{If you are in LA next week, the folks at Funky Sole are having a free event, Grand Park’s Gotta Funky Sole, on Friday February 14th, consider it a Valentine’s gift to the city of LA, over at Grand Park (Between Grand and Hill in DTLA) featuring Orgone, the mighty Breakestra and Miles and Clifton on the decks!}
It was truly an honor to return back to Funky Sole last night. As I mentioned the first time I was a guest DJ there, Funky Sole remains for me one of the best raw soul/funk night in the world, definitely the best in SoCal. The top shelf selection from residents Music Man Miles and Clifton aka Soft Touch (with Chico and Mean Mr. Mustard providing tunes in the “funk yard” patio out back) certainly is a major reason for this. For me, the thing that sets apart Funky Sole from most every other place in LA is how ready and willing the crowd is to dance. The place is packed every single week, line down the block for hours, with a diverse bunch of folks, very few of which are just there to stand around and take up space (which you see entirely too much in clubs these days). This crowd loves to dance and it continues to surprise me just how far you can take it and still have a full dance floor.
The set I put together for last night was a mix of classic breaks, rare cuts and a few more oddities than the last time. The only song I repeated from my previous trip was Franciene Thomas’ “I’ll Be There” which is kind of a signature song for me. There were a number of things that I was interested to hear on that beautiful loud sound system and a few that I was really interested to see what they would inspire on the dance floor. One of those tracks was something I just ran into this past week while digging through a mess of 45s, Jean Kassapian’s ‘The Snake,” a big beat belly dance song with snake-charmer flute. I had no idea what would happen when I played this, but to my surprise there was actually an audible cheer when the track started and everybody just kept on grooving. Early in the night I noticed that there seemed to be more B-boys in the spot than have been in recent weeks. If I had known they would be there I might have thought a bit differently about the set, though many of the last several songs in the set (from the B-Boy classic “It’s Just Begun” to “The Champ”) were played exclusively for that bunch and they did not disappoint. Seeing the joy spread on the B-Boy’s faces when they heard the horns of “Just Begun” and all of the routines they did to these songs was one of the best moments I’ve been responsible for as a DJ.
Last night also gave me the chance to pay tribute to my friend Matthew Africa, who I so dearly miss. For much of the time since his death, some 17 months now, I couldn’t bring myself to go knowing I’d hear many tracks that we all used to dance to at Soulvation in Oakland, or tracks that he turned me onto, but after a really rough end of the year, I made the resolution to get out to Funky Sole more often, to dance and remember good times of the past. One of the ways I honored Matthew was by making a dub plate of one of the last edits he did, a fantastic club designed and minimalist edit of the Ohio Players’ “Ecstasy.” In addition to the B-Boy cuts, this one was one of the ones that went over the best with the club-goers, several of which gave me some daps mid-set in appreciation.
Below you’ll find the set I played last night, especially for those of you who missed it, along with the tracklist. Unlike previous times, I stayed all the way to the end and got a chance to play a couple of extra tracks with Miles and Clifton, trading off from record to record, including Horace Silver’s “Acid, Pot or Pills,” and what turned out to be the next to last song of the night, Tim Maia’s “Ar Puro.” Such a night. I can’t say thank you enough to Miles, Clifton, Nancy Arteaga and the whole crew for having me down again…y’all are most definitely appreciated. Until the next time, I’ll see the rest of you on the dance floor at the Echo, each and every Saturday night.
Guest DJ Set At Funky Sole: 02-08-2014
Funky Sole Guest DJ Set: 02-08-2014
Miguel De Deus – Black Soul Brothers – Black Soul Brothers (Underground)
La Clave – Latin Slide – La Clave (Verve)
The Latin Blues Band – I’ll Be A Happy Man – Take A Trip Pussycat (Speed)
Jean Kassapian – The Snake – 7″ (Kassap)
Cumbia En Moog – Cumbia De Sal – El Disco De Oro Vol. 2 (Eco)
James Brown – My Thang – Hell (Polydor)
Ohio Players – Ecstasy [Matthew Africa Edit] – 7″ (Dub Plate)
Di Melo – Se O Mundo Acabasse Em Mel – Di Melo (Odeon)
Bo Diddley – Hit Or Miss – Big Bad Bo (Chess)
Mary Jane Hooper – Don’t Change Nothing – Psychedelphia (Funky Delicacies)
Alvin Cash & the Registers – The Philly Freeze – 7″ (Mar-V-Lus)
The Buena Vistas – Soul Clappin’ – 7″ (Marquee)
Franciene Thomas – I’ll Be There – 7″ (Tragar)
Pacho Alonso – Ven, Ae, Ae – Pacho Alonso (Arieto)
The Jimmy Castor Bunch – It’s Just Begun – 7″ (Kinetic)
The Jackson Sisters – I Believe In Miracles – 7″ (Mums)
Juice – Catch A Groove – 12″ (Greedy)
The Mohawks – The Champ – 7″ (Sir JJ)
A.C. Reed – Talkin ’bout My Friends – 7″ (Nike)
Johnny Tolbert – Check Your Battery – 7″ (Jasman)
Hank Ballard – I’m A Junkie For My Baby’s Love – 7″ (Chess)