Ten Years of Om
In celebration of my birthday on Tuesday, I decided to go out to Ten Year of Om party at Mezzanine in San Francisco. I was really excited for this party because—well, click the link and look at that lineup!
I arrived at the party just after 11, waited in line for a fairly short time, paid my $25, and went inside. The crowd was fairly thin in the main room at J Boogie’s Dubtronic Science finished up and passed microphones over to the jazz-influenced hip-hop of Colossus. After a few songs, I decided to go upstairs and see what was going on there. Unfortunately, I missed Afro-Mystik, who I was looking forward to the most.
Chuck Love and Four Feet were playing to a packed upstairs room. Chuck spun CDs and soloed over the top with a dizzying array of instruments. First, he was on a funky nylon-stringed electric guitar. Then, he pulled out a pocket trumpet, blew a couple of solos on a flute, whipped out a melodica, and played some solos on a normal electric guitar. The crowd was pumped the entire time and it was a hell of a show.
Rithma was next, singing along with his records as best he could (his mic level was low). The crowd thinned out a little bit, which gave me a little more room to dance without killing anybody. His track selection was perfect and the atmosphere was charged. Rithma really wrecked it with an amazing set.
I headed downstairs for a few minutes to get a drink and check out Mark Farina. He was ripping it up with a style that leaves little room to guess why he’s the label’s marquee DJ. The dancefloor downstairs was absurdly packed and moving around nearly impossible. After a bit, I thought I’d be better off back upstairs.
Andy Caldwell was on it upstairs, playing a set of acid jazz complete with 303-inspired basslines. Then, we wander into the funky house territory. Andy was in prime form tonight to the great appreciation of the crowd. John Howard took over after him and continued the techno and house tracks.
At the end of the night, I wandered downstairs to catch Johnny Fiasco wailing on those turntables. He unleashed a non-stop barrage of deep house classics, including his own remix of Only U by my friends, UNEAQ, which has only just been finished.
This was a magnificent party full of familiar faces, good friends, a fun atmosphere, and a stellar line-up of the best house DJs in the world. Happy 10 years, Om! Keep on doing it.
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