4 Hours at Bootie Brooklyn

By Bennett Holland

San Francisco's masters of mash-ups, A Plus D (a.k.a. Adrian and Mysterious D), brought their world-renowned Bootie party to Williamsburg earlier this month for their second Saturday-night smash of the year.

As with May's inaugural Bootie Brooklyn, the latest party hit the heights early and often at the cavernous former factory that is Public Assembly, with the team's he-spins-she-spins style offering a blend of the best mash-ups that their regular West Coast parties and global gigs—that at last count have popped up on no fewer than five continents—have to offer.

Early-bird revelers perhaps drawn in part by the hour-long open vodka bar (complete with—I kid you not—a "living carpet,” a stone-still man wrapped in a rug along the bar's front beckoning to be stepped upon) soon got into the body-moving spirit of things as A Plus D wasted no time at the decks in drawing them onto the main floor. Behind the DJs, a screen projected found-footage blended with whimsical animation of Bootie's trademark half n' half posters (e.g., Lady Gaga's fashionable puss splitting face space with a guylinered Phil Oakey of the Human League) that were hung around the space.

Public Assembly filled up quickly; a line still stretched from the door along North 6th as the midnight hour approached. The crowd was an appealing mix of Brooklyn's usual suspects—recent college grads, music snobs, City-averse hipsters and those simply starved for a potent dance-club scene—with a welcome smattering of lovable freaks and a gay boy here and there (easy to spot as they lip-synched to a sizzling mash-up of Dolly's "Jolene" and Britney's "Stronger"). The crowd's queer quotient, though, could and should certainly be increased; even Hell's Kitchen homos might have a tough time resisting a party that packs in the budding gay diva tracks of Ke$ha, Robyn and Katy Perry.

A Plus D switched off for the first few hours with their unbeatable, decades-spanning recombining of an ultimate iTunes playlist fueling the increasingly fired-up crowd. In a show of the generous spirit of the Bootie scene, the duo played not just their own musical hybrids (such as the irrepressible "Fifth Gold Digger" and combo of Kanye West and the 70s disco-fied version of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony) but also the work of several of the scene's top mash-up maestros, including Party Ben, DJs from Mars and Divide & Kreate, among others.

Barely two hours after the kickoff, revelers had already packed the main room and overrun the stage as Bootie's inflatable mascot—the life-sized happy-faced pirate, "Bootleg Bart"—had to make way. He soon was showing off his veteran crowd-surfing skills as the crowd was electrified by the likes of "Will A G6 Roll," a quad-decker blending Far East Movement, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Cataracs and A-Trak crafted by the MashMaticians.

Adrian took over vocal duties on a couple of tunes during the night, including a robust substitute for David Bowie and Freddie Mercury on "Under Pressure" as MGMT's "Time to Pretend" bubbled underneath. Brooklyn/LA duo Purple Crush filled the traditional "midnight live mash-up show" slot with a pair of songs, including belting the band's own "NYC Bad Girl" with backing from Gaga's "Lovegame."

Among other sonic highlights: DJ Magnet's "Brick Dick," slathering Mickey Avalon all over the Commodores' "Brick House," Stein-Vidar's so-crazy-it-just-works melding of "YMCA" and "Like a Virgin," and from NYC's own DJ Lobsterdust, the genre-buster "Knock Out Eileen" pasting together Dexys Midnight Runners and LL Cool J. Lobsterdust himself had a healthy guest spot at the Bootie decks later in the evening, whipping the crowd into a frenzy with guitar-crunchy tracks such as his blending of Ram Jam's AM radio-era "Black Betty" with 80s house-music maven D-Mob's "We Call it Acieed."

It wasn't long until the glow sticks and confetti batons were flying as Daft Punk tangoed with old-school Will "Fresh Prince" Smith on Rad Bad's "Moving da Royalty," and novelty flavor of the season "We Speak No Americano" ping-ponged amid some Backstreet Boys cheese and Benny Benassi's computer synth courtesy of Mashup Germany.

During Lobsterdust's turn at the decks, Adrian shared with me that after two dates the Bootie crew have found their Gotham home in Brooklyn. Over the past few years they had been throwing parties at various venues such as BLVD in Lower Manhattan, which he said he appreciated for the prestige factor but didn't quite match this year's Williamsburg gigs in terms of positive energy flow and a wildly receptive audience.

Adrian says that January's Bootie will move the party to another space, but he's not ruling out a return to Pulic Assembly. He already has in mind the concept for their next visit in early 2011: East Coast vs. West Coast. Adrian pictures SF, LA and Seattle Bootie party DJs in one room, and mashmasters from NY and Boston represented in the other, each with the appropriate motif. "Think Jay-Z in a Yankees cap representing in the East Coast room, and Katy Perry in the West."

Sounds like Bootie's Brooklyn renaissance is about to kick it up a few notches. Keep an eye out for further details on Bootie's next NYC gig on their website, http://bootiemashup.com/nyc/.