THE NIGHT STUFF
Stone Groove wheeling in new mix on Sundays

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Grant Fukuda, aka DJ G-Dog, and the rest of the Stone Groove Family collective offer a new Sunday party, Club deVille, at The Living Room, upstairs at Fisherman's Wharf. The club — taking its name from Fukuda's lifelong obsession with Cadillacs — will be a weekly mash-up party for music lovers.

After a month planning another weekend-ending move, the venerable Honolulu DJ collective revisits the night with

Matty Hazelgrove's Doorman Productions for Club deVille. The Living Room — upstairs at Fisherman's Wharf restaurant — is the retro venue. The music is a blend of the eclectic Dark Side's smoothed-out funk/soul/hip-hop origins and newly-culled mash-ups from Stone Groove's deep vinyl archives.

"This party is for music connoisseurs ... people who appreciate good music," said Grant Fukuda, aka Stone Groove's DJ G-Dog. "It's for people who can appreciate a DJ who can take another path.

"You have to be brave as a DJ to leave those (current mainstream) hits that you know at home and still have the know-how to captivate the attention of the crowd."

And so at Club deVille (the name comes from Fukuda's lifelong Cadillac obsession), expect a weekly don't-know-what's-coming-next turntable flow. Think The Clash folding into Michael Jackson folding into Astrud Gilberto folding into A Tribe Called Quest folding into Al Green, and you'll have an idea of the sonics Stone Groove is after.

"There is no path with mash-up," said Fukuda. "It's basically mashing up all genres of music ... and having fun with it. At a mash-up party, you can have the hip-hop guy partying with the goth death rocker. And it's just pure fun."

Fukuda removed Stone Groove from Dark Side in August after a five-year residency. The weekly continues at Brew Moon on Sundays with other DJs.

"Times had changed. And we needed new energy, a new venue and a new style of music," Fukuda said.

Still, Fukuda keeps good memories of Stone Groove's creation. Launched with a menu of old soul, funk, obscure jazz and classic hip-hop, Dark Side's playlist under Stone Groove's guidance evolved into a more modern, equally left-of-mainstream mix of the same. In other words, the kind of party where Sade could logically follow Mos Def, Common or Q-Tip.

"It was like ending the weekend with a nice glass of merlot versus starting it up with a six-pack of Budweisers on Friday night," said Fukuda of Dark Side's vibe. "It was intimate in that way. And it just allowed us to cherry-pick the type of music we wanted."

Planning Stone Groove's post-Brew Moon moves, Fukuda wanted to retain the inherent decadence that comes with partying late night on a Sunday.

"I like Sundays because it's the ending of the weekend," said Fukuda. "I wanted to recreate what we had started with ... formatting music that people haven't really experienced, versus Friday and Saturday nights when you have to hit up the mainstream and the masses."

Scouting venues, Fukuda and Hazelgrove fell for The Living Room's old-school vibe — roomy intimacy, leather couches, votives, and large windows looking out on Kewalo Basin and the city.

Club deVille probably won't attract the same crowd that pours into Stone Groove's way-successful "$5 Pitchers and Rubbah Slippahs" hip-hop/reggae/alt-rock party at the Hard Rock Cafe on Fridays, for obvious reasons. But the musically adventurous will get what they paid for.

"I'll put it this way ... it's not for everybody," Fukuda said of Club deVille. "We're not trying to say it's for egotistical music critics. But it is music for people who can enjoy any genre of music."

And still remain lucid enough for work on Monday, obviously.

From 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Sunday and weekly thereafter, 21 and older. At The Living Room at Fisherman's Wharf, 1009 Ala Moana. Appetizers until 3 a.m.; cover is $7.

NIGHTSPOTTING

The debut of promoter Giorgio Taye's latest party Shanghai Nights, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. today, Shanghai Bistro at Discovery Bay Center, 21 and older. ... DJ Hawthorne (San Francisco) at Ghetto Disco, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. today and Saturday, from 5 p.m. Sunday at Hula's Bar & Lei Stand. ... Underground hip-hop, electronica, live drums at Symbiosis, 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Saturday, $5 to $7, Mercury Lounge, 1154 Fort Street Mall. ... Unity Crayons show with live music from P*** Poor Excuse, Suspected Collective and Hell-Caminos, 8 p.m. today, Coffee Talk, $5.

Reach Derek Paiva at 525-8005 or dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.