The inner workings of The Salt Box–upstairs in the Rumpus Room!
Our pals Peter Aaron and Sean McDJ have a cool night at the Salt Box in Kingston called Smash! Crash!! Bash!!!. It takes place on the last Friday of the month. At this gig, these guys plays some fabulous rockin’ records that can go from rockabilly to punk to funk, to new wave, to garage rock to who knows what. Whatever they play, it is always rockin’, that’s for sure!
For The Bash!!! on September 27, neither DJ could make the scene, due to more pressing events elsewhere, so they asked Pete Pop and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus to step in. Instead of trying to imitate The Bash!!!, Pete Pop decided to throw a special bonus Shim Sham Shimmy. Mr. Pop called for a new Shimmy format: R&B, rockabilly, rockin’ blues, rock’n’roll, so that’s what was played at the Salt Box that night. The place was jumpin’!!! Pete and the Boog mixed it up pretty good, trading twenty-minute sets all night.
DJ Pete Pop and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus goof at the Shim Sham Shimmy!
For this event, Miss Nancy made some banana bread and sliced it up ready to eat. Our friend Tim Broun has a dog named Rosie. Mr. Broun was coming to the Salt Box that night with his dog in tow, so Miss Nancy made some cookies in the shape of a Scottish terrier in Rosie’s honor!
Dog cookies!Rosie!
We were very happy that a bunch of our friends showed up to swing…including Peter Aaron, whose other event got cancelled due to complications of the hurricane Helene. Shame about his event, but we are always happy to see him in the room—playing records or not!
Here’s a list of all the records played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at this bonus Shim Sham Shimmy:
Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and Pete Pop swing at Do The 45!
Marty Shane is a Mod scooter enthusiast who is the proprietor of The Mod Tiki Market, a stall in the Bennington Antique Centerin Montgomery, New York. He sells all sorts of cool things, including tiki mugs, Hawaiian shirts and Ben Sherman clothing. For The Do The 45, he played some totally rockin’ stuff. He’s kind of a mild-mannered person in real life, but as a DJ he knows how to rock.
Marty Shane cues up another boss jam at Do The 45!
Nina Day is also known by her Go-Go dancer name, Sheba Shake. At this Do The 45 she filled both rolls fantastically: she jumped around up on the raised dance floor with Bella Bombora and she spent about 30 minutes behind the turntables playing records. She played Pete Pops’ records, so you know the records were terrific, and she really knows how to pick them.
Miss Nina Day swings at Do The 45!
For many years, Vince Vincent was a Hudson Valley celebrity when he was a DJ at WVKR—Vassar College’s listener supported radio station. He was also the lead singer for Poughkeepsie’s last Rock’n’Roll band—The Greyhounds. Mr. Vincent’s 30 minutes spinning records was quite possibly the most raucous half hour of wild beat music ever heard in the town of Beacon.
Vince Vincent digs the scene at Do The 45!
Speaking of Hudson Valley celebrities, Pete Pop and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus were pleased that radio personalities Paula Grace and Amanda Lay dropped by to bless the proceedings. They host a fabulous show on WVKR called The Paula and Amanda Show. If you dig crazy people playing boss records, this show is for you. In fact, we were listening to the show on our way to Quinn’s. Just a few minutes after entering the establishment, Paula and Amanda walked in. How do they do it? These people are amazing!!
Phast Phreddie, Amanda Lay, Paula Grace and Pete Pop swing at Do The 45!
Miss Nancy—AKA Bella Bombora—baked some great vittles for this event: fudge, banana bread and two kinds of chocolate chip cookies—one that had low sugar content for friends who have issues with that sort of thing.
Hello, boys and girls. Welcome to another exciting adventure of The GO Mechanism with your host, Phast Phreddie. The GO Mechanism is an audio Odyssey scientifically engineered and programed in the secret laboratory of Boogaloo Omnibus Productions incorporating ultra-phonic techniques not available to other broadcast entities. The G stands for Groove, and there is always plenty of Groove in each GO Mechanism. The O stands for O’Roony, an intricate and complex attitude that is incomprehensible to those who possess standard-issue precepts. Listen and you will hear.
The GO Mechanism is first aired on the Luxuria Music web streaming hustle as a Saturday Night Special. It will then be available as a podcast on the Luxuria Music web site for a few weeks, then it will sit in that limbo called the Mixclouds. This one will first air on September 21, 2024.
In order to achieve total comprehension of this GO Mechanism, it is strongly suggested that the listener follow along with this blog post as he or she listens to the program. This blog will act as a guiding light, with a track listing and information regarding some of the songs featured in the show.
An hour into the GO there will be a Science Corner—a segment of the trip where we discuss a topic of musical importance. This Science Corner we will listen to three lesser known songs by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles for no other reason than, we can!
Smokey Robinson was a dynamic entity during the golden era of Motown Records: He wrote hit songs, he sang on hit songs and he produced hit records. The vocal group in which he commenced his career, The Miracles, was one of the finest during this period. It emerged from the ashes of the fifties R&B vocal group era into full-fledged soul music innovators during the sixties. Smokey was the guiding light; and, with his silky smooth, high tenor voice and his songwriting, The Miracles couldn’t miss. Even many of their records that were not big hits are worth listening to. In the Science Corner, we have spotlighted three songs that were hidden as LP tracks.
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles 1965 album Goin’ to A’ Go-Go (on the Tamla label, a subsidiary of Motown) was the group’s best selling album, reaching Number Eight on the charts. It was full of great songs and we have selected “Head to Toe” for your listening pleasure. Despite the excellence of its hummable melody it was never released as a single. However, a couple of years later, Smokey produced a version of it by a white female singer signed to Motown named Chris Clark. That version—also quite good, though the beat wasn’t as strong—was released as a single but it didn’t do much business.
“Dancing’s Alight” is from the 1967 album Make It Happen, which was full of good songs, including the hits “The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage” and “More Love.” It also had some good LP-only tracks such as “Soulful Shack,” It’s a Good Feeling” and “The Tears of a Clown.” About two years after the album was released, British Tamla/Motown issued “The Tears of a Clown” as a single and it did quite well. U.S. Motown got wise and subsequently issued it here, where it went to Number One in the Pop and R&B charts in 1970.
For a 1969 soul album, Four in Blue may have been unique as no singles were released from it. One of its songs, “Dreams Dreams” could have been a hit, so we’ll listen to it here in The GO Mechanism’s Science Corner in order to expose the outstanding work that Smokey Robinson & the Miracles were creating at the time.
GO Mechanism Number Twenty Four jumps right into the swing of things with two hot recordings that each feature a baritone saxophonist.
Leo Parker
The first is by Sir Charles Thompsonand his All Stars and it features Leo Parker. Parker started on the alto saxophone in the early forties, but took up the baritone when he joined Billy Eckstine’s big band of bebop musicians (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Gene Ammons and many others passed through this orchestra before Eckstine found his calling as a crooner.). When Leo Parker left the band he continued on the baritone, in part because he didn’t want to be playing alto saxophone in the shadow of Charlie Parker. It is on the baritone that he made a name for himself, especially in bebop circles. He played the big horn with groups lead by Dizzy Gillespie, Illinois Jacquet and Fats Navaro. In 1947 he cut “Mad Lad” with pianist Sir Charles Thompson for Apollo Records and it became his signature tune. He was often called “The Mad Lad” and he composed several songs incorporating it in the titles in order to recapture the magic of the Thompson recording: “Mad Lad Boogie,” “Mad Lad Returns.” Due to health issues, his recording output was limited. He cut two albums for Blue Note in the early sixties, but one wasn’t released until 1980. Parker died in 1962 at the age of 36.
Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams
The next baritone saxophonist was much more prolific than Leo Parker, but sows confusion as he shares the name of several other well known musicians: Paul Williams. Our Paul Williams is often called Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams after his biggest hit; it was Number One R&B for 14 weeks! Williams cut records for the Savoy label for about five years, starting in 1947. Some of them did quite well. Several R&B stars got their start in Williams’ band, including singer Little Willie John and saxophonists Noble “Thin Man” Watts and “Wild” Bill Moore (who would later play on Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin’ On LP). The song heard here in The GO is “Hoppin’ John,” named after a favorite food. Williams died in 2002 at the age of 87.
Earl Hooker
Next up is the legendary blues guitarist Earl Hooker with his take on Paul Williams’ big hit record! Hooker’s track was recorded in Memphis 1953 but not released until the seventies when some genius British people raided the vaults at Sun Records. This Hooker isn’t nearly as well know, nor was he as successful as, the other Hooker, John Lee. Although both were born in Mississippi, they are not related. However, folks who really know their blues records are aware of his awesomeness. This version of “The Huckelbuck” will give you an idea.
Note John Fogerty’s clever songwriting credit!
“Call It Pretending” is the B-side of the first single released by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The group made some records previous to this, but under different names, such as The Golliwogs, a name that was forced upon the group. In fact, this record was first released as by The Golliwogs, then changed to Creedence Clearwater Revival when the band started to assert control over its own direction. The A-side was an early version of “Porterville,” which made it onto the first Creedence LP. “Call It Pretending” never made it onto a proper Creedence album even though it is the group’s best song.
The weird noises you hear on Melvin Jackson’s “Funk Skull” is Jackson playing his stand-up bass hooked up to some electrical effects devices that were meant for guitars. He plucks his bass in some parts and plays it with a bow in others. Perhaps he got this idea from Eddie Harris, who Jackson often worked with. Harris played his saxophone hooked up to a similar device.
It would not be a GO Mechanism if there were not a version of “Caravan” included. For this installment of The GO, we have included a rendition by Jerry Betters; a drummer who was the younger brother of Harold Betters, a trombone player who had a minor hit with “Do Anything You Wanna” in 1964. Jerry played on some of Harold‘s recordings, but was also a singer who appeared in the Pittsburgh area. He died in Connellsville, PA, where he grew up, when a truck hit him as he was crossing the street in 2007.
Los Beats were a band from El Salvador that would often take songs by The Beatles and other English-speaking acts and translate them into Spanish for their market. “Eres Tu” is the group’s version of a song found on the first Grateful Dead album called “Cold Rain and Snow.” Although The Dead took songwriting credit on their album, it was actually an old folk song that they most likely heard from a 1961 album by the banjo player Obray Ramsey.
“Kanfera (Return to Fisher) is by Mor Thiam, a percussionist who was born in Senegal. In 1973 he moved to St. Louis, and soon after, recorded an album consisting of a fusion of modern jazz and African beats—the kind of music the kids today call Spiritual Jazz. The record, called Dini Safarrar, benefited from the talents of several musicians from the area, including the producer Oliver Sain, trumpet player Lester Bowie, saxophonist Oliver Lake and guitarist Phillip Westmoreland (listed here as Wesdmoread!). Also in 1973 in St. Louis, Thiam’s son was born: Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam—better known as the successful contemporary R&B singer/rapper Akon.
Bo Diddley’s version of “Old Man River” is almost unrecognizable from the song sung by Paul Robeson in the film Showboat. Bo’s version is close to surf music—maybe because it was included on the album Surfin’ With Bo Diddley. This is a controversial LP in itself, since only four of the dozen songs on the album were actually by Bo Diddley. For some reason, the album was filled out with eight tracks by The Megatons, a group that featured rockabilly singer Billy Lee Riley. Some of this is addressed in the Science Corner of GO Mechanism Number Eight.
in 1963, Bobby Fuller, his brother Randy and a couple other Texas musicians traveled to Los Angeles to make a name for themselves. They had already released some singles on their own and were a big deal in their home town of El Paso. In California, the boys studied the local surf bands and tried to get signed to a record company. The only one who paid attention to them was Bob Keane at Del-Fi Records—the label that had issued records by Ritchie Valens. Keane thought the group was interesting, but told them to return to El Paso and work on their music for a year then come back. About a year later, the Fuller brothers with new musicians, now called The Fanatics, came back and knocked on Keane’s door again. Keane had them record a cheesy teen ballad, but the flip side was “Our Favorite Martian,” a super boss, reverb-drenched surf instrumental that clearly wipes out just about every other surf instrumental you can name. Soon after, the group would change its name to The Bobby Fuller Four and cut a series of fantastic records for Keane’s other label, Mustang Records; this included “I Fought the Law,” “Let Her Dance” and “The Magic Touch.” Right as Bobby Fuller was poised to become a big Rock’n’Roll star, he died a mysterious death. Suggested reading: I Fought the Law: The Life and Strange Death of Bobby Fuller by Miriam Linna and Randall Fuller.
Phil Alvin is quite simply one of the greatest singers of our time. He came to prominence as the singer of The Blasters—one of the greatest Rock’n’Roll bands this planet has ever produced. Phil has made a couple of solo albums and “Daddy Rolling Stone” comes to us from his first one, Un Sung Stories (which has been recently reissued on CD by Liberation Hall Records with liner notes by our pal Chris Morris.)
Marvin Gaye, Anna Gordy, Gwen Gordy, Harvey Fuqua
This GO Mechanism, like many of the recent ones, closes out with one of the greatest records of all time: “Anyway Ya Wannta” by Harvey. This is Harvey Fuqua, who began his career as the leader of the great R&B vocal group The Moonglows in the fifties; “Sincerely” was a Number One R&B hit in January 1955. That group disintegrated in Washington D.C. around 1959, and Bo Diddley, then a D.C. resident, suggested to Fuqua that he enlist a local group called The Marquees to be the new Moonglows. Once this was done, Fugua eventually took these Moonglows, which included a fellow named Marvin Gaye, to Chicago to cut a few records for their record company, Chess. When The Moonglows broke up, Fuqua took Gaye to Detroit. There they became entangled professionally and personally with Barry Gordy and his family. Fuqua would form record companies (Anna, Tri-Phi, Harvey) with Gordy’s sisters Anna and/or Gwen and married the latter. Gaye worked as a session musician—he played drums, some piano, and of course he could sing—for the labels and he married the former. When Barry Gordy’s label Tamla first released Barrett Strong’s “Money (That’s What I Want)” it couldn’t handle it and the record was shifted to Anna and Gwen’s Anna Records where, with the help of Chess distribution, it became a Number Two R&B hit in 1960. Brother Barry learned his lesson and the next year he had a smash Number One hit with The Miracles’ “Shop Around.” Soon after, he formed Motown and a few subsidiaries and eventually absorbed his sisters’ labels—including the talent which included Junior Walker & the All Stars, The Spinners, David Ruffin and Marvin Gaye—who hadn’t recorded as a solo act yet but was part of the family.
Harvey’s 1962 record on Tri-Phi, “Anyway Ya Wanta,” is one of our most favorite of records, what with it’s wild yelps, calling out of popular dances and its bump-bump-bumpity bump rhythm. The first time we heard it (probably when Mr. Fine Wine played it at an Empire State Soul Club event during the nineties) we thought it was some Billy Stewart record that we somehow missed; it really captured us with “Do the hitchhike!” Man, we went crazy for it—we bought a cheap bootleg and, after several years, tracked down an affordable original in good shape. It is presented in The GO Mechanism as one of the Greatest Records Of All Time.
Once again we thank the groovy people at Luxuria Music for allowing us to present The GO Mechanism over their web-streaming hustle. Luxuria Music is a listener supported entity and can not exist without your help. Please visit the Luxuria Music website and figure out how you can send them some money.
Earl Bostic—Lester Leaps In (King)
Sir Charles Thompson and his All Stars—Mad Lad (Apollo)
Paul Williams—Hoppin’ John (Savoy)
Earl Hooker—The Hucklebuck (from LP Sun: The Roots of Rock: Volume 11: Memphis Blues Sounds; Charly; UK)
James Booker—Cool Turkey (Peacock)
Creedence Clearwater Revival—Call It Pretending (Scorpio)
Los Mirlos—El Sonido de Los MIrlos (Infopesa; Peru)
The Maytals—Do the Boogaloo (Trojan; UK)
Timmie Thomas—Have Some Boogaloo (Goldwax)
Bobby Rush—Sock Boo Ga Loo (Checker)
Melvin Jackson—Funky Skull Part 1 (Limelight)
Cal Tjader—A Night in Tunisia (Fantasy)
Gregory Corso—The Fleeting Hand of Time
Jerry Betters—Caravan (Gateway)
Los Beats—Eres Tu (Orfeon; Costa Rica)
The Green Slime—The Green Slime (M-G-M)
Dick Hyman & His Orchestra—Agent Double-O Soul (Command)
Grupo Miramar—El Cameron (Accion; Mexico)
Marvin Gaye—Walk on the Wild Side (Tamla)
The Quik—Bert’s Apple Crumple (Klook’s Kleek; UK)
Mor Thiam—Kanfera (Return to Fisher) (from LP Dini Safarrar – Drums of Fire; Rite Record Production)
Los Lobos—A Matter of Time (from LP How Will the Wolf Survive?; Slash)
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles—From Head to Toe (from LP Goin’ to A Go-Go; Tamla)
The Funk Brothers—The One Who Really Loves You (bed music—from soundtrack Standing in the Shadows of Motown – Deluxe Edition; Hip-O/Motown)
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles—Dancing’s All Right (from LP Make It Happen; Tamla)
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles—Dreams Dreams (from LP Four in Blue; Tamla)
Grupo Sta. Cecilia—1, 2, 3, Hustle (Orfeon; Mexico)
Gene Redd & the Globe Trotters—Zeen Beat (King)
The T-K-O’s—The Charge (Ten Star)
Bo Diddley—Old Man River (from LP Surfin’ With Bo Diddley; Checker)
Wanderlea—Vou Lhe Contar (Pushin’ Too Hard) (CBS; Brazil)
Roland Kirk—Safari (from LP Slightly Latin; Limelight)
W.H. Auden—As I Walked Out One Evening
Dyke & the Blazers—The Broadway Combination (from LP The Funky Broadway; Original Sound)
The Ventures—Diamond Head (Dolton)
Booker T & the M.G.’s—Chicken Pox (from LP Melting Pot; Stax)
Slim Harpo—I’m a King Bee (Excello)
Aaron Neville—Space Man (Par Lo)
Bobby Fuller and the Fanatics—Our Favorite Martian (Donna)
Phil Alvin—Daddy Rollin’ Stone (from LP Un “Sung” Songs; Slash)
Pete Terrace—The Basic Cha Cha (Tico)
Curtis Mayfield—Freddie’s Dead (Boogaloo edit, closing theme; Curtom)
Harvey—Anyway Ya Wannta (Tri-Phi)
OKeh Laughing Record
This edition of The Go Mechanism will be available as a podcast on the Luxuria Music website after its initial air-date of September 21, 2024 as a Saturday Night Special. After a few weeks it will be posted on the Mixclouds and it will appear below…
Pete Pop & Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus swing at the Funky Kingston!
The Funky Kingston returned to The Salt Box on August 31—the fifth Saturday of the month. Who should we get to guest DJ with us? Why, Pete Pop, of course. Everybody knows he’s got fantastic Garage Rock records…and cumbia records… and Latin records of all sorts… and old R&B records. It seems he has all sorts of excellent records. The other night, also at The Salt Box at one of Pete’s new Shim Sham Shimmy gigs, he played some fantastic funk records so we thought we’d invite him to spin a few at The Funky Kingston.
Well, he sure did that! This cat has just about every recording of reet music you can think of. He expanded his territory—at least in our minds—at The Funky Kingston. He played some reggae, some Latin Boogaloos, a few cumbias; man, that cat knows how to swing.
Host Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus played his usual trash of funk and reggae. A bunch of folks showed up to swing. Miss Nancy made some very yummy vittles—fudge and brownies. People were dancing in the upstairs Rumpus Room deep into the night. As a bonus, Our pal Sean McDJ showed up early and helped The Boog set up the turntable hustle in order to present the dog!
Sean McDJ swings under the Bat Signal!
The next fifth Saturday of the month is in November—Thanksgiving weekend. Plan a trip to Kingston and come and get funky with us!
On Monday July 8th, DJ Pete Pop contacted The Salt Box in Kingston and asked if there was an opening for him to come DJ. He hadn’t been there in over a year and everybody felt it was time he returned. The nice people at The Salt Box told him they actually needed a DJ that very Saturday night—the night after Do The 45!
Mr. Pop is not one to turn down an opportunity to play his fine records to an appreciative crowd. He accepted—then he enlisted Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus to spin with him for this very special Shingaling!
DJing two nights in a row! Man, the Phast One hasn’t done that since moving out of Brooklyn about four years ago! But what the heck, let’s swing while the swingin’ is good, right?
The Phast Man was just at The Salt Box a couple of weeks ago—with his dynamic Funky Kingston hustle. He meant to play records that he wouldn’t play at Funky Kingston, but for some reason, he played a LOT that could easily have been played at the Funky Kingston. Ha! Whatever, it was a gas and it is always special when Pete Pop and Phast Phreddie get together to spin records. For most of the night, these two were at the turntables spinning every other record, and did so until management forced them to stop around 3:00 AM!!
Miss Nancy contributed by supplying everyone with her fudge and vegan brownies.
The evening went so well, that Mr. Pop got asked to come back to The Salt Box. If things go according to plan—and what does, these days?—Pete will be there on the first Saturday of the month hosting a shebang he may call The Shim Sham Shimmy! Watch out for that. Very possible that Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus may be riding shotgun on some of these gigs.
Here’s a list of all the records played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at The Salt Box Shingaling:
Chris Bishop of Garage Hangover swings at Do The 45!
The July 12th Do The 45 shindig at Quinn’s was an extra special affair. We celebrated the 20th Anniversary of Garage Hangover, the ultimate on-line Garage Rock source of information by inviting its host Chris Bishop to come and spin a few records.
Garage Hangover is jam packed with information about sixties rock bands—most of which sprung up in the wake of The Beatles climb to fame. The website features photos, bios, discographies, itineraries and other such information. Posts on the website allow for comments, and often the comments are from actual members of the bands or their friends and fans. It’s mind-boggling the amount of detail can go into a post regarding a band that may have made one or two independent singles about 60 years ago!! Dig this post regarding The Galaxies IV as an example.
Pete Pop, Chris Bishop, Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus!
Meanwhile, back at Quinn’s—Beacon’s famous rock’n’ramen club—Mr. Bishop played some remarkable records. Of the dozens of boss records he played, The Boogaloo Bag writers could only recognize a handful of them. This guys knows his stuff, that’s for sure.
Do The 45 host DJ Pete Pop was right there with him. Mr. Pop is also a connoisseur of Garage Rock records and he played some fantastic platters. In fact, at one time, Mr. Bishop turned to The Boogaloo Bag writers and said, “Man, Pete Pop just played about $5,000 worth of records in 20 minutes!!!” Mr. Pop played one of The Boogaloo Bag writers’ favorite records: “I’ll Be In” by The Answer. It’s a record we had back in the seventies but lost it due to a… well it’s a long, sad story!
Miss Nancy was on hand with her yummy vittles: pecan tassies and vegan brownies. Plus, Go-Go dancers Sheba Shake and Bella Bombora were in full effect! Plenty of friends were on hand and the event was a total success. With any luck, Chris Bishop will bring his boss records back to Do The 45 again real soon. Let’s not wait for the 30th anniversary of Garage Hangover!!
For his part, Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus played about $60 worth of records in about an hour and a half!! Here’s a list of all of them:
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…
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:
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