Balls out - Page 2

New gay sports bar Hi Tops scores. Plus: Moodymann, Tin Man, more nightlife

11.27.12 - 5:48 pm | Marke B. |

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Hi Tops co-owner Jesse Woodward takes one for the team

Are you even ready for Finnish acid? Of course you are: Tin Man's hypnotic, energetic yet urbane tracks have been staples on quality dance floors for well-nigh half a decade. Johannes Auvinen was actually raised in Cali, thus the extra bit of sunshine peaking out of his peaks and polishing his deeps. On 222 Hyde's great soundsystem, he should have the basement walls swaying in no time for his SF debut.

Fri/30, 9pm, $20 advance. 222 Hyde, SF. www.ayli-sf.com

DYED SOUNDOROM

House purists took a moment to warm to Dyed: he seemed to leap fully formed from the Paris club scene and land too perfectly near the top of the Ibiza favorites list. But in the past few years, he's delivered some incredibly lovely and historically-eared mixes and remixes (many coproduced or inspired by the European scene's exceptional female cohort) that have everyone convinced. He's the real deal. And so smiley!

Sat/1, 9pm-4am, $10 advance. Monarch, 101 Sixth St., SF. www.monarchsf.com

THROWBACK

Um, in case you missed it, 90s house is back. But rarely do we get a chance to hear the story of that interesting and incredibly varied decade from the San Francisco DJs and producers who made it all happen. (When Doc Martin plays a retro set here, it's a main event.) So having Fred Everything, David Harness, Jay-J, Solar, and Jayvi Velasco hit the decks on Mighty's big-room rave-worthy system, for free, all night long is an education no young neophyte should pass up.

Sat/1, 9pm-late, free. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

SEVERINO

How much does SF adore this British-Italian disco mage, 1/4 of the wildly popular Horse Meat Disco crew? Find out in a sweat on Honey Soundsystem's dancefloor as he tours in support of a new compilation of his favorite tracks (including some local faves) on Classic Records. Love!

Sun/2, 9pm, $5. Holy Cow, 1535 Folsom, SF. www.honeysoundsystem.com

*The original party, as listed in the print version of this article, was set for Thu/29. This version has been corrected.

Comments

Pretending the Pilsner doesn't exist does nothing for SF queers

Marke - we are all excited about a new queer bar in the Castro, but let's not join in the pretense that there has never been a queer sports bar in San Francisco. Two blocks away. Still open. Granted, the Pilsner doesn't "perform" queer sports bar; it just IS one. Let's hope Hi Tops can become the real thing too.

Posted by Miltonic on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 10:34 am

In a sense you're right

That people do indeed go to the Pilsner to watch games -- and many local gay and lesbian sports teams gather at Lookout, the Cafe, Moby Dick, Midnight Sun, and the Mix (miss you Uncle Bert's). All of them have been known to play games on their screens, and host great fundraisers for local teams.

But none of them have been explicitly touted as sports themed -- the Pilsner's direction is a bit of a mess, at least to me. Who the heck knows what it's supposed to be? Yet I still love it, even though the patio redo and party bus destination Fridays kind of turned me off of regular attendance a few years ago. Also hot babe bartender Warren, my secret boyfriend, left for LA ;(

Still, point taken, I'm just disagreeing on semantic thematic grounds. I hope Hi Tops doesn't suck away business from other bars, but adds to the rubustness (robustity?) of the Castro bar scene while maybe giving the other bars a little thought toward tightening up their vibes. I really dislike "theme bars" other than sports ones, but it would be cool to have the other joints in the area up their game in terms of outreach and concept maybe. They're all kind of blobs to me, in my mind.

Posted by marke on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 11:03 am

Sorry, the castro is not "one

Sorry, the castro is not "one note", but rather two note:
1) bars owned by Les Natali
2) bars owned by Greg Bronstein

This is why the castro nightlife scene appears to be channeling Sacramento and not SF. Things will not get better until those two queens relax their chokehold on the castro. Patio anyone?

Posted by Dedicated_local on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 11:48 am

hahaha

too true -- although yet again the Bronstein slash and burn out cycle seems to be on "implode" setting. And Natali, well, what's up with Toad Hall anyway? There was something vaguely interesting there on Tuesday for the first time in my memory of the place.

Posted by marke on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 11:55 am

Greg Bronstein doesn't own

Greg Bronstein doesn't own any bars anymore, friend. Please catch up. The last two, Trigger and Lime, closed earlier this year. And the Cafe, which remains mega-popular, is owned by neither of them. In place of Lime is a new bar with some brand new blood from first-time bar owners, Hi Tops, which hopes to attract a more local crowd. And also, The Edge, the Midnight Sun, and Q Bar all changed hands in recent years and have had/are getting makeovers. That still won't stop the bridge-and-tunnel folk from not knowing where else to go on a Friday or Saturday.

Posted by Guest on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 2:08 pm

and yet

the pallid ghosts of his leopard skin pants and pimped-out Escalade remain ...

Posted by marke on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 2:21 pm

What some of us really want is a Castro bar with good beer.

That is, craft and micro brews, rather than $2 PBR and 1990's cocktails.

Castro bars have the worst beer in the city. Is beer a straight thing?

Posted by Guest on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 12:43 pm

agreed!

I regret no asking Jesse about the beer menu -- I'd love someone to do for beer in the Castro what Blackbird has done for cocktails and wine ...

Posted by marke on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 12:53 pm

Yeah, Blackbird is actually the closest bar to the Castro that I

am willing to go to.

And, for that matter, Lucky 13 a few doors down has a stellar beer selection, including DogFish Head and Pliny, although arguably not so gay-friendly . . .

Posted by Guest on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 1:18 pm

Never had queer vibe probs at

Never had queer vibe probs at Lucky 13 when we used to go there when I used to drink beer.

Posted by marcos on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 7:11 pm

Lime

So Lime closed down? What Happened there and when?

Posted by TLBarry on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 1:31 pm

Lime closed in June

after a few temporary closings -- same weird thing happened with Greg Bronstein's other bar Trigger, which limped over the finish line sometime this summer.

Posted by marke on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 2:19 pm

TRIGGER

For Godess sakes someone please buy TRIGGER and turn it into a proper HOUSE club

Posted by Guest on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 2:25 pm

I fully support this

if only I had a few million!

Posted by marke on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 2:26 pm

He lost his liquor license

Which is the hardest thing about opening a bar or club - if the location came with a liquor license I'd have snapped it up by now and hired my favorite 'mo on the scene, aka: Marke, to do one helluva night up in there.

A girl can dream...

Posted by Lucretia Snapples on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 2:48 pm

aw <blush>

lucretia you flatter me.

Posted by marke on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 5:32 pm

I agree with you Marke

That what the Castro needs more of are good, quality bars/lounges/clubs which cater to the neighborhood and the desire for excellent music and service. What it needs less of is tourist-oriented establishments designed for the vacationer and the day-tripper from the East Bay. The neighborhood lacks soul these days - it's no accident the coolest stuff is happening outside the Castro.

Here's to hoping it makes a comeback!

Posted by Lucretia Snapples on Nov. 28, 2012 @ 5:37 pm

"...and that one note is

"...and that one note is Rihanna shrieking at us through her tiny, alien nose."
GORGEOUS! Marke

Posted by GuestDanielD on Nov. 29, 2012 @ 1:45 am

hee hee

thanks!

Posted by marke on Nov. 29, 2012 @ 9:24 am

"Balls out" is a term refering to old-time engine governors

which had visible ball shaped weights which swung outward to at the highest permissable RPM.

Incidentally, "Balls to the wall" refers to WWI fighter planes whose ball-ended throttle levers would contact the firewall in front of the pilot when pushed to the extreme.

Nothing gay or testicular about it which is my preference. Otherwise, carry on.

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