10s across the board at Bootie
PHOTO BY ERIC STEIN
SUPER EGO You'd figure that after 10 successful years and a franchise that rings the globe, including regular stops in São Paolo, Shanghai, Dublin, and Dubai, your party would at some point become an empty parody of itself, flailing through the same frantic motions, like a mime in a blender. But what if your club were based on a type of dance music — mashups — that was a kind of parody to begin with? And what if you focused your seemingly endless energy toward keeping San Francisco freakiness and anarchic fun at the fore?
Mashups, you think, perhaps with a mental eyeroll. But DJs Adrian and Mysterious D have this to say on the eve of their still reliably rad Bootie party's 10-year anniversary (Sat/17, 9pm-late, $10–$20. DNA Lounge, 375 11th St., SF. www.bootiesf.com): "Sure, any DJ or producer can put just about any two EDM songs or current chart hits together — but that kinda misses the point of the [crazy, extralegal] pirating playground that mashup culture was to begin with, back in 2003. So Bootie's role in the nightlife music scene has changed. Instead of simply exposing the art of mashups to the masses, our goal now is to showcase the original spirit, which is all about creating a clever culture clash or juxtaposing different genres and eras of music together into something unexpected, what we call 'proper' mashups."
And what of the masses of more mainstream fans — including tech-players and partybus-riders — now flocking to their weekly party at DNA? "Bootie is a very 'San Fransexual' party, which for us is all about being very open-minded and inclusive. So besides the eclectic mashup music that we program, we also do a lot of 'social engineering' to keep it a nice mix of people. Steve Rubell, of Studio 54 fame, once said that to get the right crowd, it was like 'mixing a salad.' You can't have it all be cherry tomatoes — you've got to have some lettuce too! We give everyone a little taste of the diversity of San Francisco: a drag queen Midnight Mashup Show, or tattooed burlesque performers, or a gay male dance crew, or freaky circus performers, or a trans emcee (hello!) It tends to weed out the typical club 'douchebags' and leaves us with a crowd that's really just up for anything."
Words to live by for any successful promoter. More importantly, a consistently fun party to dance at.
CLIPPING.
Some electro-anarchic Death Grips energy to this LA trio's addictively bleak underground hip-hop sound. As exciting: Mexico's ethereally punishing dark raver Ritualz opens, with local sonic explorers Worker/Parasite and Brandon Nickell.
Wed/14, 9pm, $6-10. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com
JUKEBOX
Hard to believe now, but the "Divisadero Corridor" used to host a legendary gay-straight-all-others dance party called the Box in the '80s, where DJ Page Hodel helped introduce SF to house music. The wonderful Page is back with this weekly Thursday party, Jukebox at Beatbox, to revive that sweet, soulful Box spirit.
Thursdays starting Aug. 15, 9pm, $10. Beatbox, 314 11th St., SF. www.facebook.com/jukeboxsf
THE REVENGE
UK's Graeme Clark, aka The Revenge, brings smooth, deep treatments of classic house and disco favorites with an emphasis on fidelity to the sexiness of the originals, laid on with killer technique.
Thu/15, 9pm, $15. Monarch, 101 Sixth St., SF. www.monarchsf.com
BAY AREA RHYTHM EXCHANGE
This is a performance with the energy of the best parties. Jawdropping Bay Area tap dance consortium Stepology presents this annual confab of the tip-top, hip-hop-oriented tappers, including many players from Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk.
Sat/17, 8pm, $21. Marines Memorial Theater, 609 Sutter St., SF. www.stepology.com
18TH ANNUAL DRAG KING CONTEST
Talk about packing heat! Fudgie Frottage and friends rile up an eager crowd with some of the nuttiest, steamiest drag king performances you'll ever see from contestants and troupes far and wide. It's one of my favorite events of the year, bursting with balls-to-the-wall entertainment (and a scandalous afterparty).
Sat/17, 9pm-late, $20. 550 Barneveld, SF. www.sfdragkingcontest.com