It’s Philly v Chicago: Featuring DJ Questlove & East of Edens Soul Express
It’s time to dig the best of local home-grown groovers with the Philly genius of a child protege. The city welcomes to the booths DJ Questlove and our own local heroes John Ciba and James Porter. Thankfully, they’re playing on separate nights so you can catch them both!
Friday, January 28th
Smart Bar welcomes the multi-talented DJ ?uestlove tonight for a session of unbeatable rap, hi-hop and funk, soul and disco. Best known as the drummer with the acclaimed band The Roots which he founded when at Philadelphia High School for the Creative Arts in the early 90s, Questlove soon developed a taste for producing and then DJ-ing. He is also a “character” in NBA video games, and has designed his own Nike-branded footwear! But it’s his music we love the most – and it’s not hard to see why when you look back at his credentials and early influences. Born in Philly in 1971, Questlove is the son of famous 50s doo-wop singer Lee Andrews of Lee Andrews and The Hearts and spent much of his childhood on the road and back stage at his dad’s gigs. Why? Because his parents didn’t want to leave him in the hands of a babysitter! It’s little wonder then that Questlove (real name Ahmir Khalib Thompson) started playing an instrument himself and he took to the drums and was soon demonstrating his skills on stage when just 7 years-old. By the age of 13 he has become a musical director. Fast forward to the year 2000 and Questlove and The Roots are winning a Grammy for their single ‘You Got Me’ with Erykah Badu. Since then Questlove has produced the records of Al Green and Jill Scott, and collaborated with Duffy and Evanescence. The Roots are still active and are the house band on The Late Night With Jimmy Fallon television show. And oh yeah, by the way, the man also has a wicked sense of humor. On his MySpace site he playfully states his music genre as County and Death Metal! What a wag. Questlove is DJ-ing tonight with the support of Major Taylor and Intel. From 10pm, $20, north Clark Street. http://www.myspace.com/questlove
Saturday, January 29th
At Hideout it’s local DJ duo John Ciba and James Porter, aka East of Edens Soul Express. Forged out of a mutual love and respect for Southern soul and Black music of 60s/70s Chicago, Porter was also digging Memphis, Muscle Shoals and Nashville, while John was initially raised on the Allman Brothers, Little Feat and The Band, but then fell in love with Al Green and Isaac Hayes and began immersing himself in the ‘spine-tingling soulful finds’ of Black music. Thousands of LPs and 45s later and the Eden boys are keeping that soul vibe going beautifully with their crates of classics and rarities which are guaranteed to keep the party going all night long. The dance floor will be packed, and as the boys themselves say, they only have one rule when playing their soul: the grittier the better! From 11.30pm, $5, west Wabansia Avenue. http://www.myspace.com/eastofedenssoulexpress
