assessing ‘quality’ in music for djing: part 1, the ‘good song’

NB: When I DJ, I don’t think about all this shit. I just do it.

A little while ago someone on teh twittz was talking about song quality, and I didn’t quite get the chance to write about it then. But I’d like to now, because it’s interesting. It’s also a massively controversial topic, or at least a topic that every single DJ and every single dancer has an opinion about. If you’ve ever been with a group of dancers trying to decide where to go and eat, you’ll understand…

I had intended to cover all aspects of this topic in one post, but I’m rubbish at doing things succinctly. So I’m going to have to do it in parts. I’m not sure I’ll get to them all, but I’d like to talk about song quality in terms of :

  • Is it good for dancing?
  • Is the song (or ‘text’ as we cultural studies types like to think of them) of high quality in a technological sense – was it recorded and mastered well? Was it remastered well?
  • Is the digital file of high quality?

I’m going to talk about first one here in this post, because it’s the biggest one, and it’s the most controversial and also the most subjective. I talk about the second one in the post Assessing ‘quality’ in music for DJing part 2: scratchy.

Firstly, a sort of get-out clause: when I say ‘quality’, I’m usually using the term fairly loosely, and with plenty of provisions. It’s quite a subjective word, and is used in lots of different ways by lots of different dancers and DJs. I use it in different ways myself.

I’m going to talk about how I think about quality of a particular song in terms of DJing for dancers live, while you’re there with them on the dance floor. Not DJing over the radio or by other broadcast. I also want to note that when I’m just sitting around the house listening to the stereo or playing songs on my ipod, the ‘quality’ of the song isn’t at all important.

When I first add a song to my laptop’s music library, I consider a few key elements when I’m assessing ‘quality’. The most important one is Is it ‘good for dancing?’

Most importantly, the song must make me want to dance. Not every song I love makes me want to dance. This usually means that they don’t swing (in a rhythmic sense). Or that they’re not a style appropriate for dancing.

I love 50s southern gospel, but it’s often not great for dancing, particularly if it is intended as religious or sacred music. I have a category in my music library called ‘kissing songs’, which are songs that are between about 90 and 120bpm, often have vocals, have quite romantic lyrics, can be very beautiful, wonderful songs, but do not make me want to dance. Unless that dance is with The Squeeze and we literally have our cheeks squeezed together while we cuddle. I don’t DJs those songs for dancers. There was discussion on SwingDJs recently about ‘beautiful swing ballads for dancing’ which I read as a discussion about these ‘kissing songs’ which has made me rethink my position. A little bit.

I think this definition of quality is perhaps the most personal or specific to each DJ. We each have different ideas of what constitutes ‘good dancing’, and a large part of this definition is determined by our own experiences as dancers. So our own individual ideas of what constitutes a ‘good dance’ or ‘fun’ or whatever it is we look for in a dance, as dancers shapes the way we assess a song as a DJ.

I also feel that this is why it’s really important to dance as much as you can when you start DJing. But also to continue to dance as much as you can once you’ve been DJing for a while. That last one can be tricky, as sitting on your clack DJing makes it a little difficult to dance.

Not only will you see musical trends in the contemporary scene come and go, but your understanding of music as a dancer will change as your dancing changes, and as you experience dancing to more DJs and bands and with more and more people. Your experience of different dances and dance traditions will also shape your experiences of music on the dance floor. I do feel (and this is a fairly contentious point, and one I almost hesitate to write) that a very new lindy hopper – someone with only one or two years dancing – really isn’t going to do the best job as a DJ. They simply haven’t experienced the rhythms and structures of swing music in their bodies, as a jazz dancer. So they don’t really understand why a particular song might be a bit shit for dancing.

The follow up point to this is, of course, that there is no point at which you can say – as a dancer and as a DJ – that you have ‘learnt everything’ or ‘know everything you need to know’ about music. Most of us dancing lindy hop today do not come from a culture where dance is a part of everyday life. I don’t mean something that you do ‘every day’ in a distinct block of time, but something that permeates your everyday life – from skipping rope as a child to singing in church telling stories in a particular way.

This means that most of us will never quite catch up, musically. DJs and dancers should be always looking for the next learning experience, and always open to new things. As The Squeeze says, “Don’t deny knowledge!”

This is why I’m always very sceptical of dancers who think they’re too good or know too much to attend a particular dance class, or who think they’re too good a dancer to participate in a level assessment exercise at a dance camp. Not only is it an arrogant declaration (which everyone present sees) that they are ‘the best’ and ‘know everything’, but it’s also declaring that ‘learning is done’, or that that person can only learn in particular circumstances, which they control.

I feel that even the most poorly taught dance class teaches you something. Not just how not to teach, but also real things about movement and dance. About understanding how your body works, and how variety and difference in types of movement affect dance.

As an example, I’ve always liked dance classes where you rotate partners because you can guarantee you’ll feel one version of the move that’s ‘wrong’ and that you can’t really recognise ‘right’ until you know what ‘wrong’ feels like. Dancing only with one or two other people in a learning environment (which can include the social dance floor as well as a class) will limit your understanding of how a movement works or feels.

I guess I can sum all that up by saying that my assessment of a song which is ‘good for dancing’ is the product of my experiences as a dancer. I am not trying to make authoritative rules about what constitutes a ‘good song’.

When I’m listening to new music, I look for these things in the song itself (ie not the recording quality or digital sound file quality, but the actual song):

  • Does it make me want to dance?

    If I can find the beat quickly and easily, if it makes me want to tap my feet, if it makes it difficult to sit still, if I find myself imagining moving to the song, if I have that intensifying of emotion that is a bit like the music has gotten into my body and made me feel its rhythms emotionally, then it’s a good song.

  • Can I imagine people dancing to it?

    This is one of those things that makes it useful to have a wider range of dancing experience. I have to be able to imagine dancers making use of what they hear in the song. Do the rhythms and timing and structure match up with how we move in lindy hop or balboa or blues or whatevs? Is it complex enough to keep more experienced dancers interested? Is it simple enough to make it easier for new dancers to join in?

    One song mightn’t contain both these qualities, but it should have something that makes it possible for me to imagine people dancing to it.

    This is a problematic definition. Because, of course, it depends on my own experience of other dancers. Who have I seen dance? Do I have the experience to understand what I’m seeing?

    As an aside, in a recent conversation with a friend I noted that there are some dancers who are so technically and rhythmically (and so on) beyond me, that I can’t see where there weaknesses are. So I can’t look at Frida Segardahl’s dancing and see the errors in her dancing that are beyond my own ability. I can only assess her dancing by what I know about dancing. Which of course means that I’m going to fall very short of really understanding what she’s doing. I’m probably going to be full of wrong.

    So when I choose songs that are suitable for more experienced dancers, I’m really only working from my experiences. As a DJ, you do get to know music and begin to understand what you see on a dance floor in a way you don’t if you’re just dancing, but I feel it as a definite limitation in my DJing. If I were a better dancer, I could be a better DJ.

    But let me be clear. I do not want to suggest that a terrible DJ is a terrible dancer. There are plenty of really awful DJs who are fabulous dancers, for all sorts of reasons. There are plenty of excellent DJs who are ordinary dancers. And of course excellent DJs who are also excellent dancers. I do, however, want to retain the idea that a DJ must have some level of dancing proficiency to really do a good DJing job. And that the more dancing experience and skill a DJ has, the more useful this will be in DJing.

    Hmm… as I write this, I’m finding it difficult to really figure out where I stand. So I’ll just say: my DJing gets shit when I don’t dance much; the more dancing I do, the dances I learn, the better my DJing becomes; the best thing I can do for my DJing is to pay really close attention to the dancers on the dance floor while I’m DJing, and to understand how what I see might feel if I was dancing.

  • Is it a technically decent song?

    Basically, are the musicians skilled? Is the arrangement pretty good? Is the band actually working together as a team? These are the sorts of questions that have led to my preferring older bands to new. I know it’s a stupid old fuddy duddy point, but I do feel that the old school doods were better than most modern day musicians. Not all of them. There were some real duds getting about then. And there are some fabulous musicians around today. But the day to day realities of living in the 1930s and being a professional musician were quite different.

  • Does the song have something that catches my attention?

    Having said that about technical ability, I will overlook some technical weaknesses if a song or a musician has a little something that overcomes their limitations. So I really like the Midnight Serenaders, even though there are some problems with their songs. But there’s something about the bouncing lightness of their delivery that makes me feel bouncy and light inside. The female vocalist isn’t really all that amazing, but she has a confidence and musical relationship with the rest of the band that I really like.

    I really like the Firecracker Jazz Band, even though they can be a bit rough and ready round the edges. They really feel like a bunch of firecrackers, all up in your face. Their songs are energetic, exciting, and each musician really feels as though they’re bringing everything. I don’t know I can know these things, or where I get this feeling from. It could be the way a guitarist touches and releases the strings, or the way a trumpeter sustains a note without the slightest tremor – or adds a quivering tremor to heighten emotion.

    Again, these are all quite subjective readings of the band and the recording. They probably tell you more about me than about them. I guess this is why DJs develop a particular style, that you can pick from a mile off. I tend to favour high energy songs – songs that really kick me in the guts. This is because I’m DJing for lindy hoppers most of the time, and my favourite type of lindy hop has lots of energy and fun. I find it really difficult to adjust my sets to include less upenergy songs, even though I have masses of them in my collection. I like a sense of humour, I like a song (and a dance) to have a joke at the ready, a bit of sarcasm and irreverence.

    My favourite sets are to loud, shouting rooms full of adrenaline-crazed fools. I wonder if it’s because DJing is a bit like getting a bit emotional hit yourself. You sort of feed on or absorb what the dancers give off. When you stand in a room full of dancers, if you’re engaged with what they’re feeling, you feel that way too. It’s just how crowds work. So perhaps I DJ this way because I want to feel that way? Who knows. And I’m not sure I want to think about that :D

All this assessment of songs when I first buy them or add them to my collection is really just a preparatory step. I have so many zillions of songs, I really have to sort them in some way before I begin DJing. Not all DJs do this. But I don’t listen to music often enough when I’m not DJing to keep all the relevant information in my head.

I do have some fundamental facts glued into my brain: I know what to expect of Count Basie’s big band in 1939. Or of Benny Goodman’s sextet in 1939. And so on. I also have an idea of how a song will work because I’ve played it for dancers before in lots of different circumstances. Or because I’ve DJed similar songs before, or seen how a particular type of room responds to certain songs in other circumstances.

But I like to sort my music a bit before I DJ, so that I don’t have to clutter my brain with yet another shitty version of Honeysuckle Rose. And as I collect more and more music, I like to be able to get rid of lower quality recordings or remasterings of familiar songs. Or to make sensible decisions when purchasing new versions of songs.

So, to sum up, assessing the ‘good’ of a song is entirely subjective. This is why when I’m booking DJs for gigs, I don’t bother to think about whether they play songs that I would consider ‘good’. I look for DJs who can work the crowd, filling the dance floor and making them crazy. I look for DJs who are professional and easy to work with. And I do look for DJs who use sound files of a high quality and understand the importance of a good quality recording. Or of juggling sound equipment and the acoustics and mood of a room to make lower quality recordings work.

At the end of the day, a good DJ has a playlist full of good songs. But a brilliant DJ makes a crowd crazy with the way they observe the crowd.

speakeasy superfun


(Direct link to the 8tracks playlist)

A set list from a gig I did at the Speakeasy on Saturday night (22/1/11, 11pm – 2am or so; I DJed 12-1am or so). I haven’t done this in a while, but I was so inspired by the gig itself, and my previously-shitting-me DJing so reinvigorated, I had to post the set list with a long, boring talk about what’s in it and why I played it and so on.

Firstly, why was my DJing giving me the shits? Basically, I’d done too much of it before christmas. Too many frustrating gigs in less than great conditions at a time of year when I was totally buggered. One shitty ‘christmas’ party after another. Fuck that.

I’ve also been doing a lot of unpaid gigs, which is really soul destroying, particularly after being paid in Melbourne. Unpaid gigs make you feel as though your work has no value, particularly when you do them _all the time_. I don’t mind doing the odd gig for free, particularly if it’s for charity or for a special gig for friends who really want to put on a socially right-on gig (like this one I’ll be discussing in a second). But if I’m (one vertebrae in) the backbone of a social night, I really need to see some of the $$ being paid by the punters at the door. My music buying habit also really needs the $$.

I’ve also been doing so much dance work myself, I really want to dance. And there’s nothing more frustrating than sitting on my clack watching other people dance.


(Image lifted from here. If you’re liking this Bill Steber photo, I’ve linked to a few more here.)

So why did I take this gig? Basically, it was because the guys who run this Speakeasy event have some very nice goals:
– make it as cheap as possible for punters;
– run a socially right-on event: make it fun, make the food and drinks good (no fairy bread here), make the vibe friendly, make the music fun;
– be environmentally friendly – avoid non-recyclable cups and so on, and where you can’t be energy or environmentally efficient, be reusable;
– be good to your DJs;
– complement other events by being on after the main dance/event, and working as an ‘after party’ or complement to the main event.

I’ve DJed for them a few times, and the first time I thought ‘fuck, this is what DJing an exchange would be like if the organisers were professional and relaxed, the venue was good and the event was relaxed and fun and not riddled with politics and tension.’ I’ve done a few gigs with them since, and each time has been as good as the first one. The organisers are really nice to me (which, shockingly, isn’t as common with other gigs as you’d expect), the gig is chilled with an equal mix of dancing and socialising (which is really nice – less pressure to ‘facilitate good dancing experiences’, more emphasis on ‘playing fun songs and having fun’) and I feel relaxed and enjoy the actual DJing experience.

This really surprises me as I’m always squeezed into the middle of a crowded room, surrounded by people talking. Usually I hate that crowdedness when I’m trying to ‘work’, but with this gig it feels totally ok. The punters can come and tell me when they like a song or if they want to know who sang it, they buy me drinks, and I can ask them what they’d like to hear or what they’re in the mood for. They’re usually interested in music which isn’t oriented towards hardcore lindy hop, and I play a combination of blues, soul, funk and other fun party music. This is often a sticking point for me. I don’t usually like doing gigs with a mix of music, but I enjoy these ones. I get to play the faster blues music which isn’t ok for lindy hop, really, and isn’t wanted at straight blues nights. And I get to toss in the odd Aretha Franklin song. Which is so sell-out, but also, so wonderful.

So when I was asked to do this gig, I said yes immediately and without stopping to think. Pete was also after some help setting up and I also said yes immediately to that. I really like being involved in dance events which have their politics in the right place: make good events that are fun and friendly and good. Don’t fuck people over. Have fun. I also really like working with these guys as a DJ as they’re so friendly and lovely, I knew that doing prep work would be lots of fun. And when you’re doing volunteer work at dance events, the most important part of the experience is that it be fun and friendly. Which, once again, it’s often not.

The venue, Cross Over Dance Studio was also really nice. Pete and I went along to scout it out earlier in the week (we spent a week putting the event together, which was also nice: less long lead time to get stressy). The guy who runs the joint is really nice and I really liked the mood in the studio. It was busy, with lots of people coming in and out to dance. And as we were checking things out, a huge group of young women arrived for a badass hippity hop class, and that was beyond wonderful. The manager was ridiculously accommodating of our slow hippy-paced consensual decision making process, and I felt really good about going into that space to work with someone who was as stupidly in-love with dancing as I am. Often the venue managers we work with in dance are jaded and burnt out. Working in shitty night clubs we see too many fairly unhappy people, and it’s not nice working with them.

The space itself is nice and fresh and clean – you can see some photos on the site. We used the foyer area, with the option of breaking out to one of the studios if we needed it. Which we did. Sound proofing between the studios was GREAT, which is often an issue when you’re using multiple spaces and DJs. We moved the sofas around in the large foyer area to clear a ‘dance floor’, but plopped little bunches of couches together to making ‘conversation spaces’. It worked well – people flowed between the couch areas and the dance floor, into the studio, around the centre admin island (where we put the DJ), to the ‘kissing room’ which was a bit quieter and darker for calmer conversations. I liked the way the main area had general ‘party’ music, and that that was also where a lot of hanging about talking happened. The studio was really more for more hardcore dancing, and that sort of space isn’t really conducive to good talking and socialising, but is good for more hardcore dancing. I actually didn’t dance in there at all – I preferred the more party/pub/bar atmosphere of the main room.

We put the DJ at the main ‘island’ in the centre of the room, which was a great idea. You could see the entire room, keep the ‘in the mix’ feeling of these guys’ other events, but have a secure table for laptop and a good, somewhat raised vantage point for keeping an eye on things. The lift to the space opened straight into the room, in direct line of sight to the DJ. This was really GREAT for DJing, as I could work directly with the energy of the lift’s ‘bing’ and the sudden influx of a crowded lift’s worth of people. I aimed at making the room feel ‘full’ of sound and party with my music. The speakers were in the middle of the room pushing out from the island, and while they weren’t really up to the job, they worked ok.

People ended up dancing in a few different areas, which was also good – it kept things from feeling really crushed and it kind of messed up the usual hierarchies that happen on a dance floor. I also liked it that dance floor space was also traffic space. That would interfere with hardcore dancing which really needs safe, clear areas for dancing, but it keeps you connected, as a dancer, with the people in the rest of the room when you have to keep your eye out for people moving through to get a beer or to call out to you. I like the way that sort of room makes me dance – I feel connected to the whole room, not just my partner. Perfect for late night party feelings.

Incidentally, Pete put on some great food, free beers and wine, all included in the entry price. The studio is right in the middle of Sydney’s China Town, though, so if you’re looking for late night food, for once you needn’t chase shitty take away. Dumplings for all! The public transport was also really good, which meant a bunch of us went home on the night bus together, rather than having to get cabs.

The only real draw back to the space was the heat. We had heaps of fans on, but it got REALLY hot. This isn’t always a bad thing, though. It gets really sweaty, but I’ve always found a hot room much easier to DJ than a cool room. I think it has something to do with the way the heat affects our bodies. It makes us flush and sweat, which no doubt pumps hormones into the air. It makes our muscles looser than the cold, which makes it easier to dance. I also find it keeps people moving around the room, from the dance floor to the drinks, to the bathrooms to wash their faces, to the fans and back again. But we really could have done with a bit more air conditioning.

Ok, so what did I do with the music? I had fussed a bit over it earlier in the week. We were following the Sydney Festival Night at the Trocadero event, which was apparently AMAZING in the Sydney Town Hall, though there wasn’t much ‘real’ dancing to be had. The second part of that event included a Royal Crown Revue gig. My brief was to provide ‘mostly swing’ with ‘some neo swing’ to complement RCR. These Speakeasy gigs usually include some soul and funk, so I was to drop in some of that. Because they also usually do blues, I was to add in some blues. We talked through it a bit, and I wasn’t to do hardcore old school scratchy swinging jazz.

I ended up putting together a short list that included:

  • early jump blues and rhythm and blues stuff (eg Kansas shouter guys like Jimmy Witherspoon and Walter Brown, Jay McShann’s earlier stuff, some favourites like Lavender Coffin and other late 40s Lionel Hampton stuff, some later Louis Jordan, some Louis Prima, Wynonie Harris, etc);
  • some neo (mostly Swing Session and a few other bands, but I didn’t really emphasise this as I have very little);
  • hi-fi or modern bands who do dirty, gutbucket blues or saucy upenergy party music (this was a mixed group including the Asylum Street Spankers, Preservation Hall band, Tuba Skinny, Gordon Webster’s new album, etc);
  • some early soul and rnb (including Tina Turner, Big Mama Thornton, etc).

I do this sort of set quite often at exchanges (minus the soul), and I have to say that they’re often my very favourite. The energy is high, the tempos are really accessible, the rhythms are often more familiar than earlier swing and hot jazz, and the lyrics are lots of fun. The shouting and clapping always feels good. I felt that I pushed it a bit this time, and included some newer stuff (to me – not just my same old stodge) and worked the transitions in a more dynamic way. I really pushed the high energy vibe. I wanted the room to feel really crowded and loud and full of shouting and drinking and party. I think I got that happening. I felt really good about the set, and I really enjoyed DJing it. I’m fairly sure the punters liked it, though we had some people leave when they realised it wasn’t entirely like the previous events, or because they were just plain buggered after three different events in one night.

Righto, this is what I played (the modern artists have links to their websites – I recommend all of their albums):

[title, artist, album, bpm, year, time played]

I’m Feeling Alright (fast version) Big Mama Thornton (with Muddy Waters, James Cotton, Otis Spann, Sammy Lawhorn, Luther ‘Guitar Junior’ Johnson, Francis Clay) With the Muddy Waters Blues Band, 1966 126 1966 2:28 23/01/11 12:11 AM

All She Wants To Do Is Rock Wynonie Harris Greatest Hits 145 2009 2:34 23/01/11 12:14 AM

My Man Stands Out Di Anne Price Barrel House Queen 145 2010 2:54 23/01/11 12:17 AM

Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen Gordon Webster (with Jesse Selengut, Matt Musselman, Cassidy Holden, Rob Adkins, Jeremy Noller, Adrian Cunningham) Live In Philadelphia 151 2010 5:16 23/01/11 12:22 AM

Sugar Blues Terra Hazelton (feat. Jeff Healey’s Jazz Wizards) Anybody’s Baby 113 2004 3:44 23/01/11 12:26 AM

Knock on wood Ike And Tina Turner The Ike & Tina Turner Archive Series : Hits & Classics Vol.1 119 1998 2:31 23/01/11 12:28 AM

Respect Aretha Franklin Greatest Hits – Disc 1 114 2:25 23/01/11 12:31 AM

Hound Dog Big Mama Thornton Very Best Of 76 2:52 23/01/11 12:33 AM

Lemonade Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five (vol 5) 117 1950 3:17 23/01/11 12:37 AM

Lavender Coffin Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra with Sonny Parker and Joe James Hamp: The Legendary Decca Recordings 134 1949 2:47 23/01/11 12:40 AM

Blue Monday Jay McShann and his Band (Jimmy Witherspoon) Goin’ To Kansas City Blues 125 1957 3:40 23/01/11 12:43 AM

Play the Blues Walter Brown Kansas City Blues 1944-1949 (Disc 2) 145 1949 2:39 23/01/11 12:46 AM

In The Basement – Part One Etta James The Best Of Etta James 122 1966 2:21 14/06/10 3:55 AM

Let’s Do It Terra Hazelton (feat. Jeff Healey, Marty Grosz, Dan Levinson, Vince Giordano) Anybody’s Baby 126 2004 4:28 23/01/11 12:54 AM

Shake That Thing Preservation Hall Jazz Band Shake That Thing 157 2004 6:30 23/01/11 1:00 AM

When I Get Low I Get High Linnzi Zaorski and Delta Royale (Charlie Fardella, Robert Snow, Matt Rhody, Seva Venet, Chaz Leary) Hotsy-Totsy 165 2004 2:36 23/01/11 1:03 AM

Do Your Duty Tuba Skinny (Erika Lewis, Todd, Kiowa, Shaye Cohn, Barnabus, Alynda Lee, Robin) Tuba Skinny 122 2010 3:47 23/01/11 1:07 AM

Shave ’em Dry Asylum Street Spankers Nasty Novelties 131 1997 4:21 23/01/11 4:40 PM

I followed Tom, who’d been playing quite an eclectic mix of old school, funk, super groove and general party. There weren’t millions of people there (perhaps a dozen or so), but they were all talking and cheery (the layout of the room was really what made this happen) and the room felt ‘warm’ in a social sense.

I came in with Big Mama Thornton because I’ve just blown a zillion emusic credits on her and that album with Muddy Waters is beyond excellent. It was a pretty full on start, and I was taking a punt by coming in pounding like that. But I managed to pitch and time it just right, so it worked out. Though The Squeeze had to come tell me to turn the volume down. :D

I followed with that Wynonie Harris song because it’s a nice transition to ‘swing’ and jump blues, and that gave me more options for the following songs. I wasn’t sure whether I’d want to go to straight ahead lindy hop, or to soul or what, so I tried to keep my options open. I was basically thinking ‘big shouting voice’, ‘simple rhythms’, ‘clapping’, and a basic blues structure.

Then I went to Di Anne Price because she’s more in the ‘swing’ category, though this song is pretty much solid jump blues or early rnb, a cover of Julia Lee with a slightly more modern sensibility in her voice. She has a gravelly, dirty voice that complements Big Mama Thornton. From here I could go to lindyhoppable, to blues or to something more modern.

I went to Bei Mir Bist du Schoen, from Gordon Webster’s new album because it has lots of energy and a lovely, gravelly shouting vocal (NB you can download that song for free from the site. The whole album is definitely worth buying). It’s also live, which is a sure fire way of building energy. The beginning is somewhat quieter and more chilled, but that’s ok because I wanted to kind of ease off a bit and give the crowd a bit of an emotional break. But it ends massive.
We had a massive crowd of solid lindy hopper types arrive during that last song, so I went with more conventional lindy hoppable stuff with Terra Hazeleton after that. They looked a bit tired and shell shocked, so I went with something that has a fairly simple rhythm and less intense sound, so they could acclimatise.

After that I was kind of ready to shift gears. Too much swing and hot jazz and early blues type stuff can really kill the energy in a room when most people aren’t really hardcore dancers. I think it’s because it can be a bit unfamiliar, structurally and rhythmically, and people associate it with ‘serious’ dancing, or dancing you have to learn in a dance class. So I went to some Tina Turner. Which was a bit of a leap, but still shouting female vocals. And it’s a song everyone knows. But a vastly superior version to the one most people know. It jumped the energy up in the room.

Then I went to Aretha, as she’s an easy punt. I was also giving people arriving a chance to put their stuff down (we had a steady stream arrivals as the previous gig ended at 12am). But I didn’t want to go too soul or into funk as that can be too off-putting for serious lindy hoppers, or for people coming from the RCR gig.

Hound Dog is my overplayed song. But goddamn it’s good. And people know it well now, and like it. They especially like howling along with the dogs in the chorus and at the end. I was thinking ‘ok, now I’m getting serious again’ with this song. It’s a good one for bumping energy up, but it’s slow, so it’s not tiring. Big Mama is so goddamn awesome, you can’t help but love it. More shouting.

Then I played Lemonade as we had a bunch of lindy hoppers ready to really dance and I needed to give them some familiar rhythms and melodies. Still really not hardcore lindy hopping music to my mind – it’s too late, historically, and too close to blues. Too rhythmically simple. But it’s a great party song. And a nice transition from Big Mama to older, more swinging jazz stuff.

Lavender Coffin. Overplayed favourite. Perfect party song. Something everyone knows. Lots of shouting and clapping. Perfect for tired lindy hoppers. From this point we really were crowded, and people were really ready to dance. But dance in a ‘I’m at a party!’ way. The way people dance at live band gigs here (like Puggsly Buzzard or Unity Hall) where you happily dance one song then go for a drink or a chat. Or where you have to watch the people around you carefully because it’s crowded, or where you have to do some showing off for your friends on the sidelines. It was nice to see quite a bit of that last stuff, actually, and not just from my idiot friends.

Jay McShann and Walter Brown. More of the same for a couple of songs.

Then I changed it up. I’m not entirely sure this was the best song. I got distracted and had to talk to Pete, then we had a few announcements and cheering and stuff. So I started in again with something completely different – Etta James. More shouting. A clear shift back to dirty soul. I didn’t really feel it working properly, though, so I shifted again.

This time more Terra Hazelton (gee I’m overplaying her atm), because it’s a familiar song that people love singing along. It’s a nice version that starts kind of mellow (I often use it to start sets), but builds up and gets really shouty. She sings more mellowly at the beginning, then shouts more later. It’s a funny song, so the lyrics are fun. I always think of Tank Girl singing it when I play it. It’s good for lindy hop.

Now we were solidly in badass lindy hop territory. But not super fast – people were too tired, it was too crowded and it wasn’t a fast dancing scene. It was a beer drinking scene. So I pulled some Preservation Hall. This song can go really badly with the wrong crowd. I think it needs a crowded floor, and people with stamina. Preservation Hall are the ultimate party band.

But it’s a really intense song, emotionally, and really loud with a big, solid sound. So I eased it off a bit with Linnzi Zaorski, who is very popular with a lot of dancers in Australia atm. This song is also overplayed, but it’s familiar and that’s good at a party: singalong factor. It feels less emotionally intense, even though it’s a bit faster. So it feels like a nice break. I always see the floor fill or at least change over, with a new wave of dancers coming on, when this songs starts. I like that because it gives me a chance to try a new angle or work in a new direction because the dancers are ‘new’ (as in, had a song out just before) and bring a new energy to the floor.

Then Tuba Skinny. This is another mellower sounding song. It has fewer instruments, and a sparser sound. The vocals are a bit laid back. It’s a Bessie Smith song, though, so it has the right dirty energy. I’d have preferred to play the Smith version, because it is beyond wonderful. But I was heading in a particular direction and wanted the hi-fi. It also feels a bit less intense because it is a less solid sound. I dunno. Anyways, it’s a nice song, and a good lead up to the next one.

I played Shave em Dry, one of the most overplayed songs on earth, because it is loud, shouting, live, dirty, high energy, hifi, funny, has a great chunky rhythm, is lots of fun. I often play it when I want to shake people up a bit. It has a full-on live energy feel, with lots of call and response type interaction with audience. For first time listeners it’s a bit of a shock because it’s so explicit. For familiar ears, the anticipation of dirty lyrics is good. I like the way it makes explicit the innuendo of Do Your Duty, the previous song. And I played it because Jase was DJing next, and there is no song more appropriate for Jase. And I wanted to leave him with a crowded, high energy room.

And that’s it! I had a lot of fun doing this set. I liked moving between styles. I really liked playing that particular room. I liked the serious change from my usual sets. I didn’t feel I had to ‘achieve’ anything. I just played loud party music. It was just a whole lot of fun. Then I went and danced like a fool, working through three tshirts in an hour.

Ashfield f&v

The fruit and vegetable shop that I like is way dodgy. But it is also way cheap. I’m fairly sure they just haul all the produce out of the fridges in the morning, wack it out on display, then fill it during the day. Ashfield swarms in, takes everything, fails to line up properly at the cash registers, gets told off (or looks away smugly from a correct position in the line) and pays less than $20 for pretty much all the F&V they can carry. At the end of the day, anything left gets put in a plastic bag and then put out the next day for a ridiculously low price.

Other F&V shops probably keep all their stuff in the fridges for as long as possible, so they could be one hundred years old, but still look ok. The Ashfield F&V shop I like sells stuff that doesn’t always look great, but is always cheap. I’m also pretty sure they wouldn’t waste money refrigerating anything.

If you don’t get in there before lunch time, you won’t get any leafy Asian greens. They are snapped up quickly. They are always fresh and ridiculously cheap.

I think about the supermarket F&V when I’m in the shop I like, and how the supermarkets charge heaps more, sell stuff that looks ok, but is actually shithouse and lasts about 2 hours before devolving into sludge. I also think about the supermarket shoppers who don’t like the crowds in the other Ashfield F&V shops.

The Ashfield F&V shop I like is very crowded, but it is wheelchair and pram accessible (I know because there are a few regular wheelies who shop there when I do, and there’s always someone ramming a pram into the shop). The staff don’t smile, but they are actually really nice and very helpful. But don’t try to form a second line at the cash register. One line only!

There’s a lot of whole milk for sale there, and it took me a long time realise why people bought massive two and four litre jugs of it. For paneer.

I like shopping there, even though there’s nothing organic, and nothing particularly wonderful about the produce. But it’s no worse than stuff in all the other shops in Ashfield (Ashfield has four F&V shops, three supermarkets selling F&V and at least four mixed grocers selling Asian veggies). It’s cheap. And I don’t get attitude when I put my basket full of unbagged veggies onto the counter then pull my backpack open for the cashier to dump stuff straight in. They don’t give a shit.
But the supermarkets get really really shitty with me for not using their cashier counters exactly as designed. I don’t have perfectly sized calico or green bags purchased from their shop. I’m not buying the line that mass produced shitty bags are environmentally better. I am convinced that they’re a pain in the arse for cyclists with a good, solid backpack. They get shitty with me when I ask them to do the heavy things first, rather than in order of coldness. This stuff isn’t going to sit in the back of my 4WD for hours; it’s going straight home with me, right now, and will be in the fridge in 20 minutes time. They get really shitty with me when I hand them my credit card and let them do the button pushing while I pack my backpack properly. And the fact that I stand at the right hand side of the counter for the entire transaction, rather than moving through the little corridor, right to left, following the proper order, drives them CRAZY. The customers behind me go nuts because they can’t move forward in the queue.

The thing is, my approach to paying for groceries is quick, organised and efficient. I don’t take longer than anyone else. I’m certainly quicker and more efficient than most people. It’s just that I’m not following the rules. That drives people nuts.

But in the F&V shop I like, people expect chaos and rule breaking, so they don’t mind my taking a novel approach. I’m not pushing in, and I’m not breaking the line up rule (here! one line only!). I’m quick and efficient. The service in this shop is lightning fast, and standing in the line is always interesting. People tend not to get as shitty there as they do in the supermarket, even when they’re the same person. I know I don’t.

dull with a side of dreary

The rain has eased a bit, and Brisbane is recovering. Slowly. Here in Sydney the weather turned mild, but the humidity increased, and we’ve had drizzles of rain off and on every other day.

I’ve been crocheting like a crazy person (you can see some of the amigurumi I’ve been doing here) and watching lots of Jane Austen television, mostly because I have a dentist’s appointment tomorrow, and I’m beginning to get really scared. No real reason for all that fear, but since I had that horrible root canal I’ve had dentist fear. So I’m doing lots of crocheting and watching lots of television, occupying my brain entirely so I can’t think of anything else. During the other parts of the day I’m exercising obsessively, which is helping with anxiety.

I’m also doing job applications, which sucks. The pgrad diploma I did last year didn’t actually teach me anything useful about cataloguing or library routines, which is the stuff they actually want in new employees. This shits me no end. But I’ll keep doing the applications, and try to get better at writing my CV. I’m rubbish at it.

In other news, the neighbour has gotten a cat, which she lets out during the day, and which has taken to harassing the birds in the gardens. I have taken up the hose and become cRaZy Cat Watering Lady. I fucking hate the way cats kill everything. I particularly hate it that someone in a block like this has an outside cat kills all the birds that the rest of us enjoy in our shared gardens.

I DJed a set the other night that didn’t go very well. I had lots of excuses: the dancers had been dancing to too much live rock and roll music and that had screwed their lindy hop. The rest of us had been dancing to too many good jazz bands and that had spoilt us for recorded music. It was hot and humid. I was out of practice.
But buggered if I actually know why I did an ordinary job. I didn’t feel connected. I haven’t really practiced DJing properly in ages, and, to be honest, I’m much preferring dancing these days. I’d really rather be dancing like a fool than sitting on my arse, fussing over music while other people get to dance. Time to have a break, I think.

This is turning into a dreary post, isn’t it? I hadn’t meant it to be. But I guess things are a bit frustrating round here. I really need some sort of job or something. I think I’m going to go into the library next week and do some hardcore discography work. I have lots of music that I’ve bought from emusic which just has one artist’s name and a date that may or may not be accurate. And I need to tidy it all up.

Otherwise, I’m involved in the usual round of DJ coordinating gigs (MSF in Melbourne later this year for a start) and I’m helping a friend run his irregular late night dance gig, which is going to be lots of fun.

I’ve also finally gotten the Big Apple choreography under control. Now I need to really make it good. That means learning the trickier transitions and getting the arms right. And doing proper, clear, performance-ready weight changes and shapes. So it stops looking like a bunch of jiggling on the spot and starts becoming a series of complex, dynamic shapes and contrasting movements that’re actually fun to look at. This also means videoing myself dancing and then watching it over and over til I figure out what’s going on and how I can improve it. This, once again, is quite satisfying for ob-con girl.

I don’t really have much else to write about, so this is going to have to be a boring summary of my boring days, all framed by some fairly dreary self-pity. Sorry about that.

it’s raining here, a bit

It’s raining a lot in Brisbane, and I’ve finally managed to ascertain the whereabouts of the various family members who’ve been Left Behind while the rest of us fled south. I am now also sure my Brisvegan friends are safe and well. No one is injured or missing, and we southerners are very relieved. Meanwhile, I’ve had a flurry of emails from people I first met in Brisbane, and who are spread out all over the country and world. I think the shocking stories from Queensland have reminded us of each other.

When that man on the 7:30 Report, that Stalwart Australian Man began to weep a little bit as he told us about not being able to stop to help people who were floating away on the roof of their cars or in boats, crying out for help, I wept a little bit as well.

I liked it that he let us see that all that talk about Stalwart Australian Men being stony faced and impervious to emotions was rubbish.

But then I saw a story about fires in … Western Australia? South Australia? where another Australian Man was telling us about how his home and everything he owned had been burnt by fires started by an arsonist, and how he just didn’t know what to do. He was weeping too, but he was wearing dark glasses, so it was hidden. I think that was even more touching.

It has been a hard week for Australians all over the place. But I keep thinking about those folk who live in truly remote communities, where there’re no buildings to be washed away, and no sewers to flood sewage into people’s backyards. I feel sorry for those people, because when the army arrived there, they had their money controlled by the government and nobody let them tell the story about calling out to neighbours to see if they were alright, and we didn’t see the footage of the stranger helping that family rescue their belongings.

I’m trying not to think those sorts of thoughts, but it’s making me angrier and angrier to hear stories about ‘strong’, ‘good’ communities that ‘help each other’ when there’s just as surely child abuse and drugs and violence and so on in those communities as well. But we don’t hear those stories, because these people are all white.

I am trying not to think like that. It’s not helpful.

I like the look of Anna Bligh. She’s turning out to be a fairly awesome leader, politician and all-round rock star. Be patient with each other. That’s what she said. And Kirsty’s right, it is a good thought.

In other news, I spend a lot of time in Ashfield these days. Sometimes I go to Burwood. Sometimes to the city, or perhaps to another neighbouring suburb. But mostly I stay here. I haven’t got a job (yet) (yet?) and I haven’t many prospects. But I don’t much mind. I am feeling healthy and well and have getting a lot of exercise. These are all good things.

Be patient with each other. This is what I think when someone who’s not from Ashfield goes shopping in the veggie shop. Be patient. Don’t take up so much space. Don’t try to make eye contact quite so desperately/aggressively. Take time to make a joke. Help someone reach something. Ashfield isn’t for everyone. The streets are fairly dirty, and the underpass, the one under the train tracks, where the children painted all the pictures and there are photos from the olden days, that underpass floods badly when it rains, and very quickly. And then as it dries out it smells badly.

Be patient with each other. This is a nice thought. I like it as an instruction for timing. For dancing. In swing, you get back there behind the beat. Wait. Don’t rush. Be patient. And let that man finish his solo.

Here, I’m wondering why there just aren’t any women in these bands. It’s like Australian jazz is just one big Bechdel fail. There’s an occasional one singing. Or someone hidden in the brass section. But, mostly, it’s just men.

It’s raining here a bit. Off and on, a clear day here and there, to help us dry things out. But it’s still raining in Brisbane. And there’s more flooding to come. Do be careful, friends.