Just got back from five days in China … our first two nights we were in Shanghai, and then we hopped over to Hong Kong to DJ at our very first Bootie Hong Kong!
Can I just say how much we LOOOOOOVE Hong Kong? Seriously. This was our second gig there, and we while we knew we really liked HK back when we were there in December, we are now in serious LOVE.
We could totally live there.
But in the meantime, we’ll just see if we can keep doing Bootie parties there. We’re shooting for a few times a year, but we’ll see how it goes.
Anyway, it was great seeing some friends while we were over there, including our friend Dean, who lives in Shanghai and convinced us to stop by there on our way to Hong Kong. Dean was one of our earliest supporters, who used to come hear us spin at The Cinch, the trashy little fun neighborhood gay bar down the street from us, where we first got our start DJing back in 2002-2004.
We crammed as much as we could into two nights and one day in Shanghai, including (in order) a gay bar, a foot massage, a few art museums, shopping for cheap knock-offs of bags and watches, the Bund Tourist Tunnel (above), the Chinese Sex Museum (below) …
… and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower (which we loved in all its tacky sci-fi glory). So many skyscrapers here, it’s insane. As Mixmag just wrote, Shanghai is like the “communist version of Blade Runner.”
The next day we took the new high-tech Maglev train (270 mph!) to the new high-tech Pudong airport and jetted off to Hong Kong, where we were put up at the Grand Hyatt, since Bootie HK was being held at JJ’s, the hotel’s nightclub. (Most of the happening nightspots in Hong Kong are in hotels, actually.) We were picked up at the airport by the hotel limo (so rock star!) and once we got settled, we hopped the ferry to Kowloon to dine at Philip Starck’s fancy Felix restaurant. The next day, we hung out with Thierry, aka DJ Beau Toxx, who was instrumental in helping us get our asses to Hong Kong. We went out to dim sum with him and Caroline, then traded MP3s and prepared sets for the night. The Bootie party itself went over great! Mostly an ex-pat crowd (which is what we were expecting) but it was a very eclectic mix of people – a little bit of everybody. Straight, gay, mainstream, indie, young, old … it was soooo Bootie! We were quite pleased! Here are our friends Mark, Noel (who booked us at JJ’s), and Tonio, doing these insane green shots… Really fun DJ sets, an excited dance floor, people clammoring for free mashup CDs, me singing a midnight mashup show, and people even sang along to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer.” Like we said, it was very much a Bootie party! We hope we can come back and do it again!
The next day, we got to go see a matinee of “We Will Rock You,” the stage musical based on the music of Queen, which happened to be playing at the theatre right across the street from our hotel! Readers of this blog will know how disappointed we were that we missed this show when we were in London a few weeks ago … and now here we were, with fate offering us a second chance! It was super cheesy fun, and really reminded us how much we love Queen.
After that, D hung out in our swanky hotel room while I braved the heat and humidity to go up the Peak Tram. Snapped the above photo. Then we hopped the ferry again to Kowloon to watch the “Symphony of Lights” – the nightly 15-minute show that synchronizes a bunch of skyscraper lights and lasers with super-cheesy music. Brilliant! Then we went to the Temple Street Night Market to buy some cheap t-shirts and cheap Chinese food. Notice the sign of the tacky restaurant below? We ate at the “Tak Kee Seafood Restaurant”! China is super excited about the upcoming Olympics. Everywhere you go, there’s Olympic stuff everywhere, including this odd “Adrian-looking” mascot! We flew home to San Francisco the next day, flying out at 8 in the morning on Monday, and getting to San Francisco at … 9:30 Monday morning. I love the mind-fuck of the International Date Line! (But don’t love jet-lag … ugh.)
Next stop: the Bootie LA 3-Year Anniversary Pirate Ball, this Saturday!
You know how it is … you’re on tour, traveling through Europe, and you’re starting to get really good at keeping up with this blogging thing. Then, all of a sudden … it’s over.
You’re on a plane flying back home to the States, where you deliriously throw a Bootie party within hours of landing back in San Francisco, and you wake up the next day and Real Life – not to mention Jet-Lag – just sort of slams you in the face.
Did that European tour even happen?
Of course it did. After all, we’ve got the pictures and video to prove it!
So here we are, two weeks and three Bootie parties later, and we’re finally getting around to posting a little wrap-up.
BOOTIE MUNICH
How great was it to finally get to meet the Bootie Munich crew? Here are these people we had previously never met – we had only communicated with via phone and email – and not only are they doing a Bootie party, but they are doing it extremely well! And this from a bunch of people who have never even BEEN to one of our Bootie parties in the U.S!
Yes, it was fucking weird. But I must say, it was extremely gratifying to be halfway across the world and DJing at a party that we helped create. We felt like proud parents!
Frank and Bootox (above) are the main masterminds behind Bootie Munich, and they were consumate hosts, taking us to the Hofbräuhaus for Bavarian beer, and basically just showing us a great time in Munich. At the Hofbräuhaus, we met a girl from Oakland. We put her on the guest list, and she came to Bootie Munich and had a great time! Random!
DJ Schmolli (below) has long been one of our favorite bootleggers, and we were the ones who first suggested that he should be a resident DJ at Bootie Munich. Every month he drives out from Vienna, Austria to rock the decks, and we were so psyched to finally get to meet him! Speaking of meeting people, this entire trip was so socially intense! We met so many wonderful people. FM24 is one of them – he’s the one on the right: FM24 is a Bavarian mashup fan who took a bunch of great photos and videos in Munich, and also hooked us up with a little touring care package that included tea, mints, and homeopathic medicines, all of which were much appreciated. I’m happy to say that throughout the entire hectic 17-day tour, despite the erratic sleep schedule, jet-lag, and traveling, we never once got sick!
FM24 posted some videos from Bootie Munich – parts of the sound check, the midnight mashup show, and parts of the DJ sets from ourselves, as well as DJs Schmolli, Bootox, and DJ Y alias JY.
We have to say, we LOVED Berlin. We just felt so at home there, and the neighborhood we were staying in – Friedrichshain – was filled with tons of people with colored hair, dreadlocks, and … high-tech pimped out baby strollers! Pimp my stroller! It was weird. It was like a mashup of Noe Valley and Haight Street.
Plus, it was the only remotely affordable city on our tour … the only place where I didn’t feel like I was hemorraging money!
We instantly bonded with DJ Morgoth (aka André) and Alex, our host. The first night we were there, we spun at Mash-Up Your Bootz, a party at a small club that is a converted subway station entrance. Here’s us with Morgoth and Dr. Waumiau: The crowd was one of the most diverse we’d ever seen, and we spun one of our favorite sets EVER. What did we spin? Well … to our surprise, DJ Morgoth is as much of a mashup obsessive as we are, and apparently has an insanely encyclopedic knowledge of bootlegs and mashups. And here we thought we were the only ones! We couldn’t even begin to remember what all we played, and then he shocks us by not only posting our entire set list to GYBO, but also listing all the mashup titles and bootlegger credits!
So here’s what we played in Berlin:
A plus D at Mash-Up Your Bootz: 1. Bootie Intro [A plus D] 2. Rammstein vs. Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock – It Takes Du [SMC] 3. Missy Elliot vs. Metallica – Enter The Bitch [Kurtis Rush] 4. AC/DC vs. Justin Timberlake – Sexy Hell [Divide & Kreate] 5. Rob Base vs. Prince – It Takes Two To Kiss [DJ John] 6. Eurythmics vs. White Stripes – Sweet Dreams Are Made of Seven Nation Army [DJ Poly] 7. Led Zeppelin vs. Snoop Dogg – Drop It Lie It’s A Whole Lotta Love [Party Ben] 8. Kanye West vs. Beethoven vs. Walter Murphy – Beethoven’s Fifth Gold Digger [A plus D] 9. Nine Inch Nails vs. Ace Of Base – She Wants Animals [Tripp] 10. Shaggy vs. Rage Against The Machine – Killing Boombastic [DJ Zebra] 11. Dr.Dre vs. Jet – Are You Gonna Be My Next Episode.mp3 [Cheekyboy] 12. C&C Music Factory vs. Ram Jam – Gonna make Betty sweat [Torero] 13. Gwen Stefani vs. Front 242 – Hollaback Headhunter [A plus D] 14. Benny Benassi vs. Depeche Mode – Satisfaction vs. Master & Servant 15. Rammstein vs. Kelly Clarkson – Since You’ve Been Rosenrot [DJ Schmolli] 16. Iggy Pop vs. Yaz – Don’t Wanna Go [Braces Tower] 17. Jay-Z vs. Nena – 99 Luft Problems [Jay-Zeezer] 18. Nelly Furtado vs. Aerosmith vs. Run-DMC – Promiscuous Walk [A plus D] 19. Daft Punk vs. Queen – Another One Bites Da Funk [Party Ben]
20. Midnight Mashup Show: Smash-Up Derby Live Medley by Adrian consisting of following trackz: Dandy Warhols vs. Soft Cell – Tainted Like You Franz Ferdinand vs. Talking Heads – Talking Franz The White Stripes vs. Eurythmics – Seven Nation Army Dreams Nirvana vs. Michael Jackson – Smells Like Billie Jean Singing on a bar top! 21. L’Trimm vs. Gary Numan vs. The Beatles – My Other Car Is A Beatle [Jay-R] 22. Daft Punk vs. Dead Or Alive vs. Britney Spears vs. Justice – Britney: Dead or Alive [team9] 23. Dead Or Alive vs. Diana Ross – Spin Me Around vs. Upside Down [Shyboy] 24. Lipps Inc. vs. Scissor Sisters – Funky/Gorgous [DJ Spark] 25. Kool & the Gang vs. Ying Yang Twins feat. Pitbull – Celeshake [A plus D] 26. Michael Jackson vs. Justice vs. C&C Music Factory – Justice For Billie Jean [DJ Schmolli] 27. Cher vs. AC/DC – You Believe Me All Night Long [A plus D] 28. Sex Pistols – Anarchy In The UK (DJ Zebra Remix) 29. New Order vs. M.I.A. – $20 Monday [A Plus D] 30. Robyn vs. The Cure – Close To Konichiwa Bitches [A plus D] 31. Amy Winehouse vs. Britney Spears – Detox [King Of Pants] 32. Depeche Mode vs. Madonna – (Just Can’t Get) Enough Music [Tristan Shout] 33. Cheryl Lynn vs. Fat Joe & Nelly – Real Back Poppin’ [DJ Axel] 34. The Gossip vs. Elastica – Standing In The Way of Connection [A plus D] 35. L7 vs. CSS – Pretend We’re Alala [The Illuminoids] 36. Metallica vs. Run-DMC – Tricky Sandman [DJ M.i.F] 37. Eurythmics vs. Lady Sovereign vs. Shiny Grey – Sweet Sovereign [Jay-R] 38. The Supermen Lovers vs. Nirvana – Come As The Starlight [Overdub] 39. Ministry vs. Kelis – Thieveshake [ToToM] 40. Blondie vs. The Doors – Rapture Riders [Go Home Productions] 41. Bee Gees vs. Usher – Stayin’ Yeah [Batchelor Royale] 42. Pink Floyd vs. The BeeGees – Stayin’ Alive In The Wall [Wax Audio] 43. Rolling Stones vs. Queen vs. Nirvana – Sympathy For Teen Spirit [DJ Moule] 44. Blondie vs. Madonna – Call Me Hung Up [A plus D] 45. Missy Elliott vs. The Cure – I’m Really Hot Hot Hot [A plus D] 46. Nirvana vs. Michael Jackson – Smells Like Billie Jean [McSleazy]
See? Incredibly diverse.
DJ Morgoth is coming to the U.S. to spin at Bootie SF and NYC at the end of September. We can’t wait. Mash-Up Your Bootz at Bootie!
You know, we absolutely love it when other mashup parties pop up around the world. Believe it or not, we don’t think that every mashup-themed party should be a Bootie party. We’re not the Borg of mashup clubs.
With that said however, I must say I kinda wish that Morgoth’s party was a Bootie Berlin! He just shares such a similar mind-set and aesthetic when it comes to mashups, and we really dug his eclectic taste and his fun-loving attitude. He’s got the open-minded, up-for-fun Bootie vibe down!
I already blogged extensively about Berlin, so I’m just going to post a few more pix…
The gentrification of East Berlin is underway: Metal is alive and well in Berlin: Obligatory A+D “band photo in front of a chunk of the Berlin Wall: My favorite day of the week: Vodka Day! (pronounced “wodka” in German!) Can you believe these metalheads drink these foofy drinks? BOOTIE COPENHAGEN
The Bootie party in Copenhagen was their first one, and while it was quite small, we still had an absolutely AMAZING time there. Mikkel, aka DJ M.i.F. (pronounced “mif,” apparently, not “em-eye-eff”), and his brother Rasmus (below in pirate gear) were wonderful hosts … and made us feel quite comfortable and at home. In fact, we had our first decent sleep on the tour in Copenhagen! M.i.F.’s promoter partner, Fuller, was a big ball of energy. Is there anything this man has NOT done? He seemingly knew everyone in Denmark, or has at least worked with all of them once. He has his fingers in so many pies, and is definitely the kind of guy you want showing you around Copenhagen! Here’s Fuller and M.i.F. at Bootie CPH: I really wanted to drive across the Oresund Bridge – the long-ass bridge that connects Denmark and Sweden – just to be able to say that I’ve been to Sweden. But instead, a piece of Sweden came to us, in the form of Copycat, one of our favorite bootleggers, and wonderful chap as well! He shares our love and fascination of ’80s music, and he speaks better English than most Americans we know! My only regret about Copenhagen was this: While in Denmark, we were introduced to Fisk, a Danish liquor made with those Fishermen’s Friend mints. We had it in the car right after we were picked up at the airport, we had several shots at Bootie Copenhagen, and we even had some for breakfast the day we left. Mikkel had given us a bottle as a parting gift. But in the airport, we had to open up our luggage to grab some stuff. As we did, the bottle rolled out and shattered on the floor.
However, in hindsite, this might have prevented the bottle breaking INSIDE of D’s suitcase. Despite our best efforts to keep our suitcases within airline carry-on regulation size, they far exceeded carry-on regulation WEIGHT. Therefore, we had to baggage check our luggage every time we flew in Europe. A little scary, but it all worked out.
BOOTIE PARIS
Speaking of luggage, don’t we look cute with our luggage? Notice our suitcases match our hair. Here we are at a fountain in Paris, where Marco, aka DJ ComaR, met us when we first arrived in Paris.
The first time we were in Paris, back in 2006, it was in the middle of November. It was chilly, rainy, and it would start getting dark by 4:30 PM. Our running joke was that all we saw of Paris was the inside of a nightclub. We even did all our sightseeing at night!
So this time, we were determined to actually try to SEE Paris. And the weather could not have been better. Ahh, so THIS is what they mean by “springtime in Paris!” It was BEAUTIFUL. Very romantical. All I wanted to do is walk around holding hands … through the streets, along the Seine, in the park. D was wondering if I had been abducted and replaced by an alternate universe Robo-Adrian. I’m not exactly the most romantical person in the world.
One for me, one for D: Bootie Paris was seriously off the hook. We probably each lost five pounds just sweating during our DJ set in the hotbox that was the basement of La Mechanique. But it was gratifying, with a crowd so vibrant and obviously excited about mashups, singing along and going absolutely CRAZY. TONS OF AWESOME BOOTIE PARIS PHOTOS HERE!
Midnight mashup show in Bootie Paris!
It seemed emblematic of Paris in general – shit is just HAPPENING here! Obviously, with things like Justice, Ed Banger, and Daft Punk going on, Paris is a hotbed of talent. But everywhere you go, you can just sort of feel that there’s an excitement in the air. A lot of creativity and talent in Paris right now, and that feeling rubs off. We were insanely inspired.
Despite our internet addiction, we actually tore ourselves away from the laptop long enough to get some sight-seeing in, which was nice, making up for the last time we were in Paris. We never made it to the Louvre, but as Marco said, “It’s just boring old stuff there.”
We saw Moule at the Centre Pompidou! We got really lucky while in Paris, because Marco’s brother (who lives in the same apartment building) went away on holiday, and he let us have his apartment for two nights! Woo-hoo! We were even able to do laundry, which after nearly two weeks, was desperately needed!
Although what’s the deal with the lack of dryers in Europe? Seems like everyone air dries their clothes. It ranks right up there with the lack of elevators in buildings too. We never walked up so many stairs as we did in Europe!
BLACK BALLOON, MISS-SHAPES, COVER UP – LONDON
Our last four nights on tour were in London, and it was INTENSELY social. We got absolutely no sight-seeing in, because all we did was DJ (three gigs!), shop at Camden Stables Market (only a 7-minute walk away!), and meet people for drinks (we didn’t realize how many people we know in London!)
A store at Camden Stables Market: Each gig in London was dramatically different from the other, and none of them were at mashup parties, which was an interesting change of pace from the rest of Europe.
Although, how ironic is it that the city that’s the birthplace of the modern mashup movement has no real bootleg mashup party? People kept telling us that we should start up a Bootie London – and they’re right, we should – but we would need to partner with the right people, just like we have in Paris, Munich, Copenhagen, and Boston. We couldn’t do it on our own, that’s for sure.
Black Balloon was super stylish and very cool … I very much enjoyed playing a set of mostly electro covers of ’80s songs, with a few mashups thrown in too. Mika, the promoter, is doing a great job, and is definitely coming up fast in the London club scene. It’s no surprise that our old friend Christian from San Francisco is Mika’s flatmate! Birds of a feather!
Miss-Shapes was fun … I already blogged quite a bit about that, how fun it was to spin indie pop mashups for queer indie kids … watching to see if they would “get it” or not.
And Cover Up was a blast too! We were pretty drunk by the time we went on, but it all went really well. Why were we drunk? (Well, why not?) Actually, we were drunk because we had organized a little meet-and-greet with a bunch of friends from the GYBO message board — fellow DJs and bootleggers, all part of our mashup community.
Many we’ve met before (or even had guest DJ at Bootie) but we met some new people too, like Bryan from Flying White Dots and Jez from Celebrity Murder Party and Robb.
Hanging out with Jof and Phil: It was great to catch up with old friends Eric Kleptone, Payroll, Timbearcub, Phil n’ Dog, Ian Fondue, Steve Supercollider, Jof … and Dsico and Ben Jamin earlier in the week. Am I forgetting anyone? And meeting cool new people like Cover Up’s Sam and Charlie. Like I said: INTENSELY SOCIAL!
Last stop on the A+D Drinking Through Europe Tour – 4 AM, London, after-party at Charlie’s apartment WE WENT TO EUROPE AND ALL WE GOT WERE A BUNCH OF T-SHIRTS
Actually, that’s not true at all. Although we did get Bootie Munich and Bootie Paris shirts, as well as Mash-Up Your Bootz shirts. It’s so nice to meet other DJs and club promoters who understand the importance of branding!
No actually, we went to Europe and all we got was a bunch of bonding time with some great people in our mashup/bootleg/DJ/club community. More than anything, it was just so amazing hanging out with and meeting all these people whose work we’ve long admired from afar.
It truly does feel that what we’re doing with mashup culture works on a global level … that music is a universal language, and that it has the power to bond and unite people across culture lines and national borders. We all share a common love of music — and not just music, but the idea of fucking with that music, mashing it up, making it our own, making musical statements and jokes, and then sharing it with the world. We feel so connected with our European mashup community right now!
We just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who hosted us, put us up, fed us lunch, fed us dinner, let us crash in their bed, crash on their floor, gave us a solid internet connection, gave us CDs, gave us t-shirts, picked us up at the airport with beers in hand, made us laugh, let us do laundry, bought us drinks, put up with our horrible attempts at mangling your native language, listened to us bitch about GYBO, let us DJ at their club, and basically showed us a good time.
Last night in London … blogging while an after-party rages around me, as our host Charlie forces everyone to play “Cosmic Choice,” the game where you unwittingly pick out songs from his record collection, which he then plays for you on his DJ set-up in his lovely apartment, filled with really cool framed graphic prints, like this one: Anyway, TOP NIGHT! But before it was night, we ended up meeting with Brighton’s bootleg talent, Eric Kleptone of The Kleptones, and Bryan from Flying White Dots, in the park across from the venue, on one of the sunniest, warmest days ever in London: We arranged a little GYBO meet-and-greet at a local pub with several of our UK bootlegger community… here’s Jof and Ian Fondue: Robb, Ian Fondue, Eric Kleptone, & Adrian: Adrian, Ian Dog, Steve Supercollider, and Jof: A + Payroll + D A + Jez of Celebrity Murder Party + D Our host for the night, Charlie! This girl loved us… Damn, dance floor till the end of the night! More … much much more … coming later … but right now, we’ve got to get our asses on a plane to go back to San Francisco!
Our DJ gigs and social itinerary (and, let’s face it, the shopping in Camden) are keeping us so busy here in London, that we’re not getting any sightseeing done. All I wanted to do was ride the London Eye (giant ferris wheel on the Thames) and go to the Tate Modern art museum. But noooooo! We’ve got to WORK!
So it’s our second full day in London … and if we weren’t so busy, this is what we’d be doing: I’ve heard it’s completely cheesy, but we’ve always wanted to see the sci-fi rock musical “We Will Rock You” … featuring the music of Queen!
Although, maybe it’s for the best… seeing it here in London would be twice as expensive as seeing it in the States! So instead of catching a show in Soho, we caught up with Tim Baker, aka TBC, producer of the long-running Radio Clash podcast, which features tons of mashups. We had a lovely dinner, then popped on over to The Duck & Dog Pub to meet up with a legend of the early mashup scene … former bootlegger from Sydney, Australia … DSICO! Here he is with TBC: Yes, Dsico is alive and well and living in London! Dsico was the mashup producer who first coined the phrase “mashups are dead” way back in 2003. He was also our first international guest DJ to play at Bootie way back in February 2004 — after which, he promptly dropped out of the mashup scene entirely.
It was great seeing them, and it was fun bringing two icons of mashup culture (at least in our minds) together for a few informal beers out in the streets of Soho.
We were careful not to get as drunk as the previous night, and headed over to The Ghetto for our guest DJ set at Miss-Shapes. We met Sandra, the DJ/promoter of the night, and we have to say, she is easily one of the nicest club people we’ve ever met. They don’t book guest DJs at Miss-Shapes hardly ever, so she was taking a chance in doing a last-minute booking of a couple of freaky mashup DJs from America. But she liked what she heard on our A plus D website, and the other resident DJ took the night off, so there we were, spinning a mostly indie mashup set for a REALLY fun, up-for-it crowd of cool dykes and fags. It’s always hard playing a mostly mashup set for a crowd not used to it, but for the most part, it really worked out.
We really want to thank Sandra for booking us … it was such a blast to come back to a party we loved two years ago … and then return there to DJ it. Here we are at the end of the night … we’re the guest DJs! Next stop … our last gig of the tour at Cover Up!
The running joke has been that we saved the best for last. Ah, London! We felt at home the minute we got here. And not just because everyone speaks English!
Although I must admit, after two weeks of traveling in Germany, Denmark, and France, it’s quite a relief to be in a place where we can speak the language. Although some of the British accents are so thick, they might as well be speaking French! Still, D no longer has to try to speak slowly (a near impossibility for her), and I don’t have to try to formulate everything into simple sentences.
The main reason we felt so much “at home” is because we’re staying with our old San Francisco friend (and fantastic stylist) Christian, who moved to London about a year-and-a-half ago. His flatmate, Mika, was in San Francisco a few weeks ago, and really enjoyed my electro covers set in the upstairs lounge at Bootie. So he booked us for a gig at Black Balloon, completely unaware that we were even friends with Christian. It was quite funny when Mika found out we were staying at their flat! Birds of a feather …. we are amongst “our people.”
Here we are with Christian (left) and Mika (right): After an insanely-expensive meal at a lovely Indian restauraunt (damn that horrible dollar-to-pound conversion rate — everything is twice as expensive!) we somehow ended up at a tragic karaoke night. But hey, the drinks were cheap, and that nearly made it worth it. Of course, I had to belt out a couple tunes — after a good rendition of “Tainted Love,” a massacred Pat Benatar’s “Heartbreaker” in Christian’s honor. Our first night in London was a mellow affair … the calm before the storm, so to speak. Christian and Mika live in Camden, which worked out GREAT for us, because our favorite shopping pilgramage — the Camden Stables Market — is only a 10 minute walk away. The last time I was here, I spent something like $900 USD on clothes.
This time, I didn’t do TOO MUCH damage to my credit card. I’ve discovered that I’ve outgrown Cyberdog. I used to love the clothes, but I’ve always hated the music — and shopping in their store is a headache-inducing experience, as they blast the most annoying rave at top volume. I probably would have spent more money in their shop had I not wanted to get the fuck out of there as fast as I could. Definitely not somewhere one should shop with a hangover.
However, I absolutely adore Spank — and I so wish they sold their clothes at shops in the U.S. Definitely my favorite designer in Camden … their clothes are SO me. Oh, Spank, I missed you! We met up with Sam, the promoter of Cover Up, the party we’re spinning at on Friday. He’s primarily the one who got our asses to London. We traded club stories and he gave us flyers … nice guy. Shares many of the same party philosophies we have (which is, basically, in a nut-shell — make sure your party is fun!) We’re staying a couple blocks away from Amy Winehouse’s house! There’s always a few paparazzi hanging out there: Before our gig in Soho at Black Balloon, we met up with DJ Ben Jamin, who was a guest DJ at Bootie last year. We adore him. He invited us to a party at Barcode, where there were free drinks — and cocktails are so damn expensive in London, that when there’s a party with free booze from 6-9 pm, you GO! In fact, you go and drink as many of them as you can before 9 o’clock. I wish I had photos from our gig at Black Balloon, because it was a very cool, very dressed-up crowd. But it was so cool, I didn’t want to look like a bloody tourist taking pictures of all the freaks. And then when we were DJing, I was so busy trying to find just the right cool electro cover/remix/bootleg that I just completely forgot to snap any pix. There was a photographer there however, so hopefully, there will be some pix soon!
The Arc de Triomph! Had no idea you can up inside of it and stand on top for an excellent view of Paris! More stairs! We’ve been walking up so many damn stairs in Europe. No elevators! This would never fly in America…. A+D and the Eiffel Tower in the distance, from the top of Arc de Triomph. Space Invader tile on a wall in Paris We LOVE the Paris Metro … so easy to get around … way better than New York’s subway, that’s for sure Instead of the Louvre, we went to the Centre Pompidou … we love modern art … all the inards of the building are on the outside … this was “shocking” and “avant-garde” back in the ’70s when it was built. Now it just looks sort of janky (but I still like it)Insanely minimalist art … this like an art joke, right? Three canvasses, all painted white. Took this photo for DJ Dada … get it? Marcel Duchampe’s famous “ready-made” art — the urinal. Our hard drives are in a modern art museum! We own half the hard drives in this photo! Right before we left Paris, we squeezed in a trip to Les Catacombes with Jam… Back in the 1700s, the cemetaries in Paris were taking up too much valuable real estate, so the moved all the bodies and bones underground… Creeptastic! It’s still the A+D Drinking Their Way Through Europe tour! Haven’t gone one day in Europe without some booze … but the drinks are kinda small here in France … check out the size of our hands in relation to the glasses! We took the Eurostar to London yesterday afternoon … just as expensive as a plane ticket but WAY more convenient (and takes even less time, when you factor all the travel time getting to and from the airport). Highly-recommended!
D and I were having major flashbacks to Bootie SF when we used to be at the Cherry Bar. It was a super-fun, tight-knit scene, obviously a bunch of regular mashup fans, but also many curious first-timers as well.
The downstairs dance room was a hot, sweltering sauna, with the walls dripping — just like Cherry Bar used to be. And upstairs, it was a French bootlegger convention! If a meteor were to strike La Mechanique Ondulatoire that night, it would have wiped out nearly the entire French mashup scene: DJs Comar, Zebra, Totom, Reno, LeClown, Sebwax, Phatbastard, Grandpamini, Mighty Mike … am I forgetting anyone?
We are sooooo proud of Comar and his co-promoter Jam, who have worked so hard to make the Bootie Paris party a reality. The crowd was super into it, jumping up and down, singing along. WOW.
It was just one of those magical sets where even technical problems became assets — for example, we weren’t sure how we were going to transition out of Lobsterdust’s “Disco Rump Chant” … and then the sound cut out due to a faulty cable. Perfect! The crowd was there, screaming their support … and when we kicked the set back in with “Celeshake” the place erupted. We love it when a sound fuck-up makes our set better!
Here are some pix:
In the afternoon, we met DJ LeClown, and The A+D “Gettin’ Drunk in Europe” Tour continued! BTW, each of these biers is $12. Ouch! We hate the euro to dollar exchange rate! Comar and Mysterious D at sound check, playing with his new Pioneer CDJ-400s which are soooooo sweeeeet! D couldn’t stop playing with the beat stutter effect (or whatever it is) and you know how I LOVE my flanger “wah” effect! We really want to trade in our old pair of Pioneer 800s for these! Loved meeting bootlegger Totom and midnight mashup show star Grandpamini! The midnight mashup show particularly rocked … hot, sweaty rock ‘n’ roll madness! Comar and D, wearing the famous “Grandpamini glasses”Frank from Bootie Munich came to Bootie Paris! Here he is with his Parisian counterpart, Jam! Comar & Jam are the Bootox & Frank, and vice versa. Even before we met them, we knew we had to get the Bootie Paris and Munich boys together, and ever since they met a few months ago, they’ve been exchanging trade secrets ever since. We heart DJ Reno — one of the most energetic DJs we’ve ever met … and he knows just what to do to get the crowd fired up! Drunk shot at the end of the party: Zebra, Reno, Adrian, Frank, and Grandpamini on the bottom. Woo-hoo!
Bootie Paris on the streets of Bastille everywhere! Our Bootie Paris partners are doing their work! Comar and Jam, the masterminds of Bootie Paris — so happy to have finally met Jam! We love him … so charming…The beers are smaller in France … as Comar said: “You’re not in Germany anymore!”
This is what we woke up to on Thursday morning … Danish! Mikkel and his brother Rasmus are fucking with us, aren’t they? We LOVED meeting Copycat from Sweden, one of our favorite mashup artists In the park for the May Day festivities, promoting for Bootie Copenhagen DJ M.i.F. helping D out with the “Drinking Through Europe” tour Here we are, posing in the tiny DJ booth at Bootie Copenhagen Mikkel (DJ M.i.F.) and Fuller were AMAZING hosts … made us feel SOOOO WELCOME in Denmark!
More pix and more detailed reports coming later … but we’re in France right now — Bootie Paris is tonight! And we want to get our asses out the door to enjoy “Paris in the spring!” The weather here is awesome!
Well aren’t we excited? We just found out we’ll be doing a guest DJ set at the original Miss-Shapes party at The Ghetto in London — the club that eventually inspired New York’s own Misshapes party!
We actually were at Miss-Shapes two years ago, when we were in London last. Here’s what I wrote about it in my blog back then:
“It was a fun party … lots of girls with fauxhawks, very indie-queer, yet still mixed with some gay boys and straights. The DJs played a fun mix of indie/pop party tunes, and I must say, it’s really weird to see an entire club of hipsters singing along to Kelly Clarkson and Gwen Stefani. (American kitzch? Sometimes, it’s hard the tell the difference between irony and genuine adoration.)
I went up to the DJ booth to introduce myself and give them an A+D CD. To my shock, the DJ says, “I know who you are!” Then she opens the CD, looks at the track listing, and tell me that she plays “Decepta-Freak-On” and “An Honest M.I.A.” along with a few others. WOW. Two songs later, she drops our Le Tigre vs. Missy mashup, and I gotta say, it’s awfully gratifying to be halfway around the world at a hip London nightclub, and to hear your mashup spun for a packed dance floor.”
And now we get to DJ there … woo-hoo! THURSDAY, 8 MAY – LONDON, UK MISS-SHAPES UK, The Ghetto. Guest DJ set at the original and best Misshapes party in Soho! 5-6 Falconberg Court, behind the Astoria, Soho, London
We got some CULCHA the minute we hit Denmark … Mikkel and Fuller picked us up from the airport and took us immediately to the Arken … the Modern Art Museum in Copenhagen … very cool! DJ M.i.F. in an A+D sandwich I can’t fucking believe we got dragged to Ikea within hours of being in Scandinavia! We thought it was a joke, but Fuller really needed to buy a minimalist shelf RIGHT THEN AND THERE! Copenhagen … such a beautiful city… Hijinx in Copenhagen! Insert your own sexual innuendo-filled caption in the comments field below… too delirious to be funny… Can you believe there’s an amusement park SMACK DAB in the middle of Copenhagen? Right across from the City Hall, actually. It’s BRILLIANT. It’s called Tivoli, and of course, we HAD to go. Here’s Fuller and Mikkel in the bumper cars:
D is a total wuss, and as we found out … she HATES roller coasters… but she’s okay on bumper cars…
Best quote of the night: “I just wanted a relaxing chill night, and now I’m on a roller coaster.” — Mysterious D at Tivoli
The A+D Drinking Our Way Through Europe Tour continues! This is a bar with sand on the floor … our last drinking stop in Berlin… These are the stairs we walked up every day … no elevators in East Berlin! Alex, Nico, and Morgoth! New Berlin friends! (And they all love rock and metal!) The “Berlin Bootie Office” … there’s free WiFi everywhere in Berlin … we love Friedrichshain, the neighborhood we stayed in Berlin … felt very much like home! The newly renovated Reichstag, with the clear dome in the middle (to signify Germany’s more open government) … the line was too long to go up and see it, but we snapped this shot as we took a taxi to the airport (because the bus drivers were on strike the day we wanted to leave! DOH!) International jet-set DJs! (The poverty jet-set, actually)
I’m sitting here at an outdoor cafe with wireless in Berlin … it’s after midnight, and D is still suffering from jet-lag so she’s already in bed … but for some reason, she and I have traded places — ever since I’ve gotten to Europe, I’ve been able to drink MORE than her! WTF?
So I’m still awake, ready to rock, drinking a hefeweisen, checking email, and listening to the Bootie SF webcast from the DNA Lounge website. It’s our version of a baby monitor … listening in to make sure everything went okay. We’ve been so worried about our baby — especially since we haven’t had internet for the past day or so. We keep making references to the recent “South Park” episode — “No internet? Noooooooooo!” Even our new Berlin friends get the reference!
I’m happy to report that Bootie SF sounds like it rocked … from Ya-Ya’s reassuring text message, to the recent Yelp.com review, and now, the webcast … it all sounds like it was a great party. Even without us!
Gotta admit though, it’s fucking weird.
Anyway, back to Europe. After all, we’re nine hours ahead! Ich bin ein Munich-er
Been hearing about this Time magazine cover on GYBO and via email, and now we found it while sightseeing in Berlin! Yay! Recognize the Bootie reference in the below photo? Been loving the cool Ikea-like, perfectly designed toilet fixtures in Germany. They don’t look like this in the USA: Bootie Munich was great! Good party … and SOOOOO weird to, uh … see your own party — your own creation — take on a life of its own, halfway around the world! D and I sat there and watched and listened to BootOX and Schmolli spin very Bootie-style sets — but with a German flair. They kicked ass! So proud… We opened our set with the midnight mashup show — me singing a Smash-Up Derby medley live, karaoke-style, with BootOX and Frank dressed like bunny rabbits in suits, playing “guitar.” It actually was awesome … I had a wireless microphone, so I was able to run around the club a little bit. Some really great photos HERE!
We started our set with the Bootie intro, then we had a little CD deck hiccup, so I got on the mic and said, “Ich bin ein Munich-er,” which everyone laughed at. At the time, I thought I made a funny JFK reference, but the next day, I found out that Alex and Frank were cracking up over the way I mangled the Deutche language … it’s “Münchener” NOT “Munich-er” — which is apparently like saying “Germany-er.” DOH! Okay, now it’s a funny inside joke for all the Bootie Munich people. I’m sure they’ll be quoting me for months…
We had a very good set, but … BootOX and Schmolli and DJ Y alias JY played so well before us, stealing at least half of either the instrumentals or acapellas that we wanted to play, that it felt a little rough going into it. We now know what if feels like for other guest DJs to play at Bootie SF. They obviously were trying to show us how great they can rock the crowd — and they obviously know their crowd better than we do. Just like we do in SF, LA, and NYC. We almost always play better for the Bootie crowd than our guest DJs, and now we know what it feels like to be on the other side. Karma’s a bitch!
Here’s one of us with the Bootie Munich crew: Frank, BootOX, and Schmolli: With 14 people sleeping at the Bootie Munich headquarters, it’s not surprising that we woke up early… no infamous sausages breakfast, but it was great to talk to everyone a little bit more sober than the night before! We heart DJ Schmolli so much, and am so glad he’s a resident DJ at Bootie Munich. We made him play Rammstein vs. Kelly Clarkson for us at the party the night before!
Despite rumors to the contrary, Frank and Alex were excellent at getting us to the airport on time. Which brings us to…
Ich bin ein Berliner
DJ Morgoth and his friend Alex picked us up at the Berlin airport, and despite our delirium, we were ready to drink beer in the car on the way into Berlin. You can drink beer in the car? Fuck yeah, we LOVE this country!
Alex gave us the driving tour through the middle of Berlin, we got settled, changed into our new Mash-Up Your Bootz tshirts, and went to the U5 club…
It was a smaller party than Munich but … DAMN. We had a FUCKING GREAT TIME. We loved meeting Dr. Waumiau — his name means “bark” and “meow” (I guess dogs go “vow!” in German!) Our set was just ON POINT for some reason. We had probably one of our most favorite sets EVER … maybe even better than Burning Man. I’m not sure why, but D and I were just like sharing the same mind, and got to play such a WIDE range … we started off with “It Takes Du” — Eric B. & Rakim vs. Rammstein — and went very industrial, then metal, then 80s, then … I don’t even know where … it just flowed from genre to genre, pleasing all the different people there — a mix of Australian metalheads, indie chicks, gay skinheads, hip-hop kids, and … I don’t know, just cool Berliners… only 25-30 people on the dance floor, but they all loved it and DID NOT LEAVE during our entire set.
We even pulled a midnight mashup show (at 1:15 AM) out of our ass… I stood on the bar and sang, scaring the gay skinhead in the corner, and probably never having so many people take my picture at once. (pictures coming soon… can’t take pictures of myself while I’m singing!)
Mysterious D was seriously in the zone… and then when DJ Morgoth went on after us, he spun a super Bootie-style set, and we played “Name That Bootlegger.” Totally fun! And we are super in love with Morgoth’s “BlurDemmi” mashup, which mashes up “Song 2″ (whoo-hoo!) with the German rap of Deichkind (yippee yippee yeah!). So good he and Alex got a free trip to the Jack Daniels distillery in Tennessee out of it! Here’s Morgoth and Alex: It’s the A+D Drinking Our Way Through Europe Tour!
The next day, we were obviously exhausted. We slept until 4 PM, not even realizing it. FUCK! Jet-lag is a bitch.
We didn’t even take showers, we were so eager to hit Berlin. We went out drinking with Alex and Morgoth, doing a bar-crawl through the very cool neighborhood of Friedrichshain (easier to spell than to say) and ate even more food that is… BREAD & CHEESE!
(Seems like all we’ve eaten since coming to Germany is bread and cheese … and, oh yeah, some vegetables.)
Here are some pics:
Morgoth: Me and Rob Halford (or at least a giant fiberglass statue of him) The end of the night (note: this is only ONE of the bars we went to) Today, we actually got our asses up… D was awake at 8:30 AM … hurray for jet-lag! She woke me up an hour later, we grabbed some breakfast at Intimes (where I am right now), a great bar/cafe on the corner with free WiFi, hooked up with Alex, and then he took us on a 5-hour tour of Berlin.
We really wanted to see some pieces of the Berlin Wall, so our first stop was the East Side Gallery, a section of the wall that was painted by artists. I’m surprised they don’t have artists paint fresh murals every year, but Alex told us that they might tear it all down… which to us would be a shame … it’s such an important (and strangely unique) historical reminder.
Fancy tower!
Anyone who knows me knows that I have a fascination with tall towers (sure, go ahead and read what you want into that, Freud) so our next stop was the Fernsehturm — otherwise known as the “TV Tower” since I couldn’t ever get the pronunciation correct until I realized it kinda sounded like “fancy term” … otherwise known as … FANCY TOWER!
It was 8 euro to go to the top … that’s $12 for those keeping track of how crappy the American dollar is right now … but hey, when would we ever get the chance again to go to the top of a landmark built primarily to show Western society (i.e. West Berlin) the strength and enduring legacy of socialist government?
We walked down the Unter den Linden, looking at several big buildings and statues, making our way to the Brandenburg Tor (Gate). Then we went all “stupid American tourist”, and made a very patient Alex take us to Checkpoint Charlie, where we shamelessly made him take our photos in front of the (fake) military sign and a chunk of the (real) Berlin Wall. Then our feet were tired.
Bitch, bitte!
Later, we met up with Morgoth and some of their friends, and had several rounds of drinks in Prenzlauer Berg … big foofy vodka drinks because … it was VODKA DAY! Pronounced “wodka” or “vodka” depending… Great conversations with new German friends and then somehow… I said, “Bitch, bitte!” to D and she freaked out because she had thought the same thing earlier, but didn’t say it because… let’s face it, “bitch, please!” does NOT translate very well into German. Okay, some more pics… I’m taking some Tylenol PM and going to bed… More pics here: http://www.bootieusa.com/europe/europe.html
You can run, but you can’t hide from it. I fought it, and was up by noon. D woke up at … 3 pm. Of course, Alex and Frank’s flatmate who was hammering his wall at 10 AM did not help. Ugh. “Bitte, nein hammer!”
Saw barely any sunlight today, but enough to get this very Munich photos. Everything looks like this in Munich: To quote Alex: “SERIOUSLY!!!” Okay, not really. But it’s soooooo the way Germany looks by way of Disneyland. That Oktoberfest beer garden at Great America theme park? Looks just like the Hofbrauhaus. Seriously.
Checked out the NY.Club tonight, where we are DJing tomorrow… I think it’s gonna be good! They were playing a lot of the same kind of music we play (but not mashed up) and the crowd is a mix of gay and straight. Perfect!
I wanna mashup the Disco Boys… it’s an English-language big hit here, but I’d never heard it before… but I just know Kelly Clarkson’s Since U Been Gone would work over it!
In five hours, we will be on a plane, headed for Munich, Germany – the first stop on our 17-day (although it will probably mostly feel like 17-nights) EUROPEAN TOUR!
• Six gigs • Five cities • Four carry-on bags • Three Bootie parties • Two stressed-out DJs • One $113 A+D flag
Yup, got our own flag made for the tour. Now it’s official.
We flew home from Bootie New York on Saturday, so we would have an extra 2-1/2 days to pack and prepare for this tour. We’ve been a little stressed out, but overall, we’re holding up okay! Here’s some shots of our preparations:
To-Do Lists coming out our ass!
135 A+D CDs!
Travelling and touring is always a whirlwind, but we’re going to do our best to keep this blog updated over the course of our travels. Some keep checking in with us!
First stop: Munich! There’s some Bavarian beer with our names on it, just waiting for us!
FRIDAY, 25 APRIL 25 – MUNICH, GERMANY BOOTIE MUNICH, NY.Club. We finally play our own party in Germany! Sonnenstrasse 25 80331, Munich, Germany
SATURDAY, 26 APRIL – BERLIN, GERMANY MASH-UP YOUR BOOTZ , U5 Club. Guest set at Berlin’s mashup party. U5 Club, Frankfurter Tor 9, Berlin, Germany
THURSDAY, 1 MAY – COPENHAGEN, DENMARK BOOTIE COPENHAGEN, Spirit. A one-off with DJ M.i.F., it’s our first Bootie party in Scandanavia! Skindergade 20 KLD, Copenhagen. 22.00-04.00.
SATURDAY, 3 MAY – PARIS, FRANCE BOOTIE PARIS,La Mecanique Ondulatorie. We finally play our own party in Paris! La Mecanique Ondulatoire, 8 Passage Thiere, Paris
WEDNESDAY, 7 MAY – LONDON, UK BLACK BALLOON, Punk. A guest set of a morbid mashup of electro and indie. 14 Soho Street, Soho, London THURSDAY, 8 MAY – LONDON, UK MISS-SHAPES UK, The Ghetto. Guest DJ set at the original and best Misshapes party in Soho! 5-6 Falconberg Court, behind the Astoria, Soho, London
FRIDAY, 9 MAY – LONDON, UK COVER UP, Ginglik. New party celebrating cover versions and mashups of songs! 1 Shepherds Bush Green, London
Can I just say how much we LOOOOOOVE Hong Kong? Seriously. This was our second gig there, and we while we knew we really liked HK back when we were there in December, we are now in serious LOVE.
We could totally live there.
Anyway, it was great seeing some friends while we were over there, including our friend Dean, who lives in Shanghai and convinced us to stop by there on our way to Hong Kong. Dean was one of our earliest supporters, who used to come hear us spin at The Cinch, the trashy little fun neighborhood gay bar down the street from us, where we first got our start DJing back in 2002-2004.
We crammed as much as we could into two nights and one day in Shanghai, including (in order) a gay bar, a foot massage, a few art museums, shopping for cheap knock-offs of bags and watches, the Bund Tourist Tunnel (above), the Chinese Sex Museum (below) …
… and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower (which we loved in all its tacky sci-fi glory). So many skyscrapers here, it’s insane. As Mixmag just wrote, Shanghai is like the “communist version of Blade Runner.”
The Bootie party itself went over great! Mostly an ex-pat crowd (which is what we were expecting) but it was a very eclectic mix of people – a little bit of everybody. Straight, gay, mainstream, indie, young, old … it was soooo Bootie! We were quite pleased! Here are our friends Mark, Noel (who booked us at JJ’s), and Tonio, doing these insane green shots…
Really fun DJ sets, an excited dance floor, people clammoring for free mashup CDs, me singing a midnight mashup show, and people even sang along to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer.”
Like we said, it was very much a Bootie party! We hope we can come back and do it again!
The next day, we got to go see a matinee of “We Will Rock You,” the stage musical based on the music of Queen, which happened to be playing at the theatre right across the street from our hotel! Readers of this blog will know how disappointed we were that we missed this show when we were in London a few weeks ago … and now here we were, with fate offering us a second chance! It was super cheesy fun, and really reminded us how much we love Queen.
After that, D hung out in our swanky hotel room while I braved the heat and humidity to go up the Peak Tram. Snapped the above photo. Then we hopped the ferry again to Kowloon to watch the “Symphony of Lights” – the nightly 15-minute show that synchronizes a bunch of skyscraper lights and lasers with super-cheesy music. Brilliant!
Then we went to the Temple Street Night Market to buy some cheap t-shirts and cheap Chinese food. Notice the sign of the tacky restaurant below? We ate at the “Tak Kee Seafood Restaurant”!
China is super excited about the upcoming Olympics. Everywhere you go, there’s Olympic stuff everywhere, including this odd “Adrian-looking” mascot!
