Dirty Gruv Presents Submerge 101

With summer coming and tourist dollars drying up, Igor Bogatov is on the offense, looking for fresh local faces on the dance floor. (Well, fresh local feet, actually; if you find your face is often on the floor, maybe you need to skip it this week.)

In this spirit, Bogatov, the impetus behind the local Dirty Gruv collective, presents another monthly "First Friday" techno bash this week, featuring Chicago's Orlando Solis, a.k.a. Submerge 101. Solis's genre-busting turntable skills have earned him a solid worldwide rep as an innovative techno DJ. He favors a unique blend of funky house sounds and European hyperspeed techno that makes Darude sound like Pink Floyd on chloroform.

Since he began DJing in Chicago in 1989, Solis has worked clubs from Thailand to Detroit, but he's diplomatic when comparing different locales. "I don't really categorize a scene," he says. "A party is a party. People are there to dance, have fun, socialize, forget about the troubles they're dealing with, and have a good time."

So support the local techno community by hitting Laundry Bar this Friday. The water's fine, and you won't wash out your entire paycheck in one night. -- Eric W. Saeger