Funky People Online Newsletter

What made Labor Day weekend 2008 one of the best ever?

It was the end of summer holiday, perfect blue skies and the Funky People crew was headed down to Philadelphia (my second home town) for what was expected to be a great Sunday afternoon of music, good food and re-uniting with old friends plus new ones.

The Sundae party at the Bubble House Café has been around for the past few years and has become a staple at University of Pennsylvania. Lee Jones and his Sundae team (DJ Dirty, Bryon the intern) have established a great following by bringing in world class DJs and music entertainment to frequent the party. Major kudos to Lee and staff for hosting the FP massive for another Labor Day event. And massive it was …

Over 400 people packed the Bubble House interior and back alley - socializing, dining, drinking and dancing to the point of exhaustion. Guest Djs Herbert Holler of Freedom, and Paul Jennings opened the early moments of the party, until our featured artist arrived. When Darien took the stage, he definitely gave the crowd a dose of his vocal talents with two songs from his new album and a finale of his popular dance remix of “Alibi”.

I still don’t know at which point it occurred, but Darien’s showmanship just lit a spark at the venue that seemed to grow and grow as a result of his performance. Somewhere around 9pm the block party energy just exploded!!! Was it classic songs like “Heartbreak Hotel” by Michael Jackson, “Boogie Oogie Oogie” by Taste of Honey, or “I Want You for Myself” by George Duke, which took you back to fond memories of the past? Did the excitement of the long weekend kick-in, as the place filled up with folks from as far away as Maryland, D.C., New Jersey, and even NYC? Or was it those “Saki-mojito” drinks? And who knew that girl dance troupe, the “Little Engines”, would rock the crowd with an impromptu dance routine in the middle of the party? The dance floor (or street, in this case) became everyone's stage at some point. I can’t remember seeing such a diverse group of people have a collective good time. Yes, shake yourself; this all went down in Philly, not NY or DC.

The FP 2nd Year Anniversary Party brought out Funky People of all ethnicities and ages - families, couples, singles, students, grads, hip-hop break-dancers, voguers, afros, backpacks, locks, naturals, young, mature, colorful, laidback, two-steppers, dance floor divas, free-style movers, and even reserved head-nodders. The groove was tremendous …...

You see, people appreciate and tend to respond positively to great live music. The spirit of soul music is an international language and brings out the good joy and creativity in people who move to lively rhythms or like to dance. (Some of you refer to these genres as “R&B, Neo Soul, Old Skool music", others call it “Club music”, since radio no longer plays it, some even call these same vibes, "House music".) WHATEVER!!! – It’s all soulful, jazzy, dance music to me, ‘cause if the deejay is doing a proper job – everybody’s getting their boogie on, and that's quite a scene to witness!

Well, in summary, the 2nd Birthday Party is now history!! I hope you had as much fun as much as we did. Enjoy the pictures! We hope to have a video completed shortly. Thanks for joining us in Philly and making our small website what it is after 2 years. We'll keep building on your interest and support!!! If you're recently new to our endeavors, note that the online profile and business vision of our Funky People Online network incorporates so much more than just parties and independent music promotion. Check out our entire site and let's do business or meet at a future event. Stay connected!!

I want thank to Luniece Ward, Herbert Holler and Paul Jennings and the usual FP crew who always help in small ways behind the scenes for our events. Thanks again to Darien, and his manager Miles Anthony for blessing the event with a stellar performance. Contact them via these links for show info and advance CD copies of “If These Walls Could Talk”). Final acknowledgements go to Jerry Cunningham of JJC Media, Kevin Brown Photography and Darien Bagley of the Darian-Jerard Company for providing the visual ambiance, video recording and additional photography.

Press here to view the photos or go to the Events page and click the link for Mixers, Concerts, & Parties!!

Have a great week - our regular newsletter returns next week!

Terry "Tee" Alford
Founder & CEO,
Funky People, LLC (and oh yeah, DJ, too)
www.FunkyPeopleRadio.net
www.FunkyPeopleonline.com
www.MySpace.com/funkypeopleonline

P.S. Booking is now closed for the Las Vegas October '08 getaway. Act quickly to attend Paintball IV!