And I was pretty psyched this week to get a nice email from the son of Priscilla Rollins, singer of the wonderful sister-funk classic Obeah Women.  If you haven’t heard it, its a big old funky slab on Roulette with what can only be described as COMPLETELY mental, Bahamian-tinged backbeat.  Her son found me from a post on my old website where I had the tune in a playlist, and was hoping to get a copy…I pointed him (and will duly point y’all) to the awesome Australian comp, The First Days of Funk.  Lots and lots of rare and wonderful stuff on those discs, and they’re worth every penny.  So Obeah Women is the song of the week this week, and I’ll be dropping it at peak time at the Rosebud this evening–cheers to you Ms. Rollins!

RRSC Vol 1: Don’t Want Nobody To Give Me Nuthin’ (MP3, 39.8 MB)

And, last week’s playlist is up too!  Check it in the Podcasts & Playlists section.

See you at the Rosebud in just a wee few hours…

Red Rose SC on Myspace

Also, I got a couple great digs this week that I can’t wait to lay on ya tomorrow night.  Both were things I wanted for awhile…The first is a really sexy slab of hurdy-gurdy, swirly girl-funk called Daddy Love by Gi Gi, on Sweet.  Check it out on the YouTubes:

If you’ve seen my live band, The Sunday Saints, then you’ve most likely seen us cover this one.  And I can say its got some of the most delectably filthy lyrics I’ve ever spat… Lil’ Wayne might think he’s bad with “Lick It Like A Lollipop” but Gi Gi was talking about her man bein’ “lickin’ good” a long time ago.  I first heard this one over at Funky16Corners and haven’t tired of it for a minute since.  I’ve also never been able to find out anything about her, which surprises me…with a voice like that, I half wonder if she’s another “Marsha Gee” type character, masquerading under another name for a couple sides, for whatever reason.   But regardless, both sides of this record have blown up over the past couple years for their obvious funktasticness as break fodder, so get your hands on a copy while you can.

The second dig of the week is an old favorite: Nothing But A Heartache by the Flirtations, on Deram.  There’s a super-amazing video (or film, I should say) of them performing live on YouTube (sorry, won’t let me embed this one)…big ups to Cam from the Prime Movers for hippin’ me to its existence:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39SjyMvBbk4

Watching that, I was immediately reminded of the Exciters’ He’s Got the Power film for Scopitone.  For those who aren’t old-media nerds like me, Scopitone was a company that marketed jukeboxes that also showed short performance films on 16mm…basically the great-granddaddy of the music video.  Alas, it doesn’t appear (at least from the lists on this site) that the Flirtations film was made for that purpose, but it definitely has that awesome feel!

The song itself is so beloved, so oft-spun and so well-known at this point, largely due to the Brits, that it really hardly counts as “rare” anymore.  But its one of those tunes that has just the right dose of heartbreak and backbeat that you can put it on perennial repeat and it’ll make you want to hit the floor every time.    So I’m glad to finally have got around to getting a copy, and I’ll be more than happy to put it into regular rotation.

And FYI, the Flirtations are still around and still sound AMAZING…I recently heard them on Craig Charles’ show on BBC6 and you wouldn’t think a single year had passed.  They do seem to make special appearances from time to time, so if you can catch them, I think it’d be well worth it.

Red Rose Soul Club on Facebook

Our first free mix tape, RRSC Vol. 1: Don’t Want Nobody To Give Me Nuthin’, went out of stock pretty fast…I hope everybody who got a copy is diggin on it.  I’ll have a podcast version up online sometime later this week for them that missed it.  RRSC Vol. 2: Her Mama Won’t Leave Us Alone drops at RRSC on Friday, August 7…git there early to get yer mitts on it!

See yinz this Friday night, with some brand new, super-rare funk digs on deck!

–Jordan

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EVERY ROSE HAS ITS PARTY

Red Rose Soul Club launch at the Rosebud Bar & Grill

Behind the Rosebud Diner, 184 Summer St., Somerville. Friday, , 10 p.m., 21-plus. FREE

Jordan Valentine wants to give her neighbors a break. Her late-night, living-room dance parties were starting to become a nuisance on her quiet residential street, so Boston’s queen of soul decided it was time to take the party public. The former frontwoman of the World’s Greatest Sinners and current voice of the Sunday Saints launches the Red Rose Soul Club on Friday night, a dance party offering up Valentine’s choice selections of ’60s soul, funk, rare r & b, boogaloo and other forgotten vinyl floor-fillers. And don’t fret about not knowing the music – Valentine promises free mix CDs, weekly play lists and podcasts on the party’s Web site, all designed to get you in the know. Doesn’t get any cooler than that.

Info: jordanvalentine.com/redrose