Last chance for the 35th Anniversary buttons!I guess this is the day of the year where I'm supposed to make a blog post tooting our horn about all that we've accomplished in 2020.
Well. We're not dead yet.
I guess I'll count that as a win.
My first blog post of 2020 year was the story about how, having noted that nightclubs are hotbeds of disease, I tried to figure out how to give away flu shots at the club, and failed utterly at this project.
That story was unpleasantly prescient.
In January, we had started a new live music showcase, Star Crash. We got to do our second one in February, and then, The Rona. We've kept Star Crash going as a monthly webcast while in lockdown, and I'm really happy with how those have turned out. You can find most of them on our YouTube channel -- the ones that didn't get blocked by robots, because YouTube and the Content Mafia are just The Worst.
We also got to do one last in-person Cyberdelia back in February! That was great.
And after that, the shitshow began in earnest.
During those first few months of lockdown we kept paying our employees for quite a while, and eventually some Payroll Protection Program money allowed us extend that, but now all that money is gone and we're stripped back to a skeleton crew running in low-power mode.
They say that a second round of aid will be coming, but until we've seen the backside of both Cheeto Mussolini and Kentucky Palpatine, I'm not holding my breath.
Once we entered the long nightmare of "paying rent and insurance on an empty building", we upgraded our network and video infrastructure, went HD with our webcasts, and basically transformed the empty club into a TV studio. We've managed to bring you several DJ performances each week, including Death Guild every Monday, Turbo Drive every first Friday, and a couple of live burlesque and variety performances each month, between Hubba Hubba Revue (every third Saturday, next one on Jan 16) and and Apothecary Raree (every first Friday, next one tomorrow). We've even had a handful of live bands! We've had:
- Centric81 at the May Turbo Drive;
- Crashfaster and E.N. Cowell at the August 8bitSF;
- Flesh Industry in September;
- Starpause, Bleeds and Triss at the September 8bitSF;
- Great Highway, filmed live at DNA for the September Star Crash; and
- Le Fomo filmed live at DNA for the October Star Crash.
All of these streaming shows are supported only by donations, since pay-per-view models for this sort of thing just aren't viable. So please kick in if you can.
We also got some nice press about our webcast series:
- SF Examiner: Keeping DNA Lounge on life support The legendary San Francisco nightclub was already struggling financially. Then COVID-19 happened.
- Broke-Ass Stuart: How DNA Lounge Is Keeping SF Weird During The Pandemic.
- SF Weekly: Trials & Innovations: Live Music During COVID-19. Socially distanced shows, live streams, and new tech won't be enough.
- And, we won "Best Nightclub" again in the 2020 Best of the Bay!
We had just re-vamped our parklet to make it be more comfortable for outdoor dining when Lockdown Two began.
And this year was our 35th Anniversary.
We had plans for that.
Oops.
By the way, we've got like 300 of these 35th anniverysary buttons left, pictured up top. Clearly we overestimated your commitment to Sparkle Motion. How about ordering some?
Also we have a side business in selling some damned fine face masks.
Now would be a great time for you to join our Patreon, or up your contribution. It's one of the few things helping us keep our head above water. I haven't checked the December numbers yet, but for November I only had to print three new membership cards, which... is low.
Please tune in tonight for Kat Robichaud's Misfit Cabaret! It's an early show, 8pm to 9:30pm, and it should be awesome.
We don't have anything NYE-ish going on at Midnight, really, but after the show we will have our normal program of music videos, and I have set up a countdown overlay! So you can go "Woooo" at home. "Woooooo."
Just wanted to say THANK YOU for sticking around. I'm so glad you're here and I wear the masks and drink the cocktails with pride. See you live just as soon as we can!
Also I'm glad to see you have a non-GrubHub option for ordering!
I saw this tweet from the IATSE union and thought of you:
> TURN LIVE VENUES INTO COVID VACCINATION SITES & USE UNION LABOR TO SET IT UP
Getting a vaccine shot at the DNA Lounge is a happy thought.
Why would you want to do this inside a building? This should be in open-air plazas and parking lots.