Showing posts with label Frisco Disco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frisco Disco. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Another One Bites the Dust: The End of Frisco Disco at The Transfer
Further evidence that it's not just about the night, it's also about the club, the All Shook Down blog at the SFWeekly reports that "THE WORLD FAMOUS FRISCO DISCO" (apparently if you assert something in all caps, that makes it true) is leaving The Transfer, and is rather pissed about it. I'm tellin' ya, once a dumpy dive bar, always a dumpy dive bar, no matter how hard you try to hipster it up.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Event Review: Drunk and Horny v. Frisco Disco
This past Saturday the boyfriend, J, Kitty and I went out to wish Jeff and Gary good luck with the reconstitution of Drunk and Horny as a monthly, and then, on a whim, the boyfriend and I went over to The Transfer to check out the infamous Frisco Disco. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but was close enough in terms of vibe to Drunk and Horny that it did seem a bit familiar.
We arrived around midnight, and when we first came through the door Richie Panic was in the midst of a three track trip through the 80s that made me think we somehow had walked through a wormhole that had brought us back to Underground SF. I was in the bathroom, thinking that one drink’s worth of retro was about all I could take, when he switched up and made a run into the bloghouse/banger territory that I had expected. Over the course of the next hour we heard Feist’s “My Moon My Man (Boysnoize remix),” Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E. (Justice Remix),” and Kid Cudi’s “Day N’ Night (Crooker’s Remix)," which should give you a sense of the night's musical flavor (all trainspotting thanks to the boyfriend, btw).
Richie Panic is a laptop DJ and has a style that I have come to think of as typical for DJs who work in this medium, one that I characterize as brutalism. There are no long mixes; rather, he takes advantage of the ability to set cue points and have tracks start and stop on exact beats. The effect is of the tracks being spliced together in a continuous stream, rather than being mixed, where you hear perhaps two or three minutes of one track before another one starts, usually at a point that keeps the intensity and energy of the mix pretty high. The crowd was clearly into it, and in some ways it's appropriate to the banger genre; I refer to it as brutalism because it reminds me of the architectural style, which opted for the big, chunky and concrete over the subtle and organic, with an occasional gesture toward striking juxtapositions of form. I find this style of DJing to be a bit difficult to listen to over a long period of time, but there were plenty of happy dancers grooving along with Richie's set when we left around 1.30.
The crowd was pleasingly diverse, with lots of women and gay guys on the dancefloor, though it wasn’t quite as fabulous as the Myspace pictures would have led me to believe. Maybe this is because it was so damned dark in there, it was hard to tell what anyone what looked like, but it might also be because The Transfer, no matter how fab a party you bring to it, is still a dumpy dive of a bar, and it’s hard to not look like a dork standing there with a drink in your hand. Why the back room wasn’t open I have no idea, this certainly seemed to be a big enough crowd to warrent the opening of the second bar, and it would have made getting drinks a lot easier than dealing with bartenders who seemed more interested in doing shots with their friends than serving other patrons.
My overall impression is that Frisco Disco is sort of a straight version of Drunk and Horny, though with admittedly more contemporary music. It seemed like the kind of party where folks come because they want to drink some really poisonously strong potions, dance around to music that is pleasingly familiar, and feel a little naughty and edgy for a while. As for me, now that I’ve been there once, I don’t feel a real compelling need to go back (an opinion that might change should they ever move on from The Transfer), but you should definitely check it out for a glimpse into one of the reigning hipster dance scenes of the moment.
We arrived around midnight, and when we first came through the door Richie Panic was in the midst of a three track trip through the 80s that made me think we somehow had walked through a wormhole that had brought us back to Underground SF. I was in the bathroom, thinking that one drink’s worth of retro was about all I could take, when he switched up and made a run into the bloghouse/banger territory that I had expected. Over the course of the next hour we heard Feist’s “My Moon My Man (Boysnoize remix),” Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E. (Justice Remix),” and Kid Cudi’s “Day N’ Night (Crooker’s Remix)," which should give you a sense of the night's musical flavor (all trainspotting thanks to the boyfriend, btw).
Richie Panic is a laptop DJ and has a style that I have come to think of as typical for DJs who work in this medium, one that I characterize as brutalism. There are no long mixes; rather, he takes advantage of the ability to set cue points and have tracks start and stop on exact beats. The effect is of the tracks being spliced together in a continuous stream, rather than being mixed, where you hear perhaps two or three minutes of one track before another one starts, usually at a point that keeps the intensity and energy of the mix pretty high. The crowd was clearly into it, and in some ways it's appropriate to the banger genre; I refer to it as brutalism because it reminds me of the architectural style, which opted for the big, chunky and concrete over the subtle and organic, with an occasional gesture toward striking juxtapositions of form. I find this style of DJing to be a bit difficult to listen to over a long period of time, but there were plenty of happy dancers grooving along with Richie's set when we left around 1.30.
The crowd was pleasingly diverse, with lots of women and gay guys on the dancefloor, though it wasn’t quite as fabulous as the Myspace pictures would have led me to believe. Maybe this is because it was so damned dark in there, it was hard to tell what anyone what looked like, but it might also be because The Transfer, no matter how fab a party you bring to it, is still a dumpy dive of a bar, and it’s hard to not look like a dork standing there with a drink in your hand. Why the back room wasn’t open I have no idea, this certainly seemed to be a big enough crowd to warrent the opening of the second bar, and it would have made getting drinks a lot easier than dealing with bartenders who seemed more interested in doing shots with their friends than serving other patrons.
My overall impression is that Frisco Disco is sort of a straight version of Drunk and Horny, though with admittedly more contemporary music. It seemed like the kind of party where folks come because they want to drink some really poisonously strong potions, dance around to music that is pleasingly familiar, and feel a little naughty and edgy for a while. As for me, now that I’ve been there once, I don’t feel a real compelling need to go back (an opinion that might change should they ever move on from The Transfer), but you should definitely check it out for a glimpse into one of the reigning hipster dance scenes of the moment.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Mix Download: Richie Panic of Frisco Disco
Mr. Panic of the Frisco Disco has a new mix available that seems to include a couple original edits:
Ready For The Floor-Hot Chip (Panics Tidy Re-edit)
Organ Grinder-Trevor Lovey & Sinden
Why not?-Alter Ego
Wet 'N Wild-K.I.M. (Riot In Belgium Remix)
The Sound-The Rapture (Ben Rymers Back to 95 Remix)
My People-The Presets (Panics Cut and Run DIM Re-edit)
Gimme What You Got-Black Daniel (Alex Metric Remix)
Move, Shake, Drop-DJ Laz and Pitbull
Valerie-Mark Ronson (Count Of Monte Cristo & Sinden Remix)
Dooms Night-Azzido Da Bass (Laidback Luke Bootleg)
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger-Daft Punk (Deadmau5 Edit)
More More-Junkie XL (Kraak & Smaak Get Stupid Remix)
Fool For Love-Das Pop (Yuksek Remix)
Road To Recovery-Midnight Juggernauts (Curses! Remix)
Bonus Track
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Year End Wrap-Up
I think that sometime this morning, after having a chocolate chip pancake, two sausage patties, and a cup of coffee, I finally got over my holiday hang-over. Thursday morning I was still bleary from one last evening of indulgence after helping the Drunk and Horny crew clear out of their ill-fated occupation of The Gingerbread House, and the weekend's rain and power loss mostly inspired me to stay home and huddle in front of the TV.
Actually, I'm a little disappointed in myself when I look back over the holiday festivities; I had a whole calendar of events that I wanted to check out, and yet most of my party time was spent inside private residences. I did make it out to French Kiss on the Sunday before Christmas, though it was obviously an off-night, and also found myself at The Transfer for part of DJ Kidd Sysko's set at Big Top, though it was also not quite what I had mind for the night. Aside from a social call at Lucky Pierre this past Friday those were the only club events I made it to over the full thirteen days I had off. There was also helping out with the Comfort and Joy Solstice and Afterglow parties, and of course Drunk and Horny New Year's Eve, but I can't really say that I partied at any of those events. Instead, the boyfriend and I hosted an orphan's Christmas at our place, enjoyed hanging out with Jeff and Gary and other members of the DnH crew after clearing out the Gingerbread House, and had quite a nice early morning of tuning our third-eyes when we got back from the impromptu NYE party that the guys generously held when their original plans fell through. This isn't to say that I didn't engage in some serious indulgence over the holidays, and, in fact, I let loose so much that some New Year's resolutions were made as a result.
Looking back over the year it seems that this was the year in which the party scene picked up a little energy, even though the continuing economic conditions of the city are making it increasingly difficult to re-capture the freewheeling party lifestyle that ruled back in the glorious pre-dot-com days. Several new parties, like Lucky Pierre and Frisco Disco, demonstrated that there is still an underground energy that people respond to, and Honey Sound System almost single-handedly revived the otherwise moribund gay dance scene. At the same time, there were some notable losses, like the demise of the How Weird Street Faire and the cancellation of Halloween in the Castro, and there are continuing issues around mixed use spaces in SoMa and the ability of the Entertainment Commission to keep our nightlife alive in the face of encroaching condominium development.
Even with the party scene picking up a bit, though, there remains the question of whether there are really enough people going out to support it. On many occasions I have gone out to an event to find it almost completely empty, leading one to wonder if we have enough of a party population to support more than a few club nights. Under these circumstances it's hard to muster much excitement for going out, since it's often a case of the same people, the same music, the same scene week after week, and there's nothing so discouraging as spending our hard-earned dollars for taxi rides, cover charges, and overpriced drinks (and all the bars seem to have raised their prices as of January 1) only to realize that the night we gambled on has turned out to be a fizzle.
Looking into the New Year I realize that these are the weeks of slack, the times when everybody hunkers down a bit and gathers their world around them rather than going out into it. My hope for this new year is that we will see a little more excitement return to our scene, and that I will feel a bit more anticipation for the approach of the weekend. I hope that reading this blog will help each of you find an adventure of your own, and I hope that the boyfriend and I will be able to show you a good time at Fuck Shit, Let's Dance. And finally, sometime this week let's all find a moment to raise a glass and say "So long, George Bush, and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out."
Actually, I'm a little disappointed in myself when I look back over the holiday festivities; I had a whole calendar of events that I wanted to check out, and yet most of my party time was spent inside private residences. I did make it out to French Kiss on the Sunday before Christmas, though it was obviously an off-night, and also found myself at The Transfer for part of DJ Kidd Sysko's set at Big Top, though it was also not quite what I had mind for the night. Aside from a social call at Lucky Pierre this past Friday those were the only club events I made it to over the full thirteen days I had off. There was also helping out with the Comfort and Joy Solstice and Afterglow parties, and of course Drunk and Horny New Year's Eve, but I can't really say that I partied at any of those events. Instead, the boyfriend and I hosted an orphan's Christmas at our place, enjoyed hanging out with Jeff and Gary and other members of the DnH crew after clearing out the Gingerbread House, and had quite a nice early morning of tuning our third-eyes when we got back from the impromptu NYE party that the guys generously held when their original plans fell through. This isn't to say that I didn't engage in some serious indulgence over the holidays, and, in fact, I let loose so much that some New Year's resolutions were made as a result.
Looking back over the year it seems that this was the year in which the party scene picked up a little energy, even though the continuing economic conditions of the city are making it increasingly difficult to re-capture the freewheeling party lifestyle that ruled back in the glorious pre-dot-com days. Several new parties, like Lucky Pierre and Frisco Disco, demonstrated that there is still an underground energy that people respond to, and Honey Sound System almost single-handedly revived the otherwise moribund gay dance scene. At the same time, there were some notable losses, like the demise of the How Weird Street Faire and the cancellation of Halloween in the Castro, and there are continuing issues around mixed use spaces in SoMa and the ability of the Entertainment Commission to keep our nightlife alive in the face of encroaching condominium development.
Even with the party scene picking up a bit, though, there remains the question of whether there are really enough people going out to support it. On many occasions I have gone out to an event to find it almost completely empty, leading one to wonder if we have enough of a party population to support more than a few club nights. Under these circumstances it's hard to muster much excitement for going out, since it's often a case of the same people, the same music, the same scene week after week, and there's nothing so discouraging as spending our hard-earned dollars for taxi rides, cover charges, and overpriced drinks (and all the bars seem to have raised their prices as of January 1) only to realize that the night we gambled on has turned out to be a fizzle.
Looking into the New Year I realize that these are the weeks of slack, the times when everybody hunkers down a bit and gathers their world around them rather than going out into it. My hope for this new year is that we will see a little more excitement return to our scene, and that I will feel a bit more anticipation for the approach of the weekend. I hope that reading this blog will help each of you find an adventure of your own, and I hope that the boyfriend and I will be able to show you a good time at Fuck Shit, Let's Dance. And finally, sometime this week let's all find a moment to raise a glass and say "So long, George Bush, and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out."
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Mix to Download: Richie Panic Live at Frisco Disco
Missingtoof.com has a live mix of Richie Panic at Frisco Disco that's kinda neat - I wouldn't have thought of putting Chromeo, Samim, and Claude Von Stroke on the same mix (and I even own several of these tracks), but that's why I check out other people's stuff. This is a little more on the booty side of electro and indietronica, with nice techno edge that pops out every now and then, put together in a tight mix. I'm sure sets like this must drive them crazy every Saturday over at The Transfer. Shake it baby, shake it!
Tracklist
Tracklist
- Zongamin - Bongo Song
- Federico Franchi - Cream (Original)
- Acid Jacks - Awake Since 78 (Mstrkrft Remix)
- Acid Jacks - Mookie (Curses! Remix)
- Chromeo - Bonafide Lovin’ (LA Riots Remix)
- Samim - Heater (Vandalism Re-Rub)
- Claude VonStroke - The Whistler (The Ashton Shuffle Remix)
- The Rapture - W.A.Y.U.H (Claude VonStroke Pantydropper Vocal Mix)
- The Presets - I Go Hard, I Go Home (Club Mix)
- DJ Jeroenski - Back Once Again (Vandalism Remix)
- Koma & Bones - Multistorey (Original Mix)
- C.L.A.W.S. - C.L.A.W.S. Theme (Passions Remix)
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Event Review: Reader Comment on Frisco Disco
Found this in the old inbox this morning, a comment on Frisco Disco from another party trouper of my acquaintance:
Woah. I have a few thoughts about this party.Well, meow then. I passed up Frisco Disco on Saturday because it was looking just too crowded, and my haircut didn't go with those of the kids standing in line, but had I know that another old and cranky party guy was there, at least we could have been bitchy about it together.Ok, so the music was decent...when the DJ was spinning. Then what was up with the lame ass live music. They couldn't even get the vocals working (for the part of the show I stayed for before taking my final elbow to the kidneys) or produce any harmony AT ALL. And finally...the people...well lets call the "bratterati" - - you know those youngens in the their tight at the ankle jeans, skewed hair cuts and some black striped t-shirts. Where did they all come from? "my momma never taught me no manners", USA? Seems like it. I almost smacked this woman after she pushed her way through the crowd with a sack on her shoulder that had no less than a gallon of milk and a side of ham in it. Fucking bitch.
Sure the music was good but the crowd was insufferable. Shame on them.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Mix to Download: Girls Night Out by Richie Panic and Goldchains
Richie Panic of the Frisco Disco at the Transfer, and local legend Gold Chains, have been teaming up to create these mixes for "drinking and driving and getting ready for the clubs." They've been hard at work making their edits and other tweaks to all these tunes, so you all should find plenty here to get you in da mood.
Richie Panic and Gold Chains Present "Girls Night Out"
Richie Panic and Gold Chains Present "Girls Night Out"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)