Mission Mission

From a Dusted Magazine top-10 list by musician Leyna Noel Tilbor:

This one time at Jack’s was the best show any of us had been to in a Very Long Time. Jack’s is a neighborhood place, not too on the scene, and you can tell because moms are there, and gangster looking tough guys, and hipsters, and fun people in general. It’s two dollar buds so that might have to do with the fact that its is popping off. I’ve seen broken glass, broken mirrors, and douche bags walking on tables. If it were a house party, the cops’d come. But Thursdays belong to DJ Purple, his incredible Karaoke with a capital K, and his deep purple velvet (velour?) blazer. There is not a proper stage, just an area by the door crammed with screens and fluorescent-fur-covered wireless mics. DJ Purple is damn unfuckwithable; you have to literally run up to catch your song as it’s starting because Purple doesn’t pause or call roll. He DJs the karaoke songs so they run right into one another. Really embodying the music major grad years later, DJ Purple rocks a saxophone, playing leads on every song and adds pitch-perfect vocal harmonies, unsolicited. This one particular Thursday, I’m rolling in a crowd three-deep — myself, my man Daniel, and his housemate Neale — and we’re enjoying the mayhem. Neale only does songs that have key changes (usually ends up with Neil Diamond). Yours truly sang NIN’s “Closer” with a perfect stranger/gothy lady who seemed timid about the chorus. A duo of Latin dudes did “California Love” and the WHOLE PLACE IS DANCING, I mean getting down. They’re getting in everyone’s faces and it looks just like MTV. A tall kid in skinny jeans just channelled Bowie with “Heroes” and it’s truly epic. Feeling so ebullient. To intensify the vibe further “Bohemian Rhapsody” comes on, and it’s a ridiculous, the tender togetherness in this bar. Swaying and singing loud, as if we were in a pub. Then, the song crescendoes just before the Wayne’s World freakout part and a mosh pit erupts. Neale, who is from Baltimore and hell-bent on being “rowdy” grabs me and throws me into the pit. Though in sneakers, I get caught terribly underfoot in the pit, and there’s a sudden alien pop in my right foot. Hop out of the pit stunned, alas, the problem in my foot is real and we aim for the ER. I’m mostly super-bummed to leave the dance floor. Hours and X-rays and Vicotins later the three of us consummate the bizarre awesome journey of the night with 5am peanut butter shakes at Sparky’s.

Read the rest of the list here.

[via DJ Purple on Twitter] [File photo by Vic Wong maybe?]

Not sure I want to get into a rambling reminiscence of the days of Jack’s (way out 24th, past Potrero Avenue) and DJ Purple and mini-pitchers of Busch and drunken singalongs and blackout walks home and stolen bikes and broken hearts and lots and lots of Hall and Oates — but if you know what I’m talking about, you know what I’m talking about.

Now, Jack’s is still a boarded-up hole in the ground, and DJ Purple is still going strong elsewhere (Slate Bar on Thursdays), and we’re all too old for mini-pitchers of Busch — but KARAOKE IS RETURNING TO 24th STREET, thanks to Roger Niner and Pop’s.

And what’s more, Roger Niner has a good deal of stuff you don’t normally find at karaoke. Here are a handful that trip me out:

1. “Dance Yrself Clean” by LCD Soundsystem
2. “Seasons (Waiting on You)” by Future Islands
3. “Hounds of Love” by the Futureheads
4. “Nightcall” by Kavinsky (the song from Drive)
5. “Later” by Dr. Dog
6. “How Can U Love Me” by Unknown Mortal Orchestra

My pal Nattles did the LCD one last summer, and though it’s 9 minutes long and songs that long usually don’t go over well at karaoke, it was awesome. The crowd went wild throughout.

I did the Future Islands one last November after the Weezer show at Slim’s, and I did my best to channel that dude’s insane dancing abilities, and it was awesome.

Believe me, Roger Niner shows are… awesome.

Peruse Roger Niner’s songbook and see what other crazy gems he’s got.

And of course, RSVP and invite your friends!

Imagine yourself in an indie dance & electro pop paradise filled with the best dance jams, cool people, an awesome bar and oh yeah, it’s free! Now snap out of it, dust off your favorite dance shoes and head over to Pops Bar to experience it for yourself this weekend! Your weekend music in the mission plans: Friday with SWEETHEARTS & Saturday with Get Lucky!

Get all the Pops Bar music in the mission happenings below:

7/20/15 MONDAY

MOM at POPS:

Motown on Mondays

It’s only Monday if you treat it like one.

M.O.M

9PM START, 1:30AM end

Hey!

Check out my

M.O.M.

Mondays at Pops

DJ BLUZ, ALARM & GUESTS

PLAYS ORIGINALS, EXCLUSIVE REMIXES

AND CLOSE RELATIVES OF YOUR FAVORITE

MOTOWN SONGS…

7/21/15 TUESDAY

Tropicana Tuesdays

“Quality Latin BASS”

Every Tuesday at POPS BAR

Music: FREE

Time: 9pm – 2am

Tropicana Tuesday with DJ Baysik, playing a mixture of islander & latin grooves all night, from Celia Cruz to Vybz Kartel. Experience the only Tuesday night Latin themed party in the mission.

7/22/15 WEDNESDAY

Happy Hour Entertainment 6-9PM with Benezra Tergis and friends. Live Latin Sounds.

MUSIC THERAPY

Electro-Cumbia Breaks, Hip Hop, Nu Latin Beats

9PM-1:30am

No Cover

21 UP

7/23/15 THURSDAY

BFF.FM Night

9PM-1:30AM

Rotating DJs from local BFF.fm radio! This week: Baystrife

Come support local community radio.

No Cover

7/24/15 FRIDAY

Happy Hour Entertainment 6-9PM swing dancing with the Purple House Good Time Band.

SWEETHEARTS
9PM-2AM

A very fun time dancing with buddies to MUSIC. Sweethearts love electro pop dance music and want everyone who comes out to have a great time dancing to loud music.

No Cover

21 UP

7/25/15 SATURDAY

Happy Hour Entertainment 6-9PM with Patch & Rita. Who could resist this dynamic duo, with their sonorous adventures into the deserts of early 20th century songwriting? If you’ve got a hankerin’ for some rootsy boot-stompin’ tunes about whiskey and cheatin’ women, then this is your place. Patch & Rita throw down some tunes like this coast has never seen, and you’ll leave stomping your feet, we promise.

Get Lucky!

with DJs Six & Candy

Spinning indie dance & electro music videos. Expect to get your dance jam on to:

The Presets CSS Cut Copy LCD Soundsystem Beth Ditto Hot Chip Empire of the Sun Dragonette The Ting Tings Monarchy METRONOMY Chromeo Yeah Yeah Yeahs Tiga Kylie Minogue Kimbra Digitalism Martin Solvieg Calvin Harris Robyn CLASSIXX Icona Pop La Roux Daft Punk Miami Horror RAC Friendly Fires Gigamesh Holy Ghost! The Wombats Bloc Party Foster The People Two Door Cinema Club GROUPLOVE Lykke Li and anything else to make you sweat on the dance floor!

9pm-2am

No Cover

21 UP

7/26/15 SUNDAY

DOUBLE FEATURE SUNDAYS

Let’s face it, we have all become addicted to binge watching lately. We invite you to cozy up at Pops Bar for our new Double Feature Sundays where you can enjoy your favorite movies and series with your friends. Without a bad seat in the house, your feature will be enjoyed on 5 screens and broadcast through our state of the art sound system. To get the ball rolling we’ve picked some classics for the month of July:

Week 3: Cult Classic Biker Flicks

Sunday July 26 @ 9PM

Devil’s Angels &

Jules Dassin’s Thieves’ Highway

Want to host your own double feature Sunday with your friends? Just send us your suggestions to tom@popssf.com

No Cover

21 UP

POPS BAR

2800 24th Street @ York

San Francisco, CA 94110

www.popssf.com

3D City is a year long stereoscopic photography project by Doctor Popular

An hour from from Pinnacles National Park, we stopped for breakfast in Gilroy, a town famous for garlic and motorcycles. It was 9 am and we spotted at least 100 bikers cruising the town’s main drag, occasionally interrupted by the town’s sheriff, who starred down the elderly motorcyclists like a mall security guard about to bust some teens for loitering in the food court.

This roll, and the previous roll from Pinnacles, where shot on Lomochrome purple film hence the unusual colors. Huge thanks to my friend Rob Reeves for scanning this roll for me.

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3D City is a year long stereoscopic photography project by Doctor Popular

A couple weeks ago, Christine and I hiked through Pinnacles National Park. I’d been climbing there several times before, but this was my first day hike through the park. I’m really not much of a hiker in general, but we had a great time and I was happy to bring my Nimslo 3D camera along and a roll of Lomography’s super-weird LomoChrome 35mm film.

LomoChrome is an experimental film that sort of uses the same technique as redscale film (which is just the effect you get when you invert a roll of color negative film and shoot it from the other side), but somehow extracts more of a purple/light blue hue in the process. I kind of dig it, especially for capturing a place strange and beautiful as Pinnacles. Huge thanks to my friend Rob Reeves for scanning this roll for me. He’s got the magic touch with film.

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Have you checked out M.O.M at POPS? Your number #1 reason to love Mondays is taking San Francisco by storm with 2 locations every Monday night. Motown on Mondays invites you to party hop between Madrone Art Bar & Pops Bar! M.O.M is a family of DJs, producers, musicians and music enthusiasts that all share a passion for the convergence of soul music and dancing. MOM DJs represent the most spirited soul parties with a unique vibration. Gathering their musical inspiration from Motown, soul, funk and disco with an emphasis on new and classic remixes/edits. Join the movement!

4/13/15 MONDAY

MOM at POPS: Motown on Mondays

It’s only Monday if you treat it like one.

M.O.M

9PM START, 1:30AM end

Hey!

Check out my

M.O.M.

Mondays at Pops

DJ GORDO CABEZA, TIMOTEO GIGANTE, THE CAPTAIN AND WEEKLY GUESTS

PLAY ORIGINALS, EXCLUSIVE REMIXES

AND CLOSE RELATIVES OF YOUR FAVORITE

MOTOWN SONGS…

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(That’s 13 DJ Purples, yep.)

I asked the legendary DJ Purple what his top 5 favorite Halloween-related jams were, and I got this hot list of 13:

1. Spooky – Classics IV
2. Strangelove – Depeche Mode
3. Ghostbusters – Ray Parker, Jr.
4. Monster Mash - Bobby “Boris” Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers
5. Monster – Lady Gaga
6. The Purple People-Eater – Sheb Wooley
7. Another One Bites the Dust – Queen
8. Runnin’ with the Devil – Van Halen
9. Sweet Transvestite – Rocky Horror
10. Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo
11. Love Potion #9 – The Searchers
12. Psycho Killer – Talking Heads
13. Superstition – Stevie Wonder

Thanks, DJ Purple! Get practicing, everybody! Singin’ & Pingin’ Halloween Edition (starring DJ Purple) is this Friday (which happens to be Halloween) at Verdi Club in the Mission:

We’ve been doing these American Tripps parties for a few years now, and the Halloween ones are always among the very best. The costumes and all, y’know? So, I’m gonna do a bunch of posts this week ramping up to the next one (this Friday).

Here are a bunch of my favorite costumes from over the years…

#1 has to be Kreayshawn and the Yip Yips at the Secret Alley, 2011:

Oh man, how about everybody from Bob’s Burgers doing karaoke with DJ Purple on a boat in the middle of the bay, 2013:

This next one’s from Australia Day, not Halloween, but I thought hairy-armed Lorde might be a newly relevant last-minute idea for this year:

Another all-time fave, all the parents from Rugrats onstage for the costume contest at Rickshaw Stop, 2013:

I loved this gender-bending Miley and Robyn (with Iron Man) also on a boat in the middle of the bay, 2013:

And of course… Mission Mission boyz Andrew Sarkarati and Vic Wong as Nic Cage and Uma Thurman at the Secret Alley, 2013:

The next American Tripps Halloween party is this Friday (aka Halloween) at Verdi Club (aka an awesome place for a party) with DJ Purple doing his patented Dance Karaoke thing. Here’s the poster:

He managed to mix a little “Careless Whisper” into “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House.” An epic surprise at an all-around epic final LCD show by North American Scum. (But they’ll be back soon with a Talking Heads show.)

[via Simon]

This all started when I sang 45 songs in May and wanted to brag about it, but also, I just wholeheartedly want to give props to the local karaoke scene (and karaoke scenes around the world) for making me feel so good all the time. This month I sang an Ian Dury song for goodness’ sake! Can you imagine!?

1. I Will Follow — U2
2. Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick — Ian Dury
3. All My Friends — LCD Soundsystem
4. Ape Man — The Kinks
5. Leave It Alone — NOFX
6. Perfect Day — Lou Reed
7. Could You Be Loved — Bob Marley
8. It’s Oh So Quiet — Björk
9. Tubthumping — Chumbawumba
10. Pompeii — Bastille
11. Boots — Nancy Sinatra
12. Wannabe — Spice Girls

In particular, I want to mention KJ Eileen, who, in a crazy twist, doesn’t have a website! I think she does last Fridays of the month at Bender’s and some Sundays at Maggie McGarry’s in North Beach? Anyway thanks to her I got to sing the Kinks, NOFX and Lou Reed in one 2-hour period! I couldn’t believe my luck!

Also, “Pompeii” is exactly as fun as you’d imagine. Thanks, DJ Purple!