Shake, shake, shake

Are two Boogie Blast extravaganzas better than one? I don't know, so you get to decide if you want to attend only one or blow away the weekend on both.

Legendary Harry Wayne Casey or "KC" will open the show and the Sunshine Band is backing all the artists for this one-of-a-kind dance music extravaganza, KC's Boogie Blast, to be held Saturday and Sunday, July 8 and 9, in Tampa ($25 to $49.40) and West Palm Beach ($20 to $49.40).

KC's Boogie Blast with KC and the Sunshine Band, along with Gloria Gaynor, are performing July 8 at the Ford Amphitheatre at the Florida State Fairgrounds, Tampa, or trudge across the state July 9 to catch the same act at the Sound Advice Amphitheatre in exclusive West Palm Beach.

Sister Sledge and Tavares are an added attraction on both nights. Harry Wayne Casey ("KC" for short) was the creative force behind 1977's disco smash "Shake, Shake, Shake" ("Shake Your Booty").

KC and the Sunshine Band weren't far behind the equally frenetic Bee Gees in scoring dance hits in the mid- to late- '70s disco scene.

Bandleaders KC and Richard Finch formed the band in 1973. The innovative union resulted in a string of recognizable hits. Notably, a Casey-Finch creation "Rock Your Baby," recorded by R&B singer George McCrae, became a hit and the boys and band began issuing a string of Grammy-nominated albums and singles on their own — "Keep It Comin' Love," "I'm Your Boogie Man" and (drum roll, please) "Boogie Shoes" featured on the ever popular soundtrack to "Saturday Night Fever," starring that guy who made white suits fashionable (no, silly, I don't mean Tom Wolfe), John Travolta.

Speaking of soundtracks, Boogie Blast's featured songstress and former Broadway musical star Gloria Gaynor has come up with a few No. 1 hits of her own, with national TV guest appearances on "Ally McBeal" and "That '70s Show" and many movie music soundtracks.

Her song "I Will Survive" is a movie industry favorite on several major cinematic releases.

VH1 gave her song top honors on a recent TV countdown of "Top 100 Dance Records of All Time" and in September 2005, the popular songstress and her hit song "I Will Survive" were inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame during an event that took place in the Big Apple.

The American singing group Sister Sledge, comprised of four real sisters — Kim, Debbie, Joni and Kathy — that came out of the 1970s is another band to admire who is performing in this nostalgic '70s love-in fest. The girls achieved disco stardom with the song "We Are Family" and "He's the Greatest Dancer" (both No. 1 R&B hits in the U.S.). "The Greatest Dancer" was also the title of an eight-song album the group released in 1979.

In 1990, Whitney Houston covered their song "All the Man that I Need" and it charted to No. 1 in the U.S.

Last, but not least, on the program are five brothers who, arguably, created the best and most consistently "soulful" music of all the soul super groups (remember Earth, Wind & Fire and the Isley Brothers?) in the '70s and early 1980s: The New Bedford Brothers — Tiny, Chubby, Butch, Pooch and Ralph, were originally known in the late '60s and '70s as "Chubby and the Turnpikes" and kept close to R&B clubs in their native New England.

Finally, a breakthrough deal with Capitol Records new black-music division resulted in their first single, "Check It Out." The song escalated to top 10 on R&B charts and became the centerpiece and title of a debut album, "The Tavares Sound." Each one of their subsequent albums also became "keepers."