"Good to Go" (aka "Short Fuse," 1986) - Go-Go-Based Crime Thriller Set in Washington, DC, and Starring Art Garfunkel

[DonRocks]

I remember when "Good to Go" was released in 1986 - I knew nothing about Go-Go, other than the posters (white background, pastel rectangles with black typeface) advertising concerts at the DC Armory (does anyone else remember these? I had just moved back to the DC area after spending nearly seven years roaming the country, and I was oblivious), and what I saw on "Soul of the City" with "The Moonman" (I can't find *any* internet entries for these - "Soul of the City" was Channel 20's poor-man's version of "Soul Train," and "The Moonman" was its version of Don Cornelius).

What I don't want to be is a white person pretending I'm black (we've had enough restaurant critics doing this); what I *do* want to be is a white person acknowledging the rich heritage of this city's primarily black, 1980's population, and the incredibly important (oh, you don't know it's important yet?) influence of Go-Go, Trouble Funk, and Chuck Brown. When I say "incredibly important" ... it isn't ... yet, but I can hear - with my own ears - this influential style in today's rap, hip-hop, and whatever else you want to call popular music, and many of the roots were planted right here, in DC, less than forty-years ago.

In the first seven (seven!) minutes of "Good to Go" (which was pulled from the shelves shortly after its launch, and renamed "Short Fuse"), you get scenes of an inner-city black youth, toting around his conga drum, and (this is why it was pulled from the shelves) the scenery includes The Washington Monument, The White House, a meeting inside The Watergate (really), and of all things, that nasty, concrete staircase that only upper-middle-class, white hikers, cough, embarking on The Capital Crescent Trail, neart its trailhead, close to the origin of the Whitehurst Freeway, knew about, as it was the only way to traverse Canal Road (the map of it is right here). Yes, there was a meeting there between two drug dealers - this is all in the first seven minutes of the film - they must have phoned each other, and said, "Let's travel 45 minutes each way into lower Georgetown, and have a 30-second meeting in that nasty concrete stairwell." Somewhere in this world, about four people are laughing right now.

Well, I haven't watched the entire film (yet); just dribs-and-drabs, but it all streams for free right here on YouTube. As insane as it sounds, "Good to Go" is an important film, or will be, at least on a cult basis: I remember when the impossibly lame "The Big Chill" came out, three-years before "Good to Go" did - I protested the quality of the movie *loudly*, but everyone, and I do mean *everyone*, always replied, "But the *music*!" 

Rubbish. The film is lame, and the music is just as lame - cherry-picked to appeal to aging yuppies. At least with "Good to Go," fans of the genre can say, "the *music*!" and not hang their heads in shame: The opening theme alone is fresher and more original than anything "The Big Chill" has to offer ("Good to Go" could be on the Rolling Stone's Top 100 List of greatest and/or most-influential contemporary songs in history - other than pure rebellion, why is "God Save the Queen" any better than this?). Sanitized or not, "Good to Go" is probably going to be what Go-Go is best remembered for being (it isn't a dying genre, so much as a genre that has melted into other genres; pure Go-Go has come-and-gone with the crack-ridden DC of the 1980s, Marion Barry, etc. - that's not a racist statement; it's a historical statement, and it's true).

"Good to Go" was made on a $1.5 million budget, and I think I remember reading once that Art Garfunkel's salary was half of the film's budget! Don't quote me on this, but it was either some crazy-high percentage, or he decided to forego being paid, or something odd like that. That said, Robert DoQui is in this film also, and he was a known actor at the time; Wikipedia incorrectly lists Anjelica Huston in the credits (and sent me on a wild goose chase, looking for a cameo!), but the actual actress' name was Angelica Houston. The "Most Awkward Performance" award goes to Michael White, who played Gil Colton (the national-level music rep, whom local rep Robert DoQui is soliciting at the Watergate) - he has a pretty big role in this film, and is as stiff as a board.

Anyway, here's the film (for now):

If anyone doesn't hear shades of "Rapper's Delight"  in the song played around the 25-minute mark (or, a much closer match, the Chicago Bears' "Super Bowl Shuffle," which was undoubtedly influenced by this), listen again.