"Saturday Night Soul Party"

Retro's Got Soul

By Ron Nachmann

The current surge of early-reggae and R&B club nights in town shows that the '60s are finally back in an authentic, non-Boomer-centric way. For the last few years, the twice-monthly Saturday Night Soul Party has maintained a spot on the top of the heap. DJs Phengren, Paul Paul, and Pink Panzer throw down a relentless mix of obscure, stomping vocal 45s released by the hundreds of wannabe Motown and Stax labels that littered the landscape way back when. Don't let the sharp-cut suits in the crowd streaming through the door fool you — this crew comes to sweat.

Website: http://www.totalshutdown.com/SOULNIGHT/

Price: $10 ($5 in formal attire)

The Elbo Room ain't the rock Valhalla it once was, but a bar and pinball machines downstairs and a music venue upstairs provide entertainment that varies between DJ nights and live bands ranging from hip-hop to punk to funk to samba. There's never a cover charge for the downstairs bar, whose crimson-candlelit booths are often jam-packed with attractive scenesters. The second-floor music room, meanwhile, attracts a crowd as varied as the events themselves: hippies, hipsters, goths, rockers, hip-hop heads, salsa dancers, old-school soul twisters - name any demographic, they've all been here at one time or another.

• Hours: Daily 5pm-2am

• Features: Coat Check

• Entertainment: Live Entertainment, DJs