Guest Column On Nerditorious

Newsflash – The Nerds won. It’s not a mystery nor should it be that, while us nerdy guys in high school were being overlooked by the girls and being terrorized by the jocks and the cool kids, we were secretly plotting to take over the world… Okay, that all may be hyperbole (key words “may be”) but truth be told I am a nerd and I am proud of it. So when one of my favorite music nerditry sites on the web Nerditorious.com asked me to do a guest column for them, of course I was all in. And my contribution? I know this is gonna make all the ladies out there go CRAZY, but yes… I wrote about the one and only Norman Connors.

Peep Norman Connors Revisited By Cosmo Baker

The Ball At Kung Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA

Friday, November 18th, 2011
Lola Kinks Presents
A Night Of Disco Inspiration
The Ball – 1 Year Anniversary
Featuring Special Guest
Cosmo Baker
Alongside resident
DJ Apt One
@ Kung Fu Necktie – 1248 N. Front St. – Philadelphia, PA 

Disco Mix from A Downtown Affair

This past Friday I had the pleasure of doing a guest DJ slot on the very hip A Downtown Affair radio show on WNYU. Thanks to Mick McGill and Tackleberry for having me on to play some of my favorite tunes as well as throwing some custom edits out there on the airwaves for the first time ever (cue the Mister Magic drop, “A world premier… a world premier…”) It was a stone groove, and now they have the mix up and running on their site for you to listen to. It’s better than what I expected haha. Also make sure to peruse the archives cause they have a bunch of dope mixes from a great list of guests. So check below for the show with my and Rahaan from Chicago’s mixes. Enjoy!

Cosmo Baker on Let’s Get Serious

Tracklist:

Imagination “Music & Lights”
Ronn Matlock “Love City”
Isaac Hayes “Moonlight Lovin’ (Tangoterje Edit)”
Hunt’s Determination Band “No. #1 Lady”
Orlando Johnson & Trance “Chocolate City”
Pam Todd & Love Exchange “Let’s Get Together”
Eddie Kendricks “Body Talk (Spirit Bear Re-Paw)”
The Controllers “I Can’t Turn the Boogie Loose”
Melba Moore “Standing Right Here”
One Way “Give Me One More Chance”
Slave “Just A Touch of Love (Kon’s Edit)”
Pleasure “Joyous (Kon’s Mix)”
Teena Marie “Square Biz (Secret Mix)”
Stevie Wonder “Do I Do (U-Tern Edit)”
Phyllis Hyman “You Know How To Love Me (Cosmo Baker’s Extended Edit)”
Roundtree “Hit On You (LePump Secret Weapon Dub)”
Mike & Brenda Sutton “Don’t Let Go Of Me (Extended Disco Version)”
Michael Jackson “Shake A Body (Early Demo)”
The Next Movement “All I Do”
People “A Groovy Thing”
Philadelphia International All Stars “Let’s Clean Up The Ghetto”
The New York Community Choir “Express Yourself”
Eddy Grant “Nobody’s Got Time (Torpedo Version)”
The Trammps “The Night The Lights Went Out (Dimitri’s Edit)”
Ecstacy, Passion & Pain “Ask Me (Re-Worked)”
Kings Go Forth “Don’t Take My Shadow (Tom Moulton Remix)”
Double Exposure “My Love Is Free (Original Tom Moulton Remix)”

Breakbeat Tuesday – But What About Boston

So I been on the run a bit this week – I just got back from Boston where I did a Sheen Bros show with my partner in crime 4th Pyramid and the man who holds it all together, the illustrious Tamir Z. Brown. It was great and I got the chance to rock with my homies from up in Boston, the one and only Kon as well as 7L & DJ Beyonder – collectively known as The BladeRunners. I’m going back up to Boston on Saturday to rock out with 7L again so it should be dope.

I forgot to drop this week’s Breakbeat Tuesday so I’m gonna send this one out to Boston. I was actually trying to think of an artist that had a breakbeat that was a Boston native. I swear, the only thing that I could think of was Aerosmith “Walk This Way” and I am NOT about to get all up here on this site and talk about freaking Aerosmith and Walk This Way, son… Although this is a pretty dope video of them, with a fresh break at the front and Joe Perry going all in on the talk box circa 1977.

So I just decided to think out the box a little bit. This here is a song by Hamilton Bohannon, a drummer, songwriter and producer from Georgia. You probably know him from his biggest hit “Let’s Start The Dance” which is like a 13 minute percussive disco stomper that just basically murders every dancefloor dead. Bohannon was born and raised in Georgia and, after getting a job as Stevie Wonder’s tour drummer, settled in Detroit to work as a drummer and producer for Motown. After they relocated to Los Angeles, Bohannon stayed behind and released his first record, 1973’s “Stop & Go” on Dakar Records, based out of Chicago. So how does that tie in with Boston?

The Stop & Go record became really popular after it was sampled for Boston rapper Ed O.G. & Da Bulldogs (or should that be B.U.L.L.D.O.G.S. – Black United Leaders Living Directly On Groovin’ Sounds) for 1991’s “I Got To Have It. The amazing Awesome 2 aka Teddy Tedd & Special K as well as Joe Mansfield from The Vinyl Reanimators all have production credit for the song so I’m not sure who actually mined the sample. But it’s dope not hype it’s dope… I actually bought a copy of the vinyl about 10 years about from Tony Triple Double and Diplo (yeah, Diplo was way into old records before he became a club and techno superstar DJ. He still is though quiet as kept.) So yeah, there you go. In a roundabout way I guess this Bohannon record does rep Boston in a sense. At least it does in my Private Mind Garden. And yeah, I know it’s not a “breakbeat” per se but whatever dude…

Bohannon “Singing A Song For My Mother” (Dakar, 1973)

Bonus beats from my homie DJ Deep Sang out of Washington DC. There’s obviously been a brand new disco movement happening for a few years now and Deep Sang, along with his partner Meistro, have holding it down in DC for a minute. These dudes are dudes, know their music, and are awesome DJs. Deep Sang hit me off with this really tasteful and useful edit of Bohannon’s “Let’s Start The Dance” a few years ago and it’s always gone over well with my dancefoors. You can check more about Deep Sang and his crew and how they hold it down in DC – shout to Dirty Bombs and also my man DJ Stylus as well. Now here’s the music!

Bohannon “Let’s Start The Dance” (Deep Sang’s Edit) (CDR, 2008)