Let me tell ya what's up... I've mentioned this several times before, but who really reads all these entries besides me and maybe The Marathon Man? I know DJM doesn't read most of my posts, the Indian Playa has stopped paying attention, and my GF is too busy. Anyway, I'm a fan of Sharon Jones and the DapKings.
Who? Sharon Jones, mo-fo:
I watched Sharon Jones and the entire Dap-King crew (her band, which includes all those guys in the video - the bass player, the guitarist, the congo player, the drum guy, the horn section, and the smooth-looking Latino who orchestrates) perform live three or so years back. In a Tower Records. On the second floor. Literally. They performed with the full band right by the escalators as you got off. Twelve people deep, performing for like 15 people.
It reminds me of this time I was reading Rolling Stone magazine (I think) and they had their list of the "Top-20 Greatest Live Concerts Ever", and included the standard fares - Queen at Webley, Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock - when I got to like #4 on the list. It was "The Darkness live at a London Virgin Megastore". Yes, faux-metal band The Darkness, performing "I Believe In A Thing Called Love", in a Virgin Megastore. There was even a picture of the lead singer guy doing a split over a pair of CD racks while singing, with the rest of the band jumping all over the place.
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings at Tower Records was a good show, as they are one funky ass band. Sharon is the reincarnation of James Brown, don't you know?
Jones and the Dap-Kings are part of the DapTones record label. They put out "nu-funk" music (basically updated versions of what James Brown and his ilk used to do) on their label, which is located in, check this, a "dilapidated two family house in Bushwick". For real. And they record on only analog - THERE IS NO DIGITAL.
Where might this house/studio be located in Bushwick, Brooklyn? I don't know, but if I had to guess... perhaps somewhere on Menahan Street? See, the "Menahan Street Band" recorded that little song you heard in the first YouTube clip in this post. They haven't released anything other than a single. That "band" is really just a bunch of people who routinely drop in and out of a studio on Menahan Street (you guess which studio), and recorded that smooth nu-funk track you heard. And have been hearing in the clubs for, oh, the last three months, right?
And finally, guess which pseudo-retro funk artist recorded her Grammy-award winning album in that previously mentioned "dilapidated house" in Bushwick that is Daptone Records' studio? Amy Winehouse. And guess what band she used to get her soulful sound? The same band that went on tour with her last year - The Dap-Kings.
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SML, about as many people read your Youtube posts as read my Artist of the Week posts, ha. People just don't like our non-sports videos. :-( Oh well. You know I love your site--add me to that Brian and Jack Cobra list above.
once again, another random yet awesome post for SML.
this is totally unrelated, although you can always relate it to something, but i felt like you need to see this site if you haven't.
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/
just give it a chance lol
@MM: Even worse... at the Tower Records that used to be on 66th and Broadway! They weren't even good enough for the NYU crowd yet!
@MC Bias; I read your Daft Punk post. I just had nothing to add, so maybe that's why it those posts aren't heavily commented... I check them out, though. So other people probably do, too.
@Prez: Thanks man, much appreciated. And about that site... I've been on to it for about a month now. I found about it not too much after it debuted (in January) - a friend of a friend knows one of the guys who writes it - you know, the usually six degrees thing. Anyway, I've been kicking myself for not having written about it first - I had thought about it a couple of times, because some of the posts are absolutely fantastic. But I never did, and boom... it blew up over the last two weeks. The Big Lead, Deadspin... you name it. And I could have beat them all to it. Damn... how stupid am I?
Anyway, my favorite post on that site right now was the one about "Rap songs all white people like", if only because House of Pain made #2. I've been saying for years that "Jump Around is the only rap song every single white person under 40 knows the words to, without fail". Seriously, try it out - play it a party, and every white guy will be like "pack it up, pack it in, let me begin...".
If Sharon Jones is the reincarnation of James Brown...what does that make lord Charles Bradley?
The new revised edition of Sir Louis Curry?
And we here (ok, me) at BTF/Baseball Primer read every day.
Hmm, good question. Lord Charles Bradley is a noted British James Brown impersonator, right? I'm going to say that he's just a doppleganger (one of my favorite words), whereas Sharon Jones is actually keeping the work of James Brown going. It's the difference between a guy who does a good Marlo Brando impersonation, and Johnny Depp/Daniel Day Lewis.
Wow, I'm honored that you guy(s) at the BTF read me! Cool....
IndianPlaya is always here... my eyes do tend to glaze with the Knickersucker posts. Nice find tho with the Sharon Jones vid. The depth of content on Youtube never ceases to amaze me.
Youtube is Obama. Obama is Wikipeida. Wikipedia defines Youtube. Huh?
Time for bed.
"Make the Road by Walking" is the name of a social activist community organization in Bushwick, in case you were wondering.
On the Second Floor at the Tower (RIP) on 4th & BWay, aka, the jazz/funk/blues/world/non-white folk floor? That's pretty sweet considering for difficult it was to get good seats for their recent show at the Apollo.
Oh, and give Brian and Jack Cobra some credit...they read everything on here, too.