Tag Archives: Rhode Island Oldies DJ

Sam Cooke A Change Is Gonna Come

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Sam Cooke A Change Is Gonna Come. Sam Cooke born Samuel Cooke 1931-1964. Since I posted the Otis Redding video and review the other day I asked, “Why Otis Redding, why not Sam Cooke A Change Is Gonna Come?”

Answer was simple, “I was motivated to write about Otis due to the release of the Kanye and Jay-Z song as a professional DJ.” Then it occurred to me, “Why not Sam Cooke A Change Is Gonna Come too!”

 

His contribution in pioneering Soul music many believe led to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green,Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and popularizing the likes of Otis Redding and James Brown. Cooke had 29 top-40 hits in the U.S. between 1957 and 1964.  Cooke was also among the first modern Black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the American Civil Rights Movement.

martin luther king jr Sam Cooke A Change Is Gonna Come

On December 11, 1964, Cooke was fatally shot by the manager of the Hacienda Motel at the age of 33. At the time, the courts ruled that Cooke was drunk and distressed, and that the manager had killed Cooke in what was later ruled a justifiable homicide. Since that time, the circumstances of his death have been widely questioned.

Sam Cooke A Change Is Gonna Come was Released Posthumously.

Sam Cooke A Change Is Gonna Come was played upon the death of Malcolm X, and was featured in Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X. Rock star Rod Stewart once revealed to VH-1 that as a teen in the UK, he would lock himself in his room and spend hours studying Cooke’s vocal phrasings.

  • In 1986, Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.]
  • In 1999, Cooke was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #16 on their list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”.
  • In 2008, Cooke was named the fourth “Greatest Singer of All Time” by Rolling Stone.

 Sam Cooke A Change Is Gonna Come Music Video with A Powerful Slideshow

There are enough names and recognition included in this post to not add my appreciation for him personally. I would like to say that some of my favorite and most influential artists, film-makers and leaders seem to be connected to Sam Cooke and his legacy. That would be plenty to include him in our music video archive but his music is what moves me the most, especially Sam Cooke A Change Is Gonna Come and its message.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ 

Diana Ross and The Supremes Supreme Mix

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Diana Ross and The Supremes Supreme Mix. My room as a kid was cluttered with The Supremes ’45s’ with the old blue Motown label. I remember my first radio. It was a little red Panasonic plastic ball radio that only played AM. At that time, most music was still on AM so it was fine. I even brought it with me to the beach when we went down the shore. A year or so after that, I received a Panasonic hand-held cassette player as a birthday present. I used to place the cassette player next to my radio and record songs through the built-in microphone when I heard a song I liked. There were many Diana Ross and The Supremes songs that made it to tape, most of them on the medley. Of course, all of them were missing the first five seconds or so of the song since I had to wait to see what they were going to play. Glad we have moved forward in technology since then:)

Diana Ross and The Supremes Supreme Mix on Motown Records

Diana Ross and The Supremes Supreme Mix on Motown Records

I will not write about their history since the missumusicz has done an excellent job of collecting and reporting their history and that of many of the Motown artists of that period. What a career they and Diana had – true legends who set the foundation for female groups still to this day. I still get to play their music regularly as a professional Event and Wedding DJ.  A quick snapshot of Diana Ross and The Supremes commercial success; 33 of their singles reached the Billboard Top 40 in the US, 23 reached either the US orUK Top 10, and 12 of them reached the number-one position on the US pop chart with “Baby Love” also topping the UK pop chart. 12 of their albums reached the Top 10 in either the US or UK, with five of them going to number-one.

Diana Ross and The Supremes Supreme Mix Music Video

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Otis Redding Try A Little Tenderness

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Otis Redding Try A Little Tenderness was one of the great Soul songs and artists of the Twentieth Century. I grew up listening to his music and had a pleasant reminder of his brilliance at an Alvin Ailey Dance Theater performance back in the mid-nineties in Bloomington, IN. They did an entire set of Redding Classics and it was inspiring and moving. Otis Redding Try A Little Tenderness was one of the bright moments.  Any professional DJ or music lovers would have been inspired.

 

Since there is new attention being shined on Otis Redding Try A Little Tenderness due to the new song “Otis” by Jay-Z and Kanye West, it seemed like a good time to revisit him and his legacy.

 

Although he wasn’t very successful among white audiences in the United States, his concerts in Europe established the opposite. His performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 was one of his last big concerts until his death in a plane crash at the age of 26, one month before his biggest hit, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of The Bay,” sold about 4 million copies worldwide, was released. Reddings’ contribution to soul music led him to his nickname “King of Soul.”

 

Redding was born in the small town of Dawson, Georgia. When he was three, his family moved to Macon, Georgia, where Redding sang in a church choir and as a teenager won the talent show at the Douglass Theatre for fifteen weeks in a row, which led to his discovery by Syd Nathan of King Records. His earliest influence was Little Richard (Richard Penniman), also a Macon resident. Redding said, “If it hadn’t been for Little Richard, I would not be here. I entered the music business because of Richard – he is my inspiration. I used to sing like Little Richard, his Rock ‘n’ Roll stuff, you know. Richard has soul, too. My present music has a lot of him in it.”

 Otis Redding Try A Little Tenderness Music Video

According to the website of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 1989, Redding’s name is “synonymous with the term soul, music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of Gospel and Rhythm and Blues (R&B) into a form of funky, secular testifying.” In 1993, the U.S. Post Office issued an Otis Redding 29 cents commemorative postage stamp.  Redding’s music was featured in the 1991 film The Commitments, including “Mr Pitiful”, “Try a Little Tenderness”, “Hard to Handle”, and “I’ve Got Dreams to Remember”.

Otis Redding Try A Little Tenderness Wedding DJ Music

Otis Redding Try A Little Tenderness Rhode Island Wedding DJ

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Muse Can’t Take My Eyes Off You

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Muse Can’t Take My Eyes Off You. Growing up in Rhode Island with a Mom from Newark who used to be friends with Frankie Valli, it was unavoidable for me to be a fan of The Four Seasons and Frankie Valli. This was one of my favorites. I also enjoyed the Laruryn Hill version, nice beat and her sensual voice.

 

This past September I was professional Wedding DJ with an interesting couple who had diverse and eclectic taste in music. They both loved the original of Muse Can’t Take My Eyes Off You and reflected deeply on it being their First Dance Song. Then they heard Muse Can’t Take My Eyes Off You version and the decision was made. They are a couple who share qualities of gentleness and an edge – Muse Can’t Take My Eyes Off You version met both those traits with the advantage of allowing them to dance slow and fast throughout Muse Can’t Take My Eyes Off You. It was great! It has also been in my head more times than I can remember since that night.

 

Lately I have been doing a professional DJ mix beginning with the original, segueing to the Lauryn Hill version for the second verse and then into Muse Can’t Take My Eyes Off You cover from the second chorus forward. It makes for a fun way to get folks on the dance floor from several genres all at the same time and laughing at the peculiar set.

Muse Can’t Take My Eyes Off You Music Video

“Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” is a 1967 single by Frankie Valli. The song was among Valli’s biggest hits, reaching #2 on theBillboard Hot 100 and earning a gold record. It was Valli’s biggest “solo” hit until he hit #1 in 1975 with “My Eyes Adored You“.[1]“Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” has had a major cultural impact, with hundreds of cover versions, many of which have been on the charts themselves in different countries. The song is a staple of television and film soundtracks, even being featured as part of the plot of some films, such as when the lead characters sing or arrange their own version of the song. The Valli version was also used by NASA as a wake-up song for a mission of the Space Shuttle, on the anniversary of astronaut Christopher Ferguson.

Beautiful Rhode Island Multicultural Wedding DJ Muse Can't Take My Eyes Off You

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Ritchie Valens Sleepwalk

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It is hard not to feel the energy and Soul that the great Ritchie Valens Sleepwalk put into every guitar lick in this song. Smooth as silk without being overproduced. I recently had a Groom ask for this song to be the song that he and his mother would dance to for their Mother-Son Dance.  I fought hard to contain the tears that well-up every time I hear this song. I do not remember the scene in the film La Bamba but I remember it was one of the more emotional ones. There are few artists from that era that had a full-length feature film made about their life like Ritchie Valens Sleepwalk. As a professional Wedding DJ, I get requested plenty of his music these days and continue to feel moved by his music.

Ritchie Valens Sleepwalk Music Video

He was born Ricardo Esteban Valenzuela Reyes. He was asked by his producer and agent to change his family name to make it sound ‘more american’. Its strange in 2011 to contextually imagine that happening today, where nearly twenty percent of American population is Latino.  His death along with other pop stars Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper is still considered an American tragic story. After the February 2, 1959, performance in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly, Richardson, and Valens flew out of the Mason City airport in a small plane that Holly had chartered. He was on the plane because he won a coin toss. The plane, a four-passenger Beechcraft Bonanza, departed for Fargo, North Dakota, and crashed shortly after takeoff in a snow storm. The crash killed all three passengers and the pilot; at 17, Valens was the youngest to die on the flight. The event inspired singer Don McLean’s popular 1971 ballad “American Pie“, and immortalized February 3 as “The Day the Music Died”.

Ritchie Valens Sleepwalk with Rhode Island Oldies DJ

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

The Bee Gees Stayin Alive

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The Bee Gees Stayin Alive. I was in 7th grade when John Travolta was at the peak of his teen icon status with his role as Vinnie Barbarino on the TV show Welcome Back Kotter.  My brother who was four years older than me, met and became friends with him strangely enough at a bar in Miami. They stayed in contact for a little while and  once I answered the phone and sure enough John Travolta was on the other end. My brother wasn’t home and I took a message.

Fun Rhode Island Wedding DJ Dancing Bee Gees Stayin Alive

It wasn’t till I was in high school that Saturday Night Fever and The Bee Gees Stayin Alive came out. My brother liked Disco, at the time I was not as much a fan. I have grown to appreciate how it is so well-made for dancing. As a professional DJ, The Bee Gees Stayin Alive such an effective tool for mixing genres and generations.  It continues to amaze how often I get The Bee Gees Stayin Alive requested by people of all ages from teens, college students, middle-aged and older folks at weddings and parties. There are many remixes of The Bee Gees Stayin Alive out these days that are all fun and great party songs.

The Bee Gees Stayin Alive Music Video

The Bee Gees Stayin Alive is a disco song by the group Bee Gees from the Saturday Night Fever motion picture soundtrack. The song was written by the Bee Gees (Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb) and produced by the Bee Gees, Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson. It was released on 13 December 1977, as the second single from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. It is one of their signature songs. “Stayin’ Alive” was placed at number 191 on the list of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Upon release, “Stayin’ Alive” climbed the charts to hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of 4 February 1978, remaining there for four weeks. In the process, it became one of the band’s most recognisable tunes, in part because of its place at the beginning of Saturday Night Fever.”

The Bee Gees were an interesting group who made their name originally as a Soft Rock, almost Folk, in the 60’s and early 70’s. They had a completely different sound and energy in their first round as pop stars. They gained international success and lasted nearly forty years as recording and preforming artists.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

John Lennon Imagine

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John Lennon Imagine. I remember the bittersweet night of being a professional DJ at a club in Randolph, NJ on a Monday night, it was December 8,1980. The club was mostly packed, especially for a Monday night in winter. The dance floor was jamming and everybody was having a good time. A young woman came up to the DJ booth and begged me to play Bruce Springsteen. I explained that the dance floor was full and she would have to wait till it thinned out, otherwise everybody would probably stop dancing. She finally convinced me to play him while she was standing there. I had the record in my hand when one of the bouncers ran up and told me John Lennon had just been shot and killed. I dropped the record on the floor of the DJ booth. After the song playing was over, I turned on the mike and announced his death. I asked for moment of silence and then played “Imagine” before returning to my regular set, although not regular at all. It is the moment I think of the most when I get behind my turntables, then CD Players and now MacBook. Growing up, he was hero my hero with his music and desire for peace.

John Lennon Imagine Music Video

The next day, as Program Director of the local college radio and DJ, I stated that we only play John Lennon Imagine and music by John Lennon for the next twenty-four hours.

The Beatles and John Lennon Imagine Icon

 

“BMI named John Lennon Imagine one of the 100 most-performed songs of the 20th century. The song ranked number 30 on the Recording Industry Association of America‘s list of the 365 Songs of the Century bearing the most historical significance. It earned aGrammy Hall of Fame Award and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. A UK survey conducted by the Guinness World Records British Hit Singles Book named it the second best single of all time, andRolling Stone ranked it number 3 in their list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time“. Since 2005, event organisers have played it just before the New Year’s Times Square Ball drops in New York City. Dozens of artists have performed or recorded versions of “Imagine”, including Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Joan Baez, Elton John, and Diana Ross. Emeli Sandé recorded a cover for theBBC to use during the end credits montage at the close of the 2012 Summer Olympics coverage in August 2012. “Imagine” subsequently re-entered the UK Top 40, reaching number 18.” Wikipedia

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Carly Simon You’re So Vain

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It was the summer between sixth and seventh grade.  I had just gotten home from a Little League game which I pitched and we won. I walked up to my room and the new telephone that my parents had just hooked up for me rang its old-style ring like a bell. I picked up the phone and heard the song Carly Simon You’re So Vain playing from beginning to end with the person on the other end hanging up, evidenced by the click and dial tone. I smiled as I put my new beige phone back on its receiver. I was twelve and did not know what ‘vain’ meant yet and in my foolishness thought it was a compliment:)

Fun Boy Dancing with Rhode Island Sweet Sixteen Party DJ Carly Simon You're So Vain

Later that summer I was at our school camping weekend to end the year and these two girls kept singing Carly Simon You’re So Vain every time they passed me in a chorus. I again smiled every time just fueling them even more.  Finally, one of them came up to me and told me the other one had played Carly Simon You’re So Vain on the phone to me. I asked her to thank her friend and smiled, still clueless. She explained to me with fire in her eyes “Vain is not a compliment, it means you are a jerk!”

 

“Jerk? Really? Why am I a jerk?”

 

“Because Mary is your girlfriend and you are going to the dance with Dana! Jerk!”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“Don’t your remember when Bryan asked Mary to go out with you in January on the playground at lunch-time?”

 

It took a minute but I remembered something like that happening in what seemed like such a long time ago at that point. “Oh yeah, I remember, tell her I am sorry that I forgot all about that.”

 

Since that day every time I have heard this song I think of that Saturday afternoon phone call that I thought was a compliment but learned later that vanity is not something that we aspire to achieve.

Carly Simon You’re So Vain Music Video

 

I really like the video of Carly Simon You’re So Vain they made for this and the remix.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Clarence Clemons Tribute (Jungleland)

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As a New Jersey teenager in the 70’s and 80’s, it was hard not to be a Bruce Springsteen fan. He spoke to a time and place in our shared story and had those riveting live performances that lasted anywhere from 3-4.5 hours with everybody leaving covered in sweat.  As soaked in sweat as Bruce Springsteen was by the end of the night, equally drenched was The Big Man on The Saxophone, Clarence Clemons.

 

This clip is from a performance in 2009 with Clarence Clemons performing one of my favorite solos of Clarence Clemons, “Jungleland”.

Clarence Clemons Tribute “Jungleland” Music Video

I remember when Izod Center (originally Brendan Byrne Arena, formerly Continental Airlines Arena and commonly Meadowlands Arena) first opened and they booked Frank Sinatra and Bruce Springsteen to perform the first and second weeks respectively.  I had the opportunity to obtain tickets to two of the Springsteen shows. Those were some great memories for me.  Clarence Clemons, you will be missed and remembered.

Clarence Clemons Hartford Civic Center, April 24, 2009 Born to Run

Clarence Clemons playing his “Born to Run” saxophone solo with house lights up. Hartford Civic Center, April 24, 2009.

Clarence Clemons and How He Became Part of The E Street Band

Clarence Anicholas Clemons, Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death, he was a prominent member of Bruce Springsteen‘s E Street Band, playing the tenor saxophone.

 

“One night we were playing in Asbury Park. I’d heard The Bruce Springsteen Band was nearby at a club called The Student Prince and on a break between sets I walked over there. On-stage, Bruce used to tell different versions of this story but I’m a Baptist, remember, so this is the truth. A rainy, windy night it was, and when I opened the door the whole thing flew off its hinges and blew away down the street. The band were on-stage, but staring at me framed in the doorway. And maybe that did make Bruce a little nervous because I just said, “I want to play with your band,” and he said, “Sure, you do anything you want.” The first song we did was an early version of “Spirit in the Night“. Bruce and I looked at each other and didn’t say anything, we just knew. We knew we were the missing links in each other’s lives. He was what I’d been searching for. In one way he was just a scrawny little kid. But he was a visionary. He wanted to follow his dream. So from then on I was part of history.” Clarence Clemons

 

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Beach Boys Good Vibrations

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Beach Boys Good Vibrations. It was May 21st, the eve of my 19th birthday. Me and two of my buddies were enjoying a night out at one of our favorite clubs in West Orange, NJ. It was last call and one of the guys turned to me and said, “Let’s go and celebrate your birthday in A.C. (Atlantic City)”. Ten minutes later we were in my Camaro headed South on The Garden State Parkway.

 

Two hours later we were playing blackjack in Ceasar’s Palace. I won a pile of cash and they offered us a room for the night complimentary. We woke in the morning and went to the beach to relax not knowing that The Beach Boys were giving a free concert on the beach! It was a great show and Beach Boys Good Vibrations made it one of my best birthdays still to this day.

Dance in sunset on Beach with The Beach Boys Good Vibrations DJ in New Jersey

I grew-up listening to Beach Boys Good Vibrations and other records mostly on 45’s and some albums. As a professional DJ they have always been a part of what I play when it makes sense to do so. I used to play a bunch of different Beach Boys medleys due to their still high popularity at the time. Today they are more of a nostalgic band for younger folks but those old enough to remember them continue to ask for whichever of their songs is their favorite.

Beach Boys Good Vibrations Music Video

Beach Boys Good Vibrations

“The Beach Boys Good Vibrations is a song by American rock band The Beach Boys, released as a single in October 1966. Composed andproduced by Brian Wilson, the song’s lyrics were written by Wilson and Mike Love.

Released as a single on October 10, 1966 (backed with the Pet Sounds instrumental “Let’s Go Away For Awhile“), it was The Beach Boys’ third U.S. number-one hit after “I Get Around” and “Help Me, Rhonda“, reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1966, as well as being their first British chart-topper. Initiated during the sessions for the Pet Sounds album, it was not taken from or issued as a lead single for an album, but as a stand-alone single, although it would be later considered for the aborted Smile project. It would ultimately be placed on the album Smiley Smile eleven months after its release.” Wikipedia

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ