Now that Amy Winehouse is Queen of the Grammys (and she doesn't even have to show up!) and Sharon Jones is well on her way to taking over the world, the band behind both, the Dap-Kings, is all the rage. But the funk revival didn't start with them: in fact, it's been alive and well for nearly a decade now, in groups not only around the U.S. but also all over the world. So for those of you looking for an appropriate spot to break out into the Mashed Potato, here's a quick primer on the best of the best.

The DVD medium has had the unforeseen capability of clarifying the appeal of classical works that are germane to the theater. Adolphe Adam (1803-1856) was born the same year as Hector Berlioz and represents the other side of the Berliozian coin. If Berlioz represents a kind of early French Romantic avant-garde, Adam is like the derrière-garde, though still fighting the same battle. Whereas Berlioz produced three cantatas to win a Prix de Rome -- the Paris Conservatoire's seeming pre-requisite to practice as a French composer -- only to discard the winning effort, Adam never succeeded in winning the Prix at all, and his family and professors alike persuaded him to find another line of work. Nevertheless, Adam prevailed simply by digging in and doing it.