Johnny Is a Man / And He's Bigger Than You

: Name: John; Location: Long Beach, California, United States

Music Geek - Rock & Roll Jeopardy Champ Certified!

Poop Culture

Visit my other blog, Lost in the '80s - do it now, dammit!
stereogum
goldenfiddle
adpulp
bigaction
whatevs

Friday, January 13, 2006

Have You Blown Arnold?

• After his stellar performance all this week on the new Howard Stern show, and his run-in with "Governor Schwartznegger," one has to wonder if George "Sulu" Takei is behind ~~this.~~EDIT: The posting's been pulled now - basically it was a call for anyone who "had blown Arnold Schwartznegger or had any homosexual activity with the Governor" to come forward for an upcoming film documentary.

• Are you tweaking tonight? Elvis can relate.

• No sooner do I get excited about the new Doctor Who finally coming to the U.S. via DVD, than word comes down that they've been delayed until July. But there's a good reason, since Sci Fi has finally picked the show up.

• Why did the Matrix sequels suck? Maybe because Larry Wachowski was too busy crossdressing, being beaten by his dominatrix, and basically being a fre-zeak.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Have You Heard Me?

CD insert from my audition mix, created by me in 1998 - click for fullsize version to print out

In 1998, I got my first high profile DJing gigs - actually, two at the same time. A longtime friend of mine was opening a new alternative/goth/dance club (the nights rotated), and I was the first person he thought of to DJ. By a weird coincidence, I had somehow decided that The Grid, Cleveland's premier gay club at the time, needed a new Friday night DJ (call it hubris). So, I got myself a couple of decks, a cheap mixer, a preamp, and plugged the whole shinola into my then-cutting-edge MiniDisc recorder. This audition mix was the result.

Listening now, it's very much of its time musically and some, if not all, of the transitions make me cringe. Nothing too trainwrecky happens, but with practice, I certainly got a lot smoother than this represents. I also learned that you don't have to play the ENTIRE song, including beatless breaks - you can certainly sneak another beat and song up there and move on. Who knew? I ended up doing Fridays at the Grid and Saturdays at Beyond (the friend's club) before I quickly burned out and moved to San Diego.

So here for your enjoyment is a blast from the past - DJ Jon Lenin's (speaking of cringing - where did I come up with THAT?) audition mix from 1998. Songs include:

Ruffneck - Everybody Be Somebody
Tori Amos - Jackie's Strength
Savage Garden - To The Moon & Back
Pocketsize - Walking
Garbage - You Look So Fine
Basement Jaxx - Red Alert
Madonna - Beautiful Stranger
TLC - No Scrubs
Hypertrophy - Beautiful Day
Sal Dano - Feel My Drums
Pet Shop Boys - I Don't Know What You Want...
Everything But the Girl - Lullabye of Clubland

Download the whole shebang(approx. 65 MB - it'll take a few).

Monday, January 09, 2006

Brokebacklash

• I have nothing to say about it, really. Just wanted to grab that headline before someone else thought of it.

Jimmy's got an opinion, though. And I have to agree, I kinda resent having my Big Muscle profile tagged with a rambling, disjointed screed about it, but hey, it's free (even though I "donated" and should have the option of removing it).

• My best friend, Straighty McStraight guy Forest is coming to Anaheim from Cleveland tonight for a work conference and we get to have dinner together! Haven't seen him in over a year and I'm excited - these guys with their wives and kids, I tell ya. By the way, Forest's visit makes a total of four people who have come to Cali to visit me in the six years I've lived here. Now you know.

• The Steve Miller Band of all people invade Lost in the '80s.

• The new Doctor Who finally hits America...via DVD, though. Works for me.

• Dave's Long Box is one of my favorite newish blogs - Dave basically digs into his old comic book collection and eviscerates or praises whatever he finds within. The key - breezy, witty writing that never fails to crack me up. Fun for non comic fans, too. It's that good.

• Finally got around to watching some of Beavis & Butthead - The Mike Judge Collection, and it's worth the dollars just to hear Beavis sum up Pantera perfectly - "Awww, poor Pantera! Daddy never loved me! Is that a tear in your eye, Pantera? Is Daddy's little girl crying?" HiLARious.

• You probably already know this, but fourfour is hysterical, particularly the Project Runway recaps.