Shall we? Young crew Hushd Puppies are throwing the CD release for their debut EP, Sshh!! (www.hushdpuppies.bandcamp.com), which I've been digging for a little minute, on Thursday, December 9, at the High Dive. This three-person tandem delivers earnest freshman backpackery that at turns evokes that first Blue Scholars album. Portland's Living Proof, PDX's loss and our gain Luck-One, plus locals 5 Flat and Brown will be whetting your palates that evening, too.
That night at Neumos also sees the Seattle debut of New Orleans' bounce-music queen Big Freedia, who, judging from the hype and the YouTubes, throws down a fucking nutso party full of 808-induced ass-shaking, often in the form of a dozen ecstatic girls (yo for real though) from the crowd all onstage making that monkey Nolia Clap. The only thing that might throw you is that Big Freedia is the crowned queen diva of what many are calling "sissy bounce"—an overtly queer, all-sexualities-and-identities-welcome subgenre. Can you hang? Do you have to pause this whole column, turn in a circle three times, and pray? Would the hood approve? IF YOU GO, WOULD THAT MAKE YOU GAY? Is it actually okay to think of different types of people as, you know, people, individuals, deserving of respect and dignity (and the right to enjoy the same puerile delights as, say, Uncle Luke)? Do you already feel that way but keep it to yourself to appease the tastes of jaded older heads and stupid younger ones? Well, don't. Anyway, opening up is DJ Rusty Lazer, L.A. Kendall, and Dewey Decimal.
Now, all you children of the funk, salute! The master of modern funk himself, Pasadena's pressed-out impresario Dam-Funk, is coming to Nectar on Friday, December 10. His devotion to the classic grooves of early 1980s boogie funk, the heavenly vibrations of the once-proud Jheri curl nation, is rightfully legendary. Over the summer, I caught him down at Funkmosphere, his night in Los Angeles; it was shoehorned with people grooving and sweating all over each other to his and Stones Throw chieftain Peanut Butter Wolf's selections. But it was the vocal version of "Hood Pass Intact" he rocked (off of his so, so great Toeachizown LP from last year), then rocked again, perm flying from beneath his New Era, that brought a huge grin to my fat greasy face. Whatever shit that people thought they still had by then was being lost all over the place. It was a deeply transcendent funk memory (and in my life, I've had a few), and you can expect that same intensity at Nectar, but only if you bring it yourdamnself. Funk is like that; you gotta bring ass to get ass, a wise man once said. DJs Supreme La Rock (owww) and 100Proof will be setting the table, and I will be hosting.
New local videos to see: the JonJon-lensed luxury of Avatar Young Blaze's "Wishing on a Dream" and Ripynt's grimy (and damn funny) Griff J–helmed "To the Top." This week's biggest surprise: Das EFX are coming to town! Are they still all post-iggety? Either way, Drayz and Skoob will be at the Lo-Fi with Gran Rapids, Graves 33, and Milo on Sunday, December 12. Yes, the Lo-Fi. Dead Serious. 
