Saturna

soooooo, i went out last night for the first time in a long time without having a gig to play. a good friend had been asking me to let jah isaac come over one night and play with her six year old. jah isaac went off like he was six himself, waving bye to us, and we were left wondering what to do with the house so quiet.

i went to Cadence, a party with larry heard, sean od, mr. white, justin hand, with some presentations of original works at the beginning of the night by barry and more. the night started out wonderfully. i rode with barry and stasa because my car is currently not feeling well and jason was playing his friday at Isaac Hayes' Restaurant. we arrived about 9:30 and i immediately walked across the street get eat a bbq tofu sandwich, realizing i hadn't eaten in over 9 hours.

after eating quickly while catching up with stasa, who has been buried under a pile of grad school work, we headed back to hear barry's music. it was wonderful, as i knew it would be - organic, odd, eclectic. we then heard candygirl sing a couple of her own tracks - a little too pop for my taste, but she has excellent production skills and an amazing voice.

larry opened the deejay sets and laid down a sick, sick acid house set, including an amazing acid track with mr. white on vocals. my hair was up and i was sweaty in short order, dancing the whole time. sean was next and i was ready to keep on dancing until i got picked up around 2 or so.

unfortunately, he lost me (or i lost him, or i just got lost) at that point, and for the rest of my time there, through the bulk of mr. white's set. let me make it clear to whomever is reading this that oD and white are not only people who i love, but who i also like. they are my brothers. i am not sure what happened, but i did not much enjoy the music.

maybe it is me, but i was looking forward to a night of heart and soul, and it seemed to be missing. don't get me wrong, the dancefloor was packed, people were having a good time, and i am glad. unfortunately, for me, it felt like the music was only designed to pack the dancefloor... by this i mean jack house, an eighties remix every two or three songs, just not much depth to the music. i am one who wants to have my heart wrenched out on the dancefloor. i want to have to question myself, answer myself, let it all go, maybe cry a little - definitely be moved in some way, broken down and picked back up.

now, i am so not trying to be critical here. i am merely trying to understand what happened. did i put too much expectation on the night? i really don't think so, given my vast amount of hours listening and dancing to the deep, powerful, fun, and emotive sets my brothers have played before, but maybe i did have preconceived notions. i am willing to accept that i may have put too much on my one night out in aeons.

regardless, i am left with some questions. why was the music last night so seemingly divergent from the sets i have heard before, the amazingly deep original material that is being written? is this what is really turning folks on, turning you on? or is this just what was played to ensure that the masses would pack the dancefloor? hype, bling, whatever?

needless to say after this turn of events, i left disappointed, unfulfilled, and somewhat sad. is there no more deep house in this city, or anywhere? do we have to rehash the eighties in order to get people to dance, and if so, why not just play the originals? i understand that the days of my youth are gone and that certain things will never be recaptured, but i refuse to believe that anything has to be dumbed down, and last night, i felt like that is what happened.

i am sure this may piss people off or hurt their feelings, and i am sorry if that is the case. and who knows, i may be fast on my way to the deejay graveyard because i refuse to cater to certain things. i insist on giving my audience a certain amount of credit, and i feel it is my responsibility to push them past their own limits. i expect no less of the deejays i go to hear. now, it is highly possible that i missed the point entirely, that my own limits were pushed and i shut down, but what it really felt like is that the door flew open, and something left the room. not the people, not the "party," but the feeling.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 7th, 2005 at 4:17 pm and is filed under Family, Journal, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.