No matter what your opinion is of the elderly men and women who have been on the planet longer than most of us, we can always agree on one thing: old people are frequently funny and entertaining.
Just ask the people who recently attended Rhythms of Unity: Black History from Africa to the Americas, a panel discussion that took place at downtown record bar Off the Record. It was an event where the city’s veteran music enthusiasts sat down and riffed on everything from the preservation of Black and Afro-Latin music (especially in Houston) to the origins of the accordion to Beyonce’s recent Grammy wins for Cowboy Carter.
Organized by collective Sobremesa Soundsystem, Rhythms of Unity will be an ongoing series of sobremesas (a post-meal, Spanish tradition where people get together and talk) for local music heads. “Our goal here is to create an archive that doesn't live in Meta's servers,” co-organizer/moderator Francisco Castro told the audience, “but it can be the people's archive of artistic sobremesa, for all of the beautiful things that are happening in our city.”
However, the most memorable moments from this get-together happened whenever George Daniels opened his mouth.
As the founder of the gone-but-not-forgotten Chicago record store George’s Music Room (Off the Record, which is co-owned by Daniels’s nephew David Anderson III, named their upstairs lounge after the store),“Uncle George” is practically the Zelig of the Black-music industry. The proud Chicagoan (he did go to middle school in Houston, while living in the Fifth Ward) was there to receive an honor from Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, who proclaimed the date as George Daniels Day.
Although he shared couch space with a murderers’ row of local DJs – Jason Woods (Flash Gordon Parks), Gracie Chavez, Fallon Savoie (The Mexican Blackbird), Emily Areta (DJ MLE), and Malcolm Bravo – Daniels, 78, often won the full room over with his stories of wheeling and dealing in the music biz. Like his early days as a janitor at legendary Chicago label Chess Records, where he would eventually become Etta James’s driver. “I wound up at Chess Records because of my girlfriend,” Daniels remembered. “I admit she was in high school one more year. I had just graduated and she worked at Chess Records and she was a receptionist and she sang background. That was Minnie Riperton.”
Both the crowd and the panel were predictably awestruck as Daniels recalled the time he and the late R&B singer (and Maya Rudolph’s momma) were going steady. “But hey, let me lay it on you real tough,” he continued. “Now, her and I, we eventually broke up and what have you. But we stayed close friends, all right, and we laughed one time because the song Memory Lane’ – that was about me and her.”
At a couple of points, he lamented over the current state of popular music and how younger listeners are being bombarded with sounds that are more automated than authentic. “You guys have been sold a bill of goods,” he told the audience. “Because the soul, the emotion, nothing is there. It's all about image. You know, back in the day, why was there only one Aretha Franklin? Why was there only one Tito Fuente or Celia Cruz?... So where's your individuality? You got beats and chains on your neck, and that's nothing. So, I'm telling you guys this because I want you to take your little brothers and sisters and your children to see live music, please. Because the minute that kid sees a trombone, a violin, anything, it will trigger something that's different then beats, because beats are taking us to jail.”
The most entertaining part of the evening was when Daniels went back-and-forth with Chavez regarding lazy DJs. It all started when Daniels gave props to spinners who still trafficked in vinyl. “I admire DJs that use turntables because now, because of technology, you got cats out here that call themselves DJs,” he said. “Then, y'all know who they are. Same s—.” This cracked up the crowd. “Hey, I’m just telling it like it is.”
Later, Chavez wanted to “add more context” to Daniels’s comments, citing that this new breed of DJs are using technology and innovation to bring dance music – past and present – to more listeners. “I'm not going to take away anything from turntables because it is an instrument that also brings us together, but in the best way possible,” said Chavez. “Newer DJs are using the things at their disposal really to continue this preservation of music.”
“Well, I agree with that to some degree,” said Daniels, getting more laughs. “Because it's like being able to make music on your cell phone now. Okay, what does it take? I mean, everything is designed for you. I've gotten so damn lazy. You know, I just ask my phone s---.”
More laughs popped up before he got back to DJs. “You go to a club and there's no diversity in the sound. It's the same all night long, all night long, all night long. And see, so that's what I'm talking about. Not all DJs, of course – especially not on this panel.”
Daniels’s pleasantly profane, back-in-my-day musings aside, the other Rhythms of Unity panelists wanted the attendees to appreciate the city’s rich history of music and culture. “My hope is that everybody in this room walks out today with a little more pride and understanding that Houston has always been great,” said Woods. “You didn't need to move to New York – no disrespect. You didn't need to go to Chicago or–”
“Yeah, you did,” Daniels interjected, getting one more round of laughs.
If Rhythms of Unity is going to be a recurring thing, Daniels should definitely be a permanent panelist.
