Get some culture: soul nights

Thursday, September 24, 2009

“Does anyone want to take this party back to their house?” the DJ hollers to the crowd of sweaty, drunk dancers.

Will Weinstein looks at his brother and gives him the “I don’t know” face. The next thing Weinstein knows, the DJ is broadcasting his address into the microphone, and people are pouring out of the steamy Taproom basement to head toward his home.

Francesca Chambers

Get down: Chances are you’ll hear a variety of funk tracks on weekends at the Eighth St. Taproom.

But that’s what Weinstein, Overland Park senior, loves about weekends at the Eighth St. Taproom, 801 New Hampshire St., versus other dance bars in town. He has the opportunity to hang out with like-minded people who just want to get drunk and dance, and he gets to hear funk music he wouldn’t be able to hear anywhere else.

Weinstein says he liked retro artists such as Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye before moving to Lawrence. However, he says many people in the Lawrence dance scene are more cultured and know about lesser-known records that contain some of the best music from that era.

The Taproom is also known for the classic soul music it plays on most weekends. Jerome Favre, a Lawrence resident who has worked at the Taproom for three years and has frequented the bar for more years than he’s willing to count, says the artist schedule is always the same. That means, if you like the music, come back on the same day each month to hear it again.

Walking into the Taproom basement on the weekends is like being transported through a time machine back to the 1970s. You feel the aura of peace, love and happiness immediately, and you suddenly feel the urge to dance. What if you’ve never shaken your groove thang before, though?

“There’s no way to dance to funk. It’s just fun and easy,” Weinstein says. “And even if it looks silly, it makes you move.”

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