Indie Shows in Staten Island

When you’re a personality as big as Funk Flex, you celebrate your birthday all weekend. This party, on the second day of the New York hip-hop institution’s birthday weekend, features another collection of legacy acts from Funk Flex’s considerable sphere of influence. The headliner is Crystal Waters, the house and dance music singer known for hits like “100% Pure Love” and house staple “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless).” She’s joined by Cynthia, the Puerto Rican freestyle singer who had a hit with her Johnny O collaboration “Dreamboy/Dreamgirl” and her cover of the Stylistics’ “Break Up to Make Up”; Frankie Cutlass, a member of Funk Flex’s DJ collective The Flip Squad whose hook from his classic single “Puerto Rico” became a staple of Funk Flex’s sets; Force MDs, Staten Island’s own R&B group that fused doo wop and hip-hop and peaked with their Top 10 pop hit “Tender Love” in 1985; Sunshine Anderson, the North Carolina R&B and soul singer who had a hit in 2001 with her debut single “Heard It All Before”; Mr Cheeks, formerly of the Lost Boyz, the Queens trio responsible for “Lifestyles of the Rich & Shameless” and “Renee,” who went solo in 1999 and had a hit with his Missy Elliott and Petey Pablo collaboration “Lights, Camera, Action!”; and CL Smooth, one half of the duo with Pete Rock responsible for foundational works such as “They Reminisce Over You (T.O.N.Y.).”

A graduate of the Berklee College of Music – drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, documentary film producer, activist, radio host, writer, and multi-Grammy nominated as a leader, Bobby Sanabria is a native Nuyorican son of the South Bronx. His versatility as both a drummer and percussionist from small group to big band has become legendary. He’s performed and recorded with every major figure in the history of Latin jazz, jazz, and salsa, with such legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Eddie Palmieri, Paquito D’Rivera, Candido, Charles McPherson, Larry Harlow, Ruben Blades, Celia Cruz, and the Father of Afro-Cuban jazz, Mario Bauzá where he was his drummer for 9 years touring and recording on his major GRAMMY nominated albums. For more than 40 years, Charlie Aponte was the lead vocalist for the legendary El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, one of the island’s most successful salsa groups of all time and a salsa institution. One of his earliest performances with the band included a 1973 show in front of 50,000 fans at Yankee Stadium as the opening act for the Fania All-Stars’ sold-out concert. With El Gran Combo, Aponte performed all over the world, sold millions of records, and won multiple Latin GRAMMYs. Aponte left the group in 2014 and quickly released his debut solo album Una Nueva Historia the next year. His 2017 album Pa’ Mi Gente was nominated for the Latin GRAMMY for Best Salsa Album. He’s joined by Judy Santos, an American singer best known for her work with the Dominican-American bachata group Aventura. She collaborated on three of their albums in the early aughts, including the song “Obsesión,””Angelito,” and “La Guerra,” her 2002 duet with Romeo Santos (no relation) that topped the charts in several Latin American countries.