The Coachella Valley is rich with both music events and LGBTQ+ events—but local DJs Dr. Time, AA and E.Feld noticed there was nothing resembling an underground party for queer folks.
So they started one.
Dr. Time (Justin Lenzi), AA (Aaron Aldorisio) and E.Feld (Erik Grosfeld) created Dry Heat, a music collective dedicated to providing inclusive spaces for the local queer community—in other words, music-focused alternatives to mainstream gay culture and club events. You can catch the group at the Barracks on Friday, March 15, with DJ Prosumer, and at the Amigo Room at the Ace Hotel on Thursday, Feb. 29, and Thursday, March 28.
During a recent phone interview with Aldorisio, he explained why Dry Heat began.
“I came from Los Angeles; they both came from San Francisco, and we saw a lack of the sort of queer music-focused parties we like to go to in the cities we came from, so we started throwing a little party ourselves,” Aldorisio said. “Just over a year ago, the last Thursday of January 2023, we did the first one. We call it Dry Heat, just because the name made sense with the desert. We were doing it the last Thursday of the month in the back room of Wendy’s Hideout (aka Pete’s Hideaway), which is now out of business. … We started getting asked to play outside gigs, like we played at Splash House last year, and we’ve played at big warehouse parties in L.A.
At Dry Heat events, the DJs focus on diverse music—and a diversity of attendees.
“Palm Springs has obviously a huge gay population, and there are lots of circuit-type events where (the music) is more mainstream EDM, but they’re not really as focused on playing diverse music, and they’re more focused on a night out for gay men,” Aldorisio said. “We wanted to do something more queer and inclusive that was all about the music and not necessarily about the sexual or flirting element of it. It’s definitely social, but it’s a queer party, and all are welcome. We’re focused on playing underground house music and techno that we didn’t really hear coming from any of the other gay parties in town.”
Aldorisio said Dry Heat events have “grown and grown” over the last year.
“Luckily, between the three of us and the amount of out-of-town friends we have coming through all the time, we’ve been able to build a good following,” he said. “As we expanded, we’ve started doing it at places like the Tool Shed, a traditional old-school leather bar—and we’re bringing in women, trans folks and more feminine folks, who are coming for the music. At the same time, some of the regular customers, the older leather guys, they’re saying how excited they are to hear house music or dance music being played, and have their space kind of turned into a dance party for the night.”
One of Dry Heat’s highlights thus far: playing at a Splash House afterparty.
“That happened about five or six months into us just kind of starting this thing,” Aldorisio said. “We got a great reception for that, and we’ve been booked for a lot of stuff because of that, like outside gigs that aren’t our own party. (At the Splash House afterparty), we got to play to a few thousand people at the Palm Springs Air Museum, and we opened for Purple Disco Machine, who my stepdaughter—who is 21 and listens to more mainstream EDM—was very excited about. We kind of have these fairy godmothers, Heidi Lawden and Masha Mar, who are big DJs in L.A. and old friends of mine, who played on that bill, too, and they made it comfortable for us. It was a very surreal experience, but the feedback’s been great.”
Dry Heat’s performance at the Amigo Room on Thursday, March 28, will be the final show of their “Last Thursdays” residency there.
“We played our first one in January, and we packed the Amigo Room on a Thursday night until closing,” he said. “People were dancing, and it was a great mix of our local friends and some hotel guests and people who just read about it online and showed up and wanted to see something different. We actually played there once before in November; we did a takeover of the Amigo Room on Friday night and then played poolside Saturday. … We’ve been getting good responses, and every time they’ve been different but good crowds. Every time I play the Amigo Room, it’s really good fun.”
Aldorisio said he and his fellow DJs are dedicated to providing great events for music-lovers, the queer community and beyond.
“As we get older as queer men, and more people we know become the age where they want to move to Palm Springs, we want to be there for people of our generation who grew up going to warehouse parties and queer raves and things of that nature,” Aldorisio said. “Also, I know there are a lot of young people in the valley who are actually straight, or queer, or what have you, who are interested in that kind of music, and there are not a lot of spaces for them to get it. We’re always going to be community-focused, and we wouldn’t ever continue Dry Heat if it wasn’t rooted here in the Coachella Valley. That’s one of our founding principles: We’re a local based party. We’re not coming in from San Francisco or some other city trying to just throw a party here and make money. We’re trying to do something for the place we live in, and fill a gap in the culture we didn’t see when we all landed here.”
If you’ve read this, and you’re on the fence about Dry Heat, Aldorisio personally invites you to come experience it firsthand.
“It’s a very casual environment where if you’re coming to hear good music and dance and be around people who are in the same boat, that’s what it is,” he said. “You can come dressed however you want, with whatever orientation or attitude or mood or anything you’re in. The party is there, and it’s about the music and dancing, and we’re trying to just play underground dance music for people out here. If they want to hear it, they should feel welcome at our party.”
Dry Heat will perform at 9 p.m., Friday, March 15, with DJ Prosumer at the Barracks, 67625 E. Palm Canyon Drive, in Cathedral City. Advance tickets are $10. For more information, visit barracksps.com. Dry Heat will perform at 7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 29, and Thursday, March 28, at the Amigo Room, 701 E. Palm Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs. The event is free, but attendees must be 21+. For more information, visit acehotel.com/palm-springs. Learn more about Dry Heat at www.instagram.com/dryheat_ps.
