Dam Funk
Poleng Lounge
Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009
Better than: Any other combination of funk, fog, and deep fried breakfast.
It was a little after 10:30 p.m. last night and DJ Pickpocket had her arms full of donuts. It was her birthday party, and the holiday party for her club night with DJ AC, Donuts, and she was a little rushed in placing the signature giveaway from her popular night around the restaurant/nightclub. Poleng had only recently cleared out the last of the diners, and Pickpocket hurried to put paper plates of glazed, sprinkled, and otherwise delicious fried temptations on the mantle of the fireplace for folks to nosh on.
Behind her, the Sweater Funk crew served up sweet treats as well--prime cuts of funk, delivered by a large crew of crate diggers, some of whom were wearing matching Sweater Funk gang jackets (very slick). For grannies like myself who can't seem to make it to the DJ collective's Sunday night weekly at Li Po, it was great to hear them spin on a weekend, although the crowd was a little shy to hit the dance floor in the hours before Dam Funk popped off the night. One snappy dresser (all in black, white shoes) did a solo dance by the DJ booth, but most people were milling around the periphery of the front room, working up the courage to move to some excellent, obscure funk.
The main attraction, however, was in the damp, cramped, back room at Poleng. Dam-Funk came back from Los Angeles (again, one of many visits up north he's taken this year), and the Stones Throw's golden boy is such a popular commodity he had a circle of dudes chanting his name and jumping up and down for a good 20 minutes before he even hit the stage. The vibe in that back cave was pure adrenaline--and a little '90s rave. One reveler sported an old school t-shirt with a bright, lit up pair of sunglasses, and rainbow colored pixels inside the frames that undulated to the beat.
