A chance encounter on Craigslist has made something magical happen — but it's not what you might think.
Jim Hopkins, a San Francisco-based sound engineer, producer and head of the veteran local record label Twitch Recordings, recently bought a reel-to-reel tape machine to offer conversion services to his client. Soon after, he answered a Craigslist ad from a woman looking to have some reels transferred to CD.
In her possession are many hours of recordings of her father, DJ Michael Lee, a popular local disco DJ in the late Seventies.
Hopkins has made a selection of Lee's DJ sets recorded in San Francisco clubs from 1976-1979 available to hear in an archive he calls the SF Disco Preservation Society. He has added a photo gallery containing pictures of the now defunct clubs where Lee played, including the I-Beam, Buzzby's, Dreamland, and Trocadero Transfer.
Also archived are a handful of sets from other DJs that are part of the Lee collection. Notably, there are two 1979 sets from Steve Fabus, who is still a San Francisco-based DJ. With Sergio Fedasz, Fabus currently operates a monthly club night called Go BANG!
