Alternative Rock 101!

I miss Q101!  For those of you who don’t know, it was a radio station in Chicago that was on the air from 1992 to this past summer.  Its catchphrase was “Chicago’s Alternative.”  I could always count on Q101 to deliver something with a punch to my radio.  Q101 rocked and it rocked hard.  Yesterday’s playlist was my tribute to Q101.

So what the heck is Alternative Rock?  That term is a pretty big umbrella that covers a lot of different kinds of music.  A couple of the definitions the dictionary provides for “alternative” are:  “Existing outside traditional or established institutions or systems” and “Espousing or reflecting values that are different from those of the establishment or mainstream.”  OK, so alt rock reflects values outside of the mainstream.  The Wikipedia page on Alternative Rock has a nice explanation for this:  “These genres (that make up Alternative Rock) are unified by their collective debt to the style or ethos of punk rock, which laid the groundwork for alternative music in the 1970s.”  Well, punk rock certainly espoused values outside of the mainstream so this makes sense.

OK, enough of the hifalutin’ stuff.  What do I think of when I think of Q101?  I think of the 90′s.  I know some of you youngsters have mentioned you grew up listening to Q101 during the 90′s.  This DJ was in her 30′s, freshly divorced and new to Chicago, during the 90′s.  So what was that like?  IT WAS FREAKIN’ GREAT, THAT’S WHAT IT WAS LIKE!  I would go out and see people dressed like this:

And this:

And sometimes they did stuff like this to their hair:

I went to Berlin, Neo, Exit when it was on Wells Street, I even went to 950 once or twice.  I remember shopping for music and t shirts at Wax Trax! Records on Lincoln Avenue.  I remember going to Berlin on a quiet Sunday night and watching videos with music the likes of which I had never heard before.  I remember dancing to “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails at Neo and someone trying to touch my fresh tattoo.  I remember the last night Exit was open on Wells Street.  I saw a huge whirlpool of bodies swirling counter clockwise to Ministry.  I remember of one of the patrons of Exit telling me you always take off your spikes and studs before entering a mosh pit.  Good times, good times!

So, yeah, when Q101 went off the air it felt like the end of an era to me.  This past Sunday, I was thrilled to share my favorite songs from Q101 with lots of sweaty, brave wimmens with lots of stamina!  They all ROCKED through this entire playlist, including all 4 minutes and 53 seconds of “Jesus Built My Hotrod”! Kudos to you all from DJ Haus O’Whax!

To reward you for your endurance, I present this video.  Trust me, it’s a lot more fun than the original video for “Closer.”

Get your hands up! …No, seriously! UP!

I have to hand it to DJ Rendezvous.  She knows what she wants, and she and her playlist demand it! I think I lost count, but definitely in no less than 4 songs was the room implored to GET YER DAMN HANDS UP. Oh, and you what? We did. Because DDPP attendees aim to please. And also, I mean, especially when Ke$ha tells you to do something , you do it before she breaks a bottle over your head. So the room looked pretty much like this all night:

You wanted a mid-week arm workout? You got it.

And not only does DJ Rendezvous know what she wants, but she gets it with style.  IN JAZZ SHOES.

Color me jealous.  I remember the first time I wore jazz shoes…it was my 3rd grade dance recital…the song was “Material Girl”…which was on the playlist. Coincidence? Definitely. But a pretty amazing one. DJ Rendezvous made the studio feel Just Like Heaven, which was no small feat considering the blustery weather outside! I’m pretty sure we all took a little mini-vacation in the studio, an Escapade if you will…and you will.

I mean, not only is this song a jam and a half  (and Janet makes dancing  in a sensible pantsuit seem like a good idea), but it wins the award for most random city shout out ever. I know the ladies of DDPP Twin Cities felt it. And in case you were wondering, I’ve been to Minneapolis many a time and it’s pretty much exactly like that video. Especially the guy in the monkey mask and the Carnivale-esque dancers.

DJ Rendezvous, keep cranking out hits like these! I’ll put my hands up for you anytime.

No substitute for U.N.I.T.Y.!

Remember when you were in school, and there was a substitute teacher?  Sometimes the class could run all over the sub, and it would seem something like this.

Well, last Sunday’s class had a sub, DJ U.N.I.T.Y.  If her playlists are any indication, if she were a substitute teacher, it would be more like this.

She WHIPPED OUR BUTTS with an encore of an AMAZING playlist from February 2011!  That was an extra special day for DDPP, our first co-ed session followed by ANOTHER session featuring this playlist, the same one we heard Sunday!

Track 11 was not included last Sunday, but the rest of the playlist was there in all its glory!  If you want to read about the incredible afternoon when this playlist was first heard, click here to relive that day!  This playlist was originally done in honor of our DJ’s mother, which makes it even more incredible!  Thank you, DJ U.N.I.T.Y., for filling in at the last minute and showing us how it’s done!

DJ Buddha Belly Spreads Fortune To All

Wednesday night we were all ROCKED by a 2 woman-strong cousin team!  The room full of sweaty women of all ages received more good fortune from jamming to their mix than we EVER could rubbing the belly of an actual Buddha!!  Introducing DJ BUDDHA BELLY!  I loved the familiar hits mixed with some of their family favorites!!  We had a couple of virgin DDPPers come in late only to fall right in the groove of  what was happening….sweaty, happy freedom!!

One of my favorite moments (as I sat on the floor in my post-marathon dance position) was when Den Mother Unity grabbed her Bible from her bag and played out the drama and intrigue depicted in Madonna’s Papa Don’t Preach song.  Girl was tappin’ that book and giving us the hand every time we begged her to let us keep our baby.

If only you could see how good he’s been treating me….

I loved the Buddha Belly cousin duo!  I hope the rest of you ladies felt the amazing energy in the air!  Women young and old-ish dancing to some kick ass tunes!  Can’t beat it. And P.S. Lest you think we tried to END on “Africa” (because that would be madness, I tell you, MADNESS!), the cooldown song was Au Revoir Simone’s “We Are Here.” And we were!

 

 

 

A Peck of Picklebacks!

DDPP was a family affair on Sunday when DJ Pickleback showed up with her mom, her sister, and a whole mess of good jams! Oh, and did I mention they were wearing MATCHING T-SHIRTS! We have photographic evidence to prove it:

Aren’t they awesome? DDPP can always benefit from a good dose of puffy paint and these ladies brought the groove. Check out Mama Gherkin’s sassy point. It’s like she is actually telling us to Shake it, but don’t break it. And if you thought the front was impressive, just wait til they back it on up!

That’s right, personalized! Once again, Mama Gherkin, bringin’ the sass! She’s peacin’ the camera like a bigshot celebrity!

DJ Pickleback said that this playlist was inspired by her family and featured songs that reminded her of mom and sis with a dash of strong women anthems thrown in for good measure. All I know is that by the end every gal in the studio wished they were a part of the pickle bunch. And who can blame us, look at these tunes!

Violet! And Purple!

I am here to tell you, DJ Mizfit Toyz knows how to put together a playlist.  She is a shaman of the iPod.  I felt like I was lifted out of myself not once, but twice during her last session.  Let me tell you about it.

So there I was at DDPP, rockin’ out to the hot mix.  I was Pushin’ It to a Good Beat and on my way to Funkytown!

Then I heard the first few notes of “Violet” by Hole.  Hole was led by Courtney Love.  She is an angry woman.  It is an angry song.  No, it’s an ANGRY song.  It tapped into something in me.  I was singing, I was wailing, I was howling at the ceiling.  I felt my anger, I felt like I felt every woman’s anger, come up in me.  It swept over me.  It felt kind of like this:

I utterly lost myself in it.  I thought I was going to have an out of body experience.  Then the song ended.

I’m not quite sure what happened next.  I remember being in the dark studio and hearing more music and being surrounded by dancing women.  I think I jumped up and down some, I’m not sure.

I started to come back to reality.  I was more aware of my surroundings.  Then the last fast song came on.  Here it is.

Yes, it was “Let’s Go Crazy” from Purple Rain.  Somehow I found myself at one end of the studio, I’m not sure how.  I was rockin’ out.  And the song hit that note, you know the one, that high note with the guitar solo at 3:44 in the video.  I froze.  I couldn’t move.  I had my eyes closed and my head back.  Those notes just went right through my head and my body.  I felt myself drifting away again.  When the song ended, I felt like this:

Aaaaaaahhhhh…..I was ready to floooooaaat away…….

Then the session ended.   Reality was coming back slowly.  I was talking to the DJ and she said something interesting:  “…Courtney Love made me realize that I was an angry young woman but it took me ten more years to figure out what I was angry about.”  Amen, I heard that!

I want to thank DJ Mizfit Toyz for altering my state of consciousness not once, but twice in one hour.  And here is the mix that caused it all.

Sassybrass for president of the Rhythm Nation!

No matter what your political affiliations are, there is one candidate I think we, as a Rhythm Nation, can get behind – DJ Sassybrass!

Sassybrass promises to bring peace, balance the budget, and cure the common cold all through the power of DANCE! Or at least she’ll make you dance so hard you forget about wars, the economy, and that tickle in your throat. Oh, and you don’t even have to go to the polls to vote for Sassybrass, she already won with her amazing mix on Sunday!

Sassybrass unleashed the power of this amazing jam and we realized that we all really are a part of the rhythm nation, the dancefloor was our voting booth, and we were voting with our sweat and sweet moves!

4 more years! 4 more years!

Rendez-vous-la-la

Now, I know that technically, rendezvous is French for “appointment” or “meeting.” But I also know that when something is in French, it sounds classier. You say we’ve got beef stew for dinner tonight? I can’t get the image of the Dinty Moore can out of my head.

 

But you say that Beef Bourguignon is on the menu and I’m pulling out the white tablecloth and candles and counting my lucky stars that we’re friends.

So if you had told me that I had an appointment last Wednesday night, it might have felt like a burden. But when I saw that our scheduled DJ was DJ Rendezvous, well, I knew what we had in store for ourselves: 60 minutes of bootyshaking hits that left us all feeling like we’d been smacked upside the head by our DJ’s particular blend of je ne sais quoi.

DJ, you got us falling in love with you from the get go; before long, we were ALL feeling like we were on holiday and showing off our best Mick Jagger moves. In case anyone has been living under a rock for the last 40 years and doesn’t know what those look like, or in case you just need inspiration for a future playlist, here’s a sample:

 

So thanks for keeping things classy, DJ Rendezvous, and we look forward to seeing you on the dance floor again soon. A bientôt!

 

 

Dj O’Hall Yeah ROCKED this town!!

I have to admit when this song came on through the speaker…I laughed & then starting doing the dance…it was like a flashback to highschool (you figure out my age).  That line in the title always jars me & the answer to the question is YES I AM TICKLISH!  Kind of like a furry creature we all love:

It was a night/day (it was 4pm–yo!) of dancetastic moves & sweet singing along.  We moved like we were 52 girls up in the studio…I don’t know if you can call it Planet Claire because it was definitely PLANET O’HALL YEAH!  These folks approve:

The town was rocked as we showed love on the dance floor…it was so hard to say Bye, Bye, Bye…thank you dj for being faithful & letting us ddpp chicas Shoop it out while Surfing the Bird.

Check out the playlist here:

And remember…live long & prosper on PLANET O’HALL YEAH