You've got to be of a certain age, and likely gay, to know what the I-Beam was. For the rest of you, it was a big, legendary dance club of the '70s and '80s in a space in the Upper Haight that's been long since torn down, and it was there that many a San Francisco homosexual was indoctrinated into the wonders of Sylvester, Chic, and Patrick Cowley. This Saturday, the DJs of Go Bang! are doing an I-Beam tribute event at The Stud featuring famed I-Beam DJs Steve Fabus and Lester Temple, who's coming out of retirement after 15 years for this party.
Fabus and Temple will be joined by Sergio Fedasz and Kenneth Kemp, and Fedasz will also be doing a special tribute to disco diva Loleatta Holloway, who passed away in 2011, in honor of her birthday.
Temple just gave a quick interview to SF Weekly in which he talks about the I-Beam's pre-AIDS glory days, and how The Cure, Siouxie and and Banshees, and Duran Duran all made their U.S. debuts on the club's stage. Also, in 1992, the Beastie Boys played there.
Around the 2-minute mark in the archival video above, from a documentary series about homosexuality done around 1981 for an L.A. television station, you'll get a glimpse of the I-Beam, and hear from some of its clientele.
Saturday's party at The Stud is $7 at the door, and free before 10 p.m. And we know some older queens will be coming out of the woodwork for this one...
