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BlackBooksCafé of Baltimore
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4th of July 2003 Oh my goodness! As far as House music is concerned I am absolutely proud as hell to be from Baltimore and think that we have some of the best DJ's around. The House headz in Baltimore can get down on the dance floor, and not just in the same boring way that some city's are used to. In Bmore we make love to the music. There is no whole club full of people dancing by themselves looking like they're homeless. Before we begin this story I want to take this opportunity to tell all of the Baltimore House music dj's that you are the best damn DJ's in the country. Yeah, sure someone will try to say "but what about this bigname dj in this city or that city", and deservedly so. But we are like the New York Yankees----A squad full of winners. Our DJ's are use to bringing the heat in Baltimore because most of our clubs have to close at 2am. So there's no time for 2 hours of "just opening up" stuff. Who can debate this line-up. DJ Spen, Karizma, DJ Pope, Teddy Douglass, DJ Oji, DJ Biskit, Cleo Khary, JLee, DJ Technics, Henry "Da Man", KW Griff, Donny Burlin, Terry Thompson, DJ Chuck, Thommy Davis, DJ Soulgiver, DJ Qwest, and on and on and on........and who knows, it might have been this way for a long time. But this time we have a website to document it and not just rely on memories.
This weekend started with the Sky Lounge on Thursday July 3rd. It, most definitely, was overcrowded because of the holiday. Karizma was in the booth and back from his one week off, ready with a blazing set to start the weekend off. The whole blackbookscafe.com & Soul Fiesta crew was in the House supporting Karizma. If you were not there then you missed Jason Din and Davon McCoy playing together as Jason shared his congas. It was amazing as they showed some of the new faces and people who came for the first time, how spiritual House music really is. Karizma rocked the Sky Lounge with a vengeance on Thursday giving people a preview of July 12th, and as I observed what I was hearing I was convinced that I was hearing a modern day Michael Joyner(Club Fantasy). He played forgotten House tracks that made everyone just scream. After the party we wished some of our House family a safe trip as they went to the Big Apple to the club Shelter's summer stage dance marathon. Although we couldn't make it to D.C. to hear DJ Oji hold it down for some of our D.C. House cousins, we were assured that the party was "live" and festive as personal instruments helped bang the party. If he played anything from his recent cd release I'm sure the party was live.
Ok, the 4th of July finally arrived and I was very excited. It seems like whenever there are multiple parties on the same night that all the parties seem to be packed and alive. Plus on this night DJ Pope was holding it down on the radio for a holiday edition of House music on Morgan State U's radio to get everyone in the mood. Are we still boycotting the station? I know I haven't donated money to Morgan since Maxi Jackson took over and cancelled the "Underground Experience". Anyway, we venture out early so that we could visit Blackbookscafe resident dj Karizma play a little at the Red Maple for Donny Burlin's "Soulful Sounds" party. We got a quick impromptu interview with the super producer/re-mixer on how he feels about House headz supporting their scene more than ever now. After checking out Karizma do his thing as usual for a little while, I hurry up and make it to Street Folks for the "Good Vibrations" party. It was important for me to get there because DJ Biskit put up-and-coming dj, Cleo Khary, in the line up exposing the people to another one of their very own incredible talents. I got to say that when you get an opportunity to step up to the plate and let people know who you are, you need to bang the box hard. Cleo Khary took this chance to show everyone that he's got skills(full story). Cleo is one of the 5 dj's recently interviewed by us in the story called "We got next". We also took time to pull up DJ Biskit for another impromptu interview asking him what he thinks about all the House headz coming back out and what's upcoming for him. All the "Good Vibrations" dj's(KW,Cleo,Technics, & Biskit) rocked the House all night long. This was not a "same ole' music" kind of party. As a matter of fact, does anyone else besides Technics(full story) have the track "Get it right" by Soul Session? We were up at the front chanting "Get it right, get it right!!!". That is one hot track when played at 2 or 3am. There was also a lot of new faces at this "Good Vibrations" party. You could tell because the line for the bathroom was extending in the wrong direction and towards the dance floor....And for all you guys coming up to look at what song the dj's were playing, I hope this means you are going to get those tracks and go back to the neighborhood clubs and stop playing songs like "Set it off", "Follow me", "I get lifted", "Silent morning", etc every week for ten more years :) By the way, give it up to Baltimore's Jasper Street co as they have the number one House track out in Baltimore right now with "He's alright". DJ Spen broke it out at the Sonar Lounge a few weeks back and all the top area dj's have it in their rotation at this very moment.
Hear quick impromptu interviews with Karizma and Biskit at the Red Maple and Street Folks over the holiday. DJ Karizma
@ Red Maple 4th of July
DJ Biskit @
Street Folks 4th of July
Baltimore continued this hot weekend of House music on Saturday at Club MMCCCIV on Boston Street for Bassee's "Chocolate Factory" with DJ Biskit and percussionist Davon McCoy. Also this weekend Baltimore's Robin Rush of the Soul Providers will be performing out of the country in Vienna over the holiday. Then on Sunday at the New York party "Sunday Sessions" @ Suite 16, one of our native sons Teddy Douglass(Basement Boys) represents Bmore as usual. Later on Sunday DJ Biskit and Karizma begin the Sunday night party at Nick's in Randallstown. Is there anyone out there that ever said to themselves in the past "I wish Baltimore had some good House music parties again?" Well be careful what you wish for because they are everywhere now.
DJ Karizma @ Sky Lounge |
