
Producer: Omid Fatemi
Editor: Daniel Song
Production Coordinator: Janice Lee
Talent: China Shavers and Julius Best
Executive Producer: Paul Chang

Filmed in East Los Angeles, California

THE FIVE STAIRSTEPS :: SUNDAY MUSIC

As you already know from reading this Blog, Sunday is Old Soul day around my house. Playing classic's on this day always reminds of being a kid. My dad was a huge Stairsteps fan and I recall hearing their LP's 24/7. The Group paved the way for the Jackson Five. Timing in live is everything. The Jackson Five went on to national and international fame and the Five Stair Steps went on to obscurity, but at least they are on Wikipedia.




The Five Stairsteps & Cubie; The Stairsteps; the Invisible Man's Band: Alohe Burke, Clarence Burke Jr., James Burke, Dennis Burke, Kenneth "Keni" Burke
Cubie Burk, Dan Gant





THE FIVE STAIRSTEPS - DANGER! SHE'S A STRANGE
THE FIVE STAIRSTEPS - YOU WAITED TO LONG

DEON JACKSON :: LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND

Deon Jackson 1965's "Love Makes the World Go Round" on Carla Records will always be a family classic. I remember hearing this tune on the regular around my house. This song became a major pop hit, and a full-length album was released subsequently on Atco Records. Though he is often referred to as a one hit wonder, Jackson had two more successful singles, and recorded until the end of the decade, but after this faded from view, he performed mostly in the Chicago area.


DEON JACKSON - LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND

THE G-MAN PRESENTS :: LOYALTY EMPIRE

My Homegirl "Margarita" made the cover!

THE INCREDIBLES

This record by "The Incredibles" is very special to me. The original pressing belonged to my pops, who's had this in his collection since a teen. A few years ago I was fortunate to inherit POP"s 45 collection, I guess he felt I was ready. Fourty years in the family.

That's the beauty about old soul music, enjoying the same tunes your parents grew up on. To me, this style of music is timeless.

THE INCREDIBLES - I'LL MAKE IT EASY

LITTLE HELEN :: MORE & MORE

Picked this up during a recent dig, Little Helen "More & More" on Soul Town Records. Another fine classic that is all about vocals.


LITTLE HELEN - MORE AND MORE

OLDE SOUL

Heavy 45 night! Oldies, Soul, Rolas with local hero's Vinny and B.Cause... Casanova Bar (SF)


See you there

HAIGHT & SOUL :: SWEATER FUNK :: THE SOULEROS :: THE SOUL STRIVERS

Friday MAY 20th, 2011


This weeks Guest:

...Come say "Alrato Vato" to our good friend "Richard Gypsy Fernandez" and celebrate the birth of our favorite Homie - Jose "The Homeboy Mad" .

Sounds will be provided by San Francisco's - Sweater Funk DJ's, and San Jose DJ Crews - The Souleros and The Soul Strivers. Let's send Gypsy off proper with all of his friends and family. Not to Mention Jose Valle, the man who's in charge of the "Souleros Ball"

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Join us at the only bar in the Upper Haight offering up top shelf tunes EVERY Friday! Come catch up with friends for a post work day drink, sit back, relax and unwind in a friendly social setting. Guests DJ's every week from some of our favorite crews in the world! Quality music with loads of soul, always.

~DJs~
*SWEATER FUNK DJ's
*ALLEN THAYER
~THE SOULEROS~
*SOULERA UNICA
*THE SOUL STRIVERS

SPINNING - FUNK / MODERN SOUL / SWEET SOUL / RARE OLDIES


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Milk Bar (SF)
Free
1840 Haight Street
(Directly across from Amoeba Records)
9:30pm- 2pm

Bus Lines - 7, 71, 6, 33, N Judah Train
Free parking on meters after 6pm

HAIGHT & SOUL HAPPY HOUR :: FRIDAYS

Bringing Soul Music back to Haight Street!



Join us at the only bar in the Upper Haight offering up top shelf tunes EVERY Friday! Come catch up with friends for a post work day drink, sit back, relax and unwind in a friendly social setting. Guests DJ's every week from some of our favorite crews in the world! Quality music with loads of soul, always.

Residents:

VINYLRICHIE
Hear The Sounds / Sweater Funk Crew

GUILLERMO
Gostosa / Sweater Funk Crew


FUTURE GUEST DJ'S
-May 5 - Jesse Shay (Rythmatik Crew)
-May 13 - DJ Claire (San Diego)
-May 20 - The Souleros
-May 27 - Slopoke Rawdriguez


SPECIAL EVENT:
-June 24th - Joe Bataan, Meet & Greet


always surprise guests!

+ Sweater Funk DJ's:

~~~~

drink specials
$4 cocktails $4 draft beers

~~~~

Milk Bar (SF)
Free
1840 Haight Street
(Directly across from Amoeba Records)
5:30pm- 10pm

Bus Lines - 7, 71, 6, 33, N Judah Train
Free parking on meters after 6pm

Pick up a pizza at Escape From New York and bring that bad boy in.

www.milksf.com
www.hearthesounds.com

THE EPSILONS

The Epsilons formed as teenagers in Philadelphia, PA, an early member was a guy name Roame, who has carved a successful career playing congas and singing with Maze. The group got a huge break via a two-year tour with Otis Redding; Arthur Conley was also a member of the troupe, his smash "Sweet Soul Music," featured the Epsilons, uncredited, on backing vocals. The quintet now consisted of John Whitehead(Roame's cousin), Gene McFadden, Allen Beatty, Lloyd Parks, and James Knight. Parks cut his teeth with the Emanons, whose recordings included "One Heart," on Phila of Soul Records in 1968.

With Reddings' help, their first single appeared on Stax Records via a master purchase deal. Listening to The Echo, released December 1968, you'd never think the group was from Philadelphia, the harmony was beautiful, full and vibrant like the Intruders, but the rough, effective "Big O" inspired lead was pure southern soul. Stax did little to promote the record which died unceremoniously. Otis Redding's tragic end devastated the Epsilons' career and they migrated back to Philadelphia where Parks joined the Broadway Express, who recorded a few singles on local Philly labels.

Minus Parks, McFadden & Whitehead renamed the Epsilons, Talk of the Town, and inked a deal with North Bay Records who issued two non selling singles: "Little Bit Of Your Lovin'," in 1971 and "Don't Be So Mean," in 1972. Kenny Gamble wanted McFadden & Whitehead for their songwriting skills and the records were pacifiers til the time they could split them from the group. Their next single "Super Groover (All Night Mover)," appeared on Gamble Records in 1973; however, McFadden & Whitehead were salivating about "Backstabbers," the hit they wrote for the O'Jays, and busied themselves with other writing and producing projects.

Two more singles, and an album found homes on TSOP Records (The Sound of Philadelphia): a two-part groove called "Bumpin' Boogie," in 1974, and "I Apologize," in 1975, neither it nor the singles did anything and lack of income force them to disband. McFadden and Whitehead, however, kept writing hit after hit for nearly everybody at Philadelphia International Records. Former Epsilon, Lloyd Parkes left Broadway Express to become one of Harold Melvin's Bluenotes; that's Parkes howling falsetto on "I Miss You," one of the few times a Blue Note, other than Harold Melvin, Teddy Pendergrass, or Sharon Paige appeared on a Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes' recording; the backing vocals were normally done by Melvin, Pendergrass, Paige, and Kenny Gamble. McFadden & Whitehead wanted to record again but Gamble always nixed the idea deeming them too valuable as songwriters. When Gamble finally relented, they scored a #1 R&B hit with "Ain't No Stopping Us Now," the summer of 1979. McFadden and Whitehead continue to write and produce but rarely together anymore.

THE EPSILONS - THE ECHO

SPILL THE WINE :: RECAP

A HUGE THANK YOU to every one who came out on MLK Sunday. We had the time of our lives at Cassanova bar (SF) as welcomed back "The Souleros" Crew + "The Soul Strivers" made there debut....

Major shout out to "The Pachucos Car Club (SF), Street Low-Magazine who were in the house showing support. I cant forget Moses (Ten Commandments of Sou) Margarita ( Thee Northern Soulera) Dulce (Dee Lady) Pauly at (Street-Low), Jose Valle (The Homeboy Mad and all the SJ homeys. This was truly a great afternoon dedicated to the Deep and Sweet Soul sounds ALL ON VINYL.

After happy everyone headed to Sweater Funk for "Steppers Night" and danced into the AM. If you missed out check the pictures. Scroll down. SWEATER FUNK RULES.

We took it back to the basics. Good, Quality music and the folks came out. I've already worked a monthly with the Souleros to play. If you know whats up come through, if you don't lets keep it that way.






















CHECK ALL THE PICTURES HERE

JIVE TURKEY :: RUBEN MOLINA PRESENTS

Come out and Listen to real Chicano, Soul, & Sweet Soul musica on original wax from some of L.A.'s oldest and fiercest Record Collectors on the WEST COAST


Others on that list of Chicano groups who never received their due respect and place in musical history are Randy Garibay, the Dell Kings, the Dell-Tones, the Satin Souls (originally Whitie and the Escorts), Charlie and the Jives, Tito and the Silhouettes, the Broken Hearts, Jimmy Casas, Vince Cantú and the Rockin’ Dominos, Sal and the Centennials, Ricky Dávila and the Laveers, Henry (Peña) and the Kasuals, the Óscar Martínez Orchestra featuring Pepe Cavazos plus so many others, just their names alone could fill an entire book. And that’s exactly what Molina did. He filled the void left by many other musicologists.




WHO IS RUBEN MOLINA:

" started collecting 45 rpm records when I was playing drums in Washington Irving Junior High School in Lincoln Heights and they only cost a quarter. That was in 1966 and I never bought albums because I always had this thing for 45s because you got the song that you wanted, it was very personal,” Molina said during an interview at his home in La Puente, California".

“At that time I was into soul, rhythm and blues; and Motown. Huggie Boy was the big DJ in the community and played nothing but R&B that local Chicano bands were recording. All the Chicano groups in L.A. were covering popular R&B tunes and oldies. Very few bands performed Spanish language tunes at the dances, but groups like Thee Midniters, The Romancers, and (Steve and Rudy) Salas Brothers (who later became Tierra) played Spanish-language tunes at wedding and quinceñeras.”

In 1972, Molina joined the U.S. Marines, but he continued to follow and buy musical releases recorded by Chicano rock bands, groups such as Santana, El Chicano, Tower of Power and later Tierra.

Although groups like Rudy and the Reno-Bops, the Dell-Kings (Los Blues), Mando and the Chili Peppers and Sunny and the Sunliners made the long trip to Los Angeles during the fifties and sixties Molina who was eleven-years-old in 1964 and never got a chance to see them until 1980 when East L.A. promoter and owner of Whittier Records Eddie Torres put together a touring group. Along with R&B legends like Tony Allen, Mary Wells, and Brenton Wood, several top Chicano artists as Sunny Ozuna, Rosie, plus Rene and Rene and Thee Midniters filled the bill.

“They met at the corner of Whittier and Atlantic Boulevards in East L.A. that’s where the artists boarded the buses, which took them as far north as San José (California),” Molina recalled. “They carried the Chicano sound to places like Bakerfield, Fresno, Oxnard and Delano where that sound is still popular. When they did their shows at the Montebello Ballroom we got a chance to see some of the great Tejano singers”

Before he knew it, Molina’s collection had grown to over 4,000 (45 rpm) singles mostly R&B,, doo-wop and Soul. The collection also includes approximately 600 recordings by Chicano artist from the 1950s and ‘60s. “Those have become my prized possessions” says Molina “I am really proud of being able to show the world the contributions that the Mexican-American has made to American pop music.”

In 2002, Molina self-published “The Old Barrio Guide to Low Rider Music 1950 – 1975,” which is a 184-page encyclopedia with an alphabetical listing of 75 percent Black, some White and Brown musical groups and vocalists who wrote and created thousands of hits that appealed to the Chicano Low Rider crowd.

Three of those major hits were War’s “Low Rider,” “Cisco Kid” and “Cinco de Mayo,” written by Howard Scott, whose songs were inspired by his years growing up in the mostly Chicano neighborhood of Long Beach, California.

“That book was a tribute to the Low Rider movement and the style of music that it adopted. People were writing books on surf music, punk music and the English invasion. I thought why not us.” Molina said as he thumbed through boxes of 45 rpm records.

As for ‘Chicano Soul,’ Molina said he wrote that book “because there is a need for us to document our contributions to American culture. And to recognize those music pioneers that laid the path for future groups to follow. The book has sold over 1,500 copies in the U.S., Japan and Europe, where there’s a big interest in Chicano culture. I am proud to say that Chicanos here bought the book because they became interested in their own culture.”

Giving credit where it’s due, among the many people Molina cited as helping him when he began to amass all his information on Texas Mexican American groups in 2004 was Juan Mendoza in San Antonio, Joe Sílva, in Dallas; and George Reynoso of All That Music in El Paso.

Locally, Mendoza has been highly instrumental in getting all the artists together for the recent Patio Andaluz Reunion oldies concerts at Plaza Guadalupe and another show at the Josephine Theater. He has also been instrumental in getting Sunny, Rudy Tee and the late Dimas Garza to perform with the Austin-based Larry Lange and his Lonely Knights.

What makes “Chicano Soul” a coveted reference book is that it is chocked full of vintage photos, rare posters and color graphics of groups that produced the “Interstate 90 Sound” from Lake Charles, Louisana to San Antonio. This also translates into a trip down memory lane for the old school crowd and an insightful look at Chicano music history and a source of pride for today’s youth.

As a result, this book has created a demand for Molina to speak at Chicano Studies classes at universities across the country and on February 2, he and members of Los Lobos plus Los Lonely Boys will be the featured panelists at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame symposium on “The Direction of Chicano Music After 1958.”

LIVE AT THE WARFIELD (SF) 6-25-10

Sharon Jones doesn't really care for the "retro" tag. "I'm not a retro singer," says the former Rikers Island prison guard. "I was born in 1956. I am old school." It's certainly hard to argue with the electrifying R&B she turns out with her longtime backing band, the Dap-Kings, on their new album, "I Learned the Hard Way." The group's profile may have risen in recent years thanks to gigs with Amy Winehouse and Al Green, but the record proves that nothing compares with the music the band members make with the inimitable Jones. The singer spoke with us from the Brooklyn headquarters of the band's label, Daptone Records. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings perform June 25 at the Warfield.

SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KING - MAKE IT GOOD TO ME 2002

TONITE - VINYL PARTY

LOVE THIS PARTY!

GROWN KIDS RADIO

THIS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT!!!! ALL SOUL OLDIES!!! WE ARE LUCKY TO HAVE THESE CATS HERE IN SF, WE GET TO TO HEAR THESE RARE GEMS MONTHLY!!!! VINYL COLLECTORS STILL HAVE A HEAVY PRESENCE HERE & PLAY RECORDS ALL NIGHT

Episode 21 features a DJ mix by Cool Chris, Vinny Esparza and B.Cause representing the world famous Groove Merchant Records. It was recorded live at Olde Soul in San Francisco. There's also an interview with Groove Merchant head honcho Cool Chris mid-episode. Tracklist available at Groove Merchant Records, 687 Haight Street San Francisco, California.

Groove Merchant is San Francisco's premier location for original pressings of rare, out of print vinyl. The store specializes in funk, soul, pysch, hip hop, jazz, disco, latin, reggae and rock. Groove Merchant is celebrating it's 20th Anniversary with special in-store and out-of-store events all year. Be sure swing to through and celebrate with one of San Francisco's finest.



GROOVE MERCHANT SESSION