“What you doin’ talking all night? If you have so much to say, why don’t you call a hotline? The time to talk is not right now. It’s time to dance, my friend. Share some of that energy you got on your lips, in your feet.”
So goes one of the more driving dance floor hits of the summer — Lunar City Express’s “Mr. Jack (Robag’s Edna Mompf Remix).” Agreed! I couldn’t help thinking of those words as I watched a dazzling traditional Filipino dance troupe perform at the annual Pistahan festival last Saturday in Yerba Buena Gardens. While a chiming kulintang tranced out the crowd, perfectly poised women fiercely strutted and posed with tubes of iridescent fabric (calling to mind classic Trannyshack numbers by the late Steve Lady), while men whirled and flounced around them in pirate-like hats, with a swagger that verged on sloshed staggering. But the gender roles kept switching and blurring, calling up something more primal, more human.
I adore that the dance floors at the clubs have been more crowded than the bathroom stalls and bar stations recently. Nothing beats a hot move with a little twist at the end for sexy. Mind if I cut in?
DUBSTEP BLOCK PARTY
This sounds either totally awesome or completely insane — both, actually, which is why it’s a must. Two great dubstep parties, Ritual and the Lowend, are joining forces to take over the Sixth Street and Market area where their respective venues, Anu and Showdown, reside. It’ll be indoor-outdoor woofer-blowing madness, presided over by the Irie Cartel. Highlights include a four-DJ tag-team battle and performances by Kush Arora, DJ Facemelter, and live band Bayst.
Thu/20, 9 p.m., $3 donation requested. Between 10 and 43 Sixth St., SF.
15TH ANNUAL SF DRAG KING CONTEST
California’s hottest fake-mustachioed players descend upon the city to compete for the dildo-studded crown at this consistently zipper-popping annual event. Hosted by Fudgie Frottage, The Indra, Sister Roma, and Delicio Del Toro, with special guests Jane Weidlin from the Go-Gos and Pepperspray. Plus, Reverend Will Reign Supreme marrying drag kings live on stage. (Take that, Prop. 8.) This year’s theme? “Sinners and Salvation.”
Fri/20, 8 p.m., $20 advance. DNA Lounge, 375 11th St., SF. www.sfdragkingcontest.com
KENNY DOPE
One half of seminal house duo Masters at Work, producer of the song that ate the 1990s (“The Bomb” by Bucketheads), the DJ whose funky Nuyorican mixing style prophesized break beats, and just an all-around soulful beats genius, Kenny Dope is finally coming back to the Bay. SOM’s global-eared monthly Ritmos Sin Fronteras party plays host, with Be Brown and Hakobo warming up.
Sat/21, 9 p.m.–3:30 a.m., $15 advance. SOM, 2925 16th St., SF. www.som-bar.com
SCUBA
Paul Rose, a.k.a. Scuba, is a dubstep hero (and personal crush — meow), but the London native’s DJ sets have always gone beyond the typical low-end wobble into a deeper territory, one where the beats often take a back seat to intricate melodic buildups and groundbreaking musical ideas. This doesn’t mean an end to dancing, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself popping and locking to a zigzaggy flute sample. He headlines the bimonthly Surefire Sound party with the U.K.’s Patchwork Pirates and Oakland’s Prince Zammy.
Sat/21, 10 p.m., $10. Triple Crown, 1760 Market, SF. www.triplecrownsf.com
BAY VIBES FESTIVAL
Reggae, funk, conscious hip-hop, and other blasts of musical sunshine hit Café Cocomo when more than 20 local acts — Afrolicious, Queen Makedah and the Sheba Warriors, FishBiteFish, Native Elements, and Frobeck among them — converge on two stages to turn this summer cold wave around.
Sun/22, noon–2 a.m., $25 advance, $35 door. Café Cocomo, 650 Indiana, SF. www.bayvibessf.com
ALWAYS TIRED
I’m finally turning 21, which means I can go to bars now! So is my favorite bear chaser, DJ Peeplay of Honey Soundsystem. The rest of the homofuturist Honey boys are throwing us “a special birthday party for workaholics: Always Tired.” They’ll be spinning Detroit, Chicago, and acid classics, and there’ll be juicy artwork from Primo Pitino and Johnny Ray Huston, plus fab tranny stylings by Kalisto and April Mei Joon and a mess of surprise guests. Work!
Sun/22, 10 p.m., $3. Paradise Loft, 1501 Folsom, SF. www.paradisesf.com