Rhythmic revelers reunite! 🈴

Ammon's "what's happening" update — August edition

Hi friends,

Thank you for receiving this little transmission. Our digital plates are full (of mostly garbage), and I aspire to be a little signal in the noise. Let me know what’s working — the cool thing about this being in Substack is that each of these “posts” is a conversation at the bottom. Dive in!

Also, thank you to all that came out to the recent events! I hope you met a new friend, because that’s what it’s all about. Ok, on to the goods. Here’s a summary:

• Thursday, August 22 (5-11pm): Love Bizarre happy hour in SF — with Ernie Munson!! (free)

• Saturday, August 24 (7:30pm): An Evening With Lester Chambers

  And The Mudstumpers (featuring my dad and uncle) in Sonoma ($50)

• Sunday, August 25 (1-5pm): Betty & Sharona's Big-Ass B-day Bash in Emeryville

• Sunday Sundowns: Ambient Mafia’s weekly rumble

• Music resources: the beginning of a brain dump

Read on!

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Thursday, (8/22 - 5-11pm) is our monthly End of Day / Love Bizarre happy hour at Hawthorn, a beautiful speakeasy-style venue in downtown SF at the Montgomery BART stop. It’s a cozy spot, with ample comfy seating, and an incredible Void sound system that’s not too loud. This is a perfect spot to meet up with friends, have a drink, dance, and get home in time for a good night sleep.

The lovely Hawthorn

This month we have special guest Ernie Munson! A quick backstory on Ernie. When I was 20, just discovering house music in SF, I found myself dancing to an Ernie set. It was the first time I heard a DJ weave together the emerging sounds of house with funk, underground disco, acid house and other mysterious genres 🤯. For years, if someone asked me who my favorite DJ was, I’d say Ernie Munson, without hesitation.

Other than Ernie, expect to hear boogie, UG disco, OG house, and all that is funky, soulful and tasty! The residents: Disco Dianna, Iggy, Laron, Spun, Jim Hopkins, Jenegade, Marcelino, and myself will warm up beats, while our hosts Jim Williams and Micha warm the spirits. Join us!

Hawthorn — 46 Geary Street, SF. FREE! 21+

Invite your friends and RSVP on FB

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Saturday, (8/24 - 7:30pm) in Sonoma at the Sabastiani Theater you have a rare opportunity to hear both my dad (Terry) and his brother (Tim) playing with blues rock legend Lester Chambers (of Chamber Brothers fame) and his band, The Mudstumpers.

My dad on the right (obvious by the shirt), and uncle Tim on the left

BTW, I have two musical dads, so apologies if there is any confusion. Terry Haggerty is my biological dad and Shabda Kahn my dad who raised me. Both are amazing humans and I often refer to both of them as “dad”. You’ve been warned.

For those of you who don’t know my dad’s history, he’s a lifelong musician (guitarist), and son of a professional guitarist (grandpa Frank) who played in the SF swing band scene back in the day with folks like Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Kid Ory, and many others. When my dad was in high school he joined a band with friends called the Sons of Champlin, and soon after signed with Verve Records to put out their first single. They rose to semi-fame with the hippie counterculture, playing with Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead and many others.

My uncle Tim is also an incredible musician, often playing as a studio multi-instrumentalist behind the scenes. Tim’s son (my cousin) Aaron Haggerty plays drums, and recently wrapped a world tour with Willow Smith, toured for years with Earth, Wind & Fire, and most recently touring with Kool & The Gang.

Sorry for the lengthy tangent. Back to the show. If you like blues rock and like hippy jam band guitar solos, then you’ll love Lester Chambers & The Mudstumpers and my dad. This event falls on Oona’s 15th birthday, so I may or may not make it. Let me know if you’re considering and I’ll keep you posted.

Grab tickets here

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Sunday, (8/25 - 1-5pm) in Emeryville, you are invited to Betty & Sharona's Big-Ass B-day Bash! Betty and Sharona are both longtime friends, as well as partners in community building and queens on the dance floor. They’re often the two that show up to my random party and dance all night — kindred spirits. So I’d expect nothing less that a big dance party to celebrate their collective birthdays. And I’m honored they’ve asked me to play. Also in the mix are foom boom (Fumi, who’s a new fav) and The Rev (Gene, and old fav) — friends and fellow DJs that lay down the luscious sounds that move your feet. I’ll likely play around 3pm, but will be there at 1 if you want to come early. Also family friendly :)

A little backstory on Betty Ray. We first met back in 1996 through a small band of tech rebels called NOEND. We were all trying to figure out how to turn this newfangled thing called the World Wide Web into some sort of value. Craig Newmark (of Craigslist fame) was part of the posse, as were many other notable later success. We’ve been friends ever since and she’s been a longtime member of the Rhythm Society, where we experiment with the practice of creating/nurturing community. These days Betty has been busy working on a new project that’s dear to my heart called Pandora’s Way, which helps kids navigate and promote healthy digital habits. She has been a strong proponent of ritual in our lives and as path to purpose and community.

You can read the invite details here. If you think you can make it, add your RSVP. [EDIT] - the above link in my own RSVP and doesn’t allow for additional RSVPs. If you’d like to join, send me a text/email and let me know, or post in the comments.

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Every Sunday from 6-9pm you can catch the Ambient Mafia streaming live DJs on Twitch. If, like me, you’re a fan of the quiet side of electronic music, you’ll love Sunday Sundowns. I was invited to join the AM DJ crew during the pandemic when I was live streaming a bunch. I quickly realized that I had found my DJ soulmates.

I’m not scheduled to play any Sundowns at the moment, but jump in and stay tuned.

Stream the show here

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Some thoughts about music discovery… After I shared my inaugural newsletter last month I was thinking about the value I’m trying to create. My primary goal is to get people together in celebration — to activate friends to spend more time together. A secondary goal is to share my love of music in all its shapes and forms. Sometimes that’s through sharing my sequenced songs, aka deejaying. Sometimes it’s sharing opportunities to listen to amazing new artists and bands. And sometime it’s sharing ideas around discovering new music. For that last thought, I’ve started working on a Substack page called “Music Resources.” It’s a work in progress, but there’s already some value there. Let me know what you think.

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And that’s a wrap! Again, jump into the chat and share any thoughts or suggestions (if you’re in your email, click the “comment” button below. I look forward to seeing you soon, and like we say in the Rhythm Society, we are one in the dance.

Much love,
Ammon

Here’s another one of my reworks/mashups. This one is called “Tantra (Ammon's Satisfaction Edit).” It’s a rework of Nkom Bivoué beautiful song Tantra, which is a very short 2:45 track. I turned it into a 6:09 track worthy of the dance floor and added Ursula Rucker’s “Rhythmic Trip” poem that’s featured on Firefly’s house anthem “Supernatural.” I played this track in my mix for the Rhythm Society Campout “Paradise.” Lossless download. Enjoy!