Droppin' the Kids off at the Club

There's a reason people who go vegetarian should strive to stay vegetarian. Not only because of animal cruelty or chemical-infested meats or because you should earn the right of eating an animal by first being able to kill the animal. But because when one decides, after a few months of not eating meat, to eat a bunch of meat on a week of, say an American holiday where it's okay to eat turkey because it was killed for others anyway and I don't want to offend my new girlfriend's parents. And since I ate it there, I don't want to offend MY parents because 'why would you eat it for them and not for us?', and c'mon, turkey and gravy tastes yummy! The foremost reason vegetarians should strive to stay vegetarian is because when mixed with two days of stuffing themselves with butter-infested meals, double-doses of dessert, a mexican buffet and a whiskey sour, one's stomach has a tendancy to ... reject. Reject, reject, reject. Right now.

So on Saturday night I was enjoying a gathering of friends at Last Supper Club when my stomach started to argue that my evening plans were about to change. I disagreed, telling it that, no, there were many people there that night that I wanted to visit with and I'm sure a little trip to the bathroom would take care of your needs. Problem #1 -- club bathrooms are impossible to poo in. Even in times of dire need. Even though the bass is blasting much louder than dropping the kids off at the pool will ever be. Even though your stomach is about to split into 4 pieces. Nope. The gates are closed. No exit.

New plan. There's a free self-cleaning bathroom right outside of the club. Perfect! The reason it works is because you go in, use the bathroom, then leave. The person behind you (here's where it gets tricky) WAITS until the bathroom doors close, the bathroom cleans itself, and then the doors open again all spic and span. Problem #2 -- not everyone knows how to use the self-cleaning bathroom. I was able to get rid of some of the 'unwanteds', yes. But I couldn't find any flusher on the toilet. 'I guess it flushes when I leave', I thought. But the dude behind me didn't know he was supposed to WAIT until the doors closed again and he entered into a not so clean self-cleaning bathroom full of my 'unwanteds'. Oops. Okay, a little embarrassed, but who the f*ck cares, my stomach still hurts so bad it's making my eyes cross.

Try the club pooper again. Maybe since I've broken the seal, it will help take care of business. Um, no. Too many people in the bathroom primping and gossiping. I think the gates are now pad-locked shut. I'm back outside to the self-cleaning pod, but my paranoia from the last experience has now taken over guarding the door with steal spears and is piercing the insides of my intestines with them!

owwwww.

Plan C! Pepto... yes! I spot a convenience store on the other corner and head over there, my sides splitting. I asked the nice store owners for a small bottle of Pepto please, and did they mind if I drank it there? My car was right outside, so I finished the bottle off in the front seat and waited. Problem #3 -- Pepto does not work right away. Two bathrooms down, what am I going to do!?! Of course! ... Collins Pub. I ran as fast as I could up the street and was VERY pleased to find that Collins was mellow and relaxing and the bathrooms were absolutely empty. Thank you god. Thank you, thank you. And thank you again. After a while I exited Collins to a nice bartender saying 'Thank you for peeing at Collins Pub'. Little did he know there was so much more....

However, even after all this, my stomach was still giving me shit. So I gave in, said my goodbyes (quickly), and headed home to my own quiet bathroom with lots of toilet paper, matches, and a 4th reason my ass is staying vegetarian. Even through the holidays.

New Demo

I've finally cut my new demo into tracks. It's some commercial house inspired by playing at the Last Supper Club. If you'd like a free copy (cuz all my music is free) please email me at jenwoolfe@yahoo.com. :)

90% Rockstar

Ok, so I'm not really a rockstar. Well, not a full-on, 100%, 'you can sleep when you die' Rockstar. I didn't make it to Rebar on Sunday. My excuse... a really really busy week. Here's how it went (bare in mind that I work a pseudo full-time job) ~ Tuesday gig at SeeSOUND (I played midnight to 1:30), Wednesday I had to scan a bunch of photos for my Promo Pack (it's done!) and then headed to Cap Hill to support Spectrum at Baltic Room, Thursday I threw some records down at a really nice wine party hosted by Jason, Friday played at Mel's party and almost passed out from exhaustion until I left at 4am. Saturday night was Boy George (see praise below) and I also stopped by an after-hours called Night Cap. That was sweet! My boy Sheiny was kickin' up some Hip Hop beats and they had a live band & MC. I finally hit the sheets at 5am - ish. The sun wasn't up, so that was a good sign. On Sunday I worked more on the Promo Pack and then tried to rally up the troops. But without anyone talking me into going (Be lay down in bed ~ fully clothed ~ under the covers at 9:30 and said 'let's just take a nap') I couldn't muster the energy to get myself down there and support. But I gave it my best shot, and I'm sure the show at Rebar was wonderful. Lucky for me it's a weekly event.

Boy George is 100% Rockstar, and he truly showed his rockstar colors on Saturday with an amazing show. I was seriously impressed. Except for the difficulties into getting to the bar (which they alleviated by opening a beer-only bar near the dance floor), COCA was a great venue for the show. The dance floor was large enough to hold the crowd. The crowd itself was excellent. A lot of new faces. Very mixed ~ house headz, queer, techno-hipster. B.G. played mostly House tracks that were pumpin'. He kept the energy way up the whole night. From early on in his set he was smilin' and dancing, having a great time. The supporting DJ's were also all wonderful, including Marc Vedo from the UK and Hitgirls Misha, Miss Funk and DJ Girl 6. I danced my ass off.

Mel is also 100% Rockstar. She saw a TON of shows this week... (bare in mind that she works a Full Time job ... no pseudo about it) Tues she caught me at SeeSOUND, Wed Rope-A-Dope New Music Seminar @ Showbox (Charlie Hunter, Critters Buggin', Lyrics Born & friends), Friday was her house party, Saturday (This was a big day) Bitch, The Butchies, Boy George then after-hours and Sunday she saw Le Tigre. Mad mad mad props, gfriend!

Toot, toot

I know Gemini's never toot their own horns, but I have to in this case because Mel said a really kewl thing about me in my Friendster Testimonial and I really want to share ~

"Jen is the nerdiest rock star I know. She is smart, hot, and always making me want to dance, even when I have a broken foot. She's been cool to me from day one, keeping me up on the haps and conversing with me in geek speak. Good times."

Awe, thanks.
Some really exciting stuff coming up this weekend.
(Fri Nov 19) there's tons if Hitgirl action! Misha is playing tonight at En with Eddie. And of course the party out in West Seattle that I'll be kickin' it at.
(Sat Nov 20) the Hitgirls are presenting a major show at COCA with ...get ready... Boy George. No shit, dude! DJ Girl 6, Misha, and Miss Funk are all opening. I'm definately going to be there.
(Sun Nov 21) Miss Kick and Brandy Westmore are both going to be pounding some mad beats at the longest-standing weekly house night in Seattle (thank you Brian!!) Flammable at the Rebar. I know Sundays are difficult after a long long weekend of "rest", but you are Rockstarin' it this weekend because I'm Rockstarin' it this weekend and Miss Kick is outta here to Europe after this month and she is awesome you don't even KNOW!!! So put your most compfy dancing shoes on, ladies, go to the Timberline Sunday afternoon for their kick-ass drink specials, drink a big 'ol Monster, and walk on 1/2 block to the Rebar at 10. Oh, and bring me a Monster, too, because I'll be finishing gathering up some of my press pack (I am working on it, Kendall, really!) while you are at Timberline so I'll need to catch up to y'alls sugar rush.
Ok, for those who aren't ladies, there is an alternative to the Timberline on Sunday. Le Tigre is a killer pro-queer indie punk electro ish band that describe themselves as "one art-damaged, deconstructive, performance-art, electronic pop off-shoot of the grassroots punk feminist organizing and cultural production of the nineties". They are playing at Showbox on Sunday and they will be at the 15th Ave

FOCUS: Spectrum @ Baltic Room

If I was really kewl, I'd conduct a series of dj blog entries that focused on certain weekly and monthly nights in Seattle that are worth checking out. I'll try to keep up that tradition. I need a snappy name for it, but so far all I and www.thesaurus.com can come up with is FOCUS.

So the first FOCUS is Baltic Room's Wed night House night, Spectrum. Lovely. This night is "bringing you the art of dance music for discerning ears and feet" hosted by dj Airlok and features local Seattle legends (like Uniting Soul's very special Thanksgiving Eve party on Nov 18) as well as as well as out-of-town musicians like Tortured Soul (NYC). Last night Be and I stole a table from some sort of Holiday work party, but we had a great view of both the dance floor and Miss Kick's toosh. Highlights of the evening: 1) Making t-shirt slogans with Brandy Westmore and 2) $1.50 PBR's.

Please Miss Kick's mix from Spectrum on October 13th. It's as smooth as her tooshie.

Miss Kick at Baltic ...ooh that rhymes

SeeSound was a blast last night. I luv that place. Thanks to all the kids who showed up AND stayed way past their bedtimes. And, introducing my new PR Manager, this Devil. Yea!

So tonight I'm hitting up Baltic Room to see some live Miss Kick action. Uh Huh.

Also on Friday (hit it up before the West Seattle party) Misha & Eddie are both at En. Good times!!!!!

Next GIG: It's The Joint!

Double Birthday Bash
Friday, Nov 19th 9pm - ???

Featuring DJs Simpa, Morea, Jen Woolfe & T-Bear, plus special guests
Where: 3901 SW Othello (West Seattle--c'mon, it's not THAT far)Feel free to bring any extra friends! The more, the merrier.

DIRECTIONS:
From I-5, take West Seattle Bridge, exit 163A.West Seattle Bridge turns into Fauntleroy, go forward.Left on California Avenue.As you start to go up the hill a little past Thriftway grocery store, turn left on Othello.Top of the hill, end of Othello –On the corner on the right, blue house.

Halloween pics

Here are a bunch of pics from Halloween!
Friday night's party at En: Mel as Catwoman, Dave as Homer, and Peeps on the streets.
Sat night's party at Mel's: Zach, Be, Me, and Demetreus; Be as Edy: Zach, Me, and Mel; Demetreus and Zach; and Mel and an unknown being!

See you all tonight at SeeSOUND!

Next GiG: Ovulate at SeeSOUND

My next gig is on Tuesday Nov 16th. It's at SeeSOUND Lounge, which is a really groovy futuristic and mellllooooowwwww bar in Belltown. Be says this place is a lot like hanging out in someone's living room. It's a great lineup of Seattle ladies including ElleTee, Aundroid, Misha, Miss Kick, and myself.

Oh Duh, Aundriod and Elletee have their weekly Friday night downtempo at Collins Pub (4th & Yestler next to the Smith Tower) TONIGHT. Free. Free. Free.

DJ 101 and Weekend Haps

I'm a very slow, gradual, step-by-step learner. It's taken me 4 seasons to learn to snowboard because I have to do each step over and over [and rolled and rolled ... sorry, Bubble quote] and over until I get it. In snowboarding, that's a lot of time on the bunny slope. So learning to DJ was a long slow process for me. Kevin and Mitch just hopped up there the first night and were mixin' it up right away. It took me about 2 1/2 months [practicing once a week] to get my first real mix. Before I could figure it out, though, I looked on the web and found a website that taught me the step by step "First you...then you...and next". However!!! The Hitgirls have just released a DVD about how to DJ that is totally rockin'. I finally got to sit down and check it out this week and it's way kewl. It shows the first things step by step, but also goes into more Intermediate beatmatching and mixing, and way kewl stuff that I don't even do yet like scratching and other turntable techniques, Equipment selection [which really comes in handy because a lot of private parties force you to quickly become an audio expert and equipment mover...I finally bought some turntable cases that I really needed], way kewl stuff about Laptop battling and Final Scratch, and [something you don't really think of but is actually VERY true] Dancefloor Psychology. In fact, I should have a separate blog entry for Dancefloor Psychology, as it's something that I'm totally learning right now since I just started really playing out in clubs. I tend to have a more mellow style and have had to consiously buy more peak hour stuff in order to keep the dance floor alive. Plus think about having 'hooks', tracks that people will recognize in order to get them out on the dance floor. It's really hard to DJ to people who aren't already House heads. My friends used to tease me and call it the 'thump thump' music. But I'm in the process of turning them. :)

For tonight, I suggest heading to the Contour. DJ Chronus is there and Eva starts afterhours at 2am. BTW, Chronus has an awesome site and he's an exceptional DJ. I first saw him at Last Supper Club opening for Satoshi Tomeiie. Kevin, Sarah, and I all headed to Noc Noc afterwards and who walked in but Satoshi Tomeiie himself. Sarah went to talk to him and asked him what he thought of Seattle. He said he was a bit dissapointed in the city because there wasn't a whole lot of afterhours at that time. I have to say that Seattle has definately picked up in both in afterhours and regular hours since then. But Satoshi's show at LSC was definately one of the best I'd seen and he said he enjoyed it there. Noc Noc was pretty dead that night, but the three of us were entertained by a wonderful display of public sex by a couple in a dark corner. They smiled and let us enjoy. Perhaps Satoshi underestimated Seattle. We still got the good stuff, it's just a little more hidden.

And Eva just is awesome.

Tomorrow night is Derrick Carter at Premier. If you aren't into paying a $15 entry fee, you should go see another great House night at Last Supper Club. Hitgirl's LA Kendall and Julie Herrera are doing their monthly at Last Supper Club for only $10, which includes entry into all the Pioneer Square circuit clubs. But hit up LSC by at least midnight cuz that's when the floor starts to get caarazzzy.

Can I get some Fries with that Shake??

I put a few photos up on my web site. You can see a list of them at http://www.jenwoolfe.com/images. Click on the ones you like to view. Again, if you have any photos from events, please send them to me and I'll put them up almost free of charge (just kidding). There are a bunch that Christine took of us from the Last Supper Club event I did on October 17th (1, 2, 3, 4) and some of Kendall as well (1, 2, 3, 4). Christine is an amazing photographer. Pleeeeese check out her website. There are also a few pics from Halloween. This is Zach, Be, myself, and Demetreus as Pasty, Eddie, Bubble, and the Sailor that Patsy picked up. There's also Mel as Wonder Woman and Whitney as a Freudian slip.

I'm heading (in theory) to see Derrick Carter at The Premier on Saturday. I saw him at the Showbox quite a few years back. Amazing. Definately a great show to see. Friday you may see me either at The Contour or at Neighbors. Dunno. Depends on how drunk I get bartending for Shieny's party at the Tiki Lounge. Enjoy your weekend, kidz!!!!!!

Blog Moved to New Location

If you are viewing this weblog from http://jenwoolfe.blogger.com, you are not getting the most updated info. It has now changed to www.jenwoolfe.com. See you there!

To the Chapel and the East Side

Saturday I went to Baltic Room to see Brett Johnson. The vibe was excellent, though a little more mellow than I expected. At about 12:30 we popped over to The Chapel to wind down the evening. Miss Kick was playing her regular Saturday 'this be some classy shit!' night. That woman is a hard worker and amazing DJ. Sadly, she'll be moving to Barcelona at the end of the month just because she 'fell in love with the city'. Though she'll be back every few months, her absence in Seattle's DJ scene will most certainly be felt.

I am indebted to my wonderful friend and ex-coworker Rich. He's been phenominal in helping myself and Sheiny play at parties and clubs. He's talked his company, Luftansa Airlines, into hiring me to DJ their company Christmas party in Boston on Dec 13th! Sweet! This will be my second gig outside of Seattle. Thanks, Rich! You are a rockstar. [Rich's favorite vinyl in my crate is Steve Bug's 'November Girl' on Poker Flat Recordings.]

One hot piece of Geek

My DJ homework this week has consisted of Techie stuff which only myself and a few of my cohorts will find interesting. But it's DJ homework nonetheless, so I get to write it on my blog. So I'm building a new computer that I'm going to use as my audio workstation. I very rarely buy computer equipment, I generally acquire it from cheap computer sales or friends that are getting rid of stuff. So the computer I currently use for my audio workstation only has a 12 Gig hard drive (gasp!). To put that into perspective: these days, I've heard you can't even buy less than a 60 Gig hard drive. Needless to say, I've filled up the 12 Gigs quickly with my large audio files. So my new workstation (Hippie) now has 2 20 Gig hard drives. I've had the hardest time loading Windows 2000 onto it. The partition table was inconsistent, which confused the Windows install. A linux install told me the problem. And, with a tip from Travis, I used dd to blow away the entire drive. Now Windows is installed! But for some reason the screen is a wierd green tint....so the homework continues.

Also in related DJ homework news, today is the end of my online Dreamweaver course. Too bad I still have 4 chapters to do. Luckily, I have 2 weeks to catch up. I joined it so I could learn Dreamweaver, work on my web site (which now only has my weblog b/c I'm lazy and it's good enough for now), and have another Techie skill for my resume. Plus building web sites is really fun. At least, it was fun back in 1998 when I started and stopped building them. Back then, there was only HTML and Javascript to worry about. Dynamic HTML had only just begun to be used. So it's taking me a while to break through the learning curve of Dreamweaver. But once I do, my site will hopefully be a lot more functional/interesting/creative/informative/snappy than what you see now before you.

Now off to Fado for some pints...then to Broadway Jai Thai for some non-techie DJ Homework. Eddie is playing with Brandy Westmore tonight. Jai Thai is such a great weekly Friday night House music niche. Brandy says it's become a watering hole for locals to Capital Hill. She always has great guest DJ's, in keeping with tradition at the Fremont and Belltown Jai Thai locations. I played there at the beginning of October and had a great time. In fact, I had such a great time (Demetreus had me drinking Apple Martini's the entire night), that by the end of my set I was dripping apple martini onto my vinyl and not being quite conserned enough about it. That's one of the great (and not-so-great) things about being a DJ...free drinks...all night.

Tomorrow night I'll be dancing my ass off (after attending the anti-war march downtown at 1pm, of course) Brett Johnson at Baltic Room and celebrating Life's 3rd Anniversary, thanks to Uniting Souls. Come say 'hello' and for gawd's sake, don't buy me any Apple Martinis!!

Jay Tripwire

Check out Jay Tripwire's mixes on www.undergroundhouse.net. Yummy. I found out that he was here last week playing at SeeSound Lounge. I can't believe I missed that one. Ugh.

Hey, what's the best Electronic Music Zine? Urb? Resident Advisor? I need to make one my home page.

The most exciting thing

And the most exciting thing I did all weekend... I voted.

Halloween Part III ... and IV

III
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Being Bubble for Halloween worked out smashingly. The hair was the key, definately. I waiting to the last minute, of course, to get my outfit all worked out, but after 4 straight days of watching Ab Fab, I finally got a sense of Bubble. I didn't even leave my house until 5pm to look for the outfit, but after about 30 minutes and $10 at the Value Village (where I ran into my friend Tura who was in town from Ashland...SUCH a small city), Bubble emerged. What made the outfit complete (besides the hair) was some fuzzy bright yellow slippers that I found. Fabulous, darling, faboulous.

Edy, Patsy, and the Sailor that Patsy picked up arrived at 10 and we headed to the first party, which was conveniently one block away from my house. Luv that. It was put on by a group called Space Virgins, an arts collective and Burning Man theme camp. The house was huge and all the rooms were decorated beautifully, with bright neon colors and lots of pillows for chill spaces. The bar was outside. It was so packed you could hardly move. Everyone had a costume. My favorite room was the one with the butt massager. We left the SV party about 12:30 and hit up Mel's party in West Seattle. That was much more intimate and most everyone got the Ab Fab theme. We were there only briefly before we headed to Kevin & Sarah's pad to end out the night. Their place was decorated beautifully. Demetreus commented that you can really tell Kevin & Sarah put their hearts and souls into it. Beautiful. We watched Evil Genius (Kevin) finish up his set in the basement that had wallpaper with trees on it. It felt like we were in a party in the middle of the forrest. Elltee and Audroid played some Drum 'n Bass for the rest of the time I was there. When Elltee spun in a Postal Service song, I almost blew chunks, the mix was so sick! I saw lots of old friends, including Contour Matt, Sarah, and Tina. Tbear ended the night on the decks. A wonderful party.

And after a long night and a long weekend, I finally got home...before the sun came up. Barely.

IV
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I realized at 11:30 pm on Sunday (which was really 12:30 thanks to 'Fall Back' for an extra hour that I desparately needed) that since I'm on-call at work this week, I can take a 'work from home' day. So I did that Monday. Rest. Yum. However, when I checked my email in the morning I realized that I had volunteered to DJ at The Last Supper Club (again!) at a benefit for a local bartender that injured her neck. I was scheduled to play at midnight. Ugh.

I say 'again!' because lately I've been plagued with the Last Supper Club. It's a great club with a decent crowd and excellent music. But lately I've had a lot of events there for some reason, 2 benefits, a club night, and 3 VIP parties. I have a joke with the bartender that I'm there more than he is. Tonight, after a long weekend of playing and partying, I would have much rather stayed in my pajamas and watched movies until I fell asleep on the couch. But I trooped it up: had a 2 1/2 hour nap at 8, a shower at 10:25, 1/2 a Monster energy drink at 11:00 (darn Trader Joes for stocking those things!), and arrived at LSC at 11:20. Just in time to see the last of Misha's set and Julie's entire set. There were surprisingly quite a few people there (for a Monday)! It was great to see everyone supporting Verna after her injury. I lent all my commercial records to Tbear, and I've been kind of bored playing the same stuff lately, so I decided to play some Progressive House (for a guide to generes of electronic music, check out this page). I was a little worried that the crowd wouldn't like it, seeing as busy as it was, but they seemed to really enjoy it. I played a lot of vocally stuff. Some of the crowd kept mouthing for me to 'drop it in!' but I wasn't really sure what they meant. I guess they meant make the first bass beat really kick in. I really need to borrow a Pioneer DJM-600 so I can practice the effects. Anyway, I had a great time playing. I played the 'Get Fucked' song, (a white label by Harrison Crump) which had both Jason (the LSC Promoter) and DJ Stacy (from Girl4Girl) asking me about it. Funny, but the gigs that you least look forward to seem to be the ones that turn out the best.