Comments (0) BEST CLUB DJ - 2000
Danny Shaffer
Danny Shaffer is that rare local club DJ whose pacing at the tables emulates flirty, provocative foreplay rather than wham-bam-tip-your-bartender-ma'am crowd pleasing. He'll drop the occasional jungle cut into his Sunday sets at the The Saloon while working the thin line between house and techno, letting some noise spur on his steady boom. This game of bait-and-mix is even more playable at nearby South Beach on Saturdays, despite the keep-out-the-scrubs $10 cover charge and a no-sportswear dress code. Named for moneyed Hollywood's slice of the Sunshine State, the club draws Asian, black, and white clubbers dressed to the give-me-your-number nines. When the liquor is really flowing, the dancers are open to R&B and techno--even the buzzing stuff. One recent Saturday found Shaffer dissolving Jennifer Lopez's "Waiting for Tonight" into a track that sounded less like hard house than like a UFO-sized bumblebee doing ska. By midnight he had swanked-up twentysomethings raving like teenagers at a candy party, though only one tube-topped fan was throwing her hands up at the barely visible DJ booth along the back wall. In fact, at a glance, you'd think the line of dancers on the small stage were directing the action. And with this responsive dream lover on the tables, they sort of are.
