7/1 - Z-Trip @ the showbox
7/1 - The Advent @ consolidated works
7/2 - me @ stompin' in the woods (assuming it doesn't get shut down)
7/16 - dubtribe in portland (supposedly last tour)
7/21 - phoenix fest, of course ;)

dammit. one of my coworkers just emailed me an article from the seattle times about the 'stompin' in the woods' party that i'm supposed to be djing at next weekend.

music fest under scrutiny

i've heard rumors that the story even made it into npr! this doesn't bode well for my feeble performance practice..

i will be doing my crappy dj imitation at stompin' in da woods on july 4.. it's an outdoor party at lake bronson. i'm playing two sets, actually, one on the daytime stage on the lake in the afternoon and another on the main psytrance stage in the early evening (no, i will not be playing psytrance ;). i'm playing again at the walrus festival on august 6 which takes place on the beach. (ha! gotta love that name.) i can't argue with an excuse to go to the ocean.

i was reminded saturday of why i love all ages parties (well, good ones anyway).

if you're a good dj and play an amazing, well-mixed set of dance music at 10:30 pm at a 21+ event, you'll most likely be playing to an empty floor while everyone stands around at the sides of the room sipping their drinks and stroking their chin.

whereas if you're an unskilled dj and play a questionably mixed set of downtempo at a good all-ages event at 10:30pm, people will dance to anything remotely danceable (with hands in the air even), clap for you, smile at you, and generally be quite encouraging.
(however, even though i didn't see anyone who looked 21+ dancing, all the people who trainspotted and/or came to talk to me after i was done seemed 21+.)

as usual i thought my set was ass but everyone was really supportive and cool.
i'm not going to play out again for a long time and plan on practicing a lot.. but despite my anxiety, that was the best experience i've had playing out thus far.

the rest of the weekend was equally enjoyable.. i joined heckzotica's garage sale and got rid of some of the crap that's been making the apartment unmanageable, had good food at the globe,
record shopping with gustav & his nyc friend & dinner at the snappy dragon, and showed up at rebar on sunday to discover that garth was spinning. i made some new friends at rebar, too.. a pair of breakdancing best friends whose style was like watching dancefloor theatre, and bernard, a longtime househead who apparently used to throw events at buzz in dc in the early 90s. but i do regret missing out on the birthday parties and other fun stuff that was going on this weekend and hope that everyone else had as much fun as i did.

oh, i forgot to post about my last dj 'appearance'.

i showed up to play at 9am. one kid was left in the venue. he had locked himself in the bathroom and was refusing to come out. i was told that he had been spending the night opening his bag, then closing his bag, then opening his bag, then closing his bag. when he wasn't doing that, he was busy holding a broken blacklight sadly.. apparently mourning its demise. everyone speculated about what drug cocktail he'd ingested at the beginning of the party.

my friend gustav and i had this discussion earlier in the evening about how it really doesn't matter if a big name dj's performance is GOOD.. there just need to be at least ten people who thought it was good who run around convincing everyone else that it was. so i was excited to play for this future member of my fan club. that rave kid could've been person #1 to convince the musical world that i am destined to rule it.

unfortunately, everyone else at the venue wanted to pack up and go home. i was starving so i said "ok. fine. let's go to the globe and get breakfast."

but the kid wouldn't come out of the bathroom. so everyone started pounding on the door. i suggested mentioning the cops. the pounding on the door continued and "THE COPS ARE HERE!" was added. that got the kid to come out of the bathroom. then we went and ate breakfast. i announced that this was my greatest gig ever, and that it'd truly go down in the history books as one of my most impressive public performances.

my terrible psuedo-dj'ing strikes again:

february 15 at polygraphic (tentative) and february 19 at aristocrats.
(it's edotdj's birthday and jizosh is also playing, so it's worthwhile ;)

my set at saturnzsheep went a lot better than my last one.. probably because i actually picked out records in advance and planned a bit ;)

i'm sure the peppermint schnapps i chugged in the car didn't hurt either. gawd, that stuff is nasty... but i couldn't find my flask and my vodka bottle was too big to bring in my recordbag.

i actually felt somewhat comfortable, though.. and c. told me that he wants me to dj again at his next event :) he says that it'll probably be in march. i said that i'd rather play in the wee morning hours when everyone is out of it and he said that'd work. sweeeeet. i'm going to actually start practicing now. for real.

here's a photo slideshow of the rest of the pictures.

i was asked to post a reminder about the party i'm dj'ing at saturday night. i'll justify this by mentioning that i found out that jeno is playing for free at emp on tuesday night.

come see my world-reknowned "trainwreck of silence" technique in effect!
i play at 10pm on saturday night.
http://www.phoenixfest.com/saturnzsheep

i don't know the dj playing after me but she is cute, wears shirts that reference detroit, and took her name from a stereolab song.. so she must also be worth seeing ;)

the requested attire is pajamas. the event also provides cereal for attendees. i wholeheartedly endorse both these concepts.

muschiola: have you heard of the 3 day ambient party
muschiola: december 17-19
x: yup
muschiola: are you coming?
x: not sure. possibly
muschiola: still trying to finalize the line-up... has a few holes
x: i'll play a crappy trainwrecked set!
muschiola: you think you would trainwreck ambient?
x: yup.
x: i can trainwreck silence
muschiola: i book you for the daytime

i have a small, ridiculous collection of dj-related paraphenelia. this week i added blaine, a male barbie-related doll which was produced in small quantities. the ebay description says: "He will arrive to you COMPLETE with all his FANTASTIC accessories: DJ turntable with headphones, sunglasses, necklace cellphone, record case + 4 records in their sleeves, Barbie-size records, pants, shirt, jacket, backstage pass with star charm and an extra shirt."

( pictures of everyone's favorite dj )

i am going to play records in public for the first time for chickenhed at phoenix festival in july. i'm extremely excited about this... there's no one i'd rather play for more :D the tickets are on sale now. the festival's been amazing every year, but it's also consistently lost money. i'm buying a ticket and encourage everyone to buy one, even if you are someone who could finagle your way for free. for non-northwest readers, i honestly think this event is worth travelling for.. so if you're looking for a vacation, come and join us!

chickenhed's an atypical crew for an electronic music festival. they aesthetically resemble a twisted version of something you might see at burningman. you might hear sounds like the "hour of ween", booty house, children's sample records in a british voice, goa, racetrack announcements, gabber at 9am, michael jackson, south park, styx.. you never really know ;) needless to say, this is not always terribly popular at "rave" events. they've been compared to aural rape and torture, and have literally been physically assaulted and ejected from venues. i'll hopefully have a bodyguard.

in addition to my standard assortment of audio weaponry, i'd like to pay homage via chicken samples. if you have any suggestions for good records with chicken sounds or themes, let me know. i'll be scouring thriftshops, garagesales & ebay in order to represent in full force.

anyone seen the new playboy dj issue yet?

i'm curious.