Val My Fiance

This post is dedicated to Val, my fiance, who sometimes complains that there's nothing about her on this blog! So here goes...

What can I write about her that is DJ related? Hmm, well she's there at most of my gigs. Sometimes she's sitting there all alone, waiting for me to finish, and at other times she's with her sister Diane, her bro. in law Ben and my bro Lazz. At other times she's with many more people, having a chat and some wine, or having something to eat, with a big smile on her face, listening to the tunes I throw at her (erm, I mean tunes I throw at them).

It's great to have her around when I play, especially when there's not a lot of people around and I know that she appreciates the hard work I put into my mixes. But sometimes it's better if she's not around, as I know how boring it can get for her, listening to the same tunes she hears at home. On top of that, US House is not really her favourite Genre either!

It'll be great to have her this Sunday at our Sunday Lounge sessions at Hush Bar! Would be nice to see her next to the fire place in their balcony, or having a chat with friends. We have some future plans to travel together to some awesome places like Paris and Thailand, so I really hope this thread is enough sucking up, for her to let me take my records along with us.

Kidding Val! :-)

UDG Record Bags

I've got two record bags, a 50/50 non-UDG one made out of strong plastic-like material, which can hold about 80 records, and a UDG trolley bag which can hold around 65 records. I also have a smaller bag to take around 20 records when I need just a bit more than my trolley bag can handle.


My dream-bag is the flip-front/slanted UDG bag which can hold around 90 records but also lets you loosen the front of the bag so you have room to look through your records. I saw another DJ (Corey from Vanilla Room in Sydney) use this and it looked awesome! It's cool to be able to fit in 90 records and be able to flip through them too. But of course carrying this will be a headache as it doesn't have any wheels.


My most used bag is a 50/50 one like the one shown on the picture on the left, but it doesn't have any padding, and it's not a UDG bag. Nonetheless, it does allow you go take the top off, and put some records in the top half and the rest in the bottom half. As useful as this sounds, it's not that great, as half the records that fit in this bag can't be placed nicely without them slipping and falling, which makes going through the records a hassle. I prefer to just take out a few records and place them against a wall -- much easier to browse through them than when they're in the top half of the 50/50 bag! Like the flip-front bag, this one doesn't come with wheels either so it's a bit of a hassle to use a separate trolley (mine doesn't have a strap like the one in the picture).


My travel companion -- the UDG trolley bag is currently my favourite. The 50/50 bag seems to be wearing out a bit -- it doesn't close properly without a fair amount of force, which forces me to give more attention to my trolley bag! This one is amazingly robust. I've dragged it all the way from one of San Fransisco's City train stations down to Pier 39 and all the way back, which is a 1.5 hour walk, and it was dragged on all sorts of surfaces without any problems. The wheels are rollerblade wheels so you can give it all the torture you want without causing any damage. The only reason I didn't use this bag too often was because the capacity is only 65, but otherwise it's a great bag -- definitely my favourite travel companion (65 is enough for most of my overseas/interstate gigs).


Because of the low capacity of my travel companion, I also use a small bag to take a few extra records. It looks nothing like the one in the pic on the left though!! The only problem with this bag is that it is not meant for records, so I can't fit many in, and the record covers get damaged a bit because of the zipper. So I think the best move for me would be to get a flip-front bag and to sell off my 50/50 bag, or for now, to just get a bag like the one on the left picture, until I can afford a flip-front. Maybe by the time I can afford a flip-front, they'll also have a flip-front trolley version -- the best of both worlds!

Printing Flyers from Print City

We got 300 flyers printed from Print City on Flinders Ln. in the City. They charged $0.50 per coloured flyer of size12cm x 14cm, which is a good deal I reckon. The paper was a bit thin, but I guess we can't expect much for $0.50 each!

Black and white costs much less -- around $30 for 200 flyers!

Left some flyers at RMIT, HMV & Hush Bar.

Sunday Lounge Kicks Off @ Hush Bar!

The launch of our new night Sunday Lounge at Hush Bar was a success. For the first few hours the place was empty, but suddenly, out of nowhere, a heap of people flooded in, and the place was reasonably well occupied. Not sure if the people flooded in because of the music, or because of the football world cup that was being projected live onto the wall!! Probably the latter, but anyhow it was a good night.

We'll be getting the flyers from the printers by tomorrow. Here's the flyer that Mike Jules made for our Sunday nights.

Guitarist on Bourke Street

There's this spanish (?) guitarist on Bourke Street, close to HMV that plays some really nice music. I've seen him on and off for over two years -- he sometimes playes the lead guitar alone, with some background guitar music through his speakers (12" horn), and at other times he plays with one or two more guitarists in co-ordination. Today he was playing with a drummer and some background music. I was watching him for about half an hour (why that long? I was waiting until my fiance finished trying out some wedding dresses). His fingers move so fast, and he is able to play such a wide variety of classical music effortlessly... impressive!

What caught my eye was how he started off with no audience, and slowly started gathering an audience that ended up buying about 7 of his CDs in that half hour! I wish I could attract people so effectively with my DJing! I think the problem is that I don't have anything special to offer. Sure I can do some long mixes and play some good music in an appropriate sequence, but nothing good and/or different enough to stand out. I guess it's all about learning and practicing!

"jackin’, bouncin’, disco style tracks"

Another lame copy and paste from this thread on ITM. Here are some producers that make the type of sound I'm after!

Chuck Love
Dj Sneak
Mario Fabriani
Bryan Jones
Joey Youngman
No Assembly Firm
Jason Hodges
Inland Knights
Kinky Movement
JT Donaldson
Lance Desardi
CPEN
Lawnchair Generals
Demarkus Lewis
Tiger Sprouts
Patrick Turner
Toka Project
Da Sunlounge
Oliver Desmet
Iz n Diz
Troydon
Jake Childs
Johnny Fiasco
Littlemen
DJ Freestyle
Swirl People

Latest Purchases (from Mezabel.com)

FOOLING AROUND - BROWN AND STEVE LITTLEMEN

FUNKY ASS BEAT - CHUCK LOVE

DON'T CHA - DJ TOTAL M FEAT. PUSSYCAT DOLLS

TRUST ME - DONALDSON, JT FEAT. SYMPHONY

ON THE LINE - GREENSKEEPERS

EXCUSE ME - SWIRL PEEPZ

STRAIGHT OUTTA JOZI - TROYDON

IN THE GHETTO - TUR, MANUEL / FABRIANI, MARIO

FEELIN' SEXY EP - WEST, JAY

"What house DJ's going off in Melbourne?"

Recently on the ITM forum, there was a thread asking which House DJs are going off in Melbourne, to which someone (Mike Jules) replied:

rob wu, byron foxx, luke j sammut, anyo, sir cosmic, ragga, jen tutty, nate s (nathan stribley), uhh.. frankie d, james love, luvvy, little chris, clint hargreaves .. who else? oh yeah, all the low residents! whom i only know is nzala hehe .. also DJ jelly..

can't think of any more.. but there is, and thats just the awesome non-cheesy-bollox stuff!

:blush:

Three Weeks Left for the Snow!!!

We've nearly finalised the details for the trip to Hotham -- we'll be renting out an entire lodge at Dinner Plain (10KM from Hotham) and going in two cars (8 of us), and will be leaving on Friday (14th) afternoon so I can be on time for my gig at 10PM. I haven't finalised the time for my gig at Dinner Plain Hotel on Saturday night, but that can wait.

The snow depth isn't that good right now, but hopefully there'll be enough snow by mid July. Only a beginner's slope -- the Big D, is currently open for skiing.

Looks like the new $6 million project at Dinner Plain -- The Dinner Plain Central, has been completed and is ready for use! It has got a small shopping area, plenty of spas and well-being-related stuff like that, , a restaurant, cafe, 15m swimming pool, etc.!! Hotham Central has also been renovated (worth $8 million) so will have to check that out too. Apparently all this construction is a part of a 10 year, $500 million project, which will make Hotham on par with some of America's and Europe's best ski resorts! But, I won't hold my breath.

Buying Music Online

I'm so tempted to start buying Vinyl online. Some online stores sell records for around $15 each and some others for $17 each with free shipping for purchases of over $100. The only thing holding me back is the time it takes for the records to reach me, and also the fear of getting warped records or music I don't like (I get to hear only a 30 second - 1 min clip of the track). I can buy from Rhythm and Soul for about $18 per record and I get to take them home straight away, and I can make sure they're all good stuff.

Downloading music online (legally!) is also another thing that I keep thinking about, but I never seem to be able to make up my mind. Should I spend around $2.50 per track and start using CDs as well, or just buy the track on Vinyl for around $9 each (considering each record has about 2 tracks that I will like on average)? Buying on Vinyl makes the track a good collector's item, whereas burning on CD doesn't have the same effect. Also, if you want you can always burn the record onto CD. But most importantly, I hate messing around with CD players I've never seen, 2 minutes before a gig!

Hmmm...I think I'll sleep on it.

Inck has it all!

Last Friday night was a very special night. A few pleasant things happened at Inck Lounge during and after my set, which made it a good start to an even more satisfying weekend!

To begin with, the bar was fairly occupied, so I got to play slightly more upbeat tunes than I would usually play there, and so a couple of people danced briefly to some of my bumpy US House. On top of that, some of my friends from RMIT were down, so we had a bit of a chat inbetween tracks. After my set, (which was very fulfilling!) , the resident RnB DJ played some mad tunes and scratched the crap out of his records like some scratch wiz, which made my malibu pineapple all the more delicious, and the night a lot more entertaining. The vibe was good too -- there was a large group (25+) of people having a party and dancing the night away, to some of the 80's classics that the RnB DJ was later forced to play!!

Overall, it was a very satisfying night. Myself, my fiance, my bro and his friend had a couple of drinks, chilled out and chatted the night away.

DJ Promo World Record Attempt

Matt Solo (DJ Promo) broke the world record for the longest continuous DJ set this morning -- now 87 hours, breaking the previous by 3 hours. He wanted to go on to the 100 hour mark but couldn't go on any futher 3 hours after breaking the old record. Unfortunately I went down to Federation Square this morning to where he was playing in hopes of getting a glimpse of him in the last few hours before reaching the 100 hour mark, but soon realised it was all over!

What a top effort -- its hard enough for me to stay awake for 36 hours let alone mix! More pictures can be seen here.

New Night at Hush Bar!

There will be a new night coming to town to lounge the crap outa all Melburnians -- Sunday Lounge, starting Sunday June 25th.

The venue will be the very very awesome Hush Bar at Melbourne Central :-0 Very stylish, great sound system, good dance floor and awesome balcony with views!!

The menu will be some real House music -- soulful, deep, quirky, bumpy, groovy, funky -- you name it, anything that will keep you lounged-out and bopping your head to the beats!

DJs Mike Jules and Luvvy will be starting off the night with guest DJs in the following weeks.

Entry is $0. Hush Bar is located on the third floor in Melbourne Central (you can see it if you look behind as you go down the escalator to catch the train).

So come on over and get lazy :-D

And here's a tentative flyer!

Vanilla Room Sydney

Located on the popular Norton Street in Leichhardt, Vanilla Room is a small, cozy and stylish cocktail bar with a generous sound system and an appropriate selection of DJs.

I had the privilege of playing at Vanilla Room last Sunday when I visited Sydney on the weekend, and it was a pleasant experience. The bar staff and people seemed to welcome the music and the DJ before me: Eva, played some nice funky House music, similar in style to mine. The DJ after me: Connor, played a nice soulful set and kept people relaxed and chilled out. For a Sunday night, the crowd wasn't too bad and kept the bar reasonably busy.

I had a couple of interesting cocktails after my set, all priced at a very tempting $10 each! The first had Vodka and some Coffee in it, and the second was made from freshly crushed lemon and Vodka. I wasn't sure after the first cocktail whether I was high on the Vodka or the Coffee! After sipping on a few more tasty treats like malibu with pineapple, I headed back home, very high and satisfied.