BeatBox

If you wake up on a Sunday morning with a splitting hangover and a hazy recollection of throwing back Mojitos while shaking a beaded gourd, there's a good chance you were at the Tunnel Top's ongoing Saturday happening, "Nosotros." The weathered exterior of the Tunnel Top offers few hints to the dive's charms, but once inside the place brims with cozy ambience. A dim chandelier (made from empty wine bottles) and rough stucco walls give the bar an unassuming Euro charm, while El Doctor (aka DJ Alvaro) leads a motley cast of turntablists through infectious strains from the Southern Hemisphere. After enough liquid courage, people head to the upstairs loft, where they grind along with the Afro beat and Brazilian classics and rattle the assortment of percussion instruments on hand. Things get started Saturdays around 9 p.m. at 601 Bush (at Stockton), S.F. Admission is free; call 986-8900.
-- Nate Cavalieri

Club Six's intimate basement/cave, home to so many good nights when the right DJ takes control, will be a perfect setting for Doc Martin's four-hour set at "Get Underground." The now-internationally known Martin got his start DJing in San Francisco clubs of yesteryear, such as DV8, but his career didn't truly ignite until moving to Los Angeles more than a decade ago. Once down south, he presided over an amazing after-hours party called "Flammable Liquid," and buzz spread quickly. Today the Doc has nearly perfected what we young folks like to simply call "throwing down," so don't come to this night unless you're prepared to smile, dance, and sweat it up. "Get Underground" with house and funk DJs Doc Martin, Hector Moralez, Jah Yzer, Vin Sol, and Rebecca on Saturday, Jan. 17, from 10 p.m. till the wee hours at Club Six, 60 Sixth St. (at Jessie), S.F. Admission is $10 before 11 p.m., $15 after; call 863-1221 or go to www.clubsix1.com.
-- Tamara Palmer

Last year saw the meteoric rise in popularity of what has been termed "mash-ups" or "bastard pop." Basically, a mash-up is a bootlegged song that combines two different songs -- often radically different, like, say, something from Mötley Crüe and Michael Jackson -- to form a new, "bastardized" mix. DJs Adrian and the Mysterious D gave birth to the monthly night "Bootie" in late 2003 to celebrate these novelty jams that are almost always perfect party fodder -- and that the first 20 people through the door can take home in the form of a free mash-up mix CD. January's edition of the party features a midnight performance by Smash-Up Derby 2, which is billed as a "live mash-up rock band." Expect all those involved to sweetly murder the classics as patrons guzzle vodka Slurpees. Shake your "Bootie" on Wednesday, Jan. 14, from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. at the Cherry Bar & Lounge, 917 Folsom (at Fifth Street), S.F. Admission is $5; visit www.blue-period.com/bootie for more info.
-- Tamara Palmer