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Tori Balenciaga
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Kitty Tapata
Kitty Tapata was born in a suitcase abandoned outside a San Francisco animal shelter. Due to her good bone structure, she fortunately was spared from the “youth in Asia”, although she was rather unceremoniously spayed. After such inauspicious beginnings, Kitty was adopted and raised by feral drag nuns who taught her the importance of good grooming, heavy eyeliner and kitty glitter. Her formal education is comprised of Wendy Ward Charm School, Drag 101, and a stint in rehab.
Kitty’s first royal title was bestowed by Hairball of Salt Lake City, who designated Kitty as “Panthra, Queen of all She-Cats and Goddess of Lust and Desire”; the title was shortened to Panthra to fit on the sash. With the taste of her first kill still fresh on her lucious lips, Kitty set her sights on being SF’s first Faux Queen waaaay back in the early 1990′s. She lost, but I digress. Next thing you know, Kitty inadvertently followed her furry friend The Bare-Hug Emperor John-Richard Daniel into the heart of darkmess, aka the Imperial Court. There she earned her permanent Imperial Family title, Miss Cowgirl, because she likes beef … and women. Oh, there was no turning back now!
Somewhere in the heart of the SF Tenderloin near SheNaNa Way, Kitty met a tasty young stray named Ginger Snap. Ginger snapped up Kitty by her dark roots, and re-planted her as a PURRmanent Snap-a-Licious Snap Dragon at SF’s Deco Lounge. Since then, Kitty has honed her craft and toughened up her liver. She also spontaneously grew a conjoined male sibling known as Kit, who occasionally takes over and makes the bitch butch it up a bit. See one or both of them at Snap-a-Licious!
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Jesse Hughes
Jesse Taylor Hughes is our head of security and Bartender. You can catch him checking IDs at the door most weekend nights and making sure the party stays safe.
Also known as Sister Peghan Ritual, Jesse has been working with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for the last few months and is nearly a fully professed sister.
Jesse was born on July 10th, 1981, and raised in Petaluma, Ca. He has lived in San Francisco off-and-on since 1999.
He came to the Deco in October of 2009 and started his drag career shortly thereafter. He was “adopted” by resident diva Duplicity Dilemma and took the drag name Indica Dilemma. By drag family extension, Indica is “granddaughter” to Duplicity’s drag mother, our own Ginger Snap.
Jesse’s interests include movies, music, magic, dancing, working with The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, kayaking, skateboarding, cooking, reading, hiking, and enjoying life.
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Bartender Kurt Gilbertson
Born and raised in Midwestern Wisconsin, Kurt has an education in Fashion Design and oodles of experience both in management as well as tending bar. Kurt is in his element when the lights are low, the music is thumping and the bar is rocking! He can also cook up a storm like nobody’s business…
He wanted to share his Deviled Egg recipe:
12 hard-boiled eggs (must eat the first one or two to test quality)
Cut six eggs in half and retain the yolk in a separate bowl.
Place halves on a plate.
Blue cheese bit to be placed in each egg (this is to the liking of the creator or about ¼ teaspoon)
In the bowl of retained egg yolks, cut up the remaining whole hard-boiled eggs (there should be about five unless we over tested the quality).
Add the following to the bowl:
One-tablespoon organic mustard
One-cup real mayonnaise
¼ teaspoon celery salt
¼ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Mix with a Braun mixer until very smooth. Let this mixture mellow, covered, for 30 min in the refrigerator to allow flavors to join.
Put mixture into a plastic bag, clip the corner with a scissors, press the mixture into the corner and squeeze into each egg until filled to your liking.
Grate nutmeg on top of each egg, cover with clear wrap and let sit overnight in the refrigerator.
Oh my they are so yummy and good for us!
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DJ Frantik
DJ Frantik is originally from Canton, Connecticut where he began spinning as a DJ at garage parties, raves and anywhere anyone would listen to his mixes. He got the name Frantik because he is a high energy type of person and now all his closest friends just call me Frantik.
A close DJ friend of Frantik’s heard him play and helped him with his mixing skills. Soon after that, Frantik was hitting the local club scene trying to find a gig. It was hard at first, but one of his first professional DJ gigs was at Divas Nightclub in North Hampton, Massachusetts. That opened the door and he began spinning at other local clubs along the East Coast.
He moved to Cleveland, Ohio, briefly and while living there he was a featured DJ at Cleveland’s 2006 Gay Pride Festival. He also had the opportunity to spin at Chambers Nightclub as well as a few other local clubs.
A friend gave his demo CD to a club owner in San Francisco who fell in love with Frantik’s mixing and song selection and hired him to headline for their 2008 Gay Pride Parties. After a week of spinning there, he knew he wanted to stay in San Francisco and continue his DJ career. Since then he has become one of the Resident DJs at Deco Lounge and has spun at many different events and clubs there. He has done guest spots all around the Bay Area and was picked from over 10,000 entries to be one of 20 contestants for the Energy 92.7 Ultimate DJ Contest. Unfortunately, he was knocked out in the second round.
He has worked with DJ Porn Star at Tattoo and Double Vision and DJ Kid Sysko at the BOC. He has had several guest turns at Bench and Bar, Trainwreck, and BIG.
Frantik spins a broad spectrum of music. My repertoir includes Top 40 Hits, House Music, Latin Dance, Hip Hop, 80′s, Techno, Trance, and Industrial. He has an extensive collection of each and enjoys mixing it all up during his sets.
We’re thrilled to have him be a part of Deco’s entertainment team!
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Sergio Fedasz & the Go BANG! Crew
Sergio is one of our most popular promoters! He and his crew of DJs bring the always-thumpin’ Go BANG! to Deco every month.
From the Go BANG! website, we’ve borrowed their bios and a few photos. Read on!
Sergio began his DJing career on KALX 90.7 FM in Berkeley since 1997, and began to flex his musical chops at live club gigs a couple of years after. As he continued to DJ, and especially after reading “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life” in 2000, his ‘musical vision’ has crystallized into wanting to present the spectrum of dance music – disco, house, funk, jazz, boogie and more – while preserving & paying respect to the vibe of the legendary clubs of Disco’s Golden Age.
Born & raised in the East Bay, and having moved to San Francisco 10 years ago, Sergio is proud of the San Francisco Bay Area’s rich dance music past and especially focuses on keeping our City’s traditions & history alive. His DJing style draws inspiration from legendary Chicago DJ & producer Derrick Carter in addition to the one & only Larry Levan. He strives to keep the proud tradition of the DJ “speaking to the dancer” alive – through the music, lights, and other atmospheric elements of the dancefloor & club.
In 2005, he was chosen as the New Times (SF Weekly/East Bay Express) “DJ Breakthrough” and was invited to play at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami during the Winter Music Conference. In 2006, he was awarded the title of the SF Weekly’s 2006 Music Awards “Best DJ.” Most recently, he was voted BEST DJ in SF Weekly’s 2010 Reader’s Poll!
He continues to pursue his passion of DJing and has been blessed to connect with others who share his love for the music and the proud tradition of San Francisco’s dance music history.
Steve Fabus, one of the first nationally recognized US DJs from the West Cost, began his career playing loft parties and the baths of late ’70s San Francisco. Already the Counter Cultural Capital of America, home of the North Beach Beats and Haight-Ashbury hippie movement, it had recently become the epicenter of sexual liberation. Under the fireworks of social and political change, Steve played parties whose guest list included pre-disco Sylvester, then a member of the radical drag troupe “The Cockettes”, and Harvey Milk, who would become America’s first openly gay politician. San Francisco was one big, energized party then, hosted by a growing gay subculture that was throwing one gigantic, energized party for the world.
While playing the city’s infamous all-night loft party, Boiler Room in 1977, Steve was recruited to spin San Francisco’s first large venue disco, The I-Beam. Trocadero Transfer opened shortly thereafter where Steve shared the booth with Bobby Viteritti. In 1980, Steve became a resident of San Francisco’s legendary EndUp. His shift was the 6 am to 2 am slot on Sunday mornings and many people credit him for starting what is still known to this day as “Church”. It was here that Steve put the edge on his early morning sound with tracks like D-Train’s 1982 release, “You’re The One For Me”.
Offered residencies at both River Club and Tracks, Steve moved to New York City in 1983. There, he also played at the wild, after-hours club, Anvil and (Studio 54 Owner) Steve Rubell’s 80′s mega-club, Palladium. Steve was inspired by many of the great DJs of this pinnacle period of Dance Music, from Larry Levan and David DePino at the Paradise Garage and Tracks, to Robbie Leslie at The Saint. Disco morphed into Garage and House on Steve’s Sundays at Tracks, where the night would not end until Monday morning.
In 1988 Steve moved back to San Francisco to reopen Dreamland, and not long after, joined forces with promoter Gus Bean at new House club, Crew at the the former Trocadero space. Steve then moved to Los Angeles in 1990 and quickly became a resident at Axis, Factory, Asylum and Pulse, and often played at Probe and the legendary afterhours club, Does Your Mama Know?
Steve moved back to his beloved San Francisco in the late nineties where he is now a resident & guiding force of GO BANG!, and guests at Honey Soundsystem, Tubesteak Connection, Casablanca/Underground SF, and other clubs and events.
Stanley Frank was born in San Diego, California and raised on a diet of seemingly endless summer days, sunglasses, palm trees and rollerskates. The soundtrack coming from the radios at the parks was electric: freestyle jams, synth-driven pop ditties and alternative rock classics on every Sunday. It all stuck to him.
He began collecting records at the age of 13. He moved to San Francisco in ’98. He started DJing in 2003. He began the renowned and ridiculous party Chilidog! at the now-defunct Transfer Bar in ’06 and continued for 3 whiskey-soaked years. Stanley joined the Go BANG!ers in 2009, with the party from the very first night! He now throws his weekly Monday party – Viennetta Discotheque – at the UndergroundSF.
His distinct flavor of rare electro-funk, italo disco, house and boogie has garnished such soups as the Stompy/Sunset, Love Parade/LoveEvolution, HONEYSOUNDSYSTEM and Gemini Disco parties. Good Times, indeed!
Tres Lingerie with a friendship that budded over modular synthesizers, Jordan Presnick & Johan Churchill nestled into Tres Lingerie in the summer of 2009 as a Berkeley-based electro-dance funk duo.
Aside from their original productions, they have been making a name in the Disco Preservation scene with AMAZING re-edits of obscure disco tracks, which are now in many a DJ’s bags. They have begun performing live with vocalist & dancer James Anthony, with their first ever live performance at Go BANG! May 2010 still being the talk of the San Francisco scene.
Shared inspiration comes from all styles of dance music but specifically from early electronic Garage, the twilight of disco, the early days of MIDI, and dancefloor-oriented soul from the 1970′s through the 1980′s during the rise of house music.
Nicky B started by simply liking to play records at his home & those of friends. Eventually, Nicky & Derrick Love decided to throw a disco night, Gemini Disco in 2006. The party has grown to be a major part of San Francisco’s Disco preservation scene.
Nicky was one of the original Go BANG! Residents and fell into the role of the party’s graphic designer for posters & flyers, almost single-handedly conceptualizing the party’s visual aesthetic in its formative period.
He’s been known to destroy the dancefloor with such weapons as “Tell You Today” by Loose Joints & The Village Peoples’ “San Francisco.”
In addition to his love for disco, italo, boogie and their related genres, he is a heavy collector & enthusiast of Japanese hip-hop, with an extensive collection of tracks from the late-’80s to mid-’90s.
After April 2010, Nicky moved to pursue his dreams and spread the disco gospel! We miss him dearly.
Ken Vulsion is a founding member of San Francisco’s premiere Heavy Disco Dance collective – Honey Soundsystem.
Honey was formed in 2005 when Ken Vulsion, a veteran of the early ’90s Manhattan club kid scene, heard Pee Play, then 19, throw down an Adam and the Ants reedit at Café Flore. Since then, Ken & the rest of the crew (currently Peeplay, Jason Kendig, Robot Hustle, Josh Cheon & Derek Bobus) have put their hearts & souls into preserving San Francisco’s rich dance music history, with a focus on San Francisco’s Gay community. They also have a keen ear for the great new music styles from around the globe, and from our own back yard. Their weekly Sunday Paradise Loft Party is a destination spot for locals & out-of-towners alike. They are also the “sister” party of London’s Horse Meat Disco. Recently, they were awarded 2009′s Goldie Award for Best Local Music by the San Francisco Bay Guardian!
Ken recently was asked to do a mix for Tim Sweeney’s Beats In Space radio show beatsinspace.net and has been pivotal in unearthing previously-unreleased Patrick Cowley tapes – with the “Catholic” EP being the first in Stefan Goldmann and Finn Johannsen’s Prototypes series on Macro Label.
A retrospective of Cowley’s works in October of 2008 still resonates with fans of his music and all that he meant to San Francisco. It was a touching & heartfelt art and music retrospective that is still spoken of today.
Ken was willing to take a chance on a then-unknown Go BANG! party, playing for the very first party and helping with poster & flyer designs upon Nicky B’s departure. He also returns on occasion to bless us with his deck-rocking abilities! It is always a joy.
DJ Flight grew up listening to Jazz, strongly influenced by his father who followed the beat movement. He has tons of first prints of classic jazz albums on legendary jazz labels.
As he grew, his older sisters influenced his musical perspective by listening to the 70′s jazz, soul to disco artists (such as Deodato, MFSB, Minnie Ripperton, Herbie Hancock, Roy Ayers).
In the mid 80′s in Montreal he was further influenced by “underground funk and soul” or “New York Boogie” which was the precursor to house music, experiencing Larry Levan at Paradise Garage, who served as a big inspiration to his start as a DJ. He went on to DJ at Mars, Zanzibar, the Tunnel, Nells, Boy Bar, Soul Kitchen, Boy Bar, Susan Bartch’s Paper party in NYC, and The Business, DiSalvios and Royal Bar in Montreal.
During his career he has performed with Marshall Jefferson, Colonel Abrams, Liz Torrez & Tony Humphries. He moved to San Francisco in the late 80s and took a short hiatus until he resurfaced to DJ in the late 90′s to DJ and produce. His friends and colleagues – including his cousin Vinroc of the World Famous Triple Threat DJ Crew – have opened his ears to up music styles that fascinate him such as broken beat , nu-jazz and psychedelic experimental hip-hop.
Eddy Bauer: Originally from the Midwest, DJ Eddy Bauer has claimed Oakland, CA as his home for the past 8 years. During this time, he has crafted a reputation for diverse party-crushing sets that run the gamut of Rap, Disco, Boogie, Soul, and Electronic.
An avid record collector and lover of dance music in all its forms, Eddy Bauer showcases his enthusiasm and versatility at his monthly UPGRADE party in Berkeley. He blogs at djeddybauer.com.
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