POST-BBQ COVERS

I went to a barbecue yesterday, hosted by a couple friends of mine. One was someone who I've known since the early San Diego punk days, the other used to work for Cargo Records, a label that scooped up the cream of the San Diego crop in the nineties (Rocket From the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, Fishwife, Fluf, etc.). The other people at the get together were also scene fixtures in the same span of time, with a couple of them ex-record store employees. When I arrived at the barbecue they were playing a Spotify playlist based on the Budos Band. Definitely a good sign. While walking through the house I spotted the Frigtnrs LP. Cool.

I hadn't been trading notes with any of the friends in recent years so it had been a long time since I asked them what they've been into. After we ate, I popped the question "What have you been listening to lately?" That's always a fun question to ask music freak friends. Keep in mind that these are people that I know from punk rock through post-punk, grunge and post grunge. Here's the weird thing. Our listening habits had evolved almost the same. Heavy on obscure soul, international music (African), funk and other traditional sounds (one guy had a Billy Strings T shirt on). One of the hosts mention that he'd been listing to long streaming mixes of Studio One stuff, and you know me. Studio One is one of my favorite labels of all time. I was off to the races, Coxsone Dodd vs Duke Reid, reggae vs rock steady, a couple shout outs to Leroy Sibbles and Jackie Mittoo, blah blah, blah. I caught myself, I was getting too excited and, to my ears, force feeding info that they might not have that much interest in. I wasn't buzzed. I was just so happy that my peers had followed semi-parallel paths. Five minutes later we were talking about Guitar Wolf. I braced myself.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~ 

Listen:
Budos Band - My Girl mp3 at Internet Archive
Charles Bradley - Heart of Gold mp3 at Internet Archive
Eli "Paperboy" Reed - Ace of Spades mp3 at Internet Archive
Solomon Burke - Maggie's Farm mp3 at Internet Archive
Lee Fields - Moonlight Mile mp3 at Internet Archive