I am a househead. I fell in love with house in the early ’90s in a club in DC when I heard a Crystal Waters “Gypsy Woman” club mix that went on and on, and I was hooked.
So “Sunday Bliss,” a recurring house-music day party event in Oakland, is on my list, and whenever tickets go on sale, I grab one. I grabbed for an edition hosted this past Sunday by Dave Harness, and he didn’t disappoint.
Harness, one of Oakland’s hot house music DJs, “had church” at 7 West. He brought the fire to the dance floor along with guest DJ, Master Kev, and saxophonist The Sunflower King, Omar Johnson Ghenji.
Sunday Bliss is produced by Dayz Like This, a DJ collective. Jason Caredio and brings househeads from all over The Bay together to hear Harness and a guest celebrity DJ spin from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. Tickets go on sale weeks in advance and usually sell out.
Harness cultivated a following because he brings a soulful, playful vibe to his sets and shows his skills by making music from music and blending beats and melodies in way that calls you to the dance floor. Sunday was no exception. The weather cooperated, and 7 West’s people filled the backyard patio and the high tops, picnic tables and row of cabanas that faced the dance floor. A mural of Kehlani painted in bright purples and yellows on the side of the building.
An eclectic group of house music aficionados filled the dance floor. From the time I arrived at 3 p.m. until I left at 8 p.m., it was never empty.
House music emerged out of underground queer clubs in Chicago where young people went to find community and fun.
Frankie Knuckles, a DJ originally from New York, helped popularize the genre that was not quite disco and not quite R&B with his sets at the Warehouse: Music with a fast, repetitive beat, Knuckles and house music DJs mixed with other songs and made magic with as dancers twirled and vogued until dawn.
Erwin, a friend from Chicago who was at Sunday Bliss with his wife, Lehia, told me that when he was a teenager, DJs like Knuckles played parties in their high school gym and neighborhood, honing their craft. House music culture has grown globally, and from Croatia to Miami, parties featuring DJs like Dave Harness, Louis Vega, and Gene Hunt attract hundreds of househeads.
Oakland has an active house music community with DJs like Nina Sol and Patrick Wilson spinning sets at Elements, a monthly set produced by Sol and Wilson. A group of house DJs set up at Lake Merritt and spin for a few hours on Friday nights and draw crowds of faithful househeads. Eric Groove’s Back Yard Boogies are legendary in The Town with hundreds of people showing up in his yard for nine-hour marathon house sets with well-known house DJs.
Sunday Bliss is a blissful addition to the house music rotation. As with most of the events, Harness was featured this week with a guest DJ, Master Kev, from New York who spun old-school and newer house jams that took the crowd on a journey of sound. He and Harness used the music to create mood and tension, ebb and flow that was at times joyous and celebratory and others thoughtful and cerebral.
House music culture is pretty open and progressive, because househeads pretty much just want to dance and feel the music and the beat. Master Kev and Harness let them do just that.
Even as a plume of black smoke billowed across the sky from what turned out to be an RV fire a few blocks away, the crowd kept dancing as Master Kev commanded the DJ booth, intent and intense in the heat of the late afternoon, his sunglasses reflecting the sun and bodies moving to the rhythms.
One of the highlights of the party was The Sunflower King, Omar Johnson Ghenji. His long dreads adorned in sunflowers, hands laced with gold chains and necklaces draped around his neck, Ghenji accompanied the DJs as he moved through and with the crowd. He blended and wove the sultry tones of his tenor sax with the beats and the melodies the DJs were mixing elevating the experience and bringing an element of live performance to the session.
The party ended with Master Kev spinning house classics and the crowd hugging and promising to see each other at the next house event. It was a great day … party.
To find out about the next Sunday Bliss, go to dayzlikethis.com.
