DJ Swiss Miss is our tour guide on this beautiful spring evening in San Francisco. Our first stop is Thee Parkside, which is having its grand re-opening party. Recently purchased by Malia Spanyol, who also owns Pop’s Bar, the historic Frisco venue is revitalizing and grabbing a new swath of revelers. (Note to bands and bookers: This hot spot just got hotter.)
Tonight’s entertainment is provided by DJ Handlebars, a veteran entertainer at Pop’s Bar, spinning endless rock and punk classics from every era. The party-goers are a cross-section of Pop’s regulars who’ve drifted over, and a whole lot of new faces, including quite a number of girls kissing girls (which was not so noted in Thee Parkside’s old incarnation). Hot dogs and various accompaniments are grilled on the expansive back patio, and revelers keep both the indoor and outdoor bars busy. With a full kitchen presumed to be re-opening as well, it’s going to be exciting to see what comes for this budding nightspot.
Where the SoMa (South of Market) and the Tenderloin (North of market) grapple over who is the seediest—that would be, Sixth Street—there is a dainty little nightclub called Anu, where the crowd is mostly foreign travelers. It garnered this clientele over the years by constantly hosting nights with famous international DJs. Tonight is the kickoff of Sabotage, a new night with residents Fil Lattore and Javaight.
The bar staff at Anu is very friendly and always pours a professional drink. Many of the staffers are recently-emigrated Irishmen, and everyone knows an Irish bartender will take care of you. We have a cocktail and chew the scenery for a bit, and then it’s off to Mezzanine.
Mezzanine is tucked away just far enough down an alley to be a creepy walk. En route, Swiss Miss finds an abandoned gurney, and has had just enough to drink and just enough of her high heels that she decides to take a power nap on the thing. We are a little scared.
Finally inside Mezz, we join an already ensuing Robot Rock, the new night hosted by Jefrodesiac and Richie Panic (Frisco Disco, Blow Up). Tonight is particularly spectacular, as it is Jefrodisiac’s Birthday. (We found this out when Richie took the mike and sang out, “Happy birthday Jefrodesiac. You’re so hot I wanna put it on your back.”) True to their fashionability, the boys have roped off a VIP area, which from what we can tell, is open to anyone; but don’t you feel a little more special in a VIP area, regardless of how un-exclusive it is…
We are just in time to see London’s Trash Fashion, and we are stunned at the onset. The four-piece is almost completely clad in florescent spandex, shirtless, with hot pink hip-hop style nameplates dangling from their necks. They’ve all got pimpin’ sneakers and shaggy rocker hair. Their music is an intense not-giving-a-fuck electro/rave-punk sonic orgasm, with ceaseless leaping, climbing and writhing. You have never had a birthday party unless you’ve had one with these guys as the entertainment. See the pictures. Words just can’t do this band justice.
Trash Fashion is followed by A Touch Of Class DJ Team from NY, and the dance party takes to the stage. Jefrodesiac and Richie Panic join in on the ones and twos, and the reveling festers long after we depart. It eventually migrates on to a hot tub after-party. Exquisite!
We, on the other hand, got side-tracked photographing a Sixth-street staple street dude who looked like a Viking who had just arrived from a pelting expedition. In reality, he was wearing a bicycle helmet and lugging around a bunch of street-scored clothes; but imagination is king!
www.myspace.com/theeparkside
www.myspace.com/popsbar
www.myspace.com/handlebarswednesdays
www.anu-bar.com
www.staplemusic.net
www.mezzaninesf.com
www.myspace.com/jefrodisiac
www.myspace.com/richiepanicisagenius
www.trash-fashion.com
www.atouchofclassusa.com
