Sunday, March 12, 2006

Primitive Sound System at the Hoboken Historical Museum Sun March 12th at 4PM

Hello Y'all,
As Hoboken is slowly stripped of its... soul the following may seem very unlikely . Believe it or not the corner of 1st and Monroe once housed Club Zanzibar. Some of the greatest talents of Soul Music's finest hour graced the Zanzibar's stage. Active from 1961 - 1975 the club remained a neighborhood watering hole until 1981 and then closed its doors. Let's face it, those were the premier years for Soul music and artists as famous as Kool & The Gang, The Drifters, The Coasters, etc all gigged at The Zanzibar. More historically notable are the lesser known talents that came and went unnoticed by the masses but noteworthy none-the-less. I have not yet spoken to Ms. McNeil but it would seem that The Zanzibar was a great gig for any touring band at the time because it provided a second show to a NYC area audience. Of course this would be similar to Maxwell's which for the most part started having live performances as The Zanzibar fell from popularity. Do all good things really have to come to an end? Does time make everything nostalgically interesting? In the case of The Zanzibar I think something great came to an end and thankfully the good folk at The Hoboken Historical Museum have enlightened us to yet another significant establishment and the culture that surrounded it. I have lived in Hoboken for close to 20 years and NO ONE has ever mentioned the Zanzibar to me. It's time to change all that.

Sunday March 12th - 4PM - 6PM
The Hoboken Historical Museum - 1301 Hudson Street, Hoboken, NJ - FREE Admission
Dorothy McNeil - Discussion and remembrances of Club Zanzibar
This event is part of the Museum's Working People series which explores the life and culture of workers in Hoboken and the greater metropolitan area through fiction, poetry, film, and two oral history publications (chapbooks).
For more info visit the Museum's site

I'll be spinning selections from acts that played The Zanzibar as well as music significant to the time period and to the Northern NJ scene.

Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters - "What'cha Gonna Do" (Atlantic cat. 45-1055)

Little Johnny Taylor - "Sweet Soul Woman" (Ronn Records cat. Ronn 43)

Billy Bland - "Do The Bug With Me" (Old Town cat. Record No. 1109)

Sterling Harrison - "P's and Q's" (Astroscope (Distributed by All Platinum) cat. AS 108)

Nu-Sound Express, Ltd. - "Ain't It Good Enough" (Silver Dollar Records cat. SD 152)

Kool & The Gang - "Dujii" (De-Lite Records cat. DEP 561)

Dyke And The Blazers - "You are My Sunshine" (Original Sound cat. OS-90)

The Coasters - "Soul Pad" b/w "Down Home Girl" (date cat. 2-1552)

Rufus Thomas - "Sophisticated Sissy" (Stax cat. S-221)

Lloyd Price - "They Get Down" (GSF Records cat. 6904)

Wilson Pickett - "Ninety-Nine And A Half (Won't Do) (Atlantic cat. SD 8129)
Wilson Pickett - "Take A Closer Look At The Woman You're With" (RCA cat. DJHO-0049 (APBO-0049)

Baby Washington and Don Gardner - "Baby Let Me Get Close To You" (Master Five (MC5) cat. 9110)