Rhythm Revue: ENTERTAINMENT The Man Behind the Music

For 36 years, Rhythm Revue — Felix Hernandez’s classic R&B and soul show on Newark’s beloved WBGO radio station — has brought music to listeners every Saturday, remaining one of the station’s most popular programs, even as it often appears on other stations simultaneously. And the live, dance-focused version of Hernandez’s show, the Rhythm Revue Dance Party — inspired by the John Waters film Hairspray about TV dance shows of the 1960s — has brought crowds to their feet at venues across the metropolitan area for more than 32 years with a mix of classic soul and irresistible dance hits drawn from music of the past half-century.

On July 13, Hernandez’s moveable feast of a dance party will kick off NJPAC’s free summer Thursday night performance series, Sounds of the City, in the Arts Center’s “front yard,” Chambers Plaza. His show has been Sounds’ celebratory opening act since 2012. The crowd at his NJPAC shows, which often top 3,000 people, is a blend of generations, just like the music they boogie to throughout the night.

“Maybe 60% of the people at the dance parties grew up with this music, so they’re a little older,” says Hernandez. “But now there’s a huge number of people who were born long after this music was created — either they grew up with the show because their parents listened to it, or they like to hear the source music for the hip hop songs they love.”

Hernandez did not set out to become a deejay. Attending Temple University, he studied film and hoped to make documentaries. But while in college, he volunteered at the university’s radio station. When a deejay who had produced a swing-era jazz program passed away, Hernandez stepped in to revive it, playing Count Basie and Duke Ellington records from his father’s collection. After college, he got a job at a radio station in Florida, later serving as a reporter for Chicago’s public radio station WBEZ.

In 1985, he relocated to Brooklyn, and a program director from WBGO contacted him about creating a new R&B show for the station. Hernandez moved his vast collection of vintage R&B albums and 45s — accumulated over years of hunting through flea markets and yard sales seeking the songs he’d heard on the radio as a boy — into the station’s Park Place headquarters, and the Rhythm Revue was born.

Growing up in Philadelphia in the 1960s, one of deejay Hernandez’s earliest memories was sitting on a table, next to his family’s record player, listening to his father’s jazz records.

“As a kid, I probably listened to the radio more than anyone – more than anyone else I knew, for sure. I was addicted to it,” he laughs. That fixation only deepened when, at 10 or 11 years old, he discovered Philly’s Black radio stations. “I started hearing songs I never heard before; it was a completely different playlist. I mean there was some overlap — the Supremes, Marvin Gaye — but there were so many songs I had never heard before. It just blew my mind. How’d I miss all that?”

All that — the music of his childhood — funky, danceable grooves of R&B and soul from the 1960s and 1970s, and the dance hits that later grew out of them, particularly as hip hop artists of the 80s combed through the records of previous generations for beats and samples — would become not only a lifelong obsession, but the center of Hernandez’s professional life.

Putting together the playlist takes “a sixth sense,” he says, one that incorporates the audience’s mood, the location, even the weather. Along with classic soul, he might also spin “Rapper’s Delight” by the

NJPACs Sounds of the City Returns for its 26th Season

The Horizon Foundation Sounds of the City concerts, staged on NJPAC’s outdoor Chambers Plaza, have brought an array of musicians to Newark over the past 26 years that have entertained hundreds of thousands of music lovers from the greater Newark area. The series celebrates Newark’s multicultural and diverse communities by presenting a fantastic night of talent presenting grooves and rhythms to unite those who work, live and play in the city and beyond.

July 13: Rhythm Revue Dance Party

This year’s series starts on July 13 with noted DJ Felix Hernandez kicking off the summer calendar, as he’s done since 2012. Additional artists and performers on the schedule include:

July 20: Sugarhill Gang

With a nod to the 50th anniversary of hip hop, New Jersey’s own Sugarhill Gang performs all their songs, including their hit “Rapper’s Delight,” the first rap single to become a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

July 27: Newark Salutes It’s Own

Celebrating the diverse and talented performers throughout the city, this performance will showcase many of Newark’s own talented performers.

August 3: Edgar Joel & Anthony Colón

Edgar Joel and his self-titled band, featuring lead vocalist Anthony Colón, will perform their signature music, including their cover of Tito Livio’s “Hasta El Sol De Hoy,” which reached No.11 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart.

August 10: Kurtis Blow

Continuing the celebration of hip hop’s 50th anniversary, Kurtis Blow, the first rapper to sign with a major label will perform his hits, including “The Breaks,” the first certified gold rap song.

August 17: Kindred the Family Soul

Neo-soul duo Kindred brings their smooth R&B sounds to NJPAC. The pair, which has been nominated for both a Soul Train Award and a BET Award, will perform some of their numerous hits.

August 24: Bilal

Popular artist Bilal, noted for his impressive vocal range and intense live performance, will close out the summer with his R&B music.

Sugar Hill Gang (who will also perform at Sounds of the City this season). But R&B is the core of the program. A song like “Doing it to Death” by James Brown? Foolproof, says Hernandez. dN