Funky good time

IF, like the Nolans, you're in the mood for dancing then strap on your comfiest shoes and drag your friends down to City Screen tonight for Nu-York State.

Funkier than a gibbon, the night has been running since September and is the successor to floor-filling funkfest Bump City.

Organiser Danny Gough, 24, created Nu-York State after a number of members of Bump City band Mr Freedom left to pursue new ventures.

What he came up with is even bigger and better - a new band, more material, and a new DJ in the shape of Malcolm X.

A regular at the fantastic HiFi Club in Leeds, Danny describes Malcolm X as "a performer" who plays anything with a groove, even Michael Jackson classics.

Trumpeter, singer and composer Danny says of Nu-York State: "The main difference is the quality. These musicians are mostly from Leeds where they are at the top of the food chain. It's really good for York because there is not much exciting music going on."

The Nu-York State sound is best described as dancefloor funk, designed get your feet moving and leave with a smile on your face.

The band, which includes a rapper and lots of percussion, play a lot of original material, mixed up with a few covers that everyone should know.

Such is their calibre that their list of former guest musicians includes Stevie Williams who used to play with Simply Red.

Apparently Stevie was very impressed by all the attractive ladies who frequent Nu-York State so its obviously not just Blackpool's most famous sisters who like to boogie.

Nu-York State, Basement Bar, City Screen, off Coney Street, 01904 541144, tonight, 8pm-11pm, £5/£4 (members and concessions).

u UNLESS you've spent the last 18 months in Siberia, you will definitely have heard, if not danced, to massive club hit Be Faithful.

The track, which put the rhymes of rapper Fatman Scoop and his Crooklyn Clan over the Faith Evans R&B classic Love Like This, made the larger than life New Yorker a household name.

And on Saturday, April 24, he'll be performing Be Faithful live at York's very own Ikon & Diva.

Admission is £5 with a flyer and you'll find funky house, R&B and commercial dance in Ikon and pop and chart classics in Diva from 10pm to 2.30am.

For more information, phone Ikon & Diva on 01904 693999.

Updated: 09:09 Friday, April 16, 2004