The Meteoric Rise of Funky Flavours, College Street’s Best Funk Night, or, The Story of a Plucky Young Couple on a Mission to Spread the Funk.

“You know what your problem is? You ain’t got the funk. You’re all rigid. You’re like a breadstick.” Or so says Old Gregg, the transgendered Rick James lookalike played by Noel Fielding in the cult British TV show The Mighty Boosh. His cure? “I’ve got the funk. Right here. It’s in this box.” 

Dragnet’s friends Andy and Jen Hunter have their own box of funk, which they open up once a month, making the rigid breadsticks of Toronto shake and wobble like funky jellyfish. The couple started Funky Flavours, a nomadic dance night featuring “a bouillabaisse of funk stock, with a smattering of soul and a melange of motown, sprinkled with afrobeat and jazz,” about a year ago.

The event began with just the Hunters (known behind the decks as The Brass Moustache and Jenny Treehorn) and their friends showing up at Sutra Tiki Bar, where they’d all “hang out, play a load of funk, and drink things out of coconut shells,” Andy says.

Dragnet first experienced Funky Flavours when the Night of the Hunter(s) moved to the now-defunct Korova Milkbar late last year. The two were overjoyed when strangers wandered in off the street, then got off their asses and jammed with all of the Hunters’ friends (“Shit! Goddamn,” Jen was heard to say). Every song made the crowd go off like a bomb, nobody was skeezily creeping on anyone else, and everybody was just unselfconsciously getting loose. It was like being part of a huge funky family.

Although the Korova Milkbar closed on short notice, Andy and Jen were able to scramble and secure Smiling Buddha Bar as the venue for January, and the Emmet Ray for February (which was also the unofficial Dragnet launch party!). Both events were completely packed.

“We knew right then that we were getting something right, and that we would struggle to fit into a lot of the smaller bars along the College strip if this kept growing,” Andy says.

That brings us to March. Andy and Jen had decided to try for a huge event, but they wanted to stay on College. El Mocambo offered a perfect solution.

“After meeting with the guys there, and learning a bit more about how they operate (profits go directly to charity, and they run a soup kitchen in their basement), it was pretty clear that we’d found our next home,” Andy says.

The March Funky Flavours will take place on Friday, March 25. The event has a license until 4 am, and it’s only $5 ($3 if you bring a can of food) after 11 pm. Entry is free before that. You can learn more about Funky Flavours and listen to some of Andy and Jen’s current favourite jams at their website.

P.S. Two members of Dragnet will be there for sure, and a third might be there too!