| Last night
was quite emotional for me. Artrageous was amazing, the place was packed
and the crowd was really up for it.
I made it to eXceSs and
Josh was opening upstairs. I was really impressed by Josh's set - his
growth as a DJ is quite exceptional.
The DJ term for a regular
gig is a residency - probably dating back to the original house days.
Although eXceSs was my second residency (Zone was the first), the club
has always held a close place in my heart. Spinning weekly for 8 years,
I have seen the club through the ups and downs. The big nights with
seemingly millions of people. The low nights when we mourned the loss
of people close to us. Its hard to remember a time when I wasn't spinning
at eXceSs. Its as if a chapter of my life is coming to an end.
You could easily call my
set - the greatest hits of eXceSs - going back with favorites like "Spente
Le Stelle" and "Blow Your Mind" and even touching back to the Underground
days with "O Fortuna" and "I Feel It" while mixing in this year's best records
(DJ Dean and Pendulum) and a few current faves (Spank Rock and Ercola).
I got quite emotional towards
the end and the last hour, I couldn't stop crying. (In case you are wondering
about the stutter/skip - I was literally shaking.)
Knowing that I would be
playing the final songs at eXceSs in the current location, I thought ahead
of time of what songs I would play. Here are the final nine songs
and why I played them:
Vengaboys "Cheekah Bow
Bow" - eXceSs classic
Globaldeejays What a Feeling"
- appropriate message with that Benassi sound we all love
Vernessa Mitchell "This
Joy" - eXceSs classic with a great message (this Joy has liberated me - dance
as religious experience)
Kaci "Paradise" - eXceSs
classic that I played the hell out of for years (when I'm with you -
it's paradise)
AStudio "SoS" - My current
personal theme
Kamilian "Guidance" - the
first song I ever played at eXceSs, a very spiritual message - and a response
to "SOS"
JCA "Flyaway" - personal
message to crowd
Aaron Smith "Dancing" -
appropriate message (dancing is what to do, dancing is why I think of you,
dancing is what frees my soul, dancing is what makes me whole)
Madison Avenue "Don't Call
Me Baby (Camisra mashup)" - I was going to end with Lustral's "Everytime"
which was the last song I played on opening night and had and appropriate
message ("everytime I close my eyes, I see your face") but I had to end with
an up song. This mashup is an eXceSs classic and the overlay message,
even though its from the Jerky Boys says, "Let me show you what I'm
capable of, honey if you just give me a chance, I will show you things you
won't believe" -- appropriate on so many levels. I originally got that
mashup from DJ Derek at Upscale and it has been in my case ever since. I
can't imagine a song any happier than that.
Then I plugged my headphones
into the microphone jack (a cheap old school DJ trick) and talked to the
crowd. In 8 years, I don't think I have ever done that - but for closure
it felt necessary.
Thank you to everyone who
came out to eXceSs - it was all of you who made the place so magical... |
