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A trip to Miami awaits tonight although we only had Lizz Kalo and her selections for the show with winter bearing down on both of us this week health-wise. Great tunes from South Florida old and new, so a lot to explore on this one. Let's go!
"The Drop with Danno" on GFN 광주영어방송 98.7FM in Gwangju & 93.7FM in Yeosu, Korea. An eclectic radio curation of all things musical spanning the spectrum every week. Broadcasting 8-10pm KST nightly.
Jan 12, 2022
The Drop with Danno
Gwen McCrae – Rockin’ Chair
Betty Wright – Clean Up Woman
Miami – Chicken Yellow
T-Connection – Do What You Wanna Do
Little Beaver – Party Down, Pt. 1
Foxy – Madamoiselle
Robert Moore – Tears of the World
Leno Phillips – Confusion
Robby Hunter Band – Never Say No
Magic City Hippies – Hush
Ashiyushi – Travels
The Spam All-Stars – Fiesta de los Feos
I.
It is 20 hours past midnight and it has snapped cold & snowy here, but we’ll be sipping martinis at our destination shortly for our weekly Round Trip. And this Wednesday evening is frozen in time & warmed in South Florida as January 12, 2022. This is Danno so it is so it was so it shall be from studio 2, GFN HQ in Downtown Gwangju, how do you do? So I KNOW that pretty much 99% of you are hating how it feels outside, but luckily it’s time to fly for our Round Trip weekly fiesta maxima and Lizz Kalo is feeling a bit under the weather still so I’m flying solo for tonight as flight TD058 heads for the beaches of Miami this evening. The city at the very southeastern end of Florida in the US is a bit low key when it comes to musical influence, but it is indeed there and has been for something like 5 decades now. We’ll be getting into some early funk & soul from Miami in the first hour along with some more recent stuff before we take off on the flight, then we’ll get into some of the more recent indie & other jawns from Miami in parts 3 & 4, and finishing with a couple of Korean joints once we arrive safe & sound back at ICN. So tonight we’ll begin with one of the big hits back in the day from Miami, and then we’ll let that lead us into the rest of part 1 and start of part 2. Here’s Gwen McCrae with Rockin’ Chair and This is The Drop.
Gwen McCrae – Rockin’ Chair
Back on The Drop and bound for Incheon International Airport aboard the VIP bus plugged in & grooving to the sounds. What’s the deal this evening, Drop Gangsters (Korean)? Danno on the mic here in studio 2, GFN HQ, downtown Gwangju, and we are glad to have you heading to Miami with us tonight, although Lizz Kalo is only here in spirit with her selections, I’ll be conducting the radiological orchestra on my own this evening.
That was Gwen McCrae to start things off with what was really her only genuine hit song in Rockin’ Chair. Her husband George McCrae had put out Rock Your Baby the year prior in 1974, and this was meant to be an answer to that major hit, which it was after release just less than a year later.
Rockin’ Chair went top 10 on both the rnb & Billboard hot 100 at the time along with in many countries beyond that. While McCrae did have some tunes chart through the years after, this was definitely the most popular.
However, what really revived her career as a performing artist was her popularity with the Northern Soul scene in the UK as disco was dying in the US, and after that with some of the house & dance music craze that went on into the 1990’s.
Her popularity in samples and in song had her continuing to perform around the UK & elsewhere over time, but in 2012 she suffered a stroke on stage, leaving her unable to walk.
Gwen McCrae, a true Miami original, big up.
#9870, @gfnthedrop, podcast details, etc.
So, let’s get into some Miami homegrown funk classics to keep the vibe moving tonight. Up ahead we have a triad of tunes with the spearhead being Betty Wright to be followed by Miami & T-Connection, all of which we’ll discuss further after they dance around in the air. This is The Drop on your Round Trip Wednesday night to funked out Miami.
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The Drop returns tonight after the first block on our Round Trip Wednesday. Tonight I’m flying solo on the flight as Lizz Kalo is still battling off some cold & flu stuff, and yesterday was absolutely miserable anyway, we’ll see her on the flight next week. We’re presently still on our way to ICN for flight TD 058, but we need to let you know what’s been happening to your ears these past few minutes, so let’s do that…
Betty Wright – Clean Up Woman (…what might be Betty Wright’s signature tune right here, one that she would continue to use as a medley for the start and end of her live shows thereafter. This tune was put out in 1971 as a 45 or 7” single that eventually would sell two million copies and be released on her 1972 album I Love The Way That You Love. Betty lived her entire life in Miami, passing away in 2010, may she rest in power.)
Miami – Chicken Yellow (…this tune is on the flipside of a 45 released in 1974. This tune particularly was sampled by Neenah Cherry on her hit Buffalo Stance some years later, and was produced by the same duo that did Clean Up Woman played previously, which is Clarence Reid & Willie Clarke.)
T-Connection – Do What You Wanna Do (…this quintet is actually not from Miami but originate from the capital city of The Bahamas in Nassau, but did relocate to Miami once they’d found popularity in the disco era, signed to TK Records, which pretty much was Miami funk back in the day.)
Okay, so we have one more pair of cuts to explore before we reach the terminal. Up next is Little Beaver t/n Willie Hale with a cut called Party Down, Pt 1, which was the title track and opening salvo on his 1974 debut. After that it’s Foxy with another Miami funk classic called Madamoiselle, and that is gonna do it for part 1 tonight as we simmer it down a touch for the 2nd stanza. THIS is The Drop on your Round Trip to the 305.
Little Beaver – Party Down, Pt. 1
Foxy – Madamoiselle
II.
The Drop is back on the air as we await getting ticketed for the flight to Miami-Dade this evening, departing at 9pm sharp on flight TD058 bound for Florida’s largest city, and Lizz Kalo is still battling a bit of a bug as am I, so we’ll see her next week although I gotta fly and land this bad boy tonight on the solo tip. Danno here still back in time musically in soulful Miami, so let’s get to the details on the first two slomo joints we started up part 2 with…
Robert Moore – Tears of the World (…these are tunes written by Willie Hale aka Little Beaver released by producer extraordinaire Henry Stone, who was an executive at the famed Miami-based TK Records during the disco boom, but also has his fingerprints on any number of tunes over 6 decades in the booth, and then we had another example of that with….)
Leno Phillips – Confusion (…both these tunes and other classics can be found on Henry Stone Presents The Little Beaver Songbook, released as a compilation in 2014.)
Moving along SM, #9870, podcast let us know …
Next block we’ll continue with those slow goods but start with some more contemporary flavors to begin the end for the first half. Up next we have the Robby Hunter Band along with the Magic City Hippies and Ashiyushi, both of which we’ll discuss further after they do their thing, and I did not misspeak there, party people. THIS is The Drop on your Round Trip Wednesday to Miami.
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The Drop has arrived at the gate for the flight with a bit of real estate left before final call, so cheers to you, fair listener. Danno here first cocktail of the night ready to get on flight TD058 bound for Miami-Dade momentarily, but we still got a bit to do on the information front for those last few cuts, so let’s do the liner notes on the notes that we just let float...
Robby Hunter Band – Never Say No (…this is the original incarnation of the Magic City Hippies, with the band releasing an album called Magic City Hippies in 2013. The band then decided to make the album title their name, and that’s only the beginning of the story, which we’ll get into while in Miami after flight TD058 touches down & we’re in town.)
Magic City Hippies – Hush (….)
Ashiyushi – Travels (…a little lo-fi to travel to this evening to end off the block, this is the moniker of Miami’s so-called one man synth funk band, true name Joshua Alexander Hicks. One interesting thing is he makes his beats analog, and this tune is the title cut from his 2018 LP.)
So, final call to board just blurted out in a real Cubano kinda Spanglish accent, so I think that was us. Before we finish we have a cut from The Spam All-Stars called Fiesta de los Feos, or celebration of the ugly to finish. This group is definitely gaining some traction nowadays with their hip-hop and latin funk-infused sounds, and that’ll take us through the gate and to our seats tonight. THIS The Drop ready to fly although solo, and it’s time to fly.
The Spam All-Stars – Fiesta de los Feos
III & IV Round Trip
Hunjiya – Lee
Raquel Sofía - Tenemos Historia
Sam Stan - Plz Don’t Pt2
Mustard Service – Taking Up Space
Yoli Mayor – Fire
REMYZ - Sunshine
Twelve’Len – Loyal
Timmy Thomas – Why Can’t We Live Together
Magic City Hippies – Queen
Magic City Hippies – Fanfare
Car The Garden – Tree
Zitten – Feel Alright
Hunjiya – Lee
- This is a cut from Lineage, released in 2017.
- True name Kim Hyunji, she was born in Seoul & moved to New York when she was a toddler.
- Hunjiya is now based in Miami, and big up to the artist, who hasn’t put out much since the pandemic but she still I’m sure has things coming up. What a voice.
- The Damyang Drop for January 2022.
Raquel Sofía - Tenemos Historia
• Tenemos Historia is a 2017 release
• Raquel Sofia is a Puerto Rican Native raised on Latin classics and artists like James Taylor and Bob Marley, and fell in love with jazz as a teenager.
• She went to the University of Miami Frost School of Music and then did formative gigs singing backup for Shakira and Juanes.
Sam Stan - Plz Don’t Pt2
• Sam Stan is a Pembroke Pines rapper, who makes what he calls “happy raps,”
• His sound is a combination of Chance the Rapper, D.R.A.M and J. Cole while remaining honest and contemplative.
• This song is actually a single from his 2015 album titled “Happy Raps”.
Mustard Service – Taking Up Space
- This is an indie quintet from Miami that has been around for about six years now.
- They describe their sound as Zest Pop, which is also the title of their first album from 2017.
- The band says that zest pop is a mix of rock, surf, jazz, funk, and bossa.
Yoli Mayor - Fire
• Known as the Cuban Adele, Yoli Mayor provokes a sound closer to classic jazz vocalists like Etta James.
• She was on season 12 of America’s Got Talent and has gone on to perform on many different platforms.
• She released and performed this song live in 2020.
REMYZ – Sunshine
- Now, I didn’t do this on purpose, but this is the title tune from the band’s 2017 EP.
- The band describes their sound as “slithering melodic R&B vocals over raunchy rock guitar riffs, stacked on weighted funk beats.”
- The band remains active, with their last single called Cleo dropping last year.
Twelve’Len - Loyal
• Twelve’Len music style bounces from rap to hip-hop and soul.
• He is an independent artist with successful projects like “Move” and his debut LP titled “Fri(end)s.
• Loyal happens to be one of his most recent releases from 2021.
Timmy Thomas – Why Can’t We Live Together
- This tune from 1973 resonates for a lot of reasons, one of them that it was a huge hit at the time of release and a massively influential tune released by TK Records, which put them on the map.
- Also interesting is it’s one of the very first beats done on a professionally released song that featured only an electronically produced beat.
Magic City Hippies - Queen
• Is a trio consisting of John Coughlin, Pat Howard and Robby Hunter
• They create a blend of alt rock and funky pop, and some surprise rap verses or demonic vocal manipulation.
Magic City Hippies - Fanfare
Car The Garden - Tree
• Cha Jung-won or Car the Garden is a singer that was initially known by the stage name ‘Mason the Soul’,
• He is the brother of Oh Hyuk from the band Hyuko
• He released this song in 2019.
Zitten – Feel Alright
- This was released as part of the original soundtrack to Triple from 2009, released by Universal.
- The soundtrack features a lot of up-and-coming Korean artists at the time, including several by Zitten.
- The band is a duo from Seoul formed in 2004, consisting of Sung Yong-ook, and Yoon Hyung-no.