Remembering Mikey Dread & Joe Gibbs

Well, the record score of my last post has pushed me into where we all probably knew this blog was going, which was into my love of music, and here is a place for me to move that forward. In the past few weeks, the reggae world (which is the whole world) has lost two great pioneers and giants of roots music, producer extraordinaire Joe Gibbs and radio DJ turned reggae superstar Michael Campbell aka Mikey Dread the "Dread at the Controls."

First things first, I'm going to be doing a musical tribute to these greats on my radio show, Reggae Vibrations, today from 2:00 to 4:00 PM Eastern on WTJU 91.1 FM in Charlottesville. Listen live online here.

I won't attempt to write their obituaries, as more capable and suitable people have done that already (for Gibbs here, and Campbell here). However, I would like to share a bit of their work, and what they've done for reggae music. You would do well to check out all of this stuff, but at least look at the first clip for each of these guys. And do yourself a favor and turn the volume UP.

MIKEY DREAD
Mikey Dread - at the controls live in the dancehall, London 1981:


Mikey Dread - "Natural Roots"



JOE GIBBS: the Youtube tributes to Joe Gibbs consist mostly of record-play videos; sooner or later, I'll be making these myself, but for now you should enjoy the following:

Junior Murvin - "Cool Out Son" produced by Joe Gibbs:


Joe Gibbs & the Professionals - "Runnings Irie" (Money in my Pocket version)


If you want to hear Mikey Dread in action you can download one of his JBC radio shows on Rapidshare here. Shit's ridiculous: "Michael, you make me feel so good!"

Also, I'll be DJing tonight in Harrisonburg at Clementine if you'll be around the area or know people there who might enjoy it.

Score! Lots of Disco-Funk Records

This weekend I made probably the biggest record score I've had in my young record-digger's life. I came across a fairly large (100+) record collection in a thrift store, obviously all from the same person/place. It's almost all disco-funk from 1976-1978, but there's some soul and some avant-spiritual jazz in there as well.



Above are records holding two of my favorite disco tracks of all time: Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band ("Cherchez La Femme") and Esther Williams ("Last Night Changed It All"). These are the two I'm most thrilled about--they might not be the rarest of the bunch, but they'll get the dancefloor moving when needed.



It seems like they must have come from a radio station, 'cause most of the records are promos, and some of them are even still sealed, like the copy of Cloud One's disco classic "Spaced Out" above. Some of these records are clearly worth some money , but that'll reveal itself at a later date. For now, they're just a joy to listen through and look at. John, James, & Ali were hanging out tonight, and we were all pretty enamored with the totally 70s graphic design of the album covers. And I'm getting psyched for the next dance party--naturally, I'm thrilled.

Secretly Vegan #1: Girl Scout Cookies!!

With this post, I'm starting a new segment of the blog, called Secretly Vegan. I'll be surveying different foods which are secretly or surprisingly vegan. Vegan for those of you not in the know means no animal products whatsoever involved in the making of this product. And this is a particularly good example of the fact that vegan does not equal healthy.

So anyway, I was surprised to find that these two types of Girl Scout cookies are completely vegan: "Lemonades" and "Thanks-A-Lots." Note that the name Thanks-A-Lots is trademarked so don't even think about using it to brand your new greeting card line or Solja Boy single. You'll notice old favorites Thin Mints and Samoas didn't make the list, but these two are pretty good. And it's encouraging to know that the GSA are pushing the vegan option at a very young age--I wonder if they have a Tofu Cream Cheese merit badge?