The Elevator Club

Sunshine and rain.

George came to town this evening. His wife is about to have a baby and he came to town.

Don’t worry: she’s well-cared for tonight and it will be a week or two before anything happens.

Do you have friends who you look at and think, “You’ll be a great parent”? I look at George and I think that. Maybe because he’s someone I turn to for advice. Maybe it’s because he truly cares about every single person, even though his demeanor leads some people to believe he doesn’t (I know the truth, though, but don’t tell him ;)

He’s wanted to hear Roger Sanchez play for a while now. So tonight we made it happen. Pre-game we sat at the bar at Aqua Grill–our favorite oysters in the city, not to mention the positive energy–and life was good. Our schedule has always been AG, massage, nap, night out. We skipped the massage tonight but kept the rest of it.

I’ve seen RS a few times. Once in Miami where I got to know my fantastic girlfriend. Once at Pacha in NYC where he tore the roof off the place. He played this one track at Pacha that has stuck with me for two years. I want to know what it is. I’ve sung it to countless house-heads and noone [sic: Maxwell] can tell me what it is. Roger was awesome tonight. He started off sloooooow and eased into it. When he got going, he was cranking like only a few DJs on the planet can crank. Stacey Pullen comes to mind, but that’s something for another night.

I will say, though, that Roger loses the plot sometimes. Consistency is not his strong suit, but he does keep it interesting. And when he cranks he’s one of the best there is.

We shut the place down. On my way out the door I stopped by the DJ booth to thank Roger. I mentioned that my friend Brendan is opening for him next week in SF. And then I asked him to ID that track for me. The one from two years ago at Pacha. I sang it for him.

And he brushed me off with, “That sounds like a lot of house tunes.” Ouch.

Two years of singing that friggin’ track to people and even the DJ can’t tell me what it is. Must I spend the rest of my life searching? Disappointed? Double ouch.

At least I had the time of my life tonight.

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…   

From Musictoob:

Last night’s Musictoob party at Soho’s DIE FABRIK, presented by AriZona Vapor Water and hosted by Shake, was nothing short of amazing. We were gifted a rare set from FreshGeex, whose lead singer is between tours with Sean Kingston, as well as a soulful bit of acoustic pop from Michaela Anne. DJ Mike Lingle rocked the decks, and DJ Logic showed up just to hang! Check out the pictures after the jump.

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…

So I set a fun challenge to myself last weekend: download a bunch of tracks in a genre I don’t normally spin and record a mix in a single take. I settled on Tech House and here’s the result (right-click and choose “Save Link As…” to download).

Track listing (all are available on Beatport.com):

• Mastiksoul - Bofe De Elite [Original Mix]
• Dop - Mambo Jumbo [Guy Gerber’s Hemlock Remix]
• Okain - 717 [D’Julz Mix]
• David Duriez & Mazi - This iIs Not A Follow-up [Peace Division T5 Mix]
• Radio Slave - RJ [Original Mix]
• Mac Antona -Give Me Flowers [Original Mix]
• Thomas Schumacher & DJ T. - Lower Instincts [Original Mix]
• Sebo K - Diva [Original Mix]
• Pan-Pot feat. Vincenzo - Faces [Vincenzo Remix]
• Ramon Tapia - Mi Esposa [Original Mix]
• Rafael Gomez - Don’t [Falco Brocksieper Remix]
• Alex Kenji - Volviendo Loco [Original Mix]
• Milton Jackson - Rhythm Track [Original Mix]

The last time I did this it was all about the Techno.

- mike
elevatorclub.com
…:: step inside ::… listen.

Here’s a little Christmas cheer:

Click here if you don’t see the player in your RSS reader

I’ve also published this as a mix on iTunes called Xmas ‘08 - Elevator Club
if you’d like to own the songs.

Happy Holidays!

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…

I was down for the count for 24 hours. Uggghhh.

Before I lost it I did 2 enjoyable gigs. The first was for Sarah and Wills who were getting married in Long Island City. They took over a loft space and converted it into a romantic wonderland. I wish I had pictures.

Highlights included Scott the Blue Bunny: he’s over 6′ tall and wears a skin tight blue latex bunny suit and translucent high heels. Don’t believe me? Check him out (yes, there are videos if you click through to his MySpace page).

They followed the first dance with a performance by The Hungry March Band. They do rock and funk covers and they’ve got cheerleaders with light-up batons and glasses who whip the crowd into a dancing frenzy such that the floor was shaking. It was fun to follow them since they had the dance crowd riled up and raring to go.

Congratulations, Sarah and Wills, I wish you the best

My next gig was an office holiday party at Taj. We got off to a rough start: it was pouring, I had trouble getting there so I was almost late, I was fighting the equipment, and they wanted the dancing to start immediately.

I’ve done enough of these to know that office holiday parties are a process, and you can’t skip the steps: 1) people show up and feel stiff, 2) they grab a drink, 3) they grab a plate of food, 4) they have another drink, 5) they start to relax, 6) there’s a speech or two, 7) there’s some kind of performance (in this case it was belly dancers who brought members of the crowd out to the dance floor to gyrate with them), 8) people lose their inhibitions and dance wildly.

Trying to start the wild dancing during step 3 just isn’t going to happen. I’ve tried before and I tried it this time upon request. Same results: you just can’t rush these things. Fortunately it all worked out and people danced like mad when the time came.

Then I woke up in the middle of the night sick as a dog.

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…