Chad Things

Vacation is awesome. Especially in Florida, with friends, and great music. Thats where i was last week – the Winter Music Conference in Miami. This was my first year, but luckily tons of my SF friends were down there to guide me to a thoroughly kickass time.

Four of us got a room at the palms – me, Fritz, Juan, and our prime guide, Sir Checkoway. When i say prime guide, i mean it – ’twas Checkoway’s fifth year, and he definitely shed his wisdom upon us. We started it off Wed at an M3 event – the remix hotel cocktail party – where i got to see DJ Krush and spend $16 on 2 cans of corona. Yes, cans, and yes, $8 each. But they also had reps from tons of companies like pioneer, denon, apple, showing off their latest and greatest DJ hardware and software.

Later Wednesday night we hit Suite Lounge to check out Steve Porter, a big house DJ. Besides that mad cash required for miami, the only other thing that sux is getting into the hot spots. Sometimes even being on the list doesn’t guarantee entrance, especially if you’re a guy. Getting their early, paying huge covers, and being on the list will usually work – and it did for porterhouse that night. I must point out that one of the dudes on before porter was really kickass – phillip gold of phil and fluff. Finding new sound like this is one of the many reasons miami was soooo nice.

The night quickly turned into dawn, and then late morning before we slept. Thursday afternoon smacked me in the face with the arrival of the rest of the SF posse – juan, dingdong, stef, j9, jay, tamo, trav, stephan, et al. A few of us hit the palms secluded beach before getting ready for the night. That evening we hit the green gorilla party (SF representin’) at the marlin bar – one of the best vibes of any miami party. We also made our way off of south beach to miami for the Future Sound of Breaks V 4.0 party at Nocturnal (next to Studio A and Space). Cool venue, music was good, but not great. Saw Donald Glaude, Baby Anne + Jen Lasher, among others.

Friday Afternoon was another family affair, hanging out at the Catalina hotel where Tamo and Viajay were spinning. That place had a real nice pool as well as .. how you say.. very miami scenery lounging around the pool area. Later we hit my favorite event of all of miami – The Stanton Warriors at the Betsy Ross Hotel. Dominic (one of the 2 stanton warriors) started spinning in their hotel lobby area with just a handful of booties shakin, but within a few tracks the entire place erupted. Too bad i was too busy dancin’ to take any good pics.

Saturday our retardness started growing roots – with fritz leading the pack. Still, rule number one of the trip was music – so we pressed on. In the afternoon we hit opium garden, a kick ass venue but the music was just begining. We aborted early and hit the beaches, then later walked down collins for some house party. One noteworthy stop was some hotel playin’ solid chicago house – the sound republic. We were a bit too tired to shake it, but hung out for a couple beerz. Later that night we cruised the strip, checking out chevy caprice with 22 inch rims and pick-up trucks with the doors opening straight up delorean-style. Heh.

Sunday woke up at the crack of dawn to meet some peeps at the pawn shop – good crowd, good beats, but only stayed a bit – then hit BED for some SF reuniting. That was trouble – we ended up hanging out at our friends pad on the 28th floor of some apt complex. Later we missed our our flight so we hit up the IO lounge for some more breaks and dnb.

Monday i was broken, but rule number one forced me out for one last rally. Nothing great, we did the usual tour, but the basic nyc party at the beach plaza hotel was a nice way to end the trip. Juan and I slept that night in order to catch our super early flight and work the next day. However, Fritz and Checkoway stayed and powered thru to see danny tenaglia play an amazing 17 hours straight. Well, they actually only caught 13 hours of it – 3am to 4pm tuesday. Damn.

All in all, great trip, but man does my wallet and my liver hurt. Not sure if i could repeat it again, but i’ve said that before. I’m definitely glad i went. Fer shure.