Ken H.
Yelp
"They're dancing on the good foot. I got to get on the good foot."
-James Brown or Fred Wesley and the JBs
I happened to drop by Alex's Bar on the 3rd Friday of the month for a soul music event called The Good Foot. The bar decor can only be described gorgeously bizarre. I spied babies in swings, a lit up spoof of The Last Supper, odd ghoulish masks, and a sign that read as follows: WELCOME TO HELL. Needless to say, I was having some trouble making the connection to Soul music, but felt deeply amused nonetheless.
Then I saw the funky Soul manifesting on a screen towards the back of the bar. A sizable dance-floor area stretched out beneath the screen. The video footage looped clips of soul greats like Brenton Wood, James Brown, and Sam Cooke. The crowd was not at all composed of random walk-ins. Everyone dancing, drinking, or mingling wanted to get on the good foot. All dancers looked positively dialed into the music. All walks of life looked in deep boogie mode as James Brown wailed out the of the speakers.
The dancing impressed me enough that I knew I was going to join in, but before I did I took note of one man who appeared to standout in the crowd. I assumed he must be either a DJ or a promoter of the event because he had on the blue lightning bolt GOOD FOOT tee and at least one member of the bar staff and one other struck up a conversation with him. This fellow har a cool demeanor about him and his attention seemed fixated in the direction of the DJ booth regardless of who stopped him to talk.
As it turns out this man was the man himself for The Good Foot. The exceptionally soulful and sonically inclined DJ Dennis Owens. I wound up having the privilege of dancing with the rest of good foot crowd during one of his esteemed sets later that night. Dennis is an absurdly experienced disc jockey. He has entertained celebrity crowds at The Palladium, toured with Free Moral Agents, and mixed at events with that DJ Harvey fellow. Sometimes he can be seen slinging records in Fullerton for the folks at Burger Records. This DJ's exposure to the music scene in CA and the world at large is vast indeed.
DJ Dennis Owens's music know how definitely manifests in his renowned sets. Being a DJ is not a job for Dennis. It is an existential fact. This career DJ can transition, mix, and juke a tune with the best of them. Dennis a popular DJ because he knows how to read the dancers. I watched him drop a Funkadelic track right when everybody wanted. He really looks in his element bent over a turntable, following the drumbeat, and predicting exactly what musical flow the people need. I highly commend DJ Dennis Owens for sharing his mixing ability and refined taste in sweet soul music with the people of LBC. What a groove everybody experienced. DJ Dennis Owens's sets are a vibe to be felt from head to toe.