Rebel Night is one of the most fabulous record hops in New York City. It has been in operation since 2005, swingin’ at several different clubs, but mostly at Otto’s Shrunken Head on 14th Street in Manhattan. It is hosted by four rockabilly fanatics from Japan and they play the most rockin’ records imaginable; heavy on rockabilly but also lots of rockin’ R&B, doo wop and even an occasional garage record. Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus is asked to be a guest DJ with them from time to time and, indeed, was scheduled to do so on March 20, 2020. Unfortunately, the trump virus took hold around that time. A week before the event the whole planet was ordered to lock-down, thus that Rebel Night was cancelled.

Over the last several months, especially with the help of vaccines, the world seems to have been coming back to life—or at least, trying to. Musical acts are starting to tour again, clubs are opening up, and DJ nights are returning. With nearly everything slightly back to normal, the Rebel Night hosts thought it was time to bring rock’n’roll back to New York City; on Saturday April 16, 2022 they did it, back at Otto’s Shrunken Head.

Most of the Rebel Night hosts were in the house. Hiromu, who was one of the founders of Rebel Night, has moved back to Japan and he and his records were missed. Another founder, Kikuchi, dropped out a few years ago and rarely makes the scene. However, Seiji and Akinori were able to keep the party going and Junichi showed up toward the end of the night in order to help with late night action. Those guys have some fabulous records and they know how to play them!

DJs Mike N Stein and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus, who were both scheduled to work back in 2020, were asked back. Mike N Stein of The Memphis Morticians played some fantastic records. It was great to see him back behind the DJ booth.

More importantly, this was a homecoming. After two years and two months of no Rebel Night, a lot of the regulars returned with fresh new dancing shoes. It was terrific to see all of the familiar faces. As regular Boogaloo Bag readers may know, The Boog has moved out of The City and so coming to Manhattan and seeing so many great friends was a genuine pleasure for him. The place was packed and folks were boppin’ all night. Plus, Miss Nancy made some Easter cookies for the occasion and they were devoured accordingly.

In order to present two sets of hot rock, Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus dipped heavily into his box of all-time greatest records and pulled about twenty of them to play at Rebel Night, augmented with some recent acquisitions and other appropriately rockin’ records from his library. He is still wary of the trump virus so he wore his Batman mask throughout the night. Here is a complete list of the records he played:

• Link Wray and the Raymen–Batman Theme (Swan)
• Richard Wylie and His Band–Money (That’s What I Want) (Motown)
• Phil Flowers with the T.N.T. Tribble Combo–Twistin’ Beat (Domino)
• Kid Thomas–Rockin’ This Joint To-Nite (Transcontinental Recording Co.)
• Esquerita–Rockin’ the Joint (Capitol)
• Curtis & the Creepers–The Thing (Part 2) (Dauntless)
• Thurston Harris with Earl Palmer and Band–One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer (Aladdin)
• Darlene Love–A Fine, Fine Boy (Philles)
• The Satelites–We Like Birdland (Palace)
• Four Aces–Saturday Swing Out (Decca)
• Billy Riley, the Little Green Men–Pearly Lee (Sun)
• Los Crazy Birds–La Noche (Night Time) [from EP Napoleon] (Orfeon; Mexico)
• Wendy Rene–Bar-B-Q (Stax)
• The Staccatos–C’mon Everybody (Capitol; Canada)
• The Vibrations–Stranded in the Jungle (Checker)
• Kip Tyler and His Flips–Jungle Hop (Challenge)
• Buddy Miller–Teen Twist (V.E.M.)
• Bobby Davis–Damper Down (M-Pac)
• The Saxons–Camel Walk (Part One) (Sho-Biz)
• Ronny Kae–Swinging Drums (Band Box)
• The Versatones–Bila (Fenway)
• Commonwealth Jones–Do Do Do (Columbia)
• Big ’T’ Tyler–King Kong (Aladdin)
• Lincoln Chase–Miss Orangatang (Columbia)
• Supremes–Buttered Popcorn (Tamla)
• The Crickets–I Fought the Law (Coral; UK)
• John & Jackie–Little Girl (Aladdin)
• The Ray-O-Vacs–Party Time (Kaiser)
• The Teen Beats–Big Bad Boss Beat (Original Sound)
• The Invictas–The Hump (Sahara)
• The Standells–I’ll Go Crazy (Liberty)
• The Birds–You Don’t Love Me (You Don’t Care) (Decca; UK)
• Swamp Rats–Psycho (St. Clair)

None of these records are for sale.