A few weeks back, I came to the horrifying startling realization that the music video for Third Eye Blind’s seminal nineties classic, “Semi-Charmed Life” was shot in the Mission. Today it comes to my attention that the trains in the music video for Janet Jackson’s “All For You” look exactly like Muni Metro trains! 

So, it would seem that I have a gift for discovering pieces of San Francisco-related ephemera within pop music videos from the late nineties and early 2000s. I guess it does pay off to indulge one’s semi-embarrassing musical hankerings on YouTube. Does this mean it’s okay to openly appreciate the musical stylings of Janet Jackson and Third Eye Blind? If not the music itself, I think we can agree that the incredibly precise synchronized choreography (in Janet’s case) deserves some serious praise.

The soy milk at Boogaloos. Also, this made me miss Frisco Disco at the Transfer. That was the most fun! Even that night where everyone’s shit got stolen by some dude who looked like Hello Kitty THAT WAS STILL A GOOD NIGHT. Where is the new Transfer? Let me know, I’m older and fatter now but I still gots to move! I’m like a shark, if I ain’t swimming, I’m dying. 

As Serg said, these fliers keep getting better and better.

They took nrg 92.7 away from us in its heyday. It was fucked and cruel and the death of the last indy radio voice in SF (that isn’t a fucking pirate cat). Anyway, I’ll try to relive the glory years here on Uptown Almanac by once a week posting a song that you’d only hear on nrg. It’s your weekly DANCE BREAK, SLUTS!

But first, a story. If you hate me just skip this section and get STRAIGHT TO DANCIN! My first selection is from the summer of 2005. I listened religiously to the morning show on my hellish commute to Mill Valley. My friend Mark and I were pretty much the only people who called in and it was awesome because Fernando rewarded us with things like free tickets to the Black and White Ball PATTI LABELLE HOLLER. That ball was the best night of my life, we arrived looking like Laurel and Hardy, and proceeded to eat all the food, drink all the booze, and cut past everyone in line to get into various buildings by Mark telling the security guards I was pregnant. Highlights of the night? Attempting to eat a display piece in the Asian Art Museum and physically stopping Mark from making out with Minnie Driver. Oh also, Mark spilled a drink down the front of one woman’s dress because he “didn’t like her attitude” and then we elbowed our way into the front of the Patti LaBelle concert so that we could loudly sing along to, “If you asked me to” but then Patti turned the tables on us and spent the majority of the evening just screaming her own name. AMAZING.

Ahh, to be young and carefree. Thanks for the memories, Fernando.