First of, I want to wish to you all a very sweet Merry Christmas with lots of joy and happiness.
Today is boxing day. I turned 27 exactly 23 days ago, had my birthday party exactly 27 days ago, but just like every end of year things are way too hectic and I have not had one second to write about my birthday party until just now. It’s fine though, because that night is still so fresh and alive in my mind and heart that it won’t be very hard for me to write about it. So here we go… REWIND…….
It all started on Thursday November 28th really, when Jean-Fred (The man behind Aria and Dagobert) picked us up (Heaven and I) to drive to Quebec City for our night at Dagobert. Drive was chill, dinner fantastic and night really great! It was pretty busy and even though Quebec isn’t my city, I felt the usual nice appreciation and pride from the crowd there towards me, which made that night special. It was a birthday party there too, and it was fun to get to have a proper warm up for the next day (ARIA), as well as getting to play there with Heaven who played a fantastic set and let me the decks and the crowd all set up in the most perfect way for me to just go on and smash the whole place down!
Unfortunately every year I put myself in the same situation… Initially I do not want to play Quebec the night before a long birthday set in Montreal so I can just stay home and rest, but then I end up accepting the gig because I love it so much and I have always enjoyed played and going to Quebec City anyway. So, as every year, I kill myself when going to Quebec because there’s always a snowstorm at that time of the year, which makes traffic heavy and drives much longer and more tiring, and due to the fact that it is my birthday (after all…) I end up partying pretty heavily. The result is that on the Friday morning when I wake up in Quebec (wake up?) to go back to Montreal I feel completely useless and extremely nervous because I have such a big night in front of me, and the fatigue makes the stress be more hard to deal with and my heart beating at 200bpm, which literally makes me feel like I am going to die…. and, as usual, it also makes me feel like I will never get through the whole night! Evidently above all this I must add that just the fact of playing in Montreal is a huge thing in itself for me, as I AM ALWAYS NERVOUS when I play here anyway, so imagine when it’s for my own birthday party, for a 6 and + hours set! Ouch!
I really felt like I was going to have a heart attack before even arriving in Montreal. My fingers were bleeding so much I was biting them, and on our way back to Montreal from Quebec I could easily have slept so much that the traffic was slow, but adrenaline was keeping me awake and wired!
Arrived in Montreal, I was so glad to be at destination but a little upset to see so much slush and snow everywhere! I know I rarely get upset with snow because Amber and I always have great times in the snow, but on that night that was the last thing I needed. At 7pm I had to go meet up with a crew from MTV for an interview. That wasn’t easy but fortunately I have had full support from Clare who came with me and waited with me and even offered us to shoot the interview at her place, which was very close by. So we did that and it turned out to be the best option as it was a very cozy environment and the interview ended up being really fun and interesting! Thanks again to Clare for letting us shoot there and thanks also to the interviewers (Beth and Nick) who were really nice and passionate people. After the interview I finally got some sleep, for about 4 hours, which helped me greatly to go through the whole journey.
Wake up at 2am, get ready as Jean-Fred was picking me up at half 2. When he arrives and rings and I open the door he was laughing and laughing and laughing. I am like, what the hell? So he pulls me by the shirt and out of the door and brings me behind the wall, outside, where I see a pair of feet! Recognized the shoes right away… Mister Joel Zimmy Zimmerman was hiding there, as a birthday gift, as a surprise. It was a good one. Especially because I have been asking him if he was coming up for my birthday since about 4 months, and he never wanted to say yes or no. He flew up from NYC just for that night, and that was such a nice surprise! Right after that we go pick up the records (about 600 of them) at my studio and then we go pick up Clare and then all go to the club. As soon as I arrive in front of Aria I am shaking. As of then I couldn’t find enough air to breath to feel fine and less nervous. I was freaking out. The club was packed. Beautiful decoration inside, all full of happy birthdays here and there and nice visuals. Clare actually told me that during the whole night there was a montage of bits of pictures of me on the screens, which apparently was beautiful, but I missed all that because all night long I have literally been in state of trance! I had my camera and I forgot to pull it out so I have missed the whole thing! So, does anyone have any pictures of the night? Of any bit of the whole night? If so, I would appreciate getting some please. That would be fantastic! Alright, so we get in the booth, the 4 of us, and I had to ask to empty it because there were way too many people in there and we had to bring in the 7-8 bags of records I had. While I was placing all my records we were drinking my fuel, and at that time I just wished I could have snapped my fingers and have all the records placed in one second, because I really wanted to get to hang out wit Clare and Joel who were both surely going to leave at some point during the night, and also I was enjoying so much what Yaz was playing that I wanted to just chill and have a dance, as he was really good and was playing slammin’ tracks! He really did a great job and I think he is an amazing DJ! But I had to get ready, and still I was feeling like I needed more air, as I was stressing and stressing. I was walking in circles in the booth, placing records, signing a few autographs but couldn’t satisfy them all, and I had Clare who was trying to make me calm down but that wasn’t a very easy job. And then…. 4 o’clock arrives. I pull out my headphones and my first record. That was a Ben Sims slammin’ tribal bomb from his double pack on his label Hardgroove 2, quite an old record, but still doing it for me! Before putting that record on, the whole place lit up and the whole crowd pulled out candles, lit them and sang Happy Birthday Barbara! I was so touched. But so, so, so touched! I mean… The whole club, literally, was singing. How nice is that? How sweet is that? It really was the sweetest night! And then, after a few smiles, boom!! There I go with that first record… And on, and on, and on, and on, and on….. I have played quite hard for the first two hours, just to satisfy all those techno starved heads who as of late were saying that I became more of a crossover DJ and cannot play as hard and as pure techno as I used to do before. I hope they have changed their minds now, and that they have understood that it’s not about smashing it at all times, but that it is about playing the appropriate music in the appropriate time. That was the time though. Hard. Pure techno. Fine. And then, at 6am, I had to go pee. HA HA!! Yes, it happens, especially after the fuel… Well, that was funny. Because I obviously chose a record which ends with a locked groove so that it would never end, so I was fine and not too worried, but Joel was so nervous about the whole thing that he must have had an ulcer after that moment. He is so nice, and he worries a lot, sometimes more than me, which is quite worrying… But I was fine, I have been escorted (had to!) by two security guys to the bathroom and back and got back even before the track was at the locked groove point. And as of 6am, I started going towards tech-house and then house… Then I went back into hard, and then went into some dark and very deep melodic stuff, and then I don’t remember… I think I played techno again, and house, and finished with some of that. You know what… I don’t know. That was an intense 8 hours set. I finished sometime after 12, and as of my return from the bathroom (at 6) I have not moved from there, and did not have eyes open until noon! I was really gone, into trance. For those who think I drank too much, I wish you were right, but I was so much into playing that every time I turned around to have a sip my drink was gone, or fell on the floor by vibration, or warm and disgusting. So, no. I wasn’t drunk. But yes, I was gone! Literally gone. And I know that being gone looks like being drunk or stoned or high, but in my way, it was all created by the intensity of the set, the music. What a fab night! What a fantastic time I had! And even more, to see that Clare and Joel both stayed until the end, when I was expecting them to leave after a few hours.. It was lovely to have them there, supporting me!
For me as well as for everyone else, those 8 hours went by soooooooo quickly, it was incredible! I mean, 8 hours! You know? 8 hours! Gone, in just a bit of time. I swear they went by like if I played a 3 hours set. It’s sad in a way, because I do not remember the whole thing, do not remember the whole set of records I played (too many records) and I wish I could remember, but I don’t. I only remember that around 11 I turned around and all my records had been packed in my cases, and I was overly upset! Joel had done that because apparently a drink fell on them so he didn’t mean anything wrong but to try to save them by putting them away, but I was not done… I was soooo not done! So we pulled them all back out, but then they were all upside down and all mixed up, so it made my last hour kind of difficult and confused, and because of that I stopped at noon otherwise I would have continued until God knows when. But I was just too confused then to keep on struggling with upside down sleeves (for those who know me, I am very organized with my records, so having them all upside down doesn’t put me in the best work conditions).
The last few hours of that set were unbelievable though, the light guy in the morning was AFUCKINMAZING!!!!!! He is the best light guy I have ever worked with! First of all, he knows the music and loves it, he doesn’t just fake to appreciate the beats and try to follow them. No, he actually really loves the music and understands the beats and the grooves of that type of music that I play, and you so can tell because when he presses those buttons he moves and dances at the same time and he works his console just like if he were a DJ. And that’s cool, because lights in a club are just as important as the music! People tend to forget that, but it is a very important factor in the success of a night. And thanks to him, he made my morning so fantastic. We had this nice complicity, he was listening to me when I was asking him to do special things with the lights, and that’s nice when you don’t have someone who’s ego’s too strong to listen to you and to accept to work with you instead of being each one on our own. Anyway, so a million thanks to Mathieu Poirier!!
So, after all this… It’s over. And I miss it. It is so nice to play here, and it is so nice to have such a huge support from my fans. I have received so many gifts on that night from fans: posters, signed cards, flowers, champagne glasses.. It’s just fabulous to feel so appreciated and I obviously look forward to my next gig here which is in a few days, on new year’s eve, at Aria again.
After the last 3 birthdays I think it is now clear that Montreal is the place to be for me on my birthday. We all know this is what I will be doing next year for my birthday again. And who knows, perhaps beat that record of mine of 8 hours set, and go up till 10 or even 12 hours. I don’t mind. I love it so much!
And it makes it easier when you play for people who love you, because the connection is stronger and the whole night turns into a success, full of joy and love. Because that’s what was in the air on that night, lots, lots and lots of joy and smiles and love. And it was memorable. Once again, Montreal, thank you. You rock! And I don’t know if I would be fully satisfied, in this career, if I didn’t get to play those 3-4 times a year here, in Montreal. They are totally essential in order to complete me. I truly am in love with this city! And I am reminded of it every time I see the lights of downtown after passing through the clouds, on the plane, on my way to landing at Dorval Airport.
And I am truly touched by all the fans, from Montreal and elsewhere, who make all my nights amazingly special! Without you, there wouldn’t be much going on..
Before ending with this post I want to answer a few questions which I read on the Aria message board, and also paste a little story from a guy (user name “bfunkyp”) who totally made me laugh by something he wrote on the Aria message board as well.
First off, YES I read the posts on the Aria website. Some people asked if I am reading them. I do. As much as I can. Because I have no time, but I go from time to time, after my shows there especially, because that’s when most of the people write. And so I will try to help out those ones who have asked what that fat tech-house tune could have been around 6am, with a woman voice sample looping. To be honest, I do not remember, but what I can tell you is that perhaps it was a tune from Vince & The Maracas, called SOMEONE TOLD ME, because I have played it around that time and this is the only tune with a woman’s voice loop which I remember I played. You cannot find this tune as of yet, but you will be able to find it on the Barbara Brown first mix CD which will be released in the occasion of The White Party (Bal En Blanc), in April 2003.
Finally, here is this story… It’s too funny.
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great “birthday” story:
So I was dancing on top of the block when the Misstress played @ ARIA last february. This really hot girl next to me says in a very cute french accent “today is my birthday.”
I obviously replied HAPPY Birthday.
Then she asked if I would do her a favor (this always makes me nervous for some reason when I am partying,) she asked if I would go up to the DJ, and tell him to stop playing music so that everyone in the club would sing happy birthday to her. I think at that point I pretended to stop understanding English and just kept dancing.
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So that’s all for now… Until the next post, which is coming up very shortly.
Merry Christmas to everyone again, and infinite thank you’s for all your nice support, always.
See you all on NYE!
Lots of kisses,
Barbara.