News & Updates — disco

A left-field favorite of mine, Sylvester James Jr became a hugely popular disco singer and a gay icon. But to my ears his best work was with his funky Hot Band, a staple of our '70s Funk Rock DJ parties. But the real story was his colorful life as a flamboyantly out-and-proud gay man with a love for cross-dressing and a creamy falsetto who came to be acknowledged as "the Queen of Disco". From Watts, he sang gospel as a child but was kicked out of the church due to his sexual orientation. He and his gay & trans friends...

On Monday July 24, at 9:30 pm come see LOCOBEACH in Brooklyn! Every Monday night at Barbès the Tropical Vortex series showcases bands and DJs who specialize in variations on tropical sounds from Latinolandia and elsewhere. This week Peace & Rhythm recording artist Locobeach brings a new tropical hybrid of psychedelic cumbia & disco (with a little electro, dub, funk, chicha & surf thrown in for good measure) featuring members of Los Crema Paraíso, La Muy Bestia Pop, and Chicha Libre. Plus Peace & Rhythm DJ Crew Andujar & Bongohead will spin a Rumba Sicodélica set between sets and after!  Barbès 376 9th St. (corner of 6th Ave.), Park Slope, Brooklyn NY 11215 Tel:...

Shout-out to the Bollywood film composer extraordinaire Rahul Dev Burman, born today in 1939. As someone who didn't grow up with Bollywood movies, my big ears found some of the wacky, funky, psychedelic soundtracks that seemed to annoy my Hindi friends. Often times the craziest tunes to my ears would be from R.D. Burman. His wife was the great singer Asha Bhosle, who often worked with him. He has been a popular presence in Hindi film music since the mid-'60s and continues to be popular long after his passing. Often a trendsetter in the industry, his soundtracks included Indian folk...

Happy birthday to one of NYC's best, Jimmy Castor! He sang doo-wop with Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers and the Teen Chords, as well as playing reeds and percussion. He started playing timbales after hearing Tito Puente and in the early '60s became the bandleader for Dave "Baby" Cortez, as well as recording with Bill Doggett. The Jimmy Castor Bunch became a hot item on the NYC club scene with their blend of Latin jazz, boogaloo, calypso and funk. They were sharing a lot of bills with Joe Bataan, Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers and Kool & the Gang...

A Northern Soul legend, Popcorn Wylie was one of the earliest contributors to the Motown hit-making machine as an instrumentalist, composer, producer, A&R man and artist. A pianist from Detroit, he grew up with bassist James Jamerson and the two were in a band together as teenagers. That band, Popcorn & the Mohawks, would cut a few singles for Motown in the early '60s before both the future stars got absorbed into the house band, The Funk Brothers. Wylie played on several big hits such as "Shop Around" (the Miracles), "Please Mr Postman" (Marvellettes), as well as tunes by Marvin...