This past weekend I’ve had gigs in Toronto on Friday and New Orleans on Saturday. It had been a few months since I’ve played System in Toronto and about a year and a half since I’ve last played in New Orleans.
The night at System was very busy and, just like when I last played there in July, it was full of nice people happy to see me back in their home town.
I don’t know what the crowd thought of my set on that night, but I must make people aware that I’ve had huge technical problems. The mixer I was playing on was broken. When I was cutting the EQ’s they wouldn’t cut at all and there was a huge bass feedback on a channel, and another channel (3rd deck) wasn’t even working properly so I couldn’t even use the third turntable. After about one hour into my set I couldn’t deal anymore so they’ve had to change mixer, and I don’t know if you can imagine how hard it is to change a mixer while you play but it isn’t an easy thing to do, since when you play you need a mixer to plug the turntables in!!! So… how do you change a mixer, without shutting the sound down and without stopping playing your records..? Trust me, you can, in fact the guy who did it has been very kind and good at it, but it’s not an easy job! And I just wish that in the first place this wouldn’t have happened… because even if the mixer has been changed and then I could play again properly, it all turned me off. It took about half hour time, in which I couldn’t be free to do what I needed to do, as I had this guy in my way and a bunch of wires around me and I wasn’t even free to move properly! I must say all this because when you are Djing, you need freedom! And the freedom you need doesn’t only consist in having the best technical equipment to work with, but also in having the physical space around you, to move and go from your record box to your decks and mixer as often as you want! And when you turn around and you have people in your way, and then when you’re choosing your next record and you’re suddenly strangled by your headphones wire because someone just passed behind you – between you and the decks – without noticing that there was a headphones wire there, then it does – eventually – start pissing you off!! And when you get annoyed it is hard to get back to smiles and happiness, when you are a real person… Djing for me isn’t a fake thing, when I am happy I really am happy, but when I’m annoyed I REALLY AM annoyed! But the thing is that the show must go on… because the people who are dancing on the dance floor, they don’t know what’s happening and they don’t know that there’s so much action going on in the DJ booth. And, I could even be right if I would say that even if they knew what’s going on, they have the right not to care, because after all they’ve paid that bloody ticket to go and see/hear a DJ play and it’s not their problem if there are technical issues, because in the first place there shouldn’t be any, so they have the right not to want to feel involved! But… nevertheless.. the DJ who’s behind the decks, in the meantime, is still having problems… and even if it’s not her/his fault, there’s nothing to do… because the show must go on! So, to get back to my story… yes I was annoyed and yes it changed my mood. But I’ve had to continue playing, and to be very honest I wasn’t in the mood to play certain high energy records anymore… I was getting in a very deep mood and, for the people who were there, if you remember properly the end of my set has been pretty housy and slow… I love that, please don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but I just want to say to all the people who were there that if you have noticed a weird vibe during my set, and/or if you have noticed a change in my mood and my music, and/or if you have disliked the second half of my set, it was due to all these technical problems and I want to apologize… on behalf of the club!!
Half hour doesn’t seem like a long time, but when you are performing and you are supposed to be in a creative bubble but you can’t be due to all these sound issues, then trust me, half hour is a very long time!!
So, the whole night could have been better. But these guys (Mike Greco and Mark Scaife) at System they are very kind and they treat me very well! In fact, they have just done their job by reading the rider closely and put the same mixer that the rider required, but they’ve just had a bad luck with a rental. I don’t want to complain about them, I am just explaining to the crowd THE TRUTH.
Let’s say that the nice part of my night was my dinner at Rain. I don’t know if you people know that restaurant but if you don’t then please go, as it is a fantastic restaurant and I know I will go back every time I am in Toronto!
FYI, Rain is situated on Mercer Street, downtown Toronto.
I actually have a very funny story to tell about that restaurant… In July, when I first played for System, I’ve been to Rain for the first time as it had been recommended by Shant, a friend of mine here in Montreal. So on that warm summer night I called Rain to reserve for 3 people at 22:30. When we get to the restaurant (Mike – the promoter, Joel – my agent, and myself) the guy at the door tells us he can’t let us in because both Joel and Mike were wearing jeans. I got very upset, not because we were being refusd to enter but because, in Toronto, if you still have to find a place to eat at 22:30 (even on a Friday night!) you won’t get much else than McDonalds! And as I didn’t feel like eating shit food I had to change my personality for 5 minutes and put on some big attitude show…… So I say “I wish someone would have told me there was a dress code when I first called to reserve! But nevertheless, let me tell you that you are making absolutely no sense to me, as these guys are wearing very clean and stylish jeans and I am an international artist and travel the whole world and eat in top restaurants all the time and no one has ever refused me and the people I was with because we were wearing jeans!”… So the guy gives me the coldest look and tells me that the week before he even refused Sheryl Crowe and that he didn’t give a shit about the fact that she was Sheryl Crowe!!
Honestly, at that point my heart was beating fast as I was thinking that if he didn’t give a shit about refusing Sheryl Crowe, then he certainly wouldn’t give a flying shit to refuse me and my people, and that’s not to mention that he wouldn’t even ever know who I was!
Then he asks me “But anyway, who are you?”… Oh-My-God… That was it! My heart was beating even faster and I was about to faint by the very near future embarrassment I was going to have there… but since I had started all this then it was better to stay strong and to believe in myself as, after all, it was true that I eat in top restaurants around the world and that no one ever refused us because we were wearing jeans!! So I say “You probably don’t even know me, I am a DJ and my name is Misstress Barbara”… So, believe it or not – I still can’t! – he said “YOU are Misstress Barbara? Hold on, I’ll be right back!”… So he ran inside of the restaurant and came out after a minute, opened the door and said to us “Sorry about that, please come in”.
! ! ! ! ! ! !
Well… What a surprise it was, but needless to say I felt a little (yeah right, a little!) proud there…
So we get in, sit down, and then the waiter arrives with a wine list and tells me that the manager apologizes and that he offers us any bottle of wine of my choice. Again.. I was WOWED!
Amazing dinner that was, so I put everyone who worked in the restaurant on the guest list for that night.
So, a few days ago when I was back in Toronto, of course I was going to go back there, and I have had the best treatment once again. This guy at the door, Todd is his name, has been very kind and polite, he recognized me right away when I arrived and he offered us another bottle of wine. The waiters inside were remembering me and were all very kind and proper, and it has been another fantastic dinner again. The food there is just simply wonderful (Asian Fusion type of food) so, Rain is definitely the place where I will go next time I find myself in Toronto again!
The next day, on my flight to New Orleans, I was very tired. I finished my set in Toronto at 4am, I was in bed by 5 but had to leave for the airport at 9am, so you can imagine how much sleep I’ve had..
This past weekend I was on my own, Joel didn’t travel with me so I was kind of bored in my travels. It’s always fun to be with someone in airports and planes… But on the Air Canada flight from Toronto to New Orleans I’ve met a very nice flight attendant who knew of me and who also told me that we went to summer camp together when we were about 10! What a surprise that was. I did not remember her although I recognized her face when I first walked into the plane. But then I was thinking that I might have seen her in one of the numerous Air Canada flights I’ve had in the past years! She (Katrina) was really nice and we’ve had a nice chat so the flight wasn’t too boring, and we’ve realized that we know the same friends here and also that she lives very close to my home here in Montreal. It’s always cool to meet nice new people so that was fun!
Arrived in New Orleans I was exhausted and went straight to my hotel. It was raining hard on that day anyway, and it was so hot and humid outside that it was just best to go in my room and rest. There, I have had big time attitude from the moment I landed to the moment I got back on my Air Canada flight on the next day! (Except the nice taxi driver who drove me to the airport the next day and who played my tune on repeat: “Always On Time” from Ja Rule & Ashanti). I ‘m not talking about the promoter (Donnie) as he’s one of the nicest promoters in the US, he’s such a nice guy! Neither am I talking about the other DJ’s – I’ve played with Diesel Boy and it was so cool to see him again, he’s so cool! But I am talking about the people in airports, hotels, clubs (the sound guy was completely retarded and I was going to kill him!) and all around! I don’t know what the hell was wrong with all of them, but I couldn’t get a smile out of anyone’s face! Brian (in Europe) taught me of smiling more to strangers, because I could get better service and I could be treated better, but man!!… The more I was smiling the more people were rude to me! It’s like they thought I was laughing at them or something! Oh I tell you… some people really need to try to be happier in life!
Anyway, I just can’t stand those fat-ugly-3 kilometers nails-women who speak on the phone for another ten minutes after you’re standing in front of them and waiting to be served, simply because they don’t give a shit about you! And then when they serve you (I am talking about checking in the hotel – I was tired!) they take forever as they can’t even type properly on the keyboard because their tickling nails are too fuckin’ long! But then, when their manager comes around they’re all “Thanks M’am, you have a nice day now, M’am”….
Oh fuck off!
Sorry my language, but I just can’t stand some rudeness I find across America. I do not find such characters in Latin countries or in European and Asian countries.
It’s funny because, since I find New Orleans pretty but my hotel was a little bit out of the center, I asked a guy if New Orleans was safe and if it would be ok for me to walk alone in the streets, at night, being a woman on my own. And he answered “If you are asking me if it’s worth having a gun or not, the answer is yes!”……
! ! ! ! ! ! !
Ehem… I was like… “GULP! Euh.. ok… but that’s not what I was actually asking…….!!!!”
The funniest thing is that he then said “But I don’t believe in guns!”.
! ! ! … Right. Yeah. ! ! …
But, watch out now, there will probably soon be hundred of posts all over websites, saying that I am an ignorant again because I am talking about guns and because I am generalizing…
Ha ha ha!
Anyhow…………!!!
The show was alright. It was fun to see so many fans after having played New Orleans one time only and, on top of that, so long ago. But I wish people would have understood my music a little more. I felt like half of the crowd wasn’t getting it. I sometimes wonder why in some places people simply don’t dance. They just stare at you as if you were an alien. But then all of a sudden they scream like crazy, and you even have to turn around and see if there’s a monster behind you or something, because you really don’t understand what you’ve done for them to scream so much, but then when you actually expect them to scream, they don’t! 🙁
After my set, a party animal came up to me and told me “You played the best progressive set I’ve ever heard in my entire life!”
….. ! ! …..
I tried to smile at him, but I couldn’t… And I told him “Thanks.. but… it wasn’t progressive!!!!!”
… Oh well! …
So that was my weekend…
I miss Europe!
Oh, and one last thing… With me, what you see is what you get. I am honest and straight up, so if some people get upset at what I really think and what I really feel inside, then I can only say sorry.
But sorry is just a word, like many others.
Cheers!
Barbara.