Haven’t done one of these yet in my (almost) two months onboard—so here goes.
Chuck Brown, as everyone should know, was The Godfather of Go-Go. He more or less singlehandedly birthed Go-Go out of an amalgam of blues, funk, rock, jazz, gospel, and latin music (with hiphop as a later addition to the mix). The name’s simple: the drummer keeps going between tracks. No stopping. Just, um, going and going. Chuck owned DC’s music scene, not the least because his live shows were legendary (Street Cred Alert: I caught a show in Summer 2009). He belonged to the whole city—or at least, to all the long-time residents. Unfortunately, he passed away last month.
His only national hit (though samples from his work appeared on a number of prominent hip hop singles) was “Bustin’ Loose.” They play this at Nationals Park when a Nat hits a home run. It’s more funk than Go-Go, but it’s the only place to start getting to know Chuck:
Here’s “Wind Me Up, Chuck.” It’s a Go-Go standard.
Etc:
In the spirit of all those lovely old soulsters and the chords they gave us, The Great Pagoda of FunnReport
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Chuck Brown, E.U., The Junkyard Band all great additions to the soundtrack of my life.
Chuck Brown was a D.C. institution and will be missed.Report