fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Submit Your Event
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Send Letter to the Editor
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Hot wax: Jonathan Toubin’s Soul Clap & Dance-Off

by Crispin Kott
April 1, 2016
in Art & Music, Entertainment, Stage & Screen
0
Jonathan Toubin’s popular Soul Clap and Dance-Off comes to BSP in Kingston on December 13 from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. (photo by James Jones)
Jonathan Toubin’s popular Soul Clap and Dance-Off comes to BSP in Kingston on December 13 from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. (photo by James Jones)

World-renowned deejay Jonathan Toubin busts out of Brooklyn to return to BSP Kingston this weekend for his popular Soul Clap and cash prize Dance-Off, a night of rare soul 45s that you may not recognize, but will be unable to stop moving to.

Toubin’s Soul Clap and Dance-Off had its humble origins in Brooklyn’s underground art and music scene when he began spinning his already-massive collection of soul records, culled from years of crate-digging and online auctions, at monthly sessions. The inclusion of a dance contest laid the foundation, though the music is never the same. If you’ve been before, you know where Toubin is coming from. If not, he’ll explain.

“This is a soul party, so basically it’ll be all these weird ’60s unsung soul 45s that I find and play for people,” Toubin said. “I get bored with stuff I’ve been doing for a while, or I revisit things I haven’t done in a few years. Usually I come up and play records for around an hour or so, and then we stop the music and have these judges come on the stage and we have this dance contest. It usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes. And then I play records again. Basically, it’s a big dance party with an intermission in the middle that’s a dance contest.”

Just to clarify, because soul music covers a lot of ground: This isn’t smooth soul like Motown or disco; think Stax, but even grittier, with most of the records lost sounds of small labels from the Golden Age of soul. “It might be obscure soul music and late-period R & B, but real exciting: dramatic, with a big beat and a lot of screaming,” said Toubin. “A lot more guitar-oriented, and less of the Motown-type influence. I guess the one thing they have in common is that they were all probably recorded without the means they had in the bigger studios, so in that respect they sort of made the records more elegant. I guess a good example would be Elvis [Presley]. Everyone always says the Sun Records releases were so good, and then he went to the major label and it had all the backing vocals and it was kind of cheesy-sounding. But with Sun Records, it was partially their setup. They couldn’t really afford to put the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on there, you know? A lot of it sounds more contemporary because it doesn’t have that stuff; it’s big drumbeats.”

Those big drumbeats, filthy guitar riffs and screaming vocals have helped take Toubin around the world, spinning nothing but original seven-inch singles for crowds of people who might never know what he went through to find one record or another. “Last week I was in Texas, and this guy, he must have had 100 records from Texas labels,” Toubin said. “I would say about ten percent of them were incredible. Those ten percent, that’s what I’m looking for. I go digging in places and get real dirty. Sometimes I find something on eBay; it’s probably easier to find records now. I can buy one from a German guy. In Europe they bought so many great American records when we didn’t care, and they kept them in much better shape than we did.”

But while Toubin is a record-collector’s collector, he said that a Soul Clap and Dance-Off is a success when the crowd doesn’t actually consider where the records came from. “I hope they don’t think about it, to be honest with you,” Toubin said. “I want it to be the best, most exciting and unique stuff they’ve ever heard, so they get lost in it.”

The judges for the Dance-Off include Robert Earl Thomas and Molly Hamilton of the band Widowspeak, Andy Animal of the MetalAsia Music Festival and Doug Wygal of Rocket #9 Records in Uptown Kingston. A $200 cash prize courtesy of Jack’s Rhythms in New Paltz and Rocket #9 is up for grabs. Brooklyn-based garage rock band Twin Guns will open the show.

Jonathan Toubin’s Soul Clap and Dance-Off comes to the front room at BSP Kingston at 323 Wall Street in Kingston for the fifth time on Saturday, December 13 from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Advance tickets cost $7; tickets at the door cost $10. For more information, visit: https://bspkingston.com/?event=soul-clap-w-dj-jonathan-toubin.

Tags: dance
Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher

Crispin Kott

Crispin Kott was born in Chicago, raised in New York and has called everywhere from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Atlanta home. A music historian and failed drummer, he’s written for numerous print and online publications and has shared with his son Ian and daughter Marguerite a love of reading, writing and record collecting.

 Crispin Kott is the co-author of the Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City (Globe Pequot Press, June 2018), the Little Book of Rock and Roll Wisdom (Lyons Press, October 2018), and the Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area (Globe Pequot Press, May 2021).

Related Posts

Music icon plays an in-studio session in Woodstock this Sunday
Art & Music

Music icon plays an in-studio session in Woodstock this Sunday

July 25, 2025
Make for the midway: 2019 guide to county fairs in the Hudson Valley
Entertainment

Ulster County Fair kicks off Tuesday with a big change

July 25, 2025
Godzilla double feature in Rosendale this Saturday
Stage & Screen

Godzilla double feature in Rosendale this Saturday

July 25, 2025
Drive-By Truckers and Deer Tick play Accord this Saturday
Art & Music

Drive-By Truckers and Deer Tick play Accord this Saturday

July 24, 2025
Bearsville Center reawakens
Art & Music

Sound check: Ulster County live music venues in 2025 have thriving scenes behind them

July 23, 2025
A modern spin on a Yiddish tradition in Rosendale this Friday
Art & Music

A modern spin on a Yiddish tradition in Rosendale this Friday

July 18, 2025
Next Post

Holiday hackjob: Total Grinch saws Uptown family’s special spruce in half

Weather

Kingston, NY
66°
Showers in the Vicinity
5:43 am8:21 pm EDT
Feels like: 66°F
Wind: 6mph SSW
Humidity: 86%
Pressure: 30.04"Hg
UV index: 0
MonTueWed
91°F / 66°F
95°F / 70°F
93°F / 70°F
powered by Weather Atlas

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Art
    • Books
    • Kids
    • Lifestyle & Wellness
    • Food & Drink
    • Music
    • Nature
    • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletters
    • Hey Kingston
    • New Paltz Times
    • Woodstock Times
    • Week in Review

© 2022 Ulster Publishing