The Cool Lounge

Recorded April 11, 2010.

Ten hours before this interview I went overboard celebrating my birthday. Yep, I had a too much to drink but knowing I had an interview with Mr. McKenzie gave me the strength to get out of bed. I truly appreciate Derrick's interaction with on his fans walls on Facebook. Thanks!

Derrick introduces us to his Protegé, Karen Morales, who performs "Summertime." The track is produced by Derrick and features a rap by Serge Muniz.

Derrick on Facebook

Karen Morales on Facebook

We want answers! Whatever happened to this guy? Shand recorded a flawless neo-soul album in 2002 and it seems as if he disapeared off the face of the earth. I know he's out there and hope he's listening. By the way Remy, I love your accent!

We're dedicating this show to Remy's mother, Lana Shand who passed away on March 4, 2010.

Shand was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to Doug and Lana Shand. His father is of Scottish/English descent and his mother was of Italian descent. By the age of 12, Shand had learned to play the guitar and acoustic bass. While many people during the 1980s and 1990s were influenced by early hip hop and pop, his father was into soul. According to Shand, his father influenced and exposed Shand to R&B/soul acts including Steely Dan, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Herbie Hancock, The Isley Brothers, Stevie Wonder and Blood, Sweat and Tears.

During his home schooling in Winnipeg, he listened to his parents' R&B, blues and soul albums, spending a lot of time in his basement sampling retro music. Shand's love of funk music made him an outcast. His parents encouraged him to earn his GED, and to work on his music as a project. He also attended Garden City Collegiate for his Grade 11 year of studies.

At the age of 19, Shand sent a demo tape to Steve Warden. Warden then became his manager and helped to find Shand a prominent record deal. Two different labels gave Shand offers for a recording deal but he turned down the offer. Fortunately Universal Music Canada had signed Shand to a record deal with Motown Records in the United States.

Shand began recording and mixing his debut album, The Way I Feel, during the spring of 2001 at his home in Winnipeg, performing and recording the tracks for vocals and every instrument on the album. The album features songs such as "The Colour of the Day" and "I Met Your Mercy", examples of his particular style. Shand was quoted as saying the track "Everlasting" was the blueprint towards the content of The Way I Feel, as it was the oldest track on the album, recorded in 1998.

The Way I Feel was released on March 12, 2002, and Shand won a Juno Award for Best R&B/Soul Recording at the 2003 Juno Awards. The album was successful in Canada and sold roughly 500,000 copies in the United States. Shand received four Grammy nominations for his work.

In October 2003, Shand's official website stated that he was working on his second album, to be called Day In The Shade. The album has yet to be released, and since then, there has been no public information regarding Shand's whereabouts or recording projects.

Special thanks to:

Ben Montoya for the master editing.
Mary Louise Knutson for the background music

• Wikipedia
• Jam.canoe.ca
• WMA.com
• Bamalovesoul.blogspot.com
• Maple Music.com

Recorded March 7, 2010.

I had the pleasure of chatting eith the multi-talented Angel Ferreira who had a big hit with "Wet Jam" in 1988. These days, crossing over from R&B to latin jazz, he's now recording with his own group, Angel and the Mambokats. In the conclusion of our interview, we play his rendition of Haircut 100's 1981 hit, "Favourite Shirts" (Boy Meets Girl). Angel's version is simply entitled, "Boy Meets Girl" and they do it Mambokat style!

Angel & The Mambokats:

This afro-Cuban-soul band is Hot and ready for attention! The leader of the band, L.A. native, Angel Ferreira was a dancer who toured with Madonna on her WHO'S THAT GIRL tour and had a deal with Virgin Records before the EMI buyout. As time changed, so did his sound into something that became a musical culmination of his personal life experiences. The pedigree is long but no need to tell you about it! You can view Angel's soon to be released webumentery on YouTube.

Angel's songs which appear on his self-produced CD, "Horizontal Mambo", are nourishing songs of lost and found love in L.A.'s well healed districts. This Afro-Cuban Soul formula has taken years to brew! It all starts with his Momma buying him his first Michael Jackson LP and learning how to sing the title song "Ben", watching his parents dance mambo and cha cha cha to Tito Puente and Celia Cruz's music, his father teaching him to play the conga drum, choreographing sk8r tricks to Aerosmith and Ted Nugent!, discovering dance as a runaway teen on a rooftop while listening to a transistor radio playing Michael Jackson's, "Workin' Day and Night", witnessing the new sound of Hip Hop on the movie set of Beat Street, dancing and staging cabaret show's in New York City, touring on a private jet around the world with Madonna as one of her dancers, getting signed to Virgin Records, and finally taking out of the oven, The Mambokats' afro cuban soul formula.

Angel & The Mambokats song called "Black Mambo" has been heard by millions on the hottest TV shows worldwide. "Black Mambo" is a fast mambo that describes his quest for infinite love and was first captured in the essence of dance by America's favorite dance contestants, Benji and Heidi from Fox Television's smash hit show, So You Think You Can Dance. Then Beijing Olympic Beach Volleyball gold medalist, Misty May Traynor also dancing to "Black Mambo" on the other monster hit show, Dancing With The Stars. 

Recorded November 21, 2009

Today we're paying homage to Harvey Milk who will be honored every May 22nd in the United States.

Danny Nicoletta who was Harvey's personal friend as well as an American photographer, photo journalist and gay rights activist gives us a candid interview on his life with Harvey and his enthusiasm on Harvey's day of rememberance.

For those of you who don't know much about Mr. Milk here's a brief bio- Harvey Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician who became one of the first openly gay men to be elected to public office in California, when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Politics and gay activism were not his early interests; he was not open about his homosexuality and did not participate in civic matters until around age 40, after his experiences in the counterculture of the 1960s.

Danny's Website

Photo: D. Nicoletta, 1974

I'm paying homage to one of my favorite groups of all time-Jamiroquai

Hopefully, I'll be able to interview them someday. Special thanks to my good friend Damien Maurice for co-hosting with me and for allowing "The Cool Lounge" to record at KPOO.

I just want to state that I'd failed to mention that Nick Van Gelder preceded Derrick McKenzie on drums for their debut album, Emergency On Planet Earth -sorry Nick!

You can catch Damien's show, "Just Chillin'" every Sunday from 12pm-3pm(pst)on KPOO.

Hope you enjoy the tribute!