07 May Soul Power

Wednesdays are good days. Usually I float by the fifty-something weeks without a care about which day I find myself in. But when Freddie Hughes and Soul Train Revival came around, I now have a slight and very specific interest in the precipice day of the week: Wednesday.

Freddie Hughes grew up in Berkeley and recorded his first song when he was 13 or 14. His soulful voice washes over surfaces and bends around corners; it is a powerful force. His affectations render very familiar covers, like the Tempations’ ‘my girl’ almost unrecognizable until he careens until the chorus. Freddie plays every second Wednesday at a lovely local bar in the mission called The Royal Cuckoo. I asked Freddie how he keeps it fresh, since he’s been singing some songs, like his 1968 hit ‘Send My Baby Back’ for decades. He pondered by way of a smooth grunt and answered that he’d been given a gift from god, it was simply a part of him. Like a toe. Good on ya Freddie.

Another delightful occasion is the third Wednesday of every month. Ziek McCarter is a groovy fellow who sings all the soul and funk hits (James Brown, Marvin Gaye, The Meters…) at the Boom Boom Room, a bar started by blues legend John Lee Hooker. The band playing with Ziek is playful and despite the exploratory sprawl of each of their songs, manages to keep a very tight sound.

I did not grow up watching Soul Train. It isn’t a thing in Australia. It was something I stumbled on the day I found funk and became a man. Soul Train Revival is a chance to be a man i.e dance however, and for as long as you want.

IMG_7713 Here is a tinsy snippet of the fun.