I spent the first part of my Saturday night in the South Loop, feasting on yummy green curry at a Thai restaurant called MA&I and then at a friend's apartment for a GLMA alumni event. Once I was sufficiently stuffed with food and drink, I made my way out to... *gasp* Crobar Chicago to catch sets by Paolo Mojo and Dubfire (touring in support of his latest GU compilation) and meet up with the world-infamous Noiseboy, who I hadn't seen since the We Love Space closing party in Ibiza last September. I have only been to Crobar three times since I've been in Chicago. The first time was an after party for a Kellogg formal and my transportation to the club was a big yellow school bus. Nothing says cool quite like that! The other two times were with the boys on Sunday nights for Victor Calderone and Junior Vasquez. This would be my first foray into a normal Crobar club night and I was a bit scared. Although the crowd wasn't *that* bad, it wasn't that good either. The better news is that Dubfire didn't disappoint, playing some dirty techno that the crowd seemed to like. I took off sometime around 4am, shortly after I ran into one of my business school professors in the middle of the dance floor...ha! Now that's a clubbing first! While he's young, cool and quite attractive, I'm not quite sure that's a good situation for anyone! Thanks to Mike for the love, the good company and the introduction to a bunch of his fun mates! Until next time!
The night started off at Matilda in Lakeview for a going away gathering in honor of my friend Steve. After a stint in Florida and a few years in Chicago, he is finally headed back to New York, although this time he'll be based in Montauk. Rough life! The next stop was Lava Lounge in Wicker Park where New York-based, Ambivalent, was playing to support his hot new release on Richie Hawtin's M-nus label. Chicago local, Frankie Vega, got things off to a banging start, but brought it back down a notch and turned it over to Kevin around 12:30am. The crowd was digging the live set, which was full of quality minimal nuggets... and as expected, Kevin finished up the night with his track, RU OK. Congrats to Kevin on his success with the track and Saturday night booking at Mutek!
Just when I thought I was on my way home... I get a phone call and a re-direct from my friend from school, Chris, who decided to make a late night trip downtown from Evanston to Smart Bar. I was faced with the choice of a $30+ cab ride home from Wicker Park OR a $10 cab ride to Wrigleyville, a $15 cover and a free ride home. I'll take number two every time! And we're off! Party #3... Justice! Prior to tonight I only knew three things about Justice - 1) they are a rock/electro DJ duo from Paris, 2) they produced the monster hit "We Are Your Friends" and are getting some love for their new track "D.A.N.C.E." and 3) hipsters dig 'em. After tonight I now know three more things related to Justice - 1) they are party rockers, 2) their hipster followers are party rockers and 3) hipsters are funny... especially Carlo with the granny glasses, the dude with the Mr. T style gold necklace, the Rick James look alike and everyone that was throwing the Justice "cross" sign in the air. What will these crazy kids think of next!?!? Oh and one more hysterical moment... I'm standing in the middle of the dance floor watching this scrawny little striped-shirt boy hold his cigarette behind his back, while ashing on the floor. That would normally be fine except for the fact that he had ashed a cherry into his cuffed pants and the little fireball was about to set his leg on fire! I had to tap him on the shoulder and tell him what was going on for fear I'd have to stop, drop and roll his a$$ in the middle of the show!
The music was fun, the crowd was a blast to watch and interact with and quite honestly, I haven't seen Smart Bar rock that hard in a damn long time, so Justice definitely deserves some credit. I didn't actually get to hear either of the aforementioned tracks, but I did hear "Smack My Bitch Up" (for the 2nd weekend in a row), "Killing In The Name" and the surprise closing track, [It's] "My Party" [And I'll Cry If I Want To] by Lesley Gore. And the hipsters go wild! And start doing the twist! I'm not kidding.
Ambivalent drops "RU OK":
Justice playing Rage Against the Machine's "Killing In The Name":
After catching some of the Nite Versions set at the I Love Techno festival in Belgium this fall, I knew I did not want to miss the Chicago stop on the Radio Soulwax world tour. I rounded up a posse of 14 peeps and cruised down to Metro, which is the live music venue above Smart Bar. Unfortunately there were no set times posted anywhere in advance of the show so I got the crew down there way too early (3 hours of shitty openers?!!?!). After the long wait, they came out to perform live as Nite Versions and the Chicago crowd was really into it. As expected, they played E Talking and NY Excuse, but beyond that I didn't know too many of the songs this time around. They rocked out hard for about an hour and a half and then the openers came back out to play while they broke down the live setup. I was not feeling the noise that was JDH and Dave P. Unfortunately I lost most of my crew at the break and only a few of us were around to catch the DJ set, which was eventful. Music was vintage 2 Many DJs (all over the place and fun) and some interesting stuff was going on in the crowd. Some dudes kept going on the stage and jumping around, which was not the liking of 2 Many DJs brother duo, David and Stephen. They kept trying to shoo them away and then finally one of the idiots actually kicked out a cord, which was not met with a good response. David ran across the stage to mix it up with the guy a bit and yell at security (see photo). It was mildly amusing. They got the music going again, played Prodigy, "Smack My Bitch Up" and shortly thereafter another wasted guy jumped on stage and decided he wanted to stage dive, except the crowd was not jammed so he dove straight into the ground. He was then escorted out...ha! The volume was high all night (and I forgot my ear plugs) so round about 2:30am me and Chris decided to venture out for chili cheese fries and call it a night. Pics and vids below!
It's been almost four years since I first fell in love with electronic music. I actually can't even remember a first moment or party, but I do remember a late night trip to arc to see Sander Kleinenberg, a Brooklyn loft party, a Halloween night at Discothéque and many a night at Tapis Rouge with the girls of Marathon Muzik. I like to tell people that my good friend, Melanie Moore, got me "into this mess" and honestly, there's really no better way to put it. She got me started and after those first few late night dance sessions, I was hooked and have never looked back. Since that time, I have been to parties all over the world making new friends every stop on the way. When you find a passion in life, you never imagine how deep it's impact will be... but as I take a minute to reflect, I've realized how incredibly lucky I am to have found something that moves me the way music does. And more importantly, how music has led me to such an incredible community of people who somehow have transformed from shadows on a dance floor to some of the most important people in my life. So, I guess I'll get to the juicy details you've all been waiting for... but in the meantime, I'll state the obvious... it seems that turning 30 does make you a little nostalgic after all (-;
Ok... so here we go. The NYC edition of the DIRTY 30 celebration. I got to New York sometime around 7pm on Friday after a long trip, which included a two hour delay and a lengthy stop at a Chicago toll booth to let Dick Cheney cross the street. Neither air traffic nor the Vice Idiot of the United States could stop me from getting my party on! I got to Sullivan Room around 10:30pm and Melanie was getting things started with some groovy choons. I decorated Prop Headquarters and watched Melanie feel out the Core Audio system, while Loco Dice was feeling his way around the booth. After an hour and a half, Stadenco came on and continued the good vibe dropping his unsigned track, The O Face, and numerous other quality joints. Loco Dice came on at 12:30am and played a few hot tracks, but on the whole, failed to maintain a consistent dance floor groove. The good news is that we had our own room on the side of the booth, so the crew kept busy with our Props, bottles and constant supply of jokesters actin a fewl (aka Chief Swamy-Pants-Down). Peter Bailey, Boris, Hector Romero and Victor Calderone were all spotted at the party although I must have been too busy talking to my adoring fans* to notice any of them! (*Adoring fans in this case refers to the random guy who came out of the crowd to inform me that he knew who I was and had seen my breasts!). Me, Sean, Colleen and Karen left shortly after 4am to head back to Chelsea for a quick costume change and prop reorganization. Let me just also state that Sean, Colleen, Sai, Dale, Eileen, Holly, Karen, Mike and numerous other people actually came dressed in costume. YOU GUYS ROCK!
After that we went over to Bar 13 near Union Square for afterhours, which turned out to be just the late night session that NYC needed. Finally, a great venue, the right group of people and none other than Fabric resident, Craig Richards, to take us on a dark and twisted musical journey. Too many fun moments to mention, but handing out Easter eggs and prancing around with the puppets and pinata were definitely favorites! But top of the list has to be the ever so smooth move I made hanging with Sergio and Joe then Dale. Captain - that was an embrace I will never forgot or remember! Thank you, my friend!
Ok back to the program...Joel played an hour to start and then Craig came on and graced us with five hours of dope music. Loco Dice and Audio Fly both stopped by looking for some time on the decks, but Craig was in the zone. After he finally finished up, Melanie Moore and Taimur Agha came on and dropped another five hours of wicked tag-teaming. Only a crew of dedicated soldiers were there to the end, but let's just say blk mkt membership has it's privileges. I'm not going to mention what time it was when we left (my mother reads this stuff!). We re-entered mainstream society, grabbed a bite to eat and then set off for home to finally get some rest. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday - my best friends + wicked music. Thanks to everyone who helped the Puppets Take Manhattan! Until next year!!!
Loco Dice @ Sullivan Room (hard to see, but at least you can hear):
A few more pictures from Sullivan Room and Bar 13:
The countdown to 30 is on and the multi-city birthday festivities have begun! Last night was the annual Ibiza Party hosted by our Gay & Lesbian Management Association and European Business Club, which doubled as my Chicago birthday celebration. Once again we took over Nevin's Live and turned it into our own little Balearic oasis in Evanston. Good friends and fellow 2nd years, Sunil and Ram, dropped the fun and funky soundtrack to the evening which drew well over 200 revelers. KJ and I decided to balance the fun in the sun theme with a reincarnation of our alter egos, the Barcelona Dark Angels. The Ibiza Party, which went until 2am, was a great way to start the night...tons of faces smiling, booties shaking, hands waving and shot glasses flying (which is always a good sign!) There was even a sighting by the Israeli Easter Bunny! Thanks so much to everyone who came out to help celebrate my birthday and to dance to some proper beats! Check the video and pictures and read more about the rest of the night below! Video features Sunil dropping "Counting Down the Days" - Andrea Britton, Sunfreakz (Axwell Remix)... awesome track!
The late night crew bolted the Ibiza Party around 1:30am in order to catch the boys from M.A.N.D.Y. at Smart Bar. We got down there just as the room was filling up and Patrick and Phillipp were starting to to do their thing. The night before, they played at Cielo in New York and according to Phillipp, they hadn't gotten any sleep. Damn NYC heads are always keeping people up and ruining the afterhours fun for those of us who get the DJs the next night! It was also reported that they closed the night in New York with RUOK, Ambivalent's new release on M_NUS. M.A.N.D.Y. dropped some great tunes throughout the night in Chicago, but no RUOK. The good news is that my buddy Ambivalent will be playing here later this month and I'll get to hear him drop it in person. In any case... the music was good and the night eventful, as I had a few interesting run-ins with club staff. After the boys shut it down, we tried to convince them to play a few records at afterhours, but it didn't wind up happening. Our crew powered through, however, and went to not one, but two more spots before calling it quits Saturday morning. The highlight of the late late night was definitely the quality time I spent with the doorman at the last stop. All in all, a great time and good warm-up for the real trouble which takes place next weekend in New York at Dancing Rams IV: Puppets Take Manhattan.
Another month, another Madonna- Rama, another severe hangover. This time around we had a huge, rowdy crew from school head down to Boystown for a Sunday night out on the town. It was great to have so many Madonna-Rama virgins touched for the very first time - literally and figuratively! I'd like to apologize now for anyone that I may have offended, groped or emotionally scarred. Beyond that, I can't say much more... the events of last night are not fit for print!
I spent the first part of my Saturday night in the South Loop, feasting on yummy green curry at a Thai restaurant called MA&I and then at a friend's apartment for a GLMA alumni event. Once I was sufficiently stuffed with food and drink, I made my way out to... *gasp* Crobar Chicago to catch sets by Paolo Mojo and Dubfire (touring in support of his latest GU compilation) and meet up with the world-infamous Noiseboy, who I hadn't seen since the We Love Space closing party in Ibiza last September. I 
have only been to Crobar three times since I've been in Chicago. The first time was an after party for a Kellogg formal and my transportation to the club was a big yellow school bus. Nothing says cool quite like that! The other two times were with the boys on Sunday nights for Victor Calderone and Junior Vasquez. This would be my first foray into a normal Crobar club night and I was a bit scared. Although the crowd wasn't *that* bad, it wasn't that good either. The better news is that Dubfire didn't disappoint, playing some dirty techno that the crowd seemed to like. I took off sometime around 4am, shortly after I ran into one of my business school professors in the middle of the dance floor...ha! Now that's a clubbing first! While he's young, cool and quite attractive, I'm not quite sure that's a good situation for anyone! Thanks to Mike for the love, the good company and the introduction to a bunch of his fun mates! Until next time!
