Soul-Patrol.com Archives

May 17, 2012

Bob Davis of Soul-Patrol.com: This has been one heck of a week (if you are a F-U-N-K-A-T-E-E-R)

Note from Nadir: Earlier this week I posted about the passing of bass master Donald “Duck” Dunn of Booker T and the MGs. Well, wouldn’t you know it, before the virtual ink of my blog had dried, we heard that Detroit’s own, P-Funk and Brainstorm vocalist Belita Woods also left us. The very next day we got the news that Chuck Brown, the Godfather of DC Go-Go, made his transition. UPDATED: And right after I posted this, we learned that Donna Summer passed away. What a week!

Our good friend, Bob Davis of Soul-Patrol.com, by virtue of his esteemed role as connector between artists and fans in the worlds of soul and funk, sometimes holds the unenviable position as bearer of bad news. He laments that too often his weekly Soul-Patrol newsletters function as a black music obituary column. As you could expect, this has been a trying week for him in that regard. Yet, in his late night email, he comments on these deaths with his usual eloquence and poise. I can’t say it any better, so we’ll let Bob do the talking.

This has been one heck of a week (if you are a F-U-N-K-A-T-E-E-R)
Originally posted by Bob Davis of Soul-Patrol.com
May 17, 2012

There has certainly been a whole lot going on in my world and the world around me over the past week, that has absolutely nothing to do with music. I won’t bore you all with the details, but I will tell you that it has all been quite good.

All of that good stuff is somewhat tempered by all of the bad stuff that has been happening in the neighborhood of the world that Soul-Patrol lives in.

This has been one of the worst weeks that I can recall. (and the week is not yet even 1/2 over yet)

We lost 3 soldiers this week. FUNK soldiers that is:
Continue reading

January 17, 2012

Jimmy Castor: Rest in the Funk

I was honored to meet Jimmy Castor at the 2007 Soul-Patrol Convention. After that brief conversation, I was compelled to go back and listen to his music which I had loved as a kid.

As Soul-Patrol’s Bob Davis said to me when we were talking about the man later, Jimmy Castor’s genius is often overlooked. He’s dismissed as a “parody” artist. But when you really get into the music, you’ll feel the depths of the grooves. You’ll be impressed by the musicality and the arrangements. And you will laugh your behind off.

I was really sad to hear that Mr. Castor passed away on January 16, 2012, at the age of 71. I hope there will be a long line of tributes for this man, though he deserved so much more attention during his life.

Here are a couple of my favorite Jimmy Castor joints.

March 9, 2008

Concert Review: Nadir @ BAM Cafe, Brooklyn Academy of Music – Brooklyn, NY, Feb. 9, 2008

Review by Bob Davis, www.soul-patrol.com

“If the bump ain’t crunk,
if the funk ain’t pumpin’
with the thump in the trunk,
then the bump ain’t bumpin’
You just gotta Leave It Alone, Leave It Alone!”

Leave It Alone Live at WDET
Click HERE to get your FUNK on!

As a few of you know, I have been really, really busy of late. In fact I have been so busy that I haven’t been able to get out and see many shows in 2008. This may well be the only show that I see in 2008. (sike….I’ll be seeing Ryan Shaw this week in NYC).

I haven’t been able to even find the time till now, to write this review of Nadir’s show.

But here it is and let me start out by saying that if this were going to be the only live show that I saw in 2008, I would be alright with that. Nadir put on an outstanding show, but more importantly he proved to me that he has a rare quality in a modern artist, in that he is able to also overcome “adversity.”