Friday: Left work around 1:00, drove with Lindsey to find Hertz – couldn’t find it for 1/2 hour – turns out it’s at the airport. Go to Hertz counter – they don’t take Check Cards. Try every place (Budget’s rate is $75/day) and wind up @ Dollar (who required a $350 hold on the card which will no-doubt make my life hell this week, and possibly result in overdrafts – ugh). Finally get Lindsey’s car back to her work and hit the road around 3:15 – now two hours later than planned. Miss most of the traffic until upper I-270, then sit through hell and conjestion for most of the next hour. Arrive in Detroit a little after Midnight. Casey meets us there soon before 1:00 to check us in (we got a drink in the mean-time), then headed over to the Sweetwater Tavern (one of my favorite places in Detroit) for a late meal and drinks. Got to bed around 3:00. Got good sleep! Would need it…
Saturday/Sunday: Wandered downstairs to meet Traxx and Casey @ 2:00 to run errands and get food while Lindsey woke up. Wound up not getting any food until 7:00 when we ate @ the Loco Bar & Grill (another of my favorite places in Detroit). The grilled cheese and fries was the only food I got all day… Went back to the hotel and started to work on a bottle of Rum & Coke. Went to the party soon before 11:00. The venue (2030 Grand River) is the old submerge building – a place with tons of musical history. The sound was very echo-y, and people still weren’t showing up. Lindsey went on @ 12, and played a nice set. Unfortunately, there still were very few people although it looked like it might fill up for a while. I got on @ 1:30 and played til 3. Traxx brought a Minidisc recorder and we got discs earlier in the day, so I have a recording of my performance in Detroit! Things were slightly shaky at first, between getting the bass out of the monitors, to cranking them up and adjusting the weight on one of the tunrtables, which skipped and ruined one of my first mixes, but after that it went really well (I think – still need to hear it). I had at least one nasty mix when Cali and Steve were saying goodbye in the middle of an already ill-conceived mix. People were mostly watching T. Linder in the other room for his set – most of the crowd were his freinds, but I made one bartender very happy, and I had a blast. I don’t think I’ve ever put that much of myself into a set, regardless of how the outcome may have been. Anyway.. I can’t wait to hear the set! The bit I heard last night got me excited.
Traxx came on after me, and played 2 1/2 hours of really tight, minimal chicago-y beats with proliferous layers. It was crazy… The cops showed up at 5:30 and closed the party down. We got back to the hotel really late, and didn’t get to bed ’til around 7:30 after hanging with Traxx and his friend Tiny in their room for a while. Great people! Casey called just after we fell asleep, then we woke up @ 11:30. We didn’t really get on the road after breakfast until around 2, so… we just got home @ 11 after returning the rental car and all that. Crazy weekend! Much to do this week…