Saturday, July 30, 2005

Fresh Nightclub -- Mauritius!

Had my first international performance last night, at the Fresh Nightclub in Mauritius. The set was brief and early, but I got a feel for the soundsystem, the type of music they play, and the `look' of a Nightclub in Mauritius. Here's a description of Fresh! taken from www.tropicscope.com/nightlife_in_mauritius.asp :-

Fresh! Grand Rivière North West (near Port Louis.) Freshly refurbished and taken over by young nightlife specialists, the management endeavours in establishing a “Fresh” concept that would attract any kind of people wishing to have fun in a “clean” environment. At the entrance is a semi-open lounge space with a bar where there is either a live animation or lounge music. Then comes the inside arena where people get heated up. The volumes of the building is close to ideal with a high roof and an excellent air-conditioning / ventilation. “The sexiest club in town” which is the motto, revealed to be true on several occasions.

The soundsystem was great, especially the monitor :P They were still fixing the soundsystem while I was playing, so the monitor kept going off an on, but didn't really bother me too much. Seemed like they payed very close attention to the sound and spent a lot of effort in getting the sound levels just right.

The equipment were standard -- Technics 1200s with a DJM500. They had a Denon CD Player as well (an earlier model without the platter) and a fairly generous amount of space to fit about 4 people in their comfortably. They also had Ortofon carts, but looked like they had a problem with one of them, although no dramas while I was playing.

The Nightclub had an open bar outside for people wanting some fresh air, and it looked like they were setting up some equipment for a DJ to play outside. Not sure how they were going to prevent the outside sound from interfering with the sound inside the club -- didn't stick around long enough to find out :-
The staff and DJs were friendly. I was asked to play towards the end if there was time (the DJs were booked for the whole night, and I contacted them in the last minute, so I could only fill in any empty slots) or on Saturday if there was a free slot, but none of these times suited me. Just a bit dissapointed I couldn't stick around and play for longer, but there's a good chance that I'll play there again on my next visit to Mauritius!

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Strike Bowling Bar

Played at Strike Bowling Bar for about 1.5 hours last night. T'was fun. Tried out some of my new electro tunes and electro-influenced house tunes ;) The bar staff and manager (??) was lovin' it. Not a lot of crew came down with me this time unlike last time, but t'was fun anyhow.

Might ask Clint to book me in for an Open Decks @ Stellar day after (Wed), so I can try out some of those tunes on a better soundsystem! The soundsystem at Strike was not going on full volume.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

This/Next Week

I'm playing this Saturday at Republika (132 Smith St. Collingwood, close to the CBD) - http://republika.com.au/, from 12.30 am - 2 am. Will be playing a few banging US House tunes since Republika is a nightclub, and more banging Electro tunes will follow from Resident DJ Clint Hargreaves right after.

This Monday, I'll be playing at e55 internet bar and cafe - http://www.efiftyfive.com. Will be spinning some layed back US House to start off the night.

Monday, July 04, 2005

Beach Party at Monterey, California!

I visited the Monterey county located in California for a conference last month. On the way there and on the way back I also managed to find some time to visit the wonderful San Fransisco and the huge New York!

Despite visiting Times Square in New York and a Broadway and Pier 39 (from where you can hop on a tour to Alcatraz!) in San Fransisco, the highlight of my visit to the states was a beach party organised by the conference committee. The party had some nice activities (e.g. table tennis), the scenery was great (I mean the beach), the food was amazing, , the people were very friendly, and the DJ was one of a kind! I spent most of my time at the party chatting with the DJ.

The DJ (I forget his name) was dressed for the occasion (look in the photos below for a guy with a big hat riding the waves!) and always wore a big smile. He had a huge CD collection and boy did he know his music! He didn't beatmatch but it seemed to me like he was experienced enough to remember the tune of any track in his collection. This is probably why he didn't use any headphones! The equipment he used were; a rack-mount (I think American DJ) CD players, a very sophisticated mixer, and what seemed to be 12" horn speakers and a subwoofer.

The venue was right next to the beach, and there were a few open fires outside on the sand with people sitting around them, chatting, eating, drinking and even burning their marshmellows in the fire! A friend told me that Americans always burn marshmellows before eating them, but I find this hard to believe! Anyway it was a fantastic environment for people to, among other things, kick back, relax and breathe in some fresh sea breeze, whilst listening to some good music!