Dinner Plain Hotel -- Mt. Hotham!

Went on a Ski trip to Mt. Hotham with a group for the weekend, and stayed at the Snowbird Inn, close to the Ski Lifts for `The Summit'. It was fantastic to wake up each morning to see snow outside the window, and to see people skiing on the slopes!


Had a great time playing at the Dinner Plain Hotel, at Dinner Plain (10 minutes away from Hotham)!! I played a combined set on the Saturday night, with resident DJ Juddy, from 9pm - 1am. I started off, playing some soft US House, and then moved onto more upbeat US House. Juddy took over for a few tracks with some breaks and darker/electro house after which I continued with some of my more banging tunes, and some commercial stuff. From there we kept swapping every three tracks, until 1am.


The bar at the DP Hotel was awesome! Nice PA system (including lighting and a smoke machine), pool tables and nice comfy couches. They were giving away $1000, free drinks and a mountain bike as prizes for those who purchased a $8 raffle ticket. We didn't win the $1000 but my girl friend managed to win 6 shots, so it wasn't a total waste ;-D


There were lots of requests for country music (mainly Kenny Rogers), but we didn't end up playing (or having) any! Anyhow people seemed to be having a great time.

Definitely the best local gig so far!!

Ortofon Concordes!!

Bought a pair of Ortofon Concordes from Rhythm and Soul!! Costed me $300. I was in a hurry to buy these because I needed them for the gig up in the Snow. I had only about 10 minutes to bargain at Rhythm and Soul, but the fella was good enough to reduce it to $300, from $318.

aLive @ Retreat Hotel!!

Went for an afternoon event organised by Luko and Luke MCD. Here's the description:

So you dont want to see another sun rise through blurry eyes? You dont want to wait till 4am for some live electronica? You like it live raw and real? Your not scared of a bit of sunlight? You like beer or champagn? You have nothing to do most Saturday arvos? You actually want to know what the people you have met in clubs look like? You have an open mind and are ready for something new?Well here it is "aLive" looks to give you the day time alternative with events based on the fact you can party anywhere any time and the music we love is right on our doorstep.

Hell of an event that was!! Here are some pics...

Bye Bye Republika :-(

Had my last gig at Republika last night. They close on 20th August :-(

Was one of my best gigs. Played 11pm - 1am. Started off with US House and went onto play some commercial house/remixes which got the people dancing. Stayed till 2am with a couple of friends to finish off my 10-free-drinks coupon ;-)

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!

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.

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.

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!

Upcoming Gigs

June 27th [8pm - 10pm ] : Strike Bowling Bar

Playing at an Open Decks session. Looking forward to playing here while my friends go bowling :-P

June 30th [7.30pm - 11.30] : Lustre Lounge

Private function. I'll be playing some US House, Commercial House and requests.

July 2nd [8.00pm - 1.00am] : Lustre Lounge

Private function. I'll be playing mostly US House and Commercial House. Will also be playing a few 80's classics and some specific tunes requested beforehand.

This Week!

Back from the US and after a long 3 week silence, looking forward to spinning some of that stuff at a place called Khokolat tonight. A bit intimidated by the digital Numark equipment at Khokolat :-P .. Hope the pitch riding doesn't get affected too much!

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Also doing my monthly gig at Stellar Bar Friday night 12.30 - close. Have to take my wn equipment this time as Stellar Bar was broken into and all the equipment stolen!!