Entry
Fifteen.
Saturday 2003.03.29 12:29 PM CST.
Tae
Bo, Remixes, the Party, and more about RIP JMJ shirts.
Just
by the way my week has gone, I have the feeling this is going to be
a bit of a long update. So, I'll get to what seems to be the most
important thing for everyone else first...
I'm
really quite amazed that the most e-mail reactions I've ever gotten
from this site has been when I have discussed RIP JMJ (Rest in Peace,
Jam Master Jay) T-shirts. Ever since I announced (back in Entry
Thirteen) that I was trying to find an official RIP JMJ shirt, like
the ones worn by the rappers in the "tribute" performance
at the end of the Billboard awards last year, I have been flooded with
e-mail asking if I've found a place to get them. In fact, I've
had so much mail about it that I haven't even responded to everyone
yet! Ack!
So,
in an attempt to clarify to others whether or not I have found "the
shirt," I'm creating a page dedicated to my quest for the "RIP
JMJ" shirt. That page can be found here.
I
think it is important enough to go ahead and state here that there was
an RIP JMJ shirt available on the Web for a while, but unfortunately
it was not the shirt I was looking for. I had actually
seen it before, but I want to thank a couple of fellows named
Brian Chew and Ben Shaps (aka DJ Flava)
who also took the time to e-mail and let me know about it a while
back. (You guys rock! Thank you so much!) Unfortunately,
it was not an official shirt and it didn't have a picture of Jam Master
Jay; just the letters "RIP JMJ" in the bold Run-DMC-like font.
The site offering it, surrendermartha.com,
said that they were sending some of the proceeds to JMJ's childrens
fund, which was admirable. (Note: there were other names
for their site, including a direct link to it as a Yahoo! store, but
they were all the same place.) However, unfortunately, I tried
going out there today to verifty that they still had the RIP JMJ T-Shirts,
and they did not. They only had a bunch of tacky-looking anti-war
shirts, and even in their "View All Shirts" section, RIP JMJ
was no longer around. *sigh*
So...
For the latest updates on my quest for the RIP JMJ shirt, go
here! I don't want to be a jerk about it, but as of this point,
I am no longer going to respond to people who just e-mail me to find
out where they can get an RIP JMJ shirt. If you are looking for
one, the most recent findings in my search will be located here.
If that page says that I don't know, that probably means that I
really don't know.
More
about "The Other Side of the Fence."
Well, in my last
journal entry, I mentioned a new song called "The Other Side
of the Fence," and I kind of goofed up because I said you could
click on a picture to go listen to the song... and I forgot to actually
add the link. I've since fixed the error and added the link to
the picture. If you just want to go straight to the song, click
here. I'm pleased with how the track turned out, though, as
with most of my songs, I will likely go through and re-equalize the
instruments before I do any sort of "official" commercial
release. I am already working on a remix of the track, but I might
end up scrapping the remix in time if I'm not happy with it.
The
song is an instrumental, and no, I'm not saying here what it's actually
about.
New
remix acquisitions!
As
many of you know, I'm a huge fan of remix collecting, especially on
vinyl. Well, the last few weeks have been very, very good to me.
I made some major mass dealings from both Ultimix
and X-Mix and thus
added quite a bit to my remix arsenal, including a particular Whodini
remix that I'd been wanting for years upon years to obtain.
I
also made a huge deal with a guy in Canada, who sold me a massive
lot of 12" vinyl singles for songs I've enjoyed over the course
of the last 10-20 years. This included songs that I always liked,
with some genuine cheesy vintage 1980s pride (Phil Collins' "Sussudio,"
extended remix), songs I enjoy with a little bit of embarrassment (Eartha
Kitt and Bronski Beat's "Cha-Cha Heels"), songs that I thought
would be great for gettin' down with the ladyfolk (Bryan Ferry's "Slave
To Love"), and a bunch of old-school techno classics (some mega-rare
Praga Khan records, Hard Corey + Ruberto's "Jump on It," and
yes - oh yes! - an original 12" of Obscure FM's "Michael Jackson
Is in Heaven Now.")
Finally,
just yesterday, I received a 12" of the really wild R-Fresh remix
of Opus 3's "It's A Fine Day." I've loved that song
since the first time I heard it, and it is definitely a track I'm planning
on playing at my 15-years-in-the-industry party. Speaking of which...
The
party didn't happen... yet.
Remember back when I said that I was going
to have a huge party in February or March of this year to celebrate
15 years in the professional DJ industry? Well, um...
Obviously, it didn't happen.
The issues were numerous, but mainly
financial.
I am hoping that I can actually have
the party, but it looks like it will be at least September or October
before I do so.
September 29th is the 14th anniversary
of the first gig I performed after founding EKG Pro Mobile Music, so
around then would be cool, but we'll have to wait and see.
I've
put a lot more thought into the tracks for the show, though.
Obviously, this will not be a standard
little top-40 groove, and I'm wanting to play a ton of songs that have
been influential to me over the years, but I don't want it to be full
of tracks so obscure that it's like an "inside joke" strictly
shared between myself and the voices in my head.
I'll throw out a partial potential track
listing here for your review and discussion:
The
Art of Noise - "Moments in Love."
The Beloved - "Hello" or "Sweet Harmony," I'm
not sure which.
Black Box - "Ride on Time."
Camouflage - "The Great Commandment."
Depeche Mode - At least 3-4 tracks; sorry, I'm not telling yet.
;)
Die Krupps + Nitzer Ebb - "The Machineries of Joy."
Eurythmics - "Sweet Dreams."
Lil' Louis - "French Kiss." (Yes,
the dirty version.)
Lords of Acid - "I Sit on Acid."
MK - "Burning."
Moby - He has so much great stuff; not sure which track(s) yet.
Nation
12 - "Electrofear."
Nine Inch Nails - "Kinda I Want To."
Opus 3/Miss Jane - "It's A Fine Day" (aforementioned).
Out of the Ordinary - "Play It Again."
Rob Base + DJ EZ Rock - "It Takes Two."
Tone-Loc - "Wild Thing."
TRS-80 - "Naturescent."
That's
just a small sampling, obviously, of what I have planned. As you
can see, it's a mixed bag. You can see immensely popular old-school
hip-hop, classic new-wave tracks, techno classics, industrial stuff,
and at least a couple of really obscure tracks that you've probably
never heard of before. I have a feeling that while just about
everyone who sees the above list will know some of the songs,
there are very few of you who recognize all of the songs.
Things could completely change by the time the actual party
comes around; I could end up pulling a classic techno reconstruction
of Taylor Dayne's "Tell It To My Heart" out of my rectum,
for all I know.
The
focus on the mixing will fall upon the remixes of each individual song,
and not the mixing between songs. I've always enjoyed beatmixing,
and although I think I'm pretty good at it sometimes, I have never claimed
to be a master mixer. The tracks will be presented in relevant
sets, and it won't be one standard straightforward groove the whole
way along. However, the remixes of the songs, in many cases, will
be some immensely rare crap to find from my vaults and archives...
I'm looking forward to sharing those mixes with a receptive crowd.
I
have a lot more ideas in store for this thing... Keep checking
back to the site for updates.
I
am becoming a Tae Bo freak.
The next big news is that I'm actually
working out more than I used to. I'm planning on making some major
changes to my physique, including losing some weight and packing on
a bit more muscle. About a couple of weeks ago, I invested in
a DVD of four different Tae Bo workouts. For those of you not
familiar with it, it's a mixture of Tae Kwan Do and Boxing that was
developed as an exercise routine by a guy named Billy Blanks.
Now,
I haven't made huge changes to my body so far, so I am not saying that
Tae Bo has changed my life or given me the physique of Mr. Clean™
or anything like that. However, I've gotta point out that this
Tae Bo stuff is addictive. I'm working out almost every day with
this DVD, and the scary thing is that although I've never met the guy,
Billy Blanks has somehow climbed inside my skull and I can
hear him coaching me even when I'm not working out, like when I'm at
the grocery store. I'll grab a box of Little Debbies and hear
Billy Blanks saying, "Are you sure you want those Swiss Creme Rolls?
I'm not so sure that you do."
I
won't be giving any updates as to how much weight I've lost or how much
muscle mass I've gained (ha ha), but I will say that I'm pretty impressed
with my progress so far.
I
have a new day job!
Remember how I used to complain all the
time about my sucky day job? Well, I have escaped the bonds of
being at the technical help desk, and I have been promoted up to the
ranks of a data security analyst. (Yeah, it sounds geeky, doesn't
it?) This means that I won't have the need to write "I'm
working on this update while I'm stuck at home on-call for my beloved
day job." Hopefully. Ever. Again.
Although
the new day job has its share of stresses and pain, it
is nothing like my old job in that respect. Plus, while
I can't share any amounts here... I can say that I have earned
a significant pay raise along with the promotion.
I
still haven't quit DJing, though. Not by a long
shot.
I
hope this update finds you all doing well. Do
me a favour and say a prayer for our men and women fighting overseas;
whether your beliefs are pro-war or anti-war, let's all pray (or wish,
if you're not prayer-inclined) for the troops' safety and hope that
they make it home soon.
Thanks
as usual,
Badger. |
