SWEATER FUNK 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY :: STEVE ARRINGTON :: RECAP

Words can't describe how DOPE our 3 Year Anniversary was! Honestly because I can't remember!!! I had a a few drinks and after my set around (11:30) it's quite blurry. Prior to the event I was over at my happy hour "Haight & Soul" where I was twisted celebrating my amigo's "Justin" Birthday!

Funny Story - most of the people I spoke to had similar stories regarding the night. It went a lil something like this -

"The Music was off the hook!". "I don't remember much, but I had a good time!". What time did every one go home?" "Did I act a fool?" "Yo, I'm getting laid tonight!" Sweater Funk rules!"

Check the rest of Pictures HERE!

SWEATER FUNK 3 YEAR :: STEVE ARRINGTON

SWEATER FUNK SONG :: DAM FUNK DROP:: STEVE ARRINGTON

Its not every day that Dam Funk makes a quick song about your event to share with the world! In this case our brother from Los Angeles went above and beyond and created a special track for Sweater Funk to help promote our 3 year anniversary with Steve Arrington.

I almost SHIT my pants once I heard this Modern Soul track. If this song doesn't make you go to the our event in 2 weeks, than you must be crazy! You can download the track via SoundCloud!

Thanks Damon!

DROP ~ Sweater Funk presents: Steve Arrington 'LIVE' July 29th @ SOM (San Francisco) - DāM-FunK by DâM-FunK

SWEATER FUNK PRESENTS :: STEVE ARRINGTON

Friday July 29, 2011

SWEATER FUNK'S THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

with very special guest
...
STEVE ARRINGTON of SLAVE
(live p.a. performance)

Som Bar
2925 16th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

9 PM til 3 AM

--- $12 presale / $15 door ---

Buy tickets: http://stevearringtonsf.ev​entbrite.com/

***Limited presales available, grab em while they last!***

~~~~~

Sweater Funk is extremely excited to bring STEVE ARRINGTON of SLAVE & Stones Throw Records to meet the San Francisco boogie heads at our 3 year anniversary party!

Steve will be performing classic SLAVE songs, solo material and new material from his upcoming DAM-FUNK produced album on Stones Throw records. This will be a Live P.A. Performance with support from San Francisco's Sweater Funk DJ Crew, SF's most dedicated boogie crew!

Limited # of presales are available now, grab em while they last!

~~~~~

About Steve Arrington:

Known for his innovative vocals on such classics as "Watching You" and "Just A Touch of Love," with Slave, as well as his solo work like "Weak at the Knees", “Way Out” and "Nobody Can Be You", Steve Arrington is one of those “what ever happened to” stories from the soul/funk movement of the 1980s. His songs have been sampled by the likes of Jay-Z, Jermaine Dupri, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Snoop, LL Cool J, Mariah Carey, and N.W.A. His music also helped create the blueprint of 90’s west coast g-funk music along with Zapp and George Clinton.

Beginning his musical career in Dayton, Ohio in 1977, Steve moved to the Bay Area to play with the Escovedo family (Coke, Pete, and Sheila) which led to a tour w/ Carlos Santana. He returned to Dayton in 1978 to join Slave as drummer and eventual lead singer for four albums. Steve witnessed the birth of hip hop first hand, as artists like The Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash opened for him in the early 80’s.

In 1982, Steve left Slave, releasing five more albums for Atlantic Records with a new lineup, peaking with the top 10 R&B hit “Dancin’ In The Key Of Life”. He was nominated for the 1986 NAACP Image Award. By 1991, Steve stepped away from the recording industry altogether, to devote his life to his serving God. During this time, Steve continued to study different genres of music, from gospel to jazz, classical to blues, electronic to world music, and Latin to hip hop. This fusion of spirituality and musical study resulted in the 2009 self released “Pure Thang”, Steve’s first album in over 20 years.

Stones Throw Record's Dam-Funk heard “Pure Thang” and reached out to Steve to propose collaborating on an album. With Dam on the tracks and Steve on the vocals and lyrics, something inter-generational has been born. While finishing touches on his LP with Dam-Funk, Steve is jumping into this full steam ahead, practicing hard with an all new band and starting to do spot dates around the US with artists like DJ Quik and Q Tip who are more than up for the idea of sharing the stage with someone who influenced and inspired their careers. A new chapter is upon us.

http://www.stevearringtonm​inistries.com/
http://www.stonesthrow.com​/arrington

~~~~~

About Sweater Funk:
San Francisco's Sweater Funk DJ crew have been the city's most dedicated purveyors of BOOGIE, MODERN SOUL & STEPPERS for 3 years now. Their vision to bring this sound, strictly on vinyl, to the masses has earned them a diehard following who pack the basement of San Francisco's Li Po Lounge every Sunday. They've won SF Weekly's Best new club 2009, hosted Djs such as Dam-Funk, Daz-I-Kue, Peanut Butter Wolf, Kon & Amir, Onra, Monk One, Cool Chris, E Da Boss, Mayer Hawthorne, and have become a sister club to Dam-Funk's own Funkmosphere night in Los Angeles.

http://soundcloud.com/swea​terfunk

~~~~~

Respect to D-F and the Funkmosphere family!

STEVE ARRINGTON = G-FUNK

Stones Throw has announced an upcoming album from former Slave frontman and funk music OG Steve Arrington to be entirely produced by Dam-Funk. "I Be Trippin" is the first taste of their collaboration—although Arrington did also guest on "4 My Homies" on Dam-Funk's "Hood Pass Intact" 12"—and it finds Dam cooking up a classic-sounding, laid-back, feel-good West Coast beat complete with bubbling synth pads, some classy electric piano, and a fat bassline. Layers of Arrington's vocal float over the beat going through some of the many scenarios where he be "trippin" and throwing out commands to "drop that funk." This track is a must for any slow-motion pool party/bbq you've been planning. No word on when the album is due, but we'll let you know as soon as we do.

DAM-FUNK AND STEVE ARRINGTON LP = 2010

Stones Throw head honcho Chris Manak, a.k.a. Peanut Butter Wolf, has just confirmed that Leimert Park funkernaut Dâm-Funk is working on two collaborative records to be due out some time in 2010. Giving further gravitas to the rising artist's credo, "Funk is not a fad... It's a way of life," Dâm will be reaching into his native genre's colorful past to bring the former singer of Ohio funk band Slave, Steve Arrington, back into the realm of secular music. As if that weren't enough, Dâm and Stones Throw have begun talks with L.A.'s own Nite Jewel in order schedule recording for an upcoming joint LP. In the word of the late, great, godfather of soul, "Good God!"

Before we go on, here's a little refresher on Slave.

The Wolf weighs in on the backstory after the jump.

According to Manak, Dâm (real name Damon Riddick) and Arrington have five or six songs in the bag, with "all of the instrumentals coming from Damon, and Steve writing his own vocal melodies and lyrics. It's fifty-fifty."

Fittingly, it was a love for Slave that brought Dâm to Stones Throw in the first place.

"When I first talked to Damon, we bonded over an appreciation for Slave," said Manak. "He told me that he had video of Steve Arrington performing in the early '80s, and I'd never seen live footage, so I was excited to check it out. When Dâm and I met [in person], he gave me a copy of the DVD, and I thought, 'I've gotta stay in contact with this guy.'"

Though Manak said he had his doubts about Arrington's willingness to collaborate when Dâm broached the topic -- Arrington left funk for the ministry in 1990 after experiencing a religious conversion -- emails were exchanged and the former Slave singer was apparently wooed by Dâm's take on the medium. A release date is still pending.

As for Nite Jewel's Ramona Gonzales, she and Dâm recently made a "Tune In An Afternoon" for XLR8R TV but until today, no news of any further output from "Nite Funk" had emerged. While recording hasn't yet begun -- both have been spending a lot of time out on the road -- Manak said they all "sat down for dinner" last week to figure out a schedule. And here, not that you need it, is a refresher on Nite Jewel.

The impetus for WCS' call to Stones Throw came with this release from the label a couple of days ago, accompanying the leak of a brand new Dâm-Funk track:

"Besides putting together the forthcoming STEVE ARRINGTON (Formerly of SLAVE) LP for Stones Throw as well as collaborations with NITE JEWEL, production for JODY WATLEY, various remixes for XX & the Hyperdub label, Exclusive Mix CD's for 101 Apparel, forthcoming collaborations w/ JOKER + traveling all around the world w/ the 'Modern-Funk' sound in tow...this is the newness that D-F has been up to 'so far' in 2010"

You can download said "newness" below. As for the work with former Shalamar singer (and Soul Train dancer) Jody Watley, Manak said he thinks Dâm's only produced a track or two for her. He also mentioned that Monsieur Funk just wrapped up some studio time with Raphael Saadiq, so we've got that to look forward to as well.

LA WEEKLY