Well, it’s that time of year again. After kicking things off with all sorts of circuit parties throughout the nation for Memorial Day Weekend, followed by Gay Days at Disney World in Orlando, FL, it’s now time for Pride to take center stage.
More than any other year, I feel this could be the most important Pride in a very long time. With the historical primary season behind us and so many gay issues on the table, the largest being marriage and equality, I thought I’d dedicate the entire month of June to Pride.
This is the first of four mixes that will be released every Friday this month. Because the city barred all festivals in Piedmont Park due to the drought last year, everyone was scrambling to secure venues. Atlanta Pride will take place over the July 4th weekend (one week later than usual) at the Atlanta Civic Center. It will be interesting to see how they pull this off since it will be a combination of indoor and outdoor festivities.
Unlike past events, they will require a $5 admission fee and up to $20 dollars for various concerts. Their overall costs to put this on are twice the amount as usual. Frankly, I think that’s reasonable and won’t be an issue for the majority of the folks. I haven’t decided if I’ll be hitting up the event or bars (in my newly designed T-shirts of course) giving out CDs promoting the blog. I’ll just see how things play out.
As you may notice, the artwork is tied into this year’s general election and many of the issues and challenges the gay community faces. Each mix has its own album cover created by yours truly. Some may ultimately be offensive to people, but I am trying to make an artistic statement or if you prefer, a point. I only mention this, because I don’t want to be bombarded with a bunch of hate mail when the next one comes out.
Rest assured, I put as much time into creating these mixes as I did the cover art. Since I haven’t received any type of feedback other than “love it” (which I always like to hear) I read into something one of our M.I.A. fellow members Tom P. mentioned in an email he sent me a while back.
So, instead of screaming divas all the time, I’m definitely trying to mix things up with some tribal, commercial, big room, electro, dubs, and yes those always fierce divas. Overall, I’m very pleased with the final outcome, and thank Tom for the feedback, even if it wasn’t intended that way. See, I do listen even if you aren’t talking…LOL!
I don’t know where you’re at, but it’s been a scorcher for the past several days here in the ATL. We may actually get some relief this weekend. Then again, our weather forecasters are generally 50/50 on their predictions. Anyway, I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and rest assured, I’ll be back next Friday with part 2 of this series. Until then…
Enjoy!
Album : Pride Edition v1
Genre : Circuit, Tribal, Progressive
Year : 2008
Total Time : 1:19:23.00
Track : 1
Title : Set U Free 2008 (Friscia & Lamboy Vocal Mix)
Artist : Planet Soul
HOT! Classic from the 90’s finally receives a fabulous workover. Works on every level. Funny thing is, back in the day when this was played on radio, I went into Musicland (one of the countless record stores chains no longer around) and wanted to buy the single, but couldn’t find it. I asked the clerk where was the song “Come Into My Black Hole” (I swear to God that’s what I thought she was saying) and the guy just starting laughing hysterically. He goes and pulls the single and hands it to me. Needless to say, I felt like a dweeb (the other thing I thought she was saying in the song…such a dweeb, such a dweeb). Now when I hear this song, I still can’t get my own version out of my head. Essential.
Track : 2
Title : Stamp Your Feet (K j A M vs. Ranny Big Room Re-rub)
Artist : Donna Summer
Absolutely love Ranny’s mix with one exception. His mid-section drop was kinda pointless and didn’t really go anywhere. That’s a good way for your floor to lose interest FAST! Realizing he wasn’t taking advantage of the big beat opener, I dropped it into the middle and then looped additional beats to carry it through to the end of the break. Now, I can honestly say…Essential.
Track : 3
Title : Everybody Everybody (Jose Spinnin Bearlin Club Mix)
Artist : Cyon Flare
Track : 4
Title : Drop A House (Original Mix)
Artist : Heather Leigh West
Okay, this is a novelty at best, but a lot of fun! My partner runs around singing the chorus until it isn’t fun anymore. So I just tune him out. Gonna drop a house, drop a house, drop a house on that BITCH!
Track : 5
Title : Go Go Girl (Twisted Dee Vocal)
Artist : DJ Timbo
Track : 6
Title : Take A Bow (Tony Moran & Warren Rigg’s Encore Club Mix)
Artist : Rihanna
I’ve pretty much made it clear that I’m not Rihanna’s biggest fan. The whole nasal singing thing just doesn’t appeal to me. That being said, something about Tony mixing her songs always seems to work well. Remember Unfaithful? Definitely another winner.
Track : 7
Title : Surrender Me (Wayne G. & Andy Allder London Calling Club Mix)
Artist : Debby Holiday
If you remember back in December of ’07, Dannielle Bollinger had a top three club hit with this song. Originally intended to be the initial release off of Tony’s new label, I guess Dannielle couldn’t wait and released it anyway. This new version has the original Tony & Warren mix with Debby’s vocals, but I chose the Wayne G version for a little freshness. Is it me, or does Debby’s fabulous vocals get kinda washed out?
Track : 8
Title : Love’s Gonna Lead You Back (Manny Lehman’s Dub)
Artist : Jason Antone
Track : 9
Title : Again (Luis ErRe Full On Vocal Mix)
Artist : Jose Spinnin
Track : 10
Title : Rhythm Is A Dancer’08 (Jose Spinnin Remix)
Artist : Snap!
Yet another fantastic 90’s tune gets a re-rub. Jose drops the cheesy rap (prevalent in early nineties dance) and wraps it around a big room tribal beat that blows the ceiling off! Essential.
Track : 11
Title : Keep Coming Around (Starkillers & Austin Leeds Las Vegas Remix)
Artist : Joi Cardwell
Track : 12
Title : Lick My Body (Alex Ocampo Louder Remix)
Artist : Erich Ensastigue
Track : 13
Title : Do It Properly 2008 (Kobbe Voodoo Mix)
Artist : Peter Rauhofer + Victor Calderone = The Collaboration
Nice to see Victor doing something at least. Don’t know much about the original, but this sure is tasty. It would be nice to see Victor hop back in the saddle and start mixing up some commercial music again. Lending his talent to classics by Destiny’s Child, Madonna & Sting among others, will always be fondly remembered. Even though I’ll take what I can get, I’m definitively not lowering any standards here…Outstanding.
Thanks for joining our party at Party Favorz! Your support helps keep the party alive. Please consider helping out by donating?
