Man, Saturday nights are looking weak these days! Glad we decided to make our own fun with a cocktail party!
Weeklies and Bar Nights
Bistrotheque with Ken Vulsion at Cafe Flore
I've been remiss in not previously mentioning Ken Vulsion of Honey Sound System's Bistrotheque at Cafe Flore on Satuday evenings. A great place to go have a bite, warm up with a couple drinks, and groove along with Ken.
6PM - 12AM
NO COVER
Cafe Flore, 2298 Market Street x Noe
Monthlies and One-Offs
Chrome at The Gangway
A queer rock monthly from the same guys who bring you Trans Am.
9PM - 3AM
$3
Larkin x Geary
The Show at The EndUp
Breaks, dubstep, hip-hop, tech-house, electro, etc. with an-ten-nae, Nicole Doherty, and Alvaro Bravo.
10PM to 12 Noon Sunday (yes, 14 hours)
FREE before 11, $10 with RSVP to www.sensesf.com/show
The EndUp, 6th x Harrison
Black Market Techno at The Oasis, Oakland
A twelve-hour techno BBQ! With Rich Korach, Craig Kuna, Travis Dalton, Roman Stange, Jaime James, Dima, Brendan Finlayson and BMT residents.
2PM - 2AM!
FREE!
Oasis, 135 12th Street x Madison, Oakland
Friday, September 19, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Your Friday Guide for September 19, 2008
Weeklies and Bar Nights
Cosmic Gypsy Happy Hour with DJ Mak at the W Hotel
Get your lounge groove on with DJ Mak in this swank hotel bar.
6PM - 8PM
NO COVER
W Hotel, 181 3rd Street x Howard
KillSwitch Happy Hour at UndergroundSF
Techno happy hour, this week with Christian Mora (Bang the Box) and Guthrie (Tweekin').
6PM - 10PM
NO COVER
UndergroundSF, 424 Haight x Webster
Charlie Horse at the Cinch
Best place to go out and have a cheap drink while being entertained by drag queen antics. Music by DJ Dirty Knees and Bearzbub is more rock and new-wave oriented, but at least it won't interfere with your conversation. Check out my latest review of Charlie Horse at The Cinch.
9PM - close
NO COVER
Sick! at The Matador
A nice dive bar with techno tunes, a perfect place to start your night or to spend it. Residents D Spurlock, Jeffrey Allen, Jonathon Neil, Kuze, and Meekrob. Check out my review of Sick!
10PM - 2AM
FREE
Matador, 10 6th Street x Market
M4M at Underground SF
Joshua J's new weekly. Go-go boys, drinks . . . you get the picture.
10PM - 2AM
FREE
Underground SF, 424 Haight x Webster
Monthlies and One-Offs
The Last Shadowplay at The Stud
I think I went to the very first one, or among the first ones, when I first moved back to San Francisco. Tonight Donimo, Candy, DJ6 and special guests lay out that dark electro sound at The Stud one more time!
10PM - 3AM
$5
The Stud, 399 9th Street x Harrison
Miss Kitten and The Hacker at 103 Harriet Street (aka 1015 Folsom)
Yep, they're still at it. If you haven't seen them on one of their innumerable previous Blasthaus-sponsored tours, well, here's your chance.
9PM - afterhours
$20 advance (with a $3 service fee)
103 Harriet Street x Folsom
Dax Presents Jeff Samuel
Berlin remixer, DJ, producer, and video game music dude extraordinaire, with support from Justin Martin, Christian Martin, Galen, Mozaic, Solar, and Little John
9PM - 4AM
$7 before 11, $15 after
Mighty, 119 Utah Street x 15th
The City Continues to Screw Up Halloween
According to a story in today's SFGate, the City's attempt to create an alternative Halloween event is once again falling apart. You may remember that last year they cracked down on Halloween in the Castro, leading to one of the more depressing Halloweens I can remember, and there was some idea floating around for a while that they were going to do a big party out on one of the piers - you know, in the middle of nowhere, where it's cold. However, the City was unable to put anything together, and so we it was the Year Without a Halloween.
This year Halloween falls on a Friday, so you can bet there will be plenty of people ready to party. And once again, the City has dropped the ball. It seems that they had pretty much the same concept, but were dependent on corporate sponsorship, and charging everyone $31 a pop (why $31, why not $30, or $35) to go to a party with - wait for it - Destiny's Child. Whooo, that sounds like something I'll line up for.
As it turns out they can't get the money they wanted, so they're cutting back on things like tents - you know, things that keep you comfortable if it's rainy and cold. They say no performers have dropped out, but seriously, who is going to go to this, even if it's free?
I haven't mentioned this before, but back in March when I got laid off, I applied for the job of the new event coordinator for the Entertainment Commission. I thought I had a good chance, given the people I had recommending me, my experience with event organization, and having my finger on the pulse of the San Francisco Scene as I do. When I chatted with Audrey Joseph about the job, she told me that it would probably be largely concerned with dealing with things like Halloween. Fine, I thought, I have some ideas around that.
The person they hired (I didn't even get an interview, btw, and they had to extend the application deadline twice before they got what I suppose they considered a good applicant pool), was Laura Fraeza, whose background is in big corporatized events. According to an interview in the Bay Area Reporter, "She plans to use her local connections to bring promoters on board for this year's Halloween celebrations." Well, that's worked out really well, hasn't it?
The problem is that no corporatized event, featuring a lame Top 40 musical act, with an admission fee of $31, will ever attract people in the same way as an unstructured, open street event. And you will never be able to get corporate sponsors to pony up big bucks for an event like Halloween where there's a chance that something could happen that endangers their corporate brand. There is simply no value in being associated with the event in the same way as there is something with inherent cool, drawing a specific demographic, as LoveFest, Pride, the Outer Lands Festival, The Treasure Island Music Festival, Noise Pop, etc.
My suggestion, and the policy I would have tried to implement, is to give Halloween back to the neighborhoods, and encourage neighboring cities, like Oakland, to create events of their own. The reason the Castro got so packed was that it was the only game in town, or even in the area. If every neighborhood came up with their own plan for Halloween and encouraged residents to participate, if Oakland decided to have a Halloween event in Jack London Square, then you would be able to distribue some of the load to different locations. Unfortuantely, I think the City has become convinced that the only way to try and deal with Halloween is to try and control it by putting everyone into the same place, without realizing that no one wants to do that.
This year Halloween falls on a Friday, so you can bet there will be plenty of people ready to party. And once again, the City has dropped the ball. It seems that they had pretty much the same concept, but were dependent on corporate sponsorship, and charging everyone $31 a pop (why $31, why not $30, or $35) to go to a party with - wait for it - Destiny's Child. Whooo, that sounds like something I'll line up for.
As it turns out they can't get the money they wanted, so they're cutting back on things like tents - you know, things that keep you comfortable if it's rainy and cold. They say no performers have dropped out, but seriously, who is going to go to this, even if it's free?
I haven't mentioned this before, but back in March when I got laid off, I applied for the job of the new event coordinator for the Entertainment Commission. I thought I had a good chance, given the people I had recommending me, my experience with event organization, and having my finger on the pulse of the San Francisco Scene as I do. When I chatted with Audrey Joseph about the job, she told me that it would probably be largely concerned with dealing with things like Halloween. Fine, I thought, I have some ideas around that.
The person they hired (I didn't even get an interview, btw, and they had to extend the application deadline twice before they got what I suppose they considered a good applicant pool), was Laura Fraeza, whose background is in big corporatized events. According to an interview in the Bay Area Reporter, "She plans to use her local connections to bring promoters on board for this year's Halloween celebrations." Well, that's worked out really well, hasn't it?
The problem is that no corporatized event, featuring a lame Top 40 musical act, with an admission fee of $31, will ever attract people in the same way as an unstructured, open street event. And you will never be able to get corporate sponsors to pony up big bucks for an event like Halloween where there's a chance that something could happen that endangers their corporate brand. There is simply no value in being associated with the event in the same way as there is something with inherent cool, drawing a specific demographic, as LoveFest, Pride, the Outer Lands Festival, The Treasure Island Music Festival, Noise Pop, etc.
My suggestion, and the policy I would have tried to implement, is to give Halloween back to the neighborhoods, and encourage neighboring cities, like Oakland, to create events of their own. The reason the Castro got so packed was that it was the only game in town, or even in the area. If every neighborhood came up with their own plan for Halloween and encouraged residents to participate, if Oakland decided to have a Halloween event in Jack London Square, then you would be able to distribue some of the load to different locations. Unfortuantely, I think the City has become convinced that the only way to try and deal with Halloween is to try and control it by putting everyone into the same place, without realizing that no one wants to do that.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The End of 222 Hyde?
A reader just sent me a tip that Club 222 is closing at the end of September, and a rather cryptic note, as well as comments on their Myspace profile, seem to confirm this. So, no more Lights Down Low, no more Techno Tuesdays, no more Garth & Jeno back to back. Anybody got the scoop? You gotta wonder what this town is coming to.
Update: Another tipster pointed me to this All Shook Down blog post from SFWeekly's Jennifer Maerz that confirms that the owners have sold the space and may be opening another club in the Mission. I guess they got tired of a neighborhood where people in the neighboring buildings threw bottles at the people smoking outside the club.
Update: Another tipster pointed me to this All Shook Down blog post from SFWeekly's Jennifer Maerz that confirms that the owners have sold the space and may be opening another club in the Mission. I guess they got tired of a neighborhood where people in the neighboring buildings threw bottles at the people smoking outside the club.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Bar Review: The Telephone Booth, 25th and South Van Ness
After a long day of domestic chores on Saturday, including finally getting the rest of our dusty gear washed and put away, the boyfriend and I wanted an easy night out centered mostly around drinking. We got in touch with our friend Rick and met up at a cute, aptly named hipster bar called The Telephone Booth at 25th and South Van Ness.
We got there around 9.45 and the place had enough crowd to make it seem lively, but not so much of a crowd that we couldn’t get drinks. There was one bartender on duty, and he did a great job of keeping things moving, even when the guy next to me couldn’t count out four single dollar bills in less than ten minutes – the bartender rolled his eyes, looked at me with a twenty in my hand, set us up with libations, and still the guy next to me didn’t seem to get the hint that he needed to pay for his drink.
We were able to find a seat at one of the small tables, and though it was pretty loud, we could still keep a conversation going if we leaned in toward each other. The music was rather painfully post-collegiate hipster rock; I heard The Stooges, The Ramones, and then Madonna’s “Vogue,” which, if I had only recently discovered the first two bands as part of my collegiate experience, would have been cool. As it was I mostly ignored the music, since that wasn’t what I was really there for anyway.
The drinks were cheap, and seemed to get stronger as the evening progressed. Don’t be fooled by those little hotel room water glasses, there’s plenty of booze in those drinks for your buck. There were several drink specials that came in under $7, and even call drinks weren’t more than $5.
The crowd seemed to have an average age of about 27, with lots of shaggy hair, funky eyeglasses, and thrift store blazers, but they were friendly and generally pretty fun. There was a birthday party at the table next to ours and they offered us ice cream, but we declined since we couldn’t settle on a flavor that would go with Jamesons and PBR, or Stoli and tonic. There’s a pool table in back if you need something to occupy your time, but I saw more people leaning against it than knocking balls around. Keep in mind that the place is pretty small, so if you show up with a bunch of people you’ll probably mob the place, or at least have to wait a bit to find a comfortable seating situation.
The Telephone Booth seems like a nice little hipster dive bar that’s off the beaten path enough to keep it from being insufferably crowded or scenster, and if I was looking for a place in that neighborhood to drink with a buddy or two, it would be high on my list of places to check out.
We got there around 9.45 and the place had enough crowd to make it seem lively, but not so much of a crowd that we couldn’t get drinks. There was one bartender on duty, and he did a great job of keeping things moving, even when the guy next to me couldn’t count out four single dollar bills in less than ten minutes – the bartender rolled his eyes, looked at me with a twenty in my hand, set us up with libations, and still the guy next to me didn’t seem to get the hint that he needed to pay for his drink.
We were able to find a seat at one of the small tables, and though it was pretty loud, we could still keep a conversation going if we leaned in toward each other. The music was rather painfully post-collegiate hipster rock; I heard The Stooges, The Ramones, and then Madonna’s “Vogue,” which, if I had only recently discovered the first two bands as part of my collegiate experience, would have been cool. As it was I mostly ignored the music, since that wasn’t what I was really there for anyway.
The drinks were cheap, and seemed to get stronger as the evening progressed. Don’t be fooled by those little hotel room water glasses, there’s plenty of booze in those drinks for your buck. There were several drink specials that came in under $7, and even call drinks weren’t more than $5.
The crowd seemed to have an average age of about 27, with lots of shaggy hair, funky eyeglasses, and thrift store blazers, but they were friendly and generally pretty fun. There was a birthday party at the table next to ours and they offered us ice cream, but we declined since we couldn’t settle on a flavor that would go with Jamesons and PBR, or Stoli and tonic. There’s a pool table in back if you need something to occupy your time, but I saw more people leaning against it than knocking balls around. Keep in mind that the place is pretty small, so if you show up with a bunch of people you’ll probably mob the place, or at least have to wait a bit to find a comfortable seating situation.
The Telephone Booth seems like a nice little hipster dive bar that’s off the beaten path enough to keep it from being insufferably crowded or scenster, and if I was looking for a place in that neighborhood to drink with a buddy or two, it would be high on my list of places to check out.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Review: Sasha's Invol2ver
Wow. It's not often I put on my headphones at work and find myself really wanting to listen to something in a serious way, but Sasha's Invol2ver isn't just any DJ mix. After so many disappointments recently, where the mix seemed, at best, an exercise in Ableton, Sasha has put out a deep, engaging reminder of what a truly talented producer can accomplish.
In many ways I'm reminded of the classic Northern Exposure, but there are more vocals samples here, and straight up rock moments, and while Northern Exposure offered the listener a vast space in which to lose themselves, Invol2ver, perhaps true to its name, comes off as a more plaintive, anxious, and personal statement. This makes it difficult, at times, to think of this as a dance mix; there are moments when I can imagine the lights and the crowd, the rush of exhilaration, but as it slowly unwinds toward the end I find myself meditating on what this final statement of "the one thing I've yet to find/has found me" means. But then, this is an mix that brings in two of the most angst-ridden tracks in contemporary music, Apparat's "Arcadia" and Thom Yorke's "Eraser."
I've always liked Sasha's sound; where others go for the easy anthem, he treads lightly, kicking in a sharp bass beat to propel things along but maintaining a sense of space and expansion. Sasha's scale is symphonic, and he has a real composer's sense of texture and arrangement. After hearing so much over-compressed bloghousery lately, where it's all amount the most bang for your buck, Sasha's sound is a breath of fresh air.
In many ways I'm reminded of the classic Northern Exposure, but there are more vocals samples here, and straight up rock moments, and while Northern Exposure offered the listener a vast space in which to lose themselves, Invol2ver, perhaps true to its name, comes off as a more plaintive, anxious, and personal statement. This makes it difficult, at times, to think of this as a dance mix; there are moments when I can imagine the lights and the crowd, the rush of exhilaration, but as it slowly unwinds toward the end I find myself meditating on what this final statement of "the one thing I've yet to find/has found me" means. But then, this is an mix that brings in two of the most angst-ridden tracks in contemporary music, Apparat's "Arcadia" and Thom Yorke's "Eraser."
I've always liked Sasha's sound; where others go for the easy anthem, he treads lightly, kicking in a sharp bass beat to propel things along but maintaining a sense of space and expansion. Sasha's scale is symphonic, and he has a real composer's sense of texture and arrangement. After hearing so much over-compressed bloghousery lately, where it's all amount the most bang for your buck, Sasha's sound is a breath of fresh air.
Your Friday Guide for September 12, 2008
Hmmm, lookin' like a slow Friday. I'll be at Killswitch for a while after 7, say hi if you're in the neighborhood.
Weeklies and Bar Nights
Cosmic Gypsy Happy Hour with DJ Mak at the W Hotel
Get your lounge groove on with DJ Mak in this swank hotel bar.
6PM - 8PM
NO COVER
W Hotel, 181 3rd Street x Howard
KillSwitch Happy Hour at UndergroundSF
Techno happy hour, this week with a DJ set from Broker/Dealer.
6PM - 10PM
NO COVER
UndergroundSF, 424 Haight x Webster
Charlie Horse at the Cinch
Best place to go out and have a cheap drink while being entertained by drag queen antics. Music by DJ Dirty Knees and Bearzbub is more rock and new-wave oriented, but at least it won't interfere with your conversation. Check out my latest review of Charlie Horse at The Cinch.
9PM - close
NO COVER
Sick! at The Matador
A nice dive bar with techno tunes, a perfect place to start your night or to spend it. Residents D Spurlock, Jeffrey Allen, Jonathon Neil, Kuze, and Meekrob. Check out my review of Sick!
10PM - 2AM
FREE
Matador, 10 6th Street x Market
M4M at Underground SF
Joshua J's new weekly. Go-go boys, drinks . . . you get the picture.
10PM - 2AM
FREE
Underground SF, 424 Haight x Webster
Monthlies and One-Offs
Lights Down Low at Club 222
For all your hipster bloghouse needs. Check out my previous reviews of Lights Down Low.
10PM - 2AM
$7
Club 222, 222 Hyde Street x Turk
The Rod at Deco Lounge
The retro endures. Must be that midnight wet jockstrap contest. Check out my review of The Rod.
10PM - 4AM
FREE before 10PM, $5 After
Deco Lounge, 510 Larkin at Turk
Monday, September 8, 2008
Another One Bites the Dust: No More Hot Mess at The Stud
Over the weekend a source familiar with The Stud's booking situation told me that Gus Presents will no longer be presenting Hot Mess at The Stud. According my source, Gus wanted to bring in his own bar staff, and to take a bigger percentage of the bar income, to which The Stud said no.
With the loss of Trannyshack and Hot Mess, as well as Lucky Pierre and Heat/Loose, and only David Harness' Manifesto to support Friday nights, one wonders what will become of The Stud in the days ahead. It looks to me like they really need to find another strong night for Saturdays to keep things afloat, though I have no idea how well Planet Big and some of the other monthlies are doing there.
With the loss of Trannyshack and Hot Mess, as well as Lucky Pierre and Heat/Loose, and only David Harness' Manifesto to support Friday nights, one wonders what will become of The Stud in the days ahead. It looks to me like they really need to find another strong night for Saturdays to keep things afloat, though I have no idea how well Planet Big and some of the other monthlies are doing there.
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