c'est magnifique

I think that some of the purest happy moments in my life have been while DJing at Bardot a Go Go. The first one at the Cocodrie, when all the songs were so brand new and exciting; the second one when all the KALX people came, and it seemed like we were at the epicenter of cool; the time at 330 Ritch during the height of the dot-com boom, when people waited an hour in line and French girls stripped down to their bras and the crowd sang along with the songs; the time we had cute French girls follow us to an after party where suits talked about how "rolling" had changed their lives.

Anyway, this one was pretty fantastique too. It's all a bit of a blur, but here's what I remember. A lot of people came -- and early too. So early that Alan was almost not worried, but not enough that he didn't play a 12:30 song at 10:15 (the original "Tainted Love," which I really wanted to play later, but didn't want to be one of those DJs that knowingly repeats a song). I made a funny blunder because I was so happy to see some friends arrive. Seeing Wendy, Michelle and Kristina, I walked up and gave them a very loud, happy greeting, complete with arm squeeze -- only to realize that it wasn't Kristina. It was a friend of Wendy's who gave me one of those "who the fuck are you looks?" that women must dispense in nightclubs a lot. Here's a pic of her and Kristina, later on.


Waldo burned me a French rap song by Yelle right before the show and it killed. Same with that Flosstradamus remix of Matt & Kim's "Yeah Yeah." Johnnie's ELO track at the very end was awesome, as was a French version of some second wave ska song he played. Alan gets the low grade for playing that horrible "Stroke It" song by Clarence Carter. Apologies to those two indie boys who really wanted to hear Jacqueline Taieb -- I swear I couldn't find any. I played a song for Megan, this odd track "Nicolas" by Vetty, because it seems to be sung by a little boy, which is something she likes. Here she is with her cool nails.


More nails from Sarah, who's been there since almost the beginning.


There were lots of great looking folks, including Jo and her friends, who came as French maids.


And then this guy in a Browns T-shirt and big 'stache. He was going nuts on stage all night. Go figure.


I overheard one kid in the bathroom at the beginning of the night say "This night is gonna rock! There are gonna be hot girls everywhere!" And he was right. And now I have to be teased about making out with one of them. Which is a small price to pay, even if when I was doing it a little part of my brain was thinking, "Oh god, I hope Megan can't see me, because just last week she was saying how much she hates PDMO (public displays of making out)." But she gave me the ok later on. Whew.


The next day was debauched as well, as I joined Joanna for her friend Susan's birthday celebration in Dolores Park. It was also Symphony in the Park day, which made for an odd cross section of old classical music folks, hipsters, and Jo's hella gay contingent. I'm sad to say I didn't get any photos -- I was a bit Amsterdammed out. You'll just have to imagine Susan in her Hello Kitty bikini, the Peewee Herman impersonator with the giant dildo who attacked her, and everyone singing "You're So Gay" to the tune of that Carly Simon song (sample lyrics for Susan: "I bet you think this song is about sex").

Suitably faded, I decided to check out the end of the Good Magazine party on Minna Street. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, Diplo and Kid Sister had played, so all I heard was A-Trak (Kanye West's DJ, big woop) playing Top 40 remixes, crunky bangers, and disco. Lots of kids in oversized glasses and sideways hats, save for Frank Cho, who wore his usual suit. I did get a nice shot of the sun going down. Oh wait, that's a prop light. Still, it pretty much set the tone for my enjoyably wobbly walk to BART.