Big Daddy magazine scans? Desco-related
mannybolone
Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
This is a real shot in the dark but I'm wondering if anyone might have scans of the old Big Daddy issues where they interviewed the Desco founders? I thought I had kept back issues of this but I haven't been able to turn them up yet and I'm working on an essay about the history of so-called retro soul/funk.
Comments
They're still on my webserver:
http://www.phobospeepl.dk/documents/shitty1.pdf
http://www.phobospeepl.dk/documents/shitty2.pdf
http://www.phobospeepl.dk/documents/lehman.pdf
Thanks man - I really appreciate it.
I think the 'how to record a funk 45' has to be among Big Daddy's most famous articles, and the name Gabe Roth always stuck in my mind because of it. A few weeks back I found myself talking to Gabe himself after a Sharon Jones concert here in Melbourne. Naturally one of the first things to warble outta my mouth was "I read that Big Daddy article on how to record a funk 45!". He laughed in a good way and emphatically stated "Man, I knew nothing back then. Now I really know how to record a funk 45". We both laughed and he pushed on to go do some business from back at the hotel. Time differences and that, shades too!
I did think of Soulstrut after that happened ..
George from BD/GS/Concourse Records has something new on the magazine front in the works, FYI. Not sure what the timetable looks like. Hopefully sooner than later.
Hell, as one of the Strut's academics-in-residence, I think you're obliged to post along with a reading list and discussion questions.
But if you want a discussion question (and a 5-pager at that) here's the big one:
Why do people critique Amy Winehouse for being a White woman singing soul when almost the entire retro-soul movement is lead by white American and European musicians, producers, songwriters and arrangers? How is it that "racialized vocal authenticity" is more relevant than, say, racial musical authenticity?
cool question.
and thanks for those scans. I never had a copy of that mag. totally forgot about that fake kun-fu soundtrack DESCO put out.
Ultimately, I'd say it has a lot to do with the fact that soul musicians (the players of the instruments) are so often in the background as far as public awareness is concerned. Just think of the Motown players ... the cluelessness of the everyday folks interviewed in Standing in the Shadows of Motown illustrated this quite effectively. The singer is the star so the singer gets talked about and known about.
Personally, I don't think the Amy Winehouse album would've been nearly as successful without the Ronson/Daptone team backing it up. But, you're right, you don't hear anyone questioning the authenticity of Homer's drumming or Victor's keyboard playing ... not that I think anyone should. White players weren't exactly a rarity back in the day.
And, ultimately, it's the music that matters.
Oh - no doubt. From Stax to Fame and beyond, a lot of key rhythm section sessioners were White. But my point here is that I find it quite interesting that the knee-jerk reaction to singers like Amy Winehouse or Joss Stone has been that they're racial mimics - if not straight up minstrels - and that this really comes back to how the voice is seen as a carrier of racial authenticity in ways that we don't ascribe to, say, rhythm...a force that is as cultural, if not more, than dialect and accent.
I think you word it well saying the the voice is seen as the "carrier of racial authenticity". It really hits home as sounding less than authentic when someone is faking an accent/dialect or using words that they didn't grow up using. Whereas, playing a guitar part a certain way doesn't bring up the same reaction ... probably because intruments are much less central to our everyday communication. But also I do think that the singer being in the limelight (more than the musicians) amplifies this.
Does that happen in literature? If someone starts writing short stories that mimic, say, Ben Okri's style [Nigerian writer], would that bother people in a similar way? Would race enter into the discussion, or would it simply be a matter of someone biting a style?
A favor from anyone who still has the OG Big Daddy issue in reach?
I need some basic bibliographic info that's not in the scans (which are still so useful, many thanks for that).
What date and issue did the two different Roth articles appear in originally? And what page numbers were they?
Sorry to ask for such mundane info but I'm trying to properly cite this and alas, I don't see anyone else cite it online.
As a thank you before the fact, here's something I posted the other week that I think flew under the radar on the site - the Dap-Kings former "intro" song, recorded back in 2005 (and reworked by Mark Ronson into a Solange Knowles song, funny enough):
Shitty 1: #4, page 72-74
Lehman interview: #5, page 76-79
Shitty 2: #5, page 80-83
There's also a Desco feature in #1 page 12-15 that I haven't scanned yet. Perhaps that was the one goodwill_hunting posted back then.
Thanks for that! Do you have the date and issue #s for those issues? Thanks.
I've heard this story passed around over the years (but can't find confirmation of it online) that when Jan and Max were first making records, they would sneak their singles into used record store bins to see if they could fool people into thinking their stuff was some uber-obscure single from the past that just happened to turn up.
I don't know if this is completely apocryphal or not but it certainly sounds plausible. Anyone hear this same story?
Like I wrote, the issue #s are 4 and 5. No month/date info, not even in the colophon. Just the number.
BTW: now that the Fryer-Mantis board is dead, are there any other forums out there with regular chatter about deep/heavy funk? I can't seem to find any - Soul Source isn't really oriented around that and of course, there's us.
No doubt. I guess it got taken down from heavybronx.com. It was there for a long time.
I found this one, which appears to be from Grand Slam but it looks like the same interview with the P Brothers that was on heavybronx.com Did that one run in Big Daddy too?
Essential reading, for sure.
One other Big Daddy memory: An interview with the big homie Mr. Supreme where he clowns on Timmy Dig-a-Lots and said, and I paraphrase, "one thing I can say about Ebay is that it means I will never be broke again."
Ok ok, it's a veeeeeery old post,. I know.
So the links don't work of course...Is anybody got a scan of the Lehman's interview?