For the Vinyl Collector

Boston, 1971. Denny Sanders and John Gorman had been to the Sugar Shack a handful of times, a soul club, the Boston equivalent of what Leo's Casino was in Cleveland. Lounge setup, tables, mostly R&B. They'd seen Jackie Wilson there. Eddie Floyd too. That night the choice was Frank Zappa across town or a band called Funkadelic.

They picked Funkadelic.

"Nobody expected what you were going to see on stage," Gorman says. "It was bizarre. The band blew us away."

Funkadelic used to be called the Parliaments, an R&B group that never could lock down its choreography. George Clinton made the call: forget the moves, play it like rock and roll. That's how Funkadelic was born, and the band on stage that night was living proof of it.

Sanders hired Gorman. Gorman hired Bash.

Bill Freeman was an overnight DJ in Boston, one Gorman had his eye on for a while before he ever made the offer. Getting him to Cleveland took convincing, and Gorman still talks about it like a win. He'd seen what Freeman could do with a graveyard shift, how well he read his own audience, how much he loved being up all night with them. Freeman's old show back in Boston was called The Bash. That's how he became B.L.F. Bash in Cleveland.

One Saturday night Freeman pulled Maggot Brain off the station's library shelf and let it run. He had a knack for finding the obscure that people would gravitate to. The slot crept earlier over the years, eventually landing at 1:30 AM, right when Saturday Night Live signed off and the bars let out. Freeman knew who'd be driving home right then and what they'd want on the dial when they got in the car.

That's how Maggot Brain turned into a cult favorite. The request line would ring off the hook for it. But it only played during the graveyard shift, on B.L.F. Bash's clock.

"The indie record stores changed the face of music," Gorman says. Radio stations called the shops to find out what people were actually buying. Wax & Tracks wants to bring that back. The independent record store really is the heartbeat of the music fan.

Fifty years later, Apostadelic plays Maggot Brain live and in full at noon on Pearl Rd. Gorman will be there to hear it again. Sanders joins the tribute too.

Don't miss John Gorman and Denny Sanders as they talk about the 50-year tradition and introduce the tribute.