Sunday night of Martin Luther King weekend—and there’s a line down the block outside of Pacha. And why not? It’s Body and Soul’s 10th Anniversary Party—and the faithful have returned.  Everybody who ever went to Body and Soul when it was held every Sunday evening at Vinyl (later known as Arc) is here again—Flo DeBarge in mufti, and the Body and Soul Ten Commandments Man in his white robes—as well as a whole new contingent of their gorgeously cool younger siblings who might have missed Body and Soul’s earlier incarnations, but are not about to miss it on this go-round. 

At the risk of stating the obvious, this is most definitely a tribe: the Body and Soul tribe, with Body and Soul tees worn as membership badges.  Tees with that familiar black-and-white Body and Soul logo, worn with honor—and the year they first joined the tribe. It’s a low-maintenance, anti-attitude, happy, smiling crowd. The kind of people who dress to dance—rather than pose and preen. A tribe of the world’s most colorful people, dancing together. Percussion people: there’s the tambourine girl and guys with whistles.  It’s a house party from the old days, from back in the day.  This is House History 101, spiritual life music.  This is lush music of a world that was… And it’s not long before Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is mixed into the music. The man would approve. 

The year of the new millennium, we rang it in at the New Year’s Day party at Body and Soul—and midway through the evening, there was a cathartic moment when the crowd yelled and cheered in unison, all of us together, as if we’d all realized the same thing at the same moment: we were dancing together in the new millennium. 

And then Kimblee’s “Fade” starts melting into the groove—and there’s that cheer again. If every there was a Body and Soul signature song…  Actually, there are dozens of them—but this is definitely one of the best-loved.  And then, “This Time, Baby” and “Ain’t No Mountain…”  Danny, Francois, and Joe don’t hold anything back.  This is celebration music.  It’s a homecoming of music people. People wandering around, handing out CDs, “Here, have some music.” Music for the people.  And the percussion peaks and folds into lush vocals, and the people are dancing, happy.  This is the way it once was—and it’s nice to have it all back again, even for one night only.