"People/ People who need Plastic People/ Are the luckiest people in the world..."
As transcendent gigs go last Saturday's has gotta be up there for me: my first in London Town, at a venue with a near-legendary rep and great crowd, and a sound system that lived up to all expectations. I mean, you'd think that anyone planning to open a club - ostensibly a place where folks go to listen to and dance to music - would place "good sound system" somewhere on their priorities check list. Yet strangely enough it doesn't seem to work out that way too often.
Not so at Plastic, where the records (and I do mean records as it was an all vinyl affair; I've got the sore back to prove it) sounded amazing. And I'm not even tooting my own horn on some yeah-the-stuff-I-rocked-sounded-off-the-chain-whatever-whatever (since I was, of course, in the booth and not out on the floor during my own set). I'm talking about just kickin' back and checking the selections my colleagues Judah, Benny and Ed were dropping even before things got busy. Records that I'd inexplicably never heard before (that Jacques Loussier thing Dr. Dre hijacked years ago for Eminem). Records that I thought I'd heard and had obviously, erroneously dismissed (a blazing Ronnie Foster cut off Sweet Revival - which I actually sold off semi-recently, and yes, I'll be re-buying... - that sounded every bit on par with my favorite by him, "Chunky"). Records that had been mysteries to me and I didn't realize were already in my own damn collection (an Alphonse Mouzon joint - not the one off UBB - that I'd heard a few years ago off of an old Afrika Islam WHBI "Zulu Beat" tape, but never knew the identity of until Saturday). Records that whether I was hearing them for the first time or not, I was in essence hearing for the first time because I was hearing them for the first time in this environment, on this system, in this part of the world.
Just based on the vibe early on I knew it was gonna be a really fun night. By the time I got on and got to shit like this - fuhgetaboutit. By the time I was long done and the lights came on some time around 5am, but the party people (and more importantly, the manager) said, keep on a la James Williams, we were all giggling like little school kids who got granted extra recess. In short: These. Are. The. Good. Times.
Special shouts to: Zaid @ Spine for bringing me across the pond and being such a gracious host - truly above and beyond the call of duty; Judah, Benny and Ed @ Non-Sense for sharing the set at their super-superb soiree; Benji and Tony for repping and just bein' their cool-ass selves; Mr. Bernard for keeping it live on the after hours tip; and all the beautiful folks - especially those that stuck around til' da breakadawn - who gave me 100% positive feedback.
My last song of the session (a Dave Tompkins sure-shot... shot... shot...), para alla youse:
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