Honey! All photos by Joshua Rotter.
By Joshua Rotter
It's a story as old as disco. Attractive "straight" Midwesterner moves to the big city to find himself, only to get blindsided by a barrage of drugs, sex, and tea dances. True, dancing became a major component of gay life in the post-Stonewall '70s, when the dance floor served as both a place of expression and escape for many gay men. It's this defining period in gay history that novelist Andrew Holleran highlighted in his 1978 novel, Dancer from the Dance.
Taking his title from poet William Butler Yeats's 50 year-old line, "How can we know the dancer from the dance?" Holleran attempted to examine this brain-twister in his chronicle of gays looking for companionship and understanding in pre-AIDS New York City and Fire Island, by focusing on the misadventures of his beautiful yet provincial protagonist Anthony Malone, who loses himself in the shuffle and shag club scene.
Thirty years later, the Honey Soundsystem collective - DJs Pee Play, KenVulsion, Robot Hustle, Jason Kendig, and Josh Cheon - took cues from this groundbreaking work for their most recent theme party.
Transforming a basement segment of 1015 Folsom, the onetime Mineshaft bathhouse into a '70s-era gay disco, guest DJs spun a mixture of artists mentioned in Holleran’s book - including Patti Jo and Barrabas - along with other disco classics and Chicago house tracks for the handlebar-moustached crowd.
The genres were tied together by KenVulsion's video projection installation, which juxtaposed images of '90s rave-era “Malones” against the rare 27-minute single "Patrick's Symphony" by San Francisco electronic music pioneer Patrick Cowley, who died of HIV in the early '80s.
But it was a sexy Studio 54-esque performance piece that finally shed light on the night’s question. Searching for lasting partners in da clubs is a fruitless endeavor if one is unable to first divorce oneself from the dance - or nightlife’s many temptations.
HONEY SOUNDSYSTEM
Third Sunday of the month, 9 p.m.–3 a.m., $5-$7
Next location: 103 Harriet, SF; theme to be determined
www.honeysoundsystem.com
digg •
del.icio.us •
sphere •
google
•
Comments (1)
Looks like it was an awesome party...
Posted by Dale | March 28, 2008 11:05 AM