This Year Halloween Fell On a Weekend...

I don't usually leave the house on Halloween night. This is due to the simple fact that I live in New York City - where folks really don't need an official excuse to disguise themselves, roam the streets in packs, and act super stupid (both in the Maggot Brain sense and otherwise). Not that things don't seem pretty tame nowadays - what with cops and cameras on every corner. But I still vividly recall a little too much unmonitored chaos from the pre-Guiliani days to take the risk.*

In other words I have to have a really good reason to be out after dark on October 31st. It just so happens that this year I do. My fellow Saturday night gatekeeper over at APT, Monk-One, came up with the concept for a soiree dubbed "Night of the Boogie Monsters," and we combined powers to plan something special. In addition to Em-Uno and myself (Em-Chino?) on the mix rocking the classics all night, we'll have our esteemed colleague, WBAI Underground Railroad's G-Man, co-hosting. We'll also have two very, very special guests performing live, both of them legends of the disco/boogie genre: Mr. Leroy Burgess and Mr. Randy Muller.

I know you're well familiar with the repertoires of these two gentlemen. At least I would hope so since they are responsible (either as performers or songwriters/producers) for some of the greatest recordings in dance music history. On Leroy's side you've got: Black Ivory's "Mainline," Class Action's "Weekend," Convertion's "Let's Do It" and "Sweet Thing," Dazzle's "Reaching" and "Dazzle Me," the Fantastic Aleems'/Aleem's "Hooked On Your Love" and "Get Loose," High Frequency's "Summertime," Logg's "I Know You Will" and "You've Got That Something," Fonda Rae's "Over Like a Fat Rat," Universal Robot Band's "Barely Breaking Even" etc. (virtually all the above compiled here and here).

And on Randy's side you've got: Brass Construction's "Movin'," "Changin'" and "Music Makes You Feel Like Dancing," B.T. Express' "Express" and "Peace Pipe," Raphael Cameron's "Boogie's Gonna Getcha," Charles Earland's "Let the Music Play," "Over and Over" and "I Like It," Tamiko Jones' "Can't Live Without Your Love," Skyy's "High," "Here's to You," "Call Me," and "First Time Around" and so on and so forth (several of these comped here).

Boogie. Monsters.

Anyways, the plan is for our illustrious guests to cherry-pick a few tunes from this abundance of gems, and rock them live in the place - Leroy on vocals (his pipes still sounding velvety after all these years), Randy with his magic flute. Whatever ones they don't perform we'll undoubtedly spin between sets.

On my most recent RBMA show I devoted half the program to a mix of Leroy's and Randy's classics. While the official broadcast hasn't gone live yet, for now I've uploaded the music set sans talk-over here. Enjoy!

If any of this information inspires just one other shook one to make it out of the house this Saturday night, then I've done my job.

* This is, of course, a sign of getting old. The other day while I was pulling records to play on my Spine show it dawned on me that the plot of Halloween With Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids - which I'd long forgotten - is centered around the kids going out trick-or-treat-ing and scaring old people. And I began to feel extraordinarily empathetic towards Mudfoot.

Baby I'm Scared of You

New Halloween edition of "Spine Blowing Decisions" available here (hit the "archive" button if it's not showing on the homepage). There's a million Halloween mixes out there with a lot of the same songs on 'em. But I've never had occasion to do one till now because I've never been too big on Halloween (this year's an exception - more on that later). Anyways, this show has a bunch of obvious stuff, as well as some slightly less obvious stuff that I thought worked both musically and thematically - so I'll refrain from posting a playlist to try to maintain some element of surprise for those who might check it. 

It also features this steppers' classic from the guy who rocked the biggest afro in War (without even being Black or American). I used it as a talk-over track thinking I'd upload it here, until I realized it's still commercially available. (Oops.) 

"You remind me of a haunted house I once was in." I don't know who Lee Oskar wrote these lyrics about (they're the only ones in the whole song). But I'm guessing he never planned on reconciling with whoever it was because it's one of those sentiments you can only really take one way. 

Dust Never Sleeps

The Bronx's own DJ Danny Dan the Beat Mann joins me at the controls this Saturday. Dan is as hip-hop as they come, having realized his life's calling as a DJ and record collector after seeing Kool Herc & the Herculoids throw down at Cedar Park in the West BX while still a shortie. Settling into production during the "Golden Era," he got down with Biz circa The Biz Never Sleeps. Contrary to the album's credits (which name only Marcel Hall as producer), Dan apparently had more than a lil' something to do with the beats heard therein (at least he got a shout out on "A Thing Named Kim"). Years later, Beat Mann became globally renowned as the curator of the revered, multi-volume Dusty Fingers compilation series - the 90s' 90-95 bpm-based answer to UBB. 

For the longest time I would see Dan at the record shops downtown, never putting 2 and 2 together that he was the same dude responsible this overlooked gem from BITD.

DJ Danny Dan & the Female Dream "The Beat to Get Hype" (Select, 1989)

The other side of the record, "Sneaky Beat," is dope too. In March of last year, Jonny from Good Records NYC posted a vintage Red Alert KISS FM show from August of 1989 (which you can still download here) which not only features Red niftily cutting up the record, but as an add bonus, a cool-ass promo drop from Dan and his then rhyme partner. (Off topic, but this particular broadcast also incredibly features drops from a trifecta of [later] troubled NYC-based athletes - Mike Tyson, Jayson Williams, and Doc Gooden. Lotta future court dates between that treacherous three.)

But I digress. This Saturday we rock dusty, never rusty. Come check us!

City of Portland

I'll be in your area soon-ish. DJ Beyonda & myself will be spinning quality soul 45s of all stripes - from trashy to classy - this Thursday the 8th at her monthly soiree. Come check us! 

Mr. Magic, RIP

About 1:20 in: a brief snapshot of The Official Voice of Hip-Hop, Sir Juice, in his prime. So smooth, and - to paraphrase the slogan of the station that employed him most famously - in a class by himself. I'll always remember what Harry Allen wrote about Mr. Magic's Rap Attack in his NY-area radio round-up in the Voice's great 1988 "Hip-Hop Nation" overview. Cited on the plus side was, "Magic's knowledge of the music and his attitude"; heading up the negatives, of course, "Magic's attitude." So apropos given the man's commanding presence and style over the airwaves, and his role at the center of any number of legendary hip-hop beefs (e.g. Juice Crew vs. BDP; Magic vs. P.E.; Magic vs. Kane ["You start hallucinatin' like Magic/ The wrath gets tragic, but Kane won't have it"]). Eventually, though, as the controversies - along with his status as rap radio's bad guy - faded (e.g. Nas: "I got to have it/ I miss Mr. Magic"), the indisputable historical facts remained. Mr. Magic was the first ever broadcast DJ to play hip-hop on the radio anywhere (buying his own airtime for $75 an hour on the Saturday night/Sunday morning 2-4am shift on WHBI). He pioneered this. 

SHR and I once enjoyed the honor of appearing on Magic and Fly Ty's show on WLIB, I believe it was, when we were promoting the Rap Lists book (to which Magic contributed a great interview/list). And it was the thrill of a lifetime, speaking to that voice over NYC's airwaves. Earlier today Mister Cee put together a really nice Mr. Magic tribute on his Throwback at Noon show. If you missed it you can download it here (link courtesy Eclipse). Super Rockin' Mr. Magic, thank you. Rest in Peace.