Live at the BBQ

Next Saturday I'm playing a one-off party that should be really fun. It's a day-time, outdoor, all-vinyl affair at the Missouri Lounge in Berkeley.

I've never DJed at the Missouri before but I have enjoyed its unpretentious atmosphere and cheap drinks. This time out there will be free BBQ (fingers crossed, hoping for Phat Matt's) and the patio will be in effect, which is key to tapping the kind of outdoor summer thing we're going for. Oh, and it's free.

(EDIT: there will not be free BBQ. There will be BBQ but it will not be free, nor will it be from Phat Matt's, which you really ought to go to anyway because all other barbecue in Oakland is basically dried-out, gristly meat drowned in sauce. I haven't had the BBQ at Missouri Lounge, so I can't really offer an opinion either way except to say that you really should be eating at Phat Matt's if you have the opportunity because usually when I go in there they are way less busy than they ought to be and I worry that they'll go under and then I'll be left with nowhere to eat BBQ and maybe have to drive all the way out to the peninsula to try that place Serg says is good.)

There's a pretty cool flyer by Aebl Dee:


I wish he hadn't cropped the image of me such that I look like a hunchback, but I probably share some of the blame since I provided a crappy photo. Partygoers who attend the event will have the opportunity to see me demonstrate repeatedly and emphatically that I am not, in fact, a hunchback. (No offense, hunchbacked readers.)

The party was put together by my friend DJ Eddy Bauer, who I met towards the end of my time at KALX. He impressed me right off with his curiosity and excellent taste, and I soon learned that he's also remarkably nice. For a while, he was doing the favor of warming things up at Kitty's prior to my Hubba Rock party, but then he left to do a bunch of Friday parties at Oakland/Berkeley venues like the Missouri Lounge, Mua and Geisha. He also has a spiffy blog.

In addition to me and Eddy Bauer, the DJs include E Da Boss, who is maybe best-known as one half of the Timmion Records retro-soul duo Myron & E but is also a strong DJ and producer in his own right. The line-up is rounded out by a trio of specialist crews: boogie folks from the Sweater Funk party, Latin record fanatics from Club Unicornio and people from the hopefully self-explanatory Vintage Reggae Society.

I'm not 100% sure what sort of records I'll bring to play, although I think I might take the opportunity to go buckwild with some ancient disco raps. As annoying as I find the concept of all-vinyl parties, I do like the way they limit you to what you've carried with you-- if I only bring records I'm excited about, I'm only going to play records I'm excited about.

Here's one:



The Jimmy Castor Bunch: "Space Age" (12" version) (Atlantic, 1976)

"Space Age" has been a crate staple for me for a few years but I only recently snared the 12" version, which is longer. I've been tempted to mess with the file to adjust its wandering tempo but it's kind of perfect as it is.