I am an AT&T wireless subscriber. Their service leaves a lot to be desired, but they consistently have the best phones (and who needs to actually make phone calls anyway, right?). I bought a Blackberry Bold last January and signed up for a two-year contract. It was a big improvement over the Curve, but the battery life sucked and the trackball started sticking. Fast forward almost twelve months.

Last week I was in a meeting and someone pulled out the new 9700. For me it was love at first sight.

So I called AT&T and asked them how much to upgrade. They said they’d give me $100 off and “only” charge me $230. I said no thanks. The next day I was walking past an AT&T store and decided to give it another try in person. This time they told me it would be $150 to upgrade and they would give me a $100 rebate.

“So in effect I will be paying $50 for it?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Sign me up!”

So we go through the whole process and the guy rings up the transaction and says…

“Actually, we’re only going to charge you $100 plus $8 tax, and we’ll still give you the $100 rebate.”

So my brand new top-of-the-line Blackberry Bold 9700 cost me eight dollars. I love not having a track ball and the battery life is worlds better. From a business perspective I see how this is good for AT&T, but I’m still not sure how RIM (the manufacturer of the Blackberry) is making any money on this deal.

For you music lovers out there, the 9700 comes with a 2GB MicroSD card to hold extra MP3s.

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…

I was at Cielo a few weeks ago and I was introduced to Erica Rhone. Who is Erica Rhone, you ask? She is a DJ, and you should check out her Web site — especially her downloads page. I’m particularly fond of her “Conundrum” mix.

She will slay you with her techno. I’m serious, check it out.

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…

Stochastic and I caught Matt Darey’s set at Cielo on Friday night. I had never heard him before and wasn’t sure what to expect. He was good. Really got the crowd going and his mixing was smooth. He started out very techy and electro, but settled into vocal trance later in the night.

One of the tracks from his set that spoke to me:

• Deadmau5 – Dr. Funkenstein

I pulled down a few others but my Shazam is acting up on my Blackberry so I can’t see the list. At any rate, he’s worth checking out if you’re into vocal trance.

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…

I started DJing almost six years ago when my friends Matt & Adriana asked me to spin a set at their wedding. I had no idea how to do that, but they had faith in me. It all worked out, and I’ll make sure to post that first set so you can listen.

The point of my story is that DJ equipment was big and expensive back then. You needed two turntables and a mixer to really do it right. That meant $1,000 minimum and a table in your house covered with gear. So I cheated and did it all in software.

It worked, but it was a pain in the butt.  First, it was hard to hear what was going on. To DJ properly you need to use one ear to listen to what the audience is hearing and the other ear to listen to what’s coming. The blend allows you to mix two songs together in a musical way. To mix with the particular software I had to shut myself out of what the audience was hearing in order to mix what was coming. This meant that I wasn’t truly present in what people were feeling on the dance floor.

The second problem was that a laptop doesn’t feel like a musical instrument. I would be crazily mousing around during gigs. It’s hard to get a groove going with a mouse, and it’s not fun for dancers to watch.

Fortunately, we’ve come a long way since then. Today Apple is selling a device that hooks up to your laptop and gives you the equivalent of two turntables and a mixer. You plug it in, grab songs from iTunes, and start mixing. The best part is that it only costs $225 and it doesn’t take up a table in your house.

I’m not saying this is the solution for everyone, but it is a great way to get started.

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I hope you all got enough to eat. We’ve all got lots to be thankful for and this is a feel-good holiday.

I am usually aware of the music that’s playing wherever I happen to be. One thing that bothers me every year is that we start to hear Christmas carols before Thanksgiving (and sometimes even before Halloween). I feel strongly that we should agree as a society to wait until after Thanksgiving to start playing Xmas music.

Is everyone with me?

There is, however, a problem. A gaping void in our society that forces us to play our holiday music early. What’s this, you ask?

Someone needs to write some Thanksgiving carols.

The best part is that retailers can use it as the theme for Black Friday shopping. Let’s all get to work!

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…