The zero-budget ASCIT party

We threw a little party at Caltech on Friday (“we” being Bill, Dima and I). I say little because, well, hardly anybody showed up. Of course, that’s what happens when (1) you don’t promote it, (2) there’s another party on campus with free food, and (3) most techers were celebrating graduation/end of the year and/or moving out. No matter though. Friday night basically turned into a (DJ) practice session with some friends around, which was actually the original plan when we first talked about it. It was a fun night. Some highlights:

• Spinning a good set. This set was much better than my moonshine set. No train wreck transitions this time. A couple times I missed a predetermined cue point, but that’s rarely a huge problem – it just means the transition won’t fit together quite as well. I was pleased with the beatmatching. There were a couple of transitions that I got beatmatched in this set that I rarely get correct when I spin in my living room, so I was quite happy about that. Stepping up to meet the live set challenge maybe? I have a recording of my set (as well as Bill’s), so if you want to hear it just IM me.
• The dancing. I don’t dance as much as I used to. Pretty much I just got tired of practicing by myself in my living room (and I started spinning) back in January, so I haven’t been working to get better recently. What I’ve found, though, is that if I get out to (electronic music) clubs I’ll have just as much fun dancing as I used to. Last night was no exception. I was especially digging the D’n’B that Dave Z. spun (though I enjoyed all of the music that was spun), and found myself dancing for most of the first few hours of the party. As an added bonus, Marvin showed up for a little while and danced a bit for us. Man, I love Marvin’s style. Even today, nearly a year and a half after he stopped dancing with us, he’s still the greatest influence on my style. Marvin is ridiculous, so you can imagine how good I felt when told me he liked the footwork I was doing. What I was doing was my standard footwork with some new elements I picked up from Bill and some of the other dancers at the boom boxx as well as some things I integrated from my week learning Tango in Buenos Aires. Marvin’s words: “It’s not really a slide, but it has the same effect. It looks good.” Hell yes.
• The Pantry. It only took until a year after graduating, but I finally got to experience what is apparently an incredibly popular restaurant for techers. I have to say, The Pantry had some good food. The pancakes were especially good – much better that what you would get from IHOP or Carrows. They had a home-cooked taste to them. I’ll definitely make some late-night trips there in the future.

Bill and I are tossing around the idea of holding similar parties (though hopefully with more people) weekly during the summer at Caltech. Not only would it be a lot of fun, but it would also be invaluable in terms of the practice we’d get playing live. Playing for a large room (or outdoors on the Olive Walk, as we were on Friday), with loud speakers interfering with your ability to beat match, is a good deal more difficult than spinning in your bedroom. Plus, when you’re spinning for other people there’s more pressure to minimize your mistakes. If you completely mess something up in your home, it’s a learning experience. If you’re spinning live, it’s a mistake. Anyway, plans are tentative, but I think we’ll end up doing it. I have a feeling this summer is going to be awesome.

As you've probably noticed, pics from the party are above.