Entry One Hundred Twenty-Seven.
Thursday, 2010.08.12, 4:20 PM CST.
The Great Gypsy Chillout recap + setlist.
Current Mood:  Nostalgic again.  Current scent:  None.

Last Friday, I was fortunate enough to present an unusual event:  A DJ event with a setlist strictly chosen by me - not to satiate requests or hopefully make people dance, but just to give a slow, wonderful groove for people to enjoy - the Great Gypsy Chillout.

The full setlist can be found here.

The good news is that this will NOT be the last Gypsy Chillout, at least as far as I'm concerned.  I had fun and I'd love to do it again.

The bad news is that this show really took its toll on me.  My lower back is still having fits of pain, and I might have to head to the doctor about it soon.

It's sucks to get older, but it especially sucks to get older when one of your favourite hobbies involves heavy equipment.  :(

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SETLIST.

Well, following my standard intro ("Psalm"), I headed right into Telepopmusik's "Don't Look Back."  The reason:  I wanted the first lyrics to go out to be "Sit still and close your eyes."  It was a fitting way to start off the very first chilloutdj.com event.

I followed that with Portishead's "Mysterons," because that was the first Portishead song I ever heard and the opening track of their first (and arguably best) album, Dummy.

From that point forward, I went all over the place.  I played some of the prerequisites for this kind of event - things like Massive Attack, Goldfrapp, and Sneaker Pimps.  I also threw in a lot of really amazing indie artists that I'd managed to dig up during my research for this performance - artists like Two Loons for Tea, Artemis, Hands Upon Black Earth, and Strange Replublik.

I worked in a recent Tori Amos track, "Give" (from vinyl, no less!) that she somehow really made work as a trip-hoppy number, and I even played an obscure remix of Billie Holiday's "Summertime."  I added in one Depeche Mode track - the glitchy, odd Atom remix of the little-known "Zenstation," and a little bit later played the best remake I've ever heard of Depeche Mode's "Stripped," by a Greek performer named Maria Papadopoulou.

This was unlike any gig I've ever done.  Even during my 2008 stint at the 3316 bistro, I was still required to play some uptempo "dance" music.  As much as I love dance music, it was nice to be able to do an entire evening of nothing but the slow and the chilled.

MAJOR THANKS TO ALL WHO ATTENDED.

I was very happy with the people who showed up.  It wasn't a packed house by any means, but there were a LOT of people there who had made a point of coming to the Gypsy strictly for this performance.  I'm lucky to have friends and acquaintances who will make a point of attending things like this, and I hope they all enjoyed it.

I did have one extremely special guest show up:  An old friend of mine named Deshayn, whose family was instrumental in introducing and encouraging me in the use of computers back in the mid-1980s.  Without my computer experience, I probably would never have gotten into the DJ industry, so obviously Deshayn and his family mean a lot to me.  However, here's the real kicker about seeing Deshayn at this event:  It was the first time that I had seen him in over twenty years.  Talk about a blast from the past!  Deshayn, if you're reading this...  THANK YOU for coming by!  It meant a lot to see you again, and it was great to meet your wife as well!

In closing, I want to add thanks to the Gypsy for allowing me to host this performance there; thanks to my father-in-law and my sister-in-law Lissa (pure awesomeness) for babysitting my son while I sat up equipment and performed; and, last but not least, thanks to TMJ for his immense help, as always, in setting up, running the show (including some of the projections, which he supplied) and tearing down.  I couldn't have done it without all of you!

There will be more news soon.  I've got some catching up to do here.

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