This week at Friday Cheers: Charles Bradley / The Rootdowns

For their fifth installment, Friday Cheers brings Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires and The Rootdowns to Brown’s Island.

June 3, 2013; 9:00 AM • by Ross Catrow

For their fifth installment, Friday Cheers brings Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires and The Rootdowns to the shores of the James River this Friday at 6:00 PM. Tickets are $10 and children under 12 are free. Here’s a quick preview of what to expect this week, and there’s always more info on the Facebook event page.

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Charles Bradley

Genre: Daptone revival funk
Sounds kinda like: A James Brown and Otis Redding play date
Sweet jam: The World (is Going Up in Flames)
Listen to the album Victime of Love on rdio »
thecharlesbradley.com

Listening to Charles Bradley’s 2011 debut album (No Time for Dreaming) is like walking into a funky, velvet-covered time machine. But that’s kind of what Daptone Records specializes in, right? Daptone discovered Charles Bradley in 2002 while he was working as a James Brown impersonator called “Black Velvet”…Bradley was 54. Dude is now touring his second record and on Friday will easily be the coolest person in RVA.

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The Rootdowns

Genre: “Booty shakin’ groove music”
Sounds kinda like: Herbie Hancock shaking his aforementioned booty
Sweet jam: Disco 64
Buy the album Songs with Friends on iTunes »
Facebook

Hey, what’s that jazzy sound? Is that an organ? You know how I love an organ. Oh it’s just The Rootdowns getting down with an all-star RVA cast that includes members of No BS! and the DJ Willems Projekt. I’m very appreciative that Richmond has so many people who’ve dedicated their lives to making people dance.