Berlin, Berlin or Lock, Stock and Two Smokin' Vaginas.

I played the new Tresor club last Friday night. What an experience to be one of the first to play the new club! I played the new bunker, the techno room. It's 100% concrete. It's very reminiscent of an old, Cold War bunker where the bureaucrats were supposed to go in case of nuclear attack. They've got prison bars in front of the DJ booth just like the old club, the same ones. I took a few pictures as you can see, but a lack of light and the omnipresent fog machine made photos difficult.



Sound system and DJ set-up was top-notch as you would expect. The old professionalism was still there.

Played alongside my old friends Dash and Dry, just like the old days.

Pacou and Mike Huckaby were in the crowd as well.

It felt really good to just flat-out blast some shit. Just go off. And my Berliners were havin' it, every bit of it. Going crazy on the dancefloor. I haven't played a party that good since, why, since the old Tresor closed! =) Real techno is back, ladies and gentlemen.


I pulled off a mix I've gotta tell you about, though. You know I like to break it down into minimal in the middle of my set. Well, I had a DE9 loop running and I put Falco's "Auf Der Flucht" on top of it. I found a copy in a second hand store in Kreuzberg for €5. I knew when the German lyrics kicked in, the crowd would go insane. Most were too young to remember that track and rushed the booth to see what it was, LOL.

You'll hear it on Livesets.com sometime this week =)

The rest of the club was very impressive, too, especially the Batterieraum, a.k.a. the new Globus.

I've just got to say that Berlin saves my life and always brings back my faith in music. I love this place, love coming here, love the people, and love playing here. Berlin is like nowhere else in the world, to me.

OK, so I got out of there at about 5:00 am, came home, took a shower, threw some stuff in a bag and went straight to my 8:30 am flight to Leeds via Liverpool, to play a night called Joy. No sleep, baby.


After checking into my five-star (!) room and sleeping all day like a vamp, I ended up going out for a pint with those guys. Walking around Leeds with them was like living inside a Guy Ritchie movie. It was crazy.

We went to this one pub to get some beers. I knew something was amiss when the bartender looked like a tranny.

Then I looked over and the MC was a drag queen. The DJ was playing "Dontcha" by Pussycat Dolls and the MC was singing over it, "Dontcha wish your girlfriend sucked cock like me."

Ooookay.

We stayed for awhile, though. I thought the whole thing was hilarious.

We later ended up at this other pub where a cover band was playing '80s rock hits. The crowd was going crazy, these '80s burnouts. You'd think it was really Bon Jovi in there. Buncha drunks. LOL.

The north of England is surreal to say the least.

Next night was the gig. Small-ish room, great light and sound system. I got on and banged it. I had a ball. Perfect mixes, no mistakes, and it was recorded.




After my set this girl came over to say hello. She had been dancing all night. The chick was like 6'3" or 6'4" in white, strappy heels. You know how tall women kill me. And dark hair like Wonder Woman. Anyway, dig this. I had packed up to leave and this girl said "You deserve an escort out of here," and picked up my record box without even thinking about it. Didn't use the wheels at all. When I'm at the airport and the security people have to lift it, they act like it's 500 lbs and shit. But this girl just picks it up like it wasn't nothing.

I was like goddamn! I like a girl like that.

Planes, trains and automobiles, and now I'm back in Berlin, getting packed to head back to Chicago where a couple of summer gigs, art jobs, studio time and some belated birthday celebrations await. I'll be back in my dear Berlin again soon, though =)