If you happened to be in New York City in the year 2000 and hung out at Chinatown’s Good World Bar & Grill on a Wednesday night, you may have heard the tunes in this mix. The Bowery Boogie website remembers Good World as a happenin’ place and lamented its passing a few years later:
Just like CBGB’s, Max’s Kansas City, Studio 54, Danceteria, The Mud[d] Club, Twilo’s, The Saint, The Sound Factory, Tonic, The Crobar, 8BC, Club 57, The Paradise Garage, The Peppermint Lounge, Save the Robots… The Good World Bar is now just a memory. And we loved being a part of it and will always miss it…
“The first alternative restaurant below Delancey” (as the owners described it in their goodbye notice) is now an ugly glass building. Bowery Boogie remembers:
It was a Scandinavian-inspired cool kids hang which got its start in 1999 when co-owners Annika Sundvik and John Lavelle converted a sketchy Chinese barbershop (i.e. brothel) into Good World. New York Magazine called it a “pioneer” in the area, championing its “long beer list, house cocktails, and rear courtyard.” All under the watchful eye of a stuffed caribou.
Annika and John invited me to spin records on Wednesdays and generously gave me a cut of the bar. I started off playing my own collection and then became obsessed with finding current music suitable for a place where people were eating and drinking (and occasionally illegally dancing — this was the Giuliani era of crackdowns on fun). From January to November I gradually built up a collection of “deep house” vinyl scarfed at places like Satellite Records and Throb. Near the end of my tenure one of the co-owners complained “you started out great and now you’re just like all the other DJs playing this damn stuff.” Considering my learning curve I took it as a compliment but I wasn’t around much longer after that conversation.
For this mix, I used the original wax and did a “rough cut” using two turntables and a mixer. All the sounds were eventually digitized and timestretched to compensate for my mediocre beatmatching skills. There is some mashing up, too. Most of these are “deep house” or “deep tech house” tracks released the year I was DJ’ing. It was a fun year. People were still smoking in restaurants back then and the place was always full.
00:00 Dan Electro “I Hear Music in the Air” (Better EP)
06:16 Phunky Drakes “Guilty (Classic Rework)” (12″)
12:44 Noisy Beach “Stax Music” (Where’s Montpellier? EP)
19:37 Harley & Muscle, “Friends and Enemies” (House Church EP)
25:41 James Flavour “Full Flavour” (If the Pimp Calls Back EP)
28:05 Forme “Instant Space” (Aqua-note EP)
32:18 B-Funk Production “Ladies and Gentlemen” (Ladies and Gentlemen EP)*
32:18 Steve Bug “Magic 120” (B_Series Vol.1 EP)*
37:52 Sascha Funke & Djoker Daan “Yachad” (Doppelpass EP)**
37:52 Leandro Fresco “Amor International” (Amor International EP)**
40:40 Scott Findlay “Untitled” (The Modern Dance EP)
44:34 Fish Go Deep “Sweeter” (Flying Funk EP)
47:40 Betamax Crew “Abrasera” (The Betamax Crew EP)
51:21 Cozy Creatures “Wanna Sing” (12″)
56:54 [Reprise/filler] Steve Bug “Magic 120” (B_Series Vol.1 EP)
*B-Funk and Bug are mashed up, hence the duplicate start time
**Funke and Fresco are mashed up, hence the duplicate start time