There I was. My eyes were closed seeing nothing but darkness and flashes of white light while I bobbed my head to a relentless bass drum. It had finally gotten to me, I had surrendered to the onslaught of Moscow mules, Pabst cans, and Casmalia’s tribal beat. The bar’s high ceiling created a deep acoustic that sent echoed into the under belly of Little Italy. At this moment I felt my hand gripped and tugged, when I open my eyes there was a gorgeous woman with brown curly hair. I look to my left and see that her friend has already taken my buddy the cleaners, poor guy never stood a chance. Her lips and nose ran across my cheek while she whispered “You’re really hot.” I was enveloped by the darkness and while her forehead was pressed against mine I couldn’t get the image of the magazine editor in Oliver Stone’s “Almost Famous” out of my head. Picturing him yelling at the main character (a writer) over the phone who had too much fun the night before, “GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER! YOU’RE THERE TO WRITE A STORY MAN!”. I ignored my imaginary editor and danced the night away.
Maybe to tell this story I need to rewind a little bit.
During the prewrite I made the decision to make this story’s focus on the DJ’s and the music while fashion show would be the perfect backdrop. My fondest experiences with House music has been in the club setting with my friends. Since I have moved my life out of the drug scene the underground has lost a little bit of its allure. I am not judging anyone by their decisions but lets just say I swam in the deep end for too long and i’m tired. I still do drink for special occasions but I have had to slow down since beginning this website to maximize my productivity. That being said anyone who knows me knows that I love to rage. One of my biggest influences growing up is Hunter S. Thompson. I read “HELLS ANGELS: A Strange and Terrible” saga when I was 15 and was hooked. I continued to read more of his work instantaneously falling in love with his ability to write so eloquently while describing complete chaos. This gave me the inspiration to fully immerse myself into the scene during this show. Last show I was pretty damn nervous, stone cold sober, and I was carrying a cumbersome notebook around. Not this time! I was going to enjoy myself and fully experience the scene for the night.
I love to dance. I love to let go. Truthfully when i’m in that zone everything that I carry on my shoulders melts off. I forget about my job, I forget about my bills, shit I forget about myself, the focus goes to surviving at that point. It doesn’t matter how well you dance. Hell, nothing matters at that point at all.
I went to my buddy’s house before, we shared a box of beer, while telling old stories of the wild young men we used to be. Now we are much calmer, experienced, and value what is really important. My friend’s N8 & Big Man are both musicians, we used to all be roommates; they taught me a lot about music theory, instruments, and song writing. N8 used to be the front man for an old P.B. reggae band called “Acoma”, Big Man was the drummer. I lived with the entire band in a huge Claremont house and those times are very special to all of us. They haven’t seen me in a while and heard that I had “started a website” & finally started my decade long quest to become a “writer.”
To put it nicely, they were skeptical.
The outside of Kava Lounge appears very unassuming; it is located in the north end of Little Italy right under the airport flight path. When we got out of our UBER and saw a lone bouncer on a stool, smoking a vape, staring down at the glow of his phone. The place looked dead and my boys gave me plenty of shit for it.
-“Where are these models Mr. Writer?” -N8 replied in a Boston accent. –
After walking in I saw my friend’s eyebrows hit their hairlines like a looney tunes cartoon. The stage was draped with elegant colorful tapestries. There was art and the room was filled with that same energy as the first show. People were having a good time. This venue was a lot smaller than Spin Nightclub where the first Deep House Runway show was held. Kava Lounge is comprised of 3 rooms: the bar room, the back changing room, and the bathroom. Intimate would be describing it lightly. Laura Peck first up setting a very smooth and light beat while I consumed my first Moscow mule. I had seen her play two months ago at a Dreamfair event that was a fund raiser for Genius Loki (surf festival in baja). Dreamfair is a non profit organization that curates events that provide interactive art designed to positively impact our planet while fundraising.
Laura Peck releasing those positive vibes to the dance floor.
Laura’s style is very chill; I do not want you to interpret that as me saying her music is underwhelming. No, it actually quite the opposite. Her music is multidimensional, easy to pallet for people of different electronic tastes. You can listen to her while reading a book in the park or in a club while watching a fashion show. Her music embraces the elegance of femininity while using a powerful drum kit. Laura’s layering as well as her progressions had a simplistic feel to them which created well paced transitions & a peaceful aura around the dance floor. Out of the back changing room emerged our own astrologer Miss Haley Comet who modeled in the first show and is now the Director. She rolled out the red carpet and gave the girls hand signals from the front end of the bar close to the door. It looked like she was either waving an airplane in on the landing strip or a major league manager giving baseball signs to a pitcher on the mount. The girls moved in elegantly to Laura’s lead.
Scarlett Santamaria modeling for Ponovena.
Skye Sadjadi dancing up a storm.Tyller Brrindlleyyy showing off some awesome accessories!
This is when I finally met Matt Hess from Stealthicon Productions. Deep House runway is his brainchild. I did not meet him at the first show because I had no clue what I was doing and my research was limited. This time around I have taken the lead on a few projects. Also I am privy to the fact that all the preparation makes the final product easier to manage and yields higher quality. He is soft spoken, kind, and his body language exhumes confidence as well as humility. Matt made my job really easy, he had already reached out to the D.J.’s alerting them of the story and to be ready to speak with me. I tried to sponge as much information and advice I could get out of him without sounding like an obsessive weirdo. His background comes from being a fashion photographer for years and working in the production stage of the industry. I would be an absolute fool not to gain knowledge when its handed to me on a silver platter. Everyone I met that works for Stealthicon speaks of him in the highest regards and I could tell that he treats his colleagues with a high level of respect. We drank a couple beers together chit chatting about life until the end of Laura’s set. Matt introduced us and when he left I realized that my buzz was starting to catch up with me.
She told me that her musical range is expansive: specializing in mixing minimal, deep tech, dub tech, progressive, tribal, melodic, and ethereal techno. She fell in love with House and Techno 14 years ago and has found it to be very therapeutic.
“I try to infuse a healing element into my track selection as well as a positive intention.”
To mix she uses CDJs and Rekordbox when she plays an event. At home Laura also practices using vinyl, turntables, as well as producing with Ableton Live 10 or Logic. The San Diego Electronic music community is very connected, loving, and supportive. I enjoy seeing variety and a slightly different vibe to our city’s growing music palate. I believe Laura is the embodiment of the new House movement coming from San Diego that promotes physical & mental wellness. This group is all about positivity, helping the community, and having a good time doing it! I have seen these likeminded people working together to create a positive impact for a couple years now. I am excited to see what the future holds for Laura.
Marie Nyx getting everything lined up.
While we were talking Marie Nyx began her set, while I swayed I noticed her build up had an ominous tone to it. It’s effects led you down a worm hole of deep bass drums and galactic adlibs. I was feeling it for sure. She rides the high-hat a lot which creates a sense of urgency. This forces you to really move your hips. I saw Doña (“Wrapped in Kink’s” MUA) putting some finishing touches on a model in the back room and I asked if I could come say hi and they told me it was ok. I was catching up with her while I listened on. I got a different perspective from the entrance of the cat walk which I had never seen before! It reminded me of how brave each of these models are to walk that runway. This is when I met Casmalia the headlining DJ.
Some how we started talking about Jim Morrison and our love for the Lizard King. We found kinship in our love for classic rock discussing Eric Clapton’s guitar playing and the soulfulness of Tom Petty’s music. Her favorite Doors song is “Chrystal Ship” and told me the story behind the song. Apparently Jim Morrison was tripping on Acid in Santa Barbara at what the locals call “Dog shit Park” and was staring into the distance at an oil rig and saw what looked like to him as a “crystal ship.” Camalia moved from Atlanta, GA to Isla Vista, CA in 2012 to study at Santa Barbara Junior College, this was her introduction to Dubstep and House music. I partied there a lot in the early 2010’s when Techno and Dubstep were the prevalent genre in that party scene. Her biggest influences during the time were Skrillex, Zedd, and Porter Robinson. When she started making music she emulated a lot of the artist she enjoyed listening to and at the time it was exclusively dubstep the more her skills grew she shifted into House. She currently lives in bay park which is actually very close to Kava Lounge. She moved to San Diego to study Music Recording Technology and Sound Design at SDSU where she graduated in 2016. To put another feather in her cap, she is a classically trained opera singer. Right after she told me about her musical background Haley came bursting through the curtain slapping “ALRIGHT GIRLS FIVE MINUTES!!!”. I shrugged my shoulders and looked at the young DJ and simply said “shots?”.
She obliged.
From Left to Right: All-Modeling for Fashion Yell Mariah Dohner, Holly Zuiker, Skye Sadjadi, & Laura Peck. Hats are all from THAT DOME PIECEElizabeth Anaya modeling a gorgeous cape from Fashion Yell.
Tess Marie giving the crowd one last turn!
This is when the night really starts to get hazy for me. Thank God I left the recorder on my phone running. We starting taking shots, they met my friends, we partied hard. I love the ritual taking tequila shots. Lime, slurp, shot, slam, salt, wince. It’s like clockwork and once it touches my lips its game over. This is when the girls modeled the second line.
Lets take a short break here in the middle. Here are some fun quick interview questions I got from the designers after the show.
Brand: Ponovena
Instagram: @ponovena
Designers: Paige Russell an Alica Tingzon (not pictured)
J: “Where does you find your inspiration? Culture? Art? Movies? Music?”
P: “Originally the companies inspiration came from my travels in Peru. The name Pono means “Seam” in the Shipibo-Conibo language. Vena is Spanish for a vein in a rock where Crystal’s or other minerals begin to evolve. This means that we create what is unseen, and bring it to the seen world. Our overalls are the staple of PonoVena. They represents a persons life journey in a fun and artistic way! ”
Brand & Instagram: THAT DOME PIECE
Designer: Jessica Bolton
JW: “What makes your brand unique?”
JB: “Each piece is hand-crafted and unique because they are upcycled vintage and pre-owned hats, many of which are time period pieces.”
Brand: FurrociousFurr
Instagram: @furrociousfurr
Designer: Kristy Smith
J: “What do you love the most about Stealth Icon’s Deep House Runway Events?”
K: “I love the positive energy and good vibes of Deep house runway events. Everyone was an absolute pleasure to work with and the end result was Amazing!”
Brand: Dolce Aqua Swimwear
Instagram: @dolceaqua_swimwear
JW: “Which designer do you look up to the most?”
DASW: “For swimwear brand designers I most appreciate Beach Bunny because they took a chance in creating swimwear not like the norm from there start with the lingerie bikini.”
Brand & Instagram: Fashion Yell
Email: Fashionyellla@gmail.com
Designer: Courtney Dickins
JV: “What makes your brand unique?”
CD: “I think what makes my brand unique is the fact that everything is recycled and one-of-a-kind. Completely made with love and the true product of a California girl. A little gypsy, a Little Rock and roll, a little flare of my mother Who is undoubtedly the most sophisticated woman I know, and a small twist of the raver girl in me that I have never seemed to be able to shake since the 90’s.”
Back to our story.
This was the second cat walk and the room had loosened up since the first designers show. After the young models strutted Marie was finishing up her set. I really enjoyed her style because it really brought a that LA club feel to a small lounge in Little Italy. Groovy samples, with spacy effects, her drops were smooth. When she got off there was a small break in the music while Casmalia set up. I went up to Marie to introduce myself and was greeted a bright smile. We started with basic Southern California small talk, a collection of beautifully dry pleasantries.
J-Walk:”How was your drive?”
Marie Nyx: “Long.”
JW:”Traffic was that bad?”
MN:”It was awful.”
JW:”What Part of LA are you coming from?”
MN: “Silverlake.”
JW: I hear that’s a really up and coming area.
After we warmed up to each other we discussed the music we loved growing up. She told me that she had a very eclectic taste in music and the conversation shifted for our love of Radiohead, all things Thom York, and somehow ended at the emo punk scene of the early 2000’s. Her favorite band of the time was Senses Fail and mine was Silverstein. The conversation flourished and we both ended up having a nice talk.
-I asked her what she loved about the LA music scene?
“LA is an international city, there is a presence from many different cultures at once and this creates a vibrant variety. I asked what the cons were and she laughed and replied “variety & competitiveness.”-
LA’s scene is cutthroat and fierce, this has never been a secret. She told me that you have be dedicated and ready to do the grunt work. The results will show. Then Casmalia started and I went to the dancefloor.
Casmalia focusing on the next move.
This is when my voice recorder goes silent.
I wish I could give you a detailed recollection of her set but honestly I was having to much fun and the beat was too good at that point. In my drunken stupor I do remember a moment where I sat back and watched her spin. It reminded me of the times in my life when I saw a young athlete ahead of their time. Maturity, skill, and unwavering hard work meet at a perfect pivot point. I expect to see Casmalia around for quite sometime.
I could say more but honestly I love the effect of mystery.
This takes us back to the beginning of the story where I was blacked out dancing with a pretty lady *spoiler alert*, nothing really came of it. We danced, had fun, and parted ways respectfully like two adults should be able to.
Sometimes you need to just dance it out with a complete stranger, I get it.
Vivianne Blomgren using the ageless power of a woman's gaze.
She may have complimented my looks and shared the dance floor with me but she didn’t owe me anything. This is going to lead me into the topic that was the elephant in the room that I have not addressed yet. All three DJ’s, the designers being featured, and generally the whole crew behind the curtain were all female. This reminded me of the early days of the website when I casted out a net for creatives in my friend groups and all of the first responders were my girlfriends. It was a hot topic at the show and was brought up to me more than once that Matt continuously showcases events for female artists with genuine intentions of showcasing their art and helping them along the way. This is the type of support that is needed from the male community during the Current Feminist Renaissance we are seeing before our eyes. “Time is up” on the old world. Not too long before last call me and my friends were dancing on stage, super hard, super sweaty, and had caused a little bit of a commotion so we slipped out the back door. That’s kind of what happens when you get old friends together. If you are reading this article and have never been to one the Deep House Runway Shows there is one at Blonde Bar Saturday March 9 in San Diego CA.
Holly Zuiker showing off what happens when LED meets fur and high quality swimwear!
Marissa Stokes showing off her furriousfurr and Dolce Aqua Swimwear at the same time!
All Photography was done by Connective Collective
Hair and Make up done by Doña Battaglia & Oliana Julia
Other contributors are Lillicaycreations
As well as Supernova Entertainment
