Something attempting to be useful, mostly failing.

Had an awesome time on Friday spinning at a company outing in the middle of a campground. I got to roll through a huge range of music during the 5 hour set.

Started off with some downtempo and trip-hop stuff while people were eating lunch – low energy stuff to acclimate them to having music in the background and to facilitate conversation. I also threw some Latin flavors in there for a little spice. It fits well into a mix and is like the lime in a gin and tonic – contrasting, but refreshing. During activities, I progressed into some funk and soul, bouncing back and forth between new to old  - RJD2 has a lot of work that meshes amazingly well with some James Brown era music. From there, I was requested to get into something a bit more upbeat, so I moved into the Dance portion. A little bit of house, a little bit of breaks and some traditional club dance stuff. Oh, and a Nine Inch Nails dance mix. That may be a little bit of heresy, but it sounded good. From there, I moved on to the mashup portion. Daft Punk and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme might have gone a touch over the top, but that’s kind of the point of a mashup.

Lesson learned:

• Speakers are heavy. Getting someone to help carry them will make setup and teardown way easier and leave a lot more energy for the gig.
• Speakers are fucking heavy. Having a spotter for getting them on the stands is sort of essential if you don’t want to compress more vertebrae than you can count to.
• Park as close as you can to the setup location. Be lazy. No one gives a damn if you can carry your gear a mile uphill both ways.
• Spend the time getting all of your levels right. Just because you’re not going to use the mic much does not mean you’re not going to use it at all. The dynamics of a mic are way different than music – get some ears on the far end of the range to give you a thumbs up.
• Having a portable fan is a lifesaver. In a closed area, there may be no air moving and the place could smell like ass. Outside, there could be no air moving and the place could smell like ass. Move some air around so nothing gets too stagnant and you can actually breathe.
• HYDRATE LIKE WHUT.

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