AJ Dance Legacy

OPEN AIR AND INTIMATE

Part I 

Kai Alcé

Yeah, you are at the right place.  As the car door closes, you overhear faint thumps where you are parked adjacent a curb monitored by vagrants. Walk a block pass the open air parking structure as the ontz expands in the atmosphere.  Juxtaposed against the skyline of high rises, onward forward lies the destination.  A folding table and portable fence where your mobile ticket is scanned.  Grab a smiley face wristband.  Say hi to security.  Enter. Tents. Vendors. Lounge chaises. Restrooms?  Behold the center piece of the event.  That is not the surrounding professional lighting towers, nor the arena-sized sound gear but an aerodynamic aluminum mobile trailer titled Rock The Disco Soundsystem.  Coachella eat your fucking heart out.  (more…)

OPEN AIR AND INTIMATE

Part II 

LOUIE VEGA

“You, you, you….’ The F sharp and C minor notes dot the soundscape.  When the tappings of drums dissipates leaving only emptiness to expand.  A sound of sweeping ocean waves builds and builds to a climatic fall that washes away Upper Alabama Street. A refreshing rain of vibe and rhythm drenches the tops of heads. Possessed by unspoken rhythms. All bodies dance. Bent over. Feet stomping the ground. Hands swaying on the brick.  The Thakzin and Sun-El Musician produced Afro-banger with sutlry vocals by Thandazo’s “I.C.U” provides the most cinematic scene of dance thus far.  (more…)

The Phenomenon That Is Demarkus Lewis 

“Yooooooooooooooo!!!  What’s up?”  He grabs you by the hand giving you a bear hug. 

“I haven’t seen you in a minute.”  You reply.

“Oh, wait, you have to see someone.”  He leads you meandering through the heat.  The sweat.  And the thump from Jimpster featuring Mavhungu’s “Tribute.”  Luminiferous flashes guide you through the mass.  Their bodies careful not to brush against you and you them.   (more…)

KING LOUIE

Be prepared to lose your $hit. 

1700

The atmosphere transforms.  A new presence is felt.  A new spirit arrives. Although he nor his fedora are visible from the rear of the dance floor adjacent the bar.  No longer Little Louie, Vega gives life when playing the Dance Ritual chart-topper from the early aughts.  “Brand New Day” never sounded more engaging.  As a tidal wave of optimism floods over the gathered faces of brown, tan, and peach.  Appreciating.  The King’s preaching an uplifting sermon; Raul Midón’s “Sunshine (I Can Fly)” (Sacred Rhythm Mix),  Elements of Life’s featuring Anané’s “You Came Into My Life” (Louie Vega NYC Mix), Lil Louis’ “Fable” (Director’s Cut Classic Club Mix) with those uplifting piano riffs that floors everyone including the woman with tatted sleeves waving her limbs uncontrollably at the classic, Barbara Tucker’s “I Get Lifted”-all songs Texans need to hear.   (more…)

The Five Essentials to Throw a Successful Event

2330

“One water and one vodka cranberry,” you tell the bartender who closes the tab.  Grab the libations early.  Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate. Cause when Louie Vega featuring Unlimited Touch’s “Music Is My Life” welcomes you into the expansion, you already know, it is going to be one of those nights. 

Where perspiration drips down the fore and onto the chin.  Already? 

To the front of the space your red-bottoms trek.  To the right, near the elevated DJ stage, feel the kiss of cool falling from unseen vents. There you make camp. Your real estate secured.  (more…)

Prologue 

“How long does it take to get a damn bottled water?” The bartenders dressed in shoulder less black halters are wearing black masks. By 2 pm, people are tripping over, slightly inebriated, or buzzed from Moscow Mules or whatever trendy libations are du jour. You’ve waited so long at the bar that you start a conversation with a lady wearing micro braids. 

“What’s the wait about?” She asks over Akabu featuring Ovasoul7’s “Raw Love” (Joey Negro Club Mix).  Pockets of prime real estate appear. As the crowd thins.  That allows you to spin around and two-step adjacent the libation station as you wait and wait and wait.  Eyeing the servers inching away, further south the rectangle bar.  All you want is a bottled water.  

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Gimmick Music

Kai Alcé

2345

Walking into the club when the Kerri Chandler Dark Mix of Lea Lisa’s “Something for the Dancers” is playing means this is money well spent.  In the era of inflation, when the DJ drops your favorite from KemiticJust featuring Terrance Down’s “I’m Here For It” you totally agree, you came here just for this moment.  To dance.  To smile.  To laugh with friends.  Life only gets better.  When the percussions of Afro beats that drives young feet to stomp and the sneakers of the middle-age to shuffle around steel columns to Detroit Swindle, oops Dam Swindle featuring Jungle by Night’s “Call of the Wild,” is the most excitement of the party thus far. (more…)

OVEOUS

So what does an OVEOUS playlist sound like?  The music that Osunlade plays.  Percolating percussions.  Meditative melodies.  Ancestreal chants.  A major difference being OVEOUS spits verses, live.  Holding in hand a microphone he raps, “Find your friends on the dance floor. Or make new friends on the dance floor.”  Osunlade and OVEOUS are arguably interchangeable.  The latter having been mentored by the Yoruba priest, is a member of the Yoruba Recordings family.  Debuted as OVEOUS MAXIMUS, he first released, “I Apologize” (The Remixes) over a decade earlier.  The Ezel Remix brings back fond memories when the music selector sings, “I’m so sorry. (3X) I apologize.”  That has you mouthing along in harmony.

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