5 posts from March 2009

Things are starting to get busier here in south beach!  Yesterday was a full day of interviews, meetings, running around and of course, loads of great music!  The day started with a walk through The Setai hotel where I'll be spinning tonight and hosting listening parties for Jay-J and Samantha James as part of the Kapa Music event.  Check out some of the pictures below...

Once the evening kicked in we headed to a few of the events.  We started off at the Shifted Music Event where Jamie Lewis from Purple Music was rocking the spot poolside and Nickodemus was making people sweat in the Lobby area at the Shore Club.

Then rolled over to the Ovum party where Josh Wink was about to get on the decks.  We got to hang with the guy for a little bit and was introduced to some old frineds like Richie Hawtin, John Digweed, Juan Martinez amongst others. 

We capped off the night by heading over to the Paradise Garage tribute party hosted by Joe B of King Street Records.  There we were treated to the sounds of Danny Krivit and Jellybean Benitez.  Can you say CLASSICS?!?!

It was great to get such a variety of dance music genres all in one night!  That's what this conference is all about.  Looking forward to doing my show later because there's such an energy buzzing around town.  On tonight's show we welcome guests Jon Cutler, Anane, Kaskade and Louie Vega.  And those are only the confirmed guests!  You never know who else just might be stopping by.  Stay tuned....

So now it's off to our first event... and keep in mind it's Tuesday night!  Large Records has made it tradition to do their party on the first night of WMC.  Looking around as we're walking to the venue with bellies full of chicken, rice, black beans and plantains, you can tell things are not as crazy as years past.  But with that said, the streets were pretty full and as soon as we walked in we felt the energy of the DJs, the music and people on the dance floor shaking what their momma gave em!  What a great way to start... DJs Jon Cutler, Scott Wozniak, Chuck Love, Vikter Duplaix and a live performance from Samantha James.  Looking forward to many more fun filled days and nights, and not to mention running around from place like chickens with their heads chopped off.  More to come....

So after not attending WMC for the past few years now, it's strange how quickly things came back as soon as we drove into the South Beach area.  Immediately, we hit the floor running!  After checking into the swanky Setai Hotel, we met up with the management for quick introductions and brief discussion about the Kapa event that will take place on Thursday.  The next thought was food!  Cuban Food!!  Puerto Sagua!!!  The legendary eatery amongst DJs that come to the conference is always a mandatory stop.  Fortunately, I passed on the airline food, but that only meant I was super hungry all day.  There we met up with some friends and people that we knew that just happened to be there already.  Yes, it's that kind of place! 

On Wednesday night Argentine rockers Babasonicos stopped by the studios to say what's up the night before their big gig at Club Nokia at the new LA Live center in Downtown Los Angeles.  Unfortunately, I was unable to attend because of my on air duties.  If you were there at Club Nokia, I'd love to know what you thought of the show.  Also, I've been playing a few different cuts from the new album Mucho +.  I highly recommend it.  Below are a couple pics we shot in the studio with Adrián Dárgelos and Diego Rodríguez along with Carlos Castillo who set it all up.  Thanks a bunch brotha!!

So here we are now in March 2009 and the wagon has come a long way.  Again, with the help of KCRW audio engineer and automobile enthusiast Mario Diaz, we've now changed the brakes from drums to discs.  As you can see, this vehicle is huge, therefore takes a little bit longer to come to a complete stop.  Making the modification to disc brakes makes this cruiser a bit safer to drive...and stop!  We've also repaired and replaced some vital mechanical and electrical components and now drives like the champ she once was.  Finding parts was not the easiest thing to do, as most parts are no longer made.  Gotta love the car clubs and vintage car shows that happen in Pomona and Long Beach!!  Now it's time to work on the body.  After going to countless shops to get quotes, we ended up at Premier Auto Paint & Body in the wonderful city of Fullerton.  Thanks to Robert Change, it's great to meet guys that would be as excited and passionate to work on a car like this as we are.  More to come....

See the original entry from back in January of last year....