AJ Dance Legacy

JAMIE 3:26

With that said, the people would have loved MORE Jamie 3:26.  Here is to next time and hopes of more Jamie. –AJ Dance 

In Space2 sharp sounds from synthesizers slice the air over a choppy drum beat that renders the crowd, “Mercyless.”  Already a sizeable mount of foot soldiers conquer ground.  The soldiers dance hard, almost too hard.  Fists pump the air, legs wobble around in semi-circles and feet stampede the concrete.  The scene resembles a pre-HITP fundraising party and not an HITP 8 after party.  Earlier that day at the park, had the people not filled their bellies with enough sweet house music treats and much dance?  The culprit, Salah Ananse feeds the crowd leftover goodies, songs not played earlier at HITP 8.   It’s after midnight.  The crowd turned monsters, munch on everything in sight from refrigerated potato salad-by the way, left out all day in the hot sun-to meatless rib tips.  Just joking.  Actually, the charismatic crowd rollicks as they munch on a cornucopia of soul music with joviality.  From Fred Everything to Atjazz, soul music emanates inside the environment.  With attempts to rekindle the anthem spirit from earlier in the day, the one song repeated at the party from the park, MJ’s, “Thriller” (Black Motion Mortarfied Mix) plays for eight minutes, that drags on far too long as the night’s guest headliner tweaks wires, sets up hardware and cues music before he opens with……

Brother Johnson’s, “Stomp.”  The song is played like it has never been played before.  Drop the EQs.  Punch the bass line.  Pitch the highs and let the mids ride.  Stand by the speaker to hear secret rhythms and unheard melodies escape that leaves the listener entranced with an ear-struck experience.  The song is deconstructed to its fabric core to reveal hidden elements that creates a 3D soundscape.  Drums talk.  Horns blow before eyes.  Guitar strings pluck fingers.  A symphonic vision emerges and comes to life right in front of the eyes. The high definition sounds play with the outer ear. The middle ear vibrates with repercussions of joyful noises.  Utterly, the experience leaves the listener breathless.

Atlanta’s house and disco heads wishes came true.  Two days prior the 1^st Annual ATLANTA WEEKENDer’s start, e-vites announced the return of Jamie 3:26 to close out the four day festivities. At the same venue, three months earlier, Jamie put a chokehold on the city’s house and disco community.  The people wanted more, so much more that the size of the WEEKENDer’s closeout attendance proved so.

How does Jamie do it?  Do what?  Know when and what songs to play at the right time.  The party’s surprise, perhaps the best song played, arrives like a New Establishment.  The 1985 sing-along classic from the British New Wave Band Tears for Fears with “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” (Timmy Regisford & Adam Rios Mix) oozes with enough R&B soul to rule urban radio.  Sleeping feet awake to life, “hoots” and “hollers” shrieks the atmosphere like the first of morning yawns as arms grasps the air and the balls of the heels playfully bounce up and down as if stretching after a full’s night rest.  The feel good house treatment, even more shakes off the slumber when a rousing keyboard solo electrifies the song’s ending.

Out comes the baby powder.  Enter the hardcore house dancers into the room.  Immediately they stake dance floor real estate.  A dance circle forms.  Here comes their fan club ready to marvel at choppy arm punches, sporadic hip thrusts and staccato foot stomps.  The talented two-some dance harder than anyone else.  These cats don’t play.

Four-count thumps pump harder as a haunting voice appears out of thin air.  The voice croons of sleepless nights and the hearing of voices calling her name.  Thiwe’s vocals on Black Coffee’s, “Crazy” (Manoo & Francois A. Deep Journey Mix) meanders over the thumps until a keyboard riffs escalates the copyright into euphoric heights.

WEEKENDer EPILOGUE

The music continues as the night’s hours march off into the aphotic.  Honestly, not much is recalled from the party.  The reason being is not from mild-altering substances but from the six hour dance marathon that you took part in earlier that day.  Your feet are tired. You are so exhausted that you want to fall asleep.  You wish that you could stay longer.  However, you have a twelve pm flight back to the UAE.  Unfortunately, your time in Atlanta is drawing to an end.  A sudden smile crosses your face.  What a weekender.  There was so much deep, soulful and meaningful house music crammed into three days that has left you with an overwhelming natural high.  As you say goodbye to Space2, the place where your adventure began, you come to the realization, Atlanta is on to something and this is the start of something huge.

Photography by AJ Dance

JAMIE 3:26

The Chicago Invasion Continued…..

A treasure trove stood before the eyes. Back at Space2, along the wall behind the makeshift DJ platform hung historic prospectus from club land’s bygone era. On the exposed wall Lil Louis hung next to Ron Hardy that hung next to Parrish Thomas. The decorated display was a who’s who in Chicago house music history. A time when house music was a lifestyle during the opulent 1980’s hey day. One of those pioneers-a second generation Chicago DJ-guest headlined at Chicago native/Atlanta resident Ramon Rawsoul’s monthly, “The Gathering.”

Jamie 3:26 (pronounced three too six) showed up like a prize-fighter. The Chicagoan moved cocksure and swiftly mimicking a South Side Chicago boxer. Like he had something to prove. When a DJ opens with Chicago’s outspoken Peven Everett’s, “Simmer” (Timmy Regisford Mix) there’s nothing to prove. The second generation house master’s brilliancy shined through a panoply of beats from award nominated genres. Runner-ups included broken beat, afro-house, classic house, vocal house and underground tracks. The party’s reigning champion went to Chicago’s South Side disco. That disco, the soundtrack to the uninhibited 1970’s, caused pandemonium in front of the makeshift DJ booth. A small crowd of forty-plus year olds had gathered and waged animalistic war. Imagine moms and pops imitating wild African animals in heat. Had the savages worn animal fur the textured pieces would have been skinned-bare. Leopard print bell bottoms? Destroyed. Ripped to shreds. Oversized afros? Gone. Torn off heads. Sounds of high-pitched hyena sibilants, cackling howls and roaring growls were heard courtesy the brute. Carnivorous claws sliced the air, the shaking of heads-possessed-jerked from left to right as teeth gnashed. A ravage spectacle of outright barbarism consumed the room. People, Please Clear The Area. Move away from the predators. The prey was bound to die.

Jamie packed a punch. The silver-haired mixologist delivered several rounds of blows to the audience. Take Diana Ross’, “Love Hangover.” The bass disappeared. The highs were tweaked and played at high decibels. Then BAM!!! (The crowd loses it.) The bass slammed the place. Precisely on eight-counts, the beat thumped harder, louder and more powerful than ever. On Anto Vitale’s, “Theorma Del Faya” (Tea Party Vocal) Jamie bobbed and weaved, anchored one shoulder upright as a boxer protecting his/her face from an incoming right hook. Peek-a-Boo. Jamie bounced up and down on the balls of his heels with a swift shuffle of the feet as all twelve fingers danced on the mixer. This is the type of DJ that anticipates what the crowd needs (not wants) and causes the audience to follow. Too bad the entertaining match would last for only TWO brief rounds (hours). The South Sider hadn’t made it to a T.K.O. Had the people got their money’s worth?  Why invite a legend from over seven-hundred miles away to play for only TWO hours? Are the fees worth spent having a guest headliner play less than three hours? Assuming so, this mind buckling trend seems to be spreading like wild fire in clubs across the country. Resident DJs are insisting on closing out their parties. Honestly, the majority of the crowd comes out to witness the event’s special guest talent. With that said, the people would have loved MORE Jamie 3:26. Here is to next time and hopes of more Jamie. After all it’s not often we get a chance to experience such a music legend.

Photography by AJ Dance

The Chicago Invasion Continued…..