 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| Thommy Davis | DJ Pope | DJ Oji | DJ Spen | DJ Biskit | KW Griff | |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
||
| Greg Pickett | Neal Conway & Aaron Edmonds | Robin Rush for Elan-records(Balto) | Robin Rush with Herman from Chico's "Tumblin' down" | Sax player | ||
See over 50 pictures here.......
|
|
So, we have been telling you how big this night was going to
be for the last few weeks. It's been a very long time in Baltimore
since two spots was able to have a crowd full of people on the same night,
loving House music. A little over a year ago, Maxi Jackson from WEAA
of Morgan State University, decided to force a cancellation of the
"Underground Experience". It was just about the saddest day in the
history of Baltimore House music. It was depressing because we really
didn't have anywhere to go, consistently, to hear house music and the show
was our salvation. Plus our beloved Paradox wasn't drawing the type of
patrons that would keep house music alive. Now, a year later, we
have parties on the same night with Thommy Davis, Neal Conway, Greg Pickett,
Donny Burlin, The Soul Providers(Jason Papillon & Ian Carey), DJ Pope, DJ Oji, DJ Spen, DJ
Biskit, KW Griff, Ultra Nate', Henry "Da Man", new comer Robin Rush, Herman
from Chico's "Tumblin' Down" fame, and many more local House music
celebrities all out in force mixing and partying to celebrate the soulful,
spiritual, and timelessness of the music. If that wasn't enough, DJ
Boobie was holdin' it down on the radio playing House for the people who
couldn't make it out. Just to put you in the mood for this story we
want to tell you that all three parties had a Martin Luther King House mix.
We want to thank all the promoters for inviting us to the three events and
give special thanks to Jason, Brian Hardy, and the Brothers in the Struggle.
To begin the night we visit the Sonar Lounge during the "Luv Shine" happy hour party. This was an exhilarating start to a night of spiritual House music in Baltimore. Thommy Davis(former Basement Boy) and Greg Pickett were on the turntables playing tag team Djing. Thommy playing the classics/Garage and Greg playing the House. This was our 1st time hearing Greg Pickett playing and we were quite impressed. We'll try to contact him later to bring you an interview. Another thing that impressed us was the show like atmosphere. Imagine this Thommy Davis and Greg Pickett in the dj booth with the Numarx(DJ Spen) classic house tune "Do it Good" playing, Neal Conway on Keyboards with newcomer Aaron Edmonds, and a saxophonist all playing throughout the song. Now that's House music. We also saw a new vocalist with Baltimore's Elan Records named Robin Rush who, after a little confusion, finally got to introduce herself to the BBC with her vocal performance. She currently has a single out now called "After the Storm". The Soul Providers and Elan Records are definitely a camp that we will be trying for make you all more familiar with in the future. Way to go Citi-Life. If this wasn't enough, the second party starts and everyone was invited to stay. We even got our hand stamped so we could change clothes and be fresh for this one. This was the Oasis reunion and MLK "Pride" party with DJ Pope & DJ Oji. We stayed until about 11:45 as we had to get ready for the 3rd party. But this was not before seeing Ultra Nate' in the House. At least we think that was Ultra. She's got a fashionable style that changes her look every time we see her ☺. Also we heard DJ Pope play one of the tracks from his new cd/album called "The Movement" with a Spoken Word artist named Teressa. Look out for literature/poetry from her in our Literature side of the site hopefully in the future. We also picked up an excellent mix from DJ Oji. It will be on our house music page soon. We just want to say one thing about this new "lounge scene" trend across the country. This is just an opinion and observation so please don't take this personal. How can one sit by smoking and drinking and not even bobbing there heads while deep, soulful, House music is being played when they know that's all an event will be playing? Looking bored dampens the mood for the rest of the true house heads. Lastly, but certainly not least, we head for the "Good Vibrations" party @ Street Folks on Liberty rd. After swinging by to pick up an associate of the BBC and changing clothes once again. We make it to the Good Vibrations. Speaking of commitment to this thing we call House, we would like to tell everyone about the support and dedication of DJ Biskit. DJ Biskit, before attending his own party, attended and showed support for the "Luv Shine" party even though he was hosting an event later with twice the amount of people. That's love for the music. After arriving at Street Folks we were so tired that we immediately got a plate of some of the good food prepared by the "Good Vibrations" staff. We noticed a lot of people there that went to the Sonar Lounge earlier that evening. The vibe was alive as usual with everyone hugging and greeting old friends. DJ Spen rocked the House and so did DJ Biskit. We got there too late to hear KW Griff but I heard he started crankin' it up early and people were already sweatin' by the time we arrived. For a couple of songs Spen and Biskit played tag team DJ that brought about our pick for the best live mix & crowd response over the last year. The two songs or mixes in question was "Tears" by Frankie Knuckles f/Satoshie Tomiie & Robert Owens and a MLK mix that had people watching and screaming at the dj booth while it was being done. We couldn't even get a clear picture. There were the two turntables and a sampler that DJ Spen had sampled the hook from "Tears". "Dripin'-n-Dropin' and Dropin'-n-Dripn'....So many tears". This was the first time we have ever heard tears played in a party for over a decade. Spen and Biskit also threw down a mean **s MLK mix with Spen using the sampler to drive the crowd wild with Martin Luther King samples. The screams from the party people mixed with the screams from the MLK speech was incredible. We, at the Black Books Cafe, give thanks to all the House heads in Baltimore for supporting all of the DJ's, performers, promoters, and us on this night. We are so proud to be a part of the Baltimore House scene. You make us what we are and this is your site because if there were no parties or nobody at the parties, we would not have any content for the website. We want to also tell you that website visitors from all over the country and world are feelin' how we present the Baltimore House scene. We thank you. One more thing, if you saw us out on this night and we didn't speak please don't take it personal as we have met a huge amount of people in a very short period of time and can't remember everyone's face right away. Just know we have love, peace, and blessings in our heart.
|
| Sonar Lounge 1 | Sonar Lounge 2 | Sonar Lounge 3 | Good Vibrations 1 | Good Vibrations 2 |
