Sunshine Symphony - The District

From the District Weekly - (07/15/09)

My interview contributions to the District Music Issue:

HELEN BORGERS
What’s your favorite song for summer? The Edmund Velasco Quintet. Edmund is a fabulous multi-reed man, and also an exceptional composer and arranger. He has many originals—”Cat Walk” being one of my favorites. It was written to showcase his drummer, Jimmy Ford, who is a master of the brushes. It’s a terrific tune! His trumpet player, Kye Palmer, is heard regularly on The Tonight Show; a fine soloist! In fact, all the guys are great players. Mark Massey on piano is the swingin’est! Edmund has also done some WONDERFUL arrangements of Beatles tunes. They play out at Steamers in Fullerton a lot. I recommend them! I’m also proud that Edmund is a graduate of the music program at CSULB—my alma mater!
Favorite record to play during summer? Herbie Mann Live at Newport—best jazz flute disc of all time! It just sounds like summer. Captures the feeling of hanging out at the beach, playing in the surf and having fruity drinks at sunset!
Favorite drink? Decaf with LOTS of cream. At Parker’s Lighthouse, on the patio, watching the pelicans fish.
Most memorable night DJing? A coast-to-coast broadcast on New Year’s Eve from a jazz club that no longer exists (Donte’s, in North Hollywood). Jack Sheldon’s band was playing, and Harry Sweets Edison came by and sat in. WOW! And I was hosting the broadcast!
What’s the best record you’ve scored for $1 (or less)? A Louis Armstrong anthology for 89 cents. It had a great assortment of Louis, and it was my real introduction to his music. It had three tunes from the 1928 Hot Five with Earl Hines. It had Louis singing “Honeysuckle Rose” with Velma Middleton from the ‘50s tribute Satch Plays Fats, and more! The disc changed my life. I stopped being merely a Beatles fan and became a stone jazz fan. (Sean O’Connell)

Helen Borgers spins for 88.1 KKJZ, America’s jazz and blues station. jazzandblues.org


DJ KNOCKOUT (KELLY OPDYCKE)
What’s your favorite song for summer? Icy Lytes’ “Chickenazo.” You can’t beat a song with a rooster crow in it.
Favorite record to play during summer? All Bangers and Cash songs, all the time.
Best part about Long Beach in summer? Well, it’s hard to beat San Pedro, but the other two Bitches Brew girls live over there, so I guess they are the best part of Long Beach in summer and all year ‘round.
Most overplayed summer jam and why? Probably anything by the Black Eyed Peas because they will never be good.
Favorite drink? Where to drink it? Kelly KoncocKtion at the Indian Room in San Pedro on Friday nights.
Most memorable night DJing? At Que Sera a few years ago on my birthday. It was for Call Sick on Friday, and people were buying me chocolate-cake shots, and they started taking off their clothes when I put on 2 Live Crew. Pretty hilarious.
What’s the best record you’ve scored for $1 (or less)? The Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. (SO)

DJ Knockout spins at Bitches Brew, Call Sick on Friday and house parties all over Long Beach. myspace.com/bitchesbrewsaturdays

DJ MANVNATURE (TOM CHILD)
What’s your favorite band for summer? Grand Elegance. No matter how hot it may be in the room, by the end of the set you will be covered in a refreshing shower of beer and sweat, and not necessarily your own. As for a song, I pick “The Rain Song” because it’s rain I miss the most during this interminable season.
Favorite record to play during summer? Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cosmo’s Factory. I don’t like sweating that much, but something about this album makes it appropriate and bearable.
Most memorable night DJing? I once DJed a Filipino cotillion at a Redondo Beach Cheesecake Factory. All I was told was, “Bring ballroom dance music.” I had absolutely no idea what exactly I was supposed to do, and by the end of the evening I had begrudgingly consented to a young man’s request to play Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back.” The elders were unamused.
What’s the best record you’ve scored for $1 (or less)? In Canada, I scored a slightly scratched album circa 1983 by a group of children singers called Minipops. They do pop covers, and it’s kind of creepy, but I discovered that if you put it on 45 rpm, it all sounds like happy hardcore, which takes me back to when I sat next to a raver in my drawing and painting class in high school. (SO)


Sunshine Symphony @ the District