Event Review: Drunk and Horny at Underground SF

If you’re a gay boy of a certain age, or from a certain place, high school, and maybe even college, probably wasn’t that much fun. Sure, we all went to the frat parties, or the keggers down by the river, but chances are that we often found ourselves having to hold back from the kind of debauchery that was central to those events – after all, there could be serious consequences for saying or doing the wrong thing after hitting that beer bong. Drunk and Horny, the weekly party hosted at Underground SF by the infamous duo of Jeff and Gary (Earth, The Love Haight Lounge, Wet Dream), is probably as close to those high school antics as is possible to achieve by people who are actually of legal drinking age. Beer bongs, vintage disco, AOR and alternative rock tracks, the occasional appearance of a whipped cream dispenser, references to “Spring Break” and “Finals” on the flyers, all evoke those hazy halcyon days of youth, or at least some imagined version of them.

I’ve seen this party evolve over the course of about two years, and it has undergone some changes in that time. When it started as a monthly it was usually so packed that you couldn’t even get a drink, though now as a weekly the crowd has thinned to more manageable levels (it's no longer necessary to sneak into the back alley for a pee, for example). At first the crowd was very alteraqueer, drawing from various faeries, Haight Street boys, and those who had come to other Jeff and Gary parties. Once the owner of the bar started taking out ads in Gloss, however, the crowd began to take on more of a classic Castro caste, though I have continued to meet interesting guys milling around in the back smoking area (my favorite place to hang out, since that's where the bad boys are). The music has changed somewhat as well, with a distinct trend toward classic disco and 70s tracks, with more contemporary alt-rock and pop thrown in. Lord Kook used to open with a harder electrohouse sound that I really enjoyed, but since he has moved on, with the opening slot taken up by Sparky, the sound is much more consistent, and perhaps more accessible to the larger masses who like their music funky and familiar enough to sing along with .

Drunk and Horny is a pretty reliable night out, and at only five dollars, with some of the absolute strongest drinks in town (three usually leave me completely plastered), it can be an easy-going way to pass some time with friends on a Saturday night, get totally shit-faced, and maybe strike up a chat with a cutie and get lucky (especially if there’s an afterparty). I don’t personally groove on the music that much, but, for me, the dancefloor isn’t really what this night is about. Drunk and Horny is well on its way to being a classic San Francisco event, so you owe it to yourself to check it out at least once, whether you want to feel like you're in college again, or you really are and are just tired of partying with all the straight kids. Maybe that will be enough for you, or maybe it will just whet your appetite for more.