How KC and his Sunshine Band keep the Disco Fever alive

Time to dust off your disco outfits and shake your booty just like what Baby Boomers did during not-so-olden times, rock your baby and get down tonight — specifically on the night of Sept. 14 when KC and The Sunshine Band relives the never-say-die disco era at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. That’s the way we liked it, didn’t we?

“Disco is forever,” said Harry Wayne Casey, a.k.a. KC, in an exclusive e-mail interview with The STAR. “It is here to stay.”

And how!

Ovation Productions is presenting the popular American pop group in its debut local concert dubbed KC and The Sunshine Band Live In Manila, which is expected to draw an impressive crowd representing a cross-section of music fans, from, yes, Baby Boomers to Generation-Xers to millennials.

The guys behind Ovation promised that “the one-night event will re-live a memorable time in music through songs and dance moves that reflect the spirit, mood, style and sound of the ’70s disco generation.”

Get ready to shake and swoon to the band’s top hits such as Get Down Tonight, That’s The Way (I Like It), Shake Your Booty, Give It Up, Please Don’t Go, I’m Your Boogie Man, Rock Your Baby and Keep It Coming Love, among many others.

Millennials are probably clueless that the band sold over 100 million records, garnered nine Grammy nominations, and won three Grammy Awards and one American Music Award. It was Casey who formed the band in Hialeah, Florida, then forged a musical collaboration with Richard Finch that produced some of the band’s best-selling hits from mid- to late ’70s.

After breaking up in the early ’80s, the band got back together in the ’90s for concert performances following the revival of disco music and the renewed interest in bands from the era of the ’70s that swept the US during that period.

There’s a good reason, especially for disco lovers to celebrate that KC and The Sunshine Band has stayed intact to tide the Disco Fever over to a new generation of music lovers.

Excerpts from the e-mail interview with KC:

What do you miss most about the Disco Era?

“There’s really nothing to miss. Disco is still happening.”

KC and The Sunshine Band has a disco sound very different from all the others of the era. Was it a process developing your unique sound?

“No. I was just trying to bring high energy and a new kind of happiness to music.”

Could you tell us any interesting story behind That’s The Way (I Like It) or any of your hit for that matter?

“Originally, the ‘Aha!’ was actually just moans and groans. But I had to tone it down because it might sound too risque.”

Whereas your infectious disco songs just made people take to the floor and dance, your other mellow hits made people listen and enjoy your beautiful singing. As Filipinos are love-song crazy, will you be doing a number of love songs as well?

“All my songs are love songs, so all the songs that we would be doing during our concert in the Philippines are about love. Everything will be about love.”

Your beautiful ballad Please Don’t Go and your duet with Teri Desario Yes I’m Ready are such huge hits in Manila. Those songs focused on your being a good singer. Whose idea was it to do the duet?

“It was my idea to do it. I’ve known Teri practically all my life; we went to school together. She decided to make a deal and the deal fell through. So I went to the label owner and asked if Teri and I could produce it.”

As the 1970s were very Top 40-singles-oriented, we were dependent on what radio would play. Were there other duets or ballads that you did which we didn’t know about?

“No, there’s none.”

You did Rock Your Baby for George McCrea which was a big hit for him. Why was your version without lyrics?

“At that time, George and I were doing an instrumental so we decided to include that piece. It didn’t have a focus at that time. Now, I’m doing it live on the show, with more focus.”

The recent movie The Martian which featured many 1970s disco music have been even more fun with KC and The Sunshine Band music. Was there any other movie or Broadway musical where your music was prominently featured?

“Actually, my songs have been in a lot of movies.”

Whether some artists admit it or not, they have been consciously or unconsciously influenced by your music. Do you feel this is the case? Some even think that the title of Beyoncé’s hit song Bootylicious came about because of your song Shake Your Booty. Which artists have openly acknowledged to have been influenced by you one way or the other?

“Uhm, many artists have been influenced by our music. One particular group is ABBA who acknowledged that our song Rock Your Baby influenced them to write Dancing Queen. John Lennon also said that his song Whatever Gets You Through the Night was influenced by Rock Your Baby. There have been many, many other situations where you can hear my music. Even Focus, a new song by Ariana Grande, carries part of the melody from That’s The Way.”

With a horn section, won’t it be fun to cover Earth Wind & Fire songs during your concerts? Have you thought of doing covers during concerts as some artists do these days?

“We do cover Michael Jackson and The Commodores.”

What can we expect during your concert at the Araneta Coliseum on Sept. 14?

“I have high energy. It will be a lot of fun so I expect everyone to come out and have fun with us.”

(KC and The Sunshine Band Live in Manila is presented by Ovation Productions in cooperation with UBIX and FOX Networks Group.  The media partners are The Philippine STAR, Manila Bulletin and BusinessWorld. Other supporters include  Edsa Shangri-La Manila, MYX, Retro 105.9 DCG FM, Wish 107.5, 96.3 Easy Rock, Manila Concert Scene, Crossover 105.1 Manila, When In Manila, ClicktheCity.com, Odyssey Music & Video, Astroplus, Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP) Legato, Philippine Concerts.com, MNL, Soundcheck MB, Philstar Global and Inquirer.net. Tickets priced at P5,808; P4,752; P3,696; P2,640; and P1,584 are available at all regular Ticketnet outlets and online through www.ticketnet.com.ph).

5 Pinoy indies compete in film festivals abroad

Ai-Ai de las Alas in the lead role

Aside from Lav Diaz’s Ang Babaeng Humayo (The Woman Who Left), with Charo Santos-Concio in the titular role, which is competing in the Main Competition of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival in Austria, Aug. 31 to Sept. 10, five more indie films (three of them will have its world premiere) are also competing in various international film festivals in September alone. They are:

1. Pamilya Ordinaryo (Ordinary People) will have its world premiere at the11th Venice Days in Villa degli Autori in Rome, Aug. 31 to Sept. 10. Written and directed by Eduardo Roy Jr. and topbilled by Ronwaldo Martin, Hasmine Killip, Maria Isabel Lopez, Sue Prado and Ruby Ruiz, Pamilya Ordinaryo is the story of Jane (played by Killip) and Aries (Martin), teenager parents who make a living out of stealing on the streets.

The film is eligible to receive any of the following awards at stake: The BNL People’s Choice Award and Luidi de Laurentiis Award Lion for the Future (with $100,000 grant).

2. Iadya Mo Kami (Deliver Us) competes at the 13th Salento International Film Festival in Tricase, Italy, Sept. 2 to 10, and will be the Closing Night Film in the Feature Film Competition on Sept. 9 at Scruderie Palazzo Gallone. 

 Directed by Mel Chionglo from a screenplay by Ricky Lee, it stars Allen Dizon, Eddie Garcia, Aiko Melendez, Ricky Davao and Diana Zubiri. Dizon, producer Baby Go of BG Productions International and production designer Edgar Martin Littaua will attend the festival and will participate in the Q&A Forum after the screening of the film on Sept. 9.

3. The Sister will have its world premiere after it was officially selected for main competition at the 11th Harlem International Film Festival in New York, Sept. 14 to 18. Written and directed by Joseph Israel Laban, it stars Sue Prado and Isadora Villasquez. 

Set in the island province of Marinduque where Laban hails (from Boac) in the midst of the traditional Moryonan rites during Holy Week, the film tells the story of Mariana (Prado) who received a devastating news from abroad that her sister, Magda (Villasquez), who was working as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia is dead.

4. Laut competes at the second All Lights India International Film Festival at the Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad, India, Sept. 24 to 27. Directed by Luisito “Louie” Ignacio, and written by Carlo Enciso Catu, Robby Tantingco and Ysagani Ybarra, it stars Barbie Forteza, Anna Capri, Jak Roberto, Gabbi Garcia, Ronwaldo Martin and Felixia Dizon. The film will compete for the Best Feature Film, Audience and NETPAC Awards.

5. Area will have its world premiere in the Feature Films Competition at the third Eurasia International Film Festival in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Sept. 24 to 30. Twelve films from Europe and Asia are competing for the following awards: Grand Prix (with approximately $8,800 cash prize), Best Director (with $ 5,800 cash prize), Best Actor, Best Actress and Special Jury Prize (with $2,900 cash prize each). Directed by Louie Ignacio, written by Robby Tantingco, it stars Ai-Ai delas Alas and Allen Dizon. 

Ai-Ai plays Hillary, an aging prostitute, one of the sex workers who keeps her life savings to fulfill a dream to travel to the United States to find a son she said she lost during the panic caused by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. — Reported by Celso de Guzman Caparas