In the words of DJ Casper, whose “Cha Cha Slide” chased the heels of the Y2K bug, “It’s time to get funky.” On Sept. 3, the Majestic welcomes back the retro dance party Funky Friday for its fourth anniversary. With a packed summer show line-up rolling to a close, staff and patrons are eagerly awaiting the start of fall semester, when once again spin masters will mix the retro with the newly released.
As articulated by Matt Gerding, owner and talent buyer at the Majestic, the Funky Friday mission statement is a simple one: “To create the freshest and funkiest dance floor Madison has ever seen while simultaneously tracing the roots and samples used in modern day hip hop down to the funk and soul sounds it was built upon.”
The upcoming Funky Friday differs from past dance parties. Event coordinators drew inspiration from the raging college party featuring George Clinton and the Parliament Funk in the 1994 film “PCU” to create the first special edition Funky Friday.
As with all Funky Friday events, patrons can expect to see any style of dance from the crip walk to the Charlie Brown.
“The key to funk and soul music is: There’s no special way to dance,” Gerding said. “It’s however your body is feeling. If you’re feeling funky […] and you want to do something that looks completely outrageous and silly — Funky Friday is the place to do it.”
Like the Majestic’s well known ’80s vs. ’90s nights, Funky Friday features two DJs; however, unlike ’80s vs. ’90s, the DJs mix Funky Friday collaboratively and leave the spin-off competitions for another night. Although Funky Fridays usually play host to DJ Vinnie Toma of the Dirty Disco Kids and Chuck Money, on Sept. 3 DJ Vinnie Toma and Dr. Funkenstein will create the ultimate roller coaster ride for dancers complete with soaring lines and smooth track transitions.
Calendar slots screaming to be filled in the Majestic’s first year of business necessitated the invention of ’80s vs. ’90s night and later Funky Friday. The idea to showcase funk through a series of dance parties grew after Gerding noticed a renewal of old school soul and funk evident in the sounds of modern bands like The Heavy and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.
“There seems to be this resurgence in ’50s and ’60s soul, almost a Mo-town theme,” Gerding said. “We wanted to try to see if we could get people out dancing to James Brown and George Clinton. We found out there’s definitely a crowd for it.”
As Funky Friday has grown in popularity, event coordinators have begun to incorporate additional elements to further funkify the atmosphere for dancers.
“We have a big movie screen that we pull down that kind of floats above the stage and will show blaxploitation films like ‘Shaft’ and ‘Super Fly’ to get people in the mood for ’70s funk and soul, [but] musically it’s pretty much the same as it’s been from the start,” Gerding said.
Besides a large dance space, the Majestic offers students a chance to study up without stress and copious caffeine intake. The DJs who play Funky Friday often start with an older tune, fade it into an ’80s song and finish with the latest hip-hop version of the song.
“We think that there’s probably so many college kids now that listen to all kinds of modern hip hop, and they don’t realize that so much of it was crafted from a lot of funk and soul samples,” Gerding said. “You can learn a little something at Funky Friday, too.”
So whether you’re excited for the start of classes or just can’t wait until the first football game, hop aboard the soul train and stop at the Majestic Sept. 3. Doors open at 10 p.m.
