Techno Prisoners!!!

Hitgirl's new monthly, U-Turn, debuts this weekend with Techno!

Jerry Abstract, Misha, Hakea and Bryan Newman on Saturday, July 2. That's right. Techno-at-the-Baltic-Room-on-a-Saturday! The new sound there really brings out the bleeps, blips and BASS that you've been missing out on. Check out the flyer!


Other weekend adventures!

(Fri Jul 1)
The Advent Live - K - Research -UK /Portugal @ Consolodated Works, SEA
Brought to you by Renegade Rhythms & SOG Research
Tom Mitchell - Renegade Rhythms - Ahuli - SOG Research - Portland / Seattle
Aaron Richards - Renegade Rhythms - Ahuli - SOG Research - Portland
Tetsuji Miwa - Chief Experiments, SOG Research - Japan
Brad Peterson - Moods & Grooves, SOG Research - Seattle
500 Boren Ave N. Seattle

Ferry Corsten @ Element
with Eva & Marq

Ming and FS @ Trinity
http://www.nwtekno.org/vb/showthread.php?threadid=89103&eventid=21073

Hitgirl Fridays @ Mantra

(Sat Jul 2)
Pin Down Girls @ Neumo's! .. hot tip by Elletee!
ROCK 'N' ROLL WRASSLIN' EXTRAVAGANZA
For one night only, Neumo's transforms into a steamy pit of female aggression

Jay Tripwire @ SeeSound Lounge

Hitgirl's U-Turn Debut's with Techno party @ Baltic Room
Jerry Abstract, Misha, Hakea and Bryan Newman

(All Weekend)
Tall Ships in Tacoma ... hot tip by Freemon Southgate
http://www.tallshipstacoma.com/index02.html

And for all those bedroom DJ's (you know who you are jaisn!)
http://www.midweekbeats.com/DJSpinOff/index.html

84 Steps and Other People, Places and Things
Photography by Sami Khoury
Opening reception: 6 - 10 PM, Friday, July 1, 2005
Exhibition thru Aug. 4
Fremont Coffee (www.fremontcoffee.net)

NEW MIX!

I was feeling blue last Sunday. So I made a mix for myself. Then I went on a two-hour bike ride.

PRiDE Weekend!

(Thur Jun 23)
Friday, June 24 @ SeeSound Lounge
Kick Off Pride with Happy Hour 6-9pm
Jen Woolfe spinning with resident Erin O'Connor
We will have a hosted happy hour with appetizers, $3 well drinks, beer, and champagne.
115 Blanchard across from Crocodile Cafe


(Thur Jun 23)
Sera Cahoone @ The Tractor Tavern
NadaMucho.com presents
J TILLMAN (www.jtillmanmusic.com)
The Stares (www.thestares.com)
Sera Cahoone
The Maldives

(Fri Jun 24)
Seattle Dyke March and Queer Women's Rally:
March downtown to Westlake Park.
Rally at 5:30 - 7 p.m.
Seattle Central Community College

June 24th MISS HONEY DIJON @ War Room

(Sat Jun 25)
DJ Colette @ Chop Suey
with Emily Song and Miss Funk!

Girl4Girl Seattle @ Premier
DJ Shortee
Go Go Dancers
Drag King Performances

Lu Ying spinning @ the Wild Rose

Climax at Creme @ Leschi Lounge
DJ's Julia Camp, Jen Woolfe and some special guestessess
Afterparty 2-7am

(Sun Jun 26)
QUEERS ON STEERS:
Strap it on and cinch it tight!
Cowgirls Inc. / 7 pm / 21+

Saturday and Sunday

(Sat Jun 18)
Tonight! Catch LA Kendall and Miss Funk at Girl4Girl @ the Premier!

(Sun Jun 19)
Free outdoor party @ Gas Works Park!
DJ Buck, Brian Lyons, Jeromy Nail, Ramiro, Beatrice, Grahm Jones, Bryan Tully & Ian Priestley. Beats & bbq

NEXT GIG: Mantra Lounge Fri June 17

Join me in my 30th birthday bash, Fri Jun 17 at Mantra Lounge

9:30 - 11 sheiny spinnin' hip hop

11 - 12:45 fishlure & jdub tag team set with House and Electro beatz

12:45 - 2 Bishop Duck House madness

9-11 $2 "you-call-it's!"

$5 at the door

210 South Washington St One block south of the Smith Tower at the corner of 2nd Ave in thePioneer Square area.

Happy Birthday Two (of) Mee

Today is the lil' Three - Ohhh. I'm skippin' skool like a good catholick girl and running around town in my plaid panties.

Two Drips from the Cuddle Puddle

We had a kick-ass house warming. Thanks to all who made it special. Here's the first set of pics thanks to Photogirl!

http://www.skyscraper007.com/Album3/

Faith, Family and Freedom ... and more Freaks!!

Check out this article in the New York Sun which talks about Comedian Eugene Mirman, who received a phone-call from a nonprofit organization called "Faith, Family and Freedom," asking if he opposed gay marriage and then offering to switch his long-distance service to a "Christian-based telephone carrier" identified as United American Technologies out of Oklahoma. After the call reaches a person they are prompted to press "1" if they oppose gay marriage. A real phone call? Let's do some research and find out! Comment if you figure something out. Or you can donate $50 to a Republican presidential campaign, which is apparently how Eugene’s phone number was found.

(Thur Jun 9)
MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO @ NEUMOS
Dub Trio
Zion 12$15 adv.8 pm doors

(Fri Jun 10)
Sensory Effect @ Nectar
DRUMATTICA (live electro- pop-PDX)
BEEHIVE (live electronic rock-SEA)
DJ GREG JASPAN (kexp-SEA)

Hybrid @ Element -- I saw these guys at Burning Man! Amazing!
*DJ SET* featuring Chris Healing & Mike Truman from the U.K.

(Sat Jun 11)
Uniting Souls @ Warehouse Space!
Analog warehouse party @ The Bemis Building, 55 Atlantic
(2 blocks West of Safeco Field, right next to the Alaskan Way viaduct).
Jeromy Nail & Ramiro spin from 1:30-3:00am, followed by the b-day kid Carter!

John Tejada @ Trinity

Now That's a Mouthfull!

Had to note Bionicchick's review of the band 'The Countdown' when she saw them at the Block Party in Chicago this weekend.

' The Countdown’s duo play a dirty breed of punk rock, which sleezes it’s way from porto-toilet mucked gutters in ripped fishnets and throws-up onto it’s own hooker red, patent leather, thigh high heels. '

Write on, sista!! Go here to view the whole review plus a mention of Jared Leto's band '30 Seconds To Mars.' Yes, I would like to see him in panties.

A Wedding to Remember

Last night Sheiny and I DJ'd a wedding. It was for an amazing couple that I know, Ken and Anna. They met in graduate school. She, like he, is one of the most kind, beautiful, driven, fun-loving and gentle people I know. They are a fabulous couple and I was very honored to provide music for their celebration.

however...

I am not a wedding DJ. I'm not even a birthday party DJ. Unfortunately for these types of situations, my collection of music does not include pop dance hits from the last 5 decades unless they are beat-heavy house remixes. If you've ever found yourself requesting a song from a DJ in a club who generally spins vinyl and they don't play it, the reason is very likely because they just don't have a version of that song with them or in their collection at all. So when a friend asks me to play at a holiday party or wedding, I'm torn. I want to be there for them to fill their request because I love them and my friends are fabulously supportive. But for me, it feels a lot like wearing a prom dress. Though I may look great, it's slightly itchy and rides uncomfortably up the sides. It just doesn't feel like me.

I play underground House music, a genre which I've found most of the American public more willing to eat dirt than listen to. I have a lot of theories about why this is true, and I feel that part of my destiny is to change that. One way to do this is to remind popular American culture that shaking their ass is a form of celebration, and what better place to do this than a place where dancing is expected, like a wedding, holiday or birthday party. Unfortunately for me, what is also expected are a plethora of pop dance hits from the last 5 decades that are not beat-heavy house remixes.

Luckily for myself and my friends, there is a fabulous computer program called Final Scratch, and an even more fabulous guy, that knows how to use it. With Final Scratch, you can map mp3 tracks to a record and spin it on a turntable just like any other piece of vinyl. Sweet chocolate decadence! Shein, myself and F.S. have DJ'd a few dozen parties together in the last two years. I have a love-hate relationship with them. In many ways they are really fun and rewarding. In many other ways, they are very stressful and a lot more work than you may realize.

Inevitably, we don't have quite the right music. Shein is a fabulous hip hop DJ. Actually, he's a fabulous DJ in general. When practiced, he can pick up anyone else's vinyl of any genre and play it like he wrote the stuff. Sat night, he was elegantly mixing Mark Farina's Mushroom Jazz 2 and Mushroom Jazz 4 together. Currently, hip hop is his specialty. Thus, his F.S. playlist is heavily accentuated with hard-core hip hop beatz. Ken and Anna didn't have a good idea of what they wanted, but there were very specific about what they didn't want. No country, no YMCA. And no hip hop. Thus, most of my evenings last week were spent downloading a more general selection of popular dance music.

Inevitably, we encounter at least one technical equipment-related problem. It could be anything. A forgotten power strip, the wall plug that is not grounded, a missing headphone tip, a broken speaker stand. Usually we just don't have the right cables to plug everything in. Audio cables and their equipment counterparts vary in length, quality and type. Bishop is so used to me stopping by his house at the last minute to pick up some random piece of equipment that we don't have, he probably sets up his schedule to keep himself within 2 blocks of his apartment every time I have a gig. On New Years Eve at Capital Club last year, I ran around and called 6 different places at the last minute to find an XLR to RCA cable that was longer than 20 feet. At Diller's birthday party on Friday the 13th, it took us 2 hours to do a 1/2 hour job because the orbits of the moon were intersecting crookedly with the earth's polar magnet. At the wedding, I had a corrupt file that was crashing F.S. every time we tried to open a directory with over 200 of the songs I had spent all week downloading.

Inevitably, I freak out and curse myself for not being more prepared.

Inevitably, Shein twiddles some bits and we pull it off just in time.

I've been learning to DJ for over 4 years. I remember Rebecca West once saying, after 6 years as a DJ that the more she learns, the more she uncovers how complex it really is. It took me 5 months to be able to consistently beat match. It took me another 5 to understand programming, and an entire year after that to be able to apply it on the fly. I started early on to give myself 'dj homework' and realized that I was very slowly teaching myself this whole crazy thing as if I had an imaginary DJ How-To, one chapter at a time.

My current chapter in my imaginary How-To is called 'Understanding Vibe'. Like all good How-To's, this chapter begins with the definition of 'vibe'.

Vibe
n : a distinctive emotional atmosphere; sensed intuitively;
n: Slang. A vibration.

Or more specifically, 'What can I play that will make these people dance?'

At the wedding this weekend, we were playing Retro and Motown hits that had the dance floor packed. But there were moments when a very prominent member of the wedding party asked for music that only a few would appreciate. The DJ was faced with a choice: ‘Do I put on a track that I know will clear the dance floor?’ This is a very difficult decision for a DJ to make. In general, modern American culture needs the safety and security of a few others dancing to feel comfortable enough to put themselves out there. It takes great skill and a little magic to get an empty dance floor filled. Once you have the vibe there, the last thing you want to do is let it go.

But a wedding is not a club, and Saturday was for me a little lesson in just that.

In a modern underground club, there's an inherent trust that the DJ will provide. If they don't, then you don't follow that DJ elsewhere. If they do, you'll follow them everywhere. A person knows they had a great time dancing in a club when they leave saying ‘I couldn’t get off the dance floor’. At a wedding party, people trust the songs, not the DJ. A person knows they had a great time dancing at a wedding when they leave saying ‘They played that one song that I love’.

Even though I know I can’t, I strive to touch every person in the room when I play. When building a play list for Ken and Anna, there were two very special people that I forgot, my Grandma Pat and my Grandpa Dick. Now that Grandpa is gone, there are two things I remember most about him. He always used a teeny bit of tongue when he kissed the ladies, and he and grandma were fabulous Ballroom Dancers. A cleared dance floor was an empty canvas for their magic.

I’m not a wedding DJ. In fact, I’m not a DJ at all. I’m a poet. I re-arrange songs, like words, in ways that sound beautiful. But the next time I play at a wedding, if I ever do, I’ll remember that the vibe is not about the celebration through dance, but the celebration of love through dance. On second thought, that’s the very same thing we’re celebrating each week at the club.

wanna know who your friends really are?

Do something they don't like or don't agree with. Then stand by your decision.

Hitgirl Happiness

(Fri Jun 3)
Mantra Lounge with DJ's Niz and Julia Camp.
$2 YOU CALL IT DRINKS until 11PM.
$5 Cover 10PM-2AM.

(Sat Jun 4)
Baltic Room with DJ's Niz, Miss Funk, Emily Song and Misha.
Happy Hour Specials until 8PM.
$5 Cover
Ladies Free before 11PM

All Free Shows! ... er, make that Freak Shows!

Save your money, cuz this weekend is weally nice on the wallet!

(Wed Jun 1)
Grace @ SeeSound ... FREE!
Celebrate the release of their 4-CD Box Set Wednesday
evening June 1st @ SEE SOUND LOUNGE, from 8-2. Erin,
Beatrice, Hyasynth and Brandy will be sharing the
dykes all night long... er, make that decks!

Also featured will be glass art sculptures by Jose
Hinojosa & Glasshouse Studio.

(Fri Jun 3)
@ Chop Suey
Babes in Toyland, and The Hellcat Hussies Present present
THE MOBTOWN MOXIE REVUE A Queer Variety Shag... er, make that show!
Drag, Burlesque, Cheerleading, Piercing Performance, Theater, Comedy, Porn, and Live Music. $8 adv. 9 pm doors

@ Trinity ... FREE!
Return to OK Hotel!! YES!! ... er, make that FUCK YES!!
Wesley Holmes, Brian Lyons, Mr. Supreme, LSDJ
OK Hotel, one of THE best house nights in Seattle history.

(Sat Jun 4)
@ Trinity
Uniting Souls 5 year Anniversary
Iz and Diz ... er, make that the Izaouww and the Dizaouwww
Jon Lemmon, Jeromy Nail & Ramiro
Rama, Zion 12 & Bumble Bee
Guy VSOP

@ Chop Suey ... FREE
Keep Out, Freek Out, Part Deux: The Sequel: One Year Later ... er, make that Freak.
Jacob London, DJ Colby B, Krnl.Panic aka Rama, FourColorZack,
Chris Tremens, Recess, The Perfect Cyn & Derek Fisher, Wesley Holmes