Tuesday Night's DJ set @ Upper Deck Tavern, Charleston, SC

I returned to the the Upper Deck in Charleston to DJ (to an uninterested group of 20 people or so) this past Tuesday. It was actually one of my better nights, as I was able to play some stuff I had never DJed before (including stuff I bought recently)

Some items I managed to slap on: Eddy Giles - I Got The Blues (see last week's Ladson post!) -- nice way to start it up, pretty mellow and terrific guitar. Then I put on my Bo Diddley 45. Pretty scratchy! Thankfully I had Freddie King's Me and My Guitar queued up-- it's a terrific 70's blues/party tune with standout guitar. Very happy I got this record. Following that was an instro, Instant Whip, a b-side of a late 60's Tremeloes (UK)single. It's very blues-rock, has maracas and pounding drums. It's a bit overlong but next time I will fade it out. Funny to think of these guys (British Invasion popsters/later UK Cabaret act) doing something this "heavy" !

At this point I segued towards rockier territory- Count Five's Psychotic Reaction (treble WAY down) and the Hardtimes' Fortune Teller (sounded great as expected), the Kinks' I'm Not Like Everybody Else. Also some Creedence. Creedence is no-fail (dj wuss) material in South Carolina (probably all over the South!)

From there I went on into my Soul thing... I'll just mention a few highlights: the Sweet Inspirations' Don't Fight It (Atlantic 7") is great. Apparently it topped out at #90 on the Hot 100 in April of '68. Too bad. The group featured Cissy Houston, a gospel singer better known as Whitney's mother...

Also Wilson Pickett's International Playboy (which I think is from 1967, despite the a-side being from 1970) -- this is a great "Ramblin' Man" sort of tune. Also Mitch Ryder's Sock It To Me, which suffered from the left/right MONO speaker. It's from '67/8 and needs real stereo to work. What else? The Brothers Johnson' The Devil. 1976 (?) Funk. Kind of druggy, slow, but a good lead for the next DJ who was spinning Hip Hop (of course).

All this is leading towards a more interesting and fuller set at Voodoo next month of course!