I've been slacking...

...two comments in one week! Yikes...

Got the new set (well, last Wednesday's set) up on my website in mp3 but haven't done the setlist for it yet. But since you're all so cool, here's the super-secret link so you can listen before I get off my ass and write out that setlist tonight....

http://www.djmuse.com/music/092805bt.mp3

Yes, me and my lovely intern Alana bringing you the choons.

Got some great vinyl from Warp and Rephlex the other day. MMMM glitchy, odd goodness.

And I'm off to Audio Recording class. TTYL...

Shut up shut up shut up!

Yes, I just loooove Miss Osbourne. It seems so striking how much of an "hommage" her One Word is to Visage's Fade to Grey...."just a hint of" Fade to Grey...come off it. It's a frickin ripoff of the song. Listen to them side by side. Yes, updated, yes, with more pitch correct, a hint of reverb and just enough vocoder to get past that annoying voice without sounding like Cher, but FUCK THAT.

I hope Visage can find a lawyer to take them on. Fine if you want to jump on the dance bandwagon (especially the electro/retro bandwagon), but don't fucking blatantly ripoff a classic song and hope nobody notices. Then again, someone wrote it for her, so whoever did that is the one that deserves to be buried in the desert up to their neck, have honey poured on their head and have a batch of fire ants dumped on them. She's too stupid to pull something like that. Yeah it sounds fucking great - it's a song that was a hit years ago!!

Now that I've vented, I shall recap my time off.

New weekly, almost a month into it - Monday nights at the Lucky Dog in Worcester (a live venue) playing before and between sets for Groupaction, a band of my friends who are tons of fun. They're getting ready to ramp up on the other project of wunderkind Sean Revoltah, "Dudefucker" (damn, I love that name) and I think I'll have more than a finger or two in that pie. Decadent fun indeed.

Survived midterms at school. Plans for August when school is out include spending a LOT of time working with a gent who has an awesome analogue-based recording studio. Since I'm just now learning midi but he's been out of the production arena for a while, we're paired up nicely - I'll teach him the new stuff, he'll teach me the other stuff...I'm really stoked. This guy is a bit younger than me, remembers the early days of "rave" (he's originally from Britain) and has a day job where he's made enough money to make the most gorgeous studio in his basement, complete with kitchen, shower and a place to crash. We are going to get some serious work done. :) Stay tuned on that.

I'm also planning a trip to Memphis sometime in August to gig with my friends, I'll post on my website front page when I get the dates for those of you interested.

Blessed with friends, am I. That's a beautiful thing, and knowing that I don't have to settle for friends who have major hangups and want *me* to change is also a great relief. I am changing what I think needs fixing with me at my own pace, and no one person's friendship is worth putting myself to that kind of stress without giving something in return that I can't live without. Knowing I have friends who would protect and stay with me through anything is worth so much more than just settling. I don't settle anymore.

Meet the new me! Obnoxious and crazy. Stay tuned for stories of drunken ninja karaoke, wild parties in band practice spaces and more.... :)

Busted!

...okay, it's been forever and I haven't posted.

I have good excuses! No, the dog didn't eat my homework, but for starters, I have gone back to school. Specifically, the New England Institute of Art where I'm studying for a degree in Audio and Media production (Bachelor of Science program track). Classes started on the 16th of May, and I love it, but I'm commuting for classes and it's pretty busy. For those keeping track, I have classes on Tues, Thurs, and Friday. For the stalkers, I'm the only student there with purple hair, as far as I can tell. (as you can tell, I'm totlaly worried about stalkers.)

BUT! As if that weren't enough fun, I was planning a dance benefit (no, not the evil "rave", but a dance benefit with me and DJ DC from Boston playing old school and new school music where people can buy alcohol and dance) at the Palladium theater in Worcester. I picked the first three Fridays in June as my dates, and when they got back to me, I had the first Friday in June, which is June 3rd - this coming Friday. No, not any more stress there. Flyers, contracts, promotions, posting on message boards, working every angle I can think of, and still doing school. It's a benefit for my community radio station, WCUW, where my music show has a home. BTW - I've started archiving the shows in MP3 format again, go to my website under Radio Show to find the last week -or two- of shows. So, here's the ghetto flyer for my event. Since it's a benefit I'm putting on, the $$ up front is outta MY poor pocket, so no full-color flyer BS - it's old school, it's got the pertinent info on it, it's got a disco ball - what more do you want, duh?



So I've got a gig on Friday. New school stuff (that I am enjoying very much). Signed on to do mixes for the "Mixdown" syndicated radio show. Kind of got screwed out of my gig at the coffee house on THIS NIGHT, MONDAY, the last Monday gig playing out before the benefit. Also known as the day I told *everyone* I met that the tickets would be done tonight and I'd have them for presales. Of course, the kid in charge decided *Saturday* that they would be closed Monday and never bothered to call and tell me. Luckily I showed up Saturday to check out the flyer distribution or I wouldn't have known. So, needles to say, my being on the fence about continuing that particular weekly gig is over - I'm off the fucking fence and my Mondays are mine again. Next week, I'm hitting up some new venues around town trying to find a spot for a weekly.

So, I'm recording Friday night's entire set on my new Ibook (which is actually an old Ibook from 2001 that a friend fixed for me). In return for said Ibook, I gave him my old Numark turntables and an old mixer. I'm also going to throw in some trance promos I never use. Yes, I will probably spend eternity in the seventh circle of hell for encouraging yet another inexperienced kid in his dreams of trance DJ glory, but I wanted the damn laptop.

How do you like them apples, huh? :)

DAAAMN!

It has been a while, and yes, I've been slacking.

Got a new car stereo and learned that cheap, bulk CDRs work fine for your promos, but suck for recording discs with MP3s on them for my car stereo.

After making many coasters, I thought to check some old MP3 CDs that friends had made for me. 2 Many DJs on Radio Soulwax never sounded so good. WHEE! Roadtrip...

Progress in the live arena. We're doing a benefit for the radio station by throwing an old school "club night" (not a fucking rave, please, that term has been damaged beyond repeair - nobody wore those stupid plastic bracelets back in the day!) at the Palladium in Worcester. They have a basically unused "upstairs room" that's a complete club, all painted in the essential black. I have to make a bunch of money in presale tickets to afford the security staff, the on-duty cop (what a scam), and the various other stuff including liability insurance (that I'm getting through them, which is a relief), but the interest for this thing has been amazing.

Two DJs, none of this "One hour each, three rooms, thirty DJs, start at 2pm and end at 5am" crap - we're going to do it proper. Eight in the evening till two in the morning, a bar for the adults and eighteen to enter. Hell, we've even got the disco ball from hell that has red and white lights. My friend who works at the Palladium set it up. It's his pride and joy. LOL But it should be trippy.

Now the sound - they are letting me use their sound and I'll rent reinforcement if I need any. There's huge cabs and bassbins, and CROWN amps - lots of 'em. I have to go sometime this month and hook it all up and see what else I'll need. Total light rigs, and there's like three light controller consoles - I certainly hope they're not all used...yikes! My Palladium connection (his name is Timmy to give you some background - about six feet tall, rail thin, and works security as well as other stuff - he's someone I wouldn't be afraid to walk down a bad neighborhood's street with) : NOTE: that parenthetical sentence was wrong on so many levels that my husband will probably divorce me, but i'm too lazy to retype - you get the pic, mmkay?: back to the regularly scheduled program already in progress: Timmy says they rewired the whole upstairs a while back so there will be no circuits breaking and shutting down the power, but hopefully we'll get a real break dancer or two.

That's been my business lately, so stop bitchin' (that and I'm lazy, I admit it). I also am knee-deep in the fundraising drive (on-air) at our community radio station. Monday night gig was quiet the last week or two, and I have come to learn that teachers enjoy grading their papers to my early-evening downtempo/acid jazz flow.

I'm also going to school starting in May, but more on that to follow shortly - I need morning coffee, dammit!

(it's all your fault, Koala. hehe)

Music in Motion...

Last night I played a benefit at the Worcester Arts Guild. It was part of the "Where Your Mouth Is" performance series (every Thursday night from 7-10 at the Worcester Arts Guild). Performers included some amazing poets - Dawn Gabriel and Rachel McKibbens (bad ass mamacita - I bought my first chapbook after that one), and the musician was acoustic performer Jon Svetkey. I did the music at the beginning and end, intermission and between performers. It's nice to be able to set a mood, and with my gear being where it was, I could see all the performers from the side.

It's always wonderful to see an artist moved by his own song - when it's that fresh in your mind that you can't help recalling what made you write it. I know that feeling well, and respect it so much in the work of other artists.

Next up is Monday night's Java Hut gig (no crazies this time, please). I also have an appointment next week at the Palladium to work out details for having a benefit dance event in the upstairs room (holds about 450 people) that will be 18 and up and we'll be able to serve alcohol to the adults, too. Trying to get DJ Scrub out of hibernation, we'll see if his spousal unit will be up for that.

Just talked to my friend Ben Armstrong who got back from WMC today. He loved it, said he met everyone (just about) in house (the house mafia is like any other mafia, once you're in, you're in for life) and got to play right before Q Burns Abstract Message (a very sweet and talented guy who I want to have a baby with LOL). I've known Ben since my days in Oklahoma (years now) and he's getting big - producing work that's getting signed to labels, and making a name outside the southeast and midwest where we've all known for years what a badass he is. It doesn't hurt that he's the nicest fellow, either.

I know my time will come for WMC, but it wasn't this year. Bad luck on the promoter's part (they broke into her apartment, stole her laptop, lost all her contact info) meant putting aside this year's plans and rebuilding. She's talking about doing more in either Tampa or Orlando - saying the scenes there are much better than Miami, which seems to be going south in a lot of ways. I can see that...so we're still working things on that end.

I'm also going to be on a syndicated show - the Mixdown. Four hours, eight performers. First show will probably be this week if I can get back with Dwayne for my pin so I can upload the files with the right filenames. Stay tuned for more info!

Some people get barfights at their gigs.

I, however, get crazy people on crack who come in, sit at the bar and end up surrounded by eight cops and rustled out to a paddy wagon (yes, a real, live, Wooosta police paddy wagon).


Maybe I need to go back a few steps.


My Monday night gig is at a coffee house, which is a few blocks from Clark University but at the edge of a sketchy part of town. Luckily, the patrons include a number of bouncers from the Palladium (who know their bidness and usually deal with metalhead kids who get out of hand) and other people I feel very safe having around.


When I get to the place on Monday night, the day counter guy/manager is there with some cop obviously giving a police report. Turns out, after I left the previous night's poetry festivities, some guy showed up around 12 (at night) and was acting *very* sketchy (the whole weird story involving offers of large sums of money to work there, weird comments and paranoid rantings are on my friend's LJ, which I would link to if he didn't make it friends only because the little girls like to stalk him). At one point, one of the bouncers from the Palladium came in - large (and I mean not fat, the kind of large that involves large mass of muscle with a bit of fat over it that can move FAST and fuck you up - he's my buddy, my protector, and we're both Air Force veterans, so we bonded from the beginning - he was an MP, of course, I was just a computer programmer. LOL) and sporting the NYC attitude (born and raised there), but not being in your face. Just that confident roll, eyes scoping out the situation by habit. Paranoid guy has seen him around, seen the New York plates, and is convinced this guy is after him (drugs are bad, mmmkay?).


Of course, as the situation develops, my friend gets him out back so as not to get into a fight around the staff and patrons. When they're outside, the crazy guy whips out some thing (I forget the name of it) that is half hatchet, half hammer and proceeds to threaten my friend with it. Since the staff have already called 911, all my friend has to do is keep crazy man in check until the cops get there. OTOH, my friend also has a case of PTSD, and certain situations (like being threatened with real physical violence) can set him off, so he says "I have a machete under my seat, motherfucker. You want me to get it? Then we can fight." (I forgot to mention - he drives a taxi, so you know how that goes)


Luckily the cops show up and give the guy the bum rush.


So, that's Sunday, and on Monday I'm coming in to the manager giving his report on this incident (ie: more information) on Monday night. The staff fill me in on the situation, said the guy had threatened them that he had a gun at one point, etc. So now I know there's some weird guy out there who may show back up.


Remember how I said I was going to do old-school hip hop by request? Yes, I did that - until about two minutes before the cops showed up. I'm glad I wasn't playing NWA's "F**k tha Police" when they showed up (I had played it earlier). One of the baristas (what is the correct name for one who is a female or is it the same for all?) came up to me and I could tell she was *freaked out* - she's a friend of mine. She told me (sotto voce) that the guy at the end of the counter, who I'd seen come in and put his big-ass parka on one of the couches at the front before sitting at the counter with his back to me so I had no clue of his state, was the guy and that Tony (one of the staff who was in there on his day off) was out back waiting for the police to show up (the back has no windows to the parking lot, the front has full plate glass windows looking out on the street). I was really grateful that one of my bouncer friends (who's also a close friend of ours who will be moving in as our upstairs neighbor along with his wife soon) was sitting on a chair keeping an eye on things. I told Kaylee (the barista) that I'd put on some very *soothing* music in a minute and it would help her calm down while she waited. Song ends, fade to trip hop (from hip hop, but stylistic continuity was not my concern at this point).


Eight cops are suddenly coming in the front door, single file. In about two seconds, they're surrounding the guy, handcuffing him and sitting him on a chair at a table. Guy keeps trying to get up, ranting about police brutality against minorities, etc etc. The whole time, I'm playing stuff like mellow house (I believe Danny Tenaglia's 9 minute remix of Ananda Project's "Cascade of Colors" was in there) and low key prog house like the stuff off the last Sasha album. At a medium volume where the cops can hear properly but so there isn't dead silence. Rule #1: don't ever stop the music unless ordered to by a uniformed person - people are already on edge (they teach you this in DJ school, heh) and try to not stare at the situation like every other damn person at the establishment.


Finally, the guy starts threatening the cops, and that's it - he's outta there as soon as the paddy wagon (yes, I wasn't kidding) pulls up in the front. Turns out he wasn't giving them his ID and didn't have it on him - but his parka is still sitting on the couch. Ashley (another of the staff) tells a cop that the guy's coat is on the sofa and points it out. Since it's directly across from me, I watch him pick it up by the hood and see some green box fall out of the pocket (probably cigarettes judging from the size). At that point,he procedes to check the many pockets.


He pulls out and holds up in his palm.....a gun. I'm not big on guns, I've shot them before, but I don't like them at all. I literally felt my stomach try and take over my throat, and then swallowed and watched as he put it down and finally pulls out the aforementioned hatchet/hammer thingy.


Now, I try not to speculate on what *could* have happened. But I am guessing he was waiting for my taxi-driving friend to show back up, and I am fucking *thrilled* that it didn't go down like that.


It's not all grim, though - every thing in my life seems to have funny endings. Another of the bouncers from the Palladium (Timmay, aka the "fake Tim" as my husband calls him) shows up, pissed that he missed the action. He talks up the cops (who it turns out were members of the SWAT team) who he knows and finds out more about what happened. Yes, the gun had a full clip in it. Yes, the guy's well-known to the cops. Meth head with mental problems (which came first, the chicken or the egg), always getting into something.


Rest of the night was more upbeat - I played fun party tunes and my crazy friends danced and drank espresso until they were well buzzing. Decent money in the tip jar. Lots of hugs to Kaylee who is still pretty freaked out. Learned that buddha Tim (there are many Tims around here) took the seat next to freaky guy so no unsuspecting patron would sit next to him in case something happened. Also learned that the guy had said he had a gun the night before but nobody believed him. Saw another guy coming through, obviously looking for his friend, talking on his cell phone as he cruised through from back to front (very subtle, G).


When Tim (aka the spouse) showed back up, he was briefed on all of it. He had gone home (three blocks away) to finish some work, and was glad that Keith had been there and that everyone was okay.


So how was *your* Monday night? LOL

It's Monday, and I'm NOT a slacker. Heh.

Per the orders of the koala, I am updating. This weekend was interesting - I sped down to NYC on Friday afternoon (well, actually I drove pretty sedately judging from all the people whizzing past me) and caught "Electrofest '05" at Rare down in the meatpacking district.

It was the first time I'd ever been to a club down there, and I enjoyed it. Intimate space (maybe 200 cap tops), nice little stage, good sound (geared toward bands with an actual DJ booth that used to be a freezer complete with the freezer door - I wanted to play!) and a friendly barstaff. They even had drink specials (in NYC?) and I ran a tab and got pleasantly buzzed on three dollar kamikazes and some odd green concoction that came in a bottle.

I was there to see "My Robot Friend" which is basically a guy named Howard who I've been corresponding with since Tim (the spouse) got his album for review at Popmatters.com and fell in love with it. "The robot" sent me copies of all the remixes on CD, and I had lots of fodder for the show, as well as planning them into "Retroelectromix 2" which I will start on by the end of the month. The people at Lift can go hang, but I don't think it's their fault I never got the second copy of "Mayfield remixed" - but that's another story and I digress. SO. Back to the show.

Picture a guy in a plastic suit that encloses lights, all kinds of lights - christmas lights in red, one of those lights shaped like a heart (over where the heart would be, bien sur) armbands with blinking LEDs, and a helmet that looks like the Devo helmets mated and had babies all over it (of course with more lights). Many antics by the Robot, visuals (especially the one he just finished for "The Cut" which will give you epilepsy if you're not careful) including a wireless cam that showed the robot, or the crowd, or whatever he felt like....the list goes on. I can't forget to mention Mr. Bingo Bazingo, who has to be in his 70s or 80s, and is the actual voice for "You're out of the computer" (go to My Robot Friend's site to hear a sample under the music link). Smarty pants me, I thought he'd done some weird processing (and yes, there's a tad) but that voice can only belong to Bingo Bazingo. Awesome show.

Got a lot of CDs from electro bands,which will come in handy on the forthcoming project that has had a setback due to needing a less flaky partner for the promoter. But it's still moving along, and I'm still in the DJ seat. I got thanked for my patience and I said "patience? More time to drop teasers to my friends and get a big crowd when we open!" I couldn't get pried away from this project with a crowbar. LOL

The rest of the weekend was spent visiting friends (Saturday), hanging out with friends and reading poetry) Sunday - and then spending quality time with the spousal unit. Today, I wake up at *two* and spend an hour catching up on all the emails, LJ, etc...

Java Hut gig tonight. Lots of old-school hip hop (by request) and the usual mixed bag of everything including "what the fuck was that?"

I don't think I can update every hour. :D

So, here we are.

..as a complement to my web page ( http://www.djmuse.com ) I will probably be using this blog as a sort of "whats going on in the DJ life" for me.

You'll probably hear about things I've got in the works, where I plan to go and what I plan to do both life-wise and (by association) career-wise.

Right now I'm living in Central Massachusetts where I have the radio show and the weekly gig at the coffee house which I'm on the fence about at the moment. I also have a monthly gig playing for the Youth Poetry Slam at the Worcester Artists Group (aka "the WAG") which is a great multi-purpose space where they show art and can host events. Further, I've been asked to play at a benefit (for homeless women) that's part of a weekly performance/poetry/anything goes open Mic on Thursdays.

Another event is in the works. Unlike the last time I had someone offer me something big (that eventually fell through), I'm not going to give details until it is set in concrete (or at least on contracts). It will be in Boston if it does go through, so stay tuned. Should know more next week.

I've also made a decision that I need to move back to Memphis at some point in the next couple of years. I miss all my friends there, and they miss me. I've never been accepted and appreciated for my talent so completely anywhere else I've been, and that's where I want to be. The spouse agrees totally, since he likes the people as well (and everything being so much more affordable doesn't hurt, either). I can live with humidity if I have those kind of friends. But that's a ways off yet.

Thanks for tuning in.
DJ Muse