Well howdy y’all Im just fixing to go out on another party mission but just before I do….
*Cough Cough* So who was invited to the coveted Southern Comfort Juke Joint last week? Oh only yours truly!
Even though I get to go to some pretty awesome parties and events, it’s fairly rare that such an invite pops up in my inbox. Back in’t day a Juke Joint was basically a party held in a (to quote SOCO) “Beat-up run down shack where people would gather to dance the night away” At these unplanned parties, musicians would often rock up and have a little jam to get the party really started. Well 100 years later, the location has moved ever so slightly from the Deep South of New Orleans to central London but the spirit is 100 per cent still there. Long live the Deep South.
The party was held at The Metalwork’s just behind Angel tube station in an old industrial space which still had a lot of its old features such as cobbles, the metal frame windows and red brick walls. Southern Comfort had transformed the space with spray paint, lined the walls with corrugated metal and placed a huge life size model of an old tube train in the middle acting as a bar.
We were given two branded poker tokens which could be exchanged for drinks at the bar. I had a Cranberry and Southern Comfort which I’ve never had before but really enjoyed it, and had one of their tall cocktails which was Southern Comfort with ginger beer and lime juice- now I don’t like ginger beer or ginger ale but that drink was lush! I’m going to steal and claim it as my own at my next cocktail party.
I turned the corner to go to the other dance room and was greeted by a man in a rocking chair waving a handkerchief! “Well hey there ma’m welcome to the juke joint. How r’ y’all t’day?” I was a little taken a back but was really impressed the effort SOCO had gone to make the event authentic, that wasn’t all though! Various characters were milling around all night including a voodoo man with white and black face paint on, a couple of ladies giving out SOCO mardi-gras necklaces, a dancer strutting her stuff on the dance floor and another lady giving out branded tambourines, hand shakers, and various other hand held instruments. I love my tambourine but I’m sure the other passengers on the way home didn’t appreciate my jiggling and my singing – more fool them! At one point all the female characters climbed on the bar and had a little dance, coyote ugly style.
The music was awesome; I stayed for DJ sets from Blonde Ambition, Joe (Hot Chip) Goddard and Dixon Brothers. The music was normal house/electronica/dance music with one major twist. A trumpeter, snare drummer or trombone player were playing alongside. Joe Goddard and the trumpet player were in my opinion the best pair, it worked really well. Loved it. Check out this video, it’ll prove my point!
Blonde Ambition
I was accosted by two face painters who painted a lightning bolt of my chest out of UV paint which (unsurprisingly) showed up when I passed through the UV in one of the other rooms.
All night I kept getting whiffs of food, a slight Smokey, chilli, creole smell filled the air all night. I thought it was a smell pumped into the air until I saw the New Orleans kitchen at the back of the main room selling Jambalaya, chilli and other New Orleans classic dishes. I didn’t taste any myself but saw people walking round with plate plied high of food, salad and rice. It really did look very very tasty.
Scores on the (royal) doors:
Food and service: The smell was divine
Atmosphere and decoration: Edgy, very welcoming and the decoration was minimal but made a big impact
Facilities: lots of old style school type benches to rest my feeties.
Talent Radar: Not too bad, possible hotties….
Fun Factor: Loads’a fun, a one off unique event and I appreciated all the effort SOCO had gone to bring the Deep South to London
In 3 words: #Voodoo Baby Voodoo#
lifeandsoulprincess 