ABC 7 coming to film on Weds

Hey ladies! The media continues to be intrigued by this mysterious phenomenon known as DDPP.

ABC 7 is coming to film the first few songs for their local about town show 190North.  As usual it’s bring a newbie and get in free. And also as usual, we’ll have a camera-free zone for you to boogie down in if you don’t feel like being in the shots.

Bring yer ladies! Bring yer newbies! Bring your energy…Den Mother Jenn B will be spinning a super sweet sweaty set.

Dog Days of Summer

First a little Wikipedia:

The Romans referred to the dog days as diēs caniculārēs and associated the hot weather with the star Sirius. They considered Sirius to be the “Dog Star” because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog). Sirius is also the brightest star in the night sky. The term “Dog Days” was used earlier by the Greeks (see, e.g., Aristotle’s Physics, 199a2).

The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius rose just before or at the same time as sunrise (heliacal rising), which is no longer true, owing to precession of the equinoxes. The Romans sacrificed a brown dog (!!!) at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.

Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time “when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, Quinto raged in anger, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies…”

I don’t know about boiling seas (though the lake has been pleasantly swimable lately), sour wine, or crazy dogs, but yesterday afternoon it was hot as blazes and a group of women on the north side of Chicago exhibited fevers, hysterics, and frenzies, all thanks to DJ Sassybrass!  And there was nothing languid about it–until the music stopped.  At which point none of us could move.

I have to say, she warned me.  On Friday afternoon I got the heads up that this would be a “two-water bottle” mix, and man, DJ Sassybrass wasn’t kidding! She left us panting like a Saint Bernard in Bermuda (being crushed by a child):

And now, because there are no better words to describe how we came to sweat buckets yesterday:

DJ Sassybrass, you are beautiful–and you make us all feel beautiful, too  Good to have you back girl!!

Also, some BIG NEWS!!!  This Wednesday DDPP is going to be interviewed by ABC for the program 190 North!  As usual, we will have a safe zone for ladies who don’t want to be on camera, so don’t worry about that.  But they would love to chat with some ladies about why they love DDPP, so come on out and get a few seconds to count toward your 15 minutes of fame!

Chelles Bells Trudy!

Q: What features Hebrew, Madmen and profuse sweating all in one place?’

A: This blog post! (and perhaps someone you know’s upcoming Rosh Hashanah)

Upon reading our dear DJ’s name for the first time (Chelles Bells), I couldn’t help but instinctively insert the Hebraic letter Chet (recall the sound of hacking a loogie) instead of the super soft and smooth “sh” sound as in seaSHells or  foreSHadow or crapSHooter (but not like asSHole, which is a different type of crapSHooter). Nope – mine eyes and throat thought it was the first day of Chanukah and Chelles Bells I annunciated accordingly.

But I should have known this DJ was smooth as her name and her playlist. Not some kinda hack. (could.not.help.self) The woman not only helped solve a speaker problem with her technical finesse, she also wielded her tech tools and sensibilities to assemble one helluvan hour of music for us to yes, sweat profusely to.

Sometimes I unwittingly measure a DDPP by how sopped my shirt is at the end. Well this was a double wringer hum-dinger. I had to take off to a meet a room full of dry people afterwards, and I took their chairs scooting away from me (not subtle) as well as their noses buried in shirts as a compliment and testament to Chelles Belles ability to rile a crowd and launch us into unselfconscious ecstasy.

And speaking of bells and (c)hells and launching things ecstatically, have you seen the Madmen episode in which Peter lays down the law with Trudy about adoption? Watch the super exciting clip here. (screenshot below)

How about that, eh? Humans spent thousands of years breeding chickens NOT to fly, but all it takes is a pissed off Peter Campbell to undo all that hard work. I’m glad he seems to have calmed down this season now that Trudy is “with child.” Speaking of which…wanna see Chelles Bell’s perfect little baby creation that incited us to all act like shooting stars and sprinkle our sparkle sweat on to the dance floor? Look no further, dammmmmmat:

Weekend Ladies, We’ve Missed You…

Come on, you know you’re sick of street festivals.  DDPP is ON this Sunday!   And while we don’t have anything fried, you know we will have some shake…

But no cowboys.

See you Sunday!

DDPP in the NEW YORK (muthacluckin) TIMES!

“Ladies, Feel Free to Let Loose”

The title  of our NEW YORK TIMES article reads. And it goes on from there to say wondrous things about our founding mothers Marcy + Glennis, plus Chicago get’s a shout out! Thanks to Nida Najar and her rad sister (who attends DDPP Chicago) for making it happen!

And hey! Our own den mamma Jennifer Brandel manages to get the last word.

“There just seems to be a premise that all these classes rest on that there’s something wrong with you,” Ms. Brandel said. “I think at D.D.P.P., the premise is, ‘We’re all awesome; let’s have fun together.’ ”

Let’s play a game. It’s called “guess the DJ’s name.” Here be your hints:

(+)

Nope – it’s not DJ Revenge Woody. Nor is is DJ You Prick! Pine. And it ain’t DJ Comic Axemaster.

Twas DJ Slap!Chop! And rough us up she did with her tunelage! We had a bevy of beauties on hand tonight that were beyond happy to walk on the wild side en masse, strutting their stuffs while admiring Wynona’s Big Brown…

Beaver Damn! It was a mighty fine mix. Thanks to all the ladies who came out and braved the incredibly awesome weather to shake their shimmy shakers with us. Sometimes we think DDPP is so fun, it’s not entirely fair that it’s women only. And then we imagine what it’d be like to have dudes in there (see clip below), and well, it might be more fun to stare at goats.

Thanks DJ Slap!Chop! for the exhilarating adrenaline pump and serotonin release (and for the video above!)

Play it Again, MLB

Last night DJ Michelle Leslie Brown donned her alter ego: DJ Rerun!  And let me tell you, it was beautiful.  An hour of DDPP classics we couldn’t get enough of the first time around!

Now, if you aren’t familiar with the work of DJ MLB/Rerun, let me catch you up: she has an uncanny ability to find at least one song that makes me get so funky I bust out with moves I never knew I had, won’t remember for the life of me, and will never be able to reproduce.  For like 30 mixes running now!  Seriously, I completely black out!  It’s like the moment the song is over, I have no idea where I am, what I just did, what my name is…

Last night the culprit was song #3.  Thankfully, someone snuck into the studio last night and recorded me, so here you go.  Me percolating:

It’s hard to believe right?  I’m usually quite graceful.

Here’s the rundown of other awesome stuff that happened last night: Paul Simon and Julio did something down by the school yard, but whatever it was, there wasn’t anything wrong with it.  We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a seven nation army (and boy are my arms tired).  The hotstepper came, the kids jumped in the line, and (as always) DJ Rerun found the expressway to our hearts without the aid of GPS!

Woman, I think it is safe to say that you’ve spun more tunes than any other DJ, and ain’t even close to dancing us to the end of love!  Keep em comin!  DJ Rerun, I think this is the middle of a beautiful friendship.

Also, big love to Michelle and the two other ladies who helped out last night during the stereo crisis!!!!  And big welcome to first timers Stephanie and Sheila.  You ladies rocked it!

A Quick Reminder…

Auditions for the Revelettes are coming soon!  If you missed the last post, peep the info:

AUDITION INFO
The Revelettes are expanding our gogotastic group of groovy gals. We’re looking for women who can’t get enough on the dance floor and jump at word of a hooping, hula or hip-hop class. While some dance experience is recommended, candidates need not have extensive performance histories. We pride ourselves on having reliable, collaborative, and savvy heads on our shoulders, underneath our enormous beehives!

Our two-part audition will take place the last two Mondays in August. (8/23 & 8/30) Interested women may contact us and must register in advance.

CONTACT INFO
www.revelettes.com
http://www.facebook.com/revelettes
http://www.myspace.com/revelettes
revelettes@gmail.com

A Letter From Camp

Hi, Den Mothers, it’s your DDPP daughters. It was kind of weird being here without you tonight—like we were at sleep-away camp for the first time (or maybe you were?). Nevertheless all TWENTY of us (including half a dozen newbies!) carried on bravely. We didn’t let ourselves get spooked by the sounds outside our cabin; instead, we formed connections based on the power of dance that would have had us swapping friendship bracelets at the end if we weren’t so darned tired.

In fact, I think we all earned our Dancin’ Machine honor badge tonight. And who do we have to thank for all this? Who will we be Lovin’ Like a Sister until next summer (and beyond)? Why, our awesome camp counselor DJ L-Scream, of course!

She created a mix that was sweeter than a cherry bomb (and yet also as explosive—funny, that!). She wanted to dance with us and we wanted to dance with her! We zoomed around the room, clapped and hollered, and got that feelin’ only a killer playlist can give us. Over the din, I heard L-Scream ask us, “How you like me now?!?” The answer: very much indeed! She made us little happy campers:

OK, Den Mothers, it’s almost lights out time. We’ll write more later. Even though we’re having a great time, we can’t wait to see you again. Like next week, maybe?

XOXO,

Your DDPP Daughters

P.S. The food here is yucky! Please send cookies???