I was lured to take an opportunity to DJ at a house party for a friend's birthday bash, despite the fact that said bash was to take place in Riverside, which is about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, which is about 450 miles away from where I live in San Francisco. Add to this that the night before the party, The Twelves were playing a set at a small club in San Francisco, which I had purchased tickets for weeks in advance.

But I don't get the opportunity to DJ many house parties--in fact, this was the first aside from my own little soiree, which I don't know that I can count considering that I wasn't actually all-that-present for said shindig--so I accepted. I thought it would be a good opportunity to throw together some old tunes, new tunes, things that I know the birthday girl would like, and of course, some of my electro-faves.

I spent a solid four hours warping and downloading new tunes and am finding that Traktor Pro might have been better DJ software to seek out. It's a pain in the ass to get everything set up so that you won't hit any trainwrecks. I was planning on DJing for 5-7 hours depending on peoples' energy levels, so I needed a -lot- of material to work with. This was technically my first paid gig, so I prepared.

Then I partied. I went off to The Twelves and danced my fargin' ass off. There was this great moment where we had a circle going where people could jump in and start dancing in the middle of everyone for at least twenty minutes.

Then I woke up with a hangover after five hours of sleep. Not bad, I suppose, but then I needed to get to the gig... over four hundred miles away...

I listened to Caribou's album Swim on repeat for the first half of the drive--I went through it four times. It kept me going. (note to Biff: it was the fourth listen that I was calling you and was going to rave about the album, but the phone kept cutting out because I was passing through BFE and there was no cell reception)

Two five-hour energy drinks later I ended up getting to the party a bit ahead of schedule, set up my gear, which was outside for a change, and started playing on a loud system where the bass kept cutting out, but no matter. I started pumping the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Sir Psycho Sexy through the speakers, and it was so apropos: there were some fine looking ladies wearing skimpy bikinis walking around. I had my lab coat open with no shirt on under it, too. People had been partying and drinking for six hours already before I got there, so people were pretty loose.

The guy who hired me said my set was rockin'. I was weaving together some great shit--MGMT, a Junkie XL remix of Crookers, some Twelves remixes. It was awesome and I was having fun.

Then came the drunk chicks. You know, the stereotypical ones who are physically attractive but about as warm and comforting as an ice pick. The ones who pound too many, spill their drink, blame it on a random guy, call over the bouncer and have them kicked out (true story from a friend). There were two that approached me, and one spoke. Let's see if I can recollect the line:

"Can you play, like, stuff that's popular right now? Like that stuff you were playing before? People were DANCING to that. Play some more stuff like that. You know?"

I chose to respond in the nicest way possible. "Can you both take a step back with your drinks? I don't want it to spill on my equipment. Thanks."

They wanted hip hop. I don't have a lot of it, but I mixed in what I had and did the best that I could. I got a few more looks from the drunk chicks, and one of the "bros" who was with the girls. (for the record, there were a lot of bros there, and I didn't know too many people)

I didn't like the vibe I was getting, but then the cops came, and solved all my problems. My two hour set came to a close, and the drunk girls went away. The birthday girl said my set rocked and she appreciated it, so that's all I cared about. And I was proud that I handled the drunk girls the way that I did, because the line I really wanted to say was, "Can you please shut up and get out of my face you dumb, drunk cunt?"

The cops gave a warning and we brought everything inside after a few hours. It was a buzzkill and most of the people left at that point, including me because I was starving. Hours later, after people started munching on beans and things had settled down, I started back up again for a handful of people inside the house at 1:30 in the morning.

Oh, I should add that I was told that I was joining in the party. There was a jacuzzi and a rather large prescription bottle containing some pills. I wasn't given an option, just given the instruction, "Okay, Andy, you're doing this." I didn't have a valid excuse to say no, so I just rolled with it. Pun intended.

It was my best moment DJing yet. Some of the audio effects I was using started to make so much more sense. I was relaxed, confident, and threw together a relaxing, yet high-energy set for the folks around me who were laying back watching soft-core porn with the sound turned all the way down. The only lights were coming from the TV and a silly, spinning disco-ball-like light source I put up on the table with my gear.

Sure, it wasn't ideal--no one was dancing their ass off and I couldn't raise the roof, but people were still laying back and smiling, nodding their heads, keeping the beat with their feet, and otherwise having a great moment as I threw together some awesome near-the-end-of-the-night tracks like Junkie XL's remix of Burn My Shadow Away and Sasha's Xpander.

It was by far my best set yet, and I kept at it for nearly three hours. One moment in particular I did a little knob twiddling out of instinct. I taught myself that a little bit of delay timed just right can make a funky song swing that much harder when a beat drops in. I felt myself moving energy and exploring the depths of bass, bridging high and low tempo tracks without sounding too awkward, and most of all, being able to absolutely enjoy creating a bit of reality that you can call your own.

It felt purposeful, and it was more than I could have asked for.

Sounds fun! Glad to see you're exploring the full depth of what DJing is about.

i cannot believe i missed this installment of your epic pooter!
Those drunk bitches, who needs them right? Seems like you're really starting to get a rhythm for your sets now dude! nice!

quick question. the Junkie XL remix of Burn My Shadow Away.... is that a remix of the unkle song?

You would be correct, sir:

Epic.
You should call the next one "The Continued Adventures of Dr. Awesome".

Drunk club skank is good story enhancement. Fact.

I'm glad to see your foray into the world of dj'ing is paying off and is so gratifying, Pooter!

::laughs:: It's an amazing adventure to be DJing right now before law school. I'm going to push it as far as I can.

@Champiness: Good man.

@Jittem: Definitely the best set yet. I was absolutely thankful to have the opportunity to continue to hone my skillz.