Before he jetted off to be all jetset in Miami at the WMC, SF-native DJ Ruben Mancias jammed EndUp last Saturday night for the Devotion 7-Year Reunion party. Oh yes, I’m one o’ them dancing hands-up fools in this clip:
Ruben and his partner Eric left to find fortune and fame in NYC a few years ago, taking their regular EndUp Sunday night party Devotion with them. It was great to have it (and them) back for one night only — if only to get that ol’ EndUp Saturday at 5 in the morning bangin’ house feeling back (one day I’ll write about all the crazy amazing — cramazing! — night people you encounter on the dancefloor at that time.)
Ruben — who I’ve known since we used to run with legendary SF house maestro Aaron O (RIP, croissant goddess) back in the early ’90s — really turned it out, playing some of my favorite tracks, like Teddy Douglas’s “Whatcha Gonna Do,” and classics like the ’88 Ralphi Rosario barnstormer above. The mood was electric-atmospheric with a bouncy bass undertow and more than a little nostalgia. The crowd was mixed and ready. Work.
PS — Devotion may be ovah, and somewhat similar-tracked Fag Fridays long gone, but you can still get a taste of the above with DJ David Harness, another well-known Aaron O acolyte, when he returns from the WMC to play new goodies all night long at Super Soul Sundayz this coming Sunday, 4/6 10pm-4am at the EndUp. See you (sweaty) there.