Originally from London, England I grew up in the Boston area . Probably one of the biggest things for me that fed me at the time was listening to music. I was around 8 not quite 9 yrs old, in what was to me a very different place. Everything looked so much bigger !!!
(Of course even more culture shock waited ahead when I first got to New York)...!
Music for me back then is what would put me to sleep. I had this little am/fm radio that was almost indispensable for me! At that time (early 70"s) AM radio was good still. Soul music R & B was starting to change from what was in the 60's like the Motown sound back then into more soul, funk, and jazz fusion . It was amazing to listen to Stevie Wonder come of age, To Jam off Herbie Hancock's Chameleon back in a day. One of my funniest memories is a conversation I had with a teenager who was curious about this little kid with a strange english accent (at that time) , His main question was "what kind of music do you listen to back in England ?" I replied reggae music as my parents are Jamaican, the Beetles, Jackson 5,even some Elvis music at which point He said "ELVIS ? You don.t know about James Brown ?!? - YOU GOTTA LISTEN TO JAMES BROWN MAN !!!!!! " He would bring me to his house were we would sit out on the front porch and listen to anything from James Brown to John Coltrane and that really fed my fire just to hear more music.... I would'nt go to sleep intil I heard a song from Jimmy Castor and the funky Bunch or Billy Preston or EW&F or Kool and the gang before they went top 40 and I would do this until maybe 3 to 4 am most nights like it was an addiction . And thinking back - it was !!! Soul music for me was comfort, entertainment, a place where expression was passionate, creative, deep, even funny - Does anyone out there remember "the Bertha Butt Boogie" by jimmy castor and the Funky Bunch? To this day I still smile when I think of that song...! My point is that as I grew with Soul music and R & B I got to experience it change as the world did never letting go. I lived through the beginning through the end of the DISCO era and I understood then the difference between disco and soul music of the day even though some sounded like it could be lumped into that genre. No matter how bad things could be around you or in the world at the time, music was always a place where you could relax or get re-inspired or get away or whatever you might need at that time.
I first got into DJing way back ! Stuff like that always starts off innocently like my best friends family is having a cookout. He has a turntable, I have a turntable. Next thing you know after a trip to "radio shack" we got a mixer and some headphones and now the cookout becomes a party ! Eventually the equipment got better, the record collections started growing and by the time I was getting through High school I started a little moble disc jockey business (Wow I just said Disc jockey) ! The mid through the late 70s were crazy with music and back then I was into underground stuff then even though I did'nt know what you would call it. The first time I heard "rude movements by Sun palace " or "Los conquisadores chocolates, by Johnny Hammond or Funky Nassau, to Slave and "Just a touch of love" I was HOME !!! So Deeply emmersed in the music and the expression of dance within the music- fate would bring me to the Paradise Garage for the first time ( culture shock 2 NEW YORK CITY!!!).... Wow that was home for me !! The sound, the dancing,You did not have to get high to get high in there !!!! All I could think about from 1983 to 1987 when it closed was "when am I going back" !!!!! As a DJ and as a dancer everything shifted in expression after that ! That system was so good that songs you thought you hated sounded so good that you would be going home (in my case back to boston) singing that damn song !!!(Nuff respect to the late Larry Levan)!!! And me as the rebel at some little wedding slipping in master C & J in the middle of a set then some stevie wonder and watching grandma and grandpa get down to some music they never heard before but are enjoying being in that moment. One of the most beautiful things that you can give anyone in the world is a beautiful moment. Music is one of those things that contributes to untold probably un-countable moments that enrich our lives. I know that I will never tire in listening and sharing the art form of soul music, the art form expressed within house music as such. To quote some words from the ever amazing group BLAZE - "I remember house before it was called house" I remember house when it was soul music and R & B" .... And to me it still is...!
To cease now before I start writting a book or something I have played in Boston in the late 80's through the mid 90's at the long gone Hub Club , at the loft in Boston, for acid jazz/ house gigs affiliated with what was called Bohemian parties, Lots of cool little house gigs that where more underground and in some cases went until 11 or 12 noon or until some one finally said "paul ! Man we are too tired to go any longer! Its almost 1 o'clock !
I would still be going - one more record man with maybe 1 or 2 of my friends right there still groovin on not even dancing anymore just lovin the music..!
I moved to California and the San fransisco Bay area in the late 90's and was fortunate to meet Patrick Wilson whom later with a bunch of amazing brothers and sisters all aligned in the music formed NULIFE SF and I was fortunate to play with them as well as well as be a part of that. I have also played at Brothers and sisters in Oakland for another friend in the music and expression Daedon. I have played in Santa cruz and San jose (respect to Chris Jung) ,and I currently play in a rotating residency at Club Octane in Monterey (Now known as The Hippodrome) every 2 wks on saturdays split with DJ Teeto and with the amazing DJ Tommy Toons and DJ Dayzee of whom I am happy to know and play with. (just don't ask me how I got all the way down to monterey....I don't even know !!!
I play soul - based house music,classics inspired from life and many experiences in clubs, and ambient/soul/funk/r & b & jazz fusion and jazz sets for someone adventurous enough to want to hear it ! NUFF SAID !!!!
peace , love and good vibration to all....... DJ PSOUL....
I hope you can make it to our New Year's Eve Ball 2008 with Armand van Helden in Houston Wednesday, Dec. 31st! Texas' Largest NYE show. Tickets are super cheap right now if you buy them early. See you soon! Mike with NightCulture
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