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On the ground, safe and sound: The Washington DC recap

What a fantastique weekend I had. Let me tell you all about it, k?

I thought I’d be up all night last friday getting everything together for a trip to Washington DC to spin the first in a series of residencies this year at club five. I was done be 2 am and hopped into bed for some sleep. I woke up on time, 6 am, meditated (kinda,) switched on the espresso machine and got back in bed. As you would expect, I fell back to sleep until Bob arrived at 7 to drive me to the airport. I jumped up, threw on my trousers and kissed the ground that I’d packed the night before, I made us coffee and we sipped it quickly and left for the airport. I was early and my fight was on time.

DC is a beautiful city, and I love how many friends I have there. I didn’t like that the rooms in all the hotels are non smoking. I think that sucks. I don’t really care if you approve of smoking or not, but to not have a choice… I mean, not even a smelly room in the back where poor bastards like me can go is mean and forces someone like me to pry open the windows and break the law. I suppose I could have obeyed and ran downstairs every 20 minutes, or maybe just gone around the corner to the starbucks with my laptop where they have free wireless and everyone was outside in the rain smoking with their coffee typing away on their laptops and blackberries, but I was in my jammies and didn’t give a shit. So I burned incense and kept the windows open the whole time. Dumb ass hypocrites.

It was cherry blossom season and the imported Japanese trees were bursting all over the city. Such a beautiful sight to see. I shook the huge white one out in front of the hotel and danced in the falling petals and took pictures while I was waiting for Tim from M3 to come pick me up. The West Africans who work at the hotel were staring at me from the front door of the hotel while I danced around on the sidewalk and they all smiled brightly at me every time I entered or exited the hotel for the rest of my stay.

I opted out of a sound check, and went to dinner with Simone, Kelly and Don instead. We went to Panang and I had an amazing bowl of curry noodles and vegetables. Light, and powerful at once. The perfect pre party meal. Then we went over to the club and I set up as best I could in the dark. I arrived and Hannick was thumping the club in an orderly DJ booth. I have to give serious praise and love to Hannick for tolerating my total destruction of the DJ booth while he was spinning. I unplugged everything, moved the CD decks into the turntable wells, and set all my stuff up in front of the DJ mixer, and started unplugging everything and moving things around. Bless his heart, he was just mixing away and smiling at me. This was the first time I’d traveled and played a digital only set, and I was being funny about it all.

In the end I needed Hooman to help me plug in the submixer because I had already set everything up on top of the mixer before I realized that it was an XONE:92 and could have plugged it all in without using the sub mixer at all. Silly me. When Hooman, dressed as a Palestinian fire-master, arrived in the booth he looked at me and shouted “You look old!” and then set about plugging in my mixer. I laughed and smiled. A little self-conscious, because I have been looking older lately, I grinned at my friend and was glad for his help.

Then I went to it. I played my head off, and from up in the booth I spotted my friends dancing, and waving, cheering and smiling. I had a serious breakthrough in middle of the set, and feel that my work is changed suddenly. Having let go of something that’s been holding me back for a long time now. Through the set, which I hope challenged the audience by traversing house, tribal, electro, and some electronic anthems at -8, with live vocals, and at least two hours of original re edits and music from me, I thought of Michael and Moonbeam (who I’d invited to participate tonight, but both declined for their own reasons) and felt like I was already in the presence of something more powerful than “dubtribe.” That these ideas of the past are things which hold me back, and stand in the way of an emerging Sunshine, the opening of my heart, and making forward progress on my own. I realized in the dancing lights that love is always with me, and the music is why I am here. It was truly amazing for me to play my best, sing my best, and break the whole thing down into the present tense for myself without tears, without deprecation, without fear, simply in celebration of everything that is, and will become. I was so happy with what went down, how it sounded and where I ended up. It was a moment indeed for me personally… I am just glad the audience seemed to dig it too.

When it was all over I went to breakfast with my friend Michael. When we walked into the book store/ all night diner the first person I saw was the bouncer who came and sat next to me making the cut motion across his throat when 5 am arrived so quickly. I grinned at him and asked if it was ok to play out the song. We discussed how much longer the song was, and when it was over people cheered and asked for another one. I smiled at the bouncer, and he shook his head “no.” I agreed and didn’t play another one. Smiling at him in the diner, I was super glad I’d done as he asked, because here he was again. Michael and I had a great talk, and then walked beck to my hotel together. He was going to take the Chinatown Bus, which runs between New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington DC all night for $10, and head home. I was going to get some sleep.

I slept for about three hours and woke up when house keeping did their thing. I swear, American service sucks. No matter what you tell the front desk, no matter how expensive the hotel, no matter what sign you put on the front of your door, at 10 am the little knock arrives with the muffled “Housekeeping!” call to arms. The worst thing is that if you don’t get up and answer the door to tell them what the sign you put on the door (Don’t disturb me, I’m sleeping) the still unlock the door and try to come in. When they find the door chained, they try it a few times in order to roust a nude DJ with only 3 hours of sleep into rushing to the door, but before he can get there, the door is closed and the phone begins to ring. Said nudist then turns around and runs to the phone, saying “Hello?” and the same little voice says “This is housekeeping, you want you room clean?”

All you can do is laugh and say “No thank you.” and they hang up on you. You get back into bed and cover your head with the many, many pillows they give you, but there’s nothing you can do. You are awake now. Housekeeping have left the indelible impression of a tiny little voice, an unseen culprit, chirping a mantra in your brain: Housekeeping!

The day was spent down at the cafe on the corner, text messaging my friends, and drinking a couple of macchiattos and smoking outside with the crowd, looking inside at the empty cafe, and watching the overcast sky open and close. I spoke with my friend Jill who was also in DC and we thought we might get together and have dinner, but decided not to after all. I agree, after a day of being folded up on an airplane, a long night, and very little sleep, I didn’t feel like doing anything. So I didn’t. hehehehe… I just got my head together, and set up for the Sunday Soul broadcast at 10 which went amazingly well considering I didn’t have any speakers. I had it all set up on the desk, mixing in headphones only, and going berzerk. What fun!

Afterward I met up with Tim and his girl and we went to Sam Burns’ sunday celebration at the Dragonfly club, right across the street from club 5. I think that party should be on the roof of club five, that’s maybe the only thing in the world that might have been an improvement on the party, because it was truly something special. Wow. I walked in and Sam was killing it with 10 City, and people were jacking, and drumming, and going out of their minds. What a magical party. I danced and danced and soaked it all in. What a wonderful night. We walked home laughing, taking pictures and having the best time.

In the morning I woke up and took a taxi to BWI and flew home. I spent yesterday unfolding myself from a sleepless weekend by having coffee and lunch with Calvin, soaking in the San Francisco sunlight, and just feeling grateful to be alive and home.

Today I’ve spent the better part of the morning in bed, hanging out, posting the sunday soul archive and noting the tracklisting, feeling loved, and warm, grateful or my wonderful friends, and so deeply glad to be alive. Oh man, I am a lucky, lucky man. I love my life.

Now it’s up and atom, time to sort out my taxes, and pay my bills, and face the bright beautiful day ahead of me. Nothin’ better. Bless your hearts!