FADER TV: Rodriguez Live At The FADER 56 Issue Release Party
- story THE FADER
We’re still stuck somewhere in the laid-back haze of last Thursday’s FADER 56 issue release party, where F56 Gen Fer Rodriguez casually resurrected a collection of songs buried long long ago. But let it haunt our memories no longer–it isn’t 1968 anymore. The moment has been captured on digital video (which we hear lasts a pretty long time) and posted for all the world to see!
In case you didn’t realize how incredibly monumental this occasion is, let us reiterate the fact that this is Rodriguez’s third ever performance in the United States and FADER TV is the first to document it. So, we win.
Live: FADER 56 Party With Rodriguez and Michna
- story THE FADER
To warm up for Rodriguez’s third ever appearance in the United States (that’s a big deal considering his essential album came out in 1969) at our Issue Number 56 party, we sipped on spirits generously provided by Bass Ale, Black Swan Wine, and JC Cognac while F56 Gen-Fer Michna played a diverse DJ set. Michna also chicken scratched “FADER 56 RELEASE PARTY” and “RODRIGUEZ” up on the projection screen some weird video pad. It was approximately 92 million degrees inside, but we were still pretty content. Then Rodriguez came out to play a set of his forgotten, if ever discovered, classics from that 1969 album, Cold Fact. We’re going to go ahead and say it: we totally thought he was Slash for a second. But no, he is Rodriguez—philosophizing between songs, and randomly shouting “FREEDOM OF THE PRESS!” Right on, dude! Just when it was almost too hot to bear, he launched into his weed appreciation anthem “Sugar Man,” and before we knew it, we were cooling off outside, smiling huge and heading home. We’ll have some video of the night up soon, but until then, appreciate the stillness of the photos after the jump.
Freeload: Rodriguez, “Sugar Man”
- story THE FADER
Recently at FADER HQ we called up Sixto Rodriguez, aka Rodriguez, aka your mom’s favorite folksinger if she grew up in South Africa in the 1970s, so he could tell us everything about his life and his sidebar profession as a construction worker. It was awesome, and you can read it in a not-so-distant-future issue of le FADER. Facts: Rodriguez is from Detroit, cut Cold Fact in a basement in 1969, and released it just before his then-label went out of business. It was re-released in South Africa in the ’70s and S-Rod became a crazy cult hit. Bigger than like, Simon and Garfunkel. This is the first jammerating single from Cold Fact, finally breathing its official breath on the protective oxygenated bubble that is the internet, so break out the Sex Wax, light up for Arbor Day, “Sugar Man”’s longing voice and lovely psych guitar are made for late-summer sunset on grey beaches. Which is perfect, considering Rodriguez will play his first-ever U.S. show this Saturday, July 26, at the Surf Lodge in Montauk, New York. Poetry, amigos.
Download: Rodriguez, “Sugar Man”
