05-17-2026, 03:04 PM
The Lion House is a new tiny scene that I've been hearing so much about. DJs Spliff Skankin & Robert Rankin were guests and it was the birthday of DJ Manik, who I'm just getting to know, so last night was the night.
It's in row of industrial warehouse buildings on S 5th in San Jose, tucked in the back of a cluttered artist collective space. Manik has built a Jamaican style sound system with that monster bass that's big enough to shake the jelly in your eyeballs in a small sound tiled room. It's seriously underground, the kind of party that gets shut down by the cops sometimes, with a tight community of Rastas & reggae lovers. His flyer was a twist on Lee Perry's dub classic Kung Fu Meets the Dragon:
![[Image: 250px-TheUpsetters-KungFuMeetsTheDragon.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/22/TheUpsetters-KungFuMeetsTheDragon.jpg/250px-TheUpsetters-KungFuMeetsTheDragon.jpg)
Turns out Manik is a huge fan of Kung Fu movies. Over the course of the evening, projected on the wall, he showed Shaolin Soccer, Ip Man & Journey to the West: Conquering Demons. Watching Kung Fu movies with the sound off, the subtitles on, and some reggae going is one of my guilty pleasures. Seeing these movies again with that mighty mighty sound system and two of my fav DJs, the two who raised me, was just a delight. It was the universe speaking to DM again, sending down a message of encouragement, especially after a very emotional morning leading a closing ritual for the Academy of Martial & Internal Arts. Last weekend I spent cranking out an article on Shaolin Soccer, a request from my editor at YMAA to do something soccer related for the World Cup. It was synchronicity. It was yuan fen. It was irie.
Manik laid out a fabulous table of Indian food. I had eaten already but enjoyed some super spicy samosas. I had some great chats with fellow fans: a bonding chat with Manik, a long drunken incoherent rant with Doug (a scenester that I've known forever), an ego-boosting discussion with Andrew, who I just met there who wanted to know more about these movies (few there had seen them so I quickly became the go-to authority), caught up with Krista, an old friend who is going through breast cancer (she looked good all things considered) and her husband Grant, who is looking into Qigong after suffering major back trauma from a mountain biking accident, and most endearing, I told Spliff that 27 years ago, I announced that Stacy was pregnant with Tara on his show as a guest DJ (a gift from Stacy), and that next Friday, she was graduating as a Juris Doctor. He grinning like an old rasta and said 'Keep that going.'
The downside was it was a sausage fest. There was only like a half dozen ladies to several dozen men. There was this one gorgeous dancehall diva dancing next to DM with her boyfriend but anytime DM & her fell into the same groove, the bf interceded, which was totally understandable. DM respects that. Nah gwan wreck di party, as rasta seh.
It felt cutting edge, the rugged frontier of the reggae scene, and I'll definitely go again. It's my new irie place.
It's in row of industrial warehouse buildings on S 5th in San Jose, tucked in the back of a cluttered artist collective space. Manik has built a Jamaican style sound system with that monster bass that's big enough to shake the jelly in your eyeballs in a small sound tiled room. It's seriously underground, the kind of party that gets shut down by the cops sometimes, with a tight community of Rastas & reggae lovers. His flyer was a twist on Lee Perry's dub classic Kung Fu Meets the Dragon:
Turns out Manik is a huge fan of Kung Fu movies. Over the course of the evening, projected on the wall, he showed Shaolin Soccer, Ip Man & Journey to the West: Conquering Demons. Watching Kung Fu movies with the sound off, the subtitles on, and some reggae going is one of my guilty pleasures. Seeing these movies again with that mighty mighty sound system and two of my fav DJs, the two who raised me, was just a delight. It was the universe speaking to DM again, sending down a message of encouragement, especially after a very emotional morning leading a closing ritual for the Academy of Martial & Internal Arts. Last weekend I spent cranking out an article on Shaolin Soccer, a request from my editor at YMAA to do something soccer related for the World Cup. It was synchronicity. It was yuan fen. It was irie.
Manik laid out a fabulous table of Indian food. I had eaten already but enjoyed some super spicy samosas. I had some great chats with fellow fans: a bonding chat with Manik, a long drunken incoherent rant with Doug (a scenester that I've known forever), an ego-boosting discussion with Andrew, who I just met there who wanted to know more about these movies (few there had seen them so I quickly became the go-to authority), caught up with Krista, an old friend who is going through breast cancer (she looked good all things considered) and her husband Grant, who is looking into Qigong after suffering major back trauma from a mountain biking accident, and most endearing, I told Spliff that 27 years ago, I announced that Stacy was pregnant with Tara on his show as a guest DJ (a gift from Stacy), and that next Friday, she was graduating as a Juris Doctor. He grinning like an old rasta and said 'Keep that going.'
The downside was it was a sausage fest. There was only like a half dozen ladies to several dozen men. There was this one gorgeous dancehall diva dancing next to DM with her boyfriend but anytime DM & her fell into the same groove, the bf interceded, which was totally understandable. DM respects that. Nah gwan wreck di party, as rasta seh.
It felt cutting edge, the rugged frontier of the reggae scene, and I'll definitely go again. It's my new irie place.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse