Looking for a new mix to get you through the day? Need some
inspiration to get up and get moving this weekend? More importantly, need more
Dance Party? Starting this week, DPC will aim to highlight and disseminate some
of our favorite mixtapes, podcasts, and EP releases from across the wide world of
EDM, including our own backyard. Your personal curator for this intergalactic
journey is new staff writer Sam Warren, a NY-to-D.C. transplant who listens to
far too much of this stuff to be healthy. Each week, Sam will break down a
handful of mixes in the hope that, somehow, somewhere, a booty will be shaken
due to his efforts.
We're back and alive from whiskey-fueled DDPs in the mountains of West Virginia. It was great. I ate s'mores, found whipped cream flavored vodka at a store, lost horribly in cornhole, and may or may not have rekindled my appreciation for Sisqo's "Thong Song". Uhhh... don't ask.
We hope everyone had a great weekend, and many of you are probably still enjoying the weekend because you have today off. Well, I'll spare you my bitching and moaning, but I do not. Therefore, I'm already day-dreaming about this coming weekend and I just realized that it's been awhile since I've had myself a good dance party. I know, it's pretty traumatic. #asiangirlproblems.
So I thought it might be fun educational to share some tips that I have learned along the way. Or maybe I thought this is also a good refresher for me as I plan to have many DDPs this weekend at U Street Music Hall - Fred Falke on Friday, Matthew Dear on Saturday - but more on that later (read: Preview of the weekend post later this week!)
The Do's and Don'ts of Dance Parties
Do: Go with friends. Shows are more fun with friends. I repeat, shows are ALWAYS more fun with friends. Don't: Go to a Holy Ghost! show by yourself. The show ends up being 40 minutes and that entire 40 minutes is spent standing in a corner looking awkward. The boy standing next to you has on skinnier jeans than you and is donning a scarf that you'd like to own. After the show ends, you can't find your car because you are a space cadet. You aimlessly walk around U Street (uh, bad idea) trying to find your car, call your brother who lives in San Diego because maybe he can help you locate your car. Yea, it made sense at the time.
Do: Make sure that you're not getting completely hammered on an empty stomach. Don't: Try to make up for the fact that pregaming was more important than dinner, so you find yourself at the 9:30 Club Backbar, a box of cookies deep, shouting "this is the best dance party EVER," to everyone. People will look at you like you're crazy and the friends you came with - they probably aren't your friends anymore.
Do: Meet new people. Shows are more fun when you meet new people and make new friends. And I like new friends. Don't: Forget their name. Enough said.
Do: Save friends from creepy people. Don't: Laugh at Becca when guys come dancing all up on her sh*t like it ain't no thang. (BTW, thanks Rashad! haha)
Do: Buy lots of drinks at the bar. Don't: Buy lots of drinks for everyone at the bar. Woops.
Do: Show appreciation when you hear a song that you love being dropped by a DJ you adore. Don't:Drop an entire beer on the floor in the process of said appreciation (Aeroplane in April) and try to play it off like it didn't happen. People saw and their feet are wet.
Do: Arrive early. Sometimes acts that you end up enjoying the best are first on the bill. Don't: End up at the venue first. You'll be that guy sitting at the bar, waiting for your friends to come and take whiskey shots to pass the time.
Do: Listen to this mix because you need a DDP. Don't: Miss the song at 8.05 in. It's great. It makes me happy. And 17 minutes in, flashback to Tommy Boy anyone?
