99.09.20 I went to a Southern California party thrown by onE. It was their two year anniversary party. It was held at a minor league baseball field in Adelanto, CA. Very nice location, 2 stages, house and techno/trance. DJs I saw spinning, Punisher (tech house), DJ Ant (techno), Neil Landstrumm (techno), Joel Mull (techno), and Marco Carola (techno). DJ Ant impressed me the most with mixing skills. He would drop in things on the 2nd and 4th beats rather than just at the beginning. Joel Mull is professional excellence, Marco Carola is ultra-smooth goes down easy never rough. Neil Landstrumm was a bit nervous starting out, until he dropped a jungle record (I wonder if HE made it), just one, and it seemed to calm him down enough that the rest of his set was right on with his trademark IDM-esque sounds and twists. Unfortunately for Marco Carola, the third turntable wasn't working very well so he had to mix with just two. Even so, beautiful stuff. He had one whole crate which looked like it was just white labels, probably his own stuff. His fades and levels were just amazingly smooth, never jarring. He keeps his level faders all the way up and uses the trim instead to bring in songs, almost never touching his crossfader. Side note: In Southern California, the Pioneer DJM-500 seems to be the standard mixer. The people aren't afraid of using the effects on it, either. The raves are more commercial and that seems to be o.k with everybody. There are booths selling clothes, massages, glo-sticks, food, shakes, energy drinks, cigarettes, candy, etc. The music considered the rave staple down here is house. Most people are not into jungle. Apparently this is more due to the attitude of the majority of people into the jungle scene down here than the music itself. Examples? Hearsay: "Jungle is the only good music and everything else sucks." "Jungle is for the junglist and everybody stay the hell out." "Jungle party names like Fuck You, Trance Schmanse." "The jungle style is very much into camo, sand bags, netting, red siren lights, not just listening to jungle but IN the jungle." "Parties that have multiple stages in which jungle is one of the stages aren't for real junglists." At first I just thought it was the people that I happen to have met didn't like jungle as a personal preference. I got to know them well enough they explained to me why they didn't like it. I was shocked and dismayed and totally floored. It is almost a night and day difference from what I thought the jungle scene was like worldwide based on my experience in SF. I'm not sure what to do about this, or where the other open and friendly junglists are who are into pushing the music forward rather than close it up. I have been surviving by hooking up with a group of people into techno of the harder banging tribal kind. I did play a jungle set for them which they did like a lot and went against their preconceptions of what they thought jungle was. I like techno as a craft; very precise, subtle, layering it on with nuances but jungle to me is love. I don't think so much about pinpoint accuracy and timing and how to slowly build up the tension. What I do think about are phat-ass ultra-goddamn fuckin-rad tracks which I slam and cut together joy ride of emotion and energy. I do totally miss San Francisco and you guys very much. I've been down here what, 3 months? It feels like I'm walking in a dream and not in a good way. Mostly it's been work and home and a weekend party in which I try to look for like-minded people. I do know my neighborhood pretty well now (Hillcrest), have found a few record stores, but apparently everybody around here has to mailorder online to get the records they want. As for the rest, I have no idea where anything is or where the nice spots are. Hopefully I will be able to ride out this initial post-move depression and be able to perk up enough to get off of my ass and shake up this town. On that note, I am checking around for clubs who wouldn't mind letting me do a weekly to provide a open forum for people to be able to play out good music. What I have heard is that the scene is pretty closed, it takes a long time for crews to accept new people, and will actually try to bring you down if they don't like the look of you. I am also looking for a decent inexpensive sound system to further these means. I went through the regular channels in San Francisco and I think it took me about 2.5 years to get to the point I was in as a DJ. I don't want to wait that long or even longer again down here.