Event Weekend

I'm a little nervous - excited and nervous, my first event is this weekend. I think the nervous part is based somewhere around the fact that I have NO idea on what I'm doing. The first event is said to be the hardest, however, and it's not like I haven't been in front of people... I mean I've been on stage as an actor for years. But back then I had a script... I don't have a script this time. I have a checklist, and a 'guide,' but so much for memorizing the order of songs, I have to play this one by ear.

A DJ doesn't preset his/her music for the night. At least one shouldn't. The point to this is. you never know what kind of dancefloor you'll be in front of. The challenge is working the crowd, and getting them to react to the next song. Then, if the next song is better than the last - it's everyone out on the floor. It's about timing, understanding, and energy. The DJ has the control.

But I'm not there yet, which is why I'm nervous. Wish me luck, I think I'm gonna need it!

In other news, tomorrow night (Friday), I will be hosting a live broadcast on my online radio station, DancePhoenix. 7pm MST to 9pm, that's 9 - 11pm EST, I will bring you a hot warm up mix, plus we're gonna talk and joke - it's going to be a lot of fun. I hope to see you all there. The show will be called "The Friday Night Warm Up Show"

So, anyway, that's going to be a good time. Man, with broadcasts, events, school, and work - Is it going to be possible to fit a girl into any of this? I guess it'll be like a booty-call basis only... which I don't know if I'm comfortable with. OH speaking of girls I have a story. Shit I almost forgot I said I was blog this story! OK hold tight...

So about a week and a half ago I'm hangin out with friends, jokin around and such, at the pool hall. In walks two girls that seems to know one of my friends. One is shorter, short blonde hair, a definite surfer-girl wannabe. I say wannabe because it's really hard to surf all the time when you LIVE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT! Move to Cali if you want to surf for cryin out loud. The other girl, however, was much more practical - and extremely beautiful to match. Well I couldn't help myself - I had to say hello. What made things better - she has a personality! AND on top of that - she was done with her BA and she was moving on to her masters degree... this girl was very impressive. I was intimidated, but with further conversation I felt more comfortable, and talking to her was very easy. So now at this point I like this girl. She's got all the right things, definitely a girl I can take home to mama. But, alas, at the end of the night - no big deal, I didn't get her number or anything, it was over. So I got over it! No more girl, I'm done with it. So this past Friday, we go to a party, and I meet an equally beautiful woman. Same build, give or take, of the masters degree girl, just a little bit crazier... OK a lot crazier since we played strip poker and I saw her breast about seven times because she just got them pierced. Masters girl was definitely long gone.

SO when I go to the bars the very next night, and I see her there - who did I remember? The girl from Friday, not the girl from Tuesday. I said the wrong name, and I felt like an idiot. So I got her name wrong, still no chance with her at all. Fine. No big deal. That doesn't mean she had to lower herself to underneath my foot. Her surfer girl friend started talking smack about me while they were still right behind me. Kate happened to be standing right next to them. Soon after I found myself being shoved out the door to the patio because Kate was about to smack the shit out of the surfer girl, and masters girl was no exception. She told me they had been talking shit and I was all for her knocking them into next week. But after a few beers, it became more of a laughing matter - us laughing at them. Yes, I made a loser mistake - it happens my brain doesn't work normally when I'm infront of beautiful women, but her? After I thought so highly of her they have to start talking shit? Nope, you, my friend, don't deserve anything from me. On the way out of the bar we walked by them. We almost knocked them over when we tried to get past, they were being hit on by these guys, and they made a point to place themselves right infront of us, as if we would be in envy? That's about the only thing they should get, oafy, loser poorly dressed dudes. There's the bar, girls - buy your own drinks. Sorry I forgot your name, Bitch.

On that note, I'm done. See you soon.

Cheers and Jeers

WOW...
What a great week so far. OK, so I'm still sick, but I'm not going to let it slow me down. I don't know why, I just seem to be in a great mood. Let's start with last Friday...

I had drill this past weekend, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Now, I'll get into this for a moment, because I haven't really talked much about the Army yet. I'm in the Army Reserves here in Phoenix, serving as a Chemical Operations Specialist. Sounds so cool, doesn't it? Nah, it's not all it's cracked up to be. This past weekend, for instance, I did absolutely nothing that even remotely related to my job in the army. It was fun, however... I played the operation force (the enemy), which made the day go by quicker. The Army is good, I am proud of what I've done, which is only basic training and advanced training... and a month in Korea... but nothing really big. Nonetheless, I'm still proud to be a soldier in today's Army, I'll defend it to anyone. I'm terrible at it, however... Bad at physical fitness, shooting, all the army stuff. I used to be pretty good at all that stuff, I just recently got really lazy. As per the rest of my life I could quite possibly say. Although I will say that DJing is just about the only thing I haven't been lazy towards. Who knows. I just know the Army isn't my career; which I really don't think is bad, I've done my service, it's not my passion so why continue? I'm in for another couple years and I'll work through it until I get my letter.

Anyway, back to the weekend... so we had drill, I was messin around in the dirt, then we went home. That night for some reason I was in dire need to go out to the clubs. Now I normally have a pretty good influence on the evening's festivities, that's because I don't speak up much, I go mostly with the flow of events. However once in a while, I'll speak up, and bam! There's the winner. That was last year. Now? We are BORING! I realized that I've never been to the big clubs with Battle and Kate, what's up with that? So we have to go to Maloney's all the time? What about dropping some cash and going high class? Well I tried... I got all dressed up in my clubbiest attire, then it was out to Battle's. Well I call this guy up - the MF is sleeping! He's just waking up, and hasn't even showered yet. PLUS - he's always cranky when he wakes up, so the big club is most likely out. Kate and I show up around the same time, and out struts bill in a sloppy shirt and sneakers, yawning. "Battle?" I say... "you're gonna wear that out?" Obviously, he had no intention of going to the clubs, in fact, he added to it by saying that he didn't want to pay cover anywhere. Great. My broke friends. I'm pretty broke myself, but occasionally even I can scrounge together a few dollars to hit the nightclubs. Kate was broke too, so now - we're screwed. What do we do now? I think....

Well we finally came to a comprimise, Sugar Daddy's. It's kinda like best of both worlds... hip, packed night spot that's low-key. Well so we're off. We get there and I go valet. I'm the most dressed up, just to remind you, so now I have to act that way. I wasn't most dressed up at the club, however, so I felt secure. We did a lap, then found our spot by the entrance. You see at clubs, I like to 'people watch.' It's totally fun - I start telling whole stories about people based soley on what I see, expressions, body language, loudness, sexiness.... I paint a picture of their entire lives. Some one normally cuts in, however, to tell me I'm wrong. Oh well, I think it's fun. But, this place happens to be a "meat market." Meaning, everyone there is single and looking, oh... and everyone is HOT too. Now - I'm not the hottest guy in the world. I like to think I have my ups and downs when it comes to looks, downs mainly being my nice little gut I got going on... but anyway, I think I have trouble picking up girls for a much different reason. I think it takes a very specific person to handle my personality - especially here in Phoenix. The culture here is pretty easy going, but most of the nightlife contains the wealthier crowds, who are normally not very down to earth. And, if they aren't wealthy, well they try to act like it. Additionally, the way I dress and act both are very different from other gentlemen in this crowd. Besides 90% of them being built like rocks with a deep tan, the style is much different. It's much more casual, baggy jeans, sandles, light colored shirts with the sleeves rolled halfway up... it's just not my style. First off I'm just not rock hard or tan enough, but above that - where did they learn to dress in public? I would wear that crap around the house, not out to a bar. Granted, this is a low key bar, but the worst part is the girls LOVE it. Guys with long, nasty hair, sloppy clothes, with hat on tilted slightly to the right. Stupid. Also, what is up with that hat like that? Are they trying to get shade on their right ear? Is their right sideburn getting too much direct sunlight? Stupid. What happened to being presentable, a nice shirt, pants, shoes, hair neat and clean. Now I've implemented some of these styles, I have the 'shaggy face' look, you know, the five o'clock shadow all the time... I just bought a pink shirt from Guess because the competition is ruthless out here! Also, these guys just don't know how to present themselves, talking incorrectly, treating women like meat. I'll be the first to admit - I check out girls - I look at the T & A, I picture myself screwing some girl at the end of the night. I have a dick, it sometimes thinks for me. BUT! That doesn't mean I'm gonna go up and hit on a girl just to get in bed with her that night and never see her again. It happens, occationally - but I respect women a lot more than that. Women are a work of art, they're the bearer of life - they deserve all the best. These guys by them a drink and call it a night...

Anyway... Sorry, I got on a rant. I'm not saying I'm better or worse than any of these guys, whatever...

So DJing. It's kickin' off BIG time! If you look to the sidebar on the right ---> you'll find a link to DancePhoenix - that's the new kick ass radio station on live365 that I opened up. I started this on my own dollar, so eventually I'll be needing money from outside sources... so, if you would like to contribute to DancePhoenix, I'll be posting details on how to donate. If you like the station then cool. I'm not a very good beggar so if you give money then great, if not then I'll just join the ranks of all the other closed down radio station. :) Kidding. I really am excited about this station, all dance hits, plus me and a couple other fresh DJs are going to do live broadcasts. Very cool. Thursday nights will be the main show, 7:00PM MST (Phoenix local time). Also, I'll be playing replays of last week's mixshow throughout the week, just incase you miss the live broadcast. Here's the link to my station: DancePhoenix. Enjoy and support me!

Anyway, that's all for today.

The President of House Music

If House is a nation, I want to be President.

Yep. It's important for me to remember, that even though I am doing a wide variety of different DJ jobs, house it where it all started. House has been there for me, that slammin' "4 on the floor" beat is just unmatched with any other genre. Personally, I don't think a club is a club at all, with out the house.

I guess I should like house, it was born around the same time I was. In the late seventies, the first underground gay disco came to the mainstream. It got so big that you weren't anybody unless you liked disco. From 1976 to 1982, disco was everything, everywhere, and everybody.

Then, one reluctant day somewhere in 1982, or 3, someone woke up and said, "Disco Sucks."

That was the day that house was born. No, probably not right away, but soon after disco slipped back underground and back to the drawing board. The world always seems to have the attitude of 'try everything once, try it again if you like it...' well, that's kinda what happened here. In Chicago opened up this new club called The Warehouse, playing an eclectic mix of this new sound that no one else had. New York had one shortly after, playing what they called "garage" music. Both of these styles were the new Disco. Warehouse and Garage music both became popular in the underground, again being the way of the rebel, how music has always gotten popular. In the mainstream, out pours rock and hip hop, taking over everything.

Warehouse music soon became known as House music, for short, and garage linked up and realized both were slightly the same sound. It was still Disco. It was just new Disco. Detroit, got even more creative and took this house and removed the disco, for a more industrial sound they called Techno. None of these genres ever made it full swing here in the US, however, in the UK, house, techno, and derived genres exploded. House music is here.

So that's where we are now. House has since gotten a lot of respect from the DJ community, and many clubs have gone to this format, however, hip hop still reigns over all, and is 85% the dance music of choice.

But who knows - maybe one day someone will wake up and say "hip hop sucks." I doubt it, I even like hip hop every now and then, I guess I'll have to stick to weddings for right now.

Slow days

I'm eating lunch at my desk and I figured I would take a moment to say hi so... Hi. I'm eating a halfway-decent roastbeef sandwhich and some soggy fries... I should have driven somewhere for lunch instead of staying "in house." Oh well, I guess I can do some work.

It Stinks

The oven is being cleaned, so it stinks in my house right now. Plus I currently have a cold so I'm sniffing a lot and smelling it more. How ironic. I just finished watching "The Wonders," remember that movie? It's about a small town local garage band that makes it to the top with their first single, then fall just a moment later. "One hit wonders, " they call that kind these days. That term has actually been around for quite some time. So this last 15 minute segment of the movie inspired me to think of other great one hit wonders songs. I remember specifically Gegi-tah - Thank you (Driving in my car). Great song. I've chosen that as this weeks "song of the week." I would have linked to it, but because they had only one hit, and it didn't really make it that far... No one remembers who they are.

I guess that's about my cue to start the story. I was wondering about where I might go in the future. I want to be a lot of things, "wear a lot of hats," if you will, all of which involve music, technology, creativity... I guess I'm just nervous, what if this doesn't work out? What if in the end I'm just back behind a desk, going no where? It Stinks. I don't want to be there, I want to be on top - not so much "better" than anyone else, I just want to be successful in my own work. I'm rambling, sorry. I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't want to be just a shooting star. I want to be successful and stay there, always looking to do more, always setting higher goals. My goals are small right now: Get a job as a DJ and keep it. Well that's happened. Begin Segue -

That job I've been talking about has been settled. On top of my current day job, I started on my DJ career. SKM Entertainment, one of the largest mobile DJ companies in Arizona, and also one of the best DJ companies in Arizona, has graciously hired me as a DJ. I am very happy about this, what new DJ wouldn't? I'm a DJ now! Woo hoo!

With that being said, I still have a long way to go. Now, within SKM, and everything else in my life, I have a lot more responsibility. I have to work more, and harder than ever before. At the office during the week, and behind the decks on the weekend. On top of that, I have money matters, friends, girlfriends(or lack thereof), and the military to worry about. This is going to be a tough road ahead.

Speaking of lack of girlfriends, I think it's time to introduce some new people into the blog. First of which is one of my closest friends, we'll call her "Kate." Her name is not Kate, but it sounds something like that. Well anyway, I've briefly mentioned Kate before, she was involved with the problems with Satan, in fact... she was Satan's roommate. Kate and I had a lot of problems in the past. You see, I used to want more out of our friendship than just friendship. I don't know if she was on the same boat, but it didn't matter - we never ended up together. We made out a couple times. OK, we made out A LOT. But that was a while ago, I think it was somewhere around last summer. Kate and I now are really close friends, I'm way over all the feelings of before... I think we're better off being just friends anyway, we would kill each other if we were together.

I met her through my friend Battle, who as you know later became my roommate. She was friends with him for a long time before I entered the group. I joined the group around March of 2003... WOW that seems like a long time ago. It's amazing at the same time, how quickly it all rushed by. Just yesterday I remember the many nights in the hookah lounge, we all hung out and talked about stupid stuff. Then just minutes later we were all celebrating each other's 21st birthday, mostly at Maloney's in Tempe just after midnight. I remember all of Battle's 567 "great ideas," which are usually ideas that are so dumb that people are scared just listening to them. I remember recently, up hours upon hours playing Mario Kart on the Game Cube, yelling and screaming right up to the finish line. We had a crazy time together. And, now that Satan is out of the way, it seems as if we're all back together.

What stinks is that Kate and I could have been together. I think she would admit the same thing. But, there were so many things that kept us apart. If it wasn't the fights it was definitely the timing. If I wasn't in love with some new girl it was her having a huge crush over some guy. It always seemed to be that way. But, it's better off that way, as I said before, we'd end up killing each other.

As for the second person, well, that's a little different of a situation. Now both of these girls had boyfriends when I first met them, and are now single. We already know the outcome of Kate, is this new one going to be the same thing? I don't want it to be. I met this one at work, when she joined my team. Let me say this, to this day I think she is cute as a button, she reminds me a lot of an old best friend back in Deleware. Always just smiling away with her big blue eyes, just infectious with her happiness. Even when she broke up with her man she came running to me with at least half a smile, and she was quick to laugh at my jokes. She's a dork, which is great cause I am too, so that makes me feel quite comfortable around her. She also is the one that knows ALL of my secrets, which may be surprising to Kate and Battle. See she's been an outsider on all of my friends, never integrated with my group, therefore there's no gossip, no connection. So it became easy for both of us to tell each other anything, and well, everything! Lately, however, timing seemed to be just right. As if maybe this time, a great friend of mine might actually give me a chance. Even just a date, one night just to show her who I am, what I am. A couple weeks ago, something like that happened. Not so much a date, but two friends hanging out, but nonetheless it was just her and me, having drinks at a local bar. It takes a lot for me to go see her. She lives upwards of an hour away from my house(yet we worked in the same building, that's AZ for ya). But she would call me up and as if she were the temptress herself, she can lure me all the way out there. Well, that night we kissed, for quite a while... but still, nothing changes... we're still close, still friends - we just make out now. But this time, I wasn't going to let that be enough. I liked her. I actually liked her for quite some time despite what Satan and even Kate thought about her, which by the way Kate has come around to liking her now. I think any girl that will give me respect and give me a chance is good for Kate's approval. If I get dissed, however, well then she's off the list.

So this last Friday, I had the day off. I was going to go to Mexico for Friday night, I've never been there so it would have been cool, but yet... the Temptress struck again, and she convinced me to come to her happy hour after work, since she recently quit. Friday was her last day, she wanted to party and get drunk... and she wanted me to drive her home. BING BING BING!! We have a winner!! Could this be a hint? I'm sure she wanted to make out, which is what happened... but it still wasn't good enough, so last Tuesday I wanted to be sure, so I asked her out on a date. I real one, dinner, dancing - at a very nice place... she accepted. So, Friday night I'm taking her home, and Saturday night date night. It's set. If she doesn't like me after all this then I might as well give up, stick to being friends, and move on. I would rather do that than beat myself up over it like I did with Kate, and end up fighting with her. I don't want to do that. So, I was excited, I had been given a chance.

Friday came along, I got spruced up, wore my new shirt from Guess, and I headed up there. Happy hour was fun, good people... then shortly after I was dragged(voluntarily) to dinner with a couple others. After dinner, she looks at me - you should come back to my house, she says to me. Of course I'm going over there - what am I crazy? Obviously we kissed some more, very nice... and it even seemed as if she was excited about Saturday night. She kept asking me what she should wear and what we'll be doing... genuinely excited about this.

So why, on Saturday morning did she cancel with me? It Stinks I tell ya. Will I ever get the chance I deserve? She told me she needed to pack - and someone was coming up to visit that night... I know she was going on a cruise, and she had work both Saturday, but... if she knew about this since Tuesday, wouldn't she have planned ahead? I dunno, it's just not very cool with me. She asked for a raincheck, which I'll be happy to reschedule, I am just a little skeptic right now. Does she really like me? Or is she really just wanting to be friends that make out occasionally? I'm sure it's the latter - but that's something I don't understand. You see, I used to be cool with that. "Friends with benefits..." OK - so hear me out... if you're really close with someone, you go out, then you come home, you make out - look deep into each others eyes, make out more... yada yada yada... isn't that a girlfriend? I mean obviously making out eventually progresses into more but still - I do this with girlfriends! Girlfriends should be best friends that you have sex with. That's a great girlfriend. I'm not saying she's leading me on. I'm well aware of my position in our friendship. But on the other hand, I'm just saying - why not? Why not?? You don't want to ruin the friendship? Girls need to take a risk! Friendships will come and go back and forth - if it doesn't work out she doesn't ever have to see me again - she lives almost an hour away from me! Or if it doesn't work out we just go back to being friends but what about taking a risk? It stinks!

The moral of the story is... Take a chance, take a risk... you never know when you'll be gone and you might regret not doing it.

Talk to you soon.

Feeling Groovy

As a DJ, you become the focus for the greatness in the music you play. All the emotional force, the lyrical, spiritual impact of your records, gets reflected back to you - even if you're tired and slightly shitfaced and keen to see the end of the night. Track down some good tunes, patchwork them together, and people act as if you've made all this music from scratch. It becomes truly your performance. "Curses," say the world's rock stars. "Here's my room number," says the DJ.

-How do DJ RIGHT, Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton

It's is always a big mystery what separates the biggest DJ's from me. I'm saying 'me,' but what I mean is every DJ in my same position: nothing. Paul Oakenfold, Armand Van Helden, Paul Van Dyk, Funkmaster Flex, DJ Tiesto, Grandmaster Flash... all this accomplished, well known DJs did something. I guess it's easy to spin records on turntables, when I first started out one of my close friends chuckled at the thought that I was going to be a DJ. Not because he was against it, more because he knew I can't make a life out of it. "Anyone can DJ, man," he says to me.
"Fine then," I said, "you get up there and do it, shithead."

OK so I was a little harsh on the come-back. The truth is, he's right. With a little practice, pretty much any man or woman get get behind the decks and spin the records, there's no doubt in my mind. So what makes a great DJ? Heart. Soul. These all had heart and soul. Making music. You'd be surprised how popular you become when you produce a #1 hit track on the charts.

I guess what comes next is practice. It's about sticking with it and learning the basics. That's where today's story comes in.

Last night was DJ class - I've linked Disc Jockey 101 so you can check out Rob Wegner's "teacher side." We had a lab in class. A DJ lab. Tons of fun, we learned the basics of starting up, all the fades and stuff... pretty cool. The real fun part was after class. I think Rob can tell who the ones are that really want to do this. We all had equipment, so four or five of us stayed late to hang out and do a "round table" on the decks. With 4 decks going, we rotated in a new song for each of us, both with the previous DJ helping with the mix-out. One guy had a lot of skill, which is cool. Some of us were alright, such as myself I think - but it wasn't really about skill, it's about practice. One of them would beatmatch and then just leave the record spinning, instead of rewinding and starting at a proper phrase... it's a learning experience. It was great. I also got a chance to network with some people. Three of us that stayed, also happened to land the same job as I did. Isn't that funny? Actually it's not, it just proves the hard workers do get the best stuff.

So I guess that's my rant on class last night. It was over way too soon. I need to get together with these people and hang out and spin all day... I would learn a lot I'm sure.

A new DJ in Phoenix

I once read in one of my favorite books that I'm not a real DJ until my first paid gig. So, technically, I'm not a real DJ.

But, as it turns out - that is all about to change. I landed a job with a mobile DJ company. I still can't say who, because well, I haven't signed on with them or anything yet. So I'm keeping it on the DL until things get worked out. So here I am - just about to become a real DJ. I'm really excited about this. In addition to that, I'm currently taking a DJ class with the great DJ Rob Wegner, here in Scottsdale, AZ. Things are definitely going well for me.

It's been like a roller coaster. I assume I'm not alone in this one, I'm sure everybody has their ups and downs... "smiles and cries," as one might say. My downs were biggest last year, when I found myself confused about who my real friends were. I guess I'm always going to doubt myself and my friends, but this time it seemed as if I just wanted to shut everything out, move away, start the slate over. Obviously that was a bad idea, I did have a lot going for me, I just didn't realize it. The first problem was my job. At the beginning of last year I had a big fall. I got promoted in '03, a big step, but right away I realized that I was set up to fail. I was put in a situation that did set well at all, and well... I almost quit. Instead, I took a demotion back to my old position, thinking I was great before - I couldn't see why I couldn't be great again.

And I was... great... for a while. I got back in the swing of things and then I was great. But that's when crisis struck. During the summer, I just didn't have it. I was lost, I felt lost... and I had no motivation. I felt like nobody on the team even liked me, everyone was against me.

It got even worse, along with my work problems, I was having money problems as well. I guess the old saying is true, when it rains it pours... I was just plain broke. I had bills piling up and creditors calling and I couldn't do anything about it. Even farther down.

Then there was the girl. For protective reasons, we'll just call her Satan*. She was dating my roommate at the time and well that ended up in a pretty bad breakup. To tack that on, during this breakup my roommate began a drinking and screwing spree and Satan set her sights on me. Not cool. He was my roommate, as well as a great friend of mine. But she continued, much to my decline.

So then she decided to take a different approach, just being good friends. I was fine with this, because I felt a whole lot less pressured. It was about this time that I left for Korea with the military.

I had high hopes for Korea. I did my budget and calculated what I thought I might make, and it looked as if I was going to put away an extra $2K in extra money, which would catch me up on all my bills. So, everything was great! Well, that was until I got there. I had lost at the airport, just about EVERYTHING that meant anything to me. My journal mainly (which explains the start of this), along with 150 CD's, a CD player, 3 DVD's, a cell phone, and all my toiletries. NOT cool. That was almost $1000 of stuff. On top of that, Korea wasn't as cheap as everyone made it to seem, and I ended up spending about 1K there. Plus they sent me home early, which meant less money, my insurance company tacked on a second month on to one payment - oh, and by the way - the Army never paid me.

That's right, it took an additional two months for the army to get only half of my money. By then I had generated so much debt that I was actually considering bankruptcy.

That wasn't it, my friends. Satan was getting worse, and my old friends who have been around since the beginning were getting upset at me. I was ignoring them because I honestly believed things that Satan would say. She told me all my friends were against me becoming a DJ, and that she was the only one that liked my music, or cared at all. She made me feel as if my friends hated me, and it made me hate them back. This is just what Satan wanted. Satan wanted me to cast them away so she could have me for her own. She manipulated me into thinking she was my only friend, and I believed her. It got so bad that I began to despise most of my friends, my roommate at most. My roommate (who is no longer my roommate, so we'll name him 'battle') bought himself an AK-47 "for show," this really set me off. By the beginning of January I was moving out, and ready to cast away the world.

The past couple months Satan and I would get into fights, battle and I stopped talking, and I lost everything. I wasn't going to let this stop me. I wanted to be the best I could be. This was a new friggin' year and I wasn't going to let things slip away.

So I moved back in with my parents, and started school for DJing. I buckled down and got to work. I realized, well, not realized... I was TOLD by one of my closest friends that Satan was manipulating me - and suddenly it became all clear. Satan was causing it all. Satan was the reason my job went almost to the point of firing and the reason why I was always so depressed. My friends LOVE me, I love them! Why would they just cast me out like that? The answer is they wouldn't. I cast myself out, because of Satan. Well, last week I cast Satan away for good. I felt so liberated!! I felt as if I could be more confident, just plain happy... and I was. With that, I realized my job was better, and I'm all caught up. I'm paying back my bills, and landed a second job that could be the start of my new career!! A success-story? Hardly, but I had to share my feelings. Remember who your friends are, they're your friends for a reason.

Here's to great jobs, great friends, great lives. Satan, sorry hun, you will never compare to the friends that have been there.

*"Satan" is not a religious reference in any way.

Check out San Diego... dude.

I'm telling two stories, one about the past, and one I HAVE to tell you about this weekend.

I will warn you, I am going to recommend a lot of artists in the musical field. It's important to me to expand everyone's knowledge of music, and little by little I'm going to do it. First rule about my recommended artists: You probably haven't heard of them. I do not normally recommend the most popular of pop, most of the time these people became popular based on luck alone, that is if daddy didn't help them get there. I am a BRAND NEW DJ. I have no contracts, I have no deals. I'm going to make my own music and do it all from nothing. Sure I'll probably sell out, I have to make a living you know, but in the end it will all be the same - music is life.

I'm rambling - my apologies... Today I would like to introduce you to St. Germain. Check out their website. They've been around for a while, and they are pretty popular in the UK right now. It's a wonderful eclectic mix of jazz, techno, and fusion. Fusion, for those of you who do not know, is the fusion of electric instruments with jazz music, which is primarily all accustic instruments. With his funky beats and his chilled upward grooves, St. Germain's second name should be "relax." Check them out, I don't think you'll be disapointed.

The coffee I'm drinking is terrible.

So I wanted to be a solo singer - an American Idol if you will. But hearing the vocal artists of today, man I just have no chance. I like to think that I'm pretty good, but not really good enough, you know? Not good enough to make a career out of it. Plus I also thought, what would happen if my voice dies? That amount of stress on my voice for an extended amount of time, that could put me out of the game. I couldn't take that risk. When I was in high school, however, being on stage was my dream. Singing, acting, doing whatever as long as it was in front of an audience. I like people watching me - like they could be happier because I'm up there.... and that's just a priceless gift for me. On stage I can - NOT be myself. I'm not me anymore. I'm whoever I'm playing - acting as. That was a cool thing. My life hasn't been all that great. I've had girl problems, budget problems, parents problems, education problems... you know all those normal things. But they never used to bother me. NOW - well shoot I can't seem to get away from my problems! Is that a part of life? Possibly, but I'm not happy with it!

So I decided to move on from singing, and acting. I still love kareoke - that's a great time. I go to Rock Bottom in Scottsdale, AZ. Tuesdays nights they have a great Kareoke night. That's the only place I feel really comfortable. Other than that, I haven't been back to the stage.

As a DJ, though, I'll be back up there. It'll be just under a different spotlight. I'm kinda cool with that.

Speaking of DJing - it looks like I might have a Mobil DJ job in the works. I'm not going to announce with who yet, I'm not sure if this will go through, but I'm REALLY excited about it.

This past weekend was very cool. 8:00 in the morning on Saturday I get a phone call from my brother. I wasn't really awake yet - but my brother says "Hey man, you want to go to San Diego? I'll pay for everything." Twist my arm some more brother. Brief backround: My brother is 6 1/2 years older than me, and a graduate from West Point. My mom is IN LOVE with West Point. The two of us are like, whatever... I'm the complete opposite, too. While my broher is going to the number 8 school in the country, I'm not going to college. I focussed more on the artistic side than the institutional. So he calls me up, and before I know it we're on the road to CA. We stayed at the Westin - very nice hotel, but less than what I expected... I mean it was just a standard room - not any bigger than a motel 6 room. It's just a whole lot nicer than a motel 6. We ate at the BEST sushi place I could have ever imagined. The place is called TAKA sushi and it's in the gas lamp quarter of downtown. I have to link this one - I give it a J rating of 5 J's (out of 5). OK that rating means nothing but I do believe it has changed my thoughts on sushi - check it out. From there we hit the bars. It was only like 6:00 so we went to some local dives, enjoyed some beers and Golden Tee 2005. After that we played some pool with off-duty Marines. I want to definately give a shout out to all my military pals out there. I'll get into more of the military stuff in later posts. At 9 we decided to hit a club - thinking it was just about time for one to start kickin. Well, we were wrong. We went to Decos, which I imagine would be a pretty hot club, however, there was NOBODY there. Since we didn't have to pay cover we had one drink and took off, there was no point in waiting for a party to start when there's always a party somewhere else. We went to three more places, having at least one drink at each - amazingly I was still able to walk everywhere. Long story short... I got really wasted Saturday night. Somewhere in there I found a record store - even in the midst of my partying I had to check out a couple tracks at a local record store. I am a DJ still.

Over all it was a great weekend. Special thanks to my brother who paid for everything, also thanks to Kim, the sweet waitress at dinner, and also Danielle who helped me pick out a nice shirt for the evening at Guess. Everyone else, thanks for the good times - I'll be back soon.

Next weekend is Rocky Point, but right now is work. Enjoy the day.

Out and about

Or for you Northern folks: Oat and a boat

Let me get ya started. It's been a trip, ol' 2004 I must say. I took a journey through a tunnel called my life and maybe I'm starting to see some direction. I'm going to be honest, this blog isn't for me to show all my creative wrting talents, or for me to speak my mind on pressing issues... My only reason for having this is, well, I wanted to share my experiences. I've had a bunch and the people who really know me could vouch. I feel like whoever reads this is going to get to know me as well. So it's kinda fun knowing that people can actually peek into my life, my thoughts and dreams... although I don't really know how much of that I would post. :)

Quick 'life story recap." I started singing when I was 8 years old when my brother convinced me to try out for a play. The Music Man. Great show, I played Winthrop, and to be truthful with myself, I don't think it was my BEST performance. But alas, it's what started everything for me so I must look back on it with respect. As I grew up I always seemed to find a way to sing, through high school I had to be in just about every choir known to the school, and an equal amount of school musicals. I had fun singing - SING! One should always have a reason to sing, or even just to enjoy some music. Music is definately my one true passion. So do me a favor, if you're reading this, RIGHT NOW, stand up and sing me a song! OK, OK, I'm a dork I know, but maybe just hum it there in your seat...

I also had an interest in computers. Technology, really, not just computers - my education however, suffered so I never really got into that cool stuff. But once again I've given myself some great opportunities that have helped me expand my knowledge. I gained a really big interest recently in helping out with sound for a local theater... and I thought "!" "that's what I want!" I wanted to be in sound. Above all to me, music shouldn't just be good... it should sound good as well. What good is quality music if you can't hear it right? So what should I do? Sound design? I thought so, but, very recently I realized that DJing was the way to go for me. Mixing music, my primary passion, with technology... well that just seems like a dream job for me.

So, I got a pair of turntables. Vinyl records baby. The history of vinyl goes way back, I'm not gonna get into it, but I know the history... if you ever need to brush up on your vinyl knowledge let me know I'll fill you in.

OK so that's kinda the backround of my perfession, we'll get into the juicy personal stuff later. I guess for now I must say that my Friday was excellent. It was full of challenges at work, but I actually had an ok time handling them. For those of you that are now wondering, I do have a day job - I'm a very new DJ, not ready to quit the day job yet!

I'm going to go to bed, however, so everyone in internetland - Goodnight. Have music in your minds as you sleep.

A blog from outer space

Let me just tell you all first. I don't know if I'm into this stuff, but we'll see. Since I don't exactly have all the time in the world, I'll blog later, to get things started. Yay. My spot on the web.