The Subway Soul Club Crew swings at Lucille’s… Warren Boogaloo, Jeff Valle, Lady Dawn, Val Palmer and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus.

Although The Subway Soul Club only seems to operate twice a year these days, it truly is the premier soul music dance party in New York City. Saturday October 3 was plenty of proof. In order to liven things up a bit, hostess Lady Dawn invited some of her British buddies to come be guest DJs, including Val Palmer, Warren Boogaloo and Jeff Valle to join resident DJ Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus in the making of the joyful noise.

But wait, the day didn’t start for Phast Phreddie at 10:00 PM when the first needle was dropped on a cool BB King record. No! It started much earlier… The Boogaloo household was buzzing with activity by 5 o’clock that morning, as it was the day of the most holiest of record collectors’ holy days: The Allentown 45s and 78s-Only Record Show in Allentown, PA, which commences at 8:00 AM and is a good hour and 45-minute drive from the greater Brooklyn area.

The record fair proved to be a fruitful one—as it always is. The Boog picked up more than three dozen 45s without going into his emergency money! Among the records he brought home were twist records (“Twistin’ Pony” by The Hi-Lites, “The Dribble Twist” by The Magnificents), blues records (“Wild Cherry” by Leroy Washington, “Hype You Into Sellin’ Your Head” by Bobby Davis), wild R&B (“Looby Doo” by Bobby Byrd, “Brassette Rock” by The Brassettes), doo wop (“Bermuda Shorts” by The Delroys, “There’s a Love” by The Del-Rios), jazz (“Walk on By” by Roland Kirk, “Dragnet” by Stan Kenton), boss instrumentals (“Scratch My Back” by B.J. and the Geminis, “Plunkin’ by The Musclemen) and some frat rock stompers (“Work With Me Annie” by The Explosions, “Part Time Job” by Mark Valentino). Here are a couple of odd things he picked up: “Harpoon Man” by Charlie McCoy and the Escorts (a cool Bo Diddley-influenced rocker backed with a version of Muddy Waters’ “I’m Ready;” McCoy was the primary Nashville studio harmonica player during the sixties and seventies, so this sort of exuberant R&B tinge is not expected of him) and a very hip garage rock version of Gary U.S. Bonds’ “Working for My Baby” by John Frogg. Of course some soul records were picked up and four of them (noted by an asterisk* below) were played that very night.

After a quick dinner, The Boog and Nancy “Jeannie” Gardner, the lovely Boogaloo Bag photographer, rushed to Times Square for the evening’s main event.

Soul music enthusiasts swing at Subway Soul Club!

British Night at Subway Soul Club is always special. The last one was held back at Rififi—wow, a long time ago! Lady Dawn has been trying to organize another ever since, but timing and distance were always an issue. Somehow she was able to get it together with three of the DJs who appeared last time.

Val Palmer selects another fabulous track to play at Subway Soul Club!

Val Palmer is quite possibly one of the finest female soul music DJs in the world. She really knows her stuff. She has been DJing regularly at the 100 Club in London since the eighties. She blew people’s minds the last time she worked the Subway Soul Club and she did it again this time. Man, that gal can swing!

Warren Boogaloo and Val Palmer swing at Subway Soul Club!

Jeff Valle swings with the legendary Northern Soul DJ Dave Withers at Subway Soul Club!

Speaking of swingin’—Waren Boogaloo is no slouch, either. He blends the sixties soul 45s we all know and love—as well as some pretty great ones we’ve got to find!—with Latin soul and Boogaloo records in order to present a very highly rhythmic mix. He’s based in London, but he works all over Europe, much to the delight of Europeans!

Back in December 2001, Jeff Valle was one of the founders of Subway Soul Club, along with Dr. Scott and Lady Dawn. The three of them created a really great scene, one that basically filled the gap created when the legendary Empire State Soul Club stopped operating around that time. During the summer of ’02, he returned to London from whence he came. So it is like a homecoming when Jeff blows into town and plays a few records for us.

Jeff Valle and Warren Boogaloo discuss the finer points of a great sixties soul record at Subway Soul Club!

Subway Soul Club, presented in conjunction with our friends at Cavestomp, was held once again at Lucille’s, the groovy nightclub that is adjacent to BB King’s Blues Club on 42^nd Street in Manhattan. With it’s great big wooden dance floor and plenty of room at the bar, the room is the perfect place for these kinds of events. Lady Dawn was very much on the scene, chattin’ up attendees, taking pictures with the Boogaloo Bag camera, and you know she was out on the dance floor!

Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and his fan club swing at Subway Soul Club!

Resident DJ Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus, although not hailing from England, also played a few soul records—all of which are listed below:

• BB King–The B.B. Jones (Bluesway)
• The One-Derful Band–Honey in the Bee-Bo (One-Derful)*
• Leonard King & the Soul Messengers–The Barracuda (Inferno)
• Brown Brothers of Soul–Cholo (Specialty)
• Carolyn Crawford–I’ll Come Running (Motown)
• Bobby Scott–Moanin’ (Mercury)
• Nella Dodds–Maybe Baby (Wand)
• Kathy and the Calendars–Please Don’t Go (Port)
• Bobby White–It’s a Great Life (Kent)
• The Chi-Lites–Stoned Out of My Mind (Brunswick)
• Tony Owens–This Heart Can’t Take No More (Soul Sound)*
• The Volcanos–Storm Warning (Arctic)
• Pat Lewis–Warning (Solid Hit)
• Phil Flowers–Discontented (Dot)
• Shirley Scott–Soul Sauce (Impulse)
• Linda Lyndell–Bring Your Love Back to Me (Volt)
• Dick Hyman and His Orchestra–Agent Double-O-Soul (Command)*
• Jimmy Hanna with the Dynamics–Leavin’ Here (Seafair Bolo)
• Mickey Denton–Ain’t Love Grand (Impact)
• Pat Lewis–Look What I Almost Missed (Solid Hit)
• The Chessmen–Why Can’t I Be Your Man (Chess)*
• The Temptations–All I Need (Gordy)
• Sonny & Cher–Good Combination (Atco)
• The Exception–You Always Hurt Me (Capitol)
• Lynne Randell–Stranger in My Arms (Epic)
• Billy Butler–Right Track (OKeh)
• Eddie Palmieri & His Orchestra–The African Twist (Tico)
• J.J. Barnes–Chains of Love (Groovesville)
• Clydie King–’Bout Love (Lizard)
• Booker T. & the M.G.’s–Time Is Tight (Stax)
• James Brown and the Famous Flames–Night Train (King)
• Roosevelt Matthews with Billy Ball & the Upsetters–Tighten Up (King)
• Lee Dorsey–Four Corners – Part 1 (Amy)
• The Wailers–The Jerk (Island; UK)
• Millie Small–Carry Go Bring Come (Fontana; UK)
• Timmy Thomas–Have Some Boogaloo (Goldwax)
• The Coasters–Cool Jerk (King)
• The Mohawks–The Champ (Cotillion)
• Lou Courtney–Skate Now (Riverside)
• Marvin Gaye–Baby Don’t You Do It (Tamla)
• Laura Lee–To Win Your Heart (Ric-Tic)
• Willie Mitchell–That Driving Beat (Hi)
• Cliff Nobles & Co.–Is It the Way (J-V)
• The Combo Kings–I’m at My Best When I’m Down (Arctic)
• The Magnificent Men–You Changed My Life for the Better (Capitol)

None of these records are for sale.

The Boog swingin’!!! Photos were taken by Lady Dawn, Nancy “Jeannie” Gardner and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus.

DJ Rata swings at TWIST ALL NIGHT!

Friday September 25 was a busy night for Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus.

One of our pals is the great DJ Mr. Fine Wine. For the last several years, his radio show on radio station WFMU Downtown Soulville (Fridays from 8:00 to 9:00 PM) has been mandatory listening for the Boogaloo Bag writers and readers. In fact, he’s been on the air for the last 21 years! A celebration of this 21^st anniversary took place on that very same Friday September 25 with a great big soul party held at Monty Hall, the elegant showroom located in the WFMU Tower in Jersey City.  Mr. Fine Wine and his guest DJs played great soul records from 7:00 until 10:30 PM, with the 8 to 9 hour aired over the WFMU airwaves. The Boog could not miss this—even though he had a DJ night later that night at The Commodore.

One Mint Julep, Mr. Fine Wine and Gaylord Fields swing at the DOWNTOWN SOULVILLE TURNS 21 party at Monty Hall!

The party proceeded with Mr. Fine Wine playing his excellent records, along with his two guest DJs: One Mint Julep and Gaylord Fields. Both of these folks are also WFMU DJs. One Mint Julep has a super-fine show (Wednesdays from 8:00 to 9:00 PM) called Honky Tonk Radio Girl where she plays country, hillbilly and rockabilly records. Mr. Fields’ show (Sundays from 5:00 to 7:00 PM) is an eclectic mix of groovy sounds. Both of these folks also have superb soul music records and they sure as heck can play them, as was seen at this here party of which we are writing. It seemed that just about everyone in attendance was a personage of some importance in the local Hep Cat Daddy scene, including WFMU DJs Sheila B, Joe Belock and Todd-O-Phonic Todd; Juke Joint Jonny (Susquehanna Tool and Die Co.), Karen McBurnie (Grade “A” Fancy, Goofballs), Paul Lukas (Uni Watch), Matt Clarke (Quitty & the Don’ts, The Above), author P.J. Lozito, Mr. Robinson (Dig Deeper) and Heather Propes (daughter of über record collector Steve Propes). There were so many that there is no way the Boogaloo Bag writers can remember them all, so if your name is missing, we offer humble apologies! (Better yet, let us know and we will add it!!)

Why wouldn’t all these important people be there? Mr. Fine Wine is one of the world’s foremost soul music DJs and is an inspiration to us all. His long-lived radio show and his long-lived residency Wednesday nights at Botanica are two of the things that make living in the New York City area so fabulous. Indeed, anytime Mr. Fine Wine is playing records—and he also does so regularly at The Commodore and Friends & Lovers in Brooklyn—it is the best place in the world to be! PLUS, he compiles box sets called Hip Shakers, each containing 10 seven-inch singles of hot R&B recordings culled from the vaults of King Records, for the cool Spanish label Vampi Soul. One can say that Mr. Fine Wine is heavily involved in the music he loves.

So is Gaylord Fields! On the evening being discussed herein, he had to leave the party early, as he was scheduled to be guest DJ at TWIST ALL NIGHT!—a great DJ night presented by the WANG DANG DOODLE people—at The Commodore in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He drove TWIST ALL NIGHT host Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus back to the City in order to make the scene. There they met up with fellow guest DJ Rata and the three of these folks made a super boss noise all night long playing their favorite 45 RPM recordings for the Commodore faithful.

Gaylord Fields and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus display groovy jackets at TWIST ALL NIGHT!

As mentioned earlier, Gaylord Fields’ WFMU program is very eclectic. He can swing with a French chanteuse, a be-bop jazz number, mellow sunshine pop or a recent recording by Yo La Tengo. At TWIST ALL NIGHT, he presented non-stop stomping R&B and garage rock gems. Gaylord Fields is a very heavy cat!

DJ Rata and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus display groovy head-gear at TWIST ALL NIGHT!

DJ Rata is also a very heavy cat. He’s from Venezuela, where he was one of the top party DJs in Caracas until he moved to Brooklyn a few years ago. His Mambo Jambo nights at Otto’s Shrunken Head are always a gas and the summers around here have been intensely improved by his Sunday afternoon DJ sessions at Rockaway Beach. He plays boss R&B records, as well, but spices up his sets with top mambo and Latin soul numbers—perfect for TWIST ALL NIGHT!

Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus (who ate some of The Commodore’s fabulous fried chicken!!) knew that he had to pull out some pretty bitchen records in order to stay in the same league as these two heavy cats! Here is a complete list of every record he played at TWIST ALL NIGHT! Some of them have links to the youtubes for you to judge for yourself…

• The Dartells–Dartell Stomp (Dot)
• The Fabulous Four–Oop-Shoobie-Doop Bam-A-Lam (Melic)
• Eddie Bo–We Like Mambo (Ace)
• The Turbans–The Wadda-Do (Herald)
• Solomon Burke–Peepin’ (Atlantic)
• Barbara Greene–Slippin and Slidin’ (Atco)
• Bill Wendry & the Boss Tweeds–Fire (Columbia)
• Ramona King–Hey Everybody (Warner Bros.)
• Los Salvajes–Es La Edad (Regal; Spain)
• Dickey Doo and the Don’ts–Nee Nee Na Na Na Nu Nu (Casino)
• Dusty Springfield–Do Re Mi (Forget About the Do and Think About Me) (Philips)
• Aretha Franklin–Hands Off (Columbia)
• Tony Farrell–Stumpy Stump (Time)
• Willy and His Giants–Ajoen Ajoen (Union; Japan)
• Los Brincos–Baila La Pulga [from EP ¡Brincosis!] (NoVola; Spain)
• George Hudson and the Kings of Twist–Little Twister (Capitol)
• Sunny Gale–Mama – Papa Do the Twist (Stage)
• The Buttons–Shimmy Shimmy Watusi (Columbia)
• King Curtis–Low Down (Tru-Sound)
• Leo Wright–Bops-A-Bops Love (Perico)
• Carlos Roman y su Conjunto–Swing Colombiano (Welcome Twist) (Son-Art; Mexico)
• Juanucho Lopez and His Orchestra; vocalist: Mon Rivera–El Twist (Spanoramic)
• The Tokens–Swing (B.T. Puppy)
• Jimmy Moore–Crawlin’ (Legrand)
• Sonny & Cher–You Don’t Love Me (Atco; France)
• Del Shannon–Keep Searchin’ (We’ll Follow the Sun) (Amy)
• The Upperclassmen–Cha Cha With the Zombies (Freedom)
• The Latin All Stars–Ring a Ding (Roper)
• Sonora Santanera; cantan: Juanito Slivestre y Andres–El Orangutan (Discos Columbia)
• Big Sambo and the House Wreckers–At the Party (Eric)
• Owen Gray–Best Twist (Blue Beat; UK)
• The Soul-Men–Road House (Lola)
• Elvis Presley and the Jordanaires–A Big Hunk o’ Love (RCA Victor)
• Guy Ferrel–Dansez (Come On Let’s Go) (Apex; Canada)
• Ray Allen & the Upbeats–La Bamba (Blast)
• Chico Holiday–Cuckoo Girl (RCA Victor)
• Good-Time Charlie (The Sheik)–Watch That Stuff (Galaxy)
• The Boots–Watch Your Step (Telefunken; Germany)
• The Coasters–The P.T.A. (Atco)
• The Upsettes–Draggin’ the Main (Autumn)
• Los Yaki–Serafin Y Tres Pescaditos (Too Many Fish in the Sea/Three Little Fishes) (Capitol; Mexico)
• Alan Vallone–Mambo Twist (Audicon)
• Dave Hamilton and His Peppers–Donna’s Cha-Cha (Hi-Q)
• Chauncey Huff–Swimmin’ U.S.A. (Fantasy)
• Jim Doval and the Gouchos–Scrub (Dot)

None of these records are for sale.

Peter Zaremba, Carlos Grasso and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus swing at the Third Copycat Cover Song Night Tribute to Nuggets!

Everybody always has a great time at Copycat Cover Song Night, hosted by DJ Xerox and held at Otto’s Shrunken Head in Manhattan. When it pays tribute to the great garage rock compilation Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era 1965 – 1968 the boss quotient is immeasurably magnified. Such was the case on September 23^rd when the third tribute to that great compilation album was held. As per the others, Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus was asked to be guest DJ. Also, at the last two the creator of Nuggets Lenny Kaye was a special guest DJ. However, he couldn’t make the scene this time. In his stead there was someone who many regard as one of Lenny Kaye’s greatest disciples, a man who definitely studied the Nuggets album and used those lessons to create a whole new scene called Super Rock. We are talking about Peter Zaremba of The Fleshtones.

The bands that played were Giant Fingers…

The Unaccounted Four, which was formed just for the occasion, played ALL garage rock and freakbeat favorites, and featured some of our favorite local musicians and personalities…

Mothers Little Helpers…

For his part, Peter Zaremba played a wide variety of garage rock-styled records from Ohio, Detroit, Canada and France. In keeping with the “cover song” theme of the night, he played the fine version of “The Green Slime” by The Fuzztones! Also, our pal Carlos Grasso was in town. Mr. Grasso is a hip video director who we first met when he was the producer of the MTV program The Cutting Edge back in the eighties. At one point, Mr. Grasso grabbed the official Boogaloo Bag camera and took some art shots of Peter Z and The Boog as they spun records and goofed off.

Here’s a list of all the songs played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus:

• The Hogs–Loose Lip Sync Ship (HBR)
• Bobby Arlin with the Hustlers–Mushroom Machine (Part 2) (Tiki)
• The Sonics–Any Way the Wind Blows (Uni)
• Dick Dodd–Lonely Weekends (Tower)
• Cher–For What It’s Worth (Atco)
• The Chords–Incense and Peppermints (Hit)
• The Lost–Back Door Blues (Capitol)
• The Seeds–The Wind Blows Your Hair (GNP Crescendo)
• The Sinners–You Don’t Love Me (Mercury)
• The Electric Prunes–I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) (Reprise)
• Les Aristocrates–Je Ne Vois Qu’Elle (Choc!; Canada)
• The Light–Back Up (A&M)
• The Odds and Ends–(Cause) You Don’t Love Me (South Bay)
• Ox-Bow Incident–Reach Out (Smash)
• The Ventures–Eight Miles High (Liberty; Japan)
• Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs–Red Hot (M-G-M)
• Harbinger Complex–I Think I’m Down (Brent)
• The Other Half–Mr. Pharmacist (G.N.P. Crescendo)
• The Stillroven–Hey Joe (Falcon)
• The Ides of March–Sha-La-La-La-Lee (Parrot)
• The Leaves–Love Minus Zero (Mira)
• The Sloths–Makin’ Love (Ugly Things)
• Love–Stephanie Knows Who (Elektra)
• The Druids–It’s a Day (Columbia)
• The Uniques–You Ain’t Tuff (Paula)
• Liverpool Five–The Snake (RCA Victor)
• The Sonics–Do You Love Me (Norton)

None of these records are for sale!