Undercover DJ

DJ Michelle Leslie Brown may very well hold the record for most times DJ-ed EVER at any DDPP around the world, and last night she gave a master class in how it’s done…you might even say she’s a Pro*Whoa! (How is there a Nikka Costa song I  haven’t heard yet? Leave it MLB…)

When I (breathlessly) asked after the playlist had rocked us, DJ MLB denied any theme of covers, remixes, and  mash-ups, but I don’t care what she says…her tunes put those damn Glee kids to shame!  I was wowed by all the super cool takes new takes she unearthed on some old (and new) favorite songs. And I can’t recall this ever happening before, but during D.I.S.C.O, a vision came to me…a clear vision of a disco rave. Glowsticks and all,  despite having never been to an official disco OR rave. The picture in my head looked something like this:

And after disco raving it up for an hour, I had to call in the Hardy Boys to solve this not-so-secret mystery:

Even more of a mystery, though, is how exactly to do the 45. Why must  you be so coy, Ryan Shaw?

As far as I can tell, doing the 45 involves hula hoops and break dancing.  And until the Hardy Boys can solve my mystery, I’ll have to enjoy memories of DJ Michelle Leslie Brown’s leg-debilitating mix from this here computer chair…

9 NEW ladies dancing=24 ladies rocking out!

WHOA, what just happened?!?!  Why was my heart racing & my pulse going crazy?!?!  Wait, why is EVERYONE singing “I will Survive“, am I dreaming?!?!?  It was a Sunday like no other, one so close to the holiday season that for sure the number of booty shakers would be low…kind of like this:

Truth be told it was more like this:

Just imagine more ladies and (NO BOYS) getting their groove on.  And to quote one of our regular attenders (Sabrina C) “TOTALLY AWESOME!!! I love how the green shirt boy in the back is doing the LMFAO Party Rock shuffle. And the boy in front is doing Thriller. And the girly in the pink dress definitely looks like she should be at DDPP with us every week“.

Dj Special K really brought the house down (honestly I thought she was trying to kill us with her off the hook playlist)…it was one base thumping song after another.   Not only did we have 9 new ladies show up, we had our regulars in tow as well…making the #24.  24 fun-loving, booty shaking, sing out loud divas, rocking their Sunday Funday out.  Special K was just the dj to get us grooving…she had us “Right Thurr” with her tunes.  Come on, you KNOW it is going to be awesome when the 1st fast song is “Bootylicious“.  Special K also allowed those of us who like to you know..sing our lungs out..belt out the tunes.  As matter of fact, I believe that this was the 1st time in Chicago DDPP history that every woman in attendance sang the cool down song.  How could you not…uh , hello it was “My Heart Will Go On” (come on, you know we all have a little Celine in us).  Trust me it was AMAZING!

Check the playlist here:

1986. A Signature Year.

What’s so great about the year 1986 you ask?!

The Mac+ came out in Latin America...

Mark Harmon is People's Sexiest Man Alive. WHO DAT?!?

THIS Chevy Camaro was cruisin' for chicks....

The Space Shuttle Challenger and its astronauts exploded before our eyes...(too soon?)

Evander Holyfield still had two functional ears...

Howard the Duck came out! Ha!

More important than all of those things is that DJ Flaming Cheese moved to CHICAGO and began her journey that would eventually lead her to create a super awesome playlist causing 16 women to sweat through their yoga pants 25 years later!!!  This Wednesday was a tribute to 1986 and we all took a trip back in time to enjoy SO MANY hits!!  Thank you DJ and thank you to the women who came out to share the revelry of the year 1986.  What a feeling!

Dance your jingle balls off!

We all know the 3 tenets of DDPP: No booze. No boys. No judgement. But wasn’t it the patron saint of dance, DJ U.N.I.T.Y., who once said “some rules are made to be broken”? (Especially if you’re breaking the rules for charity)

Some rules were made to be broken! (snaps in the air)

There was still no booze or judgement present at our co-ed charity  event, Dance The Halls With Jingle Balls, but there were BOYS! Oh, and our favorite rhyming word for boys…TOYS!

Dance machines of both genders brought toys and money in support of Angel Tree, an organization dedicated to providing Christmas presents for the children of prisoners. Overall, we raised $350 AND a whole slew of kid-friendly presents!

All the good feelings we got from helping others were topped only by the good feelings we got from helping ourselves to 90 minutes of all-out dance madness!

Even though we were in a gym, this was no junior high dance, with boys on one side and girls on the other swaying awkwardly. The nearly 40 dancers used the WHOLE space!

What could cause such a full-floor ruckus? See for yourself:

Thanks to everyone who came out and jingled for a cause!

Double M for Majorly Magical!

There have been some famous mother-daughter pairs in history–some famously successful:

some famously awful:

and some famously…well, famously famous:

But I dare say few mother daughter duos could have pulled off the feat we witnessed last Wednesday night, when DJs Double M (that stands for Monica and Miranda, dontchaknow) dropped their mother-daughter mix on a studio of more than a dozen verrrrry happy attendees. Among other sights, our dancers were treated to light saber fights a la Luke Skywalker, a multi-den mother Hammer Time dance (hooboy were our legs sore the next day!) and a church revival-like sing-along to Like a Prayer. But it wasn’t all dancin’ to the oldies–no, we were also treated to recent hits and feelin’ fly like a G6. It seemed particularly easy that night to let go of all of our worries and dance like we were eight years old again…maybe because one of our DJs IS EIGHT YEARS OLD?!? Yeah, it’s hard to put into words how fun it was to see not one, not two, but THREE generations of that family shakin’ it with their glowstick necklaces on. And I would never have thought to rock out to “Portions of Foxes” as a last fast song but, looking at DJ Little M (I just named her that, just now!) belting out Jenny Lewis’s lyrics and then spying half a dozen other women around the room doing the same, I was proven dead wrong. From the mouths of babes, you guys, springs complete awesomeness. Then, proving she had yet one more trick up her sleeve, DJ Mama M had us all giggling like, well, schoolgirls with her  cooldown choice. We can’t wait until you introduce Little M to that movie!

Behold, your DJs and the setlist that set my heart alive with joy:

Killing Me Softly with His Song–Fugees

Don’t Go–Yaz

It’s the Time to Disco–Kk, Shaan & Vasundhara Das

I Gotta Feeling–Black Eyed Peas

Come On Get Happy– The Partridge Family

Jesus Dropped the Charges–The O’Neal Twins

Ice Ice Baby–Vanilla Ice

Jump in the Line–Harry Belafonte

U Can’t Touch This –MC Hammer

Like A G6–Far Easte Movement

Like A Prayer–Madonna

Star Wars Theme (Disco Medley)–The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra

Crazy–Gnarls Barkley

Dancing with Joey Ramone–Amy Rigby

Portions for Foxes–Rilo Kiley

I’m Going Home–Tim Curry