Wicked turns 20!

Sunshine Jones

G'morning Sunshine!

Sunshine Jones took a moment out of his busy schedule to shed some light on his past, present and future workings in life, love and music. From unknown garage band to international acclaim, he’s done it all and then some. Dubtribe Sound System, which is one half Moonbeam Jones, put a deep imprint on house music and on our dancing hearts and for that we are truly grateful. Here are the goods on the man behind the musical magic.

What was your childhood like and how was music involved?

I grew up in San Francisco listening to KDIA on my Panasonic radio. I left home at 12 to live in the street and live the late-70′s dream of Punk Rock. By 1982 I was bored to death by the shift from transgender-anarchist punk rock as a social experiment to suburban slam dancing and was kind of saved by disco. At first it looked like it was going to be a magical time. We were going to parties called anon parties – off-site warehouse parties which played modern music (a kind of a mix of new wave, electro, and disco.) You had to have an invitation, and the only way to get one was if you went to one. So people were scrambling all over each other to find out where and when the party was going to be. Ultimately the eighties turned out to be a desert. Everyone died, A.I.D.S. really ravaged San Francisco in a way no one expected or understood, and the music was on perpetual repeat. I was standing on a dance floor in 1986 thinking to myself, “if I hear ‘White Lines’ one more time I am never coming back here,” and as if on cue, the DJ mixed ‘White Lines’ in and the crowd cheered. I rolled my eyes and went home. I traveled a lot for the last part of the 80′s. I spent the summer of 1989 on Ibiza, discovered the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, and found drumming and dancing in a completely new way from getting dressed up and going out to clubs. When I returned to San Francisco I met people who were listening to acid house and techno and a kind of renaissance began here. People from all over the world were living cheap in the Lower Haight, little shops were opening up, Brad bought The Top, Mal threw a party in an abandoned racket ball club, my childhood friend Preston started a party called Toon Town, and my favorite pizza chef from Sparky’s – Martin Mendoza – switched from hip-hop to house and the world was changed forever.

Have you ever been in a band, what kind of music?

I started my first band when I was 14. It was one of those punk bands that never played live. Eventually I got a real band together; we played punk rock, and were the first song on the first side of the Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll compilation, ‘Not So Quiet on the Western Front’. I was a really drunk teenager, so I never really got much together. I tried throughout the 80′s to put bands together, but I was always reaching way too far.

By the late 80′s I had a 12 piece band together and realized that there was nowhere to play, and even when we played – people liked it, but so what? I wanted to connect with people and really have an exchange with them. Somehow getting 11 people together to do what I asked them to do just wasn’t any fun. So I started making music with machines to try and better explore my ideas. That’s where Dubtribe Sound System came from. As usual, at first we had more people than we needed, but soon, as we began to tour, record, and really make the kind of sacrifices you need to make in order to really be in a band, we were only two. We added drummers over the years, and always welcomed improvisation in our performances, but Dubtribe was the only band I was ever in that many people actually liked.

For those that don’t know please give a brief history of Dubtribe Sound System.

Dubtribe was originally a party. We threw a monthly party on the last Friday of the month at our flat. What happened there was my partner, Moonbeam, and I would play all night on our drum machines, keyboards, and microphone and mix found cassette tapes and other things into the mixer through the delay and dub out the sounds. We made up songs as we went along, and just explored the sounds we were making. Eventually people asked us to come do that at their parties, and we had to figure out how to do that. Once we did it was so much fun. Urb Magazine wrote us up in an issue and booking offers began to come in from Seattle to San Diego. DJ Onionz got a hold of one of our tapes somehow and called up and started telling his friends in New York and Baltimore about us. So we booked a few shows in New York City, Baltimore and DC and quit our jobs and headed east on Highway 80. We didn’t stop touring for about six years.

One day Jonah Sharp, of Space Time Continuum, invited me to his warehouse and we listened to Dubtribe’s first album together. He played me some of his music and then told me that if I spent half the time in the studio recording and learning about sound that I spent on the road I’d make some pretty interesting records. I really took that to heart, and started trying to find ways to survive in SF to spend time in the studio without having to spend 8-10 months of the year on the road. What came out of that was ‘Bryant Street’,our most well known album. We toured that album for two or three years and by 2001 we were done. I wrote and recorded our most successful song ‘Do It Now’ at the end of that tour, and thought that it would be Dubtribe’s last single. I wasn’t done with electronic music, but I was really done with the ‘Rave.’ It had run its course, and we had done all that we wanted to do. I felt that times had really changed completely, and the world wasn’t really interested in four long-haired San Franciscans sitting on a carpet singing about inner visions, love, and unity anymore. I wanted to move on. Moonbeam and Kurosh Naserri got together to talk me out of it, and we began to record ‘Baggage’, Dubtribe’s fourth album. Shortly after signing the contract Moonbeam got pregnant and wanted to stop making music. I tried to make that happen for her, but our relationship collapsed and we divorced. It looked like that was the end of the mighty DSS until one day in 2009 my ex-wife called me up and asked if I was interested in doing some shows again, “just to see.” I was, and so we did. They have been such wonderful shows. It feels so good to be performing as Dubtribe Sound System again, and currently we’re booked through the end of 2010, and are working out how to record a new album.

How do you approach songwriting?

I have different ways. Sometimes I’ll have a complete song in my head, like ‘Do It Now’ and I’ll spend a very long time trying to forge what I hear in my head from the devices around me. These are actually the more difficult projects, but often the best. Other times I will just be working on a sound, or a rhythm, and the sound itself will produce the rest of the song. ‘Sunshine’s Theme’ came out like that. I was looking at descending and opposing notes with a 7th harmonic, and this four-note progression came out by accident, and I recorded it into the sequencer and added the drums. I listened to it for hours, and eventually wrote the words. It was a complete accident. I have always written songs live. Because I produce electronic music the why of my art has always been a given. It’s dance music. So it’s pretty easy to improvise with a mic, or a frequency, or a rhythm while you’re performing live. All of my songs have come from live performance in some way.

What came first… the producer or the DJ?

I did it all backward. First I was in a band, then I learned to produce, and finally I learned to mix records. I have to say that learning to mix was the best thing I ever did for my music. Considering my own DJ style and the studied style of others has really given me a new perspective as a producer and a remixer. I know what I want, and how I mix, and so my “extended disco versions” of songs are laid out in a way which completely works for me as a DJ. It’s less important now in the digital age for DJ tools to be created, you can really grab anything from anywhere and just loop it on the fly nowadays, but I still think that the craft of producing a 12″ single is a wonderful art form.

You’ve made some songs/tracks that are dear to the hearts of your fans.
Do you find you are most inspired when life is dramatic and challenging or when life is fruitful and calm?

It’s a funny thing, the creative process. I find that sometimes real inspiration can come easily from distress, strain, and sadness. I’ve written a lot of music when I was down. The real challenge of writing music from a calm, or a happy place is to actually channel that positive energy into something. When I’m happy, time flies, and I am in the moment enjoying it. When I’m down, the hours really drag, and there’s a lot more time – it seems – to hover over the piano and play out my feelings. ‘Do It Now’ was written at a terribly dark period in my life. The song is a love letter to my ex-wife, asking her not to leave, to be my friend, and try and carry on. Other songs, many of which no one remembers, were written from a real place of joy. I think it’s not so much about finding inspiration in sadness, as it is being inspired in the first place. My friend Jenö often says, “You should take inspiration from the things which inspire you, and never mind the rest.” I really like that, and I’ve taken it to heart. I have wasted way too much time in my life paying far too much attention to things which don’t inspire me. The negative is a place of fear and deprecation which really feels like a vortex that’s impossible to escape from. When I am focused on what does not inspire me, I am a lobster in a bucket. When I focus on what does inspire me, I am uplifted, and almost super-charged in a way which I can’t really explain. It’s like fighting against things as a means to an end – I can’t change you. When I try, the argument appears to be inspiring, but in the end it’s not. It’s a dead end. When I am working with my own feelings, my own process, and reaching outward to new heads, dancers, new ideas, and new sounds that I actually like, then it’s a whole other thing entirely. I am on fire with the search for sounds, and rhythms, words and melodies which ignite something in me. I hope that makes sense.

You’ve resided in San Francisco for some time now, how does SF in 2010 feel?
Why has SF continued to be your home and where else have you lived that’s interesting?

I’m actually a native San Franciscan. This is home. I have tried to leave many times, but I always come back here. Currently San Francisco is suffering from a little PTSD. We’ve been thrashed brutally over the last couple of decades, and now she’s a city that’s forgotten how. The cost of living here is absurd, and the return in quality of life is dubious at best. I watched this happen to Manhattan. I watched filthy parts of New York City transform before my very eyes into polished neighborhoods for the privileged. The creative people took refuge in Brooklyn and even in New Jersey. The same thing has happened here in SF. There’s been a mass exodus to Oakland, Portland, Los Angeles, and wherever they come from in the first place. At first I thought it was a good thing. We’d been swollen and unhealthy from the dot com boom, and it was time to hemorrhage a few thousand people and get back to basics. It hasn’t really gone down like that. Not really at all. But we have gotten back to basics, and what’s always been amazing about living a bus ride from the beach, a walk from the bay, and weather which changes every 15 minutes is still amazing. I love this city. It’s changed all my life. As a kid my parents were unhappy about the hippies, and then the gay revolution. The hippies and the gay community were very unhappy about the punks, and the new hip-hop movement. The punks didn’t like the yuppies, and the yuppies didn’t like anyone. We’ve just kept rolling with it, and what doesn’t belong here flies off the wheel and lands wherever it was supposed to be in the first place. We remain a city of lost souls. People come here to find themselves again, if they do that by getting a tattoo and drinking themselves into a stupor, or growing their hair and dancing to the ukulele in Golden Gate Park that’s entirely up to them. The wind just seems to have picked up a bit more in the last few years than it’s been in a long time. You have to look deeper to find San Francisco, but she’s here. She’s not going anywhere.

You have had some pretty awesome success as a music maker. Please share with us the highs…the lows?

Golden moments: I got the chance to perform as a solo artist at the Tokyo Electronic Music Festival. I went on following Manuel Göttsching. He performed E2E4 as the sun was rising up over the festival. Everyone was cheering, weeping, laughing, and dancing to an ambient tune. It was breathtaking. Then I went on. I really expected all 36,000 people to be gone when I began, but they stayed. They danced. They cheered. A group of people held up a banner that simply said Sunshine Jones, and a man stood front and center screaming my name until he had no voice left at all. When it was over I gave him a big huge hug, and he rasped at me in Japanese.

Another high moment was playing Deep Space with François Kevorkian in New York City. When they invited me to play they were very, very clear about a few things: first, it was not a night for me to play 4×4 dance music all night. I was to play a variety of music which has inspired me in my life; secondly, FK would begin playing after exactly two hours. He should not have to ask me to stop. I would be responsible for my two-hour set, and end promptly on time and then FK would play for the rest of the night. It was a privilege to be asked to play at Deep Space at all, and so I didn’t argue, I got it. So I played. I sang and relooped some of my own music, as well as some of the music which has deeply inspired me. People loved it, they were screaming, jumping up and down, and I was on the moon. After exactly two hours I turned to FK and offered him the decks. He smiled and said, “Keep playing.” I grinned and played another two hours. FK said some of the nicest things about me as an artist that anyone has ever said. I was in tears. Red, a woman who had been screaming and cheering the loudest, picked me up in her arms, kissed my face, and said “You are my new boyfriend!” I reflected on this night for years afterward. While it was happening, I said to myself, “I should retire – this is amazing – it will never be as good as this again.” I was right. I’ve never even come close to the magic of that night again, anywhere, ever, but I’m glad I didn’t retire.

Low points: I can’t say that I have really had any. I think that the usual is the lowest you can go. When the attendance is mediocre, and people are not feeling you, or open to what I’m doing, that’s as low as I get. Horrible nights are lessons. Fiascoes and tragedies are experiences which have made me stronger. I think that it’s too easy to blame the world around me for my troubles. What’s typically missing on an off night is me, and it’s no one else’s fault.

I saw something a little while ago where you had set up a way to fund an album based on people buying/donating different levels of music related packages, everything from ten dollars for a CD to thousands of dollars for an array of options having to do with the album including things like having a song produced/dedicated to someone and even meeting you for coffee. I thought this was really smart. How did it all work out?

It was a success. People from all over the world who have listened to my weekly digital transmission – Sunday Soul – donated as little as a penny, to upwards of $5,000 to the cause of producing an album based on Sunday Soul called ‘Gas Masks and Crazy-Girls’ and the project is complete. I used the resources to record almost all of the basic tracks, and currently I’m mixing it all down. It was a wonderful way to build community, and support for a movement which I believe was based on the grass roots, do-it-yourself ethos. We write the tracks, we throw the parties, we mix the music, and we dance together. It’s completely and totally on us. If we don’t like it, or think it’s changed, that’s always because we haven’t brought ourselves to it, and we haven’t acknowledged that we have changed. I still believe that house music is the last true American folk art form. It’s ours, and it belongs to us. It’s completely up to us where it goes from here.

Passion and love is at the core of your very existence. Is this why you’ve had such success in producing tracks that people really feel? What is the secret ingredient? Do you have any words of advice for potential music makers?

Do what you love. Never do it for money. Do it because you love it. Take inspiration from wherever you are inspired. Forget everything else. Don’t waste a moment of your time trying to suppress yourself, or fit yourself into someone else’s box. Be your beautiful self, and let it all hang out. It’s so easy to be competitive, frightened, and discouraged. It seems so easy, right? But I say that will sap all your resources, and drain you. Forget it. Just get back to the business of what you love, what inspires you, and make it happen.

How have personal relationships/partners affected your music in the past and in the present?

I am a strange bird. I want so much to collaborate, but over the years I’ve had to accept that I am not much of a collaborator. I work alone, and I love to be alone. It’s been extremely rare in my experience that I can actually work with anyone around. Moonbeam was a singular exception. I was able to collaborate with her. But creativity is conflict. To be mature enough to actually forge something from nothing with another person and not take the work personally, not let it go to your head, not let it build resentment and create chaos in your life is rare indeed. I’ve done all those things, made so many mistakes, but in the end I am still reaching for these sounds, songs, and visions in my head. It appears to be what I was designed to do.

Moonbeam and I wrote and refined music very well together. As a solo artist I find that it’s less urgent and often less purposeful. However, I’ve also spent a lot of time working with other people to help them realize their vision, not only as a collaborator, but as a producer, and as an engineer. I love that kind of work a lot because I am in a position of service. I love to be of service to other people. It’s harder; it seems, for me to consider myself and my own needs. I am still developing a language to express what it is I hear in my head. I have never been someone who likes to jam. All of my work is done in my head, ahead of time, and the work in the studio is really a translation process.

I think, for me, this process has the capacity to alienate people who don’t work that way. So while it’s fun, and enjoyable to bring in a drummer, or to work with a singer, it can be truly heartbreaking to try and open myself up to someone else who is not capable of the kind of vulnerability and maturity it takes to really bear your own artistic soul. Pretty words, but what I’ve concluded after a twenty-plus-year career is that it simply isn’t possible that I just haven’t found the right collaborators. I have kind of come to accept that I am a fucking freak, and I work in an unusual way. So when it comes to collaboration and relationships, I serve well as a producer, and a musician. So I perform for you, we dance together; I help to forge your ideas and make them palpable. But when it comes to whatever it is that’s happening within me, I’m on my own.

What projects have you worked on recently or presently that you are excited about?

I’ve been in the final stages of two albums for about two years now. The first is my album for King Street. I’m not even sure if they’re interested in it anymore it’s taken me so long to get it done, but I sold them a twelve-track album, and they asked me to re-imagine it quite a bit faster, and with other vocalists on it. It’s been an adventure to re-visualize myself through their eyes. The second album is another solo album for Treehouse Muzique, the community supported album ‘Gas Masks and Crazy-Girls’ we talked about earlier. I don’t know why in the world I thought it would be a good idea to produce two albums at once. It’s not. The KSS album is electronic and fast, the THM album is hand-made, spaced out, and beautiful. Making the transitions between them has been spirit-crushing in a way. I have approached it from all sides, and in the end I’m not willing to split the difference. So I’m two mix downs away from being done with the first, and four mix downs away from completing the second. I spend hours and hours in the studio every day. We make slow progress.

I just remixed your track, Peak Time. That was so much fun. I was in Atlanta recently playing the rough mix of it, and everyone was cheering and singing along, running to the decks to ask what it was. It’s been a while since I did a remix for anyone, and that really felt good. I am also working on a couple of remixes for Siesta Records. They’ve decided to get back into the business of making music again, and I couldn’t be happier. I’m grateful and excited to re-approach these beautiful tracks and bring my own style to them.

You have a web broadcast called Sunday Soul, please tell us about this. How long have you been doing this weekly?

I’ve been transmitting Sunday Soul on 90hz.org for about 6 years now. It began as a way of reconnecting with people; I invited guests down to talk with me on Sunday afternoons. Soon I realized that this wasn’t the time for talking. This is the time for executing music. So I shifted the format from an afternoon chat show into a weekly theme. Every week I pick a theme, and speak to it with music. It’s been a life-saving proposition. I have really grown as an artist as the result of Sunday Soul. My heart has opened to all kinds of music, sound, approaches, improvisation, collaboration, and more…

How do you view Sunshine Jones in the now….What are your new goals?

I’ve worked very hard for the last five years to separate Sunshine Jones from Dubtribe Sound System. I have my own heart, my own mind, and my own style. I felt it was very important for me to step out as myself, and speak my heart. I was known for yelling and screaming and beating down the barricades with my role in Dubtribe, and I have found that there is real power and beauty in whispering and intimacy. I still speak my mind, and when I play live I express myself without restrictions, but I have really grown into myself in a way which I wouldn’t have been able to with the pressure of the past looming over me.

In the last five years I wrote a book, and about a hundred short stories, I got excited about that and dared to dream of a literary career. I have sung on other people’s albums, become something of a photographer, and returned to graphic design again as another outlet.

Recently I went to the east coast for a little tour. I played in Atlanta on a Friday and Charlotte, North Carolina on Saturday. Atlanta was good, but I held back. I watched the room ebb and flow and I wondered what was missing. I shared the mic, and expressed myself openly, but still something was missing. The next night in Charlotte it was explosive, and unbelievably beautiful. The theme was a renewal, and my vocals were a manifesto on trust. It was an incredible, and an unforgettable night. Reflecting on the way home, as I tend to do, I realized that what was different about the two nights was ultimately me. Sure, Atlanta and Charlotte are about as different as they are similar in terms of location, culture, geography, and expectations, but the difference was really in me, and my approach. I was a DJ in Atlanta, and in Charlotte I was live. And the difference was pretty obvious.

So my goals for the immediate future are to come forward, and to open my heart even wider. The task at hand is to be more productive, more fearless, and more vulnerable. That’s on me, and I’m up for it.

How do you take your coffee?

I like a double latte in a bowl please, No sugar.

What are a couple of tracks that will never leave your record bag?

La Stache – Blackjoy

Tiger Stripes remix of ‘If you wouldn’t mind’ by Sunshine Jones

My Reflection – Deetron Mix – Osunlaude

Monkey Overbite – Emperor Machine

Heaven – KCC

If you were stuck on a desert island and could only have five albums, which ones would you choose?

Inner Visions – Stevie Wonder

Gone To Earth – David Sylvian

E2E4 – Manuel Göttsching

LKJ in DUB – LKJ

Les Trois Gymnopedies – Eric Satie

What is the best DJ set/live performance you have ever seen?

The Gang of Four and the Buzzcocks at the Paulie Ballroom in 1979.

The End . . . or is it just The Beginning?

You can keep up with the ever evolving Sunshine Jones on the following links

http://treehousemuzique.com, http://sundaysoul.com .

Peak Time EP is due out on Beatport in June on the new Rock It Science Laboratories music label featuring the original by Native Intelligence and an Extended Disco Remix by Sunshine Jones. Native Intelligence aka Duane Kenneth Williams is a brand new contributing writer to The MML. This is his first interview. Find out more about Native Intelligence on www.rockitscienceSF.com, www.facebook.com/duaneinyourface .

Article source: www.themml.com

Tony Hewitt LIVE 3/25/2010 -> The Review

It’s Thursday, March 25th and House Epidemic’s Gregory Jaymz has just wrapped up a nice deep house set to make room for the house scene legend, Tony Hewitt. The crowds have come from miles and miles away spanning 2.5 hours north as well as 2 hours south to take advantage of this NO COVER Groove School event with Tony.

Calmly and with the utmost of ease, Tony breaks out his vinyl and CD collection across the dj booth. He flawlessly transitions out of Gregory’s final record and brings the sound only Tony can to the decks. Funky, percussion driven with phat basslines- the sound that nobody is known better for, but him. As he effortlessly transitions from vinyl to vinyl to cd the crowd approaches him hoping to score the name of the track he’s playing. Not only does Tony share that info (most djs wouldn’t dare), he actually offers his vinyl copies to the guests! Not once, but 2x he gave away copies he was playing! It’s no wonder that Tony’s reputation of an all-around nice guy is just as large as his world-class talent.

House music banged for the first hour or so, when he seemlessly transitioned to FUNK. Yes, real funk music on vinyl and CDs. Tony closed the night with some grooves only he could possibly find and the crowd ate up every second of music he gave them. The night was a success, the music was great and the people who came got exactly what they wanted.

Kudos, Tony. In 13 years of loyally following you, you have yet to disappoint. Can’t wait to see you again.

Be sure to check out his music HERE

And his labels here:
Tango Recordings
Nightshift
Detour

Greg Wilson was LIVE at Triple Crown 3/19/2010

Greg Wilson working the reel to reel

I had the luxury of attending the long awaited, exclusive West Coast stop for Greg Wilson’s “Credit to the Edit 2″ tour back in March.  I found parking with ease as I arrive at the newest music haven in SF, Triple Crown.  After verifying our presale tickets, we quickly glide the entrance to find a surprisingly sparse crowd.  We easily found seats by the stage as Anthony Mansfield and Conor threw down some terrific beats.  Then suddenly at midnight, as if school was let out for the summer, Triple Crown was packed with people of all types ready for the legend.  Ahhh, THIS is what I had expected!

After what was a bit of a rough beginning to his set (I think there were technical issues, which coincidentally have vanished from the mix posted online), Mr. Wilson brought the funk!  I recognized some of his edits and owned more of them than I had realized.   The night started at a nice midtempo and worked its way up and down. The crowd was eating it up!  I stood right up front watching the brilliance at work.  He looked to be having a great time as he ate the soles of the dancers’ sneakers.  The dancefloor was being punished tonight alright.

What made Greg Wilson very unique was the reel-to-reel he used.  He was sampling and adding effects using an actual reel-to-reel.  I’ve personally worked on analog tape machines and cut tape and it’s not fun nor easy (especially when most of the kids these days are using Serato Scratch which enables mixing by simply hitting z,x,c,v,b,n to trigger precuts and perfected samples).  You can hear his samples throughout the mix and Greg knew where each sample laid on his analog reel, proving to me he wasn’t some button-pusher like so many DJs these days are.

I danced and smiled the night away.  His music hit me in great places and although at times it also skipped me, it didnt matter. He brought it all together in such an effortless and wonderous way.  This night turned out exactly as I had expected.  Strong work Mr. Wilson, but then again, I guess this is how you’ve stayed on top of the game for nearly 35 years.

Standing ovation.

DJs, Producers and Remixer -> if you dont catch this guy next time he’s around, then I just don’t think you are serious about your craft.  You must pay homage to those that made your life and job so much easier.  He mastered the reel-to-reel sampling and delay technique so that companies like Rane and Native Instruments could copy the theory and throw it into your laptop for a few hundred bucks.

As I write this review, I’m listening to his mix from that night, it’s so sweet. If you don’t believe me,
listen to his set for yourself.

Artist of the Month- March

Artist of the Month, March

• 
  
• Artist Name: Tony Hewitt
• Hometown: Manchester, England
• Music Genre: West Coast house
• Record Label: Tango Recordings
• Type: Producer, DJ
• Experience: 20 years

“Tony Hewitt is an artist’s artist.

He has worked with all the house scene greats including Doc Martin, Onionz, Halo, Hipp-e, and Mark Farina. He is credited for being one of the forefathers of West Coast house music.

Tony Hewitt is why house music is so personal + insightful. HE had the brief opportunity to talk to the house music icon + hear his story.”

Read full interview here.

Behrouz @ Mighty SF, 03/06

After an evening of bar hopping, a few friends and I found ourselves at one of my favorite spots- MightySF.  For those of you who have not been to Mighty, consider yourself missing out.  It’s warehouse appeal and floor to ceiling speakers remind one of old rave days where the main attraction was the music.  The bar is never too crowded, the sound system bumps, the people are eclectic, and there is ALWAYS top-notch talent on stage.

As I walked up to the front entrance, we passed Julius Papp and Paul Hemming.  This only reaffirmed our suspicions that Mighty was not going to disappoint tonight.  Our friends at Mighty had booked superstar DJ, Behrouz Nazari, a San Francisco-based producer that defines his own style as “impossible to categorize”. Tonight, he planned on spinning a 5-hr set, which is you were spinning with vinyl is a LOT of records to pull.  It was after midnight when we arrived and I was surprised to see the usually-eclectic-Mighty SF crowd to be anything but mixed.  In fact, I felt as if I were in a different club altogether.  Although very popular with the Iranian community and Ibiza, Behrouz’s progressive sound left me feeling unmotivated and bored. Thankfully, the main room also consisted of amateur breakdancers and a handful of drummers creating a makeshift drum circle.  This held my attention for  another good 15 minutes.

Once the novelty of the breakdancers and drum circle wore off, I found myself wandering into the side room looking for deep and funky house.  We stumbled upon DityHertz- another San Francisco producer, who is known for his progressive and trance sounds at The EndUp.  Although we definitely enjoyed some of DirtyHertz’s break beats, for the most part I wasn’t feelin’ his music.  By now, I have been here for about an hour and things hadn’t gotten much better.  I debated whether I should wait and see if Julius took the decks, but that wasn’t even enough to justify staying there any longer.

As I left only an hour after arriving, I reminded myself of the previous outstanding talent witnessed at Mighty that have made this venue one of my faves- Radio Slave, Mark Farina, Kerri Chandler, Louie Vega to name a few.  Although this night wasn’t one for the record book, nor even in the memory books, I will definitely be back to Mighty in the near future as I believe in the management team’s ability to book the good talent.

Thankfully, the night wasn’t a total loss.  A late-night snack at Crepes-a-Go-Go saved the night.  What did I order?  Well, the HOUSE special, of coarse.

Peace. Love. House music.

Marques Wyatt @ Ruby Skye, 2/27

It’s ten to midnight and I arrive to find a small line outside 420 Mason street, also known as Ruby Skye.  Marques Wyatt and Julius Papp are the main attractions tonight, and it appears the crowd is willing to throw down $20 bones to check out these two legendary house aficionados.  Upon entering I quickly remember why I have often avoided this beautiful venue- the crowd.  While everyone is there to have a peaceful good time, enjoy some drinks and dance, they are not a house crowd. Not only is it apparent by the collar dress shirts, slacks, high heels, dress shoes and VIP booths it is also obvious by their reaction to Marques Wyatt’s set.  Mr. Wyatt threw down some lush deeps tracks and mixed them flawlessly yet this crowd preferred to watch the circus show going on above the dj booth.  They also reacted strongly when Mr. Wyatt threw on the original “Gypsy Women” by Crystal Waters.  Besides the mainstream club hit from 1991, only a few familiar basslines moved this “to be scene” crowd.  I felt bad for Mr. Wyatt as he seemed to struggled to find a connection between his style of music and what the crowd wanted.  I must say hearing him throw down his “For Those Who Like To Get Down” and Harddrives 1993 house anthem “Deep Inside” on the EAW system was truly music to my ears.

At ~2am, Julius Papp came on.  Contrary to Marques Myatt, Julius did not seem to alter his set much for the crowd.  He came strong and hard. It was perfect for me, but the floor QUICKLY thinned out leaving only those that actually liked to get down.  I can’t complain, more room and better music for me.  I was finally getting my money’s worth.  Julius brought bangers to life, including:  ”Free” by Ultra Nate, “The Conversation” by AFTC and 1996′s “Wrong” by EBTG.  By 3:30am, Mr. Papp was instructed to cut the music and the Ruby was wrap.

Well, that was the entertainment, now let’s talk about the actual venue since that doesn’t change night-to-night.  In addition to the crowd, I had a few more disappointments but also a few surprises.  One thing I noticed, being a dj, was the lights were delayed, almost an entire quarter note.  The big buildups lost energy as the lights struggled to catch up.  If the light show is going to be part of the allure and is attempting to improve the guests’ experience, please execute correctly.  After an 8-bar build up the downbeat of one would come and pass, then just before the 2 would hit, the lights would go big.  Too little, too late.  It was as annoying and frustrating as drummers who bang their drum in the club out of time (you all know what I am talking about).  Surely the guy in the light booth knows enough about electronic music to anticipate everything happening on the 1 in an 8-bar structure.  I sure hope they work out the kinks before the $60/head Tiesto show.

Another issue was the high stack on the left side (facing the stage) appeared to be cutting in and out.  It was very annoying to lose the highs randomly.  I watched to see if perhaps it was the DJ turning down the monitors at times, but being 50′ plus away from the obnoxiously out of reach DJ booth and having a MEGA sound system, this just didn’t seem correct either.  Now if it’s the highs cutting or the djs monitors there still is a problem that needs to be fixed.  If you are going to place the DJ booth 4′ in the air and 5′ behind the barrier then their monitors should not effect the listeners experience.  A simple wedge or fill could prevent that from happening, and if a club places that much money into a system then I’m guessing they’ve done that leaving me with the only reasonable conclusion- that their high just simply cut in and out.  Of course, if the sound engineer ventured out of his 2nd store glass enclosure he may have noticed the highs cutting in and out.

Before I get to the good parts of Ruby Skye, I’ll finish with my biggest disappointment, Club 414.  Billed as a new club “above” Ruby Skye, at 414 Mason (Ruby is 420), I was BEYOND disappointed to learn it was just the old front room of Ruby Skye where patrons used to pass through to smoke or wander in after using the pisser. But now, the “newest and greatest club in SF” is just the old 2nd room?  BIERMP! And to top it off, I felt like I was transported to San Jose.  I bravely ventured into the room 4 times that night.  I was lucky enough to catch “MOVE BITCH” by Ludacris and a bunch of other mainstream top 40 music.  How is this (inserttrendykindofnightlifevenuenamehere) aka 2nd room of Ruby Skye supposedly bringing world-class forward-pushing music?  For what it’s worth, the DJ they had hired for the night, Brian V, did what he does brilliantly.  He’s playing the format he’s known for and does it VERY well, but why did the venue/promoter market it as so much more???  Ok, the rant is done.  414 & 420 Mason, no hard feelings!  Just helping you out.

Although there were some complaints, there are good surprises from the venue as well.  First off, the staff was exceptional.  The bartenders worked quickly, were friendly and had a great memory.  I did not have to wait long for my Coca-Cola.  Watching the tenders work, I knew they were making strong drinks.  The overall sound system is awesome.  Also, the detail they put into every part of the club is amazing.  I am not a fan of circus stage shows in a nightclub, but the entertainers they had were at the top of their game and did some things to their bodies that made their Vegas counterparts look tame.

Sure, one can read this and quickly think the negative out weighted the positive but that is not the case.  Other than 414, the few things that need attention are simple and could have been related to just an off night.  In summary, if you are trying to get your friends exposed to world class house music and know they wont venture into the true house scene this is the spot!  Not to mention they consistently bring the worlds top acts to San Francisco.  Nobody else is doing it like they are.  Just look at the acts lined up: Sasha, Charles Feelgood, Sander Kleineberg, UberZone, Crystal Method, Tiesto and pop super star David Guetta!  Their love for top level acts, overall experience and value is evident.

Strong work guys, strong work.