I must have gone to bed at around 6am Thursday morning, only to awaken at around 11am. After shooting the breeze with some folks, I got in touch with Proof from the Massive Selector crew, informing me that he’s opening for the James Brown DJ event that Daz-I-Kue from Bugz was organizing. I told him that I’ve had to get some food and then visit the Om VIP Listening event first, but that I would be there.

I have to give major props to Daz. Having found out that no other event in Miami was doing such a tribute, Daz made calls and took action to make it happen. When I rang him up the week before, his enthusiasm for having a James Brown tribute event was unshakable and spirited; he was clearly eager to see it through. Kinda sad that it took someone from the UK to pay musical respect to an undisputed figure in the world of dance and soul music; still, things were moving.

And so after I had a quick bite and a quickie at the Om event (pictures to come soon), to the Marlin I went. The event was just getting underway when Proof was on the decks. He was also passing out a cool-looking James Brown tribute mix that he had done (one of several such CD’s passed out to those who wanted one).

I’ve ran into a few cats while there. Among them, I was introduced to DJ Moni, a DJ from New York earning a solid reputation from, among others, Gilles Peterson and the Giant Step peeps. Talking with her for a bit was great, and she seems to enjoy what she does. I was also introduced to the DJ collective that she’s part of, the ladies of Ubiquita in New York, who would sponsor an event later in the week.

After Proof had his time on, Daz-I-Kue went on for awhile to continue warming up the peeps. Mad Mats from Raw Fusion then went on, and he astounded the dancers and the trainspotters with his immaculate DJ skillz; it’s no wonder that he’s one of the best eclectic DJ’s out there. And coming from the hip-hop background, he surely knew how to put it to great use.

Benji B. goes on with his own thing, and impresses with great skillz and phat tunes. But it seems that there wasn’t a bad DJ at all who combined great tunes and fierce timing; the crowd grew larger (both inside and outside) as time went on, and the passion and respect for the Godfather spilled over into the evening.

I’ve ran into Jessica from SPECTRE in L.A., which was cool since it seems Miami’s the only time I get to see her. We’ve left the event early, but I’m told that it went into the evening with Ubiquita dropping the goods til the police arrived and shut down the party. But all in all, it sounds like the tribute to James Brown paid off in spades.

Highlights:

• Catching Proof doing his first Miami gig…a little moment in history.
• Reuniting with Daz and Mrs. Daz…and she looks great without the hair!
• Seeing and chatting with Mad Mats again before and after his wicked moment ont he decks…wow!
• Reuniting with Jessica, and being introduced to several Stones Throw cats including Madlib.
• Moni Moni Moni and her crew.
• All the jocks rockin’ the decks.
• The great dancers who showed their stuff; really diffcult to capture the essence of their various styles in pictures.

The complete set of pics for the event are available now.

Thanks to Daz, Mrs. Daz, Jessica, Moni and Proof.

Categorized as:Music News> News

Posted on Friday, April 6th, 2007 at 9:04 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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