Sister spread your wings: Perpetual indulgence and disco mysticism at Flagging in the Park

PHOTO BY ERIC LYNCH

marke@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO So. The city's biggest outdoor electronic dance music orgy, Lovevolution, which was supposed to happen Sat/2, has been canceled — mostly because we're ruled by uptight dorks. It's like Footloose all over again! But there's still an entire Love Week's worth of heart-pumping nighttime parties, with styles ranging from angelic bass breaks to Israeli goth-trance, slutwave electro to minimal weirdness. (No Kenny Loggins, though.) You can read all about it at www.lovevolution.org.

And love will flood in other ways as well. Such as: Imagine yourself traipsing through Golden Gate Park one sunny afternoon when the sound of the great Sylvester's "Can't Stop Dancing" tugs you by the ear toward the AIDS Memorial Grove. There you spy dozens of human butterflies, fluttering and whirling in the extended 12-inch breeze as a DJ turns them out. Drawn by your fascination, you enter the fray, pick up a couple of psychedelic-patterned pieces of fabric, and begin to twirl with abandon.

This is flagging — a decades-old gay clubbing tradition with a disco-mystical side. The spirits of all of those who've come before wind through those brilliant wings, and we honor them. More specifically, this is Flagging in the Park (Sat/2, 1 p.m.–4 p.m., free. Facebook info here), the summertime monthly put on by the generous-hearted Xavier Caylor, with opportunities to donate to local charities. I was turned on to FITP by multitalented club kid Steven Satyricon and couldn't believe I'd missed this gorgeousness in the 14 years it had been going on. All are welcome, and Xavier provides plenty of flags for newbies. This is the final FITP this year, so spread your wings.

Also such as: Silent Frisco (Sat/2, noon–10 p.m., $15, Jones, 620 Jones, SF. www.sunsetpromotions.com). DJ Motion Potion of local powerhouse Sunset Promotions and the jazz-hot Mojito club, in North Beach, made his name here a decade ago by cheekily promoting deep and dirty New Orleans funk during the horrid Age of Wallpaper Music. Now he's got a new gig — Silent Disco, finally emerging from the underground for an official installment (called Silent Frisco) at the brand-new club Jones, downtown.

What is Silent Disco? Four hundred lucky attendees get specially designed headphones that receive a channel broadcast from the DJ booth — no bass bins, no tweeters, no shouting at bartenders. Making matters more fun, and pinching an idea from Jamaican soundclashes, silent dancers can toggle between two channels of very different beats from Jeffrey Paradise, Disco Shawn, Centipede, and more.

"It's amazing to watch," MoPo told me. "When the club experience is focused on a hubbub of different dance styles, the context becomes electric. This installment is our tribute to Lovevolution, and in future installments we want to take it to the streets. If you take away the outdoor volume levels, no one can complain about noise. It becomes about civil rights — our right to congregate freely and openly." *

CLUBROOT

Fantastically atmospheric, brooding grooves from this future-dubby UK producer, whose first record, Clubroot, set him up as the new Burial and whose second full-length on the LoDubs label, II MMX, channels shivery aboriginal sounds from the deep forest. With DJG, Djunya, and Jon A.D. Thurs/30, 10 p.m., $10. Triple Crown, 1760 Market, SF. www.triplecrownsf.com.