I relocated to New York six months ago and can tell you that there is a
whole lot going on. If you love acid jazz, you will never run out of
things
to do. This has been an incredible summer. It was full of free events
like
Buckshot Le Fonque's performance at Summer Stage in Central Park and Giant
Step's anniversary in Bryant Park, featuring the Ohio Players,
Repercussions, Groove Collective, Dana Bryant, Chico Science, Raw Stylus,
Urban Tap. Roy Ayers also performed there another night for free. These
shows drew the attention of thousands of New Yorkers who filled the parks.
It's a great and strange feeling going to a public park to hear my favorite
music live and to witness thousands of other New Yorkers swaying and
singing
to the songs.
Being a small city, San Francisco does not have as many locals and not as
many people who support the scene. You can only go to the Elbo Room so
many
times before you get tired of seeing the same faces and Bimbo's is the only
location being used for bigger events. I heard that at the On the One
anniversary party this summer, there was not much of a turnout considering
some of the members from UFO came all the way out from Japan. It's a
crying
shame.
The Groove Academy has been around for five years and deserves some
respect.
They are still putting on tremendous shows and in the past six months,
we've seen Donald Byrd, Incognito, Jamiroquai, Jazzmatazz, Massive Attack,
the Last Poets, Spearhead, Omar, Tricky, Charlie Hunter, TJ Kirk,
etc...(though I know most of these bands have made it out to San
Francisco). The Groove Academy/Giant Step are better known in England,
Japan
and Germany. If you detected any animosity here in NYC, it's probably
because some of the original people involved with Giant Step are doing
other
things and so competitive vibes come into play. Some of the original crew
are thowing other clubs like Concrete Jungle and the talented DJ Smash now
has a company of his own, New Breed Records, which is putting out phat
tracks.
Just wanted to set the record straight on this east-west coast thing.
E-mail me the next time you come out so I can let you know about the local
events.
Peace,
Caron
-------------
Original Text
I am sending this message again because of the mysterious indecipherable
thing. If you have seen this note already bear with me...
Whats up,
I just got back from 11 days in New York City, big long vacation from San
Francisco. Nice overwhelming city. A couple observations:
1. San Francisco has much more going on in the way of acid jazzy kind of
stuff. Not wanting to start and west coast vs. east coast war here, but
even my transplanted SF friends say the same thing. It seems here in San
Francisco I have been spoiled rotten.
2. It seems Giant Step and Groove Collective are HIGHLY unliked in some
circles, why is this? I heard Groove Collective referred to as "Greed
Collective" and dissed. What is up?
New York is cool, I am sorry but I missed DJ Qool Marv's set on Wednesday.
The city is crazy. It is absolutely sick crazy.
I unsubscribed from the list while I was gone, ao I must plead ignorance.
What is up with the sampler? Is it still on?
- Jonathan