This is the story of a young woman who loves cheese very much….
This young woman is a DJ who travels around the world, and the only thing that can wake her up and give her some energy when she’s asleep on a plane or when she’s half asleep in and around airports is cheese.
Some people even call her a mouse!
The best thing that could have happened to her is to have a weekend of gigs in Athens and Skopje in Macedonia, as in that part of the world they make good cheese (feta) and she would have simply been in heaven!!
Well… indeed, she has eaten so much cheese in that trip that she’s been in heaven, but only for a short while… until she had an overdose of it! She’s been sad for a few days, thinking she could never be able to eat cheese again, but fortunately today she feels better and she has already attacked what’s predominant in her fridge (cheese) and she feels much better and alive, again!
I thought this was a very touching story so I wanted to tell it…
This young woman is me, and the ones who know me well understand why it is almost a sad story.. The others, you now know what to give me if you want to make me smile..
I think I prefer cheese over champagne! But please do not bring me any cheese while I’m djing, as I won’t appreciate it as much as my fuel…
I have just spent 3 weeks in Europe. I remember in the last post on Europe I wrote that it had been a trip more satisfying on the personal level than on the work level, and that it was making me look forward to more and better work experiences there, and these past 3 weeks have been exactly what I was looking forward to. I know I will sound like I repeat myself as I don’t know any other word than ‘rocks’ and ‘great’ and ‘fantastic’ and ‘amazing’, so if anyone can come up with new words for me please feel free to do so, but in the meantime all these words are the best description for the 8 gigs I’ve just done in the last 3 weeks spent Europe!
It all started with my arrival in London on the morning of the 26th of September. I now have a flat in London, so I can finally come in earlier and leave a day after my gigs and not feel sick anymore because I’m doing a million connections to get back to Canada, with no sleep after my last gig.
So, I get there on that morning and go to my flat to rest a bit before my photo shoot and interview with DJ Magazine in that same afternoon, but as I was too anxious to get my place cleaned properly and make it comfortable by buying some essential stuff like stereo system (a must!!), blankets, food, etc., I have not slept at all.
That day went really quickly, between setting myself up in there and doing all I had to do, and at night I hooked up with my friend Clare and had a great house warming… Warming indeed as we almost burned the place down, ha ha! But that’s me not knowing how to use the oven in there.. Now I know!
Clare has been so sweet with great welcome gifts – loads of cheese for me – and a sweet card for Babs and Smithy, which is Christian, with whom I share the flat.
The next day, and I was so looking forward to that one, I had a gig at Code in Birmingham. I knew it was going to be fantastic (here we go again with the same old words..) as it was the second anniversary and the place was rammed! But, not to say the least, the greatest thing on that night was to be able to celebrate Brian’s birthday, in such a great club, together with Sam (his girlfriend) and Clare! We had a lovely drive up to Birmingham and an exquisite dinner followed by a brilliant night.
Needless to say the sleep wasn’t much on that night, and the next day I had to get up early to do an interview on Radio One with Lottie. I don’t know how I did it as I was just waking up and when I wake up in the morning (especially after a late night) I have no voice whatsoever! It’s funny because a couple of weeks ago I had a chat with Stuart McMillan from Slam, who told me he heard me on the radio, and I told him “You heard me? Really? How? With what voice?” ha ha ha!!
Then we had to leave for Amsterdam. Going to Amsterdam can never hurt, even when you are more tired than ever. I love it there as I have great Italian friends who always take care of me so well every time I go. I call them my Italian Techno Mafia! Plus, I was with Clare for the whole weekend and we had such a blast together, doing honor to the Crack Inc that’s been established in August 2002 in Palma. We were missing one member (dear Mal..), but she’s always in our hearts so it was just as being all together.
On our way to the airport, in Birmingham, we had the craziest taxi driver. There was a golf tournament in Birmingham on that weekend, so everything was very busy and it was taking forever to get taxis (OH-OH!! Ibiza memories..!!).. At last, we finally got picked up by one who asked us if we would mind having other passengers on board and sharing the cab with them. We understood what it was to have to wait for a taxi forever so we’ve been kind and let the other passengers in. However, when something like this happens, and when the taxi has been called for you and not the people you’re actually helping out by sharing the cab with, you expect at least to be the first one dropped off to your own destination! Well, check this out… not only the driver brings them first to wherever they had to go, because it was on the way to the airport so, ok, fair enough (F.M.! hehe!) but on top of that when those other passengers got out of the cab, the driver tried to charge them the full amount of £ 20 for the ride. So those kind passengers said “Well, if we pay that much you can’t let the ladies pay as well” and the driver said that of course he will make us pay the full amount as well. Oh God… that’s it… I was already tired, no sleep for over 48 hours.. and I was in that position… As Clare says.. wax the legs to calm down!!! But problem is that my legs were already waxed and I was ready to jump in his face and let him know my thoughts very clearly.. I tried to breath and calm down and then I explained to him, in “my” most civilized way, that sharing means 50/50 and not 100/100! But he says he can’t as he never does that, to share taxis between passengers… so I am like “HELLOOO?! I never do that either, to agree with taxi drivers to let strangers share a taxi with me?!?!” What a weirdo I tell you! So in the end, after some more arguing (and leg waxing) he ended up letting them pay 50% and when we finally made it to the airport we paid the other half. What a wacko he was!
In Holland on that night I had to play at Doornroosje, in Nijmegen, which is a two hours drive from Amsterdam. I had played at that club already in June 2001 and the night went so well back then that I have always looked forward to go back! So on that night I had a superb Italian meal in Amsterdam with friends Clare, Mario and Roberto, and then a very chill drive to Nijmegen, played a wicked set, hard but always funky, had lots and lots of fun, and then we drove back to Amsterdam… It was fun also to see my friend Gene again, from NYC. What a surprise to see him there! And he did a wicked opening set for me! All was really cool. The next day we didn’t want to leave so we ended up changing our flight and stay longer to hang out more and relax in Amsterdam. It is not always fun to have to fly, especially when you don’t really have to go back, because you’re done with work and you have nothing else to do back home anyway.
Well…. nothing else to do…. that’s easy to say… but was not really the case.
In that week I had quite a lot to do actually. I had to record my next mix compilation for Trust The DJ, “MB 02” (www.misstressbarbara.com), which is coming out next month, and I had to do all the photo shoot for the artwork and all.. It has all been done though, and I am looking forward for this material to come out as the first one did very well and I look forward to see how this one will do.
The next weekend that was coming up was going to be a hard one, but so fun… I expected it to be from the less good night to the best, but not to say that the less good was going to be a bad one, as I expected the less good night to be amazing already…! Well, on that Thursday night there was Adam Beyer’s launch party in a great bar, lots of nice people whom many I knew from the industry: DJ’s, Producers, Distributors, etc. It was really fun. Had dinner with Adam and friends at Marco’s place, as usual his food was fantastic and then we all went down to the night. I had to leave at some point because I was playing myself at Marco’s new night: Propaganda. The night wasn’t super busy due to Adam’s launch and due to Bedrock’s monthly night, but it was very fun! I was very proud of my set and to see the crowd loving it.. hands in the air, screaming, and all.. It felt nice to play in London again after such a long time, as the last time was at Velvet in January! Had a great night, the first of 4 in a row waiting for me on that weekend, and then went straight to bed to catch that hour and a half of sleep before having to go to Heathrow to catch my flight to Spain, early on Friday morning. No losing bags on that weekend as all our flights were direct fortunately (well….. GO Airlines once lost my bag on a direct flight so…. no comment!). We (Brian and I) got to Santiago during the afternoon, and then we had a drive to Lugo, where the actual club was. That night was a step better. To be honest, I much more preferred the night at Propaganda, but the fact is that at Vertigo in Lugo there were 3000 people in a club, with great lights and huge vibe.. the typical late night Spanish clubbing vibe.. All went well, was glad to play with Marco again, who broke the monitor as soon as he started playing… ha ha ha. We have something in common him and I! How many times have I done that myself! That’s what being deaf does I guess.. hehe! In that part of Spain, like in Oviedo, the seafood is the best, so on that night I had the best meal as well, with lovely wine, what more could I have asked for? Yeah, I know.. some sleep maybe..
The next day, that’s when things started getting exciting for me… as I was going towards past, towards history, towards a place I cherish with all of my passion. Those last two gigs of the weekend are among my favorite in the world, so how excited was I to be back..! Florida 135, in Fraga, was the Saturday night. As usual we stayed in Barcelona so we had a great meal there. Fish again, but what else do you want to eat in Spain? Yes you can have great meat, but the fish… oh the fish… sooooo good! I know I talk a lot about food, but food for me is as great as music. Though one embraces the tongue and the other caresses the ears…
The drive to Fraga has been a little intense… could have gone better let’s say! I learned… Next time I will know to not answer my mobile phone when I am having a good time, as if I am having a good time already, why would I expect the phone call to make my time better? It can only go worse! Think about this… and if you ever broke great moods you were in, due to unexpected phone calls, you will learn as well to shut it down or ignore it if it rings.
Arrived to Fraga, my excitement was more to see Brian’s reaction than anything else. I myself have played that club many times, and I am always happy to go back and play, but how many times have I said to Brian “you don’t understand, you just don’t get it, you can’t get it, you can’t, I tell you, not until you come and see it with your own eyes! you just have to come and be there, and feel it, and see it, it is unfuckinexcusemylanguagebelievable!!!!”. And so finally I have had the pleasure to have Brian with me at Florida 135… And by seeing his face I knew, and he knew too, that I was right. The night has been amazing, incredible! Oh and you know what?! You too forget it! Because to you too it is just as impossible to describe it as it was to Brian… You all just have to pack your bags and go there at least once in your life! But please make sure I’m the one playing… ha ha!
I was really happy, that was the third night and as I said, it was one step (or one thousand) higher than the two nights before. I miss it already and I can’t wait to go back. They want me 4 times a year, and I would love to do it, but I am afraid the world is too big for only 52 Saturdays a year, however I will do my best to schedule a few more dates to go back there very soon.
Finally, the next day was the time for the best gig: Metro in Alicante. Or… I don’t know.. I’m confused. It is really hard to say which of the two is the best, as they are both so different! Florida 135 is an intense, very late 3 hours set, with huge sound and huge lights, 3500-4000 people in the club, rammed over capacity, no space to move, lots of champagne (cava), and it is like a big, big show. On the other end, Alicante is the exact opposite. Early night, very few people, much smaller place, smaller sound system, it’s a small thing basically. But…. the love I get from the crowd in Alicante is a unique experience! There are many places in the world where I’ve established myself and where I get so much love from the crowd, but not in the way I get it at Metro! Sunday nights there, and I have already said it in one of my previous truth posts, are very special… It’s like family hanging out together at the end of a weekend. That’s what it really is. Family. And the decks are so close, so, so close to the people, at the same level, there, on the dance floor, that they are on a cement table so no one can make the records skip, as people dance literally less than half a meter away from the DJ! And that’s so close that the whole dance floor, crowd, DJ booth and DJ constitute just one single thing in the whole place. Just one. We, there, are one thing. And me, arriving there after eating my usual hamburger at the restaurant downstairs, saying hello to very familiar faces and speaking with people whom names I can’t even remember as there are too many of them, and getting so many smiles and taps on my shoulders while I pass by, is like me being part of them, it is like me being part of that family. I get so much love when I go there, that it is hard to say what I really prefer between Florida 135 and Metro, but I must say, honestly, that when music is so much about passion (for me at least) and you get to share it in such a warm and passionate environment, it is the best you can get… it is the best “I” can get! It was so cool, I played 5 hours of that typical slow techno which I only play there, and to be honest I would have played much longer if I wouldn’t have felt bad for the resident DJ that was waiting to go on since a while… sorry! 🙂
Thanks again to all the wonderful people that came out to see me play on that night, and on all the previous nights, as you really made my weekend be unforgettable and absolutely fantastic!
On the Monday, after those hard working 4 nights in a row, I finally got back home, where I felt better already as I was getting more used to my place. It does take time to get used to a new space, to make it be yours, as you like, as you want it. And that night was a chill night in for me, with lots of rest very much needed after a weekend like that!
The next day, my lovely friend Max from Prime has been so kind to take one day off work to help me shop for all the things I needed for my flat. How nice is that?! He knows how such a big city like London can be harsh at times, and how hard it can be to get yourself sorted all alone when you don’t know where to find things, etc., and how lonely you can feel if you have no help in the beginning. So he’s so cool for having helped me sorting myself out like that! We had a great day out, a nice lunch and catch up together and I have finally bought all I needed for my place, so everything has been great on that day! Thanks again Max!
On that week, my last week, I have had great nights at home and out in London with friends but let’s say that I could have had more sleep……. oh well.. that’s what being excited in a city like London does to one I guess.. It’s ok, but the lack of sleep hasn’t helped me much in the weekend. We are now arriving to the cheese overdose story….
On Friday I was playing in Athens.. Now, you know the cheese part so let me talk about the gig. Did I use the words fantastic, amazing, incredible and great? I think I have.. So, do you mind… I need to use them again! Last time I have been at U-Matic club in Athens was exactly a year before. It was my first time then, so I had no idea what kind of music the crowd wanted, and neither how the crowd would have reacted to me and my djing in that part of the world. Nevertheless, that first time last year went very well, but I have never had such a great memory about Athens like I have had of Thessaloniki! Well, not to say that Thessa isn’t in my top gigs anymore, but I now see Athens, or should I say U-Matic club, in another way. I have played 3 hours there as well, but started with one hour of only tech-house. I wanted to do that to prepare the people to what was cooking for them for the last 2 hours of my set… and all went as planned! That set, that whole night, has been like an orgasm! Yes. And with the music I was playing, the way I was bringing it in, I have felt in the air the most sexy vibe that I haven’t felt in a club for a long time! It was all sparkles and hot vibes in there…. wicked night, very special!
After my set I was ready for some cheese, but there wasn’t any so I had two of those Greek things that look like huge pretzels! Not to confuse with pretzels as I hate pretzels with passion! I cannot understand why many airlines still serve those on planes! Yuck.
Anyway.. back to Athens… It has been a very late night, and added to the few previous very late nights I’ve had while out and about in London let’s say that I was ready for bed.. But bed was for only a couple of hours, as then we had a flight to Thessaloniki. That day in Athens it was gray and rainy, maybe that was the reason why I only encountered rude people, but it had never happened to me to come across so much rudeness in Athens, so something must have been in the air on that day. Oh well! When I passed security, the agents thought they’ve seen scissors in my bag so one stops me and asked me “Do you have scissors in your bag?” and I say “No”. So he says “May I look at your bag?”, and I was so relax and aware of what I had in my bag that I answered “Yes, sure, go ahead”. He starts checking and looks at everything that’s in there. All looked weird for him, from headphones to mini-disc and mini-disc charger, to weird pens, to digital camera and camera charger, etc. He then grabs a metallic weird aerodynamic looking lighter and he looks at it weirdly… Now, there is a difference between looking at a weird lighter and asking, before lighting it, “Lighter?”. Or looking at a weird lighter and asking, while lighting it, “Lighter?”… I’d say, both would be signs of normality, as it would show me that he simply can’t tell that that was a lighter!.. But the man was so retarded…, and I tried to not laugh in his face as you cannot laugh at security like that otherwise they start abusing of you with their power trips, but it was stronger than me and I just couldn’t stop laughing inside of me, when he actually lit the lighter and then, after having lit it, he looked at me and asked “Lighter?”… I was like “Euh… YEEES??????!!!!!!” (like.. Hellooo??!) HA HA HA!!! And then I was laughing and laughing… and I was looking at Brian who was making a retarded face as well. I am sorry, but how can one be so stupid?! Anyway I guess you had to be there…, it was a very funny moment. So that man realized he’s been stupid and started laughing at himself as well, which made that moment be a little less stressful and less tensed, and it felt better as that was actually the first smile I’ve received from airport people since I had walked in there.
Arrived in Thessa we’ve been picked up by the Skopje (Macedonia) promoters as we had to drive all the way up to there. It was quite a long drive, almost 3 hours, but it was fun though. The guys were Nikola Mizo and Jordan, his partner. Nikola is Viktor’s brother and Viktor is a nice friend of mine who lives in NYC. Viktor is the actual guy that first signed me to Trust The DJ, so without him I wouldn’t be part of the whole TTDJ family, or maybe I would have, but after a while.. So we had fun driving as we played a game that Brian had just taught me on the flight: “I spy with my little eye something beginning with….” We had lots of laughs playing this game and we drove each other crazy by finding the most difficult and unobvious words to guess. It was cool though. Arrived in Skopje we were completely exhausted, but we were starving so much that we couldn’t go to bed straight away. The highlight of my night (before seeing the food arriving at the table) was to find out I had just gained an hour, as Macedonia is not on Greece’s time zone but on the same one as the rest of Europe! I really needed that extra hour in my day, thank God! We went to eat in a typical Macedonian restaurant. How great is it to eat in typical little restaurants in those countries! Brian and I literally were amazed in front of the amount of food and we literally attacked it when it arrived. I personally was more amazed by seeing the amount of cheese there, under so many different forms… some under a typical yellow triangle, some under a simple white feta rectangle, some melted and hidden into sausages, some mixed with vegetables and some other mixed with salmon and looked like ice cream balls… I was really a happy woman at that moment I tell you! It is only after the meal, and after my poor 1 and a half hour nap, that I felt like….. yep!! But check this out, how funny that was.. Obviously after that heavy meal the only thing we wanted to do was to go straight to sleep… So we get to the hotel and we had to get to the second floor to check in. We were all full, tired and not very patient then, and our luggage were very heavy as well! When we were in the elevator we stayed stuck for a few minutes… and when we were about to press the button to call for help we found ourselves in the weirdest position….. there were two buttons there: one was called The PANIC button and the other one was The EMERGENCY CALL button. HA HA HA HA HA!!!!! How funny was that!? Now, think about that one… what do you press first? HA HA! I am still laughing when I think about this one. No, but seriously, why were there two buttons? One for Panic and one for Emergency Call! What for? Was that a joke? It looked like Vince did that… could have not been anything else……!! How weird.. So funny!
Anyhow, after a couple of minutes, while we were still trying to decide which button was the right one to press, the elevator finally got going again and we made it to our destination.
I played a great 3 hours set on that night, and people were lovely! They must have finished their night with as much voice as I had on that morning after Code in Birmingham..! They literally had, for 3 hours time, their hands in the air and they were screaming like crazy the whole time. The club owner said it has been his best and most packed night since he’s had the club in two years, so I was very proud! Especially considering the fact that I felt so sick and I really looked retarded for the whole time of my set… because the only thing I was doing was playing and drinking sparkling water (so I could digest that food faster), I have had probably 10 bottles of it, and I was drinking such big sips at a time, and so fast, while busy mixing, that I was not even thinking of wiping my mouth after drinking, so I literally had water all over my mouth and, to be honest, I couldn’t care less… because the only thing I could think of between each mix, was to run to the nearest sink and…. you know…
I have had 3 hours of purely being on the edge of….. you know what I mean! I really, really felt sick!
The next day, didn’t feel any better. I have not had any food for 29 hours, as I was still digesting the amount of food that I last had at my meal in Macedonia!!
On that night I flew back home, where I had the nicest night of rest. Slept for 11 hours and the next day I felt like a new person. I have never felt so rested before a long-haul flight. In fact, I had the chance to fly with my favorite crew on Air Canada and one of the ladies who recognizes me each time told me that she’s never seen me so rested when flying back from London! I don’t know if I should have taken that as a compliment or not… for the previous times I mean.. ha ha!
So, yes, I know, I know, that was long, but you’re not obligated to read all this, so don’t moan at me now that you did! 😉
Needless to say my fingers hurt, as when I write these posts I do them all in one shot…. as if it’s not done passionately then it doesn’t work!
As I said, I was looking forward to get back to those good old busy European heavy tours, and I just have. I feel very satisfied now, and I look forward to more… Next month is I LOVE TECHNO again. This time I hope I will be getting my records as last year they never showed up!
Until then, I have a few North American gigs, which I hope will be great and as exciting as Europe has just been for me.
All the best until next time.
Cheers!
Barbara.