I HEAR GOOD TIMES CALLING ME, SOLID GOOD TIMES

If only I still had this hat...

Locals-made-good the Seed of Something held the triumphant release party for their proper debut album, English, which I am biased about but would recommend to just about anybody who likes precocious garage-rock hullabaloo, on Saturday night at Vaudeville Mews. I was lucky enough to catch a bit of their first set before DJing outside at the PBR Bar, and I'm pretty sure they played all of the new ones except for "Fire." I've had the record for a while thanks to their Indiegogo campaign, so I played that one during my own set. I also played a whole weird mix of stuff: For some reason I started reaching for the universal, slam-dunk dancefloor songs pretty early, and I was a little leery of one of my turntables because a speaker problem was causing feedback if I played it too loud, so by the end of the night pretty much every other song it felt like I was finding myself falling back on something from an LP I'd already played. I guess I should bring another crate? Or something? Anyway, thank you to everybody who kept dancing waaay too late, and thanks to Ladd for booking me, and thanks to Joe and Derek and T.J. for getting me all set up, and thanks to Tony and Sami for bringing the Lydia Loveless seven-inch, and thanks probably especially to Brian for letting me talk him into driving me home with my gear; you all are running rings around this little downtown.

What I played is below, with a Spotify approximation that probably leaves out all the best stuff because it always does:


Sparks: "Goofing Off"
Gloom Balloon: "The Face"
The Seed of Something: "Fire"
Lydia Loveless: "Blind" (Ke$ha cover)
Solange: "Losing You"
LCD Soundsystem: "I Can Change"
Creedence Clearwater Revival: "Proud Mary"
Prince: "When Doves Cry"
Gang Gang Dance: "MindKilla"
Lana Del Rey: "Brooklyn Baby"
Digable Planets: "Borough Check"
Arthur Russell: "Tone Bone Kone"
Archie Bell & the Drells: "Tighten Up"
Best Coast: "Crazy for You"
Yoko Ono: "Walking on Thin Ice"
How to Dress Well: "Words I Don't Remember" (meant to play "Repeat Pleasure," whoops)
Constantines: "Nighttime/Anytime (It's Alright)"
Wilson Pickett: "Mustang Sally"
Disclosure (feat. Sam Smith): "Latch"
Chance the Rapper: "Interlude (That's Love)"
Jessie Ware: "If You're Never Gonna Move"
James Brown: "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag"
Arctic Monkeys: "R U Mine?"
So Cow: "Shackleton"
Al Green: "Let's Stay Together"
Studio: "West Side Part 1"
Chic: "Le Freak"
Michael Jackson: "Billie Jean"
Paramore: "Ain't It Fun"
Whitney Houston: "How Will I Know"
Röyksopp / Robyn: "Do It Again"
Sam Cooke: "Having a Party"
DJ Sammy: "Heaven"
TLC: "Creep"
Beyoncé: "Partition"
Gorillaz: "Feel Good Inc."
Liars: "Let's Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack"
Spice Girls: "Wannabe"
Kingdom: "You"
Warren G (feat. Nate Dogg): "Regulate"
Drake: "Hold on, We're Going Home"
Wilson Pickett: "Mustang Sally"
Elite Gymnastics: "Minneapolis Belongs to You"
James Blake: "CMYK"
LOL Boys (feat. Heart Streets): "Changes"
Iceage: "You're Blessed"
Spoon: "Got Nuffin'"
Michael Jackson: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
James Brown: "I Got You (I Feel Good)"
2Pac (feat. Dr. Dre): "California Love"
Whitney Houston: "Saving All My Love for You"
Dr. Dre (feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg): "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang"
The Tough Alliance: "Neo Violence"
Chic: "Good Times"
Korallreven (feat. Victoria Bergsman): "As Young as Yesterday"
Snoop Doggy Dogg: "Who Am I (What's My Name?)"
UGK (feat. OutKast): "Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You)"
Azealia Banks (feat. Lazy Jay): "212"
Frank Ocean: "Sweet Life"
Beyonce: "XO"

WHAT FUN DO THE MODS GET OUT OF SMASHING THINGS UP

Photo by Arin Eaton

The Vaudeville Mews is a big part of why I moved to Des Moines, Iowa, almost five years ago now. My wife and I would come back to visit her family, and we'd go to some new restaurant/bar or other. And they were pretty good! But we didn't move here until after I ended up reading about the Mews, near Fourth and Court, the small local music venue. Jonathan Richman, Bonnie Prince Billy, and Jens Lekman had been through the doors not long before I arrived.

A few years back they opened an outdoor bar, in the adjacent alley. Somehow, I'm told because it sold the most Pabst Blue Ribbon in all of Iowa, it ended up apparently being sponsored, as the PBR Bar. That was open for a couple of years, on warm weekend nights and farmers market mornings. Then the building next door got sold, and last fall they had to tear down the alley bar.

They reopened it a few weeks ago. I had the honor, privilege, thrill (is that a U2 Batman song?) of DJing the first night back. Here are some songs I played. (Spotify approximation, which lacks CEO, Chance the Rapper, Kate Bush's actual version of Kate Bush's song, etc., also below.) Thank you, everybody!



The Tough Alliance: "Setting Sail"
The Grace Period: "Mod Killer"
The Seed of Something: "Downtown"
Bully: "Milkman"
Courtney Barnett: "History Eraser"
Ray Charles: "You Don't Know Me"
Belle and Sebastian: "The Stars of Track and Field"
Sally Shapiro: "If It Doesn't Rain"
Danny Brown: "25 Bucks" (feat. Purity Ring)
Mac DeMarco: "Passing Out the Pieces"
Silk: "Freak Me"
Lydia Loveless: "Head"
Deerhunter: "Nothing Ever Happened"
The Poison Control Center: "'Torpedoes on Tuesday'"
Grace in the Jones: "Walking in the Rain"
TNGHT: "Higher Ground"
PM Dawn: "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss"
CEO: "Halo"
Beyonce: "Partition"
R. Kelly: "Ignition (Remix)"
LCD Soundsystem: "All My Friends"
Chance the Rapper: "Juice"
Disclosure: "Latch"
Sleigh Bells: "Tell 'Em"
The Go! Team: "Ladyflash"
Dwight Yoakam: "Honky Tonk Man"
Ghost Town DJ's: "My Boo"
Beyonce: "Drunk in Love" (feat. Jay Z)
Chic: "Le Freak"
Lucinda Williams: "Passionate Kisses"
Ricky Eat Acid: "In my dreams we're almost touching"
Drake: "Worst Behavior"
Al Green: "Let's Stay Together"
Kylie Minogue: "Can't Get You Out of My Head"
ESG: "Moody"
The Long Blondes: "Fulwood Babylon"
Kate Bush: "Hounds of Love"
OutKast: "So Fresh, So Clean"
New Order: "Bizarre Love Triangle"
M.I.A.: "Come Walk With Me"
No Doubt: "Hella Good"
M.I.A.: "Double Bubble Trouble"
Missy Elliott: "Work It"
Daphni: "Yes, I Know"
Amerie: "1 Thing"
Michael Jackson: "Rock With You"
TLC: "No Scrubs"
T-Pain: "Can't Believe It" (feat. Lil Wayne)
R Kelly: "Bump N' Grind"
Madonna: "Live to Tell"
Whitney Houston: "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" (12" Remix - Radio Edit)
Madonna: "Like a Prayer"

Photo by John Huffman

IT JUST MAY BE A LUNATIC YOU'RE LOOKING FOR

They walked through Bedford Stuy alone / Photo by bgh

Thank you so, so, so much to everybody who came out to the Vaudeville Mews on Tuesday night. For the third straight year, the Vaudeville Mews gave me a chance to spend my New Year's Eve playing records I like with Bob Nastanovich and whoever else cared to listen and/or dance. The Mews' lease only goes through the end of 2014, so it's possible this was the last time Bob and I will get to do an "NYE throwdown," at least at my favorite venue's current location. But let's not worry about that yet.

Thanks to Joe and TJ at the bar, Bob at the door, and Derek for running sound. Thanks to my neighbors for making their first-ever visit to the Vaude. Thanks to the young women who asked me to play Beyoncé three times and posed for pictures with me and my B'Day record cover. Thanks to the dude who asked me to play Matt Valentine and Erika Elder from his phone. Thanks also to the couple of people who requested R. Kelly — I'm sorry I was too lame to put "Ignition (Remix)" in my crate this year, but with all the strangers in the room, I just didn't think it was right to risk bringing up painful associations for anyone. (There's nothing wrong with "Bump and Grind," but at least this once I figured we could leave that to the Bumps McGhee song.) Thanks to Ladd for booking us, and thanks as always to Amedeo for running the place.

The new year is about new beginnings, and flubbed song transitions (all by me, sorry), and wondering how in the world you're going to follow the Special AKA's "Nelson Mandela." Oh, and by the way: Thanks also to all my friends who made it out. You really shouldn't have bought me those shots.

Here's what we played, plus the closest Spotify approximation:



The Reverend Gary Davis - You Got to Move
Echo & the Bunnymen - The Original Cutter [Bob]
Scott & Charlene's Wedding - Two Weeks
The Gun Club - Sex Beat [Bob]
Courtney Barnett - History Eraser
Barry White - Barry's Theme [Bob]
Digable Planets - 9th Wonder (Blackitolism)
The Special AKA - Nelson Mandela [Bob]
Bahumutsi Drama Group - To the Comrades
Baby Mammoth - Tasty Maloney [Bob]
Joanna Gruesome - Do You Really Wanna Know Why You're Still in Love With Me?
Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing [Bob]
Kingdom feat. Kelela - Bank Head
The Cure - Grinding Halt [Bob]
Lydia Loveless - Steve Earle
Musical Youth - Pass the Dutchie [Bob]
Deerhunter - Pensacola
Donna Summer - Hot Stuff [Bob]
Jonathan Richman - This Kind of Music
The Velvet Underground - We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together [Bob]
The Field - A Paw in My Face
Pierre Henry - Jericho Jerk [Bob]
Sky Ferreira - I Blame Myself
The Beastie Boys - So What'cha Want [Bob]
Arthur Russell - A Little Lost
Blancmange - Don't Tell Me [Bob]
Blood Orange feat. Samantha Urbani - You're Not Good Enough
The Feelies - The Boy With the Perpetual Nervousness [Bob]
Frank Ocean - Lost
Bumps McGhee & His Twisters - Bumps and Grinds [Bob]
ESG - Moody [attempted, totally played wrong track]
The B-52's - Rock Lobster [Bob]
Disclosure feat. AlunaGeorge - White Noise
Booker T & the M.G.'s - Born Under a Bad Sign [Bob]
Quiet Village - Circus of Horror
Nancy Sinatra - Sugar Town [Bob]
Camera Obscura - New Year's Resolution
Chic - Le Freak [Bob]
TNGHT - Bugg'n
Blondie - One Way or Another [Bob]
Run-DMC - King of Rock [Bob]
Doris Day - Everybody Loves a Lover [Bob]
Wilson Pickett - In the Midnight Hour
Les Rita Mitsouko - Andy [Bob]
Liars - Let's Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack
Jack Hylton Orchestra - Gold Diggers of 1933: We're in the Money! [Bob]
LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge
Nightmares on Wax feat. De La Soul - Keep On [Bob]
G-Clefs: "I Understand (Just How You Feel) - Auld Lang Syne"
Peggy Lee - Mack the Knife [Bob]
Jessie Ware - If You're Never Gonna Move
Dinosaur Jr. - Freak Scene [Bob]
Beyonce - Get Me Bodied
Kool and the Gang - Ladies Night [Bob]
Beyonce - Freakum Dress
Beastie Boys - Something's Got to Give [Bob]
M.I.A. - Come Walk With Me
Soft Cell - Tainted Love [Bob]
Robyn - Konichiwa Bitches
ABBA - Dancing Queen [Bob]
Beyonce - Ring the Alarm (I think? I may also have played "Freakum Dress" again!)
Hot Chocolate - Beautiful Lady [Bob]
Curtis Vodka - Hey Girl
Heart - Crazy on You [Bob]
Justin Timberlake - SexyBack
Run-DMC - It's Like That [Bob]
Toro Y Moi - Say That
R.E.M. - The One I Love [Bob]
Madonna - Into the Groove
Cozy Cole - Topsy Part 1 [Bob]
Drake feat. Rihanna - Take Care
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls [Bob]
Jackie Wilson - (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher
MC Shy-D - Shake It [Bob]
Big Tymers feat. Boo and Gotti - Oh Yeah!
Billy Joel - You May Be Right [Bob]
Prince - Kiss
The Ray Mirijanian Oud and Clarinet - Bint El Shalabiyeh [Bob]
Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) (12" Remix - Radio Edit)