Pete Tong’s DJ diary: San Francisco, 11/01/08

San Francisco, 11/01/08

“
Wake up in Denver on the morning of the last show and for some strange reason I feel the need to start watching ‘Dark Knight’ on the TV (my first movie of the tour); surely the longest film ever made, and I have to finish it when I get to San Francisco, but bizarre as to why I felt that way on this particular morning, as I will reveal shortly.

Denver was a great city for our penultimate stop, but the tour fever is setting in as those fast food outlets at the airports are starting to look more and more appealing!  We went pepperoni for breakfast....

I wont miss the security checks when this is over, either, and Denver is the mother of them all. Security is a huge area that dominates what should be the showpiece atrium of a pretty cool-looking terminal. You get frisked about three times as you work your way through the maze of gadgets that scan your body, and each operator insists on seeing your boarding pass even though you can still have a conversation with the last person who checked it. The force is strong. Pure Robocop.

Another dusk arrival in San Fran and we get doused in our first real torrential rain, after a lengthy fight with a vending machine to try and secure a Snickers bar for Paul, which I lost to the tune of $10 (coins, notes, credit card, it ate the lot), we head into the city with our driver whose brother is a DJ and he proceeds to tell us that he don’t know shit about shit in terms of what type of music he plays, but that he just gets on the dancefloor and dances his arse off, so it must be dance music.  I must use this philosophy one day!

Gotham City at Ruby Skye

A relaxed build up for the show and I get to finish my engagement with Heath Leger’s totally inspired Joker. The late actor deserves a posthumous Oscar nomination for this utterly brilliant caricature, but I fear Hollywood doesn’t normally acknowledge such mainstream fare.

We are escorted from the hotel to club (a short walk) by Jessica, who is wearing full Heath Leger style Joker make up....bizarre! It’s Halloween part 2 - here we go again. Even more bizarre, as I was completely unaware the theme to the whole party tonight is - you guessed it - Gotham City - there are impressive looking giant Batman and Joker heads towering menacingly over the dancefloor and the stage backdrop is Gotham City. Top marks for the production and how mad that I had the urge to watch the movie that very day?

The DJ before me is Michael Conway a former winner of Bedroom Bedlam and a very tasteful selector. The room is hyped and it proved to be a lot of fun.  I manage to keep my earplugs in the whole night which will please my ear doctor (it’s all gone....) but that means everyone around me suffers as I turn the monitors up really loud ....ouch!

I could get used to this!

Most of the crowd have bought into tonight’s theme and I’m playing to a sea of giant red lips!  A busy night in the city, as Paul Van Dyk is over the Bay Bridge and Lee Burridge is causing havoc on his 40th birthday celebration.  I know this as we share the same agent, Joel, and he spend the night trying to please us both.  And get me to the End Up....

3 tunes for the joker!

‘Edding 850’ Format B

Loony new tune topping the Beatport techno chart…

‘Shake It Down’ Laidback Luke & Atrak

This has been explosive since the summer and still got everyone bouncing around like jokers.

‘Deadline’ (Adam Shaw Remix) Chris Lake

Another melodic tech seducer from the house of Rising!

---

Sunday, as I prepare for the return to London, I get some valuable downtime and hit the streets on foot, the best way to engage with this fascinating city. Heading down Market Street my conscience is pricked by the great number of homeless on the streets - an abrupt and sad reminder that all is not as it should be with the American dream. I’m looking for the Zuni Cafe (away from the big brand-dominated downtown) for brunch and get treated to the most amazing eggs I think I have ever tasted. San Fran is the big daddy when it comes to Californian cooking (if not the USA).

the place for vinyl!

From there I take a trip to the antique vinyl store ‘Grooves’ for some serious trainspotting then a walk down Hayes Street which features a spectacularly tasteful selection of forward thinking boutiques before finishing off with a mad taxi ride to the Golden Gate for a photo op. No photo does its size justice, you just have to take it all in. When you think ‘USA’ everyone wants to be in New York or L.A. but from this vantage point I wonder why more people don’t head for San Francisco, as it has a special energy.

That’s it: A whirlwind two weeks around the USA and Canada.  Nine shows in 13 days. I saw a lot of people and played some great clubs..... and had a lot of fun doing the Tong Factor and blogging here on Beatportal.  I didn’t get as much music handed to me as I anticipated (many turned out to be mix CDs) but hopefully we will find some quality and release something via Beatport soon. A significant time to be here, with the U.S. election upon us. A time when America looks set to make a major change of direction. 

San Francisco: the end of the road

What did I learn? .....That California could be the centre of the dance and electronic world, given the size of the shows there, and that the best clubs are run by the ‘families’ who live and breathe the scene.

Tour awards: best club was Beta in Denver, best promoters were my friends in Edmonton, Canada, and best show Monster Massive in L.A., despite the fire marshall!

Thanks to all that made it possible, especially those on the dancefloor. I’ll be back over New Year in Miami. Until then, tune into the show on BBC Radio 1.

See ya......

Pete
“