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Sunday night of Martin
Luther King weekend—and there’s a line down the block outside of
Pacha. And why not? It’s Body and Soul’s 10th Anniversary
Party—and the faithful have returned. Everybody who ever went to
Body and Soul when it was held every Sunday evening at Vinyl (later
known as Arc) is here again—Flo DeBarge in mufti, and the Body and
Soul Ten Commandments Man in his white robes—as well as a whole new
contingent of their gorgeously cool younger siblings who might have
missed Body and Soul’s earlier incarnations, but are not about to
miss it on this go-round.
At the risk of stating
the obvious, this is most definitely a tribe: the Body and Soul
tribe, with Body and Soul tees worn as membership badges. Tees with
that familiar black-and-white Body and Soul logo, worn with
honor—and the year they first joined the tribe. It’s a
low-maintenance, anti-attitude, happy, smiling crowd. The kind of
people who dress to dance—rather than pose and preen. A tribe of the
world’s most colorful people, dancing together. Percussion people:
there’s the tambourine girl and guys with whistles. It’s a house
party from the old days, from back in the day. This is House
History 101, spiritual life music. This is lush music of a world
that was… And it’s not long before Martin Luther King’s “I Have a
Dream” speech is mixed into the music. The man would approve.
The year of the new
millennium, we rang it in at the New Year’s Day party at Body and
Soul—and midway through the evening, there was a cathartic moment
when the crowd yelled and cheered in unison, all of us together, as
if we’d all realized the same thing at the same moment: we were
dancing together in the new millennium.
And then Kimblee’s “Fade” starts
melting into the groove—and there’s that cheer again. If every there
was a Body and Soul signature song… Actually, there are dozens of
them—but this is definitely one of the best-loved. And then, “This
Time, Baby” and “Ain’t No Mountain…” Danny, Francois, and Joe don’t
hold anything back. This is celebration music. It’s a homecoming
of music people. People wandering around, handing out CDs, “Here,
have some music.” Music for the people. And the percussion peaks
and folds into lush vocals, and the people are dancing, happy. This
is the way it once was—and it’s nice to have it all back again, even
for one night only.
Best always,
Mark and Robert
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