DJ Xerox and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus swing at the Copycat Cover Song Night tribute to Arthur Lee and Love

It has been said over and over on the digital pages of the Boogaloo Bag (and before that, the Boogaloo Blog), that Copycat Cover Song Night is one of the most fun nights there is in New York City. The evening works like this: Copycat host DJ Xerox picks an artist and invites local bands to come play several songs by this artist during their respective sets. A guest DJ is invited to come play records associated with the artist and/or cover songs by anyone. On February 11, the artist being honored was Arthur Lee and Love—somehow appropriate a few days before Valentine’s Day. The acts paying tribute to Mr. Lee that night were Michael Lynch, Wonderbug and Madam Robot & the Lust Brigade. The guest DJ was Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus.

Michael Lynch swings at Copycat Cover Song Night

Michael Lynch opened the show. He is a respected musician who has been on the scene for several years. His knowledge of songs from the sixties is pretty deep. He played a dude-on-a-stool (ie, him and acoustic guitar) set of Arthur Lee-penned songs—culled mostly from Love’s recordings from the Elektra label—and did a spectacular job of it.

Wonderbug swings at Copycat Cover Song Night

Wonderbug was not necessarily a cup of tea that can be easily sipped by the Boogaloo Bag writers, but it did perform a cool version of “Stand Out” that was outstanding.

Madam Robot swings at Copycat Cover Song Night

Madam Robot & the Lust Brigade, on the other hand, came on like gangbusters: seven out of its eight songs were Arthur Lee compositions, each played with enthusiasm and excitement–in spite of the fact that the group’s regular drummer could not make the gig and the drum chair was capably filled by Mike the guitarist for Quitty & the Don’ts! With lead singer Oweinama Biu, himself a modern day version of the psychedelic African-American (much like Arthur Lee was), the group knew exactly what it was doing. And the guitarist with the wild Afro-looking hair, man he can really play—every time he coaxed feedback out of his instrument, goose bumps appeared on the back of the necks of the Boogaloo Bag writers!

For his part DJ Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus played according to the rules. He played some key Arthur Lee tracks at crucial moments and mostly played covers of songs that were happening during the mid-sixties when the group Love was happening on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, or songs by acts from that period and place or some combination of the two. Or just a cover song because it was Copycat Cover Song Night! Here’s a list of all the records played by his Phastness:

• Arthur Lee and the L.A.G.’s–The Ninth Wave (Capitol)
• Gabor Szabo–The Beat Goes On (Impulse)
• The New Happiness–Good Vibrations (Columbia)
• Love–¡Que Vida! (Elektra)
• The Doors–Alabama Song (Whisky Bar) (Elektra; UK)
• The Staple Singers–For What Its Worth (Epic)
• The Byrds–My Back Pages (Columbia)
• The Harley Farquart Express–California Dreaming (Peon Productions)
• The American Four–Soul Food (Selma)
• Billy Lee Riley–St. James Infirmary (G.N.P. Crescendo)
• Kim Fowley–Born to Be Wild (Imperial)
• Rhetta Hughes–Light My Fire (Tetragrammaton)
• The Grass Roots–Mr. Jones (A Ballad of a Thin Man) (Dunhill)
• Johnny Rivers–Seventh Son (Imperial)
• The Hollywood Persuaders–Eve of Destruction (Original Sound)
• Billy Preston–Sunny (Capitol)
• The Five Steps–These Boots Are Made for Walking (Dade)
• Love–Stephanie Knows Who (Elektra)
• The Enemys–Hey Joe! (M-G-M)
• Smokestack Lightnin’–Nadine (White Whale)
• The Rising Sons–The Devils Got My Woman (Columbia)
• Kaleidoscope–Lie to Me (Epic)
• The Leaves–Get Out of My Life Woman (Mira)
• The Standells–Ninety Nine and a Half (Tower)
• The Tangerine Zoo–One More Heartache (Mainstream)
• Johnny Winter–Road Runner (Todd)
• The Ventures–Wild Thing (Dolton)
• Arthur Lee–Everybody’s Gotta Live (A&M)
• The Beach Boys–Bluebirds Over the Mountain (Capitol)
• Bobby Vee–Here Today (Liberty)
• Freddy Cannon–20th Century Fox (Warner Bros.)
• Fever Tree–She Comes in Colors (Ampex)
• The Golden Earring–Eight Miles High (Atlantic)
• Future–The Shape of Things to Come (Uni)
• Beau Brummels–One Too Many Mornings (Warner Bros.)
• The Chocolate Watchband–Baby Blue (Uptown)
• The Mothers of Invention–Who Are the Brain Police? (Verve)
• Hoyt Axton–San Fernando (Colgems)
• Kim Fowley–Something New and Different (Loma)
• The Clingers–Gonna Have a Good Time (Columbia)
• The Legend–The Kids Are Alright (Megaphone)
• The Fire Escape–Love Special Delivery (G.N.P. Crescendo)
• Steppenwolf–Sookie, Sookie (Dunhill)
• Clear Light–They Who Have Nothing (Elektra)
• Love–Laughing Stock (Elektra)

None of these records are for sale.