TROUBLE FUNK hits town for two night in March
TROUBLE FUNK
- Venue:
- Islington Assembly Hall
- Date:
- Fri, 15/03/2013 19:00 and Sat,16/03/2013
Trouble Funk - 35th Anniversary Concert
+ DJ Snowboy ( Meet me at the Go-Go )
+ DJ Chris Philips ( Jazz FM )
Trouble Funk, a musical group born on the streets of
Washington, D.C., is synonymous with the emergence of the non-stop, percussion driven, best seen
live, experience the party, audience participatory call and response, grassroots, homegrown music
called Go-Go. As the world wide ambassadors of this musical genre,
Go-Go, a distant, but older cousin of Hip-Hop, Trouble Funk has
taken their sound from the gritty streets of D.C. to the clubs of the nation and the festivals
around the world for the past 30 plus years.
The band and their sound, developed by mixing an uproarious blend of
swinging, up-tempo 70’s funk with a 60’s style horn section, heavily laden with infectious
percussion, topped off with booming vocals and the genre’s trademark call and response, burst
onto the music scene in 1978. Trouble Funk, in its infancy, consisted of the
writing team of band leader, bassist and vocalist Tony “Big Tony” Fisher, keyboardists Robert
“Syke Dyke” Reed and James Avery and trumpet player Taylor Reed. The group was rounded out with
the musical prowess of drummer Emmett Nixon, percussionists Mack Carey and Timothy “Teebone”
David, guitarist Chester Davis, trombonist Gerald Reed and saxophonist David Rudd while they
peppered the musical landscape of the 1980’s with anthems “Drop the Bomb”, “Pump Me
Up”, “Let’s Get Small”, “So Early in the Morning”, “Saturday Night Live From Washington, D.C.,
Parts 1 & 2”, “Say What?” and two R&B/ Hip-Hop Billboard charting tracks,
“Still Smokin’” and “Good to Go”.
“Drop the Bomb” was the first Go-Go record to be
released outside of Washington, D.C. and was released on the pioneering label, Sugar Hill
Records.
Trouble Funk, with their raw, party driven style, was able
to capture the attention of musical enthusiasts of a variety of genres catapulting themselves
onto the national and international music scene. They would frequently tour with notable punk
rock acts Minor Threat and the Big Boys, while still gracing the stage on major
music festivals with legendary artists such as Curtis Mayfield, Parliament Funkadelic,
Red Hot Chili Peppers, UB40, Def Leppard and Fishbone, to name a few.
Trouble Funk also recorded with Kurtis Blow and appeared in his
video, “I’m Chillin’”.
From 1986 to 1988, Trouble Funk toured extensively
throughout the United States playing legendary venues such as Madison Square Garden and the
Apollo Theatre and on worldwide stages with multiple stops in Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, London,
Spain, Nice, Denmark, Germany and Japan. A stop in Switzerland included a performance at the
highly regarded Montreux Jazz Festival. 1994 brought Trouble Funk back to Japan
for an extended tour.
In the mid 80’s, while Trouble Funk was signed to Island
Records, their live performances were captured on the big screen in the film “Good to
Go” starring Art Garfunkel. The film, produced by Island Pictures, showcased Go-Go
music and most prominently, the music of Trouble Funk with the group featured on
5 of the 13 tracks on the soundtrack.
During Trouble Funk’s obligation with Island Records, they
worked with the legendary Bootsy Collins who produced the album “Trouble Over
Here, Trouble Over There”.
“Pump Me Up” is one of the most sampled tracks of
all time being sampled in over 70 different songs by various artists including Will
Smith, Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster
Melle Mel and the Furious Five, M/A/R/R/S, Guy, Public Enemy, 2 Live
Crew, George Clinton, Vanilla Ice, EPMD, Run-DMC, George Michael and Black Eyed
Peas to name a few, with some gaining chart topping hits. “Pump Me Up” is also featured in Style Wars and the
fictional R&B radio station WildStyle in the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
Trouble Funk return to play London for the first time in over 20 years to
celebrate their 35th Anniversary. Do not miss this
event - tickets will fly out so buy now.
ANTHONY DAVID this is one for the Ladies, He's back 14th February 2013
ANTHONY DAVID
- Venue:
- Islington Assembly Hall
- Date:
- Thu, 14/03/2013 19:00
- https://assemblyhall.ticketabc.com/events/anthony-da/
Raised in Savannah GA, Anthony made the move to ATL, and
hit the ground running in the local music scene. He found a long time friend and music
collaborator in a then unknown India Arie, and became a part of her
success.Writing and producing on her first 3 albums yielded grammies and numerous other
awards, while he also toured singing backup for her. Arie pushed him to the front by her
2nd tour, having Anthony open up for her across the country, which led to a deal with Local
Independent label, BRASH MUSIC.
At BRASH, David wrote and co produced 2
critically acclaimed albums, “3 chords
and the truth” and“Red Clay Chronicles”, which
also secured deals in Europe (Dome Records) and Japan (Village Again), leading Anthony to tour
worldwide several times over, making new fans along the way. The acclaim prompted Universal
Republic record to get involved, compiling the best songs from the two indie albums,
repackaging them as ACEY DUECY. The added
exposure took the single “Words”, a duet with Arie
to chart placement, and nomination for a GRAMMY in
’08. It was also the album that exposed the First lady, Michelle
Obama, to Anthony’s talent, who then brought him to the attention of the
President himself, Barack Obama, who name checked
Anthony as a constant on his iPod.
For the next album, “As above, so below” David
inked a deal with E1/Purpose records and
travelled to Nashville to work with producer Shannon
Sanders. They produced Anthony’s best record to date, pushing the boundaries, and
expanding on what people have come to expect from R&B. Taking on political
topics (Reach Ya), Religious (God Said), with his trademark storytelling (Backstreet) still in tow, and razor sharp. The leading
single, “4evermore” stormed the
radio and gave Anthony his first #1
record, while the reggae/latin tinged “Body Language” tore up
dance floors all across the UK. A tour to Kenya, inspired Anthony to become a part of
the “Give Africa
Hope” campaign that brought awareness to the East Africa famine. During that
period, David wrote and released 3 new songs along with remixes from “As Above, so below”, shooting
the video in Kenya for the title track “#Locationlocationlocation”.
The tune was a homage to Carl Sagan’s “pale blue
dot” and also a plea to share the resources of the planet. He also got
intimately involved with AWOL (All Walks of life) an arts
program for children back in his hometown of Savannah, pushing to get it established in Atlanta
by 2013.
Currently in production for his fourth studio album,
titled “Love Out
Loud”, Anthony
David constantly pushes the boundaries, and broadens peoples expectation
from both him, and the community he represents. “I’ve
never been one to shy away from titles, boxes, whatever you wanna call em, but I will EXPAND
those boxes” is a quote that Anthony lives by. From day one it’s always been about
consistency for David, and he continues to provide what people expect from him in as many ways as
he is able. Raw, honest, pure, music from and for the soul.
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Soul Diva BETTY WRIGHT plays two nights in February 15 - 17th
Venue: Islington Assembly Hall
- Date Fri, 15/02/2013 19:00
- Betty Wright hails from Miami in Florida.Betty is a former member of her family gospel group, the Echoes Of Joy (whom she joined at the age of three years old), Wright's first recordings were as a backing singer.She then moved into a more secular style of singing after being overheard, at the age of 11, working in a local record store, by fellow Miami musical entrepreneurs, Clarence Reid and Willie Clarke.Reid and Clarke utilised Betty, initially, as a background vocalist for their Deep City imprint.By 1967, Betty had relocated to the Solid Soul label, releasing the songs 'Good Lovin' and 'Mr Lucky'.Betty scored a minor hit with 'Girls Can't Do What The Guys Do' in 1968 for the emerging Alston imprint.1970 and 1971 saw the respective releases 'Pure Love' and 'I Love The Way You Love'.'Clean Up Woman' followed in 1972, a U.S. R & B number 2 / pop number 6 hit established a more powerful side to her musical delivery, that later releases, 'Baby Sitter' (from 1972) and 'Let Me Be Your Lovemaker' (from 1973), confirmed.'Clean Up Woman', on reaching the number 2 slot, became a Gold record, which Betty was presented with on her 18th birthday.Although 'Shoorah Shoorah' and 'Where Is The Love?' (further Alston releases) reached the U.K. Top 30 in 1975.'Slip And Do It', 'If I Ever Do You Wrong' and 'Life' followed in 1976.By this time Betty became more involved with the production side of proceedings, writing much of her material as highlighted by the release of the excellent 'Explosion' album a year later.In 1977, Betty released the album 'This Time For Real', an album containing the popular modern dancer 'That Man Of Mine'.Betty continued recording into the 80's and furthered a career as a U.S. television talk show hostess.She released a self titled album in 1981, which contained the sought after 'Make Me Love The Rain', along with Betty's take on the Richard Dimples Fields song, 'I Like Your Lovin'.In 1986, Betty released, what is considered by many pundits to be one of the soul albums of the Eighties, 'Sevens' on First String Records.Bobby Caldwell contributed to the recording.Her voice can also be heard on Percy Larkins excellent duet 'I Need To See You Again'.In 2001/2 Betty returned to the soul scene with a new album entitled 'Fit For A King' on her own Ms B label.Working in December 2006, Betty was to be found working with the artists Beyonce, Scarey Spice, and Broke Hogan.
Lover's Rock Valentine's Day JANET KAY & CARROLL THOMPSON
Lover's Rock Valentine's Day JANET KAY & CARROLL THOMPSON
- Venue:
- Islington Assembly Hall
- Date:
- Thu, 14/02/2013 19:00
-
Lover's Rock Valentine's Day Special featuring
The Queens of Lover’s Rock
Janet Kay & Carroll Thompson - Live in Concert with full band
Janet Kay best known in the UK for her hit single ‘Silly Games’ first released in 1979 making her the first British Black Female Reggae Artist to top the UK British pop charts. Janet is also best remembered for her role as ‘Angel’ in the cult hit TV Channel 4sit com from the 80’s, ‘No Problem’. In 1991 Janet Kay had a massive hit in Japan with her version of Minnie Ripperton’s ‘Loving You’ and was signed to Sony Music Japan for over 12 years and recorded 6 albums. Janet is affectionally known as the ‘Queen of Lover’s Rock’ and is presently recording her new album.
Carroll Thompson's voice was nurtured while singing in school and church choirs, and encouraged to sing by her church owning family, Carroll subsequently embarked on a singing career and by 1981 she had topped the reggae chart twice, with "I'm Sorry" and "Simply In Love" In 1982 she scooped two accolades at the GLR Reggae Awards. She was voted best female performer and "Hopelessly In Love" was deemed the best song. Her prolific career continued, and in 1983 she secured further awards, including a citation from the Voice, and was voted top female vocalist for the second time by GLR listeners. She also recorded duets with Sugar Minott ("Make It With You") and Trevor Walters ("Love Won't Let Us Wait"). Her solo hits include "Honest I Do", "Give Me A Chance" and "You Make It Heaven".
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