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H,HHr#HHHHHHMr. Sunshine K.C. is still looking on the bright side of life. Who: K.C. & the Sunshine Band, Thelman Houston and the Six-Million Dollar Band What: Benefit fundraiser for the historic Bijou Theatre When: Fri., Sept. 8, gates open 5:30 p.m. Where: Tennessee Amphitheatre How much: $17 advance/ $20.50 at the gate by Hillari Dowdle I remember buying my very first recordÑa singleÑas if it was yesterday. It was 1975. I was flush with birthday money and set free inside a WoolworthÕs to do my worst. I owned some records already, sure, but they had all been selected by my well-meaning but musically inept mother as ÒappropriateÓ for a prepubescent girl (ÒMorning Side of the MountainÓ by Donny and Marie was but one of these gems). I hungered for something hotter, faster, nastier, more ... well, disco. So it was, right under my motherÕs nose, that I bought my copy of ÒShake Your BootyÓ by K.C. and the Sunshine Band. Now I was a little unclear as to exactly what this song was really about, but was titillated by the vague notion that it just might be about (hee, hee, hee) sex. I share this story with K.C. himself, all these years later, and he just laughs. ÒBooty, to me, meant you as a person,Ó he says earnestly, feeding me a line of standard K.C. (a.k.a. Henry Wayne Casey) propaganda. ÒI meant you should get up off your butt and get going in life. Move on. Shake your butt and do it because you want to do it. When you heard that song, you were thinking about it with a totally different idea than I had when I wrote it. I wrote it because I saw people starting to have a good time, and I wanted to tell them, ÔDonÕt fight the feeling ... give yourself a chance.Õ I was telling people, ÔYou can do it! YouÕre the best in the world.ÕÓ Then, obviously wanting to ensure that I, too, am feeling like Òthe best in the world,Ó he backpedals a bit. ÒMy songs were meant to be about a little bit of everything. If you wanted ÔShake Your BootyÕ to be about sex, then it could be about sex,Ó K.C. says. ÒIf you wanted it to be about love, it could be about love ... life, everything. America is all about choicesÑitÕs all up to you!Ó K.C. himself is a little older now (heÕs 44), and the pipes are getting a wee bit rusty (eerily, heÕs sounding more and more like Fine Young Cannibal Roland Gift), but heÕs still out there every night, getting down and shaking his booty. But heÕs not just delivering concerts, heÕs proselytizing on behalf of disco. One hundred percent up all the time, K.C. has cast himself in the role of celebrity spokesmodel for positivity, in life and in music. For a man who preaches the gospel of dance and party, K.C. is oddly spiritual, chalking up his every successÑincluding his status as a legendÑto the big man upstairs. ÒI have a God-given talent. And whatever has happened to me is by GodÕs grace, hallelujah!Ó K.C. says. ÒPeople always thank me for bringing a little sunshine into their lives. People still tell me that my music makes them happy. And I look up and I say, ÔThank you God!Õ This is the reason I am here, and I love this reason.Ó ÒItÕs a God-given thing to feel good about yourself,Ó he concludes. ÒGod wants heaven on earth.Ó To hear K.C. tell it, heaven on earth could be something not unlike a big old disco where the drinks flow freely, the lights flash wildly, and the dance floor is always crowded. ÒDisco never went out,Ó K.C. asserts, Òit just went underground. The only people who were against it were people who didnÕt know how to be part of it.Ó ÒI think people want to go back to having fun again. Music has been just getting drab, and people are looking for the kind of happiness and excitement there was in Õ70s music,Ó he explains. ÒSongs in the Õ70s talked more about what was really happening in peopleÕs lives. They were simple love songs set to a dance beat. What is happening today in music is more about the angry side of people than about the cool side. ThereÕs a lot of anger and frustrationÑlook at Michael JacksonÕs ÔScream.Õ ItÕs all about stop pressuring me. And I think people would rather vent their anger by having a good time than by talking about it. People still want to do a little dance, and have a little funÊ...Ó His bright, cheery, hopeful outlook is blowing my mind, and I just have to ask him: How do you stay so optimistic? And boy, do I get an earful. ÒItÕs common sense,Ó he says. Òif you constantly think about things in a negative way, and if you think only bad things will happen, then bad things will happen. IÕve found that if I stay focused on the positives, then I donÕt see so many of the bad things. Do it for yourself.Ó His career has recently been revitalized by, of all things, a group of hard-partying ants eager to upend a bottle of Bud Light and boogie down to K.C.Õs original version of ÒGet Down Tonight,Ó and I can hardly wait to ask him about the blatant commercialism of his feel-good tune. In true K.C. style, he sees nothing but a silver lining. ÒIÕm very much happy about it,Ó he says. ÒItÕs like receiving a Grammy. A commercial is the highest form of compliment that can be paid. It really shows that whatever you did meant something, and that it still means something.Ó Boggled, I ask him why this is. ÒWhy?Ó he says, having a Sally Field moment. ÒBecause they love me!Ó u—%
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