I was fortunate to wake up this morning to a comment from a reader that read:
I like reading your posts and often you do cover some good parties from time to time. I am just wondering how you can give so much credit to clubs you have never been to? I live in LA and have been to these parties which I can tell you are mostly a yawn unless there are some headliners in the house.
I just can't tell which parties in other parts of the US are actually good events when you post them and which ones are just some regular bar with some newbie blog DJ who is cramming the same shitty Teenagers or Klaxons remixes down our throats.
You remind me of Wal-Mart of blogs, where everyone gets a chance and everything is cool. Where do you draw the line and start choosing quality over quantity?
Maybe some live content from these "clubs" you support or interviews with the promoters or DJs that are actually playing these parties would be nice and we can learn a thing or two about the nights.
My RSS reader is getting tired....
Ahh, the joys of the Internet, insults from the pseudonymous. I am glad to have a new headline for the myspace profile: the Walmart of blogs! I love it, I see a branding opportunity! Yeah!
Let me take the time to answer some of the questions here, in spite of the insults. How? How do I choose the parties to list? There's not really much of a formula, to be honest. I don't really consider this the definitive website for people looking to know what's going on in their city on a given night. I research, I hear from people through email and myspace, I check to see who is spinning as guests with people I know and respect. I have friends and connections in the cities I post about, they tell me what to look for and who are the people putting the time in to make the scene better. Lots of the DJs I mention send me their mixes or have them online and I'm able to tell when someone has similar tastes in music and/or put me up on new stuff and/or blows me away with their style.
Why? Why do I do this? My main goal, as I stated when I first started posting up fliers, was to help spread the word about friend's parties and parties that featured DJs I like or venues that I enjoyed going to. I'd much rather spread the word about a small party featuring up-and- coming DJs than hype up some "headliner." Those DJs are doing fine, they have PR firms and labels behind them, they make real money for their time and, to be honest, they come and go. It's the dudes and girls putting on the weeklies and the monthlies at the "regular bars" and clubs that make a city a city; they're the ones holding it down, giving people like me and you something to do every single night of the week, staying on the grind, trying to make something good out of nothing. It's fucking hard to put on a party and if I can help make it a little easier for someone, then that makes me happy and makes reading obnoxious comments tolerable.
What? What do I try to do with each party post? I try to give a good mix of small, medium and large events which reflect the music I love in big cities. I could have made this a Philly and NYC-only thing, but I didn't want to, I wanted to avoid the whole East Coast snob thing because it's not fun. I could have put up a single event, but I love to move around and check out as much as possible. I try to bridge as many scenes as possible, as I like it when people mix and music mixes and parties mutate.
Does it mean that every party listed is a rager? No, it doesn't. Sorry, that's just the way the world works. Some nights a DJ is off, some nights the crowd sucks, filled with people standing around, more concerned with making faces at hearing "the same shitty Teenagers or Klaxons remixes" and letting everyone know how shitty the party is, sometimes the whole thing's a mess. Sometimes good DJs throw a party at a shitty place; should I not mention that party? What if that venue just needed a cool party to make it a place to go? Is there a formula I should know about?
Vinylhustla, I suggest you check out this URL: blogger.com. Since I'm "Wal-Mart of blogs," sign up and show us how it's done. I ain't scared, my ISS reader will be fine. Or even better, name names. Tell us who you are and what parties suck and why and those people can respond.
For everyone else, I'm all ears if you have thoughts on a particular party or scene or city, if you think I'm wrong about something or missing out. I've enjoyed this aspect of the site and love to hear from new people, promoters, parties, cities, countries. I'm gonna continue to keep things as they are, a mixture of the regulars, some one-time only big events, covering as much ground as we can and giving as much exposure as possible to the people making things happen.
5 comments:
Don't pay any attention to this guy - he's the reason that 'East Coast Snobs' like myself become this way. He's a perfect example of a lazy young consumer who just wants a guaranteed 'party' without putting any time and effort into exploring a city, making connections with the DJs and promoters his damn self to learn what's what, what's important, and how to get into things to help support the people that make cities better.
And I'll go ahead and say it, that's exactly what Philly/post-NYC heads like myself expect from the West Coast area. Vegas, LA - full of vacuos, boring ass kids waiting for Steve Aoki to carry them by the hand to next velvet roped, Cobrasnake documented event. I came East because it felt like the rest of the country was already lost to people like him, and if that makes me a snob then I'll embrace the title whole-heartedly. Of course exceptions exist - the Bay Area is real, the Midwest is real - but personally I take offense that a guy like this can use your blog to come east and know about the parties here that he doesn't belong at. All the great Philly parties that have been built up over the years would be ruined if lazy people like him started showing up en masse. I respect that at least you're not giving up on the western US like I have and are trying to carve out some movement as to what's going on out there.
Forgot this 'In-N-Out' kid, this blog is more Rita's than Wal-Mart anyday...
Dude -- your blog is rockin'! Fuck that anonymous dude. He's knows not of what he speaks. On a personal note I'm just glad you haven't posted Ugly Edits Vol. 3 yet (or have you?) b/c I just ordered the record! :)
Keep on shining.
Dude -- your blog is rockin'! Fuck that anonymous dude. He's knows not of what he speaks. On a personal note I'm just glad you haven't posted Ugly Edits Vol. 3 yet (or have you?) b/c I just ordered the record! :)
Keep on shining.
First off Jack, I'll tell ya this: Everyone's a frickin' critic. And like they say, opinions are like assholes - everyone's got one.
Having said that, my opinion is:
Just keep doing what you're doing!
First of all, there's no way in hell for you to know - first-hand - if parties or DJs all over the country are great, shitty, all hype, underattended or any of the above etc.
The fact that you TAKE THE TIME to round up all the info and flyers, to give people CHOICES about their nightlife, is AWESOME. Most blogs only cover a very small clique of parties and clubs in their own zip code etc.
What Vinylhustla needs to remember is that the truly shitty DJs don't keep getting gigs after awhile. Thus, the real stars and hard-workers of any scene have their names popping up continually - because they're obviously doing something RIGHT and there's crowds at their events to prove that. And in all honesty, you know your shit and know who's getting the crowds.
But, VH did have one good suggestion:
Run some short Q & A's once in awhile with the Club DJ/promoter peeps you mention. It would be cool to hear how they describe the crowd demos, their top 5 new tracks etc. No life-story shit, just the simple ABC's of what makes their particular party jump.
Sorry for the long rant - but credit to you, man. Keep at it!
boo hoo. his rss reader is tired! give me a break. here's an idea; start your own fucking night if you're such an awesome dj, with the best taste in music, who knows people at the best clubs to throw parties at, who can fill them consistently. and then write about it in your own blog. what a tool.
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