[Dynagroove] My LOST Weekend

Tue Feb 21 16:12:32 PST 2006

I must agree with Chuck. The weekend was full of shutes and ladders. The actual submersion of the Subermerged Art Gallery was quite a feat to overcome and I am truly grateful that Joesh and crew were able to come up with a improvised, last-minute plan. GREAT JOB! Having no intention of frequenting the King King, me and my homies ended up there anyway only to have a minor verbal altercation with the club owner/ door staff. Yes, I understand business is a priority and cranking in 4-5 grand every weekend is really not enough to put food on the table, but after five years of patronage, I was TRULY disheartened by this encounter and to my recollection, have never been treated so rudely by door staff. Unless it was some roided up security guard who had no affiliation with the party. For future reference, party throwers should always be nice their patrons because you never know who may have a voice on this email list. 

  Either way, I really enjoyed JT's set. His records capture a cornicopia of almost exclusively Nor Cal flavors at the moment. 

  Sunday was a new day. Love Groove exceeded my expectations and yes, they were high. What and amazing venue! High ceilings, marble floors, bars as far as my eyes could see. Although I was only able to catch a few minutes of Heather's set, she still socked it to us with the all the soul and grittiness she purveys so well. Derrick made be smile ear to ear with an excellent Kanye mix and Sneak did similarly with a Michael Jackson "I'm Bad" track. Derrick's set had much variety beginning with some dirtier chicago-style tracks in the beginning and transitioned into more "big room" progressive house in the latter half of his set. An excellent display of his spectrum of talent. The love from this party helped to extract the nasty taste in my mouth from the night before.

  Still smiling,
  helen

Chuck Fry <cfry at harvestfilms.com> wrote:
  Wow. What can I say? The weekend had its ups, and it definitely had it's
downs. As many of you folks know, MAUF (Music And Underground Friends) was
throwing it's much anticipated Lost party with Dallas based dj/producer
Demarkus Lewis. Longtime dj, house-head, and personal friend, Joeshua, was
the mastermind behind the event. Together we spent Friday night doing some
last minute promoting. We stopped by Free Thinking at Casey's Irish Pub
first. Since it was on the patio and due to the rain, the vibe was mellow.
But DJ Alex and Dewy Chan were on the patio and I'm not sure who I saw while
I was there, but he was killin it. Hello, he dropped Keepin the Faith by De
La Soul! I was groovin'. The kid wasn't playing current house tracks, but as
I mentioned was playing some dope hip hop and fun disco, and bleepy metro
area stuff. It was way eclectic and a lot of fun. For those of you who
missed him, be bummed, cos it was cool.. Something different. Later, Joeshua
along with his fiancé Holly headed over to Moderations at the Canal Club in
Venice. I've made it out there once or twice in the past, it was good to be
back. They were celebrating their one year anniversary as well as lando's
bday. It was crackin. We handed out more flyers. As I was shimmying out the
door Lando was droppin a funky Michael Jackson boot. I passed a group of
kids, and they all said they would be attending the Lost party the following
night. I was encouraged and excited.

Saturday I had some errands to run and made it to the Submerged Art Gallery
in Hollywood around 5:30 or 6 pm. The gallery was to host the Lost party.
Submerged ended up being a PERFECT name for the location. But We'll get back
that in a second. Upon arriving I found Joeshua and Holly, who had been
there a majority of the day, tired, a bit stressed, but fairly optimistic.
Spirits were good. The artists were there hanging up their pieces, which
looked damn good by the way, and Vanyo and his crew were there finishing up
the sound. The venue was intimate, and the vibe was sick. Dim red lighting,
great pieces on the walls, incense going, plants in corners, jell-o shots.
The sound was loud and crisp. It was sure to be a good time. I suggested to
Joeshua he go home and clean up before the party. I mean after all DJ's
Joplin and Dory were already there holding it down. Mike aka PuzzlePiece was
there getting the projector and visuals set up. It was all happening.

Then the rain came. As Joeshua and I were returning to the venue we started
getting phone calls from folks who were at the spot asking if we had tarps.
Of course we didn't have any tarps, much more, we were two minutes away from
the venue. We walked in to find the venue floor soaked. A pipe in the corner
of the gallery had a spout in it that was pouring like a faucet. There was a
trash can in the middle of the venue taking a leak that was pouring from the
ceiling. It was a fast leak. By the time we got there the can was already
half way full. The hallway was muddy and slippery and no one had even showed
up yet. It wasn't good. We feared someone falling, or getting electrocuted.
So literally the plug was (cautiously) pulled on the party. Why the owner of
the venue failed to mention to anyone that the ceiling leaks is beyond me.
I'm told that once it started raining, he snuck out and climbed the roof
trying to quickly repair the leak. It didn't work... It was a hazardous
situation to say the least. There were open outlets on the walls, with all
the leaking someone easily coulda been zapped. All of this started happening
at 10, the exact time the party was to start. Kids started showing up,
wondering where to go. Other peeps were scrambling, making calls trying to
find a last minute venue.

Suddenly, I heard Joeshua and Toddely brainstorming and a phone call was
made to Sue Dred. She was having JT Donaldson play at Balance that night.
Since both spots were in Hollywood, she agreed to let Demarkus play at the
club. JT and Demarkus are both buddies, so JT welcomed the idea as well...
So we tore down and headed to Balance. Thanks Sue.

JT played a fun set. I'll be honest , it was a little mellow for me. I was
ready to let out some aggression by getting down to some dirty dirty. Keep
in mind, that's what I had been anticipating for Saturday from demarkus, and
just the whole underground vibe... So maybe it was just me, but I wasn't
feeling it really and was tried. As much as I LOVE JT, I felt beat down,
since I had in fact helped Joeshua with the party. I also felt bad for Joesh
who had poured a lot of time and energy into the event. With my spirit a
little broken I went home and was in bed by 2:30. Sadly, I didn't even see
demarkus play. I'm told he did great tho.

Sunday was a new day. I ended up at the stock exchange downtown for the
Heather/ Derrick Carter/ Sneak party. Talk about letting out some aggression
and getting down to the dirty dirty. WOW. Can Chicago throw down or what?
The music was so bangin and jackin and off the chain, I was losing my shit.
Every dj owned the crowd. I'm told it was reminiscent of how Miami is during
WMC. Glad I'm not going, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I would
implode or something. Since it was a monstrous event, obviously the vibe was
bit like Spundae, complete with go-go dancers and puke on the bathroom
walls. Despite all that however, the sound was amazing, the lighting was
fantastic and the DJ's were remarkable. Snappin necks, and holding the
audience in their hands. For lack of a better term- it was fucking sick. It
was just what I needed. And it appeared that it was just was Joeshua and
Holly needed too. Until next time, my friends.

xoxo
CHUck
(but some people call me chewy)
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