Dig Deep: 45 Edition, Vol. 5…Soulvation

Been coping with the loss of Matthew Africa by spending a lot of time listening to music and sharing stories about him and times shared together. Even before his death I had been thinking of doing a post about Soulvation, a Wednesday night weekly headed up by KALX’s DJ Kitty at Oakland’s Ruby Room on 14th Street Downtown. Round about 2001 I was in my second year of graduate school and first year at KALX Berkeley, the radio station at Cal. Graduate school at Berkeley was a tough experience for me in the early going. While I had some very good friends in the department, I was never really able to shake the feeling like I didn’t truly belong at such a prestigious school. 2001 was the year where everything came together for me, personally and professionally and a big part of that was the sense of belonging I got from going to those Soulvation Wednesday nights.

I can’t remember who originally invited me to come out, or if I just thought about checking out since I knew several KALX DJs spun there. I’ve always been a fan of soul and funk music, but most of the time when I lived in Atlanta, I wasn’t old enough to go to the bars, and later when I was of age, I was never able to find a funk night. Same case in Madison, Wisconsin, for the short year I spent there. Soulvation was the first place where I was able to hear the music that I loved most and able to literally dance away all my frustrations, insecurities and hang-ups and just enjoy life. The Ruby Room was (and still seems to be) a quintessential dive bar. It remains quite possibly the darkest bar I’ve ever been in. It was always filled with smoke, despite California laws to the contrary, which gave it even more of a “We Don’t Give A Fuck” kind of feel. The crowd on those Wednesday nights was mostly on what I’d now call the hipster side of things, but there was always mix of Oakland people and everybody was always cool. The mainstays were almost always DJ Kitty, along with Sean Sullivan and of course Matthew Africa. After playing a couple of rounds of pool at Thalassa in Berkeley I’d bike down to the Ruby shortly after 10pm and settle into a spot near the DJ booth chatting up with Matthew, Sean or Kitty and getting drinks, Rum & Coke or Cuba Libre for me, generally a beer for Matthew. We sit or stand over by the DJ booth, compliment each other song selections, catch up and when our song came on, set the beer down by the decks and hit the floor running. While the bar was long, it didn’t really have a dancefloor to speak of, just a bit of space between the bar and in front of the DJ booth. It couldn’t have been more than a 8 X 8 bit of space, but by 11 it was always packed. Going to those Wednesday nights taught me how to dance really good in a really tight space (a talent that proves most useful at Funky Sole here in LA).

At some point Kitty asked me to spin and I could not have been more overjoyed. While I’d spun at a few spaces before, I’d never spun at a place where people actually danced. I would just pack my sets with tunes that I wanted to dance with and most of the time while I was playing songs I’d also be on the dancefloor, keeping track of the changes so as to make it back in time to cue up and start the next tracks. By far, those Wednesday nights were my best experiences as a DJ and a dancer, due in no small part to Matthew Africa and the other DJs. My fondest memories are spinning at birthday party’s for Kitty (I seem to remember getting her a “Soul Sister” cake like the cover of the Sister Funk compilation) and for Matthew’s 30th birthday along with Joe Quixx. I also distinctly remember Halloween in 2001, when Matthew dressed up in a 1970s “Tony Montoya” white suit with a bag of white powder that he had labeled “Yayo not Anthrax”…such was his sense of humor. The rest is a blur that makes me seriously wish I’d spent a bit less on records back then and instead bought a camera. But memory is an amazing thing and if I close my eyes I can still see (and smell) the Ruby Room in its glory, walking down that long bar to see Kitty and Matthew hanging out by the booth as “I Got The…” or “Hook & Sling” or “Here Come The Girls” was playing on the shittiest speakers in all of the East Bay. Though I can’t remember what we were talking about, I can remember talking to Matthew about something have “Quit Jivin'” come on and see him drop his drink and immediately doing his signature strut, only to return at song’s end and pick up the conversation where we left off. Below are just a few of the songs that were a part of that experience.

Lyn Collins – We Want To Parrty, Parrty, Parrty

This one started off my first ever set at the Ruby Room. It’s a fantastic song to segue from one DJ to another because of the intro and equally fantastic because of the funk and party atmosphere of the track. Once I was spinning here in LA at the Short Stop and the dance floor cleared after I started playing this song, much to my dismay…I almost gave up on LA right there on the spot. Definitely made me miss those Wednesday nights at the Ruby even more.

Vera Hamilton – But I Ain’t No More (GSTSKDTS)

One of the truly signature songs of Soulvation, so much so you’d think there was a contract somewhere that stated that this song had to played every single week. I think a lot of DJs won’t play such a “slow” track like this, but this one never fails to get people on the floor. A big part of it has to do with the “G.S.T.S.K.D.T.S.” chant at the heart of the song. Soulvation regulars knew this one by heart and had some distinctive ways of acting out the final time when Hamilton lets you know what each of those letters spell out.

Johnny Tolbert – Check Your Battery

One of my single favorite songs in the world to dance to. Just great interplay between the lyrics and singing and rhythm, lots of little changes that really allow you to improvise and be creative on the dancefloor. While I know Tolbert’s not really singing about Cars, sometimes things get so nonsensical that I think maybe he really is just talking about the sheer fact that you cannot start your motor if you battery is no good.

Jodi Gayles – You Gotta Push

Sister funk out of Chicago that always got me to put down my drink and head to the dance floor. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure that my right knee has never been the same after I twisted it on an especially hard dip to the right during the “Push & Pull” chorus. Didn’t let that stop me that night and haven’t let it stop me since. It just impossible not to get moving once those punchy horns and drums start up and Gayles starts to run down all her problems with her man and what she thinks the solution will be.

Rodger Collins – Foxy Girls In Oakland

No other song defined Soulvation in quite the same way as “Foxy Girls In Oakland.” There are few “city” songs that can compete with this blues groover from Collins. I have a hard time thinking of any song about a city (and it’s women) that’s better than this. Another sure fire mover, with so many choice lines it’s hard to choose what you favorite is, “Foxy little girls in Oakland, struttin’ like you never never seen before,” or “Pretty leg girls in Oakland, struttin’ down East 14th,” or “All the little guys in Frisco, don’t do nothing all day but think about the girls in Oakland,” or “True bad mommas in the East Bay, shuckin’ and jivin’ it while they talk.” My favorite was always one of the closers, “All these girls killing me, make me happy, make me so happy I could slap my pappi!” Simply nothing compares to being on an Oakland dancefloor when “Foxy Girls In Oakland” comes on. Though I wasn’t there when it happened, I seem to remember that Kitty had tracked down Rodger Collins, now known as Haji Sabrie, so he could see how beloved his song was and the effect it still had 30+ years after being recorded. This song was always the shining star of the night, played almost always at Midnight and eliciting a raucous cheer from the crowd as soon as the opening guitar licks rang out. I’ve never experienced that kind of reaction for a funk song, and likely never will. That was only part of what made Soulvation so special and so sorely missed.

{Bonus Track For The Good Times} Another signature tune, that I’ve never owned on 7-inch, though I don’t think the version that got the most play, with the “Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby” x 2 intro, was ever released on 45, was Mary Jane Hooper’s “I’ve Got Reasons.” Such a fantastic mid-tempo strutter…for me no night was complete without hearing this one.