The Leschi House loves to party. I don’t mean the residents of the house or the friends of the residents, tho, they DO love to party. I mean the House itself. The House at Leschi loves to party. We aren’t the first inhabitants to realize this fact. Before us, University residents brought the wildness of campus parties to the front porch. Our neighbors have told us about their rambunctious brew ha-ha’s that left pee stains on their fences and beer cans on roof tops. When they saw that 4 career-oriented musician/artists were taking up the Rent in the home, I think they were relieved. But we produce a different kind of party line.
Our finding the House was fate. After realizing that 4 of us needed a place to live at the same time, Mel Sky and I had searched north and south for the perfect pad. Exhausted, we found a few places that were tempting, but didn’t completely fit. A few days later, she and Fishlure set out again. They were excited to check out the new places, but decided they wouldn’t get too excited about the first one if it was good. However, the House, built in the early 1900's, had its own agenda, and once the girls stepped through the front door, it had already pulled them in.
Sixteen months later, the living room would be one of the most delightful dance floors in the city.
I guess I never really thought about the differences between a House party and a Club party. Tho, I did notice the few times where I had entered a club and felt like I was walking into someone’s home. Something about the vibration of the air, the softness of people’s smiles. The idea that even if they didn’t know you at that moment, by the end of the night they would. It’s few and far between that club nights are found like that in Seattle. And yet, I know that it’s an energy that promoters throughout the city are trying to achieve. We leap between liquor laws and strict permits, noise ordinances and neighbor’s complaints. They make it just so damn hard to have a party.
But the force of the Leschi House is hard to resist. It knows nothing of laws. It thrives on people’s conversations and countenance, joining citizens of different cultures to share thoughts on politics, love and art. And the arms of the home at Leschi are reaching further than this beautiful city, drawing artists from the city’s sister on the Bay, San Francisco.
I blame Robb Green.
He moved to the Bay area last year. But before he left, behind the decks on the dance floor of the Leschi Lounge, he named genre that is composed from the core Seattle's character. We call it, Punk Rock Disco. A fusion of rock and dance. What better blend to bring together a city that grew up on Grunge? It has woken up, stretched it’s arms, smoked a bowl, and knocked on our neighbor’s door. And the neighbor has come over to our house to play.
Early Saturday afternoon, I received a text message that I could hardly believe. DJ Garth, a San Franciso House music legend, was staying in town after his previous gig at Trinity Nightclub, and wanted to come to our 13 month-old afterparty to play. I texted back Ramiro, promter and DJ for Uniting Souls, ‘hell yes!’.
It is no coincidence that this happened on exactly the 6-year anniversary weekend of one of the most monumental organizations for House music in Seattle. Uniting Souls has been doing just that for six long years. They have consistently created the energy of a house party and implanted it into clubs throughout the city. Despite all the difficulties of business and bars, they have always been able to bring the love of the music called House into a room and made it thrive. And at 5 o’clock in the morning on Sunday, they were uniting souls in the House in Leschi. And DJ Garth was the glue.
I got pretty bitched out from our neighbor that morning. He and his (pregnant) wife were sleeping soundly on a Saturday night until they were awoken at 2am to the sounds of people walking to and fro a line of cars filling up our street and the next. We’ve reinforced the sound proofing of our windows. You can’t hear the thump of the bass from the street. And we try our best to keep people from talking on their way up the road, but we can only do so much. Those particular neighbors hadn’t complained until they recently cut the hedges in their front yard. I suspect they were wanting to improve their amazing view of Lake Washington & Mount Raineer, but (I) got an earful instead. He spoke with me early the next morning and encouraged us to ‘become part of the community’ if we want to stay in the area and ‘go back to Capital Hill’ if we want to party. I understood his position and listened intently. But all I could think about was, ‘DJ Garth is in my living room’.
And our fair neighbor has no understanding of the implications of this. He has no knowledge of the House music community or the force that the uniting of such an artistic community creates. They want social change and yet they vote time and again on things that keep those that consummate the change apart. I suppose that’s why it’s called an ‘Underground’ community. Maybe he should learn about us and what we stand for and why we open up our home and spend our evenings and weekends creating a space for people who care about our country and our future and the human race as a global community that encompasses every human being on Earth. Maybe we, through voice and art and music, should encourage him and all of our neighbors to ‘become part of the community’ if they want peace and ‘go back to the suburbs’ if they want quiet. Let’s dig ourselves up from the ‘Underground’ and allow each and every person who enters our domain, wherever that may be, feel welcome to join in on what we love – each other.
The House at Leschi has been around longer than any of our neighbors or their homes. It has breathed the air of the Lake where Garth and our guests swam in the early warmth of the sun that morning, waited for Mount Raineer to peak now-and-again above the clouds, and watched families move their lives in and out of our neighborhood for over 100 years. The House brought us here to build our community. And the House, like its inhabitants, has a very strong will.
Long live the House party, my friends. And long live the House.
