Jus-Ed and I, Major Setbacks and Not Giving Up

Gearing up for this Sunday’s, May 19th, Open House Conspiracy event with Jus-Ed, Doreen, DSUM, and myself at The Factory, I wanted to share a bit about the complicated and improbable history the parties and I share with Ed over the last three times we’ve hosted him. For some reason, it has always seemed to be under difficult circumstances and through no fault of his, but rather disease, epidemics, and loss. I can’t help but think, if it was any other artist besides Ed, considering who he is as a down-to-earth, caring, and wise human being, that much of what we’ve been through would have been a nightmare or outright not possible.

The first time we booked Jus-Ed was in November of 2018 when Michael Zucker (RIP) connected us for a 10 year celebration of his Finale Sessions label in St. Pete. Mike wound up in the hospital due to complications from his colon cancer in the days leading up to the party just before Ed flew in, which was earlier than usual in order to spend some time with Mike. Thankfully, Mike wound up being able to get out in time to play his set and I’m so glad to have shared this special memory together before he passed. The situation would also lead to Ed and I becoming as thick as thieves. We had to pivot travel and accommodation plans given the circumstances. It was determined I’d pick up Ed from the airport in Orlando, which worked out well because I was already planning on traveling through Central Florida to spend Thanksgiving on the East Coast with family. As Ed got in the car, I told him where we were going and he seemed confused, which was compounded by him not knowing Florida all that well. After some back and forth, I realized Mike hadn’t told him what was going on. I don’t know why, whether it was too much to deal with, that he had hoped to be out in time, a desire to not disappoint, or an unwarranted guilt about the situation — Mike was always characteristically determined and strong like that. Ed wound up staying and spending Thanksgiving with my family and I. One thing about Ed, in addition to spinning beautiful music, is that he just wants to fish, so getting the opportunity to do so on the coast really wasn’t a problem at all in the end. On top of all that, add into the equation that Boomerang, aka Michael McNamara, and I went straight into the event after coming back from Miami and pulling an all nighter to play the Electric Pickle’s patio… needless to say I was a mess, but the music washed everything away.

The second time we hosted Ed for his return was in March of 2020 as everyone was realizing the coronavirus to be a serious threat and only a few days before the entire world would shut down — go figure. We did our best to provide a safe, open air event that would be a sort of last hurrah of over two years for many, but the early social distancing and hygiene guidance we implemented, as well as some choosing to simply sit it out entirely, meant the event was certainly impacted. There was a general awkwardness in the air, but it would also serve as a much needed send off before everything that was to come. As usual, Ed got his fishing in, so I’m not sure he minded the world slowing down at that exact moment, which was a stark contrast to my anxiety.

The last time we brought Ed to St. Pete was for our first event back from the pandemic in March of 2022 in a full circle moment. While this could have been a no fuss event, I noticed an interesting timeline surrounding certain events when I was looking for mixes to promote the party that I couldn’t ignore as some kind of message that there was a greater purpose we were being called on to channel. During the first year of lockdown, on November 7th, Jus-Ed had participated in a stream for Beatport’s ReConnect x When the Music Stops: #YouAreNotAlone in support of mental health. In addition to DJ sets, the event featured educational segments about mental health and wellness led by experts in the field who tackled a range of topics such as depression, sleeping habits, productivity during the pandemic, creativity and more challenges facing the electronic music community and the world more broadly. Ed himself also shared some poignant messages throughout his set, stating in the introduction, “I’m grateful for Farah (Syed) and Beatport for including me in this series dealing with depression and people taking their own lives and COVID-19.” He’d go on to add, “No need to be depressed because you’re not alone. This is all of us. We’re all in this, together. This is not your fault, this is not my fault… yeah, I mean to take your life, to think your life is not worth living, that’s like some mad — that’s, you can’t do it, you just can’t do it. We weren’t build to self destruct like that. I know it’s a lot of people, you know, indulging and, you know, a day at a time, man. It’s better to face this shit clear headed, clear minded. You need to have all your faculties, you need to be healthy… we need to focus, man, we need to focus because this is not going to last forever.” Later expanding on this and relating to the listeners, “I wish I could see some of your faces while I’m doing this, makes it a lot easier… music soothes the soul, takes away the aggression, gives me hope. You’re in my home now and just like you I suffered major setbacks, relationship loss, separation, financial… and you can’t — I’m not giving up, I’m not giving up, you know, I’ll continue. I hope that this video reaches you good folks out there and I hope it touches at least one person that was feeling down and out.”

This discovery and its timing was tragic. A huge supporter of music and art, our dear friend Nick Moses succumbed to the pressures of the isolation caused by those trying times only a day before the broadcast. Nick had always been there, front and center, when we hosted Ed, including on the previous occasion, bringing his mom and step dad. He had even tried to help us find a location for that event. Listening to the broadcast, it made me wonder, “What if?” What if Nick had held on another day, tuned in, and heard Ed speaking to his situation. Would it have helped him to choose differently? Given Ed had already touched on this subject, and having formed such a close relationship, I knew it wouldn’t be out of the question to ask him if we could dedicate the event to Self Harm Awareness Month in honor of Nick Moses’ life. It was my first chance to fully gather the community in public and pay tribute to Nick. I reached out to Nick’s mom, Tricia Moses, and she was on board with a big goal of hers being to help prevent other children and parents from going through the same ordeal. As a studio artist at The Factory, the location was fitting too. She set up an easel with warning signs at the event and, while it’s not something overly conducive to a dance party and is certainly uncomfortable for unassuming partygoers — a risk we’ve never shied away from — we stopped the music to have Ed address the crowd, all of which, including his set, was recorded. I still get emotional and overcome with tears when I listen back.

“Not to be a downer or anything but, you know, this is some real shit, depression and, you know, all of these hidden secrets that we keep. And I encourage you, if you’re using alcohol or drugs to evade dealing with those personal issues, stop it, because, you know, when you get plucked out of the life circle, there’s a big hole that’s left as well. And it’s pretty much done for you, otherwise than your spirit, so contribute to the growth and the progress of humanity, your family, your friends. And, those that say they are friends, you really need to extend yourself more, get out of your comfort zone and if you see somebody struggling, ask them if you can help.” This was followed by Nick’s mom speaking on the subject, “So, he’s already said a lot of what I feel, but I want to say thank you for coming out to The Factory, I’m glad you’re experiencing a new place here in St. Petersburg and I’m honored that Austen did this in memory of Nick because it coincided with two years ago — and I was there.” Breaking up with emotion, but fighting through it, she continues, “I just want to say it’s not just about Nick. Nick is gone. I want it to be for the next person to not be gone, so look at the warning signs, understand. I could not, if I look at those warning signs, I would not put a check by all of them, by any means, only by a couple, so understand that, pay attention to that. If there’s only one or two of those signs, check in. And it’s okay to ask, ‘Are you hurting, are you thinking of hurting yourself?’ Do it. Do it because that moment can save a person’s life. You know, I go to a therapist, it’s very common in grief, ‘I should’ve, could’ve, would’ve,’ but how about, ‘I did.’ I’m living with: I should’ve, could’ve, would’ve. I want the next person to live with: I did. And it’s gonna save that person. Nick is gone, he lives in our hearts. I want to save the next person, by this message, so, all of you, spread that and understand when you see erratic behavior, pay attention. Pay attention.”

Ed would go on to open his set by dedicating a fitting song, Sounds of Blackness’ “Testify,” and specifically the classic house remix of it, “Optimistic (12″ Never Say Die Mix),” to the moment. We also left the floral arrangement from the party in front of Tricia Moses’ studio after the night was over. I don’t have a single regret as, again, Ed was the “right” artist to ride out all of these challenging circumstances, but this Sunday should be the first time we’re hosting him without some crazy shit happening — fingers crossed. So please join us finally for the kind of joyous, free of worries celebration Jus-Ed deserves. It’s Open House Conspiracy’s second to last event of the year before going on a hiatus and I couldn’t think of a better guest to send us off. After all we’ve been through, it certainly feels good to give this man his flowers too.

Sharing the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention as a resource.

Are you in a crisis?

Please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.

Or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.

In the Bag | Resonate Suwanee 2024

As I mentioned previously in my In the Bag post for Hulaween, my first introduction to the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park was Purple Hatters Ball in 2015. The smaller, more intimate nature of Resonate Suwannee reminded me a lot of it. Seeing as Paul Levine and his Purple Hat Productions is involved in the festival, it should be no surprise this weekend took me right back to memories of it almost a decade ago. Please make sure you support these smaller fests, they’re brilliant. It was the perfect for speed for me and my camp mates.

In advance of the fest, I reached out to the Resonate Music Festival Family group on Facebook for a little help packing my bags by asking in a poll what they’d like to hear from me and, overwhelmingly, they voted for funk, with disco and house getting some love too. So that’s what I packed, with an emphasis on jammy, synth-laden tunes, given the electronic jazz funk fusion lean of the fest’s programming. Went for a quick mixing approach to try to fit in as much as into the hour I was given as well and eventually made my way up into house.

Thanks to Paul Levine for extending another invite to perform up at Suwannee, Greg Geier for assisting with the turntable and isolation setup, and Devin Constant for documenting it all.

Stream the continuous playlist, with the exception of two songs that were unavailable, or go track by track through the setlist with blurbs about each selection below.

Playlist

Setlist

1. Lafleur – Tribute to the Sun Summer Issue 14, Detroit Electronic Quarterly 2018

No digital previews of this vinyl only release anywhere online unfortunately, but let me tell you, it is far out. Interestingly enough, these DEQ compilation releases coincide with their magazine issues. Picked this one up in Detroit one Memorial Day Weekend at my favorite, Peoples Records. I assume the “Sun” in the title is Sun Ra as it is an experimental and cosmic percussive piece of music with space age saga vocals cutting through the chaos with the lyrics, “we travel through space and time.” I chose this simply as a soundscape to reset, clear the air, and cleanse the palette.

2. Digable Planets – It’s Good to Be Here Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space), Pendulum Records 1993

One of the most universal and cosmic hip-hop groups to ever do it, this Digable Planets cut off their classic Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space) seemed like a good choice for the set starter proper. I’ve always loved this group and album, with “Nickel Bags” being a go to of Boomerang and I’s that I use in a lot of downtempo sets (including opening for Mark Farina at the Music Room in Atlanta). I never owned the album though and didn’t realize how pricey it was until I looked it up after I was gifted a copy in a box of records from NYC DJ legend Richard Vasquez of The Choice. Anyway, the spacey intro really stands out and is totally unexpected when it then goes into jazzy, laid back hip-hop with lyrics like, “Tell my pops i’m out earthbound with the crew… I split to earth to resurrect the funk.” I knew Late Night Radio who was playing before me is kind of Pretty Lights-esque sample heavy hip-hop adjacent broken beat electro-soul, or what have you, so I thought this might be a good bridge between us. Plus, there were a lot of “I’m Glad You’re Here” stickers making the rounds that were really popular and this was kind of my response to that too, “And it’s good to be here.” Also, for the people in the audience, I hope they felt the same. As it panned out, with the 15 minute gap in time between acts, there wasn’t really an opportunity to win any of his audience over. Still the raps are a bit of a calling card for me and what I do, “We jazz up the streets to prove we have beats, fat jazz fat style and the sound so sweet… so to the flam lovers that crowd in dark spots … now we have arrived with crazy boogie sounds, get yourself a mate today’s the boogie down, this is all we know, we feel it when we slams, you could hear the love, it comes out in our jams.”

3. General Caine – By My Side Dangerous, Tabu Records 1983

If it’s good to be here, it’s much better “when you’re by my side.” This song by the P-Funk inspired group General Caine is mainly a message for my friends I know I can always count on to be there for my sets at these things and the encouragement they give me, although applicable to anybody joining us. Choosing to spin vinyl and selecting records that are eclectic, unfamiliar deep cuts drenched in funk and soul while steadily building the vibe isn’t the easiest route to take, which would be banging it nonstop right out the gate. These lyrics are a bit of an ode to that, “I’m glad we kept our thing, got in gear, that’s why we’re here, while others try, I’m thankful you’re sincere.” Before expanding on this with, “We worked it out, we built a strong relation, the trust we have, it calls for a celebration.” Indeed.

4. Tempest Trio – Starlight Tempest Trio, Marlin 1979

Detroit musicians and producers on a Miami label — always love to give a little Florida flavor to my sets. Tempest Trio is the best of Motown soul and funk meets Miami with a twist of disco. Might be the sole album by this group, led by Mike Theodore and Dennis Coffey, but damn if it’s not a good one. About the time I was playing this, outside the Music Hall was turning to night with the stars, which are beautiful up at Suwannee, beginning to appear in the sky, “First star I see tonight.” This was alluding to the change of times during my set, you’d enter during daylight and come out in the darkness of night. “I wish all day, I wish all night…”  A reminder we’re about to “take a trip on my funk machine.”

5. Steve Harvey – Tonight (François Remix) Tonight, London Records 1983

Another one from Richard Vasquez’ collection. I’ve had the pleasure of playing with François K, one of the most genius and prolific remixers of the ’80s and a legendary DJ, a few times now. When the saxophone eventually hits, it takes this song somewhere else. Festival sets are such a fleeting, in the moment, one night only affair, “Just tonight, I will give you all the love that I got to give.”

6. Mandrill – Put Your Money Where the Funk Is Put Your Money Where the Funk Is, Montage Records 1982

“All I ever hear from you, you’re talking about the things you do. Seem to try to impress the crowd, but all you doing is talking loud. You ain’t got a thing to prove, but to yourself when you’re just being you.” Somewhat of an affirmation for a DJ like me, I also love a good shit talking record and this is one of those. Funk guitar licks with blaring horns and a boogie synth bass line. Check, please. “Living for the latest trend, ain’t go no meaning in the end. If you don’t respect yourself, you can’t expect nobody else. Thinking you’ve got it made, ain’t nothing but a masquerade.” A nice find from Underground Music Academy’s pop up shop in Detroit, it feels good to know my purchase is going towards teaching some kid how to lay a synth down like in this song.

7. West Phillips – (I’m Just A) Sucker for a Pretty Face (I’m Just A) Sucker for a Pretty Face, Quality 1983

This one is just pure, unadulterated fun. You can’t help but smile when the vocoder voice comes out of nowhere, growing into a full ear to ear grin with the higher pitched, erotically charged Prince-like response, “I’m just a sucker, looking for some sugar.” But my favorite vocals are definitely when the verse finally kicks in, “Skips cross the room like she’s dancing on air, winks at me and smiles and shakes her pretty hair. Girl’s got style, she got class, a sexy flair (which always cracks me up because I’m expecting him to say ass). Want to take her higher, but she’s already there.” File under let your freak flag fly material.

8. Vernon Burch – Do It to Me Do It to Me, Spector Records International 1981

It’s kind of pointless lending words to songs that speak for themself like this one, “It’s all in the vibrations you send.” Honestly the understated keys are my favorite part of this song, as well as the “honey” refrains. Bonus points for those that know Vernon Burch’s “Get Up,” which would go on to became the foundation for the Deee-Lite’s smash hit “Groove Is in the Heart.”

9. Klique – Love’s Dance Love’s Dance, MCA Records 1981

“Take hold of the beat, it’s so sweet. On the high side of the party, don’t sit around on the wall. Everybody come along, do one for love.” The bottom and middle half of this one is serious LA funk and boogie, but up top it’s pure disco, with the strings, claps, triangle, and cow bell. “Can’t hold back the rocket (what the funk does this even mean?), keep the groove in your pocket.”

10. Dynasty – I Don’t Want to Be a Freak (But I Can’t Help Myself) I Don’t Want to Be a Freak (But I Can’t Help Myself), Solar 1979

The title sort of says it all… and based on the response, it seemed like more than a few in the crowd knew this one — or maybe they just recognize the chorus from “Phreaky Mf”er Mike Dunn’s famous house take on it, which also took its instantly familiar drums from the infamous “Is It All Over My Face” by Loose Joints. Either way, there’s not usually a lot of sing along moments in my sets, so it was nice to share this one together.

11. Chi-Chi Favelas and The Black and White Band – Give It to Me Rock Solid, Prism 1978

Anyone that’s caught enough sets of mine, has probably heard me spin this one. It’s often in my bag and on heavy rotation for me. I first came across it in an only 2–3 records sparse disco section at Mojo Books & Records in Tampa. The asphyxiation mannequin cover instantly caught my eye (not sure what that says about me…) and this is another one of those only-album-released groups, but again, they managed to make it count. The Chi-Chi Favelas name is as strange as the album art, an unsuspecting alias for a British cabaret talent from Hull by the name of Kay Garner who wasn’t a household name, but was a prolific and in-demand backing singer for the likes of Elton John, John Lennon, George Harrison, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones, Serge Gainsbourg, Lou Reed… and disco acts like Kongas, even delivering the vocals on member Cerrone’s hit “Supernature.” This background totally makes sense in her style of singing here, and the accompanying music really has more of a soul and blues rock feel than it does disco, although the drums, bass line, and and rhythmic guitar are all in that vein. “Once you’ve had a sweet taste, got to have some more. You have got the flavor, I’ve been waiting for.”

12. COEO – Express Lane COEO Edits, Razor-N-Tape 2019

Continuing to thread the more twangy side of disco, I’m not usually big on edits, but COEO tastefully condenses the best bits of Eastbound Expressway’s “Never Let Go” into a more impactful arrangement, without adding unnecessary production elements. After the begging of “give it to me,” “it’s got me and I’ll never let go” felt like a fun follow up.

13. Love Drop – Temptation Temptation / The Buzz, Disco Deviance 2015

You know that thing I just said about edits? Well, maybe ignore that for a moment. This is another one that I’ve given a lot of love to in my sets over the years, including warming up for Luv*Jam in the Atrium. There is a such thing as feeling too good and clearly Lenny Williams was going through some of that when he wrote the song this bootleg is pulling from, “Please Don’t Tempt Me.” This is actually a record where I couldn’t see myself playing the original, which is too ballad like with a really cheesy, tired narrative. I don’t typically like most edits, but this one clearly has the power to “make me feel something I don’t want to feel.”

14. Live – Strut Your Stuff Strut Your Stuff, The Sound of Brooklyn 1981

After a few of my more disco soul and rock ‘n’ roll selections, it was time to get back to the bottom end of things with synthesized funk and boogie. The pantomimed “hot” vocal on here is so over-the-top hilarious to me. “I like the way you strut your stuff, I like it because I never get enough.” Feel like this is totally up Chromeo’s alley — they DJ’d the night before, but kept it largely house.

15. Paul Johnson – Erotic City Erotic City, Unofficial Release 2003

Speaking of house, here’s one of its greatest covering another great of funk and pop, Prince. Saturday’s theme was Purple Paradise, so you know I had to throw in a tribute to The Purple One. “All of my purple life.” I feel like a lot of people don’t know about this one or it would be way more popular. It’s also unfortunately not available to stream on any of the platforms, but you can find a pretty poor quality preview from Japanese record store Mole Music here. Forgive me, for what is to follow is probably a sin, but the vocals in the original “Erotic City” I’ve always found to be too manipulated and high pitched for me. “Your a sinner, I don’t care.” This is a super tastefully well done cover to me.

16. Nu Colours – Desire (Masters At Work Dub #3) Body & Soul (Volume 1), Wave Music 1998

I like to balance out raunchiness with deeper, more sensual and spiritual sexuality. Masters at Work really knocked this remix out of the park. This is peak-time scale energy, yet with super soulful diva vocals and slow building organ atop a funky, walking bass line and big horns. “I’m gonna give it, I’m gonna give my all to you. And all I wanna do is love you, and all I wanna do is please you. It’s my, it’s my desire.”

17. Moot Booxle – Galactic Matriarch Transmootation E.P., NYC Records 2020

Real quick, the YouTube session embedded here is not the version I played (obviously), that’s a recorded one available here and also linked above on Discogs, but it’s close enough and I thought people might appreciate this live jam. It’s also why this record felt especially appropriate on the night. It isn’t all that far off from a synthesizer solo you might hear during a STS9 or Papadosio set and I wanted to touch on that before my time was up. I also sound checked with this record and Greg and I agreed it sounded fat, so there’s that. Did I fail to mention the guy behind all this synth wizardry is based out of Ft. Meyers, Florida, of all places? Like I said before, I’m always here for celebrating a good Florida connection.

18. Savile – Thanks to the Heads (in Jackson Park) No Sleep, Not in America, Stripped & Chewed 2016

The producer and DJ on after me in the Music Hall, Skiz, is a dubstep artist, so I thought it might be good to tease something a bit more dub oriented that also dives into breakbeats. Savile is a Michigan native that at one point resided in Chicago, holding a residency at Smart Bar, and is now based out of New York. That’s neither here nor there though. While the record is nothing like their sound, I assume the title “Thanks to the Heads (In Jackson Park)” alludes to the annual Chosen Few Picnic which takes place in Jackson Park every July 4th weekend. I’ve attended before and it’s a great event. Highly recommend if you want to get to some of the roots of this thing here we call house.

19. Unknown Artist – The Answer (Gipsy Kink Remix) The Answer / Timeless Signs, UPS 2009

Building off of the previous departure in sound, this track almost dips into UK garage territory with its wonky, distorted bass and 2 step like shuffle. The vocals are from Danny Tenaglia and Celeda’s seminal “Music is the Answer (Dancin’ and Prancin’)” hit. This has got to be one of the first records I ever bought, while I was still going to school up in Tallahassee. Felt like a fitting ending.

That would’ve — and I’d like for it to have — been the last record, but I kept looking around for the next DJ and thought he hadn’t shown up, with the A1 and stage manager not communicating to me anything otherwise, so I got on the mic (which I never do) like a moron, and said, “I don’t think the other DJ is here, so I’m going to keep playing records for you, if you’d like.” Everyone cheered and I mixed into Basement Jax’ “Fly Life (Extra),” which got even more applause, but embarrassingly it turns out he actually was there and my set was over. It’s not anywhere close to the kind of note I’d like to end things on, as it’s absolutely too high energy and totally leaves everyone hanging a bit. Yeah, let’s just imagine this one didn’t happen…