Tag Archives: reggae

Kingston Goes Big and Funky!!

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Big Ed swings under the Bat Signal at the Funky Kingston!!

The Funky Kingston rolled into the mighty, mighty Salt Box on August 30—the fifth Saturday of the month. Host Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus was very pleased to invite Big Ed Martuscello as guest DJ. Big Ed is a resident DJ at the Nor’easter Soul Club—a swingin’ thing that takes place up in Saratoga Springs. He also runs a record store in Glens Falls called Sweet Side. We’ve seen him DJ in Troy and at the Keystone State Northern Soul Weekender. We call him Big Ed because, not only is he big in stature, but he has a big heart and when he is workin’ the turntables he brings a big sound!

Did he ever bring the big sound to the Salt Box for the Funky Kingston!! He lives up north of Albany somewhere, but was planning to work a record show in Woodstock on the day of our gig, then work another one a little further north and west the next day, so he was going to spend the night nearby anyway; thus joining us at the Funky Kingston worked out for everybody involved. The Funky Kingston regulars were all gassed by the cool trash he laid down. Man, it was great to have him.

Here’s a list of all the records played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at the August Funky Kingston:

None of these records are for sale. Please note that the next Funky Kingston will take place on November 29—Thanksgiving weekend. Make your plans now to join us!!

Time Surfers + Funky Kingston = time for FUN!

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On May 31, The Funky Kingston returned to the Salt Box as scheduled–on the fifth Saturday of the month, when there is one. But first, there was an earlier, must-attend event: one of our favorite local surf music combos happened to appear at a private barbecue party in New Windsor (a town south of Newburgh, NY). Also, it just so happens that our favorite Go-Go dancer, Bella Bombora, is the official Go-Go dancer for the band: The Time Surfers. So we had to check that out.

Bella Bombora swings with The Time Surfers!!

The event was fun enough—however a bit of rain put a somewhat of a damper on it. It was held at someone’s pad that had a basement full of pinball machines (indeed, a pinball contest was going on) and there was a ton of excellent food. Yay. Of course, The Time Surfers once again played an excellent set of their fabulous instrumental music and Bella Bombora danced away as a light rain came down.

From there, we traveled up the New York State Throughway to Kingston where we were able to set up the turntables at the Salt Box around 8:30 or so. Guest DJ was…wait for it… DJ Pete Pop!!!

Pete Pop is known nationally and internationally for his excellent collection of garage rock records; so much so that he was a consultant on Moptop Mike Markesich’s fantastic garage rock bible Teenbeat Mayhem! However, Mr. Pop is no one-trick pony. His vast record collection contains all sorts of reet jams, including some fantastic funk records, and he brought plenty of them to the Funky Kingston. Plus, he mixed it up with a few reggae jams and some hot Latin boogaloo riffs.

Local personality Peter Aaron visits with the Funky Kingston DJs: Pete Pop and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus!

We are also happy to report that the Bat Signal was in full effect, many of our friends came to hang out and swing with us, and the Salt Box had a very big night. The Funky Kingston is getting to be quite the scene. Make sure you can make it out to the next one—due to take place on August 30.

Here’s a list of all the funky tracks played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at the May Funky Kingston:

  • Tribe–Funky Kingston (Grenade)
  • The Fabulous Counts–Dirty Red (Moira)
  • Conjunto Jae’s Soul–Sintonia en Soul (Deep Dark)
  • Keno-1 & the Hermit–Heavy Heavy (Breakin’ Bread; UK)
  • Barbara Acklin–I Can’t Do My Thing (Brunswick)
  • War–Get Down (United Artists)
  • Hopeton Lewis with the S.P.M.s–Grooving Out on Life (Merritone)
  • Tito Puente y su Orquesta–Work Song (Tico)
  • Flash and the Dynamics–Chango (Roulette; France)
  • Max Romeo & the Upsetters–One Step Forward (Island)
  • Danny Freeman and the Soul Superiors–Jungle Walk (Do That Jungle Talk Too) (W.S.J. Sound)
  • The Jackson 5–Get It Together (Motown)
  • Homer Chambers–Do the Fire Bird (Golden)
  • Sonny Okosuns–Papa’s Land – Part 1 (Cinterdisc; France)
  • The Wild Magnolias–They Call Us Wild (Barcaly; France)
  • The Rudees–Give Peace a Chance (Pama; UK)
  • Richard Ace and His Band–Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely (Harry J; Jamaica)
  • Mary Jane Hooper–I’ve Got Reasons (Power)
  • Clarence Reid–Funky Party (Alston)
  • Mind Readers–Bitter Tears (Village Sounds)
  • Pazant Brothers & Beaufort Express–Dragon Fly (Vigor)
  • Harmonics–Scum-A-Doom Doom (Gold Plate)
  • Love Childs Afro Cuban Blues Band–Life and Death in G&A (Roulette)
  • James & the Incredible Showmen–James Brown’s Boo-Ga-Loo (Disco)
  • Rabbits and Carrots–Maquina de Amor (Vampi Soul; Spain)
  • Joe Bataan–Latin Strut (Super Strut) (RCA Victor; Canada)
  • Dennis Coffey and the Detroit Guitar Band–Scorpio (Sussex)
  • The Temptations–Cloud Nine (Gordy)
  • Untouchable Machine Shop–Machine Shop – Part 2 (Wavelength)
  • The Vibrettes–Humpty Dump pt. 1 (Lujon)
  • Curtis Mayfield–(Don’t Worry) If There’s A Hell Below We’re All Going to Go (Curtom)
  • Sons of Slum–Right On (Stax)
  • Maytals–Funky Kingston (Shelter)
  • Honey & the Bees–Baby Do That Thing (Arctic)
  • Sly & the Family Stone–Bad Risk (Epic)
  • The Honey Drippers–Impeach the President (Alaga)
  • The Chi-Lites–I Like Your Lovin’ (Do You Like Mine) (Brunswick)
  • Abelardo Carbono con Meridian Brothers–Cumbia Sampuesana (Okra; Japan)
  • Los Destellos–La Cumbia del Sol (Odeon; Peru)
  • O.S.K.I. Jazz–Murie Abebuli (Omwanmi Nabongo; Kenya)
  • Shark Wilson & the Basement Heaters–Make It Reggae (Soul Jazz; UK)
  • Bob Marley & the Wailers–Trench Town Rock (Trojan; UK)
  • Dillinger–Cokane in My Brain (Black Swan; UK)
  • The 20th Century–Hot Pants (Part I) (Sky Disc)
  • Artus Satterfield–Hot Pants (Axis)
  • Norma and the Heartaches–Hot Pants (Gonna Get You in Trouble) (Marmaduke)
  • Marvin & the Uptights–Oomph (Spotlight)
  • The Landslides–We Don’t Need No Music (Huff Puff)
  • Albert Jones–Wisdom Song (Tri-City)
  • Crawdad Farmers–Jesse’s Party (Lucky Brown’s Lake-Side Series)
  • James Brown–Talkin’ Loud and Saying Nothin’ Pt. I (King)
  • The Moon People–Hippy Skippy Moon Strut (Opus #1) (Roulette)
  • S.O.U. L.–The Jones (Part I) (Musicor)
  • Gil Scott-Heron with Pretty Purdie & the Playboys–The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (Flying Dutchman)
  • Tony Fox–I Dream One Day (Tri-Spin)
  • Jimmy Jones–Time and Changes (Conchillo)
  • Harvey Scales & the Seven Sounds–The Funky Yolk (Chess)
  • The Rising Sun–Funky Yolk (Kingston)
  • David “Baby” Cortez–Inflation (T-Neck)
  • Johnny Tolbert–Check Your Battery Part I (Jasman)
  • Oliver Sain–London Express (Abet)
  • The Dancers–Born on the Bayou (Pacific Arts)
  • Johnny Pate–Shaft in Africa (Addis) (Geffen/ABC; Japan)
  • Bobby Hutcherson–Ummh – Part 1 (Blue Note)

None of these records are for sale.

Untouchable Action!

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Pete Pop and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus swing at the Untouchable Bar

Untouchable Bar is the latest and greatest new watering hole in Newburgh, NY. The owners have asked our pal Pete Pop to bring his record playing show to the club. He did so on December 27, and asked Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus to join him. It went so well, that now Pete and the Phast One will be swingin’ there on the fourth Friday of the month. Thus, they swung again on January 24.

The two DJs had the place jammin’—taking turns playing twenty minute (or so) sets. Their record arsenal included soul, funk, mambo, cumbia, latin, reggae and all sorts of greasy and rhythmic sounds. Miss Nancy made her chex mix and brownies for the event and man, that was good.

Here’s a list of all the records played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at the Untouchable Bar party:

Lectric Woods–A.L.L. (Apollo Lunar Landing) (APT)
Boots Brown and the Pflucelpipers–The Reptilian Mindblower (Dot)
The Pac-Keys–Dig In (Hollywood)
Mario Pagaro–Le Rock Du Roc (Atlas Copco; France)
Norman Maine & His Orch.–BAbylon 3-9970 (Columbia)
The Roper Dance Orchestra featuring Antibal’s Latin All-Stars–Bossa Nova Stomp (Roper)
Ralph Marterie and His Orchestra–Jamaican Rhumba (Mercury)
The Dappers and Orchestra–Mambo Oongh (Peacock)
Aki Izumi + The Rangers–Koi Wa Heart De (Crown; Japan)
Pat Lewis–Can’t Shake It Loose (Golden World)
Cliff Nobles–Judge Baby I’m Back (Phil-L.A.)
Gene Taylor–The Hunch (Kent)
Al Gardner–Watch Yourself (Sir-Rah)
Theresa Lindsey–I’ll Bet You (Golden World)
Jr. Walker & the All Stars–Hip City – Pt. 2 (Soul)
The Radors–Finger Licking Chicken (Leoso)
Laurel Aitken–Pachanga (Part I) (New Beat; UK)
The Slickers–Johnny Too Bad (Dynamic; UK)
Abelardo Carbono con Meridian Brothers–Cumbia Sampuesana (Okra; Japan)
Gurpo Miramar–El Camaron (Accion; Mexico)
Bantous de la Capitale–Watchiwara (Soul Jazz; UK)
Tito Puente and His Orchestra–A La Salud (God Bless You) (RCA Victor)
Stan Kenton and His Orchestra–Tequila (Capitol)
Chris Powell and His Five Blue Flames–I Come From Jamaica (Spanish Town; UK)
Mosquitoes–The “Fly” (Spear)
Grupo Santa Cecilia–Africa Bump (Orfeon)
Preston Epps–Rockin’ in the Congo (Flodavieur)
Ohio Players–Skin Tight (Mercury)
Etta James–Tighten Up Your Own Thing (Cadet)
Tommy Dark–Wobble Legs (Sugar)
Lee Fields & the Explorers–Ain’t It Funky (Soul Fire)
The Da-Kars–(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay (Josie)
Shelly Manne & His Men–Peter Gunn (Contemporary)
Bob Kames–Miserlou (King)
Charles Wright and the Malibus–Latinia (Titanic)
Xavier Cugat–Watermelon Man (Mercury)
The Romeos–Are You Ready for That (Loma)
Freddie McCoy–Spider Man (Prestige)
Boris Gardner–Melting Pot (Jaguar; Jamaica)
Eli Paperboy Reed–Do It Again (instrumental) (Fine Wine)
Richie Allen–Goochy Bamba (Era)
Bob Thiele and the New Happy Times Orchestra featuring Gabor Szabo–Light My Fire (Impulse)
Count Basie and Orchestra–Hang on Sloopy (Brunswick)
Ray Marco–Sunny (Thunderbird)
Al Brown’s Tunetoppers–The Madison (Amy)
Billy Dawn and the Madison Mashers–The Madison’s Back in Town (Columbia)
The Phonetics–It’s Jerkin’ and Twinin’ Time (Trudel)
Charlie and the Jives vocal by Denny Easley–The Coffee Grind Part 1 (Hour)
Mighty Sparrow–Saturday Night (RA; West Indies)
Aillacara 2743–Cumbia Yerba Buena (Names You Can Trust)
Carlos Roman y su Sonora Vallenata–Very Very Well (Discos Fuentes; Colombia)
Barel Coppet et ses Antillais–Edith Souffle [from EP Chants des Antilles] (Philips; France)
Cupit–Trainman (Akiwawa) (Neptune)
Beverly’s All-Stars–The Monster (Pyramid; UK)
Johnny Clarke–Rock With Me Baby (Prophecy; Jamaica)
Meditations–Woman Is Like a Shadow (United Artists; UK)
The Wailers–Slave Driver (Island)
West Kensingtons–Ecstasy of Gold (El Paso; Spain)
Marcia Griffiths–Truly (Coxsone; Jamaica)
Leslie Butler & Count Ossie–Soul Drums (Gay Feet/Dub Store; Japan)

None of these records are for sale.

The Funky Chef & Nogood Nick!

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The November Funky Kingston affair was the most fabulous one yet! Funky Kingston is held on the fifth Saturday of the month—when there is one—at the Salt Box in downtown Kingston, NY and hosted by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus. He encourages his guest DJs to play funk, soul, reggae, ska, boogaloo and assorted rhythmic beats as the Bat Signal is displayed on the ceiling. This particular Funky Kingston featured two incredible guest DJs that most definitely delivered the goods: Jeff the Chef and Nogood Nick.

Nogood Nick and Jeff the Chef swing at the Funky Kingston!

Jeff the Chef is a legend. He was one of the movers and shakers behind the Empire State Soul Club—the grandpappy of sixties soul music DJ nights in New York City during the late eighties and through the nineties and even a bit into the new millennium. The others involved with the ESSC were the late, great Warren Lee, Brother Weems (who is now the official MC of the Keystone State Soul Weekender) and Connie T Empress—who continues her fantastic DJ activities in New York City. This was a coming out party of sorts. Jeff the Chef hasn’t spun his great records for anybody in about eight years, and before that, probably five years. The Funky Kingston hosts were proud of themselves for being able to coax this fellow out of DJ retirement! What a spectacular job he did, too, playing all sorts of extremely funky tracks for the Funky Kingston faithful. Among those in attendance were his ESSC co-hostess Connie T Empress—the Empress of Soul. Glad to see her smiling face in the Box!

Although happy to be out and about and spinning his records again—Jeff the Chef succumbed to geezerdom and insisted on going home early. He was gone before midnight when the original version of our theme song is played. That’s okay, though, because warming up in the bull pen was Nogood Nick.

Nogood Nick has been one of our favorite DJs for a long, long time. He was a regular guest DJ at the Subway Soul Club (in fact, he guested at the last one a month ago) and nearly every DJ night that was hosted by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus, including The Dynagroove, The Wham-O-Watusi and other assorted events. Nick hosted his own Rip! Rig! Panic! mod jazz night and recently has a show that runs occasionally on the WFMU Give the Drummer Radio web stream called Electric Lazy Susan. He knows his stuff, that’s for sure, and he played some wonderfully funky records for the crowd at the Funky Kingston.

The entire night went very well: Miss Nancy made some yummy snacks, dancing people didn’t knock over turntables, the sound system never cut out and some glasses were smashed! All-in-all, a very successful event.

Here’s a list of all the records played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at the Funky Kingston, including a series of ‘hot pants’ and ‘thing’ records:

None of these records are for sale.

Funky Kingston Goes Pop!

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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!

Here’s a list of all the records played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at The Funky Kingston:

None of these records are for sale.

Ursa Major swings at Boogaloo Movement!

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Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and Ursa Major swing at Boogaloo Movement!

Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and Ursa Major swing at Boogaloo Movement!

As all regular readers of the Boogaloo Bag know, the fourth Friday of every other month is the time when Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus brings a fantabulous DJ night to The Commodore in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Over the last few years, there has been some really boss nights. This most recent event, held on July 24, was certainly one of them. Called Boogaloo Movement, it featured the most excellent 45 rpm record-spinning of Ursa Major—a swingin’ hepcat with an amazing record collection.

When it comes to DJing, Mister Major has been around the block a few times. He used to guest DJ at the Subway Soul Club, plus he often hosts a night of his own, at the Banter Bar, the Grand Victory and other swell joints around town. Ursa Major is part of a DJ collective known as Legio SPQR, and as such, has traveled internationally playing his records. Also, Ursa Major is the drummer for a hot Oi! punk band called The Templars, a group that has made records and toured Europe.

Ursa Major and some of his pals enjoy a night of wompin' good music at Boogaloo Movement!

Ursa Major and some of his mates enjoy a night of wompin’ good music at Boogaloo Movement!

Mostly, when Mister Major swings it is with his ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul records—of which he has thousands. He also has some of the finest freakbeat records you’ll ever hear—plus some cool French stuff. At Boogaloo Movement, he delighted the crowd with all that and more. Place was jumpin’ all night long. In fact, before the end of the night, drinks were spilled and glass was broken: another exciting Wang Dang Doodle event took place!!!

For his part, host Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus also went with an international flavor, playing records from such countries as Japan and Jamaica, Canada and Germany, Spain and France, England, Holland and Italy! It was a groovy night, to say the least. Make sure you, dear Boogaloo Bag reader, are able to make it to the next Commodore night—September 25—because it, too, will be boss. Make your plans now.

Here’s a list of all the records played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at Boogaloo Movement:

None of these records are for sale.

The Commodore has a new tropical fish tank!!

The Commodore has a groovy new tropical fish tank!!

Watch This Boogaloo!

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Grace of Spades makes sure the levels are correct as Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus cues a record for the "Watch This Sound" show.

Grace of Spades makes sure the levels are correct as Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus cues a record for the “Watch This Sound” show.

Our friend Grace of Spades hosts a groovy radio show on bbox.com, a Brooklyn community radio station that goes out over the interwebs. Her show is called Watch This Sound, and it takes place every Tuesday from 8 to 10 pm. On her show, she features lots of reggae records, but also quite a bit of soul and funk. Due to a sort of convergence of the birthdays of two great soul singers, Etta James (January 25) and Sam Cooke (January 22), she decided to feature these two great artists on her program that was aired on Tuesday January 20 (which just happened to also be the anniversary of Ms. James’ death three years ago).

Miss G figured it would be nice to have an oldster on the show, in order to play a couple Sam and Etta tracks and/or stuff related to them, and possibly drop some science in the course of the program. For this she turned to Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus.

Grace started the show with a cool selection of Sam Cooke and Etta James records, along with a whole bunch of reggae covers of Sam Cooke songs, most of them by the great Ken Parker. After an hour of this, Grace played Sam Cooke’s original version of “Twistin’ the Night Away,” and then asked The Boog to take over.

The Boog—ever the imp!—commenced by playing three versions of Grace’s last selection; two in funny languages and one an instrumental work-out heavily based on the song. He then proceeded to play a track by L.C. Cooke (Sam’s brother), three by singers that were mentored by Mr. Cooke, then four covers of Cooke songs before ending the set with Sam Cooke’s lovely rendition of the old chestnut “Summertime.”

Grace_Boog

Grace of Spades and Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus swing with Sam Cooke at “Watch This Sound” radio show.

 

Then, Etta James records wrecked the place; she has such a tough voice! Sure, Ms. James had the ability sing a ballad as well as anybody, and Miss Grace played several in the first hour, but what was heard on this show was a handful of screamers before time ran out. Just before the automated bbox comput-o-thig-a-ma-jig clicked over to the next show, The Boog was able to sneak in most of another reggae version of a Sam Cooke song.

Here’s a list of all the tracks played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus on the Watch This Sound radio show:

None of these records are for sale.

 

Dig the show by listening to it on the Bbox Radio Archive here!!

The Boog displays great Etta James record on "Watch This Sound" radio show.

The Boog displays a great Etta James record on “Watch This Sound” radio show.