Monday, January 28, 2013

A Surprise Guest

Continuing the theme from the last entry, I've been pushing this little set of videos to friends and family the last few weeks, ever since I tripped over them in a random YouTube-search.



We're at a birthday party for a certain Mr. Busy P (those French with their funny names and their funny accents) in LA in 2009, as far as I can gather. Busy P is a DJ and incidentally also the owner and manager of Ed Banger Records, the main French house label. Mr. Busy P is the smiling long-haired gentleman with the well-trimmed beard.

The concentration of French DJs on the scene is silly. "Geek cool FTW", as my dear friend, the Theoretical Computer Scientist tersely stated. For instance, Gaspard from Justice ✝(!) and Kavinsky, with the long hair and sunglasses, can be seen. I only recently saw the remarkable Drive by Danish star director, Nicolas Winding Refn, where Kavinskys Nightcall is prominently featured in the intro. (Yeah, also Ryan Gosling. I know.)

However, to get to the point - as it turns out, Mr. Busy P has invited a special guest to attend the stage. It is quite entertaining to hear parts of the crowd slowly discovering who the special guest is and that he is going to be given the mixer. (At around 2:35 a girl is heard saying "Is he really going on?! Oh my god!") He is never formally introduced. There is some street-smart ✝ to Δ sign throwing by some the DJs, but that's it.

Thomas Bangalter seems quite thin. I do hope that he is well. He is also quite the cool customer. His mouth only curls into a small smile when he throws on the last track, Prince's Raspberry Beret (my absolute favorite Prince-track, and that is no lie).

His seeming coolness may also be related to the fact that he is quite concentrated. I suspect that he has to adapt to the CD mixer table in front of him. He doesn't seem entirely comfortable with it, and gets a few pointers from Busy P and DJ Mehdi here and there. (DJ Mehdi - "If you don't [know who he is], go home!"). However, the fact that the set is somewhat messy and the recording very shaky does in no way detract from the fact that this is extremely nerd cool!

... I should just rename this blog the French house and Daft Punk blog, shouldn't I?

Oh. And I got some more injections, also. Didn't hurt as much this time. Didn't really work so well, either. So there's that.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Drugged Up and in Pain

Keeping the music playing, shifting between various high-powered old hits, trying to focus on something else than the burning sensation in my right foot. DJ Mehdi's old Signatune, in an edit by none other than Thomas Bangalter, has the right insisting pace for the job.



I've been on crutches for over a month, now. Messed up my right foot, and ignored it for a while. Bad plan. Got an injection, which is supposed to help, today. That is, after it stops feeling like a needle is repeatedly stabbed into the sole of my right foot. Yes, I'm feeling sorry for myself.

Tried playing Bon Iver, and other soothing music. Doesn't really cut it. Needs to be able to keep up a barrage of sense stimulation high enough to let me think of something else.

Let's try Tool on for size.