Platinum Pied Pipers, Fresco-style, Fatsouls

Actually started this post last Sunday (Nov 7). Just finished it up now:

Taking a break from the barrage of political entries. Like I wrote earlier, in its previous incarnation, Steady Blogging concentrating on music and literature--the good stuff. So here's a musical post.

Anj and I haven't gone out to listen and/or dance to music all that much since arriving in the Yay in January. A quick recap, AFAIK recall: Aceyalone in Feb at Slim's, where we met up with Adam, Josh, and Greg (the latter two we literally met at this show); a hip/trip-hop show at Milk in March, where we met up with Andre's lil bro Mischa; Amp Fiddler at Cafe du Nord in early June; John Beltran and John Arnold at Milk in early July; Common in late Aug; Federico Aubele, again at du Nord, in early Oct. That's about it.

But things are picking up. Anj and I made it out two weeks ago (Fri, Oct 29) to a club called Mighty. What drew us out was "Wonder-full," which fully lived up to the high expectations we had for it. We rolled in around midnight--just as Spinna and Bobbito went on. They went tag team for the 3 hours that we stayed, and as advertised they played strictly Stevie. They kicked it off with "Higher Ground"; later a Ray Charles cover of "Living for the City," followed immediately by the original...a late night highlight was Spinna dropping Dwele's "Down Jimmy" (a lascivious remake of "Too High.")

Then last Friday I went back to Milk to see the Platinum Pied Pipers do a live gig at Milk, and then, compliments of flavorpill, hit Mighty again for some afterhours deep house--Ron Trent on the decks!

PPP @ Milk were great. It was another night by the guys at fresco-style. They seems to be a quality crew. Not only bringing in great guests (it was them who brought Beltran and Arnold in July; and check the past events on their site), but also dropping quality tunes themselves: prior to PPP coming on, one of them (Yoshito I believe) played a great set--early '90s hip hop into broken beat...highlight for me was Dwele's 'Truth.' (Got me to revisit Subject this past week--album's is not as disappointing as I first thought.) And not only are they quality promoters and DJs, they seem to be friendly too. Another one of them (Kento) told me that next month they're bringing Dego in to do a set! (And he claimed to remember me and Anj dancing around at John Arnold gig in July!)

Then PPP came on, and they didn't disappoint. Waajeed on turntables, Saadiq on bass (both of them decked out), Tiombe Lockhart and Georgia on vocals. Seemed like they're still working out their live thing, but it was still soulful and funky. Think they did everything that's on their Ubiquity 12"...though I was waiting for their cover of "Open Your Eyes" but it never came.

A strangely memorable moment was when they did introductions, to the instrumental of "Your Precious Love." Something about seeing and hearing so much of Detroit's musical history right there: the soul of Motown, which reaches back to the rhythm & blues that made the trip North; and reaches forward into the funk of the '70s (Stevie again, of course...but don't forget that P-funk is originally a motorbooty affair). Keep an eye on Ubiquity and Waajeed and Saadiq's bling47.com

Afterwards we dropped in on the opening night for "Full Circle", a new night at Mighty by local crew Fatsouls. Listened to Ron Trent drop some deepness for an hour or so. Only track I recognized was Candido's "Thousand Fingered Man." (Amazingly, Candido was on the bill at this show for the SFJazz Festival last weekend, but Anj and I didn't have the time or energy to make that one.)

If we have the energy, we're going to hit Mighty again tonight. This week they've got Alton Miller. If Ron Trent and Alton Miller are indicative of the caliber of guests they're going to be bringing in for this night, we'll hopefully be regulars.