End of Summer Review.

Well, another summer is over. This was the best summer I've had in years!

Started the summer in Berlin, had a great tour. Went to some great places (Spain, Italy, Ireland) and met a lot of cool-ass people. Came back to the States and chilled in Chicago for July, finished a bunch of artwork (two album covers, a painting, and some comic pages) and generally hung out. Went to the Wizard World comic convention. It wasn't as cool as I thought it would be. Saw a lot of people I knew from my comic book days, though.

Wanted to have a BBQ in the backyard complete with DJ set-up so I could blast out my neighbors, but didn't get around to it this year.

Back out for more gigs in August. Flew to Pittsburgh for the TriUMF Festival. It's funny how some gigs work out where everything is great EXCEPT the hour you're up there spinning. That's how it was in Pittsburgh. Promoter was great and very, very professional. Flight and hotel were great. Went to the Warhol, great, hung out with Sarah Asti, great (she took me to lunch then showed me a little of the city). The actual reason I was there? Not so much. Oh well. I got to go to the Warhol again, and the weather was nice, so let's focus.


Having JG reviewed on Variety.com this summer was a high point for me, ego-wise. I read Variety regularly. Kenny Larkin was like "he gave you a C!" I'm like who cares. Gave me the motivation to continue the series (four issues total). The real version with CD soundtrack by me is on the way in early 2009 on Pure Sonik and I'm hard at work on issue two.

Off to Europe again in August for a short Benelux Tour. Had an incredible time at the E-Troit Festival, my first time ever in Eindhoven NL, home of Djax-Up-Beats. I invited Miss Djax, but I didn't hear back from her until three weeks after the party =P Saw a lot of old friends though, including Kenny Larkin, DJ 3000, and the Burden Brothers, whom I see a lot in Berlin. Also did a little tag team action with DJ Kammy from Rio (on my left, below). She's a little techno monster. She rocks it hard! She blew away all us old Detroit heads. Let's hope they do another E-Troit Festival next year and I'm on the bill!



Spent a week in Berlin after that. It was an 8-hour train ride from Eindhoven. Didn't do too much except sleep, eat, record shop at Space Hall and visit my booking agent at the Tresor office. I was too tired to draw. I usually get a lot done in Berlin. Chroma invited me out, but I was too jet-lagged. Managed to see my friend Antje, though.

Took a train from Berlin to Antwerp for Bassment in Motion. That's kinda what made this tour so tiring, all the train travel. This was the first time I trained it, not flew. It was 10 hours all told from Berlin to Antwerp. A flight from Amsterdam to Chicago is less than nine hours.

Hotel was great, though, hosts were great. I played Bassment in Motion before, about four years ago. It was still the shit, if not better! Sound system was on. I rocked it full-blast. Played a lot of new shit I picked up in Berlin (particularly some of that Mark Broom shit on King of the Snakes; hot). They like real techno, not mnml. Pretty young Belgian girls were dancing and going crazy. I dropped a techno remix of Britney Spears "Toxic" the last time I was there back in '04, do you know some girls still remembered that? And requested it again? Wow (needless to say I didn't have it). Two of the E-Troit crew came up to Antwerp along with Kammy. It was good to see familiar faces.

After my set, they begged me to come back to Eindhoven with them to play some after hours (Eindhoven is 70 km from Antwerp)! But a) my flight back to the States was later that afternoon and b) they weren't offering any Euros, ha ha. So it was no go. Maybe next time.

Oh, and I didn't take pics because I messed around and forgot my camera at home. Yet I still managed to pack the charger =P Thanks to Kammy for sending me these photos!

Back in the USA now. Finished off an art piece for Paul Birken last week (see below), now I'm back in the studio armed with new gear and working on the Johnny Gambit soundtrack. Then some new DJ T-1000 tracks. New records to follow in '09, you heard it here first. Yes, I said records.

I'll be back in Berlin in December. I've got some dates open, so if you're a promoter, contact me for booking details!

Thanks for all your support this year so far!

Hit me at info@alanoldham.com

Obama/Biden '08!