Here is…….The Boogaloo Shuffle!
On January 31, 2026, I discovered the Keepers of the Oakland Boogaloo.
Brothers!
Anyone around in Oakland during the 1970s? My son (high school sophomore) is working on a CA History Day Project about the impact of the Boogaloo dancing style (predecessor to hip-hop) in Oakland during the mid 1970s. This style came before modern hip-hop and was founded in Oakland. He’d like to interview anyone (e.g. teachers, community members, etc.) who was around at that time and remembers youth dancing to this style. Or if you were a boogaloo dancer, he’d love to talk to you too. Anyway, if you can help or know of someone, please reach out via Fb. BTW, my son is a hip-hop and break dancer so this is not just a project but also a personal passion. Thanks!
Here is some of the histoy of dancing at Oakland High.
In 1960 I entered Oakland High. I was about to turn thirteen. I was a drummer, who was taught by Mr, Patton who sometimes gave us sex lessons out in that portable across the fields. He was in the army, and believe we should own basic lessons. He told us to keep our ne knowledge, a secret, or, we would be taken from him at put in Ms, Luzmore’s singing class! where the girls humiliated us. They had been singing while we were away playing war.
Two weeks in, there was a Talent Show performed by students who were now seniors. I watched a yoiung black man take cner stage, and, He Danced the real Watusi! He must have watched that TV show that showed a seven foot Watusi Warrior doing this Flying Dance, with fluied dip. He went from one end of the stage to the other! My soul
AWOKE!
A week later I found ‘Drums of Passion at the Rexall on 19th. It cose a collar. I would put it on and dance to it before a large mirror, a half hour before I wwent to school, and for a half hour wnen I got home.
I was ready for the The First Dance of the year. I aked a grl to dance, and I did……The Pony! My mither taguht me the Boodry Woogy when I eleven. I stood befor ehe and shook my shoulders,
I danced like an African. Then, I did my….POVEY PRANCE! I did a skipping step, and dipped my head as I danced in a large circle around her. I came back gto her, and did some more shaking, and dud some fuyrious prncing in place. She was…..blown away! She did not move. The next dance my peers cane and form a cirle around ne. I had picked up some new moves by going over to where the black people were dancing. I believe they were doing a mild form of Dirty Dancing that ay have cone up fron Mississipi. The Prnjiple had made it….
TABBOO
Around 1990, I went with two friendsto Frency’s. I had never been to a dance hall. They were dancing to New Music that reminded me of the Pony, but there was a harder and nore rapid beat. I was kit and went on the dance fkoor, There was little room. So I did my prance – in place! I put in my moves, a young woman came up and danced with me, Then another. They were innitating my step and moves.
There were now three girls, and being . At 44 I got winded. They kep dancing with each ogthef. My friends wwere blown away. So was I. Women got a gift for mimcing. My first album I owned was a Bo Diddly album. Bo’s women were “Tough”. The thing they do with their hand is like the Tamed Dirty Dancing the blacks were doing.The hwite people are spliced in. Thismakes Passion a Bay Area icon.
In 1967 I lived with the Loading Zone and heard Linda Tillery audtion. I drank with Steve Kupka at The Hut on College.
Ray Charles’s Hit the Road Jack had the perfect Pony Beat, You cane down on the third, and atlternated the landing foot.
Th eother gret Pony song wasRun Around Sue, which I suspect is a rip from a blues singer. I would love to here one sing this, or, a Pucmk Rocl band. I foind my Drum Passion and am blown away to hear what Santana ripped.
Above is a pic of me with pegged pants I sewed. I had a brown leather jacket with a surreal chessboard I painted on the back. I carried white drumsticks with flames painted on the tips. I danced the Bolero for my girlfriend on her sixteenth birthday -with my shirt off. That young man who did the Watusi was not weaning a shirt.
The genius of Ray Charles is at its peek in Hit the Road Jack. He invented a new beat and rhythm, that is the model for…
THE SHUFFLE
Here I am doing The Happy Chicken Dance I invented- on eh spot. I was 68, and out of shape. I did not dance – in three years! Is there another Pony in me? I am going to the Belmont Celebration. Maybe we could update and……INFUSE the two dances, and, perform them the stage. I dedicate the Boogaloo Shuffle to the Totally Tough….
Lady Bo
Greg Presco
aka John Presco
EXTRA! I would find out later I compressed three vertebra pulling up a giant weed. I am crippled today, I am proof….
The Show must go on!
Feel free to play more than one video at the same time.
We are shuffled in, doing the Boogaloo!
EXTRA! EXTRA!
I just discovered that Micky Hart of the Grateful Dead did an album insired by Babatunde. Bob Weir just lett the planet. That leave me, the old guy whose claim to fame is he created the shuffle in Hayward Califnornia, How do you know, for sure, Im the guy?….I didn’t get paid a goddamned dime. I danced – for free!
When the four women dancers let me go sit down, there was not one ounce of energy left in me. Theywould have dance me – tillI was dead. I gasped for air and shouted…
YOU GOT IT!
You know I was coming. TheDancer at the End of the World. I never got paid a dime for being a proffessional demonstrator. I stole Passion Drum out of that Recall. My family was too poorto buy me shoes. I know there is some funny stiff un how Dion got his famous song. I suspect he paid an old Do-Whop guy a Lincoln.
Here’s what I want you to do. I want you get out of yournchair, andn join the Great Dance-In that is coming your way, I want you tomshout;
“I-m as mad as hell, but, you’ll never take my love of dancing,,,,
AWAY!
John Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press
Plat Passion Drums with sound, and turn off the sound on the following Shuffke video. This may be
The Longest Dance!
Sixty years ib the making!
Thank you……..for dancing!
Planet Drum is a world music album by Mickey Hart, a musician and musicologist who was a member of the rock band the Grateful Dead.
[Chorus]
(Hape-hape, bum-da-hey-di-hey-di)
(Hape-hape, bum-da-hey-di-hey-di)
(Hape-hape, bum-da-hey-di-hey-di, hape)
(Hape-hape, bum-da-hey-di-hey-di)
(Hape-hape, bum-da-hey-di-hey-di)
(Hape-hape, bum-da-hey-di-hey-di, hape)
[Verse 1]
Yeah, I should have known it from the very start
This girl would leave me with a broken heart
Now, listen people what I’m tellin’ you
I’d keep away from a Runaround Sue, yeah
[Verse 2]
I might miss her lips and the smile on her face
The touch of her hand and this girl’s warm embrace
So, if you don’t wanna cry like I do
I’d keep away from a Runaround Sue
A Bit of History – Oakland CA ·
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Anyone around in Oakland during the 1970s? My son (high school sophomore) is working on a CA History Day Project about the impact of the Boogaloo dancing style (predecessor to hip-hop) in Oakland during the mid 1970s. This style came before modern hip-hop and was founded in Oakland. He’d like to interview anyone (e.g. teachers, community members, etc.) who was around at that time and remembers youth dancing to this style. Or if you were a boogaloo dancer, he’d love to talk to you too. Anyway, if you can help or know of someone, please reach out via Fb. BTW, my son is a hip-hop and break dancer so this is not just a project but also a personal passion. Thanks!
Drums of Passion, released in 1960 by Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji, was a seminal album that brought authentic African drumming and chants to Western audiences for the first time. Recorded in the U.S. for Columbia Records, this groundbreaking record sold over five million copies and influenced numerous musicians, including Santana.
Hit the Road Jack IS BACK!
here
Peggy Jones (later Malone, July 19, 1940 – September 16, 2015), known on stage as Lady Bo in recognition of her relationship with Bo Diddley, was an American musician. A pioneer of rock and roll, Jones played rhythm guitar in Bo Diddley’s band in the late 1950s and early 1960s, becoming one of the first (perhaps the first) female rock guitarists in a highly visible rock band, and was sometimes called the Queen Mother of Guitar.[1][2]
Early life
Born in Harlem, New York City, in 1940, Jones grew up in the Sugar Hill section,[3] and attended the High School of Performing Arts where she studied tap and ballet dance and trained in opera. Even from a very young age, she found herself completely consumed with music; purchasing her first guitar at the age of 15. She was briefly in a local doo-wop group, the Bop Chords, which disbanded in 1957.[4] A chance meeting with Bo Diddley, who was impressed to see a girl with a guitar case, led to an invitation to join Diddley’s band as a guitarist and singer. She recorded with him from 1957 to 1961[2] or 1963,[5] appearing on singles including “Hey! Bo Diddley“, “Road Runner“, “Bo Diddley’s A Gunslinger”, and the instrumental “Aztec” which she wrote and played all the guitar parts.[1][2][5] However, throughout her career, Peggy Jones always strived to be an independent artist and was involved in an R&B band known as the Jewels, among other various names.[6]
Throughout her time with Diddley, Jones maintained the separate career she had begun independently as a songwriter, session musician, and bandleader. She led her own band, the Jewels (also known as the Fabulous Jewels, Lady Bo and the Family Jewels, and various other names, but not to be confused with The Jewels), which became a top R&B band on the New York – Boston east coast club scene the 1960s and 1970s. She eventually left Diddley’s band to concentrate on the Jewels and other activities.[7] She was replaced with another female guitarist, Norma-Jean Wofford (“The Duchess”).[8]
Jones played guitar on Les Cooper‘s 1962 instrumental “Wiggle Wobble” and percussion on the 1967 hit “San Franciscan Nights” by Eric Burdon and The Animals[5] and other recordings[3] and later backed James Brown and Sam & Dave.[1] She remained musically active well into the 21st century.
Solo work
She left Bo Diddley’s band in 1961 to focus on her work with the Jewels. In 1970, she re-joined Bo Diddley’s band, bringing The Jewels with her.[6] Jones was known for playing the Roland guitar synthesizer, an experimental instrument not typically heard in rhythm and blues music.[6]
Relationships
Jones met Bo Diddley in 1956 backstage after playing with the Bop-Chords in the Apollo Theater in the neighborhood of Harlem. Many assumed that Lady Bo and Bo Diddley were a couple but that was not the case. She was married to the band’s bass player, Wally Malone.[9]
Malone lived in the mountains of western Pennsylvania when he first met Jones in a New York club in the 1960s. Later, Jones invited Malone into her band in 1968 and got married. They both moved to San Jose, California where Jones played at a show with Bo Diddley and that was the time she received her nickname, “Lady Bo.” In 1962 Jones left Bo Diddley and recruited The Duchess to play for him. In 1979, Malone and Jones moved to Boulder Creek.[8]
Death
At the age of 75, Peggy Jones died on September 16, 2015, leaving behind her husband, Wally Malone. He announced his wife’s death via Facebook, saying, “Today is one of the saddest days of my life. My wife and partner of 47 years has been called up to that great rock & roll band in the heavens to be reunited with Bo Diddley, Jerome Green and Clifton James. The last hour and a quarter I spent by her side and the last thing I said to her was the quote above regarding Diddley and band. The other thing I added at the end of it is that band doesn’t have a bass player and for them to please hold that seat until it is my time to join them. The incredible part of this is immediately after saying this to her there was a quick sound that came from her and right then her heart stopped beating. Many of you know about the Bo Diddley connection but in case not my wife’s professional stage name is Lady Bo.”
ENCORE!
Drums of Passion, released in 1960 by Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji, was a seminal album that brought authentic African drumming and chants to Western audiences for the first time. Recorded in the U.S. for Columbia Records, this groundbreaking record sold over five million copies and influenced numerous musicians, including Santana.
Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nigeria. A member of the Ogu (Egun) people, Olatunji was introduced to traditional African music at an early age. His name, Bàbátúndé, means ‘father has returned’, because he was born two months after his father, Zannu, died, and Olatunji was considered to be a reincarnation of him. His father was a local fisherman who was about to rise to the rank of chieftain, and his mother was a potter. Olatunji grew up speaking the Gun (Ogu/Egun) and Yoruba languages. His maternal grandmother and a great-grandmother were priestesses of the Vodun and Ogu religions, and they worshipped the Vodun, such as Kori, the goddess of fertility.[2][3]
Due to his father’s premature death, from an early age he was groomed to take the position as chief. When he was 12, he realized that he did not want to become a chieftain. He read in Reader’s Digest magazine about the Rotary International Foundation’s scholarship program, and applied for it. His application was successful and he went to the United States in 1950 to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Planet Drum is a world music album by Mickey Hart, a musician and musicologist who was a member of the rock band the Grateful Dead.
c
Rosamond Press 
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