Filed under: Eccentric Soul Revue, Methodology, Twinight | Tags: Jennifer Ludden, Morning Edition, NPR, Renaldo Domino, Twinight's Lunar Rotation
The Chicago based music label Numero Group reissues forgotten gems from all different genres of music – rock and roll, gospel, funk, R&B and soul. Most recently some of the performers went on tour under the banner of the Eccentric Soul Revue. Guest host Jennifer Ludden speaks with one of the label’s co-founders Ken Shipley and one of the performers, Renaldo Domino.
Filed under: Boddie, Eccentric Soul Revue, Methodology, Uncategorized | Tags: Numero Sale
It was bound to happen, after three years in our 1100 square foot basement office and an influx of over 40 releases, Numero has come to a space crossroads. Sometime around the middle of this year we noticed the warehouse was feeling a bit cramped. And by warehouse, we mean every single inch of office floor that isn’t occupied by a chair or a toilet. We already built new shelves, took out a lease on a storage unit, and reorganized the entire office, then 14 pallets of Light: On The South Side arrived and completely turned this place sideways. Hallways have gone from casual arteries to stomach-sucking traffic jams. The conference room is lined with LPs. Even the bathtub has boxes. And we’re still making records!
In an effort to get this office back to–at the very least–90% capacity, the Numero Group has decided to do something that no other business entity in the history of commerce has ever attempted: we’re going to sell items for less than the retail price! We even came up with a great name for the idea–we’re calling it a “sale.” OK, we recognize that this isn’t a new concept, but the extreme discounting of wares in an attempt to move product is a time-tested consumer hoodwink that, to date, we’ve been loathe to participate in. Until now! Sales generally indicate low prices, but this being Numero, we’re going to go one better. No, screw that, two better. Hell, let’s turn it up to three.
That’s three levels of savings, but not just savings–we’re giving stuff away. And by stuff, we mean stuff.
While supplies last (500 on the nose), buy any three (3) of the Numero titles listed below on CD for $45, get a copy of the Ant Hill Mob’s “The Number Runner Pt. 1/2″ 45 free. This previously unreleased Cleveland funk 45 is a sure shot, home hi-fi hit, and is completely unavailable outside this deal. There will be no digital dig, no iTunes, no mercy. Play it on 45, or don’t play it all.
While we still have ‘em, (500 on the chin), buy any six (6) of the Numero titles listed below on CD for $85, get a CD copy of the Eccentric Soul Revue live from the Park West Theater, April 4th 2009. If you missed that show, or any of the other five dates on our recent Eccentric Soul Revue tour, this is your shot to get back in the game. The 20 track disc features Renaldo Domino, Nate Evans, the Notations, and Syl Johnson, and cannot be purchased anywhere except in this deal. Plus the Ant Hill Mob 45 and our sincere gratitude.
And until we run out, (89 on the cheek), buy any ten (10) of the Numero titles listed below on CD for $135, and get a hand-numbered and personalized test pressing from our archives. This has no real value beyond bragging rights to your sad circle of record collecting friends, and yet, is the must-own holiday item of the year. We guarantee the fingerprints of all Numero Group members will have sullied this trinket. And… you’ll also receive the Ant Hill Mob 45 and Live Eccentric Soul Revue CD.
Here are the titles. Have your plastic accessible.
002 Antena: Camino Del Sol
003 Eccentric Soul: The Bandit Label
005 Fern Jones: The Glory Road
008 Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies From The Canyon
009 Eccentric Soul: The Big Mack Label
011 Eccentric Soul: Mighty Mike Lenaburg
012 Catherine Howe: What A Beautiful Place
014 Cult Cargo: Grand Bahama Goombay
015 Eccentric Soul: The Prix Label
016 Home Schooled: The ABCs of Kid Soul
017 Eccentric Soul: The Outskirts of Deep City
019 Don’t Stop: Recording Tap
021 Soul Messages From Dimona
022 Brotherman: OST by the Final Solution
023 Eccentric Soul: The Young Disciples
027 Eccentric Soul: Smart’s Palace
*4 Boscoe: S/T
*5 Wee: You Can Fly On My Aeroplane
*6 Caroline Peyton: Mock Up
*7 Caroline Peyton Intuition
That’s over 1/3rd of our entire catalog to choose from, and each of them are worthy of a slot in your growing Numero library. Haven’t you been looking for an excuse to fill in those missing numbers? This is it. Already have them all? Get your friends and family hooked on Numero. It’s a cheap move, sure, but buy the 10 pack, keep the limited stuff, and break the discs out one by one to everyone on your Xmas list. It’s not regifting if you do it with love.
Listen, the sale has already started. The limited items are only getting more limited as you waste time hemming and hawing. In the spirit of the season, give to us by giving to yourself.
Filed under: Eccentric Soul Revue | Tags: 2pac, Boogie Down Productions, Different Strokes, Hip Hop samples, NWA, Public Enemy, Syl Johnson, Wu Tang
Nice look back at Hip Hop history through a single sample: Syl Johnson’s Different Strokes.
Filed under: Uncategorized
A few weeks ago I got together with Tony Sarabia to talk about some incredible but neglected regions for music. The conversation went a little longer than planned and it’s a bit long winded so if you want to just hear the music, check the links below:
The segment on music from Venezuela:
The segment on music from Greece:
The segment on music from Papua New Guinea:
Thanks to Tony for putting some of this unusual stuff on the air, and giving an outlet for some obscure stuff deep in the Numero personal archives.
Filed under: Eccentric Soul Revue, Syl Johnson | Tags: 9:30 Club, Guns n' Roses, Megadeth, Syl Johnson, Use Your Illusion I & II
Easily one of the highlights of the tour was seeing Syl sport a Megadeth Countdown To Extincition t-shirt on stage under his jacket in Chicago and DC. We picked up a copy of Guns n’ Roses Use Your Illusion II in Columbus for the long car ride to the 9:30 Club and midway through the highly pompous album – check “Get In The Ring” to refresh your memory – we realized that Syl has this heavy Axl Rose inflection in his voice these days. This led us to the idea of a Syl Johnson cover album called, Blues Your Illusion I & II. Try singing this like Syl, “Ohhhh you could be miiiinnnne. But your waaaaay out of liiiinnnnne.” I think we are on to something….
Filed under: A Light On The Southside | Tags: 848, MIchael Abramson, Perv's House, Richard Steele, WBEZ
When Chicago radio legend Richard Steele interviewed Tom and photographer Michael Abramson for WBEZ’s 848 program this morning, we discovered he and Michael had something in common. They were both prowling the same South Side clubs at the same time. Here are Mr & Mrs Steele in front of Perv’s House, circa 1976 or so:
Filed under: A Light On The Southside | Tags: Bronzeville, Herb Kent, Marcus Riley, MIchael Abramson, NBC, Parkway Ballroom
NBC/UNIVISION threw a Light On The South Side party at the historic Bronzeville Parkway Ballroom last night. It was insane. I’ve never seen so many beautiful people in one room. Some of whom were sitting in my lap. Here’s the invite, followed by some pics Michael took at the party. And dig the pic of Herb Kent – yup, that’s him – in an afro wig.
Filed under: Eccentric Soul Revue, Syl Johnson | Tags: Eccentric Soul Revue, Syl Johnson
The week seemed like a year. Look at our inboxes for proof that the world is constantly moving, even as we were trapped in a van for 10 hours a day debating who was worse: Spin Doctors or Hootie (fight it out amongst yourselves in the comments section). The idea of typing up a tour diary seems impossible right now, what with boxes of merchandise to unpack, accounts to settle, and the daily grind of running a record label (we only tour in a spare time), but hopefully we’ll be able to put some of the madness down before it’s replaced by new headaches.
A few people must be thanked, people who likely will never read this, but thanked they will be regardless of RSS feed. Bill Sullivan, for keeping this entire thing from going off the rails (even if it did go off the rails in Brooklyn). Erik Selz, for convincing promoters to give us an absurd amount of money for a totally unproven side show attraction. Dana Meyerson at Biz 3, for making sure we were in front of everyone who reads a paper, magazine, or church bulletin. Scott Adamson, for keeping it together in the midst of a terrible tragedy. John Allen for the hospitality in Brooklyn, Damon Carfagna for the same in Columbus. The cities of New York and Brooklyn for not ripping our van off while it was filled with $25K worth of merchandise. Charlie Shipley, for the programs, even if we didn’t need all 4700.
To everyone who came out, we hope you had a wonderful time. And to those who stayed home… well… you done fucked up.
Now, to the point of this post. When Tim Sutton at Getty Images wrote and said he wanted to shoot the Brooklyn show, we expected that he would get a handful of shots from the crowd and be done with it. When he arrived on Friday night and went straight back stage, we knew it was going to be much deeper. This is just the tip:
I know I know…times are tough for everyone but if you are a regular listener to the greatest radio station on the planet, please show your support today during their 24-hour marathon since they are short of their annual budget and need some cash to stay on the air. You can call in your pledge at 1-800-989-9368 or pledge online at WFMU.
At WFMU we’ve always prided ourselves on being able to support ourselves on one pledge drive a year, plus whatever we can scrape together by selling roses outside the Holland Tunnel. But that was before the great recession. Before we fell over $100,000 short of our goal during our March fundraiser. Before we lost our lease on our main transmitter site and set out to put an antenna in midtown Manhattan. That’s why we’re setting aside our pride for 24 hours for our first, and hopefully last, day-long marathon. Starting Tuesday, November 17th at 7pm and continuing for 24 hours, we’ll be trying to raise enough money to keep WFMU’s heart pumping and turntables spinning until next Spring. This is only the third time in WFMU’s 51 years on the air that we’ve taken the drastic measure of interrupting our programming, even briefly, outside of our annual March Marathon. The first two times happened when our old owner, Upsala College, went down the financial tubes. Our 24-hour Marathon is meant to ensure that WFMU doesn’t meet that same fate. But rest assured that our 24-hour Marathon will still contain that unique mix of shameless grovelling, prizes, and DJ tag teams that make WFMU marathons the fun listening experience that they always are. We also have a brand new T-shirt and a special edition of our program guide LCD. As of this writing, I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to secure a new lease for our 91.1 FM transmitter site, and I’m working hard to resolve some final issues with our New York City booster antenna. On the online front, we’re still making great progress, having just launched two additional channels of online programming (a Rock & Soul stream and an Ubuweb/avant-weirdness channel), not to mention a WFMU iPhone app which makes it easier than ever to listen to WFMU live from anywhere. WFMU has been in financial hot water before, and the support of our listeners has always bailed us out. I’m confident that you’ll come through for us again this time, either by calling 800-989-9368 between 7pm November 17th and 7pm November 18th, or by pledging online. Thanks. I hope to hear from you. Ken Freedman Take Me to The Pledge Page Now!