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This year's music conference in Miami
was definitely different than years past.
For one, myself, the Raves.com staff,
and a few of our friends were filmed non-stop
for the entire week for a documentary
called "Four on the Floor." They followed
us females on our escapades as we worked
our way through six days of parties, interviews,
meetings and mishaps. It made for an interesting
trip! Two cameras, a sound guy, the of
CEO of Raves.com and Resolution Digital
(the film company producing documentary)
were also in mix, riding around with us
in a stretch SUV picking up DJs, artists,
execs ad random people, interviewing them
about the Miami experience. Keep watching
Raves.com as we'll be posting our video
interviews here in the weeks to come!
So what did we learn? Well, some of
the valuable things I'll take away from
this year is that getting into packed
parties with a crew of nine requires front
door skill and back door boldness! That
some of the world's top talent can make
amazing beatbox noises with their mouths...
or make none at all be just as impressive.
Thank you for the breakdown Pete Tong!
That Liquid Todd armed with a hidden microphone
is downright dangerous and had us laughing
so hard we dropped the camera (it survived).
And that despite all that was and is going
on in the world, artists and DJs are still
out there doing what they do best: making
music and uniting people through song
and dance. If everyone could live by the
spirit and essence of dance music, the
celebration of life and communal rituals,
the beat of that drum - or bass - maybe
would bring peace a little closer.
The war was the undercurrent that tugged
at our toes, but the music floated on
its regular course. Our printed out itinerary
of parties totaled 64 pages, not including
the text message updates Annalee kept
getting on her phone. In fact, text messaging
gets the number one slot on our list of
Miami memories!
THINGS WE'LL REMEMBER FROM THIS MIAMI
- Text messaging to find friends in
loud clubs
- The lobby of the Sagamore hotel watching
BT walk in with his Boston Terrier,
followed by Christopher Lawrence with
baby and wife in tow, Pete Tong, Jason
Bentley and then Angelique. That was
some three minutes!
- Sipping some blue beverage in the
Giant penthouse that made us forget
the rest of Friday night (vague memories
of Johnny in a superhero cape at Danny
Howells later that night)
- Beach at sunrise... six times
- DanceStar Awards fireworks and us
going to war at the same moment
- No taxis... ten block walks at 7 every
morning
- Opening night Hooj party... um, that's
all we remember
- Watching P. Diddy dancing in the DJ
booth to his remix (one of our top tunes
of conference)
- Six guys named David
- Hearing the records of conference
And the record of conference for this
year is... (the envelope please)... well
first I have to talk about this concept.
One of the driving forces behind our documentary
was our quest to find the record of the
conference. Did we succeed? Well, we asked
every single one of the sixty plus interviews
what their thoughts were on the elusive
but omnipresent tracks. For our picks
after culling our favorites from their
pointers towards records of excellence,
see below!
OUR TOP 5 MIAMI TUNES FOR 2003
- Paul van Dyk "Nothing But You"
- this was our magical Miami moment,
the last song at the last party of the
conference, we walked right into it
and it changed our lives forever. Really!
- Puff Daddy "Let's Get Ill" - as Musik
reported, "Subliminal Sessions was,
of course, rammed and wins 'Miami moment'
so far: Erick Morillo was DJing as P
Diddy himself walked in, fresh from
his DanceStar USA gig, prompting Erick
to spin Puffy's new track 'Let's Get
Ill' immediately, which in turn sparked
universal room approval." 'nough said!
- Static Revenger feat. DJ Angelique
"Everyone" - we may be a bit
biased about this one but its a perfect
summer anthem!
- Paul Jackson "The Push"- half of
the group Kidstuff, this tune turned
heads as a Pete Tong Essential tune
but ripped it up when Seb Fontaine dropped
this scorcher.
- Motorcycle "As The Rush Comes" - Gabriel
& Dresden join forces with a singer
named Jes Brieden for this not-to-be-missed
track that Armin van Buuren just made
his tune of the week on his radio show.
Myself and all the raves.com staff would
like to thank everyone who made this trip
and documentary not only possible but
downright fun: Gavin Lloyd, Mike Burns,
Johnny Jos, Resolution Digital and of
course Ripcurl
and Vitaminwater
(we never could have survived without
their cute outfits and yummy water?)...
and a huge thanks to Angelique, Alexandra,
Annalee, Terryn and Shawn Wallace for
all their hard work (and signed releases)...
and to all the promoters, PR people and
everyone else that participated and made
it possible!
-- written by Jennifer
Warner
OUR MIAMI 2003 PHOTO
ALBUM
All photos by Shawn Wallace unless
otherwise noted
Christopher Lawrence
DJ Dan and Shawn Wallace
Fireworks at the DanceStar
Awards
Josh Wink and BT between Ali and Sharam
of Deep Dish -- photo courtesy DanceStar
DJ Sammy in the press tent after winning
a DanceStar award -- photo courtesy
DanceStar
Dave
Aude at the Moonshine release party
Deepsky -- photo courtesy DanceStar
Josh Wink at Ultra
Judge Jules apres interview
Rob Evanoff (AllAboutDJ.com)
& DJ
Keri
Sander Kleinenberg
Sasha & Digweed at Ultra
Steve Levy of Moonshine Records
DJ Hyper at The Hotel after our interview
Covering the red carpet at the DanceStar
awards, Asst. Director Johnny Jos and
Jennifer Warner photo: Rob Evanoff
We love our sponsors! Johnny becomes super
Ripcurl Girl (www.ripcurl.com)
at the Giant Penthouse. photo: Rob
Evanoff
Raves.com staff Shawn Wallace & Jennifer
Warner
in the bottom of our bag...
DON'T MISS OUR INTERVIEWS WITH ALL THESE
ARTISTS & DJ'S HERE ON RAVES.COM IN
THE WEEKS TO COME!
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