PULP - week one

I guess one reason I haven't really had the urge to blog lately because of all of the Twittering (or tweeting as it's properly called) and updating of my Facebook status I've been doing lately.

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Something in particular that's been keeping me busy has been the preparation for an electronic music weekly that my friends (Tyler, Katie, and Peter) and I are throwing in downtown Monterey called Pulp, which is every Thursday this month at The Hippodrome (formerly Club Octane). It took me forever to complete the 5" x 7" flyer design, and by the time I finally did complete it, I was asked to put together an 11" x 17" poster as well (with all of the information from the back of the flyer).

This is the front and back of the 5" x 7" flyer...




... and here's the 11" x 17" poster.




It was kinda tricky trying to figure out how to cram all of that information onto the back of the 5 x 7 flyer and the front of the 11 x 17 poster without making it too cluttered and busy. I think I did alright... Whaddaya guys think?

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But yeah, this past Thursday was our opening night, and I think I can confidently say that the night was a success. Initially, we all kinda had the mindset that, like, "Ya know, it doesn't matter if there's a smaller turnout than we hope... This will be a learning experience for us..." To our pleasant surprise however, people kept showing up and filling the room! And they all kept dancing til the place closed!

I haven't had time to go through all of the photos, but here are a couple from the night.










I didn't realize just how awesome the view was from this room (the Skyy Room)! I'm pretty glad that we scored this room rather than the smaller (and darker) room on the opposite side of the club!

Anywho, I gotta run some errands, but I'll try to have the rest of the pics up soon!

must... cheer... up!

C'mon, James! Positive thoughts, you can do it!
Haha... Anyway... Onto various other random topics.

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An idea that I've been considering lately regarding DJing is to record my downloadable mixsets just under 40 minutes. I'd probably be able to fit about 7 or 8 tracks into each set, and it would probably be easier for listeners to sit completely through rather than going through an entire 80 minute set in one sitting. I'd also be able to fit two sets onto one CDR if I were to burn them to hand out at parties. Doing these mini-mixes would also make it easier for me to make themed sets (such as the "chase scene" mixset that I've been dying to compile since before I'd even began DJing) without forcing myself to try to find enough tracks to fill an 80 minute CDR, regardless of how well they'd flow.

Doing these sets would also be good for me if I were to try my hand at various genres. So far, I'd been mostly spinning breaks and electro house, even though I have a pretty good deal of trance and prog tracks at my disposal. I don't want to strictly label myself a breaks DJ, especially if potential club/rave promoters would be looking for someone who spins, say, trance or house. I could ideally fit a trance mini-mix followed by a breaks mini-mix onto one CDR to show listeners what I'm capable of doing with each genre. I'll try recording a couple of these types of sets sometime next week if time allows.

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Well, tonight is the last Electro Funk Combustion of the semester. I'm really bummed that I didn't get a slot to spin tonight, but the event is only 4 hours, and we obviously can't have the same DJs over and over at each of these events, so I suppose it's just one of those things can't be helped. I am, however, pretty happy for my friend Mick (a.k.a. DJ Mick Khaos), finally does get a chance to spin a set tonight. He came to the previous two parties to show his support and enjoy the music that everyone else has been spinning, so he really does deserve to be up there.

A fellow named DJ Conspiracy, will also be there, and headlining the event is San Francisco's John Beaver, who spins at tons of Skills events and at 1015 pretty often.

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Well, I just got off work a couple hours ago, so I'm really just wanting to put on some music and head to bed. Hope everyone's having a fun Thursday!

my first time DJing in front of people!

You can download the set in mp3 format here. I actually chopped the set up into 15 individual tracks this time, too, as opposed to the set being one long mp3 file.

minceyfresh - 2007 12/01 - live @ jacked up (I originally thought that this event was called Seaside Renegade, but it turns out that it was called Jacked Up.)