Guess Who's Back

(More blog entries from kellykelly)

I have 'without me' going through my head right now.

This week started out pretty icky but is ending on some high notes. Sarah Flynn and I are gonna hit Southpaw for some hot music tonight (below) after I yoga it up with Monique. I am done with all of my penicillin. Lil known fact: Albert's wife Emily (science teacher) told me the reason you have to take all of the antibiotics until they're done is that its the strong, most resistant viruses that linger round and if you don't take all of the medicine, they build up a resistance and then you're stuck with mutant super viruses and can't get better next time this goes down. Gross. Between running and no longer feeling like a petri dish, I'm feeling pretty fly.

The past several days have been jam-packed (not literally packed with jam preserves; just busy) with all kinds of meetings, curating, interviews.

• Crown Point has the best staff and production crew I could ever hope for. Oh my am I happy.
• Best quote from meeting with a theater finalist: 'As a playwright, I hate it when an actor tells me their character wouldn't say that line. I wrote you. Yes you would.' Word.
• I want us to put out a video or something called "Frank Hall Green says 'How to Make Your Movie Film AMAZING for Film Curators.'" Film curating is in full effect and provided me with one of the most fun Friday nights I've had in a great while.

I met with two organizations yesterday who we're looking to join as partner organizations, 24/7 Lab and Impose Magazine. So now I introduce you to the lovely Sarah Flynn to tell you more:

Just wanted to let you know about a show @ Southpaw that you may or may be interested in - it's probably the most excited I've been about a show in a long time, though, and you know that when I get excited about something, I'm all over it like my inner fat kid on cake!! Come party with me if you are so inclined.

Sometimes I forget that I'm a music fan and that I don't actually hate all music - in fact, I really kind of love it. One of the records I've been listening to most often in the last few months is a compilation called "The Birmingham Sound" that compiles a bunch of long out of print soul singles produced by Neal Hemphill. These are all tracks that were unearthed from people's personal collections, records that came dangerously close to being thrown away after being passed down the Hemphill family line over the years.

The fact that this music exists is amazing; the fact that it's once again seeing the light of day is something of a miracle. And the fact that the label (Rabbit Factory) releasing these recordings is run by two of the most creative and heartfelt guys I have ever had the pleasure to know is kind of a bonus. I'm so proud of what Derek and John are doing, and I'm excited to see some real Birmingham soul tomorrow night.

Here's more info on the show (it's tomorrow night @ Southpaw and tickets are $15) plus a nice blurb from today's Time Out New York:

RABBIT FACTORY INC. + WAXPOETICS PRESENT
a night of Southern Soul with
CLARENCE REID (The Meastro of Miami Soul)
The Legendary Roscoe Robinson
Ralph "Soul" Jackson
Eli Paperboy Reed + The True Loves
plus DJs: John Ciba (East of Edens Soul Express/Chicago), The Honeydripper (DAPTONE), MLE (Chicago)
CHECK myspace.com/rabbitfactoryinc



Lovers of soul music of the '60s and '70s have had a great buffet of reissues laid out in recent years. Many big names have gotten the treatment, but as specialized labels such as the Numero Group have proved, some of the best stories reside in the countless regional scenes that might've blipped on and off the radar in less than a year, with faded local-radio charts the only evidence of their existence.

One new label dedicated to such excavating, Rabbit Factory, recently released a cool 23-track disc called The Birmingham Sound that compiled the work of Birmingham, Alabama, studio owner Neal Hemphill. Now the imprint is taking things a step further: What are these lost artists up to today? A Night of Southern Soul brings to Brooklyn two of the CD's stars, Roscoe Robinson and Ralph "Soul" Jackson—you have to be good if they let you use that word alone as your nickname—along with Clarence Reid, better known to rap fans as the brilliantly filthy-mouthed Blowfly. Reid, a real mover in Miami in the '60s, hasn't played NYC under his real name since 1969, also the year of Robinson's last local performance, at the Apollo. Jackson had singles on Atlantic in the glory days, but has never played here. The opening act, young (and white) Bostonians Eli Reed and the True Loves, have earned respect on stages down South, and will also back Robinson; members of Radio 4 make for an unlikely choice to support Jackson, but if it's cool with "Soul"…

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