Kid Creole and the Coconuts

THINKING BACK to uptown Saturday nights past. I remember staring at my slicky-boy expression (circa 1982) in the bathroom mirror while the infectious 'I'm a Wonderful Thing, Baby' or 'Stool Pigeon' (from Kid Creole and the Coconuts' classic album Wise Guy) boomed from my stereo. As perfect egotistical ditties from the self-absorbed decade, the 1980s — which would later be defined by whiny brat packers and weasel Wall Street brokers — the array of startling rhythms perfected by the root-suited August Darnell (a.ka. Kid Creole) and his racially diverse big band was a melting pot of uncut funk.