Music

Beta

Beatport gives birth to a new club.

By Jon Solomon 

Denver-based Beatport.com pretty much dominates the world of electronic and dance-music downloads through its online store. The guys behind Beatport know the music inside out and have been booking some of the world's best DJs for the past decade — so it seems only fitting that they've finally opened their own club. They bought the 16,000-square-foot building at 1909 Blake Street that had held Rise, overhauled it and this past weekend showed off their new spot, Beta Nightclub.

Since Beta will showcase heavy-hitters in the DJ world, it has a hell of a sound system: Beta is the first club in North America with the new Dance Array 4 Speaker Stack System by Funktion-One, the award-winning English company. Taking advantage of this killer system will be New York's DVDJ Unique, who'll bring his audio-visual mash-ups on Fridays, and the Triad Dragons crew (residents Dragon, Trajikk and Kostas), with top-notch acts like Paul van Dyk and Armin van Buuren on Global Thursdays. On Saturday nights, the club will feature such internationally celebrated DJs as Jesse Rose (March 29) and Dimitri From Paris (April 26), as well as Beatport.com's resident DJ, Jonas Tempel. Also on Saturdays, the Beatport Lounge will host DJs Clark Warner and Wyatt Earp. Essentially a club within the club, the lounge has its own Funktion-One sound system and is 100 percent green. For that matter, all of Beta is designed to be environmentally friendly, and recycling centers will be installed at major traffic points.

Watch for Beta's VIP grand-opening party on Wednesday, March 19, with Z-Trip. And over Memorial Day weekend, the club will dedicate its 5,000-square-foot patio with some help from Bad Boy Bill, DJ Vice and James Zabiela.

Club scout: Meanwhile, back near Beatport.com's home office, the Shelter (1037 Broadway) has been remodeled into Bar Standard, with a completely new look and concept. Details are still hidden under the SoCo club's veil of secrecy, but we know that it will be adults-only and celebrate its grand opening Friday, March 28, with San Francisco's DJ Colette. More details next week.

In the meantime, Rockbar (3015 East Colfax Avenue) kicks off its new Monday-night punk-rock nights on St. Patrick's Day, when Nerf and the Swayback's Eric Halborg will spin an all-Irish set of punk and rock. Whenever the DJs shout "bollocks," it's free Jell-O shots and green Mad Dog — and if that ain't enough, Rocky the Leprechaun will be on hand pouring shots of Jameson. The following Monday, March 24, Devo's Jerry Casale will drop in to spin some of his favorite old-school punk and rock. On future Mondays, Mike Howard will hold court with help from alternating DJs Reed, Halborg and Nerf. And Rockbar's Jerri Theil says she's working on bringing more musical celebs and even a few porn stars in the coming months.

Warmer days must be just around the corner, since the folks at Spill (1410 Market Street) are opening the club's rooftop patio on Thursday, March 13, complete with three cabanas available for VIP bottle service and private parties, as well as a frozen-drink and mojito bar. But you can stay inside to sample Spill's new lunch and dinner menu.

Finally, anyone working in a bar, club or restaurant is eligible for an Industry Appreciation Discount Card at Thëorie (1920 Market Street), which is good for half-price appetizers and drinks from 10 p.m. to close Tuesdays through Fridays.