talk about JUNK from a Queer Yardsale

- what a few writers have printed about the fierce queer club that won a Wammie award and Best of the Bay award.

"Shirts may come off, jeans might be doffed, but the hats stay on at Junk - unless of course you've just gotten a groovy new scalp tattoo or set of extensions. Luckily the sweaty, dance-happy hipsters here sport enough permanent body adornment to make clothing superfluous. Dykes, fags, punks, and queers of all stripes mix it up. . . into one tattered, tattooed, skin-baring flesh-pile-o' grunge. But as DJs/promoters Junkyard and Zanne like to say, it's hard to have attitude when you're singing along with Olivia Newton-John."
-The SF Bay GUARDIAN, vol 27, no. 43.

"DJs Junkyard and Zanne's particular style or nonstyle of pure unadorned, unpretentious journey-to-the-center-of-the-riot-nerd-audiogrrlphile defies a total description but is just the most smashing thing spinning in this town. Toward the end of one night I had to run back to the DJ booth and tell them how I couldn't believe they were playing Throbbing Gristle's "Blood on the Floor" simultaneously with The Brothers Johnson's "Strawberry Letter 23." When I got to the booth I saw Junkyard. . . laughing hysterically and saying 'This is my total DJ fantasy!'
"Need I say more about why these girls are spinning magic? It's simple - they fucking love doing it. They satisfy on all levels, from the harshest of Riot Grrl stuff to "Girl from Ipanema" to Motorheads's "Ace of Spades" to early Sly or Funkadelic.
"One night recently they got into a long final set of this tribal intensity that had me dancing in a possessed unstopable way for about forty minutes. A large number of us were dumbfounded and in awe over what was possibly the most intense and satisfying turn on a dance floor we had ever experienced. These two girls are full of surprises and long may they spin. . ."
"Nothing makes me happier than walking into a club that's playing something by Fugazi and watching a crowd through the night dance enthousiastically to gem after gem of that type of music when it seems against all odds that it can hold a crowd. It takes guts and an aggressive attitude to play . . . you know, music with guitars."
-Don Baird, The Bay Times

A word from one of the deejays:

Many, many people have come up to us and told us that JUNK is their favorite club ever, that it feels like their queer livingroom, that it makes them so fucking happy! In my travels (London, Manchester, Amsterdam, Paris, New York City) I've never found a club like Junk. The hegemony of the ubiquitous house and techno reigns internationally in gay clubs and people seem to just give up and give in even if they HATE brainless computer music for insects and top-forties fluff-bunny crap! People should pick up on the DIY punk attitude and create their own cool spaces for those queers who like music with mind and muscle.
At JUNK, many an all-girl or co-ed slam pit has thrashed on the dance floor. Klezmer circles have formed and gone wild. At JUNK people cha-cha, waltz, jig, samba, disco dance, chicken fight, slam, mosh, pogo, do the limbo, jit jive, get down to Bhangra, Rai, salsa, rap, funk, roll around on the floor, and go into major trances. One winter solstice, the stripper Virgin Mary showed up and gave bloody birth to a pierced and tattooed girl-jesus who was then nailed to a cross to the delight of the crowd.
Who goes to JUNK? Just about every stripe of person you can imagine! Everyone is welcome at JUNK, and we hope to see you there! Right now Junk happens the last saturday of every month at The Stud, On Harrison Street at Ninth Street in San Francisco. Phone the Stud at (415) 863-6623 for info. Only $5, no one turned away.

The picture above is available as a teeshirt, white on black. E-mail us at zanne@cea.edu if you'd like to buy one -> cheap! (sliding scale) L, XL and XXL sizes (all the wee ones were snatched up by fairies and elves).

TO THE FIRST PILE OF JUNK FROM A QUEER YARDSALE!