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.