Event Review: Collide at Club 222

After heading over to Drunk and Horny with our friend Kitty on Saturday night to wish Big Red a happy birthday, the boyfriend and I grabbed a cab over to Club 222 to check out their new Saturday night house party, Collide. Though I didn't run into the folks I had been expecting to see there, we nonetheless had a very relaxing couple of drinks while bobbing our heads to some nice deep house, and got to check out a live performance of sorts.

Club 222 is fast becoming one of my favorite haunts in San Francisco. I love the literal underground atmosphere of the dancefloor, where my mind often wonders about what went on down there in Club 222's former incarnation as The Blackhawk jazz club. Though outside Hyde Street presents one of the more dismal urban landscapes San Francisco has to offer, what with the homeless flea market, the shootings up the street at the convenience store, and the occasional bottle tossed in your direction from the building next to the club, inside Club 222 offers just about everything you could want in a hipster dive, from moody lighting to Pilsner Urquell tall boys, from handmade pizza for $5 to 25-year-old top shelf scotch for those moments when you feel particularly ebullient.

When it comes to party programming, Club 222 is fast distinguishing itself as one of the most progressive smaller dance clubs, hosting events including Garth and Jeno's monthly back-to-back session, the scenesterrific Lights Down Low, and Techno Tuesdays with its rotating line-up from various local techno collectives. It has a small capacity, and I've seen fifty people make it seem crowded, but I really appreciate the intimate, laid-back vibe of the space.

I heard about Collide from one of the promoters, Jose Mineros of Fag Fridays, so on Saturday I thought I'd stop by to say hi, have a drink and check out the scene. Thought I didn't run into Jose, the boyfriend and I did park ourselves on seats next to the dancefloor and had a very relaxing couple of drinks. The first DJ was a woman (unfortunately I didn't see the DJ names posted anywhere) who played a very smooth set of deep house, and the boyfriend and I both remarked on how long it had been since we had heard a purely house set, and how pleasant this one was. We hung out through a performance of someone on a bass guitar accompanying the DJ with very effected beats, and then into the beginning of the third DJ, a serious-looking guy in a hat. When we first arrived around 10 there were about a dozen people on the dancefloor, which ebbed down to one or two during the performance, with a very substantial influx of folks into the club around midnight. It was a small, pretty casual scene, but after so many recent events that required the expenditure of serious scene points, I really enjoyed being able to just hang out, have a couple drinks, and enjoy some good house music that substantially re-set both mine and the boyfriend's mood. I would definitely recommend checking it out for that night when you want solid music and a laid-back vibe among like-minded folks.

Event Review: Techno Tuesdays/Lil Brthr at 222 Hyde

One of the great benefits of being laid off is that now I have the time to check out all those weekly events that would normally keep me up past my bedtime. In a celebratory mood after attending the Entertainment Commission meeting on Tuesday, I decided to go check out Auralism Record's lil brthr at Club 222 Hyde, one of the rotating events in the club's weekly Techno Tuesdays. It was an unexpectedly active event for a Tuesday night, with some great minimal techno that, while it might not necessarily move you into a long session of sweaty dancing, is certainly great for head-nodding and getting plastered with your friends on absurdly cheap drinks while munching on some fine, homemade, thin-crust pizza.

OK, let's get to the drinks: $2.00 for a vodka tonic! Yes, that's right, $2.00! The first time I paid I thought I misheard the man, then counted my change. A better bargain in San Francisco I don't know of, but I should point out that if you really want to blend into the crowd here, order yourself a Pilsner Urquell tall boy.

I arrived right around 10 and shortly thereafter ran into David Peterson and his partner Jose Mineros, who is starting a new urban house night called Collide at Club 222 on Saturdays. We chatted in the upstairs bar for a while, during which time I found myself nodding along to some easy-going minimal techno with a consistent shuffle beat from resident Roman Stange. When I went back down into the dance area there were about 25 heads hanging out, listening to a female DJ who I think was Dima, with a few folks doing the jerky spazz dance, but mostly just bobbing along. I liked her set quite a bit, varying as it did from Outhud's "Put it away, put it away, put it away, dad" (which made me laugh when she put it on) to a remix of The Rapture's "W.A.Y.U.H.", to some fairly dark stuff that bordered on minimal psy, winding up, just as I was leaving, with Sammy Dee and Guido Schneider's "Styleways" (I think this is right, I recognized the track from Ricardo Villalobos' "Blue" disc in the Green&Blue compilation, but my audio memory is little fuzzy this morning). Overall a darker, deeper set of the sort that I appreciate, and the fact that she seemed to be playing exclusively on vinyl was even more endearing.

I counted about fifty people in the whole place when I left around 12.30, a certainly respectable showing for a Tuesday night; Alland Byallo even popped by to drop off flyer's for this Saturday's Kontrol. If you've got a free Tuesday night and an even freer Wednesday morning you should definitely come by and check out what's happening at Techno Tuesdays, you're bound to hear some good tunes, get plastered on cheap drinks, and maybe sober up with some tasty pizza after the aroma of it baking compels you to try some.