Love Fest

For the last few years, San Francisco has tried a small experiment. Spin off Berlin's famous Love Parade, a celebration and exhibition of electronic music that brings thousands out to dance into the street to music spun by some of the world's best DJs.

San Francisco's Love Fest has grown over it's first few years and now, it's clear, is a full fledged annual institution in the city.

It does start as a parade in the morning. Moving dance parties lumber down Market street, pumping their beats until they all settle in front of San Francisco's City Hall. A full city square block is closed to traffic, and somewhere in then neighborhood of twenty sound systems simultaneously pump fabulous beats to the sunny delight of the flamboyantly costumed crowd.

For this Saturday of the parade, the weather forecast had been daunting. Rain. The sunny memories I had of parades past were in jeopardy of being at least chilled, if not washed out altogether.

But I tried to remain optimistic, and in true SF weather style, the forecast was completely wrong and the day turned out sunny and warm as could be.

I donned my best playa wear and even borrowed a new pair of red velvet pants from my roommate Kathleen. Yes girls' pants. And they fit me like a glove.

I strolled down Oak Street looking like a refugee from The Soul Train, and in true SF jaded style, no one batted an eyelash. Once I got within about three blocks of the event, I started to see other freaks like me. In Hayes Valley, passers by were clearly a bit baffled by all the people walking around looking like they lost their circus, but once I did hear one guy say, "Oh yeah, Love Fest is today." But mostly, the downtown area was going about its business as if nothing was going on.... until you got to City Hall. It's amazing how you can push a hundred thousand party people into one square block of the city, and it hardly creates a ripple in the surrounding blocks.

I walked through the gate and tossed a small donation into a bucket and began the often futile task of finding my friends in the sea of madness. That task was actually secondary though to the task of finding the best music. I had written down a few DJ names I knew along with the name of the parade floats they'd be playing on. But it became clear that I may not find them, and that the best plan of action was to find a dance party you like.... and then dance.

I did a quick once around, popping into the crowd at a few parties, all the while texting my friends to see if we could meet up.

After an hour or so of surveying and sampling, I did manage to find my good friend Heather and her posse. I stuck more or less with them but popped off occasionally for a wander and to see what was going on at various stages.

I guess I spent most of my time that day on McAllister street where the Pink Mammoth crew, the NeuroWeapon car, and whoever was next to them. All three neighbors threw down seriously good beats all day long.

I did get to see Ana Sia again. Twice in two days. Crazy. I did note that her set was quite different from the set I had seen the night before. Her Love Fest set was great, but the tempos were often quite slow and I found it less danceable than the night before.

Also rocking the NeuroWeapon was David Starfire. I had never heard him before, but Heather had noted his presence, so I went to check him out. When I got there, I bumped into Paula, a girl I had met the night before at 1015. Not recognizing me in my costume, she handed me a flier for an after party that night... I squinted at her and lowered my shades. She laughed and gave me a big hug and we chatted some more about the music. It's funny how people who like similar music are bound to bump into one another over and over around here.

Starfire was the highlight of the day for me. His remixes were stellar, a diverse, upbeat mix of hard rock, hip hop, and breaks. The music on his Myspace page, however, rocks music with a more Indian flare. His sets could vary a great deal I imagine.

I knew I still had another show ahead of me that evening, and my legs were screaming for mercy from a full day and previous evening of dancing. So sadly I departed.

On the walk home, I found myself walking next to Ana Sia. I said hello and told her I enjoyed her sets, both today's and yesterday's. She said thank you. But wasn't very warm I have to say. Paula told me some DJs aren't super nice. I'll give her one more shot before passing any judgement of my own.

Great beats though, girl.

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