"That's the Way Love Is"

Remembering Bobby Blue Bland, one of the all time great soul-blues artists, who passed away last Sunday.

Here's his 1963 hit "That's the Way Love Is," which reached #33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Hit R&B Singles. Classic soul.

This is great news

One of the all-time classic pop/funk albums has been re-issued! "Inspiration Information," a 1974 masterpiece by Shuggie Otis, has been released with a companion album, "Wings of Love," a compilation of 14 unreleased cuts.

Shuggie, son of the famous band leader and producer Johnny Otis, made his initial splash at the age of 15 as a blues guitarist, appearing on Al Kooper's 1969 Kooper Session. In 1970, B.B. King called Shuggie "his favorite new guitarist."

"Inspiration Information," a trippy, jazzy ride that still sounds contemporary, was Shuggie's third and final album for Epic Records, taking three years to complete. Shuggie wrote and arranged all the music and played all the instruments except horns and strings. The album hit #181 on the Billboard Top 200, and Shuggie has not released an official new project since.

Check it out!

Also-- check out "Strawberry Letter #23," released in 1977 by The Brothers Johnson. You may remember this cut from its extended play on Quentin Tarentino's film "Jackie Brown". Shuggie wrote the song and plays guitar on the track. The song went to #1 on the Soul Singles chart.

Check this out from NPR. Shuggie is touring to support the new release! He'll be at Scullers Jazz Club, in Alston, MA, for two shows on August 7.

More funky treasures from our Music Director

Every Thursday, our Music Director, emcee, and sax player Jeremy Valadez posts a new deep gem on our Facebook timeline, featuring obscure, and sometimes not-so-obscure, cuts from the vault.

Check out some of his recent offerings of classic funk:

Does Your Mama Know, by Rudy Love and The Love Family. Bass-driven funk with awesome group vocals.

I'd Be Nowhere Today, by The Nu People. Rare psychedelic funk! Can't find any info on these guys at all, anywhere. Any help out there? Maybe Brother Wayne knows.

Funky Pants, by Oceanliners. Guitar-driven funk instrumental with a complex, interweaving horn arrangement. Oceanliners went on to become The Sunshine Band, of K.C. and The Sunshine Band fame.

Color Blind, by Frankie Beverly's Raw Soul. Message song with an incredible groove, reminiscent of Sly and the Family Stone. What color is harmony?

Firewalker, by Jungle Fire. A contemporary cut from a great San Diego band! Bass-heavy dance floor instrumental with a Latin feel. Nice sax solo starts at 1:15. Check out their Facebook page.

See you at The Cantab!

Sweet T and Jeremy gettin' it right.

Thanks to Ben and Ted

It's been a year since Ben Ricker (keys) and Ted Sullivan (drums) joined the band, and they've been awesome. Thanks, guys, for your hard work. Here's looking to many more years together!

 Ted

Ben

Greetings from California

One year since moving to Sacramento, and all is well! I continue to book the band, thanks to the internet and thanks to Jeremy, our esteemed Music Director, who does a great job when face-to-face is required. I'm missing The Cantab, after playing every Thursday for six years.

Just spent a weekend with Slacks founding member Justin Berthiume, who moved to San Francisco in 2009. Justin is thriving as a science teacher at a San Francisco charter school, and was in Sacramento to attend a two-day conference on environmental research and policy.

He's still living on Haight Street, in an apartment once famously occupied by The Grateful Dead. The place is the last stop on one of San Francisco's tourist bus routes, and the question Justin is asked the most is "how much rent do you pay?"

Here's a shot of Justin, directing from his drummer's chair, during a memorable gig at the funky 169 Bar in NYC.



Looks like I'll be in Boston at the end of August. See you at The Cantab!

Our home town

We're proud of Boston for its courage in the face of the Marathon tragedy. Saw this a couple nights ago-- Colbert sets a great tone in this monologue to open his show.

 

Spring time

Well, gee, not much new to report-- everything chugging along just fine. Cantab is packed every Thursday night. Summer calendar is getting full.

So how about this to celebrate the start of spring: how about you put some new life into those dance moves of yours?

The Boogaloo, the Funky Chicken, the Mashed Potato...here's how to move like James Brown.