In the normal club environment, playing anything but the popular, chart-topping hits is usually a bad idea. In April of 2022, Seattle’s DJ Calico threw his first Bad Idea dance party in the mainly industrial neighborhood of Georgetown, where partygoers danced to anything but the hits.
Jacob Zimmer, a.k.a. Calico, remembers when the Georgetown neighborhood hosted day parties like Day Shift and Lemonade at Bar Ciudad. Hundreds of people from diverse communities across the city would come through to groove all day. With few remaining nightlife options in Georgetown, he thought it was only right to reignite that spark.
DJ Calico Shares His Bad Idea With Georgetown
A lightbulb went off above DJ Calico’s head and he conceptualized his Bad Idea dance party. To set the tone, he chose the arts and event space, 10 Degrees, which caters to the local arts community, especially local, contemporary dance artists. The gallery-style building has a small capacity of only 70 people, making for an intimate, yet welcoming environment to freely express yourself in.
DJ Calico partnered with local Seattle nightlife staples, Kween Kay$h and DJ Houseplants, to follow through on his vision and set the sound. Nothing was off the table, playing house mixes, obscure club bangers, rowdy rap cuts, and bumping Afrobeats throughout the night.
Since then, the party has returned to 10 Degrees every month. Adjacent to the venue are sister companies, OOLA Distillery and Electric Cello Bar + Restaurant. Together, they provide all of your pre-party needs, serving up craft cocktails and fancy comfort food. Turns out his Bad Idea was actually a really good idea.
Building a Diverse and Supportive Community
Over the past few months, DJs from different nightlife scenes around Seattle, Bellingham, and Tacoma have taken turns spinning tunes. Calico holds it down as resident DJ, while local favorites like Toya B, Kraymergdot, DJ WiFi, Ca$h Bandicoot, Michete, and Chong the Nomad have all brought the heat to the cool 10 Degrees stage. The diverse array of DJs each month has resulted in a patchwork of communities coming together under the same roof.
“It felt like such a low stakes and chill environment where there was no pressure to be cool or tasteful or to impress anybody. When I played, I really felt like the crowd was down for me to embrace my individual sensibilities and be as fully unhinged as I wanted to be.”
Michete (Artist, DJ, Drag Queen. DJ’d June 2022)
Saturday, August 13th, will mark the biggest Bad Idea party to date. Four DJs, including Calico, will be providing the jams all night. Producer of World Wide Bounce, Another Magic, will be there, along with House Party SEA resident N So and Tacoma producer, DJ, and musical Swiss army knife DJQJ.
You can grab presale tickets for yourself and your squad for $7 each. Tickets will also be available at the door for $12, but with limited capacity, the earlier you get tickets, the better. Doors are at 9:30pm and music will go from 10-1:30am.
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