[Dynagroove] Back from Miami

[BadIYE at aol.com]

Hey y'all,

Just got back from WMC '04....actually, I got back Monday, but it took this 
long for me to recover.  =)   I have to say, we had a blast.   Instead of a 
boring long protracted review, I'll give y'all some highlights and observations:

1.  LA has nothing on South Beach in terms of Silicone and Steroids.  The 
difference is the boobs are WAY bigger, and the guys are way thicker.  Seems like 
South Beach is 15 years behind LA on that subject.

2.  Best Soundsystem in USA by far:  CROBAR.  I thought the Spundae system 
was sweet, but that was ridiculous.  On the dance floor of the main room, the 
bass makes your body float.  Your feet will cease to touch the floor (of course, 
it might also be the chemicals running through my veins...8)  ).  I went on 
Sat. to see Carl Cox in the main room and whole lotta good DJs in the house 
room (Doc Martin, Lottie and Yousef).  this brings me to #s 3 & 4

3.  CARL COX is a ROCK SUPERSTAR!!  Yes, he is 40ish, black, fat and bald, 
but he is a fuckin' superstar.  Not only is the quality of his Funk/Soul infused 
brand of techno unbelievably good, but the persona he projects puts him at 
par with Robert Plant, Steven Tyler or [plug in your favorite rock front 
man/woman if you have one].  After an hour and half of plodding boring hit you over 
the head with a hammer techno by Mark Lewis, with his very first mix, you 
immediately knew Cox had taken over.  The quality of music, the level of mixing, 
the programming, and the sheer energy created went up 1000 fold.  Everyone and 
anyone could tell the difference.  It was incredible and I'm glad I finally 
caught this mother fucker.

4.  DOC plays awsome house music, but what's with the STILL mediocre mixing 
skills?  Even my wife, who is no "savant" at mixing, would turn to me and say, 
"what the hell was that?  I threw my shoulder out of its socket on that mix!"  
(she's pretty funny, my wife, no?).   I know all about the "forget the 
technique, listen to the message" defense, I understand and I love DOC, but YOUSEF 
played house music that was just as good, if not better, AND his mixing skills 
were flawless....What gives?  p.s.  Yousef is the shizzy.  Egyptian national, 
grew up in England, resident DJ at Cream in Liverpool and plays US HOUSE like 
he's lived here all his life.  Nice!!

5.  Best thing about WMC:  the day parties.  Walking from one hotel to the 
other Sat. and Sunday afternoons was great; randomly running into LA talents 
karen bash and John Wander, james kay, craig edwards, eve falcon, oliver twist, 
and most of all, John Juster  was plain cool;  One particularly good party was 
a $3.00 per drink bender at the least fancy motel in Miami called Aqua where 
the music was soooooo good (funky tech house).  The party was put on by some 
west coast collective based in Seattle.  John Juster started playing his sax and 
I kept telling random people :  "this guy blows. "  some got the joke, others 
just looked at me like imbeciles on E.  

6.  Doron is kinda right, kinda wrong.  The music is not especially original. 
 there will not be any breakout "house music" sound, say a la Daft Punk, this 
year.  Much of the House that's out there is predictable.  But it is really 
funky, and I think the most encouraging sign of all was the near absence of 
Trance. 

7.  Coolest moment:  seeing Lysa Richardson plopping down onto the seat in 
front of me on the plane back to LA.  I spoke to her very briefly (for some 
unknown reason, I had never done so before).  What a cool, classy person.  She 
exudes friendliness and a calm serene confidence about her.   We exchanged 
e-mails and I hoped to see her enjoying the Good Life soon.

8.   I actually had a dream about SOLID GOLD, a party I've never even been to 
before, while in Miami.  Now, if that's not a crackin' job at promoting a 
party by Cade and Zack, then I don't know what is.

Okay, gotta go to bed now....Good to be back.  

Imad.  

P.S.  I read Zack talking about there is good HOUSE on the weekends in LA 
now.  Hey hey hey!!  don't forget the house on the WEEK nights too:  Headinghome! 
Transistor Lounge! and of course:  THE GOOD LIFE, (next one, 3/30/04 with Ben 
Annand and Atomic Mike.  I call it Tropical Radiation....)