The Good Foot ~ Tonight

The Good Foot is one of those clubs, like Make-Up and Root Down (back when it was at Gabah) before it and Dub Club now, that is such a clusterfuck of LA ideas and ideals that it goes beyond any concept of nightclubbing and ventures into the realm of a family reunion - if you had really cool, really diverse relatives. DJ Dennis is a master of wax, and the last time I saw him spin he went from !!! to James Brown to Outkast and no one flinched. Too often with funk and soul nights the concept of both the deejays and dancers is disgustingly myopic, and the focus is on the clothes or the scooters or whatever genre the DJ should be spinning; I was at a bar in San Francisco a couple of summers ago when a mod stormed out of the club because they were playing too wide an array of sounds, but before he split he shouted in frustration "I thought this was a Northern Soul club!" At the Good Foot, the crowd is mixed with Bong Leach locals and people crusing down the 710, packed with punks and greasers, cholos and drunks, mods and rockers.

Recently I've been listening to a lot of the albums put out by the Numero Group, who are suddenly vying with Soul Jazz as the preeminent reissue label, but it's "Cult Cargo: Belize City Boil Up" that's been getting the most play. The mix of calypso, funk, rock, reggae and disco is beautiful to hear, sometimes in the same song, and while I haven't heard of these tracks being spun at the Good Foot, I wouldn't be surprised if they were. Check out Lord Rhaburn's "Disco Connection," watch a clip of James Brown, and then meet me at Que Sera tonight, and try to find a way not to feel the funk.

Download: Disco Connection mp3