Raves.com
Senior Editor Annalee Stone (left) and
yours truly
Spotted:
Hernan Cattaneo
Delano poolside
Angelique &
Lil' John
Johnny Jos revives tired
toes!
Dennis White
(left) with The Scumfrog
Dave Dresden
gettin' Laid
Dave Dresden
& Dave Ralph
|
I left my voice in Miami. I think I
lost it somewhere on the dance floor at
the Om party, though it was trying to
slip away from me at Laid the day before.
Its being shipped back to me via 2-day
by a kind BPM staffer who saw it trying
to slip into their hotel early this afternoon,
probably getting back from having the
time of its life at some after- afterhours
penthouse. Me, I was happy to get on the
5 o'clock flight home. There is only so
much fun, sun and amazing music one person
can take!! This year's Miami conference
was the best ever. OK, yes, I say that
every year, but really, its true!! For
the first time ever I was involved in
throwing (not just attending) parties,
and in Miami, one is never enough!
It starts in the airport. Not the excitement
-- that was keeping me awake for days
before. An insomnia fueled by the excitement
of running around frantically firing off
guest list request emails and phone calls
to remote area codes to coordinate venues,
people, equipment, DJs, music, promotions
and everything else imaginable to throw
a party and the premier screening for
our PEACE,
LOVE & BEATS documentary. What
starts in the airport is the Miami magic.
I don't know how else to explain it. The
minute you check your bags and you are
definitely getting on that plane, it flows
down from some electronic clubbing deity
(I imagine her to be a Greek Goddess wearing
a Gucci toga and Technics headphones,
wielding a flaming guestlist clipboard).
The Miami magic turns even jaded Los Angeles
music industry-ites into smiling, social,
dancing disciples for five days of complete
craziness. How many parties, people and
music can you cram into five days? Read
on, feel the Magic, and you shall see....
FRIDAY
Our 2:00pm American Airlines flight
was overflowing with record bag toting
Miami-bound travelers. We plopped down
next to none other than Junkie XL
(who we interviewed just a few weeks ago,
coming soon on video to Raves.com). He's
reading a gear manual. Really. I'd give
a plug here for his gear sponsor that
he was reading up on for his presentations
and seminars in Miami, however before
we could get to it the conversation quickly
turned to more "important" things,
such as where he was staying and what
parties was he going to all week. Repeat
this scene for the dozen other DJ/industry
types we spotted en route and you get
the picture!
No sooner than we touch down and the cell phones are turned on then the marathon begins. Every year I go on about how fantastic the air feels in Miami, and I almost hold my breath in anticipation coming out of the airport doors for the first time. Inhale, exhale.... mmmm, as good as I remembered. Hot and heavy, so distinctly Miami.
I'll spare you the uninteresting details
(plus I want to go to the beach and not
be typing in my hotel room!!!) but I must
say the check-in desk help at our hotel,
The Whitelaw, matched his sunny attitude
with a huge smile and a sing-song Caribbean
accent. The Miami Magic was flowing, and
it was lovely, as lovely as our small
but stylish all white room with its plush
robes and silver stereo system; As lovely
as the music pumping in the lobby for
BPM's unofficial opening party with Nicolas
Matar, David Ireland and Rob
Simas, ushering us out into the evening
that was just waiting for us to begin.
We hit Mynt (2137 Collins), a venue
that I had actually never been to in South
Beach - which, considering this is my
seventh year coming to conference, is
quite a discovery! I'm not sure if it
existed before and I just somehow missed
its green illuminated door, but it was
the perfect start to a perfect night.
We walked up just as Deep Dish's
manager walked out the front door and
swept us inside. (Thank you Club Door
Goddess!!)
Wall-to-wall people moving up and down
to I don't know who on the decks, it didn't
even matter as the music was so damn good
and the people were having so much fun!
Ok, you know that's not totally true...
it does matter who was playing ;) it was
just way too crowded to get close enough
to the DJ booth to actually see. However
I know for a fact that since it was the
Bullitt Booking Agency party, Behrouz,
Danny Howells, Dean Coleman, Deep Dish,
Desyn Masiello, Max Graham, Nic Fanculli,
Omid 16B, Scream (in the hip hop room
in the back, now that was refreshing!),
Tarrentella & Redanka and Tom
Stephan aka Superchumbo were all scheduled
to hit the decks at some point. DJ spotting
is a sport at which I excel. On the sighted
list at this event was most of the above,
plus I randomly started talking to some
guy who had the biggest grin on his face
I'd ever seen ("I'm from Amsterdam!
I've never been to America before!!) and
he has his friend hand me a CD... turns
out he's Sander Kleinenberg's producer.
And who walks up moments later but Sander
himself. He's tackled seconds later by
John Creamer who then gets sideswiped
by Ali from Deep Dish. Miami is
the one place where all these old friends
who've been making music since before
you probably even knew what house music
was can put aside their global hopping
schedules and get together to actually
hang out. Its like a big electronic music
class reunion!
We rolled in just before midnight and
when our poor feet had had enough (there
is NO way you can not dance when music
like that is playing!!) four hours later,
we hobbled out, grabbed Dave Dean of
Giant LA and and landed ourselves
in a taxi heading south. We stopped to
refuel at Jerry's Deli and ran
into Shahram (who is the art director
for our Peace, Love & Beats film) who
convinced me that I had to check out the
live performances at Goddess. Completely
different vibe: if Mynt was industry mixed
with high end South Beach eye candy (one
beautiful gazelle of a girl was sporting
a t-shirt that said "Don't Feed The
Models" -- our FAVORITE T-SHIRT
OF MIAMI) then Goddess was hippie
chicks getting seriously down on the dancefloor,
guys in jeans and pumas lounging with
their Heinekens along the floor. They
were there to dance. Unfortunately, even
a fourth Red Bull couldn't keep me going,
and we called it a night. MIAMI SURVIVAL
TIP #1 (that we tend to ignore): bring
lots of comfortable shoes. Being girls
that love high heels we tend to ignore
the adjective in that tip...
You can never bring enough shoes!
SATURDAY
Honestly, I was supposed to go to Ultra
all day. Ultra is the biggest single event
in Miami during conference, in so far
as the number of attendees and DJs/artists
performing. The lineup pretty much reads
like a who-who's who of the electronic
music talent pool, along with a sprinkling
of random celebrities. The thing is, massive
crowds combined with 30 minute lines to
get water or the bathrooms, no place to
sit, standing in the dirt of Bayfront
park for eight hours is my idea of a nightmare,
not an enjoyable music festival (give
me Coachella on the polo fields
any day). Despite these problems, Ultra
perseveres year after year with top-notch
talent. So I sent my scouts, who reported
back on the highlights and lowlights.
The lows: Paul Oakenfold was handed
a CD by P-Diddy, which he immediately
dropped in... and then dropped out even
more quickly as it killed the energy on
the floor... what was that track anyway???
According to more than one DJ who played:
the monitors weren't loud enough for the
system so DJs were trainwrecking left
and right. There were no handlers in the
DJ booths, so the DJ that was playing
next would have to essentially kick off
the DJ that was playing. The highs: There
were more live acts then ever before,
and they were unbelievably good, making
this year's pick for FUTURE TREND WATCH:
live electronic acts! Deepsky, Junkie
XL, Way Out West, Uberzone.... and
the one we would discover ourselves later,
Infusion.
In the meantime I took care of business
meetings and preparations for our own
events, hitting Kinkos, running in to
Hernan Cattaneo on the street, and chilling
on the terrace of the BPM hotel while
Lady D from Chicago spun some lovely
warm up tunes. We wanted to wait for Roy
Davis Jr. who was on later, but we
needed to pick up our passes for the M3
Summit in the lobby of the swanky
Nash hotel. Turns out KCRW was
broadcasting live from their penthouse
at the Nash, so we dashed upstairs to
have a look and listen. Jason Bentley
from the KRCW show Metropolis was
not around, but Raoul Campos was
doing interviews and they had laptops
and broadcast gear sending out a live
signal of a DJ mix set from the penthouse
terrace. Sweet suite.
Our friends were buzzing us from another
hotel rooftop terrace, this one hosting
the Madonna record release party.
So we snuck over there and had a Warner
record label executive sighting fest along
with avoiding the prerequisite meat on
a stick hors d'oeurves and crunch sushi.
This is the staple 'free food' provided
at all Miami industry events. MIAMI
SURVIVAL TIP #2: don't rely on free
food! We did snag a few of the promising
looking gift bags and dissected them in
the elevator on the way down, but were
pretty disappointed. A copy of Entertainment
Tonight magazine (maybe there was a Madonna
mention in there somewhere) and a copy
of Madonna's new single were about all
it contained.
I hadn't heard the new Madonna single
yet, so we stopped at our friends' Shelbourne
suite and popped the CD into their stereo.
The general consensus? Ugh. We reminisced
about Madonna's real electronic albums
that we all loved like her last two (Music
and Ray of Light) --- funny how she is
labeled as a pop artist when in reality
she's not. Maybe the scene in the US just
needs to follow Madonna's lead and stop
calling itself electronic. Perhaps THEN
then the music we love could break out
of the clubs and onto the radio like it
has in the rest of the world!
Our Warner hosts needed to make an appearance
at their industry party over at the Delano,
so we popped across the street for a turn
around the pool. The incredibly beautiful
long pool was mobbed with silicone implants
and shiny Italian shirts... the usual
Delano pool crowd, except wonderfully
spiced up with hip hop and rap recording
artists sporting real style (see Lil'
John photo, at left).
CLASSIC MIAMI MOMENT: cell phone
rings and you answer, but all you can
hear is the Boom Boom Boom of the bass
and some unrecognizable voice yelling
something you can't understand other than
a few words. Having taken more than a
few years of nightclub cell phone language
"Jennifer!!" Boom boom boom "Underwater
...lly... maz... ...ome ...re lea.. ok?"
Translation: "Jennifer! We're at
Underwater, its really amazing, come over
here, I'll leave your name at the door
ok?" This classic Miami moment directly
releates to MIAMI SURVIVAL TIP #3:
text messaging with caller ID!
Walked all the way down Collins and
cut over to the Underwater party
at Privilege, yearning to catch
Tim Deluxe. Unfortunately, an immense
female fire marshal was standing at the
door, legs spayed and arms crossed defying
anyone to cross her formidable stance.
We weren't up for a showdown (or waiting
for people to leave) and with perfect
timing we "beep beep!" got a
text message that Sasha was going off
at the Delta Heavy event. Not a cab in
sight so we hoofed it back up to Mansion
only to find yet another fire marshal!
MOST UNUSUAL MIAMI POLICE ACTIVITY
- the Police decided for some yet-to-be-discovered
reason to close every club along Washington.
So instead we wandered over to Collins
to see what was going on there. MAGIC
MIAMI MOMENT #1: Walking along Collins,
we spot Jody from Way Out West
carrying his records into the Marlin Hotel,
and we follow... stumbling upon the BYOR
(Bring Your Own Records) party in
their tiny dark steaming hot basement.
Off the hook tag team DJing by dozens
of names has us rocking till dawn both
downstairs on on the hotel terrace where
complimentary foot rubs (photo at left)
kept high heeled feet happy for hours.
At 4am most of us called it an "early"
night. MIAMI SURVIVAL TIP #4: pace
yourselves the first few nights or you
won't last out the week! Unless you're
one of those super clubbers who can do
five days straight with no sleep (or drugs)...
you know who you are, and we are in awe!!!
SUNDAY
We make it to the beach on only our second
morning, which is impressive. The sand
is blindingly white and the water sparkling
turquoise blue (photo) and cool but just
perfect once you get in. Its actually
so nice we don't want to get out, and
float around for over an hour until we
decide we must eat... and get to the Masters
At Work party in our hotel. MIAMI
DIET TIP: fill up on free Perrier
and Rockstar energy drinks instead of
eating. The Whitelaw lobby is as sparkling
as the beverages, and we only tear ourselves
away because we've got an interview scheduled
with Tiesto at his album listening
party. (Video interview on Raves.com very
soon!). Since its only a few doors down
at the Albion hotel pool, we poke our
heads into the URB party, but its early
and empty, and we get one of those MIAMI
CLASSIC TEXT MESSAGES that says "Come
2 _____ now!" in this case, the Positiva
party at the National hotel. Our timing
is perfect, as we walk down by the long
reflecting pool we run into Jes who is
going to be performing her hit with Gabriel
& Dresden "As The Rush Comes"
in just a few minutes. This was one of
our RECORDS OF THE CONFERENCE last
year, and what a hit it became!!
At the back we discover The Scumfrog
on the decks, and as sees us a big smile
lights up his face as he slides the cross
fader into the most incredible tune...
recognizable almost, but definitely new...
and it clicks as Static Revenger
walks behind the decks to give him a big
hug: It's their incredible new track "So
High", produced by Static Revenger
and now coming out on The Scumfrog's new
record label in the US. It's been out
since late last year as a Spanish or Australian
import, but since its just coming out
now in the US (and it made the pool party
turn into a frenzy of splashing and dancing)
we feel secure to announce "So
High" is one of our RECORDS
OF THE CONFERENCE this year!!
As you can imagine, it was nearly impossible
to drag ourselves away, but we had to
go see the screening of that other documentary
on electronic music, "Put the Needle
on the Record." Not as many people
as I expected showed up, but the red carpet
highlights for me were Liquid Todd, Dave
Ralph and Jesse Saunders - because I could
invited them to our screening on Monday!!
I don't think I can possibly provide an
objective opinion on the film, so I won't
review it here. Suffice to say I was relieved.
By the end of the day, despite our best
efforts at pacing ourselves, we were exhausted
and crashed out for a nap... which almost
turned into a full night of sleep!! (That
is NOT supposed to happen in Miami!!)
Luckily all three of us got a text at
2am (you cannot ignore that much beeping
in one hotel room) saying "Come 2
Aquaviva!!" That would be John
Aquaviva's party. I couldn't get the
other two out of bed but I was not going
to miss Matthew Dear who was playing
on the terrace. I slipped into a pair
of flip flops and a dress and was out
the door - made it to Privledge in 15
minutes. This was my BEST NIGHT OUT
DANCING! Spent three hours dancing
non-stop, alternating between the sauna
that was Richie Hawtin downstairs
and cooling off to the minimal complexity
of Matthew Dear. Would have kept going
if they hadn't closed it down. Unforgettable
night!!
MONDAY
Today was the big day!!! Our free daytime
party "Laid" on the terrace
of the Leslie Hotel and then at 8pm our
Peace, Love and Beats documentary
screening. I grabbed our VirginMega
gift bags, Peace, Love & Beats posters,
Angelique's Putamayo CDs, and Raves.com
tshirts, stuffed them all into a rolling
suitcase and wheeled on over to The Leslie
hotel. The music had already started and
some wonderfully outgoing upbeat people
(who obviously hadn't been at Hawtin five
hours earlier) were eating breakfast at
the tables. Up went the posters and everyone
happily started putting on the free tshirts
(photo).... and it just kept getting better
from there! MIAMI SURVIVAL TIP #5:
leave plenty of room in your suitcase
to take home all the free t-shirts, gear
and music!!
The Leslie is right on Ocean Ave, which
is the street that runs right along next
to, you guessed it, the Ocean. The art
deco hotels line one side, and the beach
the other. The fantastic crew from Fifty-two
Entertainment had the sound system
set up just right, so it was loud enough
to make you want to dance even if you
were hanging out on the beach, but you
could still have a conversation if you
stood in front of the DJ booth. So many
people stopped by to say hi and enjoy
the sun and the music!! (more photos)
Pornstar had sponsored the party
with all these outrageous stickers (photo),
which people were sticking on everything,
no doubt due to the $3.99 vodka Red Bull
drink specials... Dave Dresden
was winding the energy up... then these
French boys stood up on their chairs...
Dave Ralph showed up having hot
footed it up from the late docking of
the Sasha boat party... and Superfly
our gracious host dragged the tables out
of the way... and the terrace became a
packed dancefloor spilling out on the
to the sidewalk and our block party was
rocking!! Based on these and other eyewitness
experiences I must dutitfy nominated Laid
for BEST PARTY OF MIAMI!!!
I may be a little biased but it just doesn't
get much better than that, boys and girls.
Like superman in his telephone booth,
I hopped into a taxi and changed into
my movie premier outfit with only 15 minutes
before our screening started. Our director
Mike Burns and Art Director Shahram
Shokrian had done an amazing job,
covering the entire front of the screening
venue (Rumi at 330 Lincoln) with
Peace, Love & Beats posters, running a
red carpet and lighting it up for the
celebrities and DJs to arrive. Angelique
was set to spin her signature sexy house
as the celebrities, DJs and guests arrived
— however, the crazy party of the night
before had taken its toll, and the mixer
was completely non-functional. Luckily
she had her latest mix CD on her and saved
us from a musical disaster. (Click
for photos of: Angelique, Deepsky
(Jason Blum), Jesse Saunders, Killer Kella,
Larry Tee, Liquid Todd, Mark Lewis,
and Von Shock) Rumi is normally
a lounge bar, but they cleared out the
central tables of the long space and dropped
two large screens from the 2nd story balconies
so that everyone seated in the half-oval
banquettes could watch from either direction.
The response to the film was very positive
and now I can't wait to see it on a really
big screen at our Hollywood premier in
April! Seeing our faces that big wasn't
as bad as I thought it would be ;)
The excitement of the day party and screening
completely wiped us out, but its amazing
what a quick nap can do to recharge your
clubbing batteries. MIAMI SURVIVAL
TIP #6: naps between daytime and evening
events are essential! On our way up to
our room, we paused in our lobby and were
pleasantly surprised to catch the tail
end of the BPM had a warm up mixer with
some sweet chill out music going on for
the party we were attending later that
night: the Renaissance Thrive party
at Nerve. But our crisp white sheets and
pillows were calling... Revved up and
ready to go a few hours later, we strolled
up Washington to eat some sushi before
heading to the club.
There was some party going on at the
Astor, with music pumping out through
the high wall of bushes. Soulful, sweet,
deep house with an inspiring vocal and
mezmerizing bass line. We all slowed our
pace and then just stopped in the middle
of the sidewalk to listen. "What
is that??!?" I asked our group. "I
think that's the new Kaskade." Angelique
said, "we have to go in and dance
to that!!" We walked up and the doorman
magically let us all in instantly, and
we danced to what would become another
of our RECORDS OF CONFERENCE: Kaskade's
"Stepping Out" the first
single off his upcoming artist album called
"In The Moment." There
had been a Kaskade
listening party earlier in the day, but
because of our own event, I couldn't go...
but somehow everything always works out
in Miami!! Smiles all around and as the
next song kicked in we moved on.
"This is like being at musical
Disneyland! Let's go get on the sushi
ride!!" Suitable fortified we continued
up to the Renaissance Thrive ride. It
looked safe enough... until I notice a
band was setting up. Band? I didn't realize
there would be a band. I was kind of disappointed,
because the energy at Nerve was
fantastic, the place was packed wall to
wall - you couldn't barely move, but somehow
there was plenty of room to dance as long
as you stayed in your one claimed spot.
Then they came on. All of the sudden our
fun but not unexpected musical rollercoaster
turned into an E ticket ride! "Who
IS this??!?" I asked the guy next
to me who was jumping up and down between
other fantastic dance moves. "I have
no idea!!" The crowd turned into
a sea of hands in the air at every breakdown,
the music was like Underworld to the tenth
power!! Three guys, one on keyboards playing
out the synth chords and breakbeat basslines
while singing, the other doing something
on some other gear in the middle (managing
loops?) and a third... finally I see Lee
Kurisu from Thrive Records
who were throwing the party, and ask,
"Who are these guys???"
His reply: "Infusion."
Oh, Infusion!
I'd heard of them before, they'd played
live in LA one weekend when I was out
of town, and had collaborated with Junkie
XL on two of his album tracks. They were
good producers, but live... live they
were absolutely incredible, like nothing
I've ever seen. It pushes their hot new
single "Girls Can Be Cruel"
into our hall of fame as one of the RECORDS
OF CONFERENCE and they also walk away
with BEST LIVE ACT and MAGIC
MIAMI MOMENT awards for an unplanned
discovery of some amazing talent! Nothing
could top Infusion, and once they stepped
off the stage, we stepped out of the club
and called it a night.
TUESDAY
Tuesday was a blur... we slept in and
planned on hitting the beach for a few
hours. As I was standing the the lobby
of our hotel, grooving to none other than
Christopher Lawrence on the decks,
a photographer I know asks me if I know
what Kaskade looks like, since he's supposed
to meet him there for a photo shoot. I
look around the small gathering, but don't
see Ryan Raddon (aka Kaskade) anywhere,
though I do see Gunnar from Om Records,
who should know where Ryan is... he says,
"You know Ryan, don't you?"
I should, since I interviewed him in person
a year ago but... Gunnar taps someone
on the shoulder and a rockstar looking
guy turns around, crisp collared shirt
casually worn just so, stylist hat perched
rakishly to one side, mirrored designer
sunglasses under the brim. "Ryan???!"
What a transformation!!! The sweet understated
boyish look has given way to full-fledged
rockstar! I tell him so and he laughs!!
We do get to the beach for a little
bit (it's too cold to go in the water
today though) and on our way back in who
was on the decks in our lobby but DJ
Dan. All week long the BPM Boutique
in the lobby and terrace of our hotel
had the most amazing music... and seeing
these guys so up close and personal was
otherworldly. For that the BPM Hotel and
their BPM Boutique series of events were
by far the BEST MIAMI HOTEL EVENTS.
Now it was time for the DanceStar
awards! The fantastic folks at Paradise
Limo who has driven us around in their
stretch Excursion last year all through
filming, offered us the same limo to the
DanceStar awards. We walked the red carpet
and after some champagne and schmoozing
in the Gold Lounge, were seated sat in
the nominee section, on a white cushion
graced with a copy of the DanceStar 2004
magazine (very nice) and Smynt mints (nice
too). Raves.com was nominated for BEST
WEBSITE but the winner this year was
iTunes. Perhaps next year if they redesign
the categories so that there is one for
BEST FILE SHARING APPLICATION we'll win
the Best Website! We were absolutely thrilled
to get nominated and there is always next
year.
DanceStar is like the Grammy's of electronic
music - it's larger than life to watch
their high-end production, from the opening
number of Paul van Dyk, Moby
and Perry Farrell (aka Precision
Guided Musicians) performing a remake
of Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side"
to Dave Dresden, Josh Gabriel
and Jes (aka Motorcycle) performing
their hit single "As The Rush Comes"
and The Crystal Method doing their "Born
Too Slow" our prediction for the
rise of the live electronic act as a trend
was taken to new levels. The awards were
a star studded event hosted by Carmen
Electra. Celebrity presenters included
Paris Hilton, Tommy Lee,
Yoko Ono, Boy George and
Moby, along with nearly every top
DJ in the world. It is kind of neat to
see these celebrities in person, but in
a way it doesn't make any sense to have
them presenting dance music awards...
I mean, when they can't even pronounce
the winner correctly! When URB one for
best magazine, Dave Navarro said,
"You Are Be" (spelled it out).
Oops! I suppose it raises the profile
of the awards and that's worth a few misprouncinations.
Paul van Dyk and The Crystal
Method swept the show with three awards
each, Deep Dish with two, and the
rest of the winners can be found at www.dancestar.com
Fortunately, the forecast for rain was wrong, because the awards were in the open air ampitheater at Bayfront park in downtown Miami. Unfortunately, temperatures plummeted and "Bayfront Park" means right on the water, with the windchill factor bringing the temperature down to what felt like freezing. We retreated to the limo twice to try to warm ourselves up enough to return and watch the entire show, but were so positively frozen by the end as the fireworks exploded we made a dash back to our heated retreat and to South Beach.
The DanceStar afterparty was as star
studded as the event itself. We were back
at Mynt, the club we had been to the first
night, so our clubbing journey had made
a full circle. We were among the first
to arrive, so imagine our surprize when
our own Peace, Love & Beats documentary
was playing on the giant screen behind
the DJ!! I turned to Mike our director
who said to me, "how did you arrange
that??!" Well, I didn't!!! Everyone
was watching as the venue filled up, and
obviously we were thrilled, if mystified!
At first I thought it was that Elliott,
who does the PR for DanceStar, had somehow
decided to surprize us with this major
exposure for our film, but the version
we had sent him weeks before did not have
the exact same opening credit sequence.
Somehow they had exactly the copy we had
played the night before... all of the
sudden, Mike says, "you know what?
I left our screening copy in the DVD player
at Rumi, it was stuck and I couldn't get
it out." I thought he was kidding.
He wasn't. It turns out the same AV people
that we had hired to do our visuals at
Rumi for our screening were doing the
visuals for the DanceStar afterparty,
with the same DVD player, and they couldn't
get the DVD out so they were just running
it!!! They ran it all the way through
to after we cover the DanceStar awards
(about half way) and then obviously they
tried to get it out again, but couldn't,
and started the whole thing all over again!!
At this point we were feeling a little
self-conscious, when Carmen Elecktra is
looking at you and then at your face on
the screen and back at you trying to figure
out who you are (ok actually that wasn't
so bad, if a little intense!!) I was all
for staying but the rest of our cast was
feeling a little self conscious, so we
left.
By this point we were pretty partied
out, but there was one event we couldn't
miss: the legendary annual Om Records
party. This year it was being held at
Opium Garden, a spectacular open air club
down between 1st and 2nd street. Having
learned our lesson from years past, we
wanted to get there as early as possible
to be able to get in - this party is so
popular they reach capacity often within
the first hour, and there was no way we
were spending any more time out in the
cold! The crowd was massive out front
but luckily we had planned in advance
and our VIP laminates slipped us right
through. It was the perfect ending to
what has been a perfect week in Miami.
Kaskade opens up the night, followed
by Mark Farina, Miguel Migs,
and Marques Wyatt. Our own Dan
Brotman (from futuremusic.com
where we syndicate our Industry News)
is playing live percussion at 3:00am with
Miguel Migs, and the crowd is going
crazy. Our sleep deprived bodies and brains
are surviving on red bull fumes at this
point, but we hang in there till after
4am and then enjoy a long walk home.
Another Miami has come and gone, and
what have we learned? That music is good
and friends to share it with make it even
better. We were impressed and pleased
with the successful co-existance of M3
Summit, The Remix Hotel and the hundreds
of other separate events with the traditional
WMC, and it will be interesting to see
how these elements play out in the future.
This year's conference may be over, but
the Miami Magic will be there waiting
for us when we return. Life doesn't get
any better than this!
Peace, love & beats,
Jennifer Warner
Editor-in Chief
& the Raves.com crew!!
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