Get down to bidness with Business Casual

photo by Julie Garisto

Soul proprietors: Local DJs Mr. Attention, a.k.a. Michael Martz (left, in photo), and Jesse "P" Poole-VanSwol (right).

Their set: Rare, vintage R&B and funk, plus new-jack swing and old school hip-hop. The duo's MySpace page (myspace.com/biznessscasual ) highlights songs they'll play Saturday. "We're every great band and more - we're the JBs, the Memphis Horns, and The Meters wrapped up into two dudes, a computer and a couple of turntables," Jesse P says.

January boyz: Jesse celebrates his 29th birthday Saturday and Martz turns 28 on the 29th.

How their venture started: Dave Schrier, a.k.a. DJ Moss Brother, founded Business Casual last March but moved to Brooklyn, leaving the gig with Martz and Poole-VanSwol. Schrier met Mr. Attention through the guys' significant others, who were friends. They got to talking and realized they had the same geek love for rare soul tracks. The same happened when Moss Brother met Jesse P while shopping at Vinyl Fever, where he works. Martz, by day, is an advertising account executive for the Times Publishing Company. Both had been collecting soul 45s long before the recent resurgence of such tunes.

Comeback trailblazers: From Bootsy Collins and the Four Tops appearing on the Superbad soundtrack to Amy Winehouse singing with the stripped-down, analog-recorded Dap-Kings, classic soul is hot now. "It says something about the time the music was coming out - what the '60s and '70s were all about," Jesse P says. "People still relate to that, a struggle that was very important to the foundation of soul and punk music. I think people still feel that struggle, whether it's some upper-class white kid or some poor dude on the street. Everyone's got a struggle, man. Soul music kind of makes that struggle seem digestible."

Crowd reactions: "What's the greatest is when people react to it," Jesse P says.

Martz: "Especially if people don't know a song; you play something that no one knows and they dance to it."

Jesse P: "Everyone gets ecstatic when we throw on Poison by Bel Biv Devoe. That's satisfying enough, but when you bust on something you've hunted down, that ... you just got in the mail from eBay and spent $85 for a 45, and you bust that on, you feel like, man, that's the best buy of your life."

Martz: "Some guy came up and hugged me after I played Inspiration Information by Shuggie Otis."

Restroom rotation: "I've got 93 'til Infinity by Souls of Mischief as my 'I need to go to the bathroom' track, Jesse P says. "It's f---ing six minutes long!"

Dork out, bruthas: "It's weird to go from being the biggest dork in the world and no one knows what I'm talking about - to people all of the sudden thinking that I'm doing something cool," Jesse P says.

Mr. Attention: "I'm still the dork in certain circles."

Jesse P: "I'm still the dork in most circles."

Hear 'em: Saturday 8 p.m. at Kelly's Pub, 206 N Morgan St., Tampa. Free. (813) 228-0870.