It has been a long few months with many great legends passing away.  Most recently Isaac Hayes passed away and I know this is a little late but I wanted to share this great tribute mix for Mr. Hayes I found from DJ Premiere.

DJ Premiere's Isaac Hayes Tribute Aug. 15th

 Also below is an excerpt from the last interview Isaac Hayes gave to the LA Record:

 L.A. RECORD’s Rena Kosnett interviewed Isaac Hayes last week in preparation for his performance later this month at Sunset Junction. We were saddened today to learn of his passing in Memphis. As far as we know, this is his final interview.

Rolling Stone named ‘Soul Man’ as one of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Do you think most people realize you and David Porter wrote that song?
Maybe, maybe not. Some people, they don’t connect it—they think it was Sam and Dave, because they made it well known.
You said previously that you wrote it in response to the the 12th Street Riots in Detroit—about ‘man’s struggle to rise above his present conditions’?
Yeah because, you know, the riots were going on and we were watching it happen on TV, and we saw that they had written on the walls of the black-owned stores ‘Soul Man.’ And I said, ‘“Soul Man,” that’s a good title.’ At that time in the ‘60s, there was all kindsa crazy stuff goin’ on. That’s why I wrote it, you know.
The Sunset Junction festival started as a way to bring the Latino community and gay community together in East L.A. after several instances of violence. Would you consider writing a ‘Soul Man’ type of song for the gay and Latino struggles?...Click Here

The folks over at djhistory.com have allowed us to post this interview with the master of disco and inventor of house, DJ Fankie Knuckles from 1995.

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of dancefloor history knows Frankie Knuckles respectfully as the ‘Godfather of House’. Together with his childhood friend Larry Levan he ran wild on the early disco scene: his first job was spiking the punch at Nicky Siano’s Gallery. Transplanted to Chicago after a residency at the bacchanal of New York’s Continental Baths, it was Frankie’s sets of ballsy older disco at the Warehouse that ignited this polite midwestern city and gave house music its name. This interview was conducted just after the shock closure of New York’s Sound Factory, another great room that Mr Nicholls had (briefly) made his own.

Where did you start DJing?

I started spinning at the Continental baths in July 1972. As well as the club area, there was an olympic size swimming pool and a TV room at the very end. Alongside the pool was a sauna and a shower room, then there was like boutiques and restaurants and bars, and back into an area where there was apartments and private rooms...Click here

We at Tothedisco.com  apologize for not posting anything about Barry Lederer's passing until now but we just heard the news over the weekend. Barry passed away on May 31 of natural causes. It's such a shame that Barry has passed away. He was a kind and generous person from the few times that I spoke with him on the phone.

Barry came onto the Disco/DJ scene from early on in its infancy. He began DJing almost by accident at a club called the Firehouse in Soho and also ended up spinning at the Sandpiper on Fire Island. He developed his own sound company called Graebar Sound System and wrote the disco column for Billboard Magazine 1976-1982. Later he started working as a sound consultant for fashion shows.

 He was the ultimate supporter of disco and as you can see just by googling his name that he has added his knowledge and experiences from the 70s to many disco websites. He told many many great stories about that era and what really happened and who were the real players who shaped disco and the future of dance. It was with the deepest sincerity that my thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family of Barry. If you would like to send your thoughts in tribute please go to Discobarry.com.

Defected Records has put together a nice little documentary following legendary DJ and label head Gilles Peterson around. The doc follows Gilles from presenting at a Cinematic Orchestra concert, to DJing at Southport Weekender. and finally to the goldmine that is Gilles treasure trove of records at Brownswood Studios. The salivation will be on your lips as you see Gilles' many shelves of records.

Gilles Peterson - In the House

XLR8R brings us a great look into the proper way to go crate digging in Manhattan's Lower East Side or LES for people in the know. Go to Kon's blog for video at Playin 4 Keeps.

Also don't forget to check out their "Off Track" mix album featuring all the great rare afro funk and disco tracks they are know for digging from the corners of the earth.  Released recently on BBE Records. You can pick up the album at the Underground Hip Hop shop. Good luck finding it at your local record store.

Tothedisco.com is sponsoring a new night in Boston called Afro Juice. Afro Juice is a combination of DJs and live music with the jazz, funk, soul , disco asthetic in mind. Coming up on July 13th is local guest DJ Joseph Colbourne. Colbourne was recently featured on the legendary Ebony Cuts radio show out of Sweden.

Check out mix section for an exclusive mix from Joseph Colbourne.

I just wanted to draw attention to this great blog entry about mixing varied tempos and musical genres. Over at the Cosmic Boogie Collective blog they posted an intertested article on how to mix disco.  I thought it was quite interesting as over the years I've been switching from spinning the more typical house club music towards deep disco, funk, and soul. The author has some gerat ideas, escpecially on "chop mixing." Enjoy!

Here is the super rare track "We Had Enough" by Arnie Love and the Lovettes reissued by the Numero Group on the Recording Tap compilation. Arranged by Gene Redd with backing vocals from the "Lovettes" (Roberta Bivers and Linda Green) this track reminds me of UNiversal Robot Band's "Barely Breaking Even" for some reason. Perhaps its the subject matter of being without money and barely getting by. I can relate to that.

 Arnie Love and the Lovettes - We Had Enough

It's one of those great genres that is recently getting a lot of exposure at moment with many have been compilations released recently. One great artist of this genre is Buari, who grew up in Ghana and is a a singer, dancer, percussionist, composer and co-arranger. The track from the album we've picked is "Advice from Father" which features heavy drums from legendary drummer, Bernard Purdie.

Buari - Advice from Father

The documentary by filmmaker Gene Graham has finally made it's way to Boston via the premiere at the 24th Annual Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. I've been anticipating this film for months now and to see it along with fellow Paradise Garage and West End Records enthusiasts was amazing. 

For those who aren't familiar with this film, it's about the life of Mel Cheren, based on his autobiography "My Life and the Paradise Garage: Keep On Dancing." The story follows in chronological order his rise through the music industry along with his discovery of dance music and his own sexuality.  The story tells some astonishing feats that Mel accomplished in his lifetime which were: the release of the first instrumental only B side on a 12"; the creation of West End Records leading to the release of some of the greatest dance tracks in history including Loose Joint "Is It All Over My Face", Sesso Mato's "Sesso Matto", and Taana Gardner's "Haertbeat" ; and financially backing and helping to create the Paradise Garage.

On a socially conscience level he also created the first AIDS music industry activist group, 24 Hours for Life whioh later became Lifebeat and gave the Gay Men's Health Crisis its first headquarters. One thing the film does not include is his passing on December 17th, 2007.

If you don't know much about Mel Cheren then this film is a must and if you own every record in the West End catalog the film is still great to hear the stories Mel tells and the accolades today's DJ superstars such as Louis Vega and Danny Krivit give to Mel's legacy.