Soul Collective

{the packed dance floor at Hard French}

This past Saturday, my friend Sarah and I headed to San Francisco to meet some friends and to check out the daytime soul party known as Hard French. The outdoor party is held on the first Saturday of the month from 3-8pm and is a place where "drag queens mingle with lesbians, leather daddy's soul dance with cholas, sharps share hot dogs with activists, jocks make out with twinks, brown meets white meets purple meets gay guy meets ladies meets q and everyone leaves excited for the next party." In other words, this party is for anyone and everyone who wants to get their dance on to some good soul music.

We didn't arrive at the party until 4:40pm...and when we did, there was quite a queue waiting to get inside the already packed El Rio. It took us nearly two hours to make our way to the front of the line, which could have really sucked save for the fact that we spent that time meeting cool people, eating take-out from Baby Blues BBQ (which was delish!) and drinking tall-boys out of brown paper bags (can you say classy?). Some of our friends who had already been inside even came out to kick it with us in line...thanks for being so awesome Jen and Theo!

Once we were finally inside the party, we grabbed some drinks and headed straight for the dance floor. DJ Carnitas and DJ Brown Amy kept the tunes coming as the elated crowd danced and sang along to songs by the likes of Sly and the Family Stone, Fats Domino, Gladys Knight and the Pips and the Marvelettes. It was so much fun! The only downside was that the party ended way too soon. Next time, I'm arriving early so I can maximize my dance time. Word on the street is that there's only one more party before Hard French breaks for the winter...so, mark your calendars for October 2nd!

{Why yes, yes those are crayons in her ears - I was totally obsessed with this chick}

{Fur balls dig soul music, too!}

{DJ Carnitas puts a record on}

{You can donate your bra or fork over $2 for a turn in the Hard French "photo booth"}

{me, Jasmine & Sarah}