As always, my apologies to Rickey Vincent for the format of this review...
"THE MUSIC"
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I had a great time listening to the music at this show!
It was a diverse combination of styles that all fit into the scope of Soul-Patrol. All of the music that I heard last night had a clear sense of historical perspective that was also pointed at the future!
DANNY WEIZMANN
Huh?
Who dat?
Well.
This group was something like a "white version of Kid Creole and the Coconuts".
They played in a diverse set of styles ranging from Jag band, Reggae, Bobby Darin/Frank Sinatra Style Vegas Schlock", Disco, Funk, Jazz and more.
(It was some GREAT stuff)
They even did a cover version of the great 1970's Classic Soul song "PILLOW TALK" - Sylvia Robinson. And how ironic that was for me since I had just been on the phone talking with Soul-Patrol's own Al Goodman (of Ray, Goodman and Brown/Moments) about the recent fire that consumed the Sugar Hill Records studio (more on that one later).
Other songs included.
The Girl From Hollywood High
Disco Sunday in Central Park
El Morocco
EVERYANYTHING
This is a super talented group of individuals from NYC, in a nutshell, here is how I would describe their sound..
* "Santana, Graham Central Station eque, Hard Driving Latin/Funk/Rock/Soul"
* "Tower of Power Without Horns"
* "Fronted by two ladies (reminding me of Minnie Riperton/Jessica Cleaves), singing positive music, with SERIOUS DOO WOP STYLE HARMONIES". Folks, this is a group that in my opinion should have a BIG FUTURE. Very talented, very personable on stage and off.
All original Songs Including:
Envy
Joga
To Love and Be Loved
Pretty
Good to You
Devour Me
Saved Up
Stay tuned for more on this group, right here on Soul-Patrol.Net Radio
SONNY-BOY
Of course, SONNY BOY was the reason why I had traveled 2 hours from NJ to attend the show.
They DID NOT DISAPOINT!!!!
For those of you out there who are already familiar with the CD "URBAN MISFIT from the Soul-Patrol.Net Radio broadcast at:
or from the CD itself this set of songs will be quite familiar to you
Intro
Soul Junky
Sometime
Heaven
Devil's Got You High
Haters Gone Be Haters
If You Ever Lose Your Faith
Super Flyan
Like Collard Greens
Sheldon Riser was totally free, loose and animated on the stage. In fact I would suggest to you that he has got a commanding stage presence. His guitar playing ranged in style from Bobby Womack to Prince. His singing was quite soulful with a whole lotta gospel influences.
Needless to say I loved the music, however I am not exactly "unbiased" at this point with regards to Sonny Boy :)
I will say that Sheldon needs to work on his "microphone technique" a bit (he isn't exactly Joe Tex with the microphone stand.....lol)
"THE PEOPLE"
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I arrived on the scene around 8pm and observed the street scene prior to going inside. As I got a little closer to the club I saw a familiar figure standing next to a familiar SUV, which was double parked directly in front of the club. It was none other than SONNY BOY leader Sheldon Riser. Shel immediately greets me and we hug each other. He asks about Mike and I tell him that "Mike isn't coming, he just called me on the cell phone and told me that our server had just crashed and that he had to restore it..."
Shel then points to the SUV loaded with equipment and says to me.
"THIS IS THE PART THAT NOBODY LIKES TO DO, BUT THIS IS HOW I STAY IN SHAPE."
(my mind immediately flashed back to the late 1970's when I was a part of a DJ crew and remembered how much I hated lugging equipment, tables and crates of records around, as well as to the Soul-Patrol East Coast Convention where I found myself doing much the same thing..lol)
He then proceeds to grab a rather large piece of equipment and yank it out of the vehicle on to the ground in a single burst of energy.
I said to him...."Where are your fellow bandmates."?
Shel said.
"I dunno."
I said.
"You need some help with that stuff bro."?
Shel says.
"Nah, this just goes with the territory."
After Shel finishes unloading the vehicle, go inside and he arranges the equipment in a safe place and we go back outside, we talk outside for a few minutes and he then drives off to a location "uptown" to change his clothes for the show, when he is due to hit the stage at 10 pm.
Folks.
THIS IS THE REALITY OF BEING AN INDEPENDENT ARTIST
Sonny Boy has.
No "road crew"
No "management"
No booking agent"
No "publicist"
No "record company"
No "wardrobe person"
What Sonny Boy has is some "GREAT BLACK MUSIC FROM THE ANCIENT TO THE FUTURE MUSIC", and Sheldon Riser performing ALL of these tasks on the night of the show, in addition to entertaining the audience.
In the six month that I have known Sheldon Riser, he has become something like family to Mike and myself. I like this guy so much that I am probably unable to even write about him objectively anymore at this point.
At this point I observed some of the members of Danny Weizman who had been going thru their sound check while we had been inside and spoke with them. We had a friendly conversation. It was now 8:05 pm and they were nervous, wondering when they should go inside. The show was supposed to start at 8pm and their leader had told the club owner that he wanted to wait to start until "some people came in.."
I walked downstairs and took a seat inside. The band went on at 8:15 and by the time they finished their 45 min set, the joint was now full with a crowd that was a funky and eclectic 50/50 mix of Blacks and Whites! After this the crowd would change to a 95 percent Black mix, but there would be considerable "churn" in the crowd as each succeeding band came on. In total I would say that there were around 300 in attendance for the evening
This was interesting only because it was it was the first of what I would observe as a never ending series of "rotating crowd mix" through the course of the evening.
During the set, I notice another familiar figure enter the room.
It was Kregg Ajamu, Soul-Patroller and more importantly, the promoter of the proceedings for the evening. Kregg is busy "working the room", greeting people, handling business, etc.
Eventually he makes his way over to where I am sitting and greets me. Kregg hands me a small plasic bag from Radio Shack and says. "Hold on to this, these are the fuses for Sheldon's amplifier."
Then he tells me to get up and he proceeds to introduce me to some of the people in the room, including:
Jose Ivey - Urbanvoyeur
Members of the band Everyanything (who are set to take the stage next)
and others who are already quite aware of Soul-Patrol, such as...
Darrell McNeil and Wayne Livingston from the Black Rock Coalition (BRC) are
there.
Many of these people are artists who are handing me business cards, promotional CD's and flyers.
Some of the people there are broadcasters/journalists, such as:
Brotha Shine of WHCR -FM
Mark Copeland of WFDU - FM
Everybody there is all about promoting something!
In short what the crowd has now turned into is an eclectic mix of artists who are also all about taking care of their own business.
I LIKE THIS QUITE A BIT, BECAUSE THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALL RECOGNIZED THAT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO ASSUME INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN FUTURE!!!
"THE ONE"
------
There were probably somewhere in the neighborhood of around 20 Soul-Patrollers in attendance, including the familiar names of: Cheryl Page, Charles Duke, SESpruiell, thenayeski, Greg Villepique, Tobias and others whose names escape me at the moment.
Many of the Soul-Patrollers had traveled a great distance to be at this club, which is in quite an inconvenient location. BIG PROPS to all who attended because they wanted to make sure that they showed TANGIBLE SUPPORT for the music of Sonny-Boy (including buying CD's DIRECTLY FROM THE ARTIST).
Needless to say I was quite proud...
Kregg Ajamu also served as the stage announcer for the evening. At each opportunity, in addition to promoting just about everything under the sun :), he also promoted Soul-Patrol and our new magazine to the crowd. He told them that it was important for people to go to the Soul-Patrol website and sign up for the magazine because it was going to be an important communications
vehicle for Black Music.
This event took place on the Far East side of Manhattan on 1st. Avenue between 10th and 11th streets.
This is the area where the East Village, the Bowery and Alphabet City sort of converge and it's an area that "little black boys from Brooklyn" are usually not very familiar with, far from good subway service. It's kind of a "no man's land" where "art, music, fashion and political bohemian lifestyles" converge and are reflected not only by the eclectic street scene outside of the Izzy Bar, but also by the diversity of the musical performance as well as the people I observed inside of the club.
The club itself was quite uncomfortable, but it was also the little "funky kind of place" where LEGENDS are born...
There is no "ONE" for me to speak of.
That is because the "ONE" is something that is still evolving. What we have here is the birth of a musical/artistic/fashion scene that is currently underneath the radar of the "mainstream media".
* It has a great INDEPENDENT MUSIC SCENE
* It has a great INDEPENDENT FASHION SCENE
* It wants to make POLITICAL/SOCIAL STATEMENTS
* It has it's own INDEPENDENT MEDIA OUTLETS
* It has a LANGUAGE and a STYLE that is all it's own
In short, it is the next great cultural movement for the next generation of Black folks. The people in the club are the cultural, political, media, fashion, music, etc "tastemakers/influencers" of the future.
Another point to be made here is that it's not just happening in NYC either. There are pockets of similar activity taking place in Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Atlanta and other places around the country as well.
Here are some quick analogies from last night to the scene of the late 1960's.
* Sonny Boy - "Hendrix/Sly Stone"
* Everythang - "Santana"
* Black Rock Coalition - "SDS"
* Kregg Ajamu - "Bill Graham"
* Soul-Patrol, Brotha Shine, Mark Copeland, Urban Voyeur, etc - Rolling Stone
I don't want to take these analogies too far, but you get the idea..
(HISTORY ALWAYS REPEATS ITSELF)
Ultimately it is going to end up changing the face of the ENTIRE MUSIC SCENE, and quite possibly save the ENTIRE MUSIC INDUSTRY from itself.
HOWEVER THIS MOVEMENT NEEDS TO BECOME UNIFIED!!!!!!!!
This is what is going to eventually replace the...
"SELF HATING/GENOCIDAL KNEE-GRO STATUS QUO" that dominates the "CLEAR CHANNEL/CATHY HUGHES OWNED AXIS OF MODERN DAY KNEE-GRO ENTERTAINMENT".
However, it hasn't quite decided yet how/if it's going to unify and move forward. As I stated earlier, there was an ever-changing group of people in attendance. Each particular band had their own following. These followings only seemed to mix with each other on a superficial basis.
As each band left the stage, most of the crowd also left the club, to be replaced by a different set of similarly attired (and "nappyheaded") people.
ALL OF THESE PEOPLE NEED TO WORK TOGETHER, IF THEY DON'T THEY RUN THE RISK OF BEING SUCKED INTO CORRUPT VORTEX OF THE NOW FLOUDERING STATUS QUO OF THE "CLEAR CHANNEL/CATHY HUGHES OWNED AXIS OF MODERN DAY KNEE-GRO ENTERTAINMENT".
All of this makes up for a diverse mix of incredibly talented and resourceful people who have NO MONEY.
Of course it's all pretty easy to talk about issues like "corruption in the music industry", when you aren't on the receiving end of that corrupt money.
The potential for the corrupting of this movement exists because the key pieces of the movement because while they may all be likeminded in thought, they aren't yet likeminded in action.
Whenever they make the decision to become "likeminded in action", they will be well positioned to DESTROY and REPLACE the Status Quo, which not only includes that "EVIL KNEE-GRO RADIO AXIS", but also the band of "NYC BLOODSUCKING/CULTURE BANDIT CLUB OWNERS", that are hovering just above with
their plans to co-opt and enslave these artists and their movement.
OOPS.
(I guess I wasn't supposed to say that, because now I guess I can forget about getting any free passes to get into SOB's or BB King's in the future?)
These club owners are in a position to RIP OFF the movement, simply because what this movement lacks are BLACK OWNED VENUES where their talents can be showcased and the proper focus can be brought to bear.
This would help to enable the kind of UNITY needed to fuse all of this activity together, harness the incredible energy/creativity and insure it's longevity...
Of course this is something that will change over time.
Question is when it does, will it be too late?
Stay tuned.