I'm starting to think my major mistake was being too humble* about my celebrity crushes.
* - Also quiet and cerebral.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Epilogue
Kat kind of disappeared on me. I don't have much more to say. I guess the blog is dead. For realz, this time.
I started this blog back in 07 mostly on a whim. I was going to make it a video game blog, but decided not to at the last moment. For awhile it was mostly a blog catered to my friends. I tried to at least come up with daily material, but laziness crept in pretty quickly. And the less said about the last three years, the better.
Oh well. I'm no longer an adult. I'm an older adult! By the end of the year, I'm going to be an uncle. My work can be found in the Apple iTunes store. I have a European model for a girlfriend. And I'm going on a rocket to the moon. I made one of those things up.
Except for my YT and Twitter account, it's time to start leaving my pseudonym behind. "Tork" was a young adult who said a lot of dumb things. Let the hygiene products company have my fake name.
Good bye!
I started this blog back in 07 mostly on a whim. I was going to make it a video game blog, but decided not to at the last moment. For awhile it was mostly a blog catered to my friends. I tried to at least come up with daily material, but laziness crept in pretty quickly. And the less said about the last three years, the better.
Oh well. I'm no longer an adult. I'm an older adult! By the end of the year, I'm going to be an uncle. My work can be found in the Apple iTunes store. I have a European model for a girlfriend. And I'm going on a rocket to the moon. I made one of those things up.
Except for my YT and Twitter account, it's time to start leaving my pseudonym behind. "Tork" was a young adult who said a lot of dumb things. Let the hygiene products company have my fake name.
Good bye!
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
When talking to the press, I’m often asked how Electronic Dance Music (EDM) sprang up out of nowhere?! These guys. These journalists who make their Santa Claus sparkly eyes, enthusiastic and curious as to how EDM could just pop onto the music scene, *poof* and then dominate festivals, nightclubs, arenas, charts and even be given our own category at the Grammys. Out of nowhere. From nothingness. Just a little push from GaGa, a pinch of cheeky mainstream from the Swedish House Mafia, a hint of Bangerang from Skrillex and voila! A new musical superpower was born.
I’m tempted to bring out my power point presentation kit to show them that EDM has been growing, changing, molding, and molting for well over four decades now. Thassrite! Forty years plus change and some of the founders are grandparents and members of the AARP. Came out of nowhere? New to the scene? Please.
Kraftwerk just celebrated a retrospective at the MoMA in NYC. The show sold out in record time, celebrating their work from 1974 - 2003. Super Grandfather/Godfather of Electronic Everything Brain Eno pushed David Bowie, Talking Heads and Devo to release some of their best work - electronically based - in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Who can forget or would even want to forget “I Feel Love” and its repetitive, electronic infectious baseline that has served as EDM’s Jimi Hendrix moment? That drop in that song has made more people lose their minds on a dance floor than any other song, ever. And if ”I Feel Love” was a mama, she could have kids in college by now.
Even more recently, before EDM had been decided on as our name, “Electronica” was simmering at the turn of the millennium, with Fat Boy Slim, Prodigy, The Dust Brothers (before they changed their name to the Chemical Brothers) and Daft Punk threatening to break into the mainstream. All this while flannel shirts were still being worn as a Grunge statement, and Kurt Cobain’s death was news.
Put simply, EDM is not the new kid on the block. It is not a trend and it is not burning hot and fast. We’ve been lurking and making back alley pushes to help music as a whole for ages. So while our real estate has changed, we’ve been here taking notes and calling shots since before some of our biggest fans were born. EDM can no longer be dismissed because this slow building beast has borne some of the most creatively savvy and long-lasting players in the musical industry.
EDM did not just come out of nowhere. This scene is strong because it has been a super slow burn. There are turf wars and discussions about downfalls. We don’t all play well together, but we all have the right to play. And from where I sit, there is no end in sight for opportunities to grow. EDM cut it’s teeth on the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and turned the millennium with the rest of the musical world. It’s not the Synthpop, Breakbeat, Techno, House, D’n’B, Jungle, Acid or Intelligent Dance Music of the past. It’s the continuing of the legacy that has been decades in the making.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Moving
Been moving for the past three days, with work getting in the way it's hard to keep up with everything. Finally got my internet installed, I owe ya'll a new entry, probably later this evening, maybe tomorrow...WHEW!
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Personal Geographies
Personal Geographies.
I have never been able to root myself down to one place in it's entirety. I was adopted from a foreign country, lived and moved all over the city of Chicago, and moved to Milwaukee. Nothing seems to stick because I cannot wait to leave the place I am in now. I have traveled, and I enjoy the nouveau and freshness that comes from such a nomadic lifestyle. I like to be lost, to feel like for once it isn't boring. Everything is fresh. I crave that newness.
Milwaukee for me became a prime example of this feeling I rebel against so vehemently. I can get into any bar here, I can walk from one end to the other in a day, I have started a business and conquered my own corner of the entertainment industry here. Although these accomplishments seem great to some people, that feeling of establishment feels like death. It feels like I can no longer have any adventures. I am afraid of the routine. I have lived on every part of the city, Bayview, East Side and The UWM campus area. I can gladly say I know, for the most part, my way around. I couldn't tell you street names (those never come easily to me), but I could navigate my way around. I miss getting lost and just enjoying the feeling of being small.
I think the desire to feel small is why I could only ever live in a large city (Milwaukee to me being far too small). Cities that are big (like London or Chicago, both of which I have been to) are the places that someone is always out, about, the feel alive. they have this pulse that resonates through them and allows for the fun to never stop. I don't feel so alone. There is always a bar open, a restaurant, someone out on the street. there is an overwhelming feeling of potential. I think that's what a City means to me, potential. Cities bring that out in people. The allow for all types, shapes, walks of life to have a forum through which they can work, survive and thrive together. I cannot even explain about how many times I have made a friend on the train, or gone to the same bar 100 times and still have never seen a regular. When I go out in milwaukee, I can probably bet that everyone I have met at least once or they know me. It gets so draining. It becomes a chore to find fun, rather than an exciting prospect. The choices are so limited here. It just isn't filling my metropolitan worldly requirement.
I hope to one day go back to Chicago, and I plan to do so soon. I want to make it so that I have lived in every major neighborhood in the city proper. I have so far lived in Pilsen, Rodger's Park, Wrigley, Lincoln Park and Logan Square. These are areas that I can say I am confident in, and there are still so many I do not know well. I could also do Berlin, London, perhaps go as far as Tokyo, or Australia. I need that movement. I think that there is something to be said about people who crave adventure. We tend to be very quick witted, malleable, like little chameleon that can fit in anywhere. We are often more excited, more personable. We understand how to navigate just places, but life and relationships well. I find that this need to see and grow drives people to great things. So often I read about how just changing your space can change how you feel. that being pushed and driven to become something new really can make one find them selves. Getting lost is the only way to really find something. Authors like Chuck Palahniuk do a great job exploring those things. I also find books that describe dystopian societies also describe routine as the enemy of the people. Aldous Huxley does this well. I think I feel like those characters so often, fighting to get out of something. Being trapped. I make it my life mission to never be that way.
Exploration doesn't just have to be done through physical activities either. Exploration can be done through constantly educating yourself, moving across mind-scapes and finding places that challenge you mentally. Go live a little in fear. Challenge and question emotional security. Those are other ways to use the constant desire to rove in a positive way. I know I would like nothing more that to always be a little scared. I think that uncertainty is what keeps us alive and a little more human. Comfort is a curse I reject. I think I always will.
I have never been able to root myself down to one place in it's entirety. I was adopted from a foreign country, lived and moved all over the city of Chicago, and moved to Milwaukee. Nothing seems to stick because I cannot wait to leave the place I am in now. I have traveled, and I enjoy the nouveau and freshness that comes from such a nomadic lifestyle. I like to be lost, to feel like for once it isn't boring. Everything is fresh. I crave that newness.
Milwaukee for me became a prime example of this feeling I rebel against so vehemently. I can get into any bar here, I can walk from one end to the other in a day, I have started a business and conquered my own corner of the entertainment industry here. Although these accomplishments seem great to some people, that feeling of establishment feels like death. It feels like I can no longer have any adventures. I am afraid of the routine. I have lived on every part of the city, Bayview, East Side and The UWM campus area. I can gladly say I know, for the most part, my way around. I couldn't tell you street names (those never come easily to me), but I could navigate my way around. I miss getting lost and just enjoying the feeling of being small.
I think the desire to feel small is why I could only ever live in a large city (Milwaukee to me being far too small). Cities that are big (like London or Chicago, both of which I have been to) are the places that someone is always out, about, the feel alive. they have this pulse that resonates through them and allows for the fun to never stop. I don't feel so alone. There is always a bar open, a restaurant, someone out on the street. there is an overwhelming feeling of potential. I think that's what a City means to me, potential. Cities bring that out in people. The allow for all types, shapes, walks of life to have a forum through which they can work, survive and thrive together. I cannot even explain about how many times I have made a friend on the train, or gone to the same bar 100 times and still have never seen a regular. When I go out in milwaukee, I can probably bet that everyone I have met at least once or they know me. It gets so draining. It becomes a chore to find fun, rather than an exciting prospect. The choices are so limited here. It just isn't filling my metropolitan worldly requirement.
I hope to one day go back to Chicago, and I plan to do so soon. I want to make it so that I have lived in every major neighborhood in the city proper. I have so far lived in Pilsen, Rodger's Park, Wrigley, Lincoln Park and Logan Square. These are areas that I can say I am confident in, and there are still so many I do not know well. I could also do Berlin, London, perhaps go as far as Tokyo, or Australia. I need that movement. I think that there is something to be said about people who crave adventure. We tend to be very quick witted, malleable, like little chameleon that can fit in anywhere. We are often more excited, more personable. We understand how to navigate just places, but life and relationships well. I find that this need to see and grow drives people to great things. So often I read about how just changing your space can change how you feel. that being pushed and driven to become something new really can make one find them selves. Getting lost is the only way to really find something. Authors like Chuck Palahniuk do a great job exploring those things. I also find books that describe dystopian societies also describe routine as the enemy of the people. Aldous Huxley does this well. I think I feel like those characters so often, fighting to get out of something. Being trapped. I make it my life mission to never be that way.
Exploration doesn't just have to be done through physical activities either. Exploration can be done through constantly educating yourself, moving across mind-scapes and finding places that challenge you mentally. Go live a little in fear. Challenge and question emotional security. Those are other ways to use the constant desire to rove in a positive way. I know I would like nothing more that to always be a little scared. I think that uncertainty is what keeps us alive and a little more human. Comfort is a curse I reject. I think I always will.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Part DEUX
continued....
When I reached Milwaukee, I was lost. I knew that The Rave/Eagles Club was a large, often trafficked concert hall, but the lack of dancers, and well known DJs visiting said establishments was close to nil. There was also no places for me to dance. I felt very lost. I began slowly meeting people by a tending the few and far between concerts that i could, going to clubs, herring local top 40s djs and slowly I began to find my people again. These people brought me into the party scene of the city, the behind closed doors, the up and coming music I had never really been privy to. The struggling artists who held down more than one job to support their love of the scene. Those people I began to cling to because they wanted so badly to contribute to the very scene I had been riding along for a living. I was hooked. I began to dance for raves. Small, events thrown by a few djs, a fledgling production company, illegal in some cases, and more fun than anything I had ever known. I was giving back more to the music that had given so much to me. I began organizing, helping to throw, doing the business end of everything in order to have my hand in this. I continue, to this day, and have well established myself as a dancer, designer of rave clothing and a friend to the most talented musicians in the industry. You see, the fact is, the big names ride pom the waves of their success, these people get no recognition, no real pay. I now can truly say I am watching stars rise. I am helping those who want so badly to just play a show so someone hears their talent. This is the sort of witness I am. I am giving whatever I can to now allow for someone else to experience that rush. To let someone pretend that for and evening they are Tiesto, even if they play only to their own friends in a dingy bar in a dingy town.
Because of my desire to bring this experience to others, I not only began making rave wear, I now own a small business doing it. I also have begun to run my own GoGo dancing company. I want to find the next best girl for the job. It is so important for me to be present. I don't need to record, write down, photograph or document these events. I have found that this world is about each personal momentary experience. There is no way to capture emotion in a bottle. Music is what feelings sound like. and every night we continue to pack our selves into these places because we are chancing that high. I will dance until my knees crumble, and then I will design until the style is old and I can proudly say that I knew Von Foil, Marcus J, Decode, Swamppkatt and other names that you will never see on a bill for The Congress Theatre. But I was there, and that is more than enough. I can only hope to bring more people in, but you can't take anything away from it but the images that play inside your head.
Witness, for EDM, is a split second. And then the memories remain. You can't explain your heart syncing up to a bass beat, sweat forming on your skin as they build up before the drop. You can't explain how you can hug a total stranger, hold them and sing along to "Raise Your Weapon" and leave a concert hall with a new best friend and not know their real name. Or maybe it's the time that you walked up to Theo from Designer Drugs (a NY dj duo) and told him, not asked, that you were going to hang out with them after the show. I did, we still call each other. I have his number in my phone, he's studying to be a doctor. Von Foil works for MPS, he is a child psychologist, he parties harder than anyone I have ever met, 7 nights a week. He is one of the most beloved and prolific djs I have ever met. And all he asks for a night to play is $200 dollars. These feeling and emotions are so precious to me. That is what bearing witness is, it is being present. It is being there. It is sharing a moment with a room full of people all dancing to the same tune, or talking to a world famous dj about his dreams of being a surgeon, and then making sure he calls to let you know he landed safe in Japan. It's the one day you spend finding the individuality in the desire to come together. For that I am proud.
When I reached Milwaukee, I was lost. I knew that The Rave/Eagles Club was a large, often trafficked concert hall, but the lack of dancers, and well known DJs visiting said establishments was close to nil. There was also no places for me to dance. I felt very lost. I began slowly meeting people by a tending the few and far between concerts that i could, going to clubs, herring local top 40s djs and slowly I began to find my people again. These people brought me into the party scene of the city, the behind closed doors, the up and coming music I had never really been privy to. The struggling artists who held down more than one job to support their love of the scene. Those people I began to cling to because they wanted so badly to contribute to the very scene I had been riding along for a living. I was hooked. I began to dance for raves. Small, events thrown by a few djs, a fledgling production company, illegal in some cases, and more fun than anything I had ever known. I was giving back more to the music that had given so much to me. I began organizing, helping to throw, doing the business end of everything in order to have my hand in this. I continue, to this day, and have well established myself as a dancer, designer of rave clothing and a friend to the most talented musicians in the industry. You see, the fact is, the big names ride pom the waves of their success, these people get no recognition, no real pay. I now can truly say I am watching stars rise. I am helping those who want so badly to just play a show so someone hears their talent. This is the sort of witness I am. I am giving whatever I can to now allow for someone else to experience that rush. To let someone pretend that for and evening they are Tiesto, even if they play only to their own friends in a dingy bar in a dingy town.
Because of my desire to bring this experience to others, I not only began making rave wear, I now own a small business doing it. I also have begun to run my own GoGo dancing company. I want to find the next best girl for the job. It is so important for me to be present. I don't need to record, write down, photograph or document these events. I have found that this world is about each personal momentary experience. There is no way to capture emotion in a bottle. Music is what feelings sound like. and every night we continue to pack our selves into these places because we are chancing that high. I will dance until my knees crumble, and then I will design until the style is old and I can proudly say that I knew Von Foil, Marcus J, Decode, Swamppkatt and other names that you will never see on a bill for The Congress Theatre. But I was there, and that is more than enough. I can only hope to bring more people in, but you can't take anything away from it but the images that play inside your head.
Witness, for EDM, is a split second. And then the memories remain. You can't explain your heart syncing up to a bass beat, sweat forming on your skin as they build up before the drop. You can't explain how you can hug a total stranger, hold them and sing along to "Raise Your Weapon" and leave a concert hall with a new best friend and not know their real name. Or maybe it's the time that you walked up to Theo from Designer Drugs (a NY dj duo) and told him, not asked, that you were going to hang out with them after the show. I did, we still call each other. I have his number in my phone, he's studying to be a doctor. Von Foil works for MPS, he is a child psychologist, he parties harder than anyone I have ever met, 7 nights a week. He is one of the most beloved and prolific djs I have ever met. And all he asks for a night to play is $200 dollars. These feeling and emotions are so precious to me. That is what bearing witness is, it is being present. It is being there. It is sharing a moment with a room full of people all dancing to the same tune, or talking to a world famous dj about his dreams of being a surgeon, and then making sure he calls to let you know he landed safe in Japan. It's the one day you spend finding the individuality in the desire to come together. For that I am proud.
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