The Sunset Party is easily one of the best-vibe outdoor parties in the West Coast. This is favorite for San Francisco Bay Area deep house heads. These parties have been dancing for over a decade and they are FREE folks. Free! Sunset Parties are usually held at Stafford Lake in Novato, CA, about 40 minutes north of San Francisco, tucked in a nice green valley. I will write about these parties in the future, believe me.

At least once a summer they also take place at McLaren Park in the southern part of San Francisco. The picture below is witness to this local San Francisco outdoor house music moment.

This picture was taken during the very early part of the day. The sunlight gave a cool effect.

The creators of the Sunset Parties are three guys: Galen, Solar, and J-Bird – all great dj’s. They are regulars at most respected events on any given San Francisco weekend. Cool dudes.

A memorable Sunset Party moment for me was watching dj Miles Maeda perform a top shelf dj set during a summer 05 event. The crowd was so captivated by his calculated funky syncopated rhythms, while dancing under sky and the trees above, lit by the disco ball points. Go West Coast Go!

Thank you sunset guys for doing this service to humanity. I had a good revelation about Galen, Solar, and J-Bird after a McClaren Park Sunset Party in 2006. My friend and I hung around till the very end of that party. Next thing we knew, it was just Galen, Solar and J-Bird, cleaning up every remaining cigarette butt from the grounds. The same dudes who started this whole thing. Who else I guess, but it was still cool to witness the devotion to the party.

Naturally my friend and I started helping out. It was hard work. A lot of bending over and lifting motions including the very heavy equipment loading into a van. For these guys, this part of job happened after managing an 8 hour party and setting up early. These men have been doing this for 10 years plus purely for the love of music. They are not getting paid to do this. Come on, is that not something to appreciate?

more pictures from the other day.

above: from behind the decks, earlier in the day.

below: girl with a sunshine groove.

This last one was taken and messaged to me on my friend’s iphone. It does no look good expanded.