Our second installment of FSLD matched the first in terms of numbers, though the energy was a bit different and the presence of gay boys somewhat diminished. The compensating factor was a crossover of "straights," which, along with a conversation with Baron von Luxxury on the history of disco, helped me refine my idea of what I'm trying to accomplish with this night. We also learned that we can function with great agility in the face of the, um, challenges that club promoting presents. We still have a few things to figure out about this particular space and event, but I think that's what makes throwing a monthly party an interesting experiment in party logistics and mass psychology.
First, the numbers: the clicker showed 126 when we closed out, which is nine short of the last time. There were some people I was expecting to see who didn't make it out, which would have filled in a good chunk of that. In the further game of "who are these people," we had one group of five young Asian couples show up, and during Lord Kook's set he had the rapt attention of four young women who let out with a periodic "wa-hoo!" while grooving to his set - though a rather unusual situation for him, he did seem to enjoy their enthusiasm. There were several male/female couples, including the very hip DJ Candy (Bender, Heat) and her husband Twig (artist-in-residence at Heat), and another couple that I swear were tripping tits, since I couldn't understand a damn thing they were saying to me all night (I later had reason to believe that she was the ex-propriertress of Jezebel's Joint, the club that had previously been in the Deco building, though I couldn't find anyone to confirm that). The gay guys who did show up were of a pleasingly diverse variety, though I was especially happy that the neo-tribal and punkish alternaboys were well represented. Among our scenester stars were Johnny Cocksville, who wandered the club with a crop, looking for a suitable object upon which to apply it, Dan Karasic and DJ Donimo of Lucky Pierre, and DJ6 of Lucky Pierre and Bender. I would be remiss if I didn't also mention the giant pink and green rabbit, and Superboy.
As for the challenges, they ranged from personnel problems to blown speakers. Kitty, our coat check girl, called me at 5.30 and told me he'd had to go in for a root canal during the morning and was in no shape for a long late night. I was able to find a substitute, but then when we arrived at the club it was pointed out to us that one of the main suspended floor speakers, a JBL 15, had a completely shredded cone. We all scratched our heads over how this had happened (Kiko, the security guy, said it was like that when he showed up for work on Wednesday, and the club was closed on Monday and Tuesday), since those things are pretty indestructible, but there was only one thing to do: I got in the rental car, came home, loaded up one of my own JBLs, and got back to set it up fifteen minutes before we we were supposed to open. This still left us with the tasks of setting up the downstairs and cleaning up the coat check area, but all was ready on the dot of 9.
Though we were ready to go at the appointed time, it still took a while for things to take off. At 10.30 I was wondering where the hell everybody was, but by 11.30 we had a solid dancefloor. Neonbunny played a great set of harder electro to an unfortunately mostly empty room, and when Baron von Luxxury and Johnatron came on after Lord Kook they too had moments when the dancefloor seemed to thin out. This seemed to be another big difference from the first FSLD, when the dance floor was packed the entire time, though we also had a lot more in and out traffic this time as well. I was scheduled to go on at 2.00 when the Baron and Johnatron came off, but the dance floor energy was fragile enough that I decided it needed a more confident and able guide, and turned things over to Lord Kook again.
During a smoke break outside the Baron and I had a long conversation about disco music (broadly defined), and though our tastes run in somewhat different directions, we do share an interest in the social/cultural implications of the disco experience. This, along with a conversation I had with a gentleman at the end of night at the coat check, really made me put some thought into what I would like to accomplish with this night. He seemed to be a Deco regular who decided to come check out the party; in kidding tones he said he was suprised at the way the upstairs was set up "without glory holes." He then asked me when the next Starfucker was going to be, and I told him that it was done as a regular night, but would be back for Pride (taking over our fourth Friday, in fact).
What these conversations did was make me realize that, though we don't have a lot of the features you would associate with a gay night, like go-go boys, baby oil wrestling, wet jockstrap contests, or glory holes, I am more interested in the possibility of creating a night that, by virtue of the music that was played and the energy that was put forth, had a crossover appeal that could bring all kinds of people together. Sure it's important to me that our emphasis is on "a dance party for queers and their friends," but I want the friends as much as the queers. Something I realized later was that, despite having a sign on the door that advertised the night as exactly that, there were many non-queers who came through the door and hung out anyway. To me, that epitomizes the disco spirit; something that's associated with queers, but is also about openness and respect for everybody. I know we could get more gay guys to show up if we had go-gos or some kind of performance to appeal to prurient interests, but the moment we begin to do those sorts of things, I think we'll also begin to lose that crossover crowd. It's important to me that we don't do that because I do have this idea that, if club nights are about creating culture, I want to create something that enables people to transcend the barriers that exist between us, rather than something that closes us off in an insular world.
FSLD is pretty clearly going to be a work in progress for a while; aside from the abstract philosophical issues that need to be considered, there are very practical matters as well, like how to get more people through the door before 10PM (I'm open to any suggestions you all might have in that regard), working out the timing of the DJs for the different phases of the night, and what we can do to bump everything up a notch. I think there's a lot of room for us to grow, but as long as we can keep a steady crowd coming for the next few months, I also think there's the potential to do something we can really be proud of.
Showing posts with label Aaron Neonbunny. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aaron Neonbunny. Show all posts
Monday, February 25, 2008
Monday, July 30, 2007
Event Review: Lord Kook, Pup, and Aaron Neonbunny Spin at Naughty
Naughty at the "undisclosed SoMa location" on Friday night was a great little bit of fun, though in our room, the crowd quickly thinned after they'd had enough of using the St. Andrew's cross, and I learned a little bit about what kind of music does and doesn't work in a tag-team situation.
Our DJ appearance at Naughty set a number of firsts - first time that their new DJ rig was used, first time to have live DJs in what was basically the dungeon room, and the first time that I have played in a tag-team situation. As with all firsts, there were some unforeseen complications and outcomes. With the DJ rig, it seemed that no one had considered that turntables need to be grounded, and when they're about two feet away from the mixer on either side, creative solutions need to be found - in our case, scraping some paint off an electrical conduit and affixing the grounding wire with some tape. I guess that turntable DJs are a rarity in this particular venue, since I couldn't reach the turntables themselves while standing at the mixer, a situation that makes it a little difficult to adjust the platter speed while you're mixing in or out. The mixer was a Behringer of a type that I've never used before, and I found the feel of it to be a little clunky.
We were set up in what amounted to a side room, with a double St. Andrew's cross on a stage across from us. The boyfriend and I broke one of them in while Neonbunny took a turn on the tunes, and they got pretty steady usage up until about midnight. We had been told by the promoter that having DJs in this room was something of an experiment, and though we tried several different approaches throughout the evening, it was hard to move the crowd from hanging out and watching the on-stage action to actual dancing. By midnight we had clearly lost the vibe, with some folks stopping by to look in but then heading out into the main dance area, where Shatter was spinning the kind of things he might play at Bondage-A-Go-Go or Substance at The End Up. As with parties of this sort, there are many people who arrive early in the evening to play, and then head out around midnight or so to go home and have actual sex (though there was some real sex action going on in our room as well). I had hoped to bring in a stronger, harder vibe that I thought would appeal to the industrial-oriented crowd, but it was also pretty clear that, in our room at least, it was much more about playing, with less interest in dancing. As long as we could put down a steady beat that you could flog to, the audience was satisfied.
I've not tag-teamed before, and I discovered that much of the music I had brought with me, and my concept of how it worked, depended on my having long stretches of time in which to play it - switching over after three tracks to a different DJ who plays music in a different genre is not conducive to creating the deep techno groove that I usually try for. My first half hour on the decks felt like my best, since I was mixing electro tracks like Solvent's "Radio Ga Ga" and Rex the Dog's "I Look Into Mid-Air" that went well with both Lord Kook and Aaron Neonbunny's music, but later in the evening, when I tried going into Cristen Jost and other artists on the Sender label for a darker, deeper mood, it felt very incongrous and frustrating. I think I played a number of really great tracks, but not being able to get into a consistent sound with the other DJs played a role, I think, in our having such an empty room at 2AM when the party began to wind down.
At the end of the night I enjoyed the chance to come out and DJ, but was disappointed that we had not done a better job of holding that space. The original offer for us to DJ had included getting paid for the night, but, given the lack of energy in our room, plus the fact that the even was also set up as a benefit for one of our acquaintancaes, we declined to take any money for what we had done. Things went over well enough that I think we'll be invited back again, but this time I hope we'll be able to do a better job, now that we also have a better idea of what the venue and crowd are like.
Our DJ appearance at Naughty set a number of firsts - first time that their new DJ rig was used, first time to have live DJs in what was basically the dungeon room, and the first time that I have played in a tag-team situation. As with all firsts, there were some unforeseen complications and outcomes. With the DJ rig, it seemed that no one had considered that turntables need to be grounded, and when they're about two feet away from the mixer on either side, creative solutions need to be found - in our case, scraping some paint off an electrical conduit and affixing the grounding wire with some tape. I guess that turntable DJs are a rarity in this particular venue, since I couldn't reach the turntables themselves while standing at the mixer, a situation that makes it a little difficult to adjust the platter speed while you're mixing in or out. The mixer was a Behringer of a type that I've never used before, and I found the feel of it to be a little clunky.
We were set up in what amounted to a side room, with a double St. Andrew's cross on a stage across from us. The boyfriend and I broke one of them in while Neonbunny took a turn on the tunes, and they got pretty steady usage up until about midnight. We had been told by the promoter that having DJs in this room was something of an experiment, and though we tried several different approaches throughout the evening, it was hard to move the crowd from hanging out and watching the on-stage action to actual dancing. By midnight we had clearly lost the vibe, with some folks stopping by to look in but then heading out into the main dance area, where Shatter was spinning the kind of things he might play at Bondage-A-Go-Go or Substance at The End Up. As with parties of this sort, there are many people who arrive early in the evening to play, and then head out around midnight or so to go home and have actual sex (though there was some real sex action going on in our room as well). I had hoped to bring in a stronger, harder vibe that I thought would appeal to the industrial-oriented crowd, but it was also pretty clear that, in our room at least, it was much more about playing, with less interest in dancing. As long as we could put down a steady beat that you could flog to, the audience was satisfied.
I've not tag-teamed before, and I discovered that much of the music I had brought with me, and my concept of how it worked, depended on my having long stretches of time in which to play it - switching over after three tracks to a different DJ who plays music in a different genre is not conducive to creating the deep techno groove that I usually try for. My first half hour on the decks felt like my best, since I was mixing electro tracks like Solvent's "Radio Ga Ga" and Rex the Dog's "I Look Into Mid-Air" that went well with both Lord Kook and Aaron Neonbunny's music, but later in the evening, when I tried going into Cristen Jost and other artists on the Sender label for a darker, deeper mood, it felt very incongrous and frustrating. I think I played a number of really great tracks, but not being able to get into a consistent sound with the other DJs played a role, I think, in our having such an empty room at 2AM when the party began to wind down.
At the end of the night I enjoyed the chance to come out and DJ, but was disappointed that we had not done a better job of holding that space. The original offer for us to DJ had included getting paid for the night, but, given the lack of energy in our room, plus the fact that the even was also set up as a benefit for one of our acquaintancaes, we declined to take any money for what we had done. Things went over well enough that I think we'll be invited back again, but this time I hope we'll be able to do a better job, now that we also have a better idea of what the venue and crowd are like.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
San Francisco Pride Recap
Whooo, Tuesday morning and I'm still a bit bleary from all the weekend's activities: passing out on Friday night from too much champagne on an empty stomach at Kitty's birthday party; up till 6AM on Sunday morning with Comfort and Joy at the Afterglow party, showing up at Faerie Freedom Village so Lord Kook could spin at 1, then my turn came at 5; and finally, some quality time with the boyfriend in Golden Gate Park on Monday, when we got to chill and go through a good system's re-boot.
Afterglow was the main event of the weekend for the boyfriend and myself since we not only had to set up and manage the gear, but also play a set each. The evening started out slightly difficult as we had two CDJ-800s in road cases, along with a folding keyboard stand, that we had to get over to the party right at that point when none of the cab companies were answering the telephone. After some frantic attempts to find other transportation I finally got a City Carshare car for the night, but the consequence was that I would have to drive us home after the night's festivities. After that bit of hassle, however, the party itself was a rollicking, smashing success, with an almost full dancefloor in the first hour. DJ Neco D got the mood up and carried through until the show started (again, late, and, again, overly long, but we were prepared for that on this occasion); by that time the room was completely packed, so I didn't see any of the performances, but when Lord Kook came on afterwards it all busted loose - at one point there was a shirtless, sweaty, writhing crowd up on the stage chanting "More! More! More! More!", and a group of happy lesbians were puddled together in the clawfoot bathtub in the restroom - it was like a scene from a Frameline movie, I swear. I went on around 3.30 and had it in mind to crank up the knarzy techno, but two songs in I was told that the cops had come by, so I took it down fairly deep and chill for the duration of my rather short set. Then DJ Pee Play and Ken Vulsion, aka The Honey Sound System, came on and absolutely ripped the roof off the place. We didn't get to stay for much of their set, as I had to have the car back by 6AM, and needed to put myself into a bed for a couple hours as well, but I heard that the cops came back again, and that there were still folks hanging out at noon the next day. Now that's a party, people.
Faerie Village was the calm in the midst of the Pride whirlwind that it always is. Aaron Neonbunny was the producer this year and went for a more low-key set-up, just two tents and sound systems on either side of the plaza, one for acoustic performances, one for DJ music. The idea had been to keep the sound pretty chill, but after about three songs Lord Kook had a small dancefloor rolling and decided to keep the energy up. DJ Mak, who can be heard at the W Hotel on Friday evenings, came on with some great Eurolounge after him, followed by trance stalwart KJ spinning worldbeat downtempo grooves, and then Mr. Neonbunny hisself demonstrated his command of the electro vocabularly. I got my shot to close out the village after Aaron, and though there were some odd technical difficulties (I've never had to adjust the tracking on a tone-arm to keep it following the record groove before), I was thrilled to play some sunny day techno for an appreciative crowd that included Marke B. of the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
Monday the boyfriend and I really needed some down time together, so we got together with an old friend I hadn't hung out with in years and went to Golden Gate Park. We walked from the Stanyan entrance all the way to Ocean Beach, had an amusing bus ride back to Laguna, hung out, went for a walk to enjoy a beautiful evening, watched Yellow Submarine, and reflected on an awesome Pride weekend.
It's easy enough to be cynical about Pride, especially when you live in the bubble of San Francisco, where the lack of repression felt by the LGBT community in the rest of the world tends to make us lazy, complacent, precious, and prone to in-fighting. But when you see guys walking hand-in-hand down Castro street like it's the most fantastic thing they've every done together, when you have the opportunity to meet up with friends you haven't seen in weeks or months, when you get to take part in events that you know have created special moments for others, then in those situations you do begin to appreciate what Pride does for us, both as individuals and members of a community.
Afterglow was the main event of the weekend for the boyfriend and myself since we not only had to set up and manage the gear, but also play a set each. The evening started out slightly difficult as we had two CDJ-800s in road cases, along with a folding keyboard stand, that we had to get over to the party right at that point when none of the cab companies were answering the telephone. After some frantic attempts to find other transportation I finally got a City Carshare car for the night, but the consequence was that I would have to drive us home after the night's festivities. After that bit of hassle, however, the party itself was a rollicking, smashing success, with an almost full dancefloor in the first hour. DJ Neco D got the mood up and carried through until the show started (again, late, and, again, overly long, but we were prepared for that on this occasion); by that time the room was completely packed, so I didn't see any of the performances, but when Lord Kook came on afterwards it all busted loose - at one point there was a shirtless, sweaty, writhing crowd up on the stage chanting "More! More! More! More!", and a group of happy lesbians were puddled together in the clawfoot bathtub in the restroom - it was like a scene from a Frameline movie, I swear. I went on around 3.30 and had it in mind to crank up the knarzy techno, but two songs in I was told that the cops had come by, so I took it down fairly deep and chill for the duration of my rather short set. Then DJ Pee Play and Ken Vulsion, aka The Honey Sound System, came on and absolutely ripped the roof off the place. We didn't get to stay for much of their set, as I had to have the car back by 6AM, and needed to put myself into a bed for a couple hours as well, but I heard that the cops came back again, and that there were still folks hanging out at noon the next day. Now that's a party, people.
Faerie Village was the calm in the midst of the Pride whirlwind that it always is. Aaron Neonbunny was the producer this year and went for a more low-key set-up, just two tents and sound systems on either side of the plaza, one for acoustic performances, one for DJ music. The idea had been to keep the sound pretty chill, but after about three songs Lord Kook had a small dancefloor rolling and decided to keep the energy up. DJ Mak, who can be heard at the W Hotel on Friday evenings, came on with some great Eurolounge after him, followed by trance stalwart KJ spinning worldbeat downtempo grooves, and then Mr. Neonbunny hisself demonstrated his command of the electro vocabularly. I got my shot to close out the village after Aaron, and though there were some odd technical difficulties (I've never had to adjust the tracking on a tone-arm to keep it following the record groove before), I was thrilled to play some sunny day techno for an appreciative crowd that included Marke B. of the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
Monday the boyfriend and I really needed some down time together, so we got together with an old friend I hadn't hung out with in years and went to Golden Gate Park. We walked from the Stanyan entrance all the way to Ocean Beach, had an amusing bus ride back to Laguna, hung out, went for a walk to enjoy a beautiful evening, watched Yellow Submarine, and reflected on an awesome Pride weekend.
It's easy enough to be cynical about Pride, especially when you live in the bubble of San Francisco, where the lack of repression felt by the LGBT community in the rest of the world tends to make us lazy, complacent, precious, and prone to in-fighting. But when you see guys walking hand-in-hand down Castro street like it's the most fantastic thing they've every done together, when you have the opportunity to meet up with friends you haven't seen in weeks or months, when you get to take part in events that you know have created special moments for others, then in those situations you do begin to appreciate what Pride does for us, both as individuals and members of a community.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Place to Be on Sunday: Faerie Freedom Village
Faerie Freedom Village in the Civic Center area of Pride is probably the best respite from the crowds and noise you'll be able to find. This year it's being produced by my friend Aaron Neonbunny, and after my own experiences with stage managing and helping produce FFV for three years in a row, I can only salute his fortitude and determination in putting this together for everyone's enjoyment. On one side there will be acoustic performances, including poetry reading and such. On the other, dowtempo DJs including DJ Mak and Lord Kook, with yours truly rounding off the day with some sunny day techno from 5-6. Come by, have a chill, and say hi!
Monday, April 9, 2007
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