Nightlife

Mad dreams

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Mad dreams

SUPER EGO One of the best yet worst-kept secrets of the plastic fantastic SF underground has been Vinyl Dreams, a pop-up record shop in DJ Mike Bee’s living room. It’s been a must for visiting headliner DJs — and those of us who get all giddy at the mere flash of a fresh vinyl platter gingerly unsleeved in a private space. I’ve long yearned to write about this parlor of grooved delights, where Mike Bee would happily try to get his hands on any underground tune one desired. But a girl must have her secrets. And I’m not one to gossip!

Wow, it actually hurt me to type that last thing. Well, out of the living room and onto the streets: at last, Mike, who is one of the sweetest people ever and a killer decksmith himself, has opened an official hot chops shop in Lower Haight called, yes, Vinyl Dreams (593 Haight, SF. www.tinyurl.com/vinyldreamssf). Go there and live the vinyl dream! It’s tucked in the cozy basement spot formerly occupied by the legendary Tweekin Records (and the first iteration of Black Pancake, now closed), so there’ll be a lot of twitterpating rave ghosts hanging at the record racks. Eeeeeeeee.

 

CHICHA WHOMP

This new first Thursdays joint at the Showdown sounds real cute. Dancehall, riddim, rap, tropical bass, and downtown Latin twists are all on deck — as are DJs Tom Doane and Yoni Klein, plus this month’s slammin’ guest B Majik, a.k.a. Sergio Flores.

Thu/6, 9pm, free. Showdown, 10 Sixth St., SF. www.showdownsf.com

 

THE FIELD

It’s been a minute since we heard from brilliant hypnotic electronic looper Alex Willner. The last time he was here, supporting 2011 album Looping State of Mind, he came with a full band and blew the crowd away with a 10+ minute version of seminal “Over the Ice.” (Alas, a bunch of talky gay bears kept breaking the spell.) This time around he’s performing a special live ambient set on all-analog audio and video equipment. (Gay bears, hush!)

Thu/6, 8:30 doors, $16.50 advance. The Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. www.blasthaus.com

 

MADLIB MEDICINE SHOW: THE SOUNDS OF ZAMROCK!

Yes! Wonderful beat konducta Madlib takes to the tables to reprise the ecstatic golden age of Zambian 1970s rock. Get into it, it’s afreakin’ amazing. Bandleader Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda of seminal Zamrock outfit WITCH will be there, too, for his first appearance in North America ever, so can’t miss.

Fri/7, 10pm-3am, $20. 1015 Folsom, SF. www.1015.com

 

HOUSE OF HOUSE

Saw these two NYC cats — whose actually epic, 12-minute “Rushing to Paradise (Walking These Streets)” is a soundtrack for life — tear down the house-house a couple years ago at LA’s infamous A Party Called Rhonda, and often still recall the acid-happy, bass-bliss moment I couldn’t stop screaming on the dancefloor.

Sat/8, 9:30pm-3am, $10–$15. Public Works, 131 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

TECHNO CASINO

The sublime Voices from the Lake, Monolake, and Deadbeat perform at this casino-themed party upstairs in the stunning upstairs Lodge Room of the Regency. This is cool, OK. Also cool is that it’s a fundraiser for the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts’ Creative Code Education program, which helps bring artists and performers to the coding table, expanding everyone’s digital-magical horizons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhCrzCpdvVU

Sat/8, 9pm-late, $30. Regency Center Lodge, 1300 Van Ness, SF. www.gaffta.org

 

RITE SPOT 61ST ANNIVERSARY

Woah, everybody’s favorite unpretentious, old-timey hang in the Mission is almost as old as me. Join its awesome cast of regulars — and others who love fried appetizers, drink specials, and wicked Tin Pan Alley-type piano-playing — in a big “hats off” to this gem.

Wed/12, 5pm-close, free. Rite Spot, 2099 Folsom, SF. www.ritespotcafe.net

 

Addressing the unspeakable

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Addressing the unspeakable

arts@sfbg.com

DANCE Liz Tenuto and Justin Morrison — two dancer-choreographers who’ve made up for their limited time in the Bay Area by being highly, polymorphously productive — share a bill at CounterPULSE this weekend. Tenuto will show a work for three dancers in two parts, the first of which premiered at ODC Theater last December under the title The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn (featuring the trio of Esmeralda Kundanis-Grow, Elizabeth McSurdy, and Rebecca Siegel). Morrison performs in the debut of his new solo work, entitled Weapon.

As performers and performance makers, Tenuto and Morrison are very distinct, but each brings to their work substantial rigor and experience as well as strong connections to local dance-performance work at large, including collaborations with many leading figures in the Bay Area scene. As a dancer, Tenuto has brought her distinctive blend of physical skill, manic humor, and sinuous sensuality to several productions by Laura Arrington Dance, and worked too with Anne Bluethenthal Dance and Scott Wells & Dancers, among others.

Morrison, a graceful and intelligent force on stage, has been a member of Hope Mohr Dance Company, and continues to work with Sara Shelton Mann as well. In fact, it was his first work with Mann (in 2009) that introduced him to San Francisco, which he adopted the following year following three years in Amsterdam as part of Katie Duck’s improvisation-driven Magpie Music Dance Company. (That relationship continues too: Duck was at Kunst-Stoff in April with Crimes and Casualties, performed with Alfredo Genovesi and Morrison, as part of Arts Building Consortium’s Visiting Artist Series Exchange program.)

Tenuto and Morrison share important points of contact in the local scene —for example, in their mutual appreciation for and conversations with contemporary drag, especially as it continues to evolve in the Bay Area’s rich mixture of nightlife performance and contemporary dance. They have both performed as part of Oakland-based SALTA collective’s monthly performance program, PPP (a bright area of experimentation and conversation that celebrates its one-year anniversary in June).

But probably more interesting still is what separates them. Between the new work on display from each artist, Pageantry — as the CounterPULSE program is titled — promises to offer an intriguing contrast, reflecting something of the breadth of styles and formal concerns that make the contemporary dance scene here both dynamic and complex.

This diversity has been an empowering force, notes Tenuto, who comes to dance from a strict ballet context initially and credits her Bay Area contemporary dance peers with a radical development of her outlook and work.

“[In coming to the Bay Area] I was taking in a whole new set of values, and that was very eye-opening for me. It really freed me from this dance past that I’d inherited. As a dancer, you’re trained to be very obedient,” she says. “All of these people stirred me up in a lot of different ways; opened up a whole realm of possibility for me, all these other states of mind that I didn’t normally access when I dance — darker states than I had every been comfortable dancing with before — and feeling the power of the poison, being comfortable expressing that and not feeling shame for it or being afraid of it. I think prior to meeting all these people I was afraid of that. Now I’m able to not only access it but also decide how much I let in, to control it, fine tune it, which is very exciting.”

In her new piece, Tenuto aims at expressing the emotionally and psychologically volatile between-ness that comes with a powerful disruption to one’s everyday equilibrium.

“Both pieces are really about the moments right before you go through a big change,” says Tenuto, “it’s a close reading of such moments. It’s very detailed, [and performed] in a very rich way, a very vibrant and dense way —but also a little bit artificialized and over the top, which is definitely something that I’ve inherited from being a performer in San Francisco and commingling with drag and commingling with theater.”

According to Tenuto, her work plays with the suggestion of narrative rather than a specific storyline (she notes that whereas part one operated tonally as a kind of hyper-drama, on a par with a Mexican soap opera, part two will be more of a mystery-noir). Morrison, by contrast, eschews narrative altogether, in terms that imply a reluctance to imbue dance with the limiting horizon such narrative tropes can form.

“There seems to be a proliferation of works that are, or seek to be, ‘about’ something,” notes Morrison. “Perhaps [that’s] a byproduct of the grant writing process.”

Morrison says he finds this problematic, since “it forces artists to contrive a narrative, often steeped in cliché.” More often than not, this means for Morrison familiar platitudes around identity and politics.

“Work,” he contends, “becomes overtly a narrative about self, about the performers, about the economy, for example; at times, [this means] ignoring the phenomenological, the abstract, or that which cannot otherwise be described, only experienced.”

PAGEANTRY

Fri/7-Sun/9, 8pm, $15

CounterPULSE

1310 Mission, SF

www.counterpulse.org

 

Selector: May 29-June 4, 2013

Andrew Lam
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WEDNESDAY 29

John Hodgman

John Hodgman has parlayed his starring role as the awkward PC in Apple Computer commercials into a multifaceted comedy career. The humorist typically portrays the authoritative know-it-all, dispensing faux expertise on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and through his trilogy of satirical almanacs titled Complete World Knowledge. Unsatisfied with conveying pseudo-information to the masses, quasi-legal expert (fake) Judge John Hodgman also adjudicates over everyday silly disputes on a weekly Internet podcast. His thoughtful, goofy, non-legally binding rulings are a regular feature in the New York Times Magazine. Adam Savage of Mythbusters‘ fame provides a clever and fitting foil. (Kevin Lee)

In conversation with Adam Savage

7:30pm, $27

Nourse Theatre

275 Hayes, SF

(415) 392-4400

www.cityarts.net

 

“Drinking/Songs: A Night of Beer and the Music That Goes With It”

I feel a beer coming on! Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and public radio’s VoiceBox have joined forces for an “inter-active beer-tasting and live music event,” i.e., a night of singing and musical revelry the way nature intended — with frothy steins of that beloved thirst quencher known to barstool Pavarottis everywhere as a brewski. With musical entertainment from the Fill A Steins a cappella vocal music ensemble and a live discussion on the cultural history of this love affair between pipes and pints with cicerone Sayre Piotrkowski, the Fill A Steins, and VoiceBox‘s Chloe Veltman, there’s even an added touch of class with your glass. (Robert Avila)

8pm, $20

50 Mason Social House, SF

(415) 608-0133

drinkingsongs2.eventbrite.com


THURSDAY 30

Skull and Bones NightLife

Like Halloween in springtime, the Cal Academy’s popular Thursday evening nightlife event this time explores the creepier side of life — animal insides. At Skull and Bones, you can play like Indiana Jones — or at least, an amateur archaeologist — and watch volunteers assemble the bones of a skeleton, those of a juvenile offshore orca whale. Plus, Lee Post and Academy field associate/bone collector Ray “Bones” Bander will be on hand to answer the thorny questions, Icee Hot DJs Rollie Fingers and Ghosts on Tape will be spinning spooky tracks, and Paxton’s Gate will have a station of treasures; if you’ve ever visited the Mission curiosities-flora-and-fauna shop, you know they’ll have some good stuff on hand. This time, they’ll show Jason Borders’ skull art, and conduct a hands-on owl pellet dissection. SCRAP will have crafts at the ready, EndGames Improv will tickle your funny bone (ha! laughing already), and the planetarium will have a presentation on the “bones’ of the Milky Way. It’ll be a great way to bone up on the galaxy (sorry). (Emily Savage)

6pm, $10–<\d>$12

California Academy of Sciences

55 Music Concourse Dr., SF

(415) 379.8000

www.calacademy.org

 

San Francisco Green Film Festival

The third San Francisco Green Film Festival opens tonight with a tale of true Bay Area environmental heroes. Nancy Kelly’s doc Rebels With a Cause — first seen locally at the 2012 Mill Valley Film Festival and opening at the Roxie Fri/31 — offers an inspiring look at the Marin County activists who fought to preserve the NorCal coastline at a time when “conservation” was a dirty word. The rest of the Green fest’s over 50 films include Bidder 70, about climate activist Tim DeChristopher; Jon Bowermaster’s “fracktivist” tale Dear Governor Cuomo; and Kalyanee Mam’s Cambodia-set doc A River Changes Course, which just picked up a much-deserved Golden Gate Award for Best Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival. (Cheryl Eddy)

Through June 5, $12 per film (passes, $100–<\d>$200)

Various venues, SF and Berk.

www.sfgreenfilmfest.org

 

Cheap Girls

Call them loud, reckless, naïve — but don’t call them cheap. Though cranking out a big garage rock is something Cheap Girls could do in their sleep — and well — they’ve been known to slow it down on the few tracks that showcase their pop side and tight vocals. Like on earworm “Her and Cigarettes,” for example, it’s hard to believe this self-ascribed power pop rock group from Lansing, Mich. is not a small acoustic trio. “I love her and cigarettes/we took the long way, so we could have another,” whimpers vocalist Ian Graham in the song, embodying the wayward insecurities and heightened drama of adolescence itself. The group doesn’t present its songs; it relives every single one right there on stage. (Hillary Smith)

With Make Do and Mend, Diamond Youth

9pm, $12

Bottom of the Hill

1233 17th St., SF

(415) 626-4455

www.bottomofthehill.com


FRIDAY 31

Walking Distance Dance Festival

Building on last year’s Walking Distance Dance Festival, featuring local dance, ODC Theater Director Christy Bolingbroke has changed the formula. With a sure touch for vision leavened with reality, she has assembled a line-up that, with the exception of opening night, pairs locals with visitors. First up, however, will be Rachael Lincoln and Leslie Seiters, and Kate Weare and Company — once they were local, now they are visitors. Other fab choices are Nicole Klaymoon’s House of Matter and ODC/Dance’s Cut-Out Guy. New in town will be Brian Brooks (NY), and casebolt and smith (LA). You see each program in Studio B at ODC Commons and the B’way Theater across the Street. Amazing how much fun last year the simple act of walking from one venue to the other was. (Rita Felciano)

Fri/31, 7pm; Sat/1, 4pm, $20

ODC/Commons and B’way/ODC Theater, SF.

(415) 863-9834

www.odcdance.org/walkingdistance

 

Hi Ho Silver Oh

The LA-based band Hi Ho Silver Oh converts even the toughest of listeners with its harmonies. Frontperson Casey Trela’s vocals communicate a yearning I’m not sure I’ve felt before. The group’s humor will lure you in almost as much as its sometimes giddy, occasionally melancholic sound. The band’s affinity for good times shines through while performing great tracks, which makes for a set worth checking out. The video for the band’s “My Confessor” displays just this. It profiles a spelling bee gone wrong, starring a washed out principal, juxtaposed with clean vocals, attractive guitar rhythms, and evocative lyrics — it’s an encompassing reflection of the group. Hi Ho Silver Oh opens tonight for Mice Parade. (Smith)

9pm, $12

Brick and Mortar

1710 Mission, SF

(415) 800-8782

www.brickandmortarmusic.com

 

Jazzanova’s Jurgen von Knoblauch

“This is one of Jazzanova’s major talents: to combine pieces from very different musical genres. And the linchpin holding them together is generally soul.” That’s how Jurgen von Knoblauch describes his German supergroup Jazzanova, now approaching two decades of producing and performing a blend of jazz, boss nova, soul, Latin, deep house, and electronica. The collective’s versatility means it can shift from individual DJs like founding member von Knoblauch spinning at nightclubs across Europe to a nine-person live performance band performing around the world. Von Knoblauch also maintains a music show on German radio with two of his fellow Jazzanova DJs and helps select new talent for the group’s record label Sonar Kollektiv. (Lee)

With Fred Everything, Joey Alaniz

9pm, $10–<\d>$15

Monarch

101 Sixth St, SF

(415) 284-9774

www.monarchsf.com


SATURDAY 1

Ludovico Einaudi

Ludovico Einaudi avoids describing his music any one way; he likely wouldn’t call it classical or modernist, because he feels a plethora of influences inform his pieces. It’s likely if you attend one of his performances you too will have a tough time describing it in one phrase anyway. He offers viewers a cathartic experience — one that is felt on many levels — and takes them through the big emotions of ecstasy and doom, the same emotions Rothko was interested in conveying in his paintings. Like the famous painter, Einaudi’s work is presented on a grand scale. He plays with a raw emotion seldom seen in similar pianists. The intrinsically deep, emotional tones presented in his performances are emphasized by his 11-piece band that includes a string section.(Smith)

7:30 p.m., $40–<\d>$85

Warfield

982 Market, SF

(415) 345-0900

www.thewarfieldtheatre.com

 

No Regular Play

If you haven’t heard of ‘Play,’ a monthly party put on by Listed Productions and the End Up, all you really know is that it’s described as “recess for adults.” Which is perfect if you, like me, have the Peter Pan syndrome that’s particular to the Bay Area, holding down jobs but still holding onto acting like a kid the rest of the time. When I’ve been hula-hooping recently — on breaks, in the handicapped bathroom stall at work — I’ve been listening to Endangered Species by Wolf + Lamb compatriots No Regular Play, whose playful shows mix funky house with live vocals and fresh trumpet blasts. (Ryan Prendiville)

With Butane (Crosstown Rebels), Bells & Whistles (AYLI), Alex Blackstock (Less is More)

10pm-6am, $15 advance

End Up

401 Sixth St., SF

(415) 357-0827

www.theendup.com


SUNDAY 2

“The Globalization Trilogy”

For the last 12 years, local filmmaker Micha X. Peled’s documentaries have exposed the human toll of corporate greed around the world.

The Rafael is showing the completed trilogy over the next week, with the filmmaker present at each screening. 2001’s Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town chronicles the decimating impact America’s favorite retailer (and arguably worst employer) has on local businesses. 2005’s China Blue provides a rare, clandestine peek inside a Chinese garment sweatshop-factory. His latest Bitter Seeds ponders the epidemic of small-farmer suicides in India — over a quarter-million in 16 years — due to the impoverishing effect of genetically modified seeds from US agri-giant/villain Monsanto. (Dennis Harvey)

Through June 9, $6.50-10.75

Rafael Film Center

1118 Fourth St., San Rafael


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MEM.DAY

Andrew Lam
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MEM.DAY

marke@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO What good is freedom if we don’t toss a wig on it?

FAG FRIDAYS

The incredibly fun, superfriendly gay party is back, now monthly at DNA Lounge — bigger diggs, hotter hotness, giant bass, and, best of all, more fags. Also: Prince of NYC house Quentin Harris (my favorite producer of the ’00s) and DJ David Harness to set the spirits of the dancefloor aflame.

Fri/24, 10pm-very late, $10 before midnight. DNA Lounge, 375 11th St., SF. www.dnalounge.com

FREAKY-DEAKY

“Put on the weirdest shit you can find in your costume box. Regardless, come dance your ass off!” says party host Broke-Ass Stuart. Free Ike’s sandwiches and Hey Cookie! cookies, too.

Fri/24, 10pm-2am, $5. Showdown, 10 Sixth St., SF. www.brokeassstuart.com

AZARI & III

Canadian duo Azari & III are acid sex. LA hottie Lee Foss is tech house bliss. Legendary Todd Terry is king of cuts. They will all be there at the Lights Down Low seventh anniversary bash. CAN U PARTY?

Sat/25, 9pm-3am, $22. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

OSUNLADE

The deep house sage from Greece is doing some serious shit on a spiritual level.

Sat/25, 10pm-4am, $20. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

DJ DEEP

A super-rare appearance by the revered Paris groovemaster at the untouchable Stompy + Sunset all-day patio party tradition. He’s backed up by Detroit boy wonder Kyle Hall, who’ll take us somewhere real.

Sun/26, 2pm-2am, $10 before 5pm, $20 after. Cafe Cocomo, 650 Indiana, SF. www.pacificsound.net

MAGIC MOUNTAIN HIGH

One of my favorite deep techno DJs, Move D of Germany, has teamed up with Juju and Jordash, wonderfully oddball Israeli improvisational jazz-house duo, to form this live act. I have a feeling with this much smarts in the room, it’s gonna be amazing. With the As You Like It party crew.

Sun/26, 9pm-4am, $15 before 10pm, $20 after. Monarch, 101 Sixth St., SF. www.monarchsf.com

SIXXTEEN

Annual rock ‘n’ roll fantasy-insanity at Cat Club with bad-ass characters in torn fishnets galore: DJs Jenny and Omar, Lady Bear, Jackie Sugarlumps, Princess Pandora, Carnita, Galene Modmoiselle, Creepy B, Union Jackoff, and a motley crew more.

Sun/26,10pm-3am, $10. 1190 Folsom, SF. www.sfcatclub.com

STEFFI

Treats! The fantastic Panorama Bar resident comes at us with the full force of her gorgeous, hypnotically muscular sound at Honey Soundsystem. Then at 2am, Honey moves down the street to Beatbox, driving into dawn with special secret guests for five dollars.

Sun/26, 10pm, $10. Holy Cow, 1535 Folsom, SF. www.honeysoundsystem.com

TWILIGHT CIRCUS DUB SOUND SYSTEM

For 25 years, dub wizard Ryan Moore of the Netherlands (psychedelic heads know him from Legendary Pink Dots) has blown minds with his reverberating soundscapes, pumping up classic ragga sound with sly wit and smokin’ updates. This is top sound, folks. Sun/26, 9pm-2am, $7–$10. Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF. www.dubmission.com

 

 

Your 2013 Nasty Pig leather fetish club-streetwear lookbook is here

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Beloved former SF club denizen, fast-forward stylist, and king of fresh Frankie Sharp — who basically won New York in March — has teamed up with director Lil Internet and hot-hot-heat fetishwear producer Nasty Pig to melt our screens.

Here’s the IamNastyPig summer lookbook video, just dropped. We would like all of these, plz. Including the wave-splashed retro-boxing/board shorts. Also this:

 

 

 

Party Radar: Save Esta Noche!

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Party Radar: Save Esta Noche!

Many of us barely remember growing up there, meeting our first hot papi, trying out our first cha cha heels on stage, and living the Selena dream. And some of us go back every week to relive those experiences! Now, that many-mirrored treasure trove of characters, Esta Noche, may have to close its doors — forever.  

The city’s only (official) Latin gay bar owes the city $7,000 and may be history if it can’t cough it up in the next two weeks. But you know the fundraising party Sat/18 is gonna be fabuloso.

The whole situation’s due to a silly technicality: Last year, the Board of Supes passed widely supported legislation designed to make it easier for bars and clubs to pay their licensing fees. But there was a catch no one properly understood: bars would now have to pay all fees for the year in one large lump sum. Supervisor David Campos is working to change this, but it may be to late for the fantastic characters of this beloved bar.

So his office, via scenester mover and shaker Nate Albee, is helping organize the big time fundraiser — assisted by an all-star cast including Heklina, Anna Conda, Per Sia, Brown Amy, and DJs Carnita and Taco Tuesday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXhKc8ntBOw

Bye bye Briski

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Bye bye Briski

marke@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO It’s been half a minute since I poked my stilettos through an extra-large Target bag and pulled it up to make an evening gown for hitting the town. I only have one sinus left over from the ’90s, so I have to pace my nightlife, ha AS IF. But lately sometimes it’s all like, “where’d everybody go?” when I go out. SF is definitely undergoing another of its periodic freak drains (although much wild unicorn magik still remains, as the Odyssey party proved last weekend).

In 1999 everyone was moving to NYC, in 2003 it was Portland, in 2007 it was Berlin, and now everyone’s either moving to Oakland or LA or beyond. Soon as I manage to turn around without falling down, someone’s gone: beloved DJ bear Claude VonStroke, party maniac Sleazemore, phantasmagoric art star boychild, radical queer activist Michael Lorin Friedman, future Ms. Drag Mess Universe Ambrosia Salad, almost all my tricks I didn’t want to leave…

Yes, it’s the economy, rising rents, influx of drones, lack of jobs or diversity or artistic opportunity, the outrageous wish to not live in a pantry with five other crazies. Also some people seem to think they want professional careers? What is this, “Star Search”?

Well, here’s another story of a beloved someone moving on — but unlike many others, this one’s a happy one (although it may reflect on just how high you can go in this town when it comes to dance music). “No, I’m not really afraid that once I move out of SF I won’t be able to afford moving back,” As You Like It crew resident and sweetest person ever DJ Briski, a.k.a. Brian Bejarano told me over the phone. “Someone will have a floor for me to crash on, and I’ve got family in Pacifica.” That’s where Briski grew up, but he spent a formative period raving in the UK in 2006, which cemented his transition from a psychedelic rock and punk fan to a deeper house sound. Minimal techno was breaking hard back then, but Briski cut his rave teeth at Back to Basics, the infamously gonzo darker-funk night in Leeds (now the longest running weekly in the world).

His signature groove is deep and somewhat tense, almost playfully post-punk — he’s great at ’80s rarities, too — and very consciously indebted to Bay psychedelic house legends the Wicked crew. In fact, his last gig here will be playing back to back with Wicked’s Jenö at the next As You Like It party, Fri/17 at Mighty.

Briski’s off to become the tour manager for one of tech-house’s biggies, Maceo Plex, who has basically achieved pop star status in Europe, and is now based in Barcelona. Briski met the Cuban-born Maceo in Dallas a few years ago, and grew close. “My girlfriend Mariesa [Stevens, also moving], became Maceo’s agent a few years back and we’ve been like a little rave family ever since. Our musical styles are very different, but I’ll be opening for him in some places, and have access to his studio and record label to continue developing my music.”

The only fear Briski has, really, is the fact that he doesn’t know Spanish (despite his family’s Nicaraguan roots). “I grew up here, and I know San Francisco will always be San Francisco, despite whatever changes come. You can still make the life you want here, and go as far as you can go with it. The dance scene is all about family and support — not just my crew, but everyone involved. It’s the true spirit of the city, and that will never die.”

AS YOU LIKE IT w/ Wagon Repair’s Mathew Johnson and Konrad Black, plus Briski B2B Jenö. Fri/17, 9pm-5am, $10–$20. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.ayli-sf.com

 

THE CLOCK

Christian Marclay’s incredible round-the-clock collage of realtime film moments is one of the hottest nightlife events going — it plays 24-hours at the SF MOMA on Saturdays. You’ll need to get there two-and-a-half hours early to catch midnight, but the wait dies down for 4am, so maybe go then.

Saturdays through June 1, 10am until 5:45om on Sunday, $18. SF MOMA, 151 Third Street, SF. www.sfmoma.org

 

KASTLE

The SF-based major player on the moody, post-dubstep R&B-sample scene has knocked up an impressive array of hits and a big following. I was more impressed by his recent classic two-step mix, which showed he really knew his sound’s historical progression. With xxxy, Clicks & Whistles, Matrixxman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhOn6XaULlU

Thu/16, $16–$18, doors 8:30pm, show at 9pm. The Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. www.theindependentsf.com

 

DIRTYBIRD PLAYERS

 

Oh look, it’s goofball bass papa Claude VonStroke back in town to play with his wily gang of bass-keteers, including Justin Martin, Leroy Peppers (a.k.a. Christian Martin), and one of my favorites J. Phlip, who just returned from Berlin.

Fri/17, 9pm, $5 before 11pm, $20 after. mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

OBJEKT

Sonic sculpting with premium put on a dark bass edge from this Berlin-via-Britain dub minimalist: “expansive banging” is a term that comes up alot, which sounds just fine. With Gerd Jansen and the Icee Hot crew.

Sat/18, 10pm-3am, $10. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

“YAZ: UPSTAIRS AT ERIC’S”

Very cool. New “San Francisco Album Project” — made up of a gaggle of fabbies like DJ Chicken, Trixxie Carr, Nikki Six Mile, Elijah Minelli, Dia Dear, and Precious Moments is performing this classic album from beginning to end, with added dialogue, gender clown zazz, and visual treats. Dragons, the policeman knew, were supposed to breathe fire.

Sun/19, 7pm, $15 advance. The Chapel, 777 Valencia, SF. www.chapelsf.com

 

Catch up!

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Catch up!

SUPER EGO Happy 45th birthday to Specs, my favorite bar in the city. The Capitan cocktail at La Mar is drink of the year so far. I think I finally get Daft Punk. There will probably soon be a “high-end” “gay” “strip” club called the Randy Rooster in the Castro, but you can’t make it rain — tips are donated at entry to a favorite charity, the dancers only strip to g-strings, and there’ll be upscale food. (It sounds positively Mormon.)

The winner of How Weird Street Faire was homegrown genius Larry Gonnello Jr.’s Boombox Affair, the back alley stage with the wired-together boomboxes, this killer six-hour set, and a perfect respite from the overflow of looky-loos this year. And that proposal by Mark Leno for bars in Cali to stay open until 4am? It died in committee, much like Roxxxy Andrews’ hair (I don’t even know who that is) — mostly due to the twisted machinations of the California Police Chiefs Association, who said it would mean more drunks on the road. Absolutely untrue! And this is why we can’t ever have nice things. My goddess, even the bars in Anchorage, Alaska can stay open longer than ours. Guess I’ll just have to keep my Scooby Doo flask polished and at the ready in my tubesock.

 

BOO WILLIAMS

I am so very excited for this. A Chicago house legend and true sweetie who knows soul biz like nobody — except maybe his Strictly Jazz Unit partner in crime Glenn Underground. The Housepitality weekly does it again.

Wed/8, 9pm, $10. f8, 1192 Folsom, SF. www.housepitalitysf.com

 

AFROLICIOUS 6-YEAR

Six years of this awesome Latin funk and Afro jazz collective’s dance floor vibes. As always, groovy brothers Pleasuremaker and Senor Oz preside over the festivities, full of live goodies and sweaty hotties, so good it’s taking over two nights.

Thu/9 and Fri/10, $8–$15 per night. Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF. www.elbo.com

 

DERRICK MAY

Oh hi, Detroit originator of techno.

Fri/10, $20. 9:30pm-3:30am. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

KITSUNE CLUB NIGHT

Poof! It’s the return of that special-smart French hyperdisco feeling, as beloved label Kitsune spreads its pixie dust around with Fred Falke, Chrome Sparks, and our own Aaron Axelsen.

Fri/10, 9pm, $17. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

ODYSSEY

The best and most freakish roving house party is at it again, this time bringing in the energetic and gorgeous W. Jeremy and Christy Love of NYC’s House of Stank and Get Up Recordings.

Fri/10, $10, 9:30pm-3:30am. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

PUSH THE FEELING

“An all locals, disco-heavy night of music,” too-cute promoter Kevin Meenan promises, somewhat surprisingly, for this installation of his monthly boundary pushing night, with Beat Broker on decks and plaza performing live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUsxpZ_xKyg

Fri/10, 9pm, $5. UndergroundSF. 424 Haight, SF.

 

TORMENTA TROPICAL

Everyone’s favorite 808cumbia, electro-salsa, and tech-bachata monthly celebrates a bangin’ new release on its Bersa Discos label from Mexican DJ Quality, with DJ Quality! Sat/11, $5–$10, 10pm. Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF. www.elbo.com

 

WOLF + LAMB, SOUL CLAP

The two greatest bromances of the retro-rebuild decade, these male duos melted minds when they Frankensteined tunes from the 1950s-2000s (emphasis on the ’90s) into exotic-sounding hybrids of moody funk and deep house. Now everyone’s taken their cues — what will they pull off next?

Sat/11, 9pm, $20. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

KIM ANN FOXMAN

She has the tightest style — sound + vision — of anyone going right now, melting late ’80s and early ’90s sonic signifiers into a sophisticated semiotic code that packs the dance floor every time. Funky Mother’s Day!

Sun/12, 10pm, $10. Holy Cow, 1535 Folsom, SF. www.honeysoundsystem.com

 

Party Radar: Honey Dijon, Kenny Dope, Plastic Plates, Daniel Maloso, Pearson Sound, more

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Party Radar: Honey Dijon, Kenny Dope, Plastic Plates, Daniel Maloso, Pearson Sound, more

It’s too sunny out to read! My eyes keep glazing over with lusty sparkles and unicorns in mankinis. Let’s meet in the park with a duffel of cold 40s, listen to some fun music with our tops off, and plan our party outfits for the following weekend blowouts (click on the titles for more details).

Oh, and PS: the only reason I didn’t include one of the best parties of the the spring, the Sunset Boat Party, is because it is, as usual, sold out. But check out the Sunset FB page for afterparty deets.

>>PEARSON SOUND

UK wiz kid David Kennedy updates that good ol’ UK bass sound with some neat twists of his own. 

Thu/2, 9:30pm-late, $10-$15. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF.

 

>>DEEP CRATES

Two great musical tastes will make a delicious, peanut-buttery dance floor sandwich: bathhouse disco prince Bus Station John and house/techno pumper Brian Bejarano giving us some rare classics. Diggin’ deep and finding gold y’all! 

Fri/3, 9pm, $5. UndergroundSF, 424 Haight, SF. 

 

>>SOME THING: THE BACHELORETTE PARTY

The best art-drag club in the city takes on party buses, “woo girls,” stiletto disasters, and puke-in-the-purse with this celebration of all things Bachelorette. Watch your fucking tiara or you will get cunt-punted into another sorority.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJNOOBOyn20

Fri/3, 10pm-late, $7. The Stud, 399 9th St., SF. www.studsf.com 

 

>>DANIEL MALOSO

Cute Spaniard, who in his darker moments can’t quite shake the influence of Liaisons Dangereuses “Los Ninos Del Parque” (and that’s just fine), will have you bopping around at the impeccable No Way Back party.

Fri/3, 10pm-4am, $15. Monarch, 101 Sixth St., SF. www.monarchsf.com

 

>>KENNY DOPE

The master — as in one half of the actually legendary Masters at Work — bangs out the heavy rhythm house and hip-hoppy jams with equally adept and beloved DJ Spinna.

Sat/4, 10pm-late, $20. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

 

>>PLASTIC PLATES

He’s an electro-pop smoothie! Love the Aussie-via-LA producer’s irresistible takes on songs, givng them a moody bounce. 

Sat/4, 9:30pm, $15. Monarch, 101 Sixth St., SF. www.monarchsf.com

 

>>SWAGGER LIKE US

Supercute, super-diverse monthly queer hip-hop party — where, incidentally, you’ll hear some of the most cutting-edge music going on in the dance world right now. With special guest DJ Rapidfire!

Sun/3, 3-pm, $5-$8. El Rio, 3158 Mission, SF.

 

>>HONEY DIJON

The first mistress of NYC house has come along way since we all used to cheer at the EndUp back in the day when she’d accidentally play the same record three times. (And yet she ALWAYS turned it out for the children.) Miss Honey will sinko your de mayo. 

>Sun/5, 10pm, $10. Holy Cow, 1535 Folsom, SF. 

Party Radar: Prosumer, Kafana Balkan, Night Light, Adnan Sharif, Shonky, Distrikt, Derrick Carter, Ana Matronic, more

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Party Radar: Prosumer, Kafana Balkan, Night Light, Adnan Sharif, Shonky, Distrikt, Derrick Carter, Ana Matronic, more

Jajajaja — this installment of Party Radar is going to be like a last minute dump, since I’m still kind of drunk and the weekend, she is here. Besides, bloggity bloggity blah blah blah, let’s just get to the good stuff. But let’s first have some delicious beef for breakfast:

No not this weak beef, this one:

Kinda makes me like Leger’s music. Now let’s guetta way from all that, and get into this. Click on the titles for more info.

 

>>EAGLE GRAND OPENING

And what a truly grand opening it shall be! (Right next to the back trough.) The legendary gay leather biker bar has been open for a couple months now, to great success — I guess this party means its here to stay. Hurray! With a gaggle of old school faves including Trauma Flintstone, the Ethel Merman Experience, Anna Conda, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and the Whoa Nellies.

Fri/26, 6pm, free. Eagle, 398 12th St., SF. www.sf-eagle.com

 

>>PROSUMER

Ok, not just the lauded house master from Berlin, BUT his hottie partner in yum Murat Tepeli, AND NYC diva on the tables Mike Servito AND Huerco S., Vereker, Ghosts on Tape, Shawn Reynaldo, Rollie Fingers. All under he auspices of Honey Soundsystem, Icee Hot, Grey Area Foundation, and The Bunker NYC. Gonna be real cute and you will actually dance. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzoyc60din8

Fri/26, 9pm-4am, $15. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

>>DERRICK CARTER

This weekend is exploding with legends who hapen to be gay, just sayin’. The Chicago boogaloo house master has ruled the decks for more than two decades (he played at a party I threw back in 93! old) — and is appearing out of thin air, it seems, at Harlot. Derrick can turn anywhere into an instant party.

Fri/26, 9pm, $25. Harlot, 46 Minna, SF. 

 

>>NIGHT LIGHT

One of the coolest things to happen every year — a multimedia garden party at SOMArts featuring spme spectacularly cool and forward-thinking art, much of it interactive. With audio-visual performances by Pod Blotz, ChuCha Santamaria y Usted, Stephen Parr-Oddball Films, and Francois Chaignaud and Marie-Caroline Hominal. 

Sat/27, 8pm-12am, $12. SOMArts, 934 Brannan, SF. 

 

>>DISTRIKT

Fark yes, it’s Burning Man camp fundraising party time — and this beloved biggie is throwing an appropriatey huge, all-day block party at Public Works. Sheer tomfoolery! And Justin and Christian Martin headline, so really good. 

Sat/27, 1pm-4am, $40. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. 

 

>>KAFANA BALKAN

Come early to this packed, ecstatic bi-monthly celebration of whirling gypsy music and Balkan culture. It’s one of the great parties of San Francisco, bringing all kinds of people together with some mindblowing music. Half the time I cant even begin to guess the time signature. With DJ Zeljko, dancer Jill Parker and her Foxglove Sweethearts, and awesome band Inspector Gadje. 

Sat/27, 9pm, $15. Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF.

 

>>SHONKY

One of my absolute fave deep house DJs of recent years. The sweet Parisian’s mixes are the kind you can really listen to and inhabit, while making you move as well. Plus he has an infectiously good-vibe stage presence that lifts the crowd. 

Sat/27, 9pm-late, $10-$15. Monarch, 101 Sixth St., SF. www.monarchsf.com

 

>>ADNAN SHARIF

Adnan is one of those people who are the true heart and soul of the Bay Area techno scene. His roving, underground Forward parties have rocked us for a decade and hes just a sweetheart of all swearthearts, with a great mystical take on beats. Hes decamping for Brazil, leaving us bereft, but happy for him. Let’s dance together one last time before his altar, at Honey Soundsystem.

Sun/28, 10pm, $10. Holy Cow, 1535 Folsom, SF.

 

>>ANA MATRONIC

The former Scissor Sister recently compared the energy at the mainstream gay White Party in Palm Springs to that of early punk rock trash drag era Trannyshack, which not only rewrote gay nightlife history, but surprised the fuck outta me. She should know though, I guess: she was an integral part of SF’s rough-and-rarin’ club kid scene in the ’90s before she hit the big time – and at least she’s brought some weirdo-ness to the Glee crowd. Now she’s doing her own thing, and this will be a glorious homecoming affair, hosted by Juanita More.

Sun/28, 9pm, $20. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF.  

 

Return of the mac$

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Return of the mac$

marke@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO It’s been four years since slapstick-nasty, genitally overeager, hilarious/uncomfortable drunk-uncle Bay rap supergroup Kalri$$ian (www.kalrissianbaby.com) lubed the underground’s earhole with its Tales from the Velvet Pocket album. Watch your fuzzy purse, Alternative Universe Beyonce, because the beastly boys (and girl) — MCs Tyrone Shoelaces, Smooth Rick Chosen, Chachi Harlem, and Felix Livinglow, “Scheisty Manager/Ponzi Prince” Bernie Goldstein, producer and person of interest Keylo Venezuela, and sex kitten choreographer Kitty Lamore — are back up from the gutter on a cloud of neon nose candy. New joint Star Magic drops this week, with an uncensored reunion show Sat/27 at Supperclub. As always, the beats are primo and the lyrics, well, let’s just say they’ve significantly expanded the possibilities of what can be done with a cold bottle of Colt 45 and a couple crazy straws. Let’s let them talk dirty.

SFBG Where in hell have you been?

Felix Livinglow I got sent down for a two stretch, for petty theft, petty larceny, and impersonating Tom Petty. While in prison I discovered religion then promptly lost it again, so I started a prison radio show, powered by a potato and using my toilet bowl as a transmitter. I figured if you can transmit diseases via toilet bowl, then why not a radio broadcast?

Smooth Rick Chosen I actually had a camera smuggled in and hooked up to Felix’s toilet bowl for one fate-filled day. I caught what Felix was cookin’ up and literally saw what came out of his guests. I saw new and expansive universes formed in mere seconds, and was inspired to steal Chachi’s motorcycle and drive naked to Cambodia. It was there where Perseus (Rick’s penis) and I trained black-jawed cobras for the jungle circus of Gwao Nham Fokkk. I became a legend and emerged from the sacred mist one week ago. I need a shower badly.

Chachi Harlem With my bike gone, I began walking barefoot across the tundras of time. Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Fresno. I’ve been coaching and teaching “abroad” many of my top quality happy ending techniques. Three of them have been outlawed in the Gwang Jhao Province for inciting “Jumanji Balls,” a rare and beautiful virus I created in a mushroom dream. You would have never thought how tough this job is but, I’ve taken a noble position in my life.

Bernie “The Touch” Goldstein With political spending heating up in America thanks to the SuperPAC, Tyrone and myself saw a golden opportunity to quench an unfilled niche in the musical landscape… the political rally backup band. We formed “Funk Shrugged,” a pro-capitalist funk band, and then really exploded with our libertarian acid rock album Married to Jesus. Big money, lemme tell yuh! Tyrone and I are currently working on a rap album with evangelist Joel Osteen. Stadium status, baby.

Kitty Lamore With the band in chaos and the drugs running out I turned to a tantric cult to get my fix of good vibes. They kicked me out once they found the amyl nitrates I had stashed to really peak my experience. Luckily, the week before I was spotted by a Broadway talent scout while doing sun salutations and he asked me to star in Yoga, the Musical which included my solo debut of “Downward Facing Dog” (a heart wrenching tale with plenty of spirit fingers).

Keylo Venezuela I take a spirit quest to the magic mountains of Peru. This is how the star dream is born and where the power of legend is arrived from.

SFBG What’s so “magic” about Star Magic?

Smooth Rick Chosen I would relate listening to this album as exactly like the feeling of injecting a four gram LSD-laced speedball into your member, and then having said member pulled through a guided tour of Paisley Park by Prince himself, as he rides atop a golden chariot fueled by volcanic bass and angel dreams. Take off your pants and press play.

Chachi Harlem This new album is like a women’s inguinal ligament. You know those abdominal creases from the belly button to the yaya? Through this album, KALRI$$IAN will caress, lick, and suck that area ’til your jeans cream through.

Felix Livinglow It kinda has the rush of coke, with the staying power of one of my ecstasy erections and will make you bob your head like an Essex chick.

Bernie “The Touch” Goldstein This album is like the thrill of a short sale mixed with the euphoric release of an Invisible Hand reach-around.

Keylo Venezuela I need take many soul smokes and spirit spores to make capture the Star Magic. These song visions take truth to this and it is able to be imagined when people learn these journeys. With Velvet Pocket we seeked to take minds and be open in a smaller way, with Star Magic we make minds go expand to outer space with inner touch and feel.

Kitty Lamore It’s a Double D of Colombia’s finest.

KALRI$$IAN STAR MAGIC RELEASE PARTY

Sat/27, 10pm, $15 (“includes CD and STD”)

Supperclub

657 Harrison, SF.

www.supperclub.com

Party Radar: Bruno Pronsato, No Way Honey, Harlum Muziq, Tube & Berger, Candis Cayne

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Party Radar: Bruno Pronsato, No Way Honey, Harlum Muziq, Tube & Berger, Candis Cayne

This week’s Super Ego clubs column is full of signs and wonders for the coming weekend, but here’s a further quintet of banging joints to top you off just right, Your soundtrack is “Triscuits,” because that’s my theme song right now. (Oh, and just a reminder — that rained-out, positively drenched Hunky Jesus contest has been rescheduled for tonight, too!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_Qtkc4Tov0

 

BRUNO PRONSATO

The massive Texan technician, now hailing from Berlin like everybody else pretty much, hits us with a stop on his short, sharp tour. Really good, often wiggy but groovy stuff.

Fri/19, 9:30pm-3am, $10-$15. Monarch, 101 Sixth St., SF. www.monarchsf.com

 

CANDIS CAYNE

The knockout transgender club legend comes to our favorite kooky-artsy drag weekly Some Thing — it’s gonna be a mix of something wonderful and strange, methinks.

Fri/19, 10pm, $7. The Stud, 399 Ninth St., SF.

 

NO WAY HONEY

Two of our best DJ crews, No Way Back and Honey Soundsystem, continue their fruitful collaboration, and give kids some space to just dance to killer house and techno.

Fri/19, 10pm-4am, 10pm, Beatbox, 314 11th St., SF. www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?463602


TUBE & BERGER

I’m throwing a little bit of underground in here, as the longtime German duo, which has gotten a lot more sophisticated lately, takes to the waterfront somewhere.

Fri/19, 9pm, $10-$20. tubeandberger.eventbrite.com

 

THROWBACK WITH HARLUM MUZIQ

One listen to the masterpiece vinyl mix below by Jayvi Velasco from a previous Throwback party, which pumps up the old-school ’90s house jams, will let you know why I’ll be living on the dancefloor for this. Harlum Muziq label heroes David Harness and Chris Lum will preside. With Julius Papp, Galen, and — yes! — Jayvi Velasco. High kicks.

Sat/20, 9pm-late, free. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

Red all over

Andrew Lam
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Red all over

SUPER EGO “I’ve been listening a lot to Hulk Hogan’s new comedy album. I hear he has an acid jazz album coming out soon, too — can’t wait for that.” I’m being treated to some good ol’ deadpan Native American leg-pulling from DJ Bear Witness of A Tribe Called Red, performing at Thee Parkside on Fri/19.

Well, more accurately it’s First Nations leg-pulling, as the fascinating and super-fun ATCR DJs — Bear Witness, NDN, and Shub — are of indigenous Canadian descent, calling me from Ottawa, where their monthly party Electric Pow Wow has been slaying for almost five years now. The trio mixes electronic dance beats with contemporary aboriginal tribal drumming and singing, plus a healthy dose of aural and visual sampling both historical (early field recordings of powwow chants and 20th-century sound bites) and ironic (cringe-worthy Hollywood redskin whoops and awkward pop culture quotes ranging from John Wayne to Back to the Future III) to create a deliciously subversive club experience.

The result is what the three call “pow wow step” — a banging, trancey sound mostly rooted in the bass-heavy drops and meticulously constructed plateaus of dubstep, but transcending that too-trendy sound by virtue of the trio’s innumerable global dance music influences. And it’s finally giving a contemporary electronic voice to aboriginal groups from Ojibwe to Nippising.

Bear Witness points out that in Canada and much of the United States, indigenous people are now “urban aboriginals — we’re the people in the hoodies and baseball caps living downtown,” so a distinct, urban musical expression could only come naturally.

“We’re one of the fastest growing demographics, yet we’re still pretty invisible,” NDN added. “It’s a lot different from when our great-great grandparents came off the reservations looking for work. Our grandparents became integrated as much as they were allowed in 1950s and ’60s culture until some of them joined radical movements like Black Power. Then our parents grew up in this kind of unique urban environment full of little telltale signs that they were aborigines.

“And now we come along, raised on tribal identification, but also hip-hop and everything else you got growing up in the city. Including the fact that the whole world’s structured to be against you, from the moment you step out of the house in the morning to get a cup of coffee.

“So we’re representing, while also trying to move it all forward. We want to decolonize some of the references and stereotypes while having a lot of fun with it.”

For all the political subtext and critical theory red meat, ATCR’s emphasis is always on the party. “We’re three energetic DJs up there playing off each other in a totally spontaneous fashion, having a blast with the crowd,” says DJ Shub. Shub’s status as an insanely talented, vinyl-shredding winner of the Canadian DMC DJ championship makes him a star on his own.

When tripled with NDN and Bear, the quick-witted referents from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to Q-Tip fly — the group credits mashup culture, a breakdancing revival, and kooky Brit electro duo Radioclit among its inspirations. (And yes, when it comes to the sometimes awkward, culturally-appropriative legacy of tribal house, jungle, and New Age ambient, they love to flip it all back on itself, reclaiming it.)

A Tribe Called Red often draws hundreds to its touring powwow parties in the Great White North and the East Coast, sometimes featuring live drum circles and hoop dancers. Last year’s electrifying self-titled free-download album snagged them a pretigious Polaris prize nomination. The trio works with several organizations to promote aboriginal causes. New album Nation II Nation drops May 7, a cheeky collab with Das Racist, “Indian From All Directions,” just debuted on Pitchfork. And they’ve been buzzing for years. (I first became aware of them after a trip to Navajo Nation, when the morning radio pumped the spacey electro-tribal sounds of what my traveling companion instantly dubbed “tech-navajo.”) But this will be their first full-on West Coast tour.

No qualms about reception in unfamiliar territory, though: “There are aboriginal people everywhere, just like there are party people everywhere,” DJ Shub says. “Word gets out, and people will come for a good time.”

A Tribe Called Red Fri/19, 9pm, $10. Thee Parkside, 1600 17th St., SF. www.theeparkside.com, www.electricpowwow.com

 

TUBESTEAK CONNECTION NINTH ANNIVERSARY

There’s some kind of size queen joke about this seminal bathhouse disco party finally reaching the big nine, but damned if I know what it is. Let bearded clan king DJ Bus Station John lay it all out for you, as his intimate weekly Tenderloin bacchanal keeps alive the down and dirty spirit of gay San Francisco. Free mustache rides!

Thu/18, 10pm, $5. Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, 133 Turk, SF. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO

Has it really been 10 years since club Mezzanine first mezzed up downtown? Celebrate in wild style with beloved big-room Brit electro duo SMD and a couple thousand others.

Thu/18, 9pm, $25. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

JOE CLAUSELL

One of the best deep and Latin house DJs of all time, fiddling knobs on one of the best sound systems in the country. That is all.

Fri/19, 10pm-late, $20. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

TINARIWEN

Gorgeously trance-like, guitar driven tunes from the global nomad reps of Tuareg rock.

Fri/19, doors 8pm, show 9pm, $55. The Chapel, 777 Valencia, SF. www.thechapelsf.com

SILENT SERVANT

Great, dark and dubby techno from a contemporary master will lay waste to one of the city’s most colorful dance floors at Honey Soundsystem. Who will survive? Anyone willing to plumb the secret depths of sound. And do some high kicks.

Sun/21, 10pm, $10. Holy Cow, 1535 Folsom, SF. www.honeysoundsystem.com

ABC shows more concern about expanding police video surveillance than Mayor Lee

Sasha Cuttler
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ABC shows more concern about expanding police video surveillance than Mayor Lee

The SFPD has quietly expanded its reach and authority to obtain video surveillance from in and around bars, clubs, and markets through a condition it has begun recommending on new liquor licenses, as I reported in today’s issue, effectively bypassing controls on city-operated surveillance cameras established through extensive public hearings in 2005.

But the Mayor’s Office doesn’t seem concerned about the new trend, echoing SFPD’s point that it is the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control that decides whether to heed the SFPD’s request to include the video surveillance condition. “There is no new policy. SFPD makes recommendations as far as I know, not requirements,” Mayoral Press Secretary Christine Falvey wrote to me in an email responses to our questions.

Certainly, everyone from bar owners to the ACLU to Sups. Scott Wiener and David Campos – who have called a hearing on the policy for later this month – consider it a new policy, or at least one that the public has just learned of after it was adopted internally right after the idea was shot down in public hearings in 2011.

ABC spokesperson John Carr had told me the department “routinely denied requests for conditions by SFPD per section 23800(e) of the Californian Business and Professions Code, occasionally these denials include the surveillance condition,” but he wasn’t able to provide me any examples of that happening by press time.

But today, he was able to find one. On Oct. 3, 2012, ABC rejected the SFPD’s request for video surveillance at Bush Market at 820 Bush on a quiet residential block of Nob Hill, noting that state law requires such requests be supported by “substantial evidence” that problems exist at the site that would be mitigated by the condition.

“I regret to inform you that the Department is unable to impose conditions pursuant to your request because no evidence was provided to establish that a problem exists at the premises or in it immediate vicinity,” ABC District Administrator Justin Gebb wrote in what was essentially a form letter.

Carr shared an identical letter that the ABC sent to the SFPD denying some of its requested conditions for another liquor license transfer on Feb. 12, this one for the Space 550 event venue at 550 Barneveld Ave. But in that case, the ABC decided to support the SFPD’s request for video surveillance “that is able to view the inside and outside of the premises” and which must be given to the cops “upon demand.”

As I wrote in this week’s paper, the ACLU considers that kind of extrajudicial expansion of the SFPD’s ability to require and obtain video surveillance to be unconstitutional, and we furnished a copy of the article and the issues it raised to try to get a more substantial comment from the Mayor’s Office, which seems to be less concerned with the civil rights of San Franciscans than the bureaucrats in Sacramento are.

“Balancing public safety with vibrant cultural and nightlife activities is a concern of mayor. He expects the Police Department to work in partnership with the neighborhood and its businesses to lawfully collect evidence that can help keep the public safe and neighborhoods active,” Falvey wrote.

So I had a few follow-up questions, for which I’m still awaiting answers, and I’ll update this post if and when I get them: “The ACLU’s position is that this is not a lawful way to collect evidence, and that it violates the state constitution’s privacy protections and the rules San Francisco established in 2005 regulating when and how the SFPD may request and use video surveillance. Does the mayor reject those concerns and has he sought any legal advice to support his position? In the absence of any judicial review, shouldn’t the city have some guidelines and policies governing this expansion of SFPD’s video surveillance authority? Does the mayor believe the 2005 guidelines should no longer apply? And does the mayor agree with Sups. Wiener and Campos that it would be appropriate to have a public hearing on this issue, particularly given the strong public opposition to requiring expanded video surveillance by bars two years ago?”

Kink.com beloved in Pope land! Local porn site among top downloaded in Vatican City [UPDATED]

Andrew Lam
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Kink.com beloved in Pope land! Local porn site among top downloaded in Vatican City [UPDATED]

A local anti-BDSM porn activist emailed me tidings of Flash magazine’s Guatanamo-themed Coachella party this morning as proof that “Kink.com’ s influence is spreading, albeit interrupted by the sex-negative Philistines of Coachella.” Leaving aside the well-worth-it debate over the role art and nightlife have in political parody and the fact that torture in fact, existed well before Kink founder Peter Acworth (it wasn’t called the “Kinkquisition,” darling), I would say this is about 8,000 times more convincing proof that Kink.com is winning hearts and minds, should you need proof of such a thing.

According to Torrentfreak (and helpfully elaborated on by Fleshbot) the local BDSM site is responsible for two of the 13 most-pirated downloads in Vatican City. No, not top porn downloads, the most-pirated files, period.

Yes, for while Love Actually came in at #6, a scene featuring Lea Lexis and Krissy Lynn on “lezdom bondage” Kink site Whipped Ass followed close behind at #8, and #13 was occupied by Tiffany Starr and Sheena Shaw on the TS Pussyhunters site. 

We’re putting out the feelers to Kink to see how news of their influence in — and being robbed of revenue by — the world’s most flamboyantly attired country is being recieved by the company, stand by for post updates. 

UPDATE: Acworth has released a statement that implies the Vatican will espace legal action from the website:

While we don’t support theft of content, in this case we’re happy whoever he (or she) is is enjoying our movies. Our mission is to demystify BDSM and celebrate alternate sexuality. This is different from the Catholic Church’s mission which has (traditionally) been to shame anyone who deviates from a sexuality that isn’t procreative. We figure whoever is downloading these movies is feeling a fare amount of shame as it is, so we’ll let this one slide.

Read Acworth’s full statement here, featuring more Kink-Church comparisons like, “what is subspace if not a way to exorcise demons?” 


CAREERS AND ED: She’s got it

Andrew Lam
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CAREERS AND ED: She’s got it

caitlin@sfbg.com

STREET SEEN Anti-racist club kids, virulently feminist East Bay rap fans, those who dig spangled Iranian mini-dresses as much as striped referee shirts and A$AP Rocky-inspired sportswear looks, add Browntourage to your late night Tumblr hole.

The 20-something duo behind the site and virtual gallery Konversation, Hawa Arsala and Tonia Beglari, parse trends like pros.

In addition to, and in tandem with, their finger-on-the-pulse culture sites, the two represent up-and-coming Bay artists with PR services, Beglari’s website design skills, and Arsala’s penchant for innovative editorial shoots. Collaboration projects with the hot artists of color like Antwon and Chippy Nonstop? Check. Doodling dates with radical visiting artists, say Australia’s felt tip marker wonder Texta Queen? Check.

Alix Black, Nastia Voynavskya from Hi Fructose magazine, Annie Nguyen, and Pauline Poderoso: “they’re like, Oakland’s muses,” says Arsala

Jaqi Sparro, house, minimal, bass DJ and traditional Chinese medicine healer

“We realized we could use our skills to help the people we actually care about,” says the Afghani American Arsala (Beglari’s family is from Iran), who is holed up with me in a FiDi cubicle showing off the photos of fresh female Bay style icons that I asked her to compile before Women’s History Month fades too far from pop culture consciousness.

Thanks to their vision of a strong, diverse Bay Area art-music-nightlife family, Arsala and Beglari are getting props on feminist media sites. Their idea to spread love for queers, people of color, and other faces underrepresented in mainstream media is in itself is nothing new, but what is fresh is the duo’s media savvy – they’re ready to take their social views into brave new binary code that packages radical artists in a fresh, viral-ready format. They spit tech knowledge, and use the apps that other culture workers will take years to learn.

Heidi Petty, 12FPS creative agency producer, stop-motion filmmaker

 

Oakland rapper Chippy Nonstop

What sparked their fire? Hat tip to the duo’s built-in bullshit meter, very essential when dealing with milieus in which “groupie” is the only recognized role for gorgeous women their age.

“The name Browntourage started as a joke to combat a really oppressive situation,” says Arsala. “A guy asked us to be part of his harem.”

Gross. But Arsala and Beglari’s hardcore eye for trend-spotting and Internet Age professionalism packs more pounds any deadweight. Future, anyone?

Yetunde Olagbaju, avant-garde drag performer, model

SFBG.com to start charging for “premium content”

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SFBG.com to start charging for “premium content”

This will be the last day you can read this blog for free.

To reflect the changing environment of the new business, the SF Bay Guardian will begin instituting a $27-a-day paywall April 2, in what Managing Editor Marke B said was an attempt “prevent any sane person from actually reading this stuff.”

The site known as sfbg.com will remain in place, and remain free, but all content will be removed except for the comments of Lucretia Snapples and a selected number of “guests,” whose extensive contributions the Bay Guardian hopes to spin off as another packaged product in the coming months.

All staff-written content will now be available at sfbayguardiancostsalotofmoney.com. Except for Marke B.’s own Super Ego nightlife column, since no one really knows what the hell she’s jabbering on about anyway except teenagers, and teenagers don’t pay.

The idea of newspaper paywalls is spreading, with the San Francisco Chronicle creating one just this month. “We’re, frankly, just copying the Chron,” Bieschke, who also oversees Web operations, said. “If there’s nothing in one place and something somewhere else, and nobody knows which is where or why, then it only makes sense to charge a lot of money so the traffic will all go away and I can take a goddamn nap after yesterday’s all-nighter.

“Anyway, I say let the interns handle it.”

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