The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park is a magical venue and absolute Florida gem with Hulaween serving as its crown jewel and biggest annual gatherings. It’s one of the nation’s premier independent festivals. I’d been attending or performing at the park since 2015, beginning with the more intimate Purple Hatters Ball. From Silent Discos and beach stages with a backing band to surprise renegade sets at the Incendia and House of Lost installations, these festivals have been a part of my decade-plus DJ journey. So it was a special honor to be called upon to perform as a part of Hula’s 10 year anniversary celebrations.

I was given the option of playing Saturday night during The String Cheese Incident’s big Shebang set or Sunday afternoon. I chose the latter. Preparing for the weekend, I definitely overdid it, packing 7 record bags for a one hour set. In the end, I wound up playing blues, soul, reggae, jazz, funk, and psychedelic rock fusion. As a festival set, it’s a showcase of you as an artist and not as important to match the preceding or following acts, but the direction I took served a perfect bridge between the Sade reggae covers of the St. Augustine (where I was born) band before me, Sailor Jane & The Apricators, and fellow St. Pete based jam band after me, MiniM, at the Campground Stage in Spirit Lake. I didn’t really realize this flow or give it any thought until I was on my way back driving up from DJing The Dalí Museum’s annual Sueños de Dalí fundraiser the night before. What’s funny about the situation is I’m totally a mixed bag as an eclectic DJ, so neither the festival nor I knew exactly what I was going to do when this was booked — I think most would expect something house-y — but the bookers and I were on the same page as to what constitutes a Sunday afternoon vibe, offering a bit of programming kismet. This kind of cosmic alignment is sort of validating, but I guess is just natural for those that think and feel deeply about music. Having went with more of a funky, live music approach because it’s what Suwannee screams to me, especially on a Sunday afternoon, hopefully I didn’t disappoint anyone looking for something more electronic.

Whenever I’m given a larger opportunity or platform, I always try to do my city, craft, mentors, and friends and supporters proud. It was mainly a crowd of our St. Pete music family that braved the afternoon’s beating sun and heat for my set and I appreciate every one of them for making this home away from home feel even more like home. To fit the part, I was wearing a shirt I had picked up months before at an Alchemy event from local upcycled and vintage outfitters Reclaim Threads, who also vend at the fest, and some Kai Alcé Eyewear sunglasses. Thanks to Paul Levine for having me, the whole Hulaween staff for making things smooth, Christian Parchuke for helping with the turntable setup, the production crew for a last minute solution to keep the sun off my records, and Rob Morey for documenting it all.

Setlist

1. Pacific Gas & Electric – The Blackberry Are You Ready?, Columbia 1970

I opened my set with this 1970’s blues rock song, “The Blackberry.” Something about it just feels Suwannee to me, talking about gathering in the woods and enjoying the sweetness out of life. On a deeper level, it’s a statement of intent. The saying “the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice,” has a century’s old history of use by prominent African American writers, musicians, and thinkers reclaiming Black identity in this country from a painful and sordid history into a metaphor for truth, beauty, and pride. It’s a powerful reclamation. I play predominantly Black music, so it felt appropriate to give this nod.

2. Nomads – The Journey Unity, Strictly Roots Productions & Records 1988

This is a fairly rare record I discovered at Peoples Records in Detroit that unfortunately has no digital previews anywhere. It’s the only release by this band and was recorded in Detroit. Otherwise, can’t find much info about them. The album is reggae fusion with “The Journey” specifically having a large dub reggae sound with heavy psychedelic guitars, providing a lot of energy right out of the gate and setting the intention of the journey we were about to embark on.

3. Ishan People – Come to the Music Ishan People, GRT 1977

Another Peoples Records find. Canadian reggae? Why not? I absolutely love this song and its laidback groove. It also follows up on the sweetness theme with its “sweet music” refrain at the beginning. It’s a great early record, literally welcoming people in to “come to the music,” but also its lyrics are part of the overall “pick me up” message I was trying to capture. “When you’re all alone, when you’re on the ground, the poor man’s getting you down, making you want to frown…” By Sunday, people can already be kind off spent, so music that uplifts and speaks to overcoming this can be healing, offering a chance to recharge and the motivation to continue on. “It’s the force that keeps you going, free your mind and all you’ve got to do is come to the music…”

4. Glenn Echo & Daniel Meinecke – Fancy Operation Partly Cloudy, MotorCity Wine Recordings 2021

Alright, apparently you could say the Detroit is strong with this one. Wasn’t my intention at all, but last three records have that connection. This album is out on the D’s MotorCity Wine Recordings. It’s a great downtempo showcase. “Fancy Operation” picks up on the pieces of the previous cuts I played, fusing their reggae and blues with the direction I was taking things later on in my set, adding an energetic hip-hop beat over New Orleans style funk and soul riffs. Essential acid jazz for you. I know Paul Levine, one of the producers of the festival, had mentioned to me that Mark Farina was some of the first electronic music he noticed when he was younger, so I guess this selection a nod to him. It hearkens back to that Mushroom Jazz sound, Nightmares on Wax (one of my early introductions), Thievery Corporation, etc.

4. The Voices of East Harlem – Can You Feel It Can You Feel It, Just Sunshine Records 1974

This is me being meta again, checking in on if folks were feeling it, reiterating what we’re doing here with these funky soul sounds, and encouraging them to stick around. Bonus points that it’s on Just Sunshine Records. “Everybody gather round, tell you what we’re gonna do, we’re gonna dance sing, do our thing, make it feel good to you. Good vibrations, soul sensation, is gonna be coming down, being a funky soul when you start to roll, feel it all over town. I know you got the feeling, I know you can’t conceal it. You’ll see if you stick around, that we’re sure enough getting down. I wanna know, yeah, can you feel it? Yeah, tell me. All we do is just for you, gonna spread a little love around, oh we want you to know to let yourself go, get on up to get down…”

5. Donzii – Crash Landing Fishbowl, Grey Market 2023

I always love any opportunity to incorporate current Florida music in my sets. Especially when they’re as dope as Miami’s Donzii band. I’d love to see them performing at Hulaween themselves one day. “Crash Landing” kind of plays on this year’s full moon theme. They have an art rock sound that fuses a lot of different styles and is reminiscent of the Talking Heads to me. Asking people, “are you with it?” … is a good follow up to “can you feel it?” And again, “feeling pain, kick it to the side” is what I’m trying to accomplish with keeping people grooving on a Sunday. “Heart expanding to feel this last beat.”

6. Faze-O – Good Thang Good Thang, She Records 1978

Whereas previously, I was checking in, this one’s more of a funky affirmation, “I like, I like…” “the good thang.” The confidence is kicking in. “Come real close to me … I’ll never, never let you leave.” And, as we’re getting our groove on, “Doesn’t really matter what you’re doing when you boogie.”

7. Wilson Pickett – Funky Situation A Funky Situation Big Tree Records 1978

The James Brown-esque Wilson Pickett. “Try to trick you, baby, into giving up your good thang.” He says it all, “It’s a funky situation, too much talk, not enough communication.” No words necessary.

8. Natalie Cole – Sophisticated Lady Natalie, Capitol Records 1976

A reminder that the ladies know how to get funky too. My good friend Erin Yonke, who gave me my first official DJ gig in St. Pete and sometimes works the door for our parties, made it seem as if this song was dedicated to her as she put a huge smile on my face dancing on top of an acro partner’s shoulders during it to the lyrics, “She’s a different lady with her different style, she stands tall and steady like the Eiffel Tower…” I also absolutely love this line from the song, “She is hip to politics, but loves her jazz, she’s got lots of rhythm, she’s got lots of class…”

9. Seawind – Angel of Mercy Window of a Child, CTI Records 1977

Speaking of politics, I have a hard time playing music without somehow addressing what’s going on in the world. The Israeli-Palestine conflict has been heavy on my mind, so this was me addressing it. “Truth is hard to believe, when the standard of the world is to lie, cheat, and deceive. First comes power, and then comes greed. The more we get, the more we get, the more we need.” To me, it all boils down to hatred and lies in the service of mankind’s greed for power and land. It’s a sad state of affairs with innocent humans, especially children, caught in the middle. “I’m the baby, born alone, I’m the child crying in the night that love’s never known. I’m the sadness, in a sad song. And I’m a world full of sorrow, where love has gone. But mighty is a word of love, when love becomes love, a common sight, and mighty is the truth, when the truthful word is livin’ in every life.” We should all be pleading for someone to “send us an angel of mercy, send us an angel of love” in this world right about now.

10. Pleasure – Future Now Balance vs Interweaved EP, Interweaved 2023

Expanding on the weight of this issue, the solution is much harder to grasp than the problem we’re facing. A small, but important, step is realizing we are all one. Pleasure’s cosmic funk tune “Future Now” lends a message of togetherness, as we are “universal children,” we come from the same stars, scattered across this planet and divided imaginary boundaries we’ve created, justifying our treatment of our fellow mankind as somehow being other to us. “Come away with me, let your thoughts be free, from pain and misery, with the speed of a falling star, you’ll cross the galaxies, past infinity, can you just open your mind…” Another reminder to free ourselves from pain, physical or otherwise.

11. Escape from New York – Slow Beat (Dance Mix) Save Our Love, Isle of Jura 2023 Reissue (originally 1983)

Escape from New York is a recurring band in my Suwannee sets. I own all their releases and played “Fire in My Heart” at Incendia in 2021. They have this eerie, futuristic ’80s sound I love that feels perfect for Hulaween. I have no idea what they’re saying, but it sounds like a cry from space. Plus, I have to throw at least one in for my friend and fellow DJ, Christian Parchuke, who was there and we both share a love for this group.

12. Kano – Party New York Cake, Mirage 1981

Trying to leave things on a feel good party note. “Come and party, why not do it, why not do it more?” And again, soldiering through Sunday and all the dust. “Ashes, ashes on the floor, dance until we all fall down.”

13. Headhunters – If You’ve Got It, You’ll Get It Survival of the Fittest, Arista 1975

I wanted to end with Roy Ayer’s classic “Love Will Bring Us Back Together,” but I have the short 45 version and there was a bit too much time left in my set, so I chose this song by The Headhunters instead. “If you’ve got it, you’ll get it, you gotta get it.” Off their album Survival of the Fittest, hopefully the people that joined me and made it to the end got it, so to speak. It’s a funky, psychedelic jam and a good segue into MiniM, who was up next.

I’m extremely grateful to have been given this opportunity, but it also furthered something I’ve always known to be true, that it’s extremely hard for me to condense what I do into just an hour set. I hope to be back to create more Hulaween and Suwannee memories with everyone. Working on a pitch with some friends for a more intimate DJ experience featuring extended sets, so maybe that will come to fruition. Happy Hula!