On May 31, The Funky Kingston returned to the Salt Box as scheduled–on the fifth Saturday of the month, when there is one. But first, there was an earlier, must-attend event: one of our favorite local surf music combos happened to appear at a private barbecue party in New Windsor (a town south of Newburgh, NY). Also, it just so happens that our favorite Go-Go dancer, Bella Bombora, is the official Go-Go dancer for the band: The Time Surfers. So we had to check that out.

The event was fun enough—however a bit of rain put a somewhat of a damper on it. It was held at someone’s pad that had a basement full of pinball machines (indeed, a pinball contest was going on) and there was a ton of excellent food. Yay. Of course, The Time Surfers once again played an excellent set of their fabulous instrumental music and Bella Bombora danced away as a light rain came down.

From there, we traveled up the New York State Throughway to Kingston where we were able to set up the turntables at the Salt Box around 8:30 or so. Guest DJ was…wait for it… DJ Pete Pop!!!

Pete Pop is known nationally and internationally for his excellent collection of garage rock records; so much so that he was a consultant on Moptop Mike Markesich’s fantastic garage rock bible Teenbeat Mayhem! However, Mr. Pop is no one-trick pony. His vast record collection contains all sorts of reet jams, including some fantastic funk records, and he brought plenty of them to the Funky Kingston. Plus, he mixed it up with a few reggae jams and some hot Latin boogaloo riffs.

We are also happy to report that the Bat Signal was in full effect, many of our friends came to hang out and swing with us, and the Salt Box had a very big night. The Funky Kingston is getting to be quite the scene. Make sure you can make it out to the next one—due to take place on August 30.

Here’s a list of all the funky tracks played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at the May Funky Kingston:

• Tribe–Funky Kingston (Grenade)
• The Fabulous Counts–Dirty Red (Moira)
• Conjunto Jae’s Soul–Sintonia en Soul (Deep Dark)
• Keno-1 & the Hermit–Heavy Heavy (Breakin’ Bread; UK)
• Barbara Acklin–I Can’t Do My Thing (Brunswick)
• War–Get Down (United Artists)
• Hopeton Lewis with the S.P.M.s–Grooving Out on Life (Merritone)
• Tito Puente y su Orquesta–Work Song (Tico)
• Flash and the Dynamics–Chango (Roulette; France)
• Max Romeo & the Upsetters–One Step Forward (Island)
• Danny Freeman and the Soul Superiors–Jungle Walk (Do That Jungle Talk Too) (W.S.J. Sound)
• The Jackson 5–Get It Together (Motown)
• Homer Chambers–Do the Fire Bird (Golden)
• Sonny Okosuns–Papa’s Land – Part 1 (Cinterdisc; France)
• The Wild Magnolias–They Call Us Wild (Barcaly; France)
• The Rudees–Give Peace a Chance (Pama; UK)
• Richard Ace and His Band–Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely (Harry J; Jamaica)
• Mary Jane Hooper–I’ve Got Reasons (Power)
• Clarence Reid–Funky Party (Alston)
• Mind Readers–Bitter Tears (Village Sounds)
• Pazant Brothers & Beaufort Express–Dragon Fly (Vigor)
• Harmonics–Scum-A-Doom Doom (Gold Plate)
• Love Childs Afro Cuban Blues Band–Life and Death in G&A (Roulette)
• James & the Incredible Showmen–James Brown’s Boo-Ga-Loo (Disco)
• Rabbits and Carrots–Maquina de Amor (Vampi Soul; Spain)
• Joe Bataan–Latin Strut (Super Strut) (RCA Victor; Canada)
• Dennis Coffey and the Detroit Guitar Band–Scorpio (Sussex)
• The Temptations–Cloud Nine (Gordy)
• Untouchable Machine Shop–Machine Shop – Part 2 (Wavelength)
• The Vibrettes–Humpty Dump pt. 1 (Lujon)
• Curtis Mayfield–(Don’t Worry) If There’s A Hell Below We’re All Going to Go (Curtom)
• Sons of Slum–Right On (Stax)
• Maytals–Funky Kingston (Shelter)
• Honey & the Bees–Baby Do That Thing (Arctic)
• Sly & the Family Stone–Bad Risk (Epic)
• The Honey Drippers–Impeach the President (Alaga)
• The Chi-Lites–I Like Your Lovin’ (Do You Like Mine) (Brunswick)
• Abelardo Carbono con Meridian Brothers–Cumbia Sampuesana (Okra; Japan)
• Los Destellos–La Cumbia del Sol (Odeon; Peru)
• O.S.K.I. Jazz–Murie Abebuli (Omwanmi Nabongo; Kenya)
• Shark Wilson & the Basement Heaters–Make It Reggae (Soul Jazz; UK)
• Bob Marley & the Wailers–Trench Town Rock (Trojan; UK)
• Dillinger–Cokane in My Brain (Black Swan; UK)
• The 20th Century–Hot Pants (Part I) (Sky Disc)
• Artus Satterfield–Hot Pants (Axis)
• Norma and the Heartaches–Hot Pants (Gonna Get You in Trouble) (Marmaduke)
• Marvin & the Uptights–Oomph (Spotlight)
• The Landslides–We Don’t Need No Music (Huff Puff)
• Albert Jones–Wisdom Song (Tri-City)
• Crawdad Farmers–Jesse’s Party (Lucky Brown’s Lake-Side Series)
• James Brown–Talkin’ Loud and Saying Nothin’ Pt. I (King)
• The Moon People–Hippy Skippy Moon Strut (Opus #1) (Roulette)
• S.O.U. L.–The Jones (Part I) (Musicor)
• Gil Scott-Heron with Pretty Purdie & the Playboys–The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (Flying Dutchman)
• Tony Fox–I Dream One Day (Tri-Spin)
• Jimmy Jones–Time and Changes (Conchillo)
• Harvey Scales & the Seven Sounds–The Funky Yolk (Chess)
• The Rising Sun–Funky Yolk (Kingston)
• David “Baby” Cortez–Inflation (T-Neck)
• Johnny Tolbert–Check Your Battery Part I (Jasman)
• Oliver Sain–London Express (Abet)
• The Dancers–Born on the Bayou (Pacific Arts)
• Johnny Pate–Shaft in Africa (Addis) (Geffen/ABC; Japan)
• Bobby Hutcherson–Ummh – Part 1 (Blue Note)

None of these records are for sale.