BeatBox

This past year, a harvest of dewy-eyed club promoters poked their oddly dyed and oddly shaved scalps above the salted soils of San Francisco's nightlife and started throwing parties that suggest a new kind of homo scene, one that reaches beyond that of SOMA and the Castro. A glowing example of the trend -- brought to you by the folks behind "Guilty," "ReHab," and "The Tubesteak Connection" -- is "White Swallow"(get it? Ew), which takes place at the (overpriced) Beauty Bar. Here, the creative, the bitter, and the shy converge to listen to DJs Mr. Anthony, Bus Station John, and Chicken spin, well, pretty much your favorite pop songs (like Britney Spears' "Toxic," et al.), those tunes that you're too afraid, or too cool, to request. Meanwhile, a similar brand of beats can be found at yet another of this scene's house- and trance-free parties, "Macho,"a Tenderloin newbie that plays sped-up pop songs for, er, sped-up folks. Residing in Club Rendez-Vous' dingy bar/disco, "Macho" makes for the perfect place to sleaze your way around without the risk of running into the follicle-free, beefy types lurking at Mezzanine. Together, these clubs illustrate that there's a niche for good music somewhere between the dive bar and the oversize dance arena. "White Swallow" goes down at 10 p.m. this Wednesday, June 30; call 285-0323 or visit www.beautybar.com. "Macho" kicks off at 9 p.m. this Saturday, July 3; call 309-CLUB or visit www.clubrendez-vous.com.
-- Brock Keeling

Formed more than a decade ago, Felonioushas been somewhat of a Bay Area anomaly: a fully live hip hop band -- sans DJ -- embedded in the capital of West Coast turntablism. While Felonious is most indebted to jazz-infused funk, the group traverses numerous genres on any given night, rendering boundaries irrelevant with a repertoire that includes a live hip hop theater piece titled Beatbox: A Raparetta. And while this all carries the stench of novelty, Felonious' three-piece backing band balances the heady conceptual stuff with party-inducing breaks, and the group's four MCs come equipped with some of the bay's tightest rhymes. This Friday, July 2, Felonious will perform with fellow Bay Area hip hop stalwarts Psychokinetics as part of True Skool's ongoing live hip hop showcase at 12 Galaxies; call 970-9777 or go to www.true-skool.org.
-- Sam Chennault