Electrofying San Francisco’s Gay Dance Scene

Electrofying San Francisco’s Gay Dance Scene

6 February, 2008 | 8.46PM

• Section: Music News Topics: Beatport Blog
• Written by: PhilG

Gay fans of electronic dance music often have a hard time finding a good venue for getting their groove on here in San Francisco; most of the Castro clubs play a serviceable yet largely uninspiring mix of top 40 hip-hop, remixed diva dance anthems, and house, while Tenderloin and South of Market club nights tend toward retro-disco or straight-up rock. For those looking for harder electronic beats, the crew behind Lucky Pierre, Heat, and Bender provide thrice-monthly excursions into disco punk and electro that draw in clubbers from across the spectrum of gender and sexuality.

First there was Lucky Pierre popping up on 1st Fridays at The Stud, one of The City’s most venerable South of Market bars. Put together by Tim Keefe, aka DJ Donimo, and his co-conspirator Dan Karasic, Lucky Pierre aims at “a playful sexuality,” as Dan puts it, that stands in contrast to the somewhat more determined atmosphere of other gay nights. While hostess Artemis Chase deals strip poker around a pool table in a side room, Donimo and DJ6 (Rick Stone, who formerly helped engineer and produce tracks from Creeper Lagoon) work up a dance floor full of alternaqueer boys and their friends. Tim has also laid down the tracks at Substance, The Cat Club, and, most famously, Shadowplay, which has also been a featured stage at Gay Pride for six years running. Heat, on 3rd Fridays at The Stud, is Dan and Tim’s take on the fashion and art aspect of the club world, and has featured themes like Andy Warhol’s Factory, Couture, and Berlin, with visual and fashion interpretation from resident artists Twig and Candy, performances from a bevy of San Francisco’s drag divas, and plenty of fantastic club kid fashion. Bender is a collaboration between DJ6 and Candy on 2nd Fridays at The Transfer, the newly resurrected bar on the edge of the Castro at Church and Market. As the name implies, this is a great opportunity to go around the bend in whatever fashion you think is appropriate. Take your pick of any of the three for a night of dancing, drinking, and flirting with the kids who want to get down.

DJ6 and Donimo’s Current Top 20

Blind - Hercules & Love Affair (feat. Antony Hegarty)
Every Second Counts - Switch
Nothing Hurts - Love Motel
Lo Sforzo - Ocelot
Bathroom Gurgle - Late Of The Pier
Trash - The Whip
Love Is Not A Competition But I’m Winning (Nelsen Grover Remix) - Kaiser Chiefs
DVNO - Justice
Pogo - Digitalism
Any Way You Choose To Give It - The Black Ghosts
To Cut A Long Story Short - Cazals
Drugs In My Body - Thieves Like Us
Princess - Datarock
As Above, So Below – Klaxons
Black Eyes – Snowden
My People - The Presets
My Tribe - Spleen United
Fledermaus Can’t Get It - Von Sudenfed
Sweaty - Muscles
Let’s Make Out - Does It Offend You, Yeah?

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