SONG OF THE DAY: Left With a Broken Heart (kudzu'd)

Spinning records in the town I was born in tomorrow, and I’ll probably bring some brown-eyed soul jams like this, but we’ll see if the vibes are right to play ‘em or not. Was messaging with DJ Disco Cat about this today, as we both pulled records, and the difficulty of being a physical media person who is a believer of Universal Magnetics, and how you don’t wanna bring everything possible, but you do wanna have the ability to flow with the in-person tangents that arise. Anyways, it’ll be hot as fuck, so perfect day to come sweat in a quonset building to the olden funk and new boogie funk and whatever the fuck else we end up spinning. It’s June 27th, too, so you know I’ll be honoring DJ Screw. Or maybe you don’t know that. Who the fuck even reads this? Probably mostly bots, and then my sister and my girlfriend, but they usually see it after the fact. I think that covers it. Well okay bots, I look forward to seeing you IN REAL LIFE. If you are not my sister or my girlfriend, leave a comment. *tumbleweeds*

first ever OPOSSUM Funk jam

June 27th is unofficially recognized as DJ Screw Day, due to the June 27th grey tape being his most famous one. That is the perfect day to launch a new (hopefully) series of funk jams called O.P.O.S.S.U.M. Funk, that me and my man DJ Disco Cat out of Richmond are putting together. In tandem with the folks at the Phunkadelic space in Farmville, Virginia, we shall be setting up in the quonset building, and funkifying the West End of Farmville. This is especially exciting for me because I was born a couple miles from there, so I get to return home as my fool ass self of now. We’ll be spinning records from 1 to 5 pm that day, alternating sets somehow. I’m sure I’ll play some 45s at 33 (in honor of Screw) but we’ll keep it funky enough you can shake your ass. Also, considering the ICE detention facility is just down the road, I am fairly certain I’m gonna spin a fat chunk of cumbia, to generate psychic waves of prison wall breakdown in that direction. So come on out on a warm ass Saturday afternoon, and let’s get on down!

SONG OF THE DAY: Run It On Down, Mr. D.J. (kudzu'd)

Not enough crazy people make their own radio stations anymore. And I don't mean digitally, but real life radio waves through the sky shooting through antennas so people sitting on a porch on a Thursday night can vibe the fuck out to it radio stations. All the ones we do have are either owned by two evil global conglomerates, or are "community" stations commandeered by the longest term local gatekeepers around. We need chaos radio... it is good for us all. Then again, judging by all the spotify wrappeds I see every year, culturally we seem attuned to the false quirkiness of streamed basics. There is no chaos to an algorithm, ever.

SONG OF THE DAY: Duke of Earl (kudzu'd)

Sometimes I dream of having some sort of public space that I could just spin slowed oldies like this, one Sunday afternoon a month, and there be a big ass cookout going on at the same time, maybe fry up some fish, and just create a vibe. Then I also think I need some sort of mobile sound system, with lasers and DIRTGOD in bright garish letters that cause the hard of seeing to cover their eyes. But there’s nobody to show me how to cobble this together, and most of those I encounter, like me, seem more channeled into finding things to buy to create this type of thing rather than build it from junk. And if you “google” anything at this point, you get sponsored results, even when you don’t. So maybe I should just take my battery powered speaker and battery powered mini turntable set-up, and just go play these oldies slow for the frogs in the big pit of the old canal along the river where the railroad yard is near Bremo, by the 69th mile marker. That’s where I’ll go when I’m dead and gone and my life has been archived in ash, so it makes sense to glorify the spot now, and get the amphibians hype enough to grow legs and jump up out the water and walk on mud.

SONG OF THE DAY: It's A New Day (kudzu'd)

This article is about the band. For the medical condition, see skull fracture.
(FYI, this is what the first line of the Wikipedia page for Skull Snaps said. I liked it and thought it good enough to leave by itself, but then added this. Not sure why. I was really stoked to get this 45 whenever I got it. Classic break beat, and sounds great slowed down. I love to spin this one live. I don’t really spin live all that much, lol. I should convert an old Toyota mini pick-up truck into a mobile sound system though. Or a shitty ‘90s era minivan.)

SONG OF THE DAY: We Funk The Best (kudzu'd)

Earlier today, I posted elsewhere in one of our social media silos, “You can’t spell fascism without AI.” My homie DJ Disco Cat replied with, “No AI slop for me please, I prefer my slop cosmic.” So this is your Friday reminder to get funky, however you can. Funk not only moves, it removes.

SONG OF THE DAY: Eighteen With a Bullet (kudzu'd)

To be completely honest, playing old doo wop and oldies 45s at 33 speed makes about the most perfect sense ever. That totally recognizable stuff sounds hauntingly chill, and I am forever confused why people don’t hire me to DJ this shit every other Thursday evening at their bougie restaurant or throwback dive bar. It’s the perfect drinking music, too, but feel-good drinking music, not “let’s get mad about the world and pick fights with the other assholes” drinking music, which – from my understanding – is what most establishments shoot for. Oh well… born behind ahead of my not quite time, like always.

SONG OF THE DAY: Don't Stop The Music (screwed & chopped)

I HAVE A DJ GIG ON JUNE 27TH, WHICH IS UNOFFICIALLY DJ SCREW DAY, AT GUAJIROS IN CHARLOTTESVILLE. I HAD BEGUN RECENTLY TO QUESTION MYSELF, AND MAYBE NOT PLAY SLOWED 45S, TO PRESENT MUSIC MORE NORMALLY, MORE LIKE A FRIDAY EVENING’S VERSION OF A SUNDAY BRUNCH CROWD WOULD LIKE. IT’S SO HARD TO GET FOLKS TO GO DO ANYTHING OUTSIDE OF THEIR DIGITAL BUBBLES, OTHER THAN GO TO WORK. AND LIKE ANYBODY PERFORMING, YOU WANT FOLKS TO ENJOY WHAT YOU DO. BUT TO BE HONEST, I CAN’T COMPROMISE THE VISION, EVEN IF NOT EVERYBODY UNDERSTANDS IT OR FEELS IT. SLOWED MUSIC IS COMMITMENT TO THE SLOWED LIFE, AND HUSTLE AND GRIND MENTALITY IS KILLING US ALL. WE ARE NOT GEARS IN A MACHINE; WE ARE BEINGS IN A BLESSED ORGANIC ASS FIELD OF CHAOS MEANT TO LACKADAISICALLY ENJOY OUR TIME. THAT TIME IS NOT MEANT TO BE A CALENDAR FULL OF PRISON BOXES, WHERE WE “KEEP APPOINTMENTS” LIKE A FUCKIN’ DOCTOR OF UNLOUNGE. TIME IS ARBITRARY, AND NO MATTER HOW MUCH OF IT YOU GET, IF YOU MAKE THE GOOD OUT OF AS MUCH OF IT AS POSSIBLE, THEN YOU DIDN’T WASTE IT. I MEAN LOOK, WE GOT A MISERABLE ASS 84 YEAR OLD WANNABE KING RIGHT NOW, WHO’S WASTED HIS LIFE IN PURSUIT OF GOLD PLATED DELUSIONS. I AM GOING TO DIG THROUGH THE IMMENSE AND EXTENSIVE STACKS, PULL OUT A FEW BOXES OF THE FUNKIEST BOOGIEFIED G-BODY ASS LITTLE RECORDS I GOT, AND COME FUCK IT UP FOR 3 HOURS. WORD IS BOND. DON’T STOP THE MUSIC.

SONG OF THE DAY: The Girls They Love Me (screwed & chopped)

Syrup & Soda is my absolute favorite DJ Screw tape. Nothing else even comes close, to be honest. He’s in such a zone on this one (Chapter 046 in the anti-chronological Screw discography), with a heavy old school set on Side A. But he’s not just playing the tracks, he’s fuckin’ it up on the tables, juggling “The Girls They Love Me” and “Love’s Gonna Get You” to his heart’s content. And even on Side B, when it gets to that west coast gangsta funk Screw tapes are more known for, he still sprinkles in a Slick Rick track, and fills out the end of the second side of the tape (remember, these were all originally 100-minute Maxell mixtapes) with “Juicy”. Just an absolute classic, and whenever somebody wants me to tell them where to start, I go to this one. Of course, who the fuck is gonna listen to a whole ass 100-minute mixtape, in the order it was originally released? You. You should at least. Most all his tapes are the Internet Archive.

UPCOMING EVENTS with ya boy dirtgod

Well, with social media rapidly becoming useless right before our eyes, I figured I better go back to hyping things here and at my blog. I've got two upcoming events set in stone so to speak...

THROWBACK VINYL at GUAJIROS (Charlottesville, VA; Jan. 24, 6-9 pm)
The fine folks over at Guajiro's restaurant in Charlottesville have been dedicated to this vision for Noches de Vinilo on Friday nights, and it's nice to see some DJ opportunities actually opening up here. I signed up for February, but there were some additional openings, and I took this Friday, January 24, as an excuse to dig through all my old '90s vinyl and bring out the OG boom bap singles. I'm not sure if I'm just gonna spin instrumentals the whole night, or what, but I've got 2 or 3 crates of classic material I'll be toting down. It's been crazy to realize what OG original 12-inches I actually have (Wu Tang, most all the early Rawkus singles, even the first MF Doom single). Some of this stuff might actually be valuable, but you know me. Fuck that. We gonna spin that shit!

BLUE RIDGE WYRD at RAPUNZELS (Lovingston, VA; Feb. 8, 7 pm)
Our second oral storyteller open mic will pop off at Rapunzels in Lovingston (about 25 minutes south of Charlottesville), and it'll be on a Saturday this time. We've made this a benefit for Blue Ridge Bail Fund as well. The first one was lovely, and I've been recruiting (aka bugging) folks for the second one as well. Even if you don't got a story to share, come out and support the event. Last time was definitely a riot.

SONG OF THE DAY: Magic Mountain

I got this on 45 because I love it slowed down and it pairs great after spinning one of my De La Soul 45s, because folks think another De La song is coming on. This is pretty basic DJ shit, but we live in unreal times where basic is complex and a lot of folks have cognitive dissonance to such a strong amount that everything is new every time they click the refresh button, which they don’t even have to click anymore as it gets clicked for us.
I am mostly drawn to non-Eric Burdon War era stuff, but lately I have made some exceptions. Maybe it’s my own cognitive dissonance.

SONG OF THE DAY: Hey Leroy, Your Mama's Callin' (kudzu'd)

Jimmy Castor’s first two singles released in his long recording career were this song, and “Troglodyte (Cave Man)”. I’m not sure there’s a lot of people who could top that as their first two single releases. And though his commercial success was limited (although this clip is from him performing on American Bandstand), Castor is a huge legend and source of material for hip hop. One of my dork back-to-backs I love to spin when playing slowed 45s live is this with “Hold It Now, Hit It” by the Beastie Boys, because they mimic the talking parts of “Hey Leroy” and the two fit together wonderfully beatwise. I miss DJing to be honest. I gotta try and get some gigs.

SONG OF THE DAY: The Clown

This was on one of those Essential Soul albums I bought that came with digital download, and I played this fuckin’ song so damn much, I had to go out and find the actual 45. This is a fuckin’ jam and a half, and matches up sweetly with Los Yesterdays’ “Nobody’s Clown” and James & Bobby Purify’s “I’m Your Puppet”. I need to be working on more mixtapes, because sometimes I realize this type of shit is such a vibe, but it’s one I’m not sharing with the world and it gets overlooked. It's a lot of really wonderful vibes on this Earth that easily get overlooked. We got such a biodiversity of cultures, and yet all we ever see are the same ol' bouquets of basic cultural intelligences.

SONG OF THE DAY: Muñequita Blanca

Too many people got record collections without ever thinking about sound systems. And I don’t mean stereo components so much as haphazard pieces of equipment strung together in ways they might not have been designed to do so. Anybody with money can buy a bunch of records and pretend they’re a master curator of unique vibes. It takes fuckin’ skills to string a bunch of cheap ass shit together in ways they wasn’t ever meant to go together. And I guess that applies to DJing too. A true old school DJ mind is spinning easily affordable shit to themselves that got overlooked by the masses. Everything’s become too predictable. I’m bored. Let’s go set something on fire.

SONG OF THE DAY: Just a Moment

Slow spinning oldies this Thursday night at a diner in Charlottesville. Decided it all needed to be more of a spectacle so expect some chaos. In my mind, this means a Greater Appalachian Mothership is about to land. It will be a spectacle as fuck, and surely the six people who actually show up will love it, lol.