On June 14, another fantastic Do The 45 took place at Quinn’s in Beacon. Host DJ Pete Pop and his regular guest DJ Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus were delighted when so many of their lovely friends showed up to bop to the slop that they presented—all on 45 RPM records, mostly original pressings. It had rained earlier in the evening, and as folks were showing up to Quinn’s a rainbow appeared over Beacon! Surly a sign that the night would be a gas.
And it was!
Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and DJ Pete Pop swing at Do The 45!
As usual, Pete Pop played some fantastic records. Also as usual, Go-Go dancers Sheba Shake and Bella Bombora induced much dancing around by the folks who were in attendance. Pete Pop‘s fabulous videos had folks fascinated and much merriment took place. Our pal Stuart Millman showed up, and whenever he does, the Do The 45 DJs play more rockabilly 45s than usual in order to keep him coming back! He’s a rockabilly cat from way back and the DJs dig it when he’s in the house so they can show off their boss rockin’ jams.
Here’s a list of all the records played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at the June edition of Do The 45:
Jonathan Toubin is considered the most successful DJ of reet music in the country. His New York Night Train brand stages the Soul Clap & Dance Off that has travelled the country, bringing the reet sound to other towns. Also, Mr. T has a hand in such boss night clubs as 96 Tears and TV Eye. His hustle is boss and we try to attend his shows whenever possible.
Howlin’ Hurd is our buddy Brian Hurd—lead screamer of the great rockin’ blues combo Daddy Long Legs. Here he was joined by a drummer and a stand-up bass player and the trio performed some rockin’ blues wailin’. Fookin’ fantastic!
Harlem Slim swings at Sunday Soul Scream!
Harlem Slim did a solo act with his National steel guitar. He literally kicked up quite a noise by banging his foot on the stage to create a boss beat that had attendees boppin’ around. At one point, Brian Hurd joined him on harmonica for some cool blues harp action.
Robert Kimbrough, Sr. swings at Sunday Soul Scream!
Robert Kimbrough, Sr. is a son of the legendary Mississippi bluesman Junior Kimbrough. The elder Kimbrough worked a style of blues music known as Cotton Patch Soul Blues. It is a rather simplistic style, similar to early John Lee Hooker records, that sets a groove and that groove is worked for the duration of the composition. In the proper setting—such as a small club or juke joint where the band can play all night long—the song can last for ten to twenty minutes, creating a hypnotic beat similar to that of such African musicians as King Sunny Adé, Fela Anikilapo Kuti or the sufi vocalist Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Junior Kimbrough’s son, who played in his band, has continued this tradition in the years since his father passed away. On this night, however, Robert Kimbrough, Sr. was restricted by time limits and his songs were abbreviated—but the message came across: this is boss stuff.
Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus played some jumpin’ blues and R&B records before and in between the acts. After Robert Kimbrough, Sr.’s set, Jonathan Toubin played some fantastic records for a while. There was a change-over of some sort—perhaps the DJ booth was hooked up to the performance public address system and needed to be switched to the house system, or something—and soon after that was completed, The Boogaloo Omnibus took over for nearly an hour as he played some of his favorite party records. He had a long drive back to Dutchess County that night and had to cut out soon after midnight. However, the dance portion of the show was left in the more than capable hands of Mr. Toubin, who, no doubt, played more of his fantastic records.
Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus swings at Sunday Soul Scream!
Here is a list of all the records played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at the Sunday Soul Scream:
Bella Bombora swings with her friends at Do The 45!
On Friday May 10, another Do The 45 rocked Quinn’s in Beacon. Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus joined DJ Pete Pop for another evening of super exciting rock’n’roll, R&B and other assorted reet music. Do The 45 swings on the second Friday of the month. If you live within five hours driving distance, you should make the scene every month!!!
Bella Bombora swings as DJ Pete Pop cues another hot jam!
The famous Go-Go dancer Bella Bombora was also on hand and at various times she had folks up on the stage dancing with her as she bopped around to the music–including Hudson Valley radio personality Amanda Lay. Miss Nancy made her signature vegan brownies, plus chocolate chip cookies. The cookies went fast!
MMMMMM!!! Vegan brownies and chocolate chip cookies!!!
DJ Pete Pop swings at Do The 45!
Pete Pop played his fabulous records all night long. Folks kept screamin’, “What was that?” and the answer is always, Pete Pop and his fabulous records!!
Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and Pete Pop swing at Do The 45!
Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus tried to keep up. He started the night with a bunch of hot instrumentals. At one point he played two ‘dish rag’ songs in a row! In order to honor MC5 drummer Dennis ‘Machine Gun’ Thompson, who had recently passed away, a couple MC5 records were played during the night. Probably not enough! About a dozen recent acquisitions were spun along with many old favorites. A few hot doo wop jams really got folks excited. Toward the end of the night, Pete Pop and the Phast One alternated playing their respective discs.
The evening was a golden gasser and you may ascertain that fact by checking out the list of records played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus below…
You have found The GO Mechanism; an audio odyssey that will take you to places you didn’t know existed. It is hosted by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and it initially airs on the Luxuria Music interweb streaming hustle as a Saturday Night Special. This one will first appear on May 18. In order to receive the complete and total GO Mechanism experience, it is recommended that one listen to the initial airing on Luxuria Music, follow along with this Boogaloo Bag post as your score card (no one stops to back announce records) and join us in the Luxuria Music chat room where the host will announce each selection as it airs. After its first air date, the show will be available as a podcast on the Luxuria Music website—look for the Saturday Night Special dated 5/19/2024. However you listen to The GO, it is imperative that this blog post is referenced while doing so.
In the middle of the program there is a Science Corner, a segment of the show where The GO Mechanism producers discuss an interesting music-related topic. For this GO, we will be discussing an aspect of the music publishing business using a song by the British rock group Spooky Tooth as an example.
In 1967, a British, arty, psychedelic band called Art added Gary Wright as a member and changed its name to Spooky Tooth. Wright was an American musician who was lured to London by the owner of Island Records, Chris Blackwell. Art’s lone album was produced by Jimmy Miller and issued on Island Records. Miller was also called on to produce the first Spooky Tooth album, called It’s All About. Also an American, Miller’s previous experience included other Chris Blackwell projects, such as Traffic, The Spencer Davis Group and Wynder K. Frog. Anyway, the Spooky Tooth album was released in England where it did pretty good business, then licensed to Bell Records in America (where it wasn’t given a name!). Around this time, Island Records started licensing records to A&M Records for release in the U.S. This co-opt deal would include Jimmy Cliff, Free, Fairport Convention, Blodwyn Pig and really hit pay-dirt with Cat Stevens. The deal with Spooky Tooth included the band’s music publishing.
Here we stop in order to give a very brief definition of ‘music publishing.’ A song is written by a composer (or composers). It is then published—which basically means it is registered—before it can be recorded and released, or around the same time. In the old days, a publisher dealt mostly with sheet music. In the modern era, the song is treated as intellectual property—sometimes called a copyright (though sheet music may still be involved). Music publishers became prominent in the early days of the recording industry because only they knew how to register a song in order for a composer to get paid for its usage. It is the music publisher’s job to collect the money that the song earns via record sales, being played on the radio (performance), and sync rights (when the song appears in a movie, TV show or commercial). The publisher takes a piece of the action for his efforts and pays the songwriter(s). The more a song is recorded, the more checks come in the mail.
Which brings us back to Spooky Tooth. For its debut LP, Gary Wright and Jimmy Miller co-wrote a song called “Forget It, I Got It.” It was never a single, however, someone at A&M’s Records’ music publishing arm—called Almo Music—must have thought it had hit potential, as the album track was cut onto 10” acetates and distributed to potential artists. We know this because a picture of one of them has been posted on Discogs. The song was recorded by at least six artists that we know of. The Science Corner started with a version by The Sisters Love, a female R&B vocal group that, at one time, included Merry Clayton and Gwen Berry. The second version heard was by Mel & Tim, a soul duo from Chicago that was modeled after Sam & Dave. This recording was produced by Gene Chandler—a Chicago soul legend. The record was released in 1970, a year after Mel & Tim’s R&B hit “Backfield in Motion.” The third rendering of “Forget It, I Got It” is by the afore-mentioned Merry Clayton. She is best known as the female vocalist on The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” (from the Let It Bleed album, produced by Jimmy Miller).
Other versions of the song were cut and released as singles by the rock groups Ambergris and The Mauds, as well as The Raelettes, another female R&B vocal group (of which Gwen Berry was once a member). However, The Raelettes changed the song slightly to “Come Get It, I Got It.” We’d like to point out here that the Spooky Tooth song bears a slight resemblance to a 1967 song called “Forget It” by The Sandpebbles. Gary Wright is said to have been a fan of R&B records, so it is possible that he heard this song but didn’t quite remember how it went but brought his ideas to Jimmy Miller who helped shape it into the unique song that was recorded. At least, that’s the way things are imagined here in the Science Corner, and no one can tell us any different because both Wright and Miller are dead.
In 1956, Billy Stewart was discovered by Bo Diddley in Washington D.C. on a night when Bo Diddley was playing there. Bo Diddley (who recorded for Checker Records, a subsidiary of Chess) persuaded the Chess people to try him out. Backed by Bo Diddley’s recording band, which included Willie Dixon, Jerome Greene and Jody Williams, Stewart cut the two-parter “Billy’s Blues.” It came out on the Argo label (another Chess subsidiary) as well as on Chess. Although it did not chart nationally, it made some noise in some markets, but apparently, not enough for Chess to continue with him. Stewart’s next record is heard in The GO Mechanism. It’s called “Billy’s Heartache” and it was also recorded with Bo Diddley and his band, but in Washington D.C. Singing back-up for the Stewart recording session was a local vocal group called The Marquees that included a young Marvin Gaye. This recording came out on OKeh Records. For some reason, Stewart did not record again for a few years. In 1961, he returned to Chess Records to work with the producer Billy Davis and they were able to score several hits, including “Reap What You Sow,”“I Do Love You,”“Sitting in the Park” and the magnum opus “Summertime.”
Los Mirlos is one of our favorite cumbia bands. Many of the best cumbia bands hail from Colombia, where cumbia music was invented. Los Mirlos, however, are from Peru. In Colombian cumbia, the accordion is one of the key instruments. For Los Mirlos, it is the guitar. It is the main instrument on the song we hear in The GO. We’ve played it from a 1976 Mexican pressing on the Gas label, where it is called “Cumbia De La Selva.” In 1974, when it was released in Peru on the Infopesa label it was called “Lamento en La Selva.” Selva is Spanish for jungle. Many of the original members of Los Mirlos were from Moyobomba, a city near the Peruvian jungles on the east side of the Andes. They traveled to Lima on the coast to make their records and many of their compositions, such as this one, celebrate the jungle. We have several of the group’s singles and we’ll hear more from them in upcoming GO Mechanisms.
Calypso is a music that originated in the West Indies and was popular throughout the Caribbean area. In Cuba, calypsos were sung in Spanish; in Haiti in French. In Jamaica the music was known as mento and eventually morphed into ska, which begot rocksteady and reggae. Very often a calypso or two is presented in The GO Mechanism. In this GO, we have “Out de Fire” by Lord Flea and his Calypsonians. According to the liner notes of their 1957 album, Swingin’ Calypsos, the members of the band are Porkchops on banjo, Lord Fish Ray on bass and percussionists Count Spoon, Prince Charles and Count Largie. Lord Flea was the singer and guitarist. He and his band appeared in Miami, Las Vegas, New York City (at the Jamaica Room, a ‘calypso-only’ night club) and on the Perry Como TV show.
Malcolm Earl Waldron was born in 1925 in New York City. He took up the saxophone first, but set it down to play piano after hearing Charlie Parker and realizing he could never play that well. As a pianist, he worked with Ike Quebec, Varetta Dillard, Teddy Charles and Charles Mingus but he really got busy when he was introduced to the people at Prestige Records by Jackie McLean. At Prestige he became a first-call piano player when it came to recording sessions. He recorded with Gene Ammons, Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Al Cohn, Phil Woods, John Coltrane, Paul Quinichette and many others. Around this time, he was also the piano accompanist for Billie Holiday’s live engagements and did that until she died in 1959. Plus, Waldron played on many of those ‘Music Minus One’ records. Cat was busy.
Mal Waldron was also a user of heroin. In 1963, an overdose lead to a breakdown that left him fairly incapacitated for a few years—unable to play the piano. When he recovered, he had an opportunity to score a film in Europe and he stayed there. He only returned to the U.S. for an occasional gig but by the mid-nineties he would come less often, due to the fact that he could no longer smoke in the night clubs he played. He died of cancer in 2002.
In 1971, the GO Mechanism producers and some buddies attended a show by Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band at a place called The Bitter End West in Hollywood. They had front row seats. At one point, our friend Linda handed Captain Beefheart an Abba Zabba candy bar and requested the song of the same name from the group’s first album. The good Captain, took the candy, turned to the band and said, “Abba Zabba, hit it!” And they played it! The song is heard in this GO Mechanism as a tribute to Miss Linda P, who drove us to a bunch of cool gigs in the days before we could drive.
“Four Organs” is one of our favorite pieces of contemporary art music. Composed by Steve Reich, it also features a fellow playing maracas. Some folks find it to be monotonous. Indeed, during a performance at Carnegie Hall in 1973, a woman banged her head on the stage over and over and yelled, “Stop, stop! I confess!” We’ve jazzed it up a bit for The GO by mashing it with a nearly acapella song by The Zombies called “The Way I Feel Inside.” The listener will either find this incredibly obnoxious or totally genius; The GO Mechanism producers welcome either determination. The piece is then used as the bed music for The Science Corner. We dig “Four Organs” and it will most likely pop up again in future GOs.
“Rutebega Pie” comes to us from the album Soul & Salvation by Dizzy Gillespie. It was recorded in 1969, during a period when several jazz artists were experimenting with funk, most notably Miles Davis. On this album, all the compositions and arrangements are by Ed Bland. He also conducted the orchestra. Ed Bland was responsible for some great funk records by The Pazant Brothers around the same time; in fact, Eddie Pazant plays saxophone on the recording. Though some of the album sounds like music from a seventies police TV show, most of it is pretty good. We quite like “Rutebega Pie.” It was brought to our attention by our good friend and regular GO Mechanism listener Tom Gardner. He knows his trash, that’s for sure. Be sure to dig his radio show on Wednesday nights on KPPQ out of Ventura, California. Soul & Salvation has been recently reissued on CD by the nice people at Liberation Hall. Check it out.
Booker T. Jones got the call to compose the score for the film Uptight while he was recovering from a leg operation in California. For reasons too complicated to go into here, he wrote much of the score in Paris. If you want to know the story, read Jones’ autobiography, Time Is Tight: My Life, Note by Note. “Run Tank Run” is from the soundtrack to this movie.
“The Fox” is the title track for an album by tenor saxophonist Harold Land. It has achieved a sort of legendary status among aficionados of hard bop jazz. None of the players, Elmo Hope (piano), Frank Butler (drums), Herbie Lewis (bass) and Dupree Bolton (trumpet) including Land, are household names, but they are all excellent musicians who should be known to all.
Elmo Hope hung out with Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk and has a cult following among jazzbos who know their bebop. However, the most interesting musician on the track was the trumpet player.
Dupree Bolton started his career when, at 14, he ran away from home to play in the bluesy swing band of Jay McShann. He went on to work with the Buddy JohnsonOrchestra, and then a band lead by Benny Carter. Bolton‘s drug activities got in the way, though, and he served several stints in prison. While incarcerated at San Quinten, he was able to practice his trumpet and he played with other imprisoned musicians, such as Art Pepper and Frank Morgan and it is where he first met Frank Butler. When Bolton was freed in 1959, Butler brought him to the attention of Harold Land, who was preparing to record his The Fox album. By then, Bolton was an exceptional player in the bebop tradition of Fats Navarro and Dizzy Gillespie. Bolton’s playing is fantastic on this recording. Soon after, he was arrested again. When he got out in 1963, he played on another fine hard bop album called Katanga. On that album, Bolton is co-billed with saxophonist Curtis Amy. For all intents and purposes, that was the end of Dupree Bolton’s career. He was arrested again soon after the Katanga sessions and spent most of the next 20 years in and out of prison—mostly in. When he was freed for the last time in 1983 he had lost the fire that he exhibits on “The Fox.” He died of a cardiac arrest in 1993.
“See Dem a Come” was the debut single by the reggae vocal group Culture. It was included on the trio’s debut album Two Sevens Clash in 1977. We found the album that year while record cruisin’ with our friend Jeffrey Pierce at Barton’s of Hollywood. Barton’s was a record store that sold all sorts of Caribbean music. It wasn’t located anywhere near Hollywood, though; it was in South Central Los Angeles. The album was recommended by a woman behind the counter. She played the first track and we were sold! The album is one of the best that reggae music has to offer.
The GO Mechanism producers first heard of The Last in 1977 when they were introduced to lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Joe Nolte by our friend D.D. Faye at the Wallichs’ Music City in Torrance where they both worked at the time. Joe was a skinny, wild-eyed fellow with stringy hair, a goatee and pale skin. He handed us a record by his band; a self-produced single—“She Don’t Know Why I’m Here.” So self-produced that the labels were blank with the artist name and record company ink-stamped on them and titles were handwritten. The picture sleeve was slightly over-sized and looked like they pasted it together themselves. It sounds as if it were recorded in a garage. But the song contains one of the greatest couplets in all of rock music:
This one’s for you, you modified, petrified hypocrites, God!
To raise your children like goldfish in plastic Naugahyde cells.
The fabulousness of the song and the performance are just so dynamic and explosive that the record can not be denied a place among the Greatest Records Of All Time.
Soon after the record was distributed—mostly among friends, as only about 300 were made—The Last played at The Masque, the dingy basement dive that was home to the young punk rock scene in Hollywood. Greg Shaw saw them there, screamed, “godhead!” and reissued the single on his Bomp! Records label.
The LAST – photo by Dan Perloff
The group’s intense performances gave them a punk rock following, especially among other punk musicians. Their psychedelic leanings made them influential to the Paisley Underground scene that hadn’t started yet, but was taking notes at The Last’s shows. The group’s memorable melodies made them popular with the power pop crowd. Two more excellent independent singles followed, and in 1979, The Last’s first album, L.A. Explosion was issued. The songs were great but the recording didn’t capture the excitement and energy of a live show. A second album, Look Again, was recorded but never got past the test pressing stage—until it was finally released in 2020! A third album, Painting Smiles on a Dead Man, was only released in France in 1983. By then, the momentum and buzz of the early days had waned. Joe Nolte has kept a “The Last” going over the years, usually with at least one or two of his brothers who’ve been involved with the band off and on over the years. The band would go on hiatus for long periods.
“She Don’t Know Why I’m Here” is one of the greatest rock’n’roll records of modern (ie, post 1975) times and, because of that, it is presented here to close this edition of The GO Mechanism.
The GO Mechanism is produced whenever we feel like it and it initially airs on the Luxuria Music interweb streaming hustle as a Saturday Night Special. The GO Mechanism producers sincerely thank the swingin’ folks at Luxuria Music for presenting The GO Mechanism whenever it is available. Luxuria Music is an extremely independent entity that can use some help. Please go to the Luxuria Music website and buy something from its store or sponsor something fun. Also, while you are at Luxuria Music, check out the other fabulous shows there.
If you are interested in previous GO Mechanisms, they can be found on the Mixclouds and here in the Boogaloo Bag. After a while the audio portion of this GO Mechanism will magically appear below…
Here is a list of all the records played during The GO Mechanism Number Twenty Two:
Earl Bostic—Lester Leaps In (theme) (King)
Thelonious Monk with Jon Hendricks—In Walked Bud (from LP Underground; Columbia)
Ted Heath—(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (from LP The Big Ones; Phase 4)
Slim Gaillard—Yo Yo Yo (Clef)
The Fleshtones—Time Zone (from album Mondo Beat Volume 1; Face; Italy)
Billy Stewart—Billy’s Heartache (OKeh)
The El Torros—Doop Doop A Walla Walla (Duke)
The Mops—朝まで待てない (Victor; Japan)
Ivan Ward & the Swingsters—Congo Glide (Savoy)
Los Mirlos—Cumbia de la Selva (Gas; Mexico)
The Doors—Light My Fire—GO edit (Elektra)
Lord Flea & His Calypsonians—Out de Fire (Capitol)
Mal Waldron with Eric Dolphy and Booker Ervin—Fire Waltz (from album The Quest; Prestige)(1)
Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band—Abba Zabba (from LP Safe as Milk; Buddah)
Olatunji—Kiyakiya (from LP Drums of Passion; Columbia)
Count Rockin’ Sidney—Back Door Man (Woman Next Door) (Bold)
The Marvelettes—Hunter Gets Captured by the Game (Tamla)
Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band—Big Shot (from LP Gorilla; Imperial)
Mothers of Invention—Zolar Czaki (from LP Uncle Meant; Bizarre)
Tito Puente and His Orchestra—Caravan Mambo (Tico)
Four Organs for Four Electric Organs and Maracas—Steve Reich (from LP Three Dances and Four Organs; Angel)
The Zombies—The Way I Feel Inside (Parrot)
The Sisters Love—Forget It, I Got It (A&M)
Mel & Tim—Forget It, I Got It (Bamboo)
Merry Clayton—Forget It, I Got It (Ode)
Dizzy Gillespie—Rutabaga Pie (from LP Soul & Salvation; Tribute)
Harley Hatcher Orchestra—African Safari Part 1 (Philips)
Climaco Sarmiento y su Orquesta—Cumbia Sabrosa (from LP Cumbias y Gaitas Famosas 3; Discos Fuentes; Colombia)
Booker T & the M.G.’s—Run Tank Run (from LP Uptight; Stax)
Brass Rail—Do the Penguin Part 1 (Buddah)
Harold Land—The Fox (from album The Fox; Contemporary) (2)
The Deltas—Work Song (Philips)
Darrell Banks—I’ve Got That Feelin’ (Atco)
Wallias Band—Muziqawi Silt (from LP Éthiopiques 13: Ethiopian Groove – The Golden Seventies; Buda Musique; France)
Albert Pía—Lado Mas Bestia De La Vida (from album Cover the World; Putamayo)
Link Wray—Guitar Cha Cha (from album Walkin’ With Link; Epic)
Boris Banço—Quelle Peste! (Disques Vogue; France)
Lord Sitar—I Can See for Miles (from LP Lord Sitar; Capitol)
Culture—See Dem a Come (from LP Two Sevens Clash; Joe Gibbs Globe; Jamaica)
Captain Beefheart radio spot
Curtis Mayfield—Freddie’s Dead (Boogaloo edit/closing theme) (Curtom)
The Last—She Don’t Know Why I’m Here (Backlash)
Spoken:
Dylan Thomas—The Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London (during “Fire Waltz”) Dylan Thomas—There Was a Saviour (during “The Fox”)
There hasn’t been a Subway Soul Club event in about five years, so perhaps a little history is in order. In December of the year 2001, Lady Dawn, a colorful British music enthusiast, and two of her friends who are DJs, got the keen idea of starting a Mod-oriented Northern Soul dance party in New York City. The first few were held in locations in the Lower East Side that no longer exist. Then her buddies left town—one home to London, the other to San Francisco. Around this time, Lady Dawn lost her venue. In comes Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus. He was made the resident DJ of the club and he brought it to Rififi, a bar/comedy club/theater/video rental joint with a large back room on East 11th Street in the East Village. SSC lived there for several years, until Rififi closed down in 2008. SSC events took place erratically and bounced around to different venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn for a few more years after that—sometimes going a year or so between events. The last one was held in November of 2019. It took place at a beautiful club called Venus In Furs in Brooklyn.
Then life intervened. The pandemic happened—it took down Venus In Furs. The Phast Man moved to the Hudson Valley. Lady Dawn got busy with work. Everybody got older…
Then our pal Jon Weiss contacted Lady Dawn. He is booking a new joint called The Francis Kite Club, located on Avenue C in the East Village. Would she be willing to stage a Subway Soul Club event? We’ve dealt with Jon Weiss before and we like him. He was the genius behind the legendary Cavestomp events held during the nineties and early years of the new century. The Boog was called. “Do we want to swing?” said Lady Dawn. “Why not?” said the Phast Man.
A date was set: Saturday April 27… and it happened!!
The Subway Soul Club returned to action in fine form. Guest DJs were rounded up: Lynne K and Mikey Post. Lynne K has been a favorite guest DJ since the Rififi days. She was scheduled to work the gig at Venus In Furs, but was unable to do it due to personal matters. Mikey Post is the fine drummer of The Jay Vons and works at Daptone Records. Plus, Andrew Mair came up from Florida to play a special set. He is an English cat who is quite familiar with the Northern Soul DJ wars in his home country. Also, he used to live in New York City and was a regular at Subway Soul Club when it was at Rififi.
Andrew MairPhast Phreddie the Boogaloo OmnibusLynne KMikey Post
That wasn’t all that made this event feel like a reunion. A ton of the Subway Soul Club regulars from years passed were able to attend. It was so grand seeing so many familiar faces out on the dance floor and hanging out at the bar. It was as if time stood still and we were all back at Rififi—the golden years of the Subway Soul Club. Lady Dawn wore a sparkly dress and flitted around the dance floor most of the night. If that is not enough, the night was further enhanced by the yummy treats baked by Boogaloo Bag photographer Miss Nancy: pecan tassies and vegan brownies. She baked a LOT of them and they were gone by the end of the night.
As expected, the DJs each played some fantastic records and there was not a single second when there wasn’t somebody on the dance floor. The night started early—8:00pm—and expected to go to some time after midnight, with luck 1:00am. The club kicked everybody out at 2:00am!! During the last hour, the DJs took turns playing two records each. That was a gas.
Everyone was so pleased the way the event took place that it looks like there may be another Subway Soul Club event before the end of the year—perhaps in September. If so, do not miss out!
Here’s a list of all the records played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at the resurrection of the Subway Soul Club:
DJ Pete Pop and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus hang in front of Quinn’s after another successful DO THE 45!
April’s Do The 45 was a unique one. Host DJ Pete Pop called for a mostly fifties music hustle: rockabilly, R&B, doo wop, blues, twist, etc. He called it The Shake ’n’ Twist Edition. Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus, who has somehow become a regular DJ at these events, was able to dig deep into his boxes and pull out some choice biscuits.
This Do The 45 was scheduled for Friday the 12th. However, due to some technical difficulties in the Quinn’s kitchen, the establishment couldn’t open that night so The 45 had to be moved to the Saturday. DJs Pete Pop and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus had to wait twenty four hours before they could deliver their explosive sounds at Beacon’s favorite rock ’n’ ramen joint. Right as the Quinn’s folks were ready to call it a night, a bunch of folks walked in and Mr. Pop and Mr. Phast ended up going an extra hour, alternating record playing. Go-Go dancers Bella Bombora and Sheba Shake were lined up to exhibit their fabulous dance moves, but Miss Sheba was already booked that night for a gig in Newburgh and couldn’t swing—so Miss Bella danced alone.
The electric Bella Bombora swings at the DO THE 45!
Although some folks still came out for the gig, many of the regulars couldn’t make the scene. The many folks who came for Quinn’s famous ramen noodles stayed extra long to dig the boss sounds. Miss Nancy made her signature vegan brownies and a new dish—chocolate chip cookies! Those things disappeared pretty quickly.
Speaking of sweet things, while at Quinn’s, The Boog sampled a desert item: Choco Monaka. It’s a sort of vanilla ice cream sandwich in a waffle crust with a thin layer of chocolate. Yummy!
Here’s a list of all the records played at the April Do The 45 by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus:
Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and Leah Beth (Astro Girl) swing at The Funky Kingston
The Funky Kingston takes place on the fifth Saturday of the month. In the year 2024 there are four. The first one fell on March 30. For a guest DJ, host Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus rounded up an old friend from the DJ Wars in New York City—Leah Beth. She used to be a regular guest DJ at the Subway Soul Club, Smashed! Blocked! and other fine DJ nights. Plus she was in such cool bands as The Dancettes, The Nouvellas, PMS and the Mood Swings and Habibi. Also, she has worked as a back-up singer for various Daptone acts. She’s very hip and has been involved with some fabulous stuff so we like to call her “Astro Girl.” Not only that, but she’s got great records and she brought a box of them to the Salt Box and played them for The Funky Kingston faithful. Leah Beth has a place up in the Hudson Valley somewhere, so we hope to see more of her.
Leah Beth swings at the Funky K!
For this occasion, Miss Nancy baked some vegan brownies and pecan tassies. By the end of the night, all of them were gone. We were also happy to see many of our local Hudson Valley friends drop in to hang out for a spell—and eat Miss Nancy’s vittles!
Some Hudson Valley pals swing at The Funky Kingston!
More Hudson Valley friends!!
Miss Nancy digs the Bat Signal as her vittles await to be devoured at The Funky Kingston!
Without a doubt, The Funky Kingston is the bossest event happening in Ulster Country. Folks come from all over to dig the hot rhythms laid down by The Boog and his guest DJs. The next fifth Saturday is June 29. If you live in the area, mark it on your calendar on your iPhone, iPad, iBook or whatever iCrap you have so you don’t miss out. If you live far away, come up to Kingston and make a weekend of it. Kingston has some excellent restaurants, art galleries, antique stores and record stores. June would be a great time to do so.
Here’s a list of all the records played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at The Funky Kingston:
On Friday March 15, DJ Pete Pop was enlisted to provide music for a Friday night at the 190 Bar in Newburgh, NY. Pete Pop then enlisted Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus to aid and abet his activities (although his name was left off the poster!).
Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and Pete Pop swing at 190 Club.
The 190 Club, for some reason, is located at 190 Broadway in downtown Newburgh. It was the site of the super successful New Year’s Eve party that also had audio stimulation by Pete Pop and The Boog. However, for this particular Friday night happening, Pete Pop decided against a recreation of his Do The 45 in order to present a special evening for the elite crowd that comes to drink at 190; he called for cumbia, boogaloo, soul and funk. Knowing Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus, we knew he would throw in some mambo records as well.
Miss Nancy and Phast Phreddie at 190DJ Pete Pop at 190
The music was originally meant to provide a soundtrack for the nice folks who get together at the club to socialize and swig frosty beverages, but a of couple hours into the night, these nice folks were dancing in the aisles, movin’ and groovin’. It wasn’t New Year’s Eve, but it was a gas.
Here’s a list of all the records played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus:
This is The GO Mechanism—an audio Odyssey technically engineered and programed in the sub-state-of-the-art laboratory of Boogaloo Omnibus Productions by its host Phast Phreddie. The GO incorporates exclusive ultra-phonic techniques in order to present a show with the highest standards of standardness. The “G” stands for Groove—the fuel for the GO Mechanism. The “O” stands for O’Rooney, an intricate and complex impulse that is incomprehensible to those who possess standard-issue precepts. Dig it and you will know.
The GO Mechanism is presented whenever its producers get around to constructing a program. It is initially heard on the Luxuria Music web streaming hustle as a Saturday Night Special—this one to be initially aired on March 23. It will then be archived on the Luxuria Music website for a few weeks as a podcast before it is posted to the Mixclouds and down below here in the Boogaloo Bag.
In order to achieve total comprehension of The GO Mechanism, it is strongly recommended that this post be referenced while listening to the corresponding program. Songs and artists are not back-announced in order to keep the Groove Grooving and the O’Rooney O’Ronneying.
An hour into the GO Mechanism, the producers will present The Science Corner, a segment of the show where a subject of musical interest is discussed and several records are aired to illustrate the point. This show will feature three “frog” records.
Frog records are records with the popular amphibian as a subject. Often, as in the case of these three records, frog records refer to a dance, the Frog (no, not the Frug). The first one is “The Frog” by Bo Diddley. Bo Diddley is a legend and there is no need to go into his story here. Suffice it to say that he made a ton of great records, especially for the Checker Records company in the fifties and sixties and this is one of them. Nearly all of Bo Diddley’s records have a wicked beat and “The Frog” is no exception. It was recorded in May 1966 in Chicago. The drummer is Clifton James, who recorded with Bo Diddley extensively—he’s on Bo’s early hits, “Bo Diddley,”“I’m a Man,” etc. Bo Diddley’s foil and maraca player Jerome Green retired from music at the end of 1964. By the spring of 1965, Connie Redmon—also known as Cookie Vee—sort of took his place, but on tambourine. That’s her banging away on this recording. She would work with Bo Diddley for about ten years, as a back-up singer—sometimes with the vocal group The Bo-Ettes and/or The Cookies—as well as a percussionist.
Next up is “The Frog” by Sir Frog and the Toads. According to the garage rock bible, Teenbeat Mayhem!, Sir Frog and the Toads were from Las Vegas and also released a single as The Last Word. Both records were issued on the Downey label—known for its boss surf music records (Rumblers, Chantays). A likely scenario is that the band traveled to Los Angeles to play some gigs at the local clubs, came to the attention of Downey Records and cut six tracks (two were unissued until recently) then returned to Nevada. “The Frog” is the bossest of boss, with its very tuff fuzz guitar work-out.
Our third frog record is “The Frog” by Tommy T and the Tadpoles. This record is interesting for a few reasons. To begin with, it was issued on Äva Records, a company that was co-owned by Fred Astaire! Another thing is the songwriting—co-written by Dean Kay and Larry Ray. Probably before the frog record was made, Dean Kay was in a teen vocal duo with a fellow named Hank Jones (not the jazz cat). The act had a sort of Everly Brothers vibe, appeared regularly on the Tennessee Ernie Ford TV Show and issued an album on RCA. A few years later, Kay would have a Number Four pop hit with his song “That’s Life” as sung by Frank Sinatra. Around 1971, Kay gave up songwriting to concentrate on the business end of the music industry—mostly dealing with music publishing.
The other songwriter, Larry Ray—who was a childhood friend of Dean Kay—co-wrote songs for the Hank and Dean duo. He would also go on to work in the music business, at Elektra, Dunhill, A&M and ABC Records before going into the publishing side of the industry.
The track by The Animals that appears in this program, “We’re Gonna Howl Tonight,” was recorded for a 1965 TV musical special called The Dangerous Christmas of Little Red Riding Hood. The show is a re-imagining of the Little Red Riding Hood story as told from the point of view of The Big Bad Wolf. It starred Liza Minnelli in the title role. The Animals played ‘The Wolf Pack,’ a gang that hangs out with The Wolf, played by Australian actor Cyril Ritchard. The show was conceived by the Broadway songwriters Bob Merrill and Jule Styne and they wrote all the songs, including this one, which actually suits the band fairly well, in spite of the fact that the show is less than fabulous.
The Animals as ‘The Wolf Pack’ with Cyril Ritchard as the Big Bad Wolf (dressed as gramma!)
“Dance Hall Brawl” sounds just like the title says—it’s one of the wildest records ever to be filed in the ‘calypso’ section! Sparrow’s Troubadours were the backing band for the Mighty Sparrow, who is arguably the greatest calypso singer of all time—certainly one of the most famous. On this record, his band let’s loose with a fantastic recording of folks bangin’ on shit and screaming!!! One of our favorite records.
The Zombies on Ready Steady Go!
The cool thing about The Zombies’ version of “Rip It Up” is that they don’t try to rock harder than the Little Richard original, they just play it as if they were, well, The Zombies; they add a jazzy touch and a dash of Ray Charles-style R&B in order to make it their own. It comes to us from BBC recordings.
The track “Abiana” by Ukonu is from his second LP, called African Nite Life (Imperial LP-9044, 1957). The artist’s full name is Anyaogu Elekwachi Ukonu and when he recorded his two LPs he was a pre-medical student at UCLA. His albums are among the earliest examples of African traditional (or traditional-like) music recorded in the U.S.A., even predating the fabulous records made by Olatunji for Columbia Records. Ukonu was a member of the Ibo tribe in Nigeria and the son of Chief Elekwachi. While in the U.S., he also appeared in a couple of films. After his studies in California, he returned to Nigeria to become the chief of his tribe as well as a television personality and executive.
“Soul Dance No. 3” by Carl Holmes & the Commanders is a fantastic, hard soul record that was apparently lifted for a song of the same title by Wilson Pickett. The Wicked Mister Pickett was fond of covering other’s songs—and he did it quite well, turning many of them into bigger hits than the originals. However, in those cases, proper writing credit was always given. The Carl Holmes version shows Holmes and Pervis Herder, who is the singer on this recording, as songwriters. The Pickett version credits Pickett as well as producer and Atlantic Records head Jerry Wexler as the songwriters.
Carl Holmes & the Commanders
The version by Holmes & the Commanders is a blasting, uptempo jam. Pickett’s version is slow and funky. The lyrics are nearly identical. Wexler may have been aware of Carl Holmes & the Commanders, since the group issued an LP and a single on Atlantic, plus a second album and a whole slew of singles on Atlantic Records in Italy, where the act was based during the early to mid sixties. The GO Mechanism producers speculate that perhaps Carl Holmes and his band needed money to return to the states and sold the songwriting credits to Pickett and Wexler. The Go Mechanism producers hate to think that Holmes was ripped off by people whom they admire.
Gougoush (also spelled Googoosh) is an Iranian pop singer and movie star who was vary popular in her home country. During the sixties she was a child actress and appeared several films. She released about a dozen albums between 1970 and 1978. In 1979, the Iranian Revolution brought the hard-core Islamic fundamentalists into power and they banned females from entertaining. Gougoush, whose real name is Faegheh Atashin, finally left Iran in 2000 and was able to perform again internationally to great success. Her track heard in The GO, “Nemiyad,” is from 1972 and has a subtle yet cool groove. It’s a song she still performs in concert for the Persian diaspora.
“Mister Moonlight” is a song most of us first heard when The Beatles recorded it and it appeared on Beatles 65 (or Beatles for Sale, depending on where you lived in the world). The original version is by the blues great Piano Red (Willie Lee Perryman), an African American albino who made nearly a 100 suburb records during the fifties. Around 1960, Piano Red reinvented himself when he formed a group and called it Dr. Feelgood and The Interns.
Doctor Feelgood and the Interns
For shows, the band members all dressed in white medical smocks and its female guitarist, Beverly Watkins, dressed as a nurse. The act was signed to OKeh Records and they recorded “Mister Moonlight” at their first session in Nashville on May 31, 1961. The singer on this version was Roy Lee Johnson, a guitarist in the band, who wrote the song. (For some reason, early copies of the single listed the songwriter as R. Stevens/R.C. Stevens, but later pressings and the subsequent LP credits Johnson.) “Mister Moonlight” was actually the B-side of the record—the A-side was “Doctor Feel-Good,” which was a minor pop hit in 1962.
Earl Hooker
In this GO Mechanism the producers kind of cheated. After presenting three “frog” songs during The Science Corner, a fourth one is heard later in the program: the instrumental “Frog Hop” by Earl Hooker. Hooker is hardly a household name, but among true blues music enthusiasts, Earl Hooker is a legend; one of the great masters of the slide guitar. He recorded quite a bit and for a variety of labels in Chicago, mostly as a sideman, but a lot of the recordings on which he was the leader remained unissued for many years. He was struck with tuberculosis at an early age and it haunted him until he died in 1970.
The Sci-Flies
The Sci-Flies are a surf-rock instrumental band from Kingston, NY. The GO Mechanism producers caught their act at The Jet Set in Newburgh a few weeks ago and quite enjoyed them. The band dresses up with fly masks, wings and fezes. “Oil Spill” is from their album Tomorrow We Die.
Eldridge Holmes (no relation to Carl Holmes above) was a New Orleans singer who worked closely with Allen Toussaint. He recorded less than twenty singles that were issued during the sixties, but by the early seventies he was mostly out of the music business. For some reason, none of his records became hits, in spite of the fabulousness of some of them. The GO Mechanism producers like his songs “Humpback” (1965) and “Popcorn Pop Pop” (1964). He revisited the popcorn theme in 1969 with one of the greatest funk records of all time, called “Pop Popcorn Children.” It is believed that The Meters are backing him on this record and it sure sounds like it; nobody else can play like that.
As usual, The GO Mechanism ends with one of the Greatest Records Of All Time. For this edition, the closing number is “My Baby Likes to Boogaloo” by Don Gardner from 1966. The record has a fantastic guitar riff—one that you would expect from a hot garage rock band. Also, the song has a very tough beat. It is one of the most rockin’est soul records you’ll ever hear. The song was covered by The Emperors, a soul group from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and by Lewise Bethune as “Chi-Town Boogaloo.” In recent years, the song has been cut by the super-rock group The Woggles, bluesman Robert Cray, a French group called The Zemblas, the Dutch group Juicebox and others. Don Gardner was a drummer who led an organ combo called The Sonotones that featured first, Jimmy Smith, then Richard “Groove” Holmes (not related to any Holmes mentioned above) during the fifties. Gardner had his fifteen minutes of fame when he teamed up with Dee Dee Ford, an organ player who took Holmes’ place, and their gospel-drenched “I Need Your Lovin’” screaming duet was a Top Five R&B hit in 1962. The duo moved to Sweden for a while but when they returned to the States, they split up. She cut a single for ABC, then seemed to have disappeared. Don Gardner, however, made several excellent records, but achieved little success. The GO Mechanism producers were privileged to see Gardner in person at a fabulous Dig Deeper event in Brooklyn on June 28, 2008 where he sang “My Baby Likes to Boogaloo” twice!!
Don Gardner
The GO Mechanism is produced whenever we feel like it and it initially airs on the Luxuria Music interweb streaming hustle as a Saturday Night Special. The GO Mechanism producers sincerely thank the powers-that-be at Luxuria Music for continuing to invite The GO back again and again. Luxuria Music is a very independent entity that can use some monetary love. Please go to Luxuria Music and buy something from its store. Also, while you are there, check out the other fantastic programs it has to offer.
Legacy GO Mechanisms can be found on the Mixclouds and here in the Boogaloo Bag. After a while, the audio portion of this GO Mechanism will magically appear below…
Here is a list of all the tracks played during The GO Mechanism Number Twenty One:
Earl Bostic—Lester Leaps In (King)
Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra—Copout Extension (from LP Festival Session; Columbia) (Dylan Thomas recites “Love in the Asylum”)
Ramon Ropain, piano & ritmo—Plinio Guzman (from LP Grandes Exitos de Colombia; CBS; Colombia)
The Animals—We’re Gonna Howl Tonight (from soundtrack to TV show The Dangerous Christmas of Little Red Riding Hood; ABC)
The Fabulous Cyclones—Cyclone (Band Box)
Sparrow’s Troubadours—Dance Hall Brawl (RA; Barbados)
Dave Collins—Smooths and Sorts (Rhino; UK)
Counter Points—Come Together (JA-WES)
The Zombies—Rip It Up (from album Zombie Heaven; Big Beat; UK)
This year, Pete Pop’s spectacular rock’n’soul dance party takes place on the second Friday of the month at Quinn’s, the rock ’n’ ramen establishment on Main Street in Beacon, NY. On March 8, his guest DJs were Peter Aaron and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus.
Pete PopPeter AaronPhast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus
Peter Aaron has been mentioned in the Boogaloo Bag before. Suffice it to say, after having been in a cool rock band (The Chrome Cranks) in the nineties, writing some books and hosting a radio show for several years, he’s got fantastic sense of what makes a party rock. Pete Pop asked him to bring some of his boss seventies and early eighties glam, punk and new wave records to spice up the night. Mission accomplished.
Pete Pop has incredible records and played them all night long. Folks were dancing; folks were falling down and drinks were spilled—a super successful party!
Go Go dancers Bella Bombora and Sheba Shake swing at Do The 45!
Also, this year, Do The 45 features two fabulous Go-Go dancers: Sheba Shake and Bella Bombora. Miss Sheba has been getting some dancing gigs down in The City and at local surf music concerts. Bella Bombora, when she’s not on stage, is the official photographer of the Boogaloo Bag as well as baker of treats for DJ gigs when Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus is involved.
Speaking of the Phast One, here’s a list of all the records he played at the March 8 Do The 45:
boogaloobag 