Echo Street @ Whole Foods 4/13/14

[Drunk Monk]

So I listen to this local reggae show on my telecommute daze called All Fruits Ripe. It's the UCSC station and the DJ, DJ Spleece, throws down a tight little show. I thoroughly enjoy it so I 'liked' it on fb and he posted a reply on my fb page telling me he knew about KFTC mag. Last week, he announced this little benefit for Sprout Up (a college student led education program for 1st & 2nd graders) in the parking lot of the Whole Foods. It's a short walk from my bungalow, so I stopped by to say 'hi'. I even had a chance to do a little shopping as I was in need of a Whole Foods run. Then I grabbed a ginger beer and the center table for another gorgeous Cruz Sunday afternoon.

There were about two dozen people there beyond the regular shoppers and it took up a small corner of the parking lot. I met with DJ Spleece and it turns out that beyond from being a rasta and a vegan, he is a lifelong martial artist who spent several years studying Chinese literature in Shandong. We had a long conversation as Echo Street played. We had so much to talk about that we adjourned until we cross paths again, surely at the next Reggae.

Echo Street features a former guitarist for Damien Jr. Gong Marley, who left touring the world to study Buddhism and ended up in the Cruz. They were solid - I could clearly hear Jr. Gong in his lyrical delivery.

Pretty astonishing for free music in the streets of my 'hood.

[thatguy]

+1, "like", and all that...

--tg

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Another advantage to not dying young is to have unplanned meetings like this. Life is good.

[Drunk Monk]

I'm glad I posted on this. It marks my first meeting with a dear friend. 

Tonight begins the Reggae Marathon on KKUP 91.5 Cupertino. Dial it up live 'ere http://player.streamguys.com/kkup/sgplayer3/player.php

KKUP has a regular Friday night Reggae show, one of my favs, Robert Rankin's Solid Foundation. It's been going for years and has marked so many Friday night launches into the weekend. 

Right now, I'm in the middle of DJ Spleece's two-hour fundraiser set. He's on the 1&2s until midnight. 

As I've mentioned several times on DOOM, Spleece has become a good friend, along with his wife, DJ Aye Que Linda. We crossed paths regularly in the reggae scene, at festivals and shows, and I went to a lot of his local dancehalls at Bocci's, the Sandbar, and most recently the Catalyst. I've been to their home for private parties. I can't begin to count how many times I've heard him spin. He's a bannerman for the reggae scene here in the Rasta Cruz.

Man, I miss mi reggae. I have a huge collection of reggae CDs - hundreds maybe. My collection of rare Bob Marley CDs alone is dozens deep, collected over many years. But I haven't been listening to them very much. I usually listen when I drive, but I barely drive nowadays. Plus it's no substitute for that huge bass boom, that thunderous sound of subwoofers, riddem so massive dat I&I feel in mi marrow. I'm listening to Spleece's show streaming off my laptop, with a single cheap earbud. It's not the same. It's not even close. 

This feckin pandemic is bringing me down. 

Nuh cyan wait til me back inna dancehall.

[Drunk Monk]

I was going to start a thread on dancehalls but decided I should just use this one because all the dancehalls I hit up here in a Cruz are with DJ Spleece spinning. He’s no longer on UCSC’s KZSC, but now his on KSQD and Nice Up Radio (a web platform). And he just started Reggae Social at Seabright Social (formerly Seabright Brewery. This was my local when I drank beer. Jingles and I used to come for happy hour - I’d have a beer and share a salmon bite or calamari with him (the brewery did excellent appetizers).

I don’t know how many times I went to Bocci’s & the Sandbar. The Catalyst only lasted for a few dancehalls so I only went to a few. He trekked to get it fired up at Cafe Cruz (formerly Saturn Cafe) and I went to one of those but it failed. He srill does the Sandbar but I haven’t gone back since the pandemic and the storms crushed it (it’s been rebuilt). 

This is the second Reggae Social. The first drew about a dozen from the local reggae scene. This one has me and Aye Que Linda’s posse (over a half dozen divas). It’s struggling to find its feet. I reached out to my local reggae friends but the rain scared them off. Stacy isn’t down with loud music anymore (I still love it) but she got fitted with custom earplugs recently so hopefully that’ll allow her to come back out to rock concerts (we have tix to Dead & Co at the Sphere this summer). 

I really hope the Reggae Socials take hold. It’s just a short stumble from our bungalow. One of the boss men here at the brewery is deep into it, dancing around when the riddem hits. But it’ll need a bigger crowd. What makes dancehalls tough at bars is that reggae fans aren’t always drjnkers. They take spliff breaks but don’t amount to that much at the bar. 

This dancehall is irresistible to me. So close to home. I’m bummed that none of my posse showed. Next time maybe. If there is a next time.

I listen to a lot of reggae on the radio - 3 shows a week at least. But nothing compares to a big soundsystem. Being a a card holding member of the church of bass, I need my big bass fix or I get itchy…