Beacon Litfest hosts '70s dance party
While volunteering at Beacon Reads, the bookstore run by the Friends of the Howland Public Library, Hannah Brooks took particular interest in a customer whose voice she recognized.
Since 1991, Felix Hernandez has hosted "Rhythm Revue," a six-hour weekly radio show produced by WGBO (88.3 FM) in Newark on which he spins classic and obscure soul, funk and R&B. Long before high-earning celebrity DJs became a thing, Hernandez played clubs like the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan until the wee hours of the morning.
Brooks says she shocked herself "by jumping out of the chair for a selfie. I've never done that with any other celebrity."

Hernandez, who splits time between homes in Brooklyn and Ulster County, will be donating his services on Friday (April 24) for an extended '70s Dance Party at Denning's Point Distillery to benefit Beacon LitFest, which will take place from June 12 to 14. Brooks is among the organizers.
Litfest Rises in Charts
Attendance at the annual Beacon LitFest jumped from 80 in its first year in 2023 to more than 400 last year, according to Hannah Brooks. She says 75 percent of participants are locals.
This year, the festival will host panels on Friday, June 12 ("The Exquisite Art of Translation") and Saturday ("The Poet as Witness" and "Crafting Realities in Nonfiction and Fiction") to "get the creative bug going" for Sunday workshops, says Brooks.
On May 13, LitFest will host an exploration of mental health at "Stories We Don't Tell" at Savage Wonder in Beacon. See beaconlitfest.org.
Hernandez is an expert on pop music from doo-wop to disco; he says he especially cherishes songs from 1954 to 1979. "I have so many thousands of records, I lost count long ago," he says. "The only thing that surpasses them is books."
The playlist of a recent show included the overlooked Motown group, The Elgins, followed by "I Love You (For Sentimental Reasons)" by Sam Cooke, which reached No. 15 on the pop charts but is more commonly associated with Nat King Cole.
Hernandez also slipped in Earth, Wind and Fire's "Serpentine Fire," a Top 20 pop hit not included on the 1978 album, The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1, a monster seller. (For true fans, it does appear on Volume 2.)
During live gigs, people expect and receive familiar fare. But on the radio, Hernandez keeps things fresh by alternating familiar chestnuts with more obscure artists and repertoire. He says his format is to play a hit, then a miss — rinse and repeat. He notes that, during the period when Cooke and Ray Charles forged soul music, James Brown created funk, and its spawn, disco, emerged, thousands of independent labels released a barrage of great songs, including many one-hit wonders during the 1970s.
"There's so much obscure but incredible music out there, it's baffling why, like with classic rock, people are fixated on such a small number of artists," he says.
Dennings Point Distillery is located at 10 N. Chestnut St. in Beacon. Tickets for the dance party, which begins at 6:30 p.m., are $20 at dub.sh/beacon-boogie, or at the door. Rhythm Revue can be streamed at wbgo.org/show/rhythm-revue.

'Rhythm Revue' DJ to Play Benefit