Tag: funk music

Charles Bradley | The Fonda Theatre | 5/17/14 [PHOTOS]

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Charles Bradley is living proof that the American Dream is still alive.  After learning about his life from the documentary “Soul of America”, I made an effort to catch his afternoon set at FYF Fest in 2013. His performance was a highlight of that day. When I heard that he was to perform at the Fonda Theatre, I knew that it was a show that I couldn’t miss, so I bought myself some tickets, knowing that it would be a show that would ultimately leave a smile on my face, and put a groove in my step.

I’d been dreaming about seeing Mr. Bradley perform in a club venue since the first time I saw him perform. His performance at FYF Fest opened my ears to his music, but it was talking to him at the festival that really left an impression on me. He specifically told me that if I loved his show, that I should catch him in a more intimate venue. With a photo pass in hand, in a venue like The Fonda, I figured that this would be about as imitate as it would get for me.

Mr. Bradley’s performance was otherworldly. Watching him perform though the lens of my camera, I could see the all of the emotion emoting from his soul. The intense emotions expressed while singing “Why Is It So Hard” to the wild dance moves he bust out throughout the set, amazed me that a man at 65 could perform with such fervor. His voice, weathered by the rough life he has lived, covered the entire emotional spectrum, from passionate moans, to indignant rebellion, to tender cooing. It was all there.

Perhaps the most impressive thing to me was the love he openly expressed: his love for his band (the Extraordinaires), his love for the music, his love for the opportunity to perform … but most importantly, his love for his fans. It was a sentiment that was echoed by him throughout the evening.

“I love you!” he shouted out to the audience, “I love you so much. If it wasn’t for you,” he said pointing to the audience, “I,” moving his hands over his heart, “wouldn’t be here, singing for you all.”

His love was infectious. So much so, that he even had me yelling from the photo pit, “I love you, Mr. Bradley!” He glanced down in my direction after I yelled like a child, so I think he may have heard me.

But I wasn’t the only one reciprocating the love back to the stage. For as much as Mr. Bradley gave to the audience, the audience gave it right back to him tenfold. After finishing up his encore, he jumped off the stage to hug fans who were lined up at the front; each fan giving Mr. Bradley a tight embrace. A fitting conclusion, to a concert that was all about … love.

I couldn’t find a setlist online, so if anybody has it, or knows what it was, please let me know in the comments so I can add it to this post.

Charles Bradley is scheduled to perform a FREE concert on the Santa Monica Pier on September 11, 2014. I suggest you schedule your plans accordingly and attend that show.

 

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Dr. Madd Vibe | The Troubadour | 3/30/14

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Opening for Cody ChesnuTT at The Troubadour was a band billed as Madd Vibe. Now, I usually do my due diligence before I go to a concert when there’s a band performing that I’m unfamiliar with. In this instant, for whatever reason, I didn’t. When I got to the venue and the band took to the stage, I noticed that the frontman of the band looked familiar to me. I quickly pulled out my iPhone and Googled “Madd Vibe” to discover that Dr. Madd Vibe is the solo project of Angelo Moore, the founder and frontman of the seminal, Los Angeles based ska/punk/rock/funk band Fishbone! For those of you who don’t know who Fishbone are, they’re just one of the most influential, cult bands of the 1980s, influencing huge bands like No Doubt, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Alice in Chains. And guess what? … they’re one of the acts set to perform on Sunday at Coachella this year.

With the same type of energy that he used while fronting Fishbone when I saw them perform April 2010 at the now closed Air Conditioned Supper Club, he brought his punk-ska fused musical stylings to the Troubadour for a solid set that revealed the strength of his musical ability. Though his music is vastly different than Cody ChesnuTT’s, I think that the seemingly odd pairing was made because the talent bookers thought that anybody going to see Cody perform would appreciate Dr. Madd Vibe’s performance because of the legacy of Angelo Moore and what he has contributed to musical history.

A consumate performer, the energy he and his band had was infectious. I started to get my ska juices flowing at points, and reminisced of the days I rocked khakis, combat boots, a white t-shirt and suspenders. The set times for Coachella haven’t been released yet, but hopefully, I’ll be able to relive some more of my youth in Indio.

Unfortunately, the Flickr slideshow below is not available on mobile devices. If you are on a mobile device, please click THIS LINK to get redirected to the set of photos. If the slide show below isn’t working, then Flickr has disabled their embed option for WordPress and hasn’t yet updated their HTML code, which totally BLOWS! If you can see the slide show below, hooray!

 

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Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings | The Wiltern | 3/25/14

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Sharon Jones. My, my, my … that woman is a force of nature.

I’m a big fan of the classic R&B sound. There are a good number of male recording artists that I follow (i.e. Charles Bradley, Lee Fields, etc.), but there really is only one female R&B artist that really knocks it out of the park for me, and that’s Sharon Jones.

In June of 2013, when I heard that the release of her album “Give The People What They Want” was going to be delayed because she had been diagnosed with Stage II pancreatic cancer, my heart broke. Though I didn’t know her on a personal level, I can say that her fun and funky album “100 Days, 100 Nights” (released late 2007) helped relieve a lot of stress I was dealing with at the time. I mean, “Be Easy”, with the hook “Oh, just be easy, baby/ That girl will come a runnin’ to you/ If you just be easy, baby/ Ah, she’ll be easy too”, has 32 plays registered on my iTunes. Though “she” never came runnin’ to me, that song still stands out as a pretty particular part of my life.

When I had read that she beat the cancer that threatened her life, I was relieved. When I heard she was touring to support the album, I went out and bought a ticket.

After having the band warm the crowd up for 15-20 minutes, the indomitable Ms. Sharon Jones grooved onto the stage to the Dap-Kings big band sound, her head shaved and her face beaming. The crowd went wild. Clearly, everybody was as excited to see her grace the stage as I was.

It was my first time seeing her perform live, and it was every bit as funky, and soulful as her albums. If she had had it difficult recovering after her chemotherapy, you would have never guessed it. Her voice was as powerful as it was on her albums, and her stage presence was overwhelmingly energetic, even giving the audience a little lesson in dance history as she demonstrated every “old-school” dance in the book from The Jerk to The Twist. Towards the end of her set, she even allowed fans, who were lucky enough to score bracelets to the orchestra pit, a chance to dance on stage with her.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings gave it everything they got, and it truly blew mind. If you are lucky enough to see them perform live, I guarantee your mind will be blown too.

Setlist (From the OC Register)

  1. The Reason (instrumental)
  2. Mellomatic (instrumental)
  3. Wouldn’t You Rather (instrumental)
  4. Intro for Jones
  5. If You Call
  6. Without a Heart
  7. Give It Back
  8. Money
  9. When You Love Me
  10. Tell Me
  11. When I Come Home
  12. Let Them Knock
  13. Not Gonna Cry
  14. This Land Is Your Land (Woody Guthrie Cover)
  15. Keep On Looking
  16. The Game Gets Old
  17. Mama Don’t Like My Man
  18. Still Be True
  19. Broken Hearted Man
  20. Window Shopping
  21. Better Things
  22. She Ain’t a Child No More
  23. I Learned the Hard Way

Encore:

  1. Reach Out (instrumental)
  2. 100 Days, 100 Nights

Unfortunately, the Flickr slideshow below is not available on mobile devices. If you are on a mobile device, please click THIS LINK to get redirected to the set of photos. If the slide show below isn’t working, then Flickr has disabled their embed option for WordPress and hasn’t yet updated their HTML code, which totally BLOWS! If you can see the slide show below, hooray!

 

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Valerie June | Wiltern Theater | 3/25/14

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One of my favorite albums of 2013 was Valerie June’s “Pushin’ Against A Stone”. Produced by Kevin Agunas and Dan Auerbach (the Black Keys), it was album that caught my ear with its seamless mix of roots, blues and folk sung by a voice that seemed to have decades of earnest life lessons behind it.

Valerie June’s voice is unique. It’s a voice that you can’t confuse with another singer’s voice. She is … for lack of a better comparison … what Erykah Badu is to neo-soul/hip hop music. A voice so raw and sincere, singing music so traditional yet new, I found it hard not to fall in love with it upon my first listen, and have been telling my friends since that hers is a voice that will likely stand the test of time.

It was a week after I purchased tickets to see Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings when I found out that Valerie June was added to open the show … and I was ecstatic. At first, it seemed like an unlikely pairing, but upon retrospect, because both artists’ music styles are essentially modern-day approaches to “classic” styles of music, I figured the promoters knew what they were doing assuming that their audiences would be more knowledgeable and appreciative because of the historical slant to the music.

Valerie’s set was short but sweet. Clocking in at just over 30 minutes, it was charming mix of acoustic and band-backed versions of her songs, mostly coming from her latest release. After it was all said and done, I found myself wanting more. Not only that, but I decided then and there that if she would ever perform in a more intimate venue like the Bootleg Theatre, I would be the first person in line.

As an aside, while waiting in line to get into the venue, I noticed a woman with flowing dreadlocks and large sunglasses walk by me. It was Valerie June and I quickly asked the couple behind me to hold my spot as I caught up to her and asked her to autograph the LP I had packed in m bag. I assured her that I wouldn’t draw any more attention, and as we walked around the corner (she was heading to the artist entrance to get ready for her set), I pulled out the LP and professed my adoration of her “Pushin’ Against A Stone”. Her gorgeous smile made my day.

I also asked about her father, mentioning that my own father had heart surgery several weeks ago as well. Our conversation was brief, but in those few minutes I felt like I connected with her on a human level, which only made me appreciate her performance that much more that evening.

Unfortunately, the Flickr slideshow below is not available on mobile devices. If you are on a mobile device, please click THIS LINK to get redirected to the set of photos. If the slide show below isn’t working, then Flickr has disabled their embed option for WordPress and hasn’t yet updated their HTML code, which totally BLOWS! If you can see the slide show below, hooray!

 

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Stevie Wonder | Songs In The Key Of Life | Nokia Theatre L.A. Live | 12/21/13

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Have you ever thought about what you would say or do if you were in a room with one of your childhood idols?

One of my childhood idols was Stevie Wonder. I discovered his music by way of the 1993 cover of “Lately” by Jodeci. When I started doing some research browsing the CD racks at the local library, the first CD I pulled of the rack was “Songs In The Key Of Life”. I must have been too eager to play the music, as I started with disc 2 rather than disc 1, and the first song I heard was “Isn’t She Lovely”. I was hooked.

Since then, I’ve amassed a considerable collection of his music (on CDs and LPs) even spending hours making a detour to an HMV while I was touring Japan with my college singing group to search for albums I hadn’t ever seen before. While the rest of the group members were doing touristy things, I found a copy of Stevie Wonder’s  harmonica album “Eivets Rednow” (that’s his name spelled backwards if you couldn’t tell).

Fast forward to the relative present, I had to pick up a paycheck at my bosses’ business manager’s office. I stepped into the elevator, and with the doors closing to take me up, a hand jammed in the middle to open the doors back up. One man walked into the 5ft by 5ft compartment, followed by another man directing an older gentleman wearing a daishiki and sunglasses. That man was Stevie Wonder.

All of a sudden, my stomach turned and my palms got sweaty. My mind started racing, searching for something to say, but as the elevator came to a stop, it’s doors opened and my teenage idol slowly departed the space, with me there silently watching … watching him walk away as the doors closed me in.

Ever since then, I’ve repeatedly thought to myself what I could have said in that space of a few seconds …”I used the lyrics of ‘Send One Your Love’ for my best friend’s wedding toast” …  “‘Sugar’ and “Anything You Want Me To Do” are my favorite songs form “Signed, Sealed and Delivered” … “‘Music Of My Mind’ changed my life.” …  “I plan on using ‘Ribbon in the Sky’ as a song at my wedding, whenever that happens” … Yeah, I guess you can say that I’ve thought about what I’d say to Stevie the next time I was ever in a room with him.

When I heard that Mr. Wonder would be performing “Songs in the Key of Life” in its entirety for his annual “House Full of Toys” charity concert in Los Angeles, I used my industry connections to ask for orchestra seats that had been announced on Ticketmaster as being “sold out”.  Weeks went by, and it wasn’t until the week before the event that I was notified that a pair of tickets would be held at will call for me. I was set, and I could only eagerly count down the days before attending a concert whose music meant so much to me and my life.

When I picked up the tickets at will call, I was surprised to find that with my tickets were VIP passes to the private bar of the venue. I’m not typically a VIP kind of guy, but knowing that the venue was huge (maximum capacity is over 7000), I appreciated not having to wait in line for a beer.

As me and my guest were about to enter the private bar, a security guard halted our progress. I scanned the room and noticed the hallway to the stage door in front of me and …. AN ELEVATOR immediately to my left. My stomach turned and my palms got sweaty. Sound familiar?

As I nervously joked with my guest that, “I bet you Stevie is in the elevator,” the elevator doors opened, seemingly in slow motion … in a way that made it seem like the universe was playing some twisted joke on me … and the man of the evening, Stevie Wonder, stepped out of the elevator with his entourage.

The room was quiet. I was quiet.

My mind racing to retrieve one of the gems I had thought of years before, a woman standing behind me, interrupting my train of thought, yelled, “I love you, Stevie,” and with that my mind yelled out the only thing I could think of…

“I love you too, Stevie” … and with that, he disappeared behind the stage doors.

Epic, EPIC fail. LOL.

My epic fail aside, the concert was everything that I could have hoped for. The list of special guest performers was epic: Greg Phillinganes, Joe, Frederic Yonnet, John Popper, Chick Corea, Eric Benet, Esperanza Spalding, John Mayer, Ledisi, India.Arie, Herbie Hancock … the list goes on.  It was a backing band fit for a king, and Stevie ruled the stage. The Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone Magazine wrote terrific reviews of the show, so I’ll spare you my rambling.

While you click those links to read what they had to say, I’ll be over here in my corner practicing what I’ll say the next time Stevie Wonder is in the room.

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Unfortunately, the Flickr slideshow below is not currently available on mobile devices. If you are on a mobile device, please click THIS LINK to get redirected to the set of photos.

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Snoopzilla and Dam Funk “7 Days Of Funk” Record Release Party | Los Angeles Exchange | 12/10/13

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[Note: The video I took of the event is, unfortunately, unusable, so you’ll have to make do with video clips I found online.]

Snoop’s record release parties are always a good time. There are always big names in the building, and a special performance set by Snoop of a mix of new tracks and classic hits. The record release party for Snoop and Dâm-Funk‘s “7 Days Of Funk“? A mini music festival of funkedified proportions. There were a lot of artists billed for the event, but I wasn’t expecting each to perform their own 30-35 minute set, and all of that music made for one motha-funkin evening of music.

Steve Arrington (who rendered side artist vocals on a couple tracks off of the album) was the lead vocalist of Slave and did a short set of some of his well known hits like “Just A Touch Of Love“.

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Egyptian Lover, one of the original DJ’s who rocked the mic during his live sets in the clubs back in the day, then took the stage armed with his Roland TR-808 and turned the crowd up … way up. Perhaps the highlight of his set was when he got the entire crowd to ravenously chant “8-0-mutha fuckin-8” for over a minute. He was, by the way, one of the original innovators of producing funky, hip-hop beats on the 808 back in the 80s.

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Dam-Funk then took the stage to perform a short set of his solo material, proving to the crowd that he is a capable torch bearer for So-Cal Funk.

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After Dam-Funk’s set is when things got dicey. Apparently, there were a few technical malfunctions that threw a wrench into an otherwise great start. Though, some may focus on criticizing the venue’s apparently poor house crew, I thought that that the technical difficulties were actually a blessing in disguise.

Saving the day, if only for a couple songs, Bootsy Collins, took a working mic and performed a couple of Funkadelic songs over instrumental recordings, engaging the audience and having the audience sing for him. I heard through the grapevine (second hand, mind you) that Bootsy wasn’t scheduled to a perform, but was supposed to be main acts hype-man. Backing track or not, being able to see Bootsy Perform “(Not Just) Knee Deep” was an immense pleasure.

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Flea, of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, got on stage to slap his bass guitar, but it would appear that his performance was a casualty of the poor technical setup as his playing was inaudible. A disappointment, sure, but his being there was a strong co-sign of the funkiness of the album.

Once it seemed that things had been sorted on the technical front, Snoop and Dam Funk performed several tracks off their collaborative effort.

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It was a weeknight, and I had an early morning call, so I had to depart the party early, but I heard that after Snoop and Dam Funk performed a handful of selections off the album, the party kept going with Snoop DJing for those who didn’t have a curfew till way past closing time.

As Snoop and Booty’s have preached, it “Ain’t No Party Like A Snoop Party”. Chuuch.

Unfortunately, the Flickr slideshow below is not currently available on mobile devices. If you are on a mobile device, please click THIS LINK to get redirected to the set of photos.

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Filter Magazine’s Culture Collide 2013 | Echo Park | 11/10/13 – 11/11/13

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This year (2013), Snoop’s wife’s company, Boss Lady Entertainment, signed an artist from Poland named Iza Lach. I’m a huge fan of her sound/voice, so when I found out that she was slotted to perform several sets during Filter Magazine’s Culture Collide music festival, I was giddy. I was even more giddy when I saw the impressive number of foreign bands set to perform. I had a wedding in Santa Barbara to attend Saturday, October 12th, so I’d have to miss out on The Ravonettes, Alice Russell, Rhye, King Khan & The Shrings, and a handful of other lesser known acts, but I still managed to get a press pass (my first of the year!) to check out some of the bands playing Thursday and Friday.

Now, there are a lot a music festivals that go on throughout the year, all across the United States, but the Culture Collide festival is particularly unique in that it’s an extremely affordable way to see different kinds of bands from all over the world- 24 countries (including the United States) were represented this year. I sat next to a couple for Jacco Gardner who echoed that sentiment by telling me that they, “go to this festival every year. It’s only $30, and to get to hear great music from places I know I’ll never get to go? It’s totally worth it.”

Below are the bands that I was able to catch (click through the names of the bands to check out the entries that I wrote up). Hopefully this music festival has another go at it next year, as I certainly would attend, with or without a press pass.

Thursday, October 10th:

  1. Wooster (US)
  2. Tiny Ruins (New Zealand)
  3. Maya Vik (Norway)
  4. Iza (Poland) 

Friday, October 11th:

  1. Medicine (US) 
  2. Jacco Gardner (Netherlands)
  3. Gemini Club (US) 
  4. Great White Buffalo (US)
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