Sasha Brought In Summer

By Simeon | June 22, 2004 10:48 PM | Comments (5)

The summer is here. That's right, welcome to long days, warm weather, and lots of fun. Actually, the official first day was Monday. I really wasn't looking forward for Monday as much as the weekend the ushered in summer. Last weekend, was filled with outdoor activities and extraordinary fun! Yay for summertime! Can't you hear Will Smith dropping it in the background?

Ok, the weekend began with Jason and I doing the outside thing. Friday and Saturday, we sat on Denby's deck watching the dog's chew, run, jump, get wet in the pool, and fight each other. Dogs are so much more fun the TV! Eutaw can jump about twice his height. Kodiak can't really jump, but he is a great antagonist for Eutaw. After a few hours of this silliness, I slid on up to bmore for a bbq.

Before I get to far, I have to say Happy Father's Day to my Dad. It's a little late, but I did celebrate with him two days early. We had some dinner at my parents house on Friday, and I gave him some presents: some boat flares and a collapsible camping cup. That was exactly what he wanted so, he was very happy. We couldn't hangout Sunday because; he was headed to North Carolina with the family. Gotta love those family vacations in summertime! Back to bmore.

This day was a day planned for months. Sasha was spinning at the newly renovated Sonar. He has always turned the crowd out, and I couldn't wait to catch another set. Plus, Sonar had opened up a whole new main room to double the size of the club. Scott, Joanne, Pete, Heidi, and I had been so excited. We planned what Scott dubbed the Baltimore Trifecta. It included a bbq on Heidi's deck, a pre-party at Scott and Joanne's, and a after hours at Pete's new townhouse. Awesome.

I pulled up to Heidi's with my designated party favors right about 5pm. Everyone was already there. Heidi was getting the shiskabobs ready, I handed Pete the dirty Tequila for margaritas, and joined Scott and Joanne on the deck. Heidi's deck is so sweet. She has the best views of the city from Patterson Park. The food that was prepared was amazingly good. After the shiskabobs, Heidi broke out some burgers. They were spiced up something crazy, and I loved them. Probably the best I have ever had. Eventually, Aaron stopped by, and we continued to watch the sun set over the city. At eight o'clock we dispersed for showers.

Pete and I ran back to his new place. I had never been there before. It is so sweet. The first floor has a small living room, kitchen, and Adam's room. The second floor has a small kitchenette, bathroom, and Pete's room. The best part of the house is the third floor. Two-chillout areas are split by the stairs that end in a DJ booth. Its sick. He is lucky to have the place. Heidi came to pick us up a little after 830pm.

We tried to drive over Scott and Joanne's, but it was hard to find a spot to park. An African American Heritage Festival was happening all around Camden Yards. Good thing Scott let us borrow his parking pass. I was excited to checkout their place. They live in a loft apartment somewhere in the city. I can't remember the street. I walked in, and I was surprised. I had never seen a place like it before. The entire apartment is one long room that is arranged to the left. The only two recessed rooms were on opposite sides of the bathroom and the kitchen. The bedroom is first on the left from the door, and the second room is a living room. Of course, Scott has tables setup in this part of the Apartment. We started listening to music, and knocking back some drinks. It was cool because; Scott and Pete started tag teaming. Good times. We also decided to take a trip across the pond next summer to go party. It would be cool to check out Godskitchen. The debauchery had begun. We decided to walk to Sonar.

Now remember, the heritage festival is still going on in the city. We decide to walk fifteen minutes through the city with drinks in front of cops. It was so funny that they didn't care. We arrived at Sonar sometime around 1030pm. I immediately checked out the new room. It was jimungous! I mean huge. It was cool looking as well. The front of the room had a booth setup in front of window that faced the Baltimore Skyline. The front of the booth had the Sonar emblem blazing. All over the room were pillars supporting the roof. To the back of the room was a new bar with some orange decorations. The whole room was industrial looking. Very cool. The light show was banging, and the sound was ok. The room acoustics need to be tweaked. Overall, the place has a lot of potential.

I didn't have much time to survey the room; Luke Fair was getting crazy up front. Because of the size of the space, not many people pushed up to the front for the opener. This gave the six of us plenty of space to dance like crazy up front for his set. It was definitely good, and ill need to find some mixes. Plus, we were right upfront for Sasha to start.

We could tell it was about time, when his roadie came up to the front to setup the booth. Also, the club turned off all the lights in the booth. Once we could see him come out of the dark, the entire room went crazy. Everyone pushed up to the front, and we didn't have as much room to dance. It was still cool, we made sure to have some room. The tracks he played in the beginning got the crowd going, and he seemed to be sticking to progressive. All the interviews I have been reading quoted Sasha as changing his style. He is even going to stop spinning records in favor of live computer mixing. I am not too much of a purist that these facts make me made. I just want to hear good music, and that is what he continued to play the whole night. I'm not going to lie; I don't remember all the tracks. I might have been a bit out of it. Just take a look at the pictures from our friend Genna. I do remember being up front most of the time. At some points, I really couldn't stand. It was so hot; I was covered from head to toe in sweat. Toward the end Sasha was really in a groove. The whole place was jumping and dancing. The energy was through the roof. I do vividly remember the end of the set. At the end of the first encore, the track hit, I turned around, and all I saw were hands in the air below the pillars. It was crazy. After the show, I leaned up over the crowd barrier to shack his hand. What a great performance. Baltimore just has to deal with this close down by 2am stuff.

Like any good group of responsible kids, we decided to walk from Saratoga Street back over to Fountain Street around 230am. It was a silly silly walk. I won't name names to protect the innocent/stupid. Someone wouldn't stay out of the street. Another person walked into a few doors. Urination was everywhere. A street sign even got ripped up! We got back to Pete's just in time for Scott to walk all the way back across town to his apartment. Who knows. The rest of us sat up stairs and listened to Pete spin. It was a good time to relax. To close down the night, Adam, Joanne, and I listened to some music downstairs. I eventually feel asleep in the living room.

The next day, I came too when Adam walked into the living room. We looked outside, and it was beautiful. Wow, what a weekend. We had two perfect days in a row. The rest of the day, everyone from the night before eventually gathered around a table in Fell's Point at Armadillos. We tried to remember everything that happened the night before, and ate some good food. Later in the day, we stopped by a block party right around the corner from Pete's. It was a decent time, and it closed down with a few djs. Only in Baltimore will a block party close with a drum 'n bass dj. It was a fitting end to nasty weekend.

I drove home to say goodbye to my Grandmother. She was fixing to fly to Connecticut on Monday for my cousin's graduation. I quickly went to sleep after I helped her pack up her suitcase. What a whirlwind 24 hours. I guess that is what summertime does to ya. You have to spend most of the time outside eating, drinking, and listening to music. I hope this weekend is just a blueprint for the rest of the summer. Damn, I can still hear that awesome sample from Philly.