Drunken bloggen

I'm sitting here at an outdoor cafe with wireless in Berlin ... it's after midnight, and D is still suffering from jet-lag so she's already in bed ... but for some reason, she and I have traded places -- ever since I've gotten to Europe, I've been able to drink MORE than her! WTF?

So I'm still awake, ready to rock, drinking a hefeweisen, checking email, and listening to the Bootie SF webcast from the DNA Lounge website. It's our version of a baby monitor ... listening in to make sure everything went okay. We've been so worried about our baby -- especially since we haven't had internet for the past day or so. We keep making references to the recent "South Park" episode -- "No internet? Noooooooooo!" Even our new Berlin friends get the reference!

I'm happy to report that Bootie SF sounds like it rocked ... from Ya-Ya's reassuring text message, to the recent Yelp.com review, and now, the webcast ... it all sounds like it was a great party. Even without us!

Gotta admit though, it's fucking weird.

Anyway, back to Europe. After all, we're nine hours ahead!

Ich bin ein Munich-er

Been hearing about this Time magazine cover on GYBO and via email, and now we found it while sightseeing in Berlin! Yay! Recognize the Bootie reference in the below photo?

Been loving the cool Ikea-like, perfectly designed toilet fixtures in Germany. They don't look like this in the USA:

Bootie Munich was great! Good party ... and SOOOOO weird to, uh ... see your own party -- your own creation -- take on a life of its own, halfway around the world! D and I sat there and watched and listened to BootOX and Schmolli spin very Bootie-style sets -- but with a German flair. They kicked ass! So proud...

We opened our set with the midnight mashup show -- me singing a Smash-Up Derby medley live, karaoke-style, with BootOX and Frank dressed like bunny rabbits in suits, playing "guitar." It actually was awesome ... I had a wireless microphone, so I was able to run around the club a little bit.
Some really great photos HERE!

We started our set with the Bootie intro, then we had a little CD deck hiccup, so I got on the mic and said, "Ich bin ein Munich-er," which everyone laughed at. At the time, I thought I made a funny JFK reference, but the next day, I found out that Alex and Frank were cracking up over the way I mangled the Deutche language ... it's "Münchener" NOT "Munich-er" -- which is apparently like saying "Germany-er." DOH! Okay, now it's a funny inside joke for all the Bootie Munich people. I'm sure they'll be quoting me for months...

We had a very good set, but ... BootOX and Schmolli and DJ Y alias JY played so well before us, stealing at least half of either the instrumentals or acapellas that we wanted to play, that it felt a little rough going into it. We now know what if feels like for other guest DJs to play at Bootie SF. They obviously were trying to show us how great they can rock the crowd -- and they obviously know their crowd better than we do. Just like we do in SF, LA, and NYC. We almost always play better for the Bootie crowd than our guest DJs, and now we know what it feels like to be on the other side. Karma's a bitch!

But it was a blast playing Munich... FM24 took tons of photos HERE!

Here's one of us with the Bootie Munich crew: Frank, BootOX, and Schmolli:

With 14 people sleeping at the Bootie Munich headquarters, it's not surprising that we woke up early... no infamous sausages breakfast, but it was great to talk to everyone a little bit more sober than the night before! We heart DJ Schmolli so much, and am so glad he's a resident DJ at Bootie Munich. We made him play Rammstein vs. Kelly Clarkson for us at the party the night before!

Despite rumors to the contrary, Frank and Alex were excellent at getting us to the airport on time. Which brings us to...

Ich bin ein Berliner

DJ Morgoth and his friend Alex picked us up at the Berlin airport, and despite our delirium, we were ready to drink beer in the car on the way into Berlin. You can drink beer in the car? Fuck yeah, we LOVE this country!

Alex gave us the driving tour through the middle of Berlin, we got settled, changed into our new Mash-Up Your Bootz tshirts, and went to the U5 club...

It was a smaller party than Munich but ... DAMN. We had a FUCKING GREAT TIME. We loved meeting Dr. Waumiau -- his name means "bark" and "meow" (I guess dogs go "vow!" in German!)

Our set was just ON POINT for some reason. We had probably one of our most favorite sets EVER ... maybe even better than Burning Man. I'm not sure why, but D and I were just like sharing the same mind, and got to play such a WIDE range ... we started off with "It Takes Du" -- Eric B. & Rakim vs. Rammstein -- and went very industrial, then metal, then 80s, then ... I don't even know where ... it just flowed from genre to genre, pleasing all the different people there -- a mix of Australian metalheads, indie chicks, gay skinheads, hip-hop kids, and ... I don't know, just cool Berliners... only 25-30 people on the dance floor, but they all loved it and DID NOT LEAVE during our entire set.

We even pulled a midnight mashup show (at 1:15 AM) out of our ass... I stood on the bar and sang, scaring the gay skinhead in the corner, and probably never having so many people take my picture at once. (pictures coming soon... can't take pictures of myself while I'm singing!)

Mysterious D was seriously in the zone... and then when DJ Morgoth went on after us, he spun a super Bootie-style set, and we played "Name That Bootlegger." Totally fun! And we are super in love with Morgoth's "BlurDemmi" mashup, which mashes up "Song 2" (whoo-hoo!) with the German rap of Deichkind (yippee yippee yeah!). So good he and Alex got a free trip to the Jack Daniels distillery in Tennessee out of it! Here's Morgoth and Alex:

It's the A+D Drinking Our Way Through Europe Tour!

The next day, we were obviously exhausted. We slept until 4 PM, not even realizing it. FUCK! Jet-lag is a bitch.

We didn't even take showers, we were so eager to hit Berlin. We went out drinking with Alex and Morgoth, doing a bar-crawl through the very cool neighborhood of Friedrichshain (easier to spell than to say) and ate even more food that is... BREAD & CHEESE!

(Seems like all we've eaten since coming to Germany is bread and cheese ... and, oh yeah, some vegetables.)

Here are some pics:

Morgoth:

Me and Rob Halford (or at least a giant fiberglass statue of him)

The end of the night (note: this is only ONE of the bars we went to)

Today, we actually got our asses up... D was awake at 8:30 AM ... hurray for jet-lag! She woke me up an hour later, we grabbed some breakfast at Intimes (where I am right now), a great bar/cafe on the corner with free WiFi, hooked up with Alex, and then he took us on a 5-hour tour of Berlin.

We really wanted to see some pieces of the Berlin Wall, so our first stop was the East Side Gallery, a section of the wall that was painted by artists. I'm surprised they don't have artists paint fresh murals every year, but Alex told us that they might tear it all down... which to us would be a shame ... it's such an important (and strangely unique) historical reminder.


Fancy tower!

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a fascination with tall towers (sure, go ahead and read what you want into that, Freud) so our next stop was the Fernsehturm -- otherwise known as the "TV Tower" since I couldn't ever get the pronunciation correct until I realized it kinda sounded like "fancy term" ... otherwise known as ... FANCY TOWER!


It was 8 euro to go to the top ... that's $12 for those keeping track of how crappy the American dollar is right now ... but hey, when would we ever get the chance again to go to the top of a landmark built primarily to show Western society (i.e. West Berlin) the strength and enduring legacy of socialist government?


We walked down the Unter den Linden, looking at several big buildings and statues, making our way to the Brandenburg Tor (Gate). Then we went all "stupid American tourist", and made a very patient Alex take us to Checkpoint Charlie, where we shamelessly made him take our photos in front of the (fake) military sign and a chunk of the (real) Berlin Wall. Then our feet were tired.


Bitch, bitte!

Later, we met up with Morgoth and some of their friends, and had several rounds of drinks in Prenzlauer Berg ... big foofy vodka drinks because ... it was VODKA DAY! Pronounced "wodka" or "vodka" depending... Great conversations with new German friends and then somehow... I said, "Bitch, bitte!" to D and she freaked out because she had thought the same thing earlier, but didn't say it because... let's face it, "bitch, please!" does NOT translate very well into German. Okay, some more pics... I'm taking some Tylenol PM and going to bed...


More pics here: http://www.bootieusa.com/europe/europe.html

Jet lag, I hate you

You can run, but you can't hide from it. I fought it, and was up by noon. D woke up at ... 3 pm. Of course, Alex and Frank's flatmate who was hammering his wall at 10 AM did not help. Ugh. "Bitte, nein hammer!"

Saw barely any sunlight today, but enough to get this very Munich photos. Everything looks like this in Munich:

To quote Alex: "SERIOUSLY!!!" Okay, not really. But it's soooooo the way Germany looks by way of Disneyland. That Oktoberfest beer garden at Great America theme park? Looks just like the Hofbrauhaus. Seriously.

Checked out the NY.Club tonight, where we are DJing tomorrow... I think it's gonna be good! They were playing a lot of the same kind of music we play (but not mashed up) and the crowd is a mix of gay and straight. Perfect!

I wanna mashup the Disco Boys... it's an English-language big hit here, but I'd never heard it before... but I just know Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone would work over it!

First night in Munich

Why am I still up?

Oh yeah, jet lag.

Frank and Alex picked us up at the airport. This is how they drive on the autobahn:

Back at Bootie Munich headquarters:

Throwing gang signs while promoting Bootie at a Munich club

The car I want:

The car I can afford:

Packing up for European tour!

In five hours, we will be on a plane, headed for Munich, Germany – the first stop on our 17-day (although it will probably mostly feel like 17-nights) EUROPEAN TOUR!

• Six gigs
• Five cities
• Four carry-on bags
• Three Bootie parties
• Two stressed-out DJs
• One $113 A+D flag


Yup, got our own flag made for the tour. Now it's official.

We flew home from Bootie New York on Saturday, so we would have an extra 2-1/2 days to pack and prepare for this tour. We've been a little stressed out, but overall, we're holding up okay! Here's some shots of our preparations:

To-Do Lists coming out our ass!

135 A+D CDs!

Travelling and touring is always a whirlwind, but we're going to do our best to keep this blog updated over the course of our travels. Some keep checking in with us!

First stop: Munich! There's some Bavarian beer with our names on it, just waiting for us!

A+D go on European Bootie tour!

FRIDAY, 25 APRIL 25 – MUNICH, GERMANY
BOOTIE MUNICH, NY.Club. We finally play our own party in Germany! Sonnenstrasse 25
80331, Munich, Germany

SATURDAY, 26 APRIL – BERLIN, GERMANY
MASH-UP YOUR BOOTZ , U5 Club. Guest set at Berlin's mashup party. U5 Club, Frankfurter Tor 9, Berlin, Germany

THURSDAY, 1 MAY – COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
BOOTIE COPENHAGEN, Spirit. A one-off with DJ M.i.F., it's our first Bootie party in Scandanavia! Skindergade 20 KLD, Copenhagen. 22.00-04.00.

SATURDAY, 3 MAY – PARIS, FRANCE
BOOTIE PARIS, La Mecanique Ondulatorie. We finally play our own party in Paris! La Mecanique Ondulatoire, 8 Passage Thiere, Paris

WEDNESDAY, 7 MAY – LONDON, UK
BLACK BALLOON, Punk. A guest set of a morbid mashup of electro and indie. 14 Soho Street, Soho, London
THURSDAY, 8 MAY – LONDON, UK
MISS-SHAPES UK, The Ghetto. Guest DJ set at the original and best Misshapes party in Soho! 5-6 Falconberg Court, behind the Astoria, Soho, London

FRIDAY, 9 MAY – LONDON, UK
COVER UP, Ginglik. New party celebrating cover versions and mashups of songs! 1 Shepherds Bush Green, London

Bootie Top 10 - April 2008

A plus D - Believe In Sexual Eruption (Snoop Dogg vs. Cher) - San Francisco
One wouldn't think there would be much in common between Snoop Dogg and Cher. But there was just something about Snoop's new single that seemed familiar ... what was it? Hey, that's a vocoder on his voice! Hmmm ... what other famous pop song used a vocoder to great effect? It's all about finding the common thread, and putting together a duet with two unlikely partners!

BootOx – Brick and Stop (Q-Tip vs. The Commodores) - Munich, Germany
So simple, yet so smoove, so good, with a bunch of random samples throw in for good measure. This is the first Bootie Top 10 appearance by the crazy BootOx, one of the resident DJs and promoters of Bootie Munich. This was one of the "battle" tracks for the fierce boxing-ringed DJ battle between the BootOx and Schmolli. We decided it's a tie, since they both have tracks in the Top 10 this month.

DJ Le Clown - Eko Bitch (Martha & the Muffins vs. Busta Rhymes) - France
The first of three French bootleggers in this month's Top 10 - yes, France is the new hotbed of mashup talent! DJ Le Clown's productions are always intricately crafted and well-produced, as he tends to use unconventional source material, with added beats and samples, giving his mashups a unique sound.

DJ Lobsterdust - It's Fun To Smoke Dust (Queen vs. Pastor Gary Greenwald vs. Midfield General) - New York City
"Oh no, not Queen! Not 'Another One Bites The Dust'" Yup, here it is again, with an extremely fresh take, courtesy of DJ Lobsterdust, who unearthed a 1982 sermon by Pastor Gary Greenwald. Did you know that playing this song backwards reveals Satanic messages designed to corrupt and enslave the young minds who listen to it? Yup, "it's fun to smoke marijuana!" This track is pure excellence.

DJ Magnet - Chicago Bump (Bootie Edit) (Chicago vs. Amanda Blank vs. Spank Rock vs. Bloodhound Gang vs. Greg Kihn Band vs. Detroit Grand Pubas) - Denver, USA
In the wrong hands, "everything but the kitchen sink"-style mashups tend to collapse under the cluttered weight of their multiple source material. But not when it's being done by someone like Bootie Denver's resident DJ Magnet. Here, he skillfully crams it all in, and - in this special "Bootie edit" - even brings in the original Chicago tune for a chorus. This one is Mysterious D's new favorite.

Mighty Mike - Standing On My Shoulders (The Do vs. The Gossip) - France
Nope, we didn't know the vocal either. But this one grew on us. First off, with all the mashups that use the "Standing In The Way of Control" vocal, we had completely forgotten how good the original Gossip song is - even without Beth Ditto's voice. Replacing her here is the singer for the French band The Do ... and it's mashups like these that had us Googling them in order to check out their originals. And that's what good mashups should make you do, furthering our belief that a mashup can sometimes be an unknown band's best promotion.

Overdub - Come As The Starlight (Nirvana vs. The Supermen Lovers) - France
If you ever wondered what Nirvana would sound like if they were a disco band, look no further than this, which sounds like the gayest Nirvana song EVER. There is no doubt in our minds that Kurt would have LOVED this.
BONUS TRACK:
RIAA - Come As The Eighties (Nirvana vs. Killing Joke) - Los Angeles
As an added bonus, here's a musical history lesson - "Come As You Are," mashed up with "The Eighties" by Killing Joke. This is the band that sued Nirvana for plagarism, as it very nearly copies the exact same bass line as "The Eighties." Allegedly, when Nirvana's management claimed the band had never heard the song, Killing Joke's lawyers provided a fan letter that Kurt Cobain had written to the band as evidence to the contrary. DOH!

DJ Schmolli - Justice For Billie Jean (Justice vs. Michael Jackson vs. C&C Music Factory) - Vienna, Austria
At the most recent Bootie Munich, resident DJ Schmolli "battled" DJ BootOx in a boxing ring rigged with DJ gear. Some feel that Schmolli won the battle, and its mashups like these in his arsenal that surely helped. Pretty much better than any of the remixes and remakes on the new 25th anniversary edition of "Thriller" that was just released.

team9 - Sugar & Cheese (Mary J. Blige vs. Snow Patrol) - Perth, Australia
Pure pop candy. Your teeth might rot out of your head simply by listening to this. Mary J. Blige would probably never join indie darlings Snow Patrol on stage for a number - but with mashups like these, at least it's easier to imagine.

Titus Jones - Kiss Britney's Boyfriend (Ashlee Simpson vs. Chris Brown vs. Britney Spears) - Clarksville, Arkansas, USA
It seems we're rediscovering our love of shameless pop music this month, as this mashup by Titus Jones amply demostrates. A guilty pleasure to be sure, but hells yes, it's a toe-tapper ... and it even features guest appearances by Missy Elliott and Ciara. What's not to love?