We started Life During Wartime on January 29, 2003 in the basement of Wicker Park's Double Door. Two kids (certainly not DJs at the time), some basic equipment, a stack of records, a few catchy slogans and the goal of making people dance. A party for the people by the people. We've done it almost twice a month (or more) ever since and it only seems to get better and better with each party. Sure a lot has changed (and much has stayed the same) but the important thing to remember here is that YOU SHOULD DANCE.

Thanks, Chicago, we couldn't/wouldn't do it without you...



Special thanks to ALL the bands and DJs we've showcased, performed with and/or welcomed in and outside of Chicago. In no particular order and certainly not a complete list...

Soulwax/2ManyDJs, Kid Sister, The Presets, Flosstradamus, Hollywood Holt & Mano, J2K, Walter Meego, Eamon Harkin, Rok One (of The Bangers), Treasure Fingers, Daisy O, Sweatshop Labor DJs, Tigercity, Matt ROAN (of Dance Party Magic), Mister Wolf, Lauren Flax, Office, Diamonds (of The Glamour), Trancid (of Dark Wave Disco), JDH & Dave P (of Fixed & Making Time), Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, Popstatic, Konsept, Major Taylor, Cut Copy, The Hood Internet, May Or May Not (as Daft Punk), Muscles, Sovietpanda (of Too Much Love), Of Montreal, New Order, James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem), Electric Six, Junior Senior, The Go! Team, Tilly & The Wall, Cold War Kids, Kampfire Killaz, Sybris, Apteka, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Professor Murder, The Gossip, Voxtrot, Sunset Rubdown, MOBY, The Rapture, Tommie Sunshine, Bloc Party, The Ponys, Baby Teeth, Bobby Conn, Bang! Bang!, New Black, Lying In States, Pelican, Russian Circles, The Killer, Dead To Fall, Hewhocorrupts, Holy Roman Empire, The Changes, The Redwalls, The M's, The Prairie Cartel, Troubled Hubble, VHS or Beta, Elefant, Radio 4, Har Mar Superstar, Codebreaker, Mahjongg, Watchers, People Noise, Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Joggers, The Flesh, Bling Kong, U.S.E., I Am the World Trade Center, James Chance & the Fibbs, Saturday Looks Good To Me, Rainer Maria, Travis Morrison (of Dismemberment Plan), Tom Vek and you.

Diamonds (of The Glamour) rolled on down from Milwaukee to slay The Hideout dance floor which was ragin' full on by midnight. Mother Hubbard had other duties so Mister Wolf stepped in for a righteous solo set and an impromptu When The Eagle Met The Wolf mini-set.

See the magic on my Flickr page HERE

Everyoneisfamous.com was up in our party's grills again for Erol Alkan at Smartbar last Wednesday. Pre-party upstairs in Metro with a little French duo called Justice (Oui?) followed by the Chicago debut performance of the one and only Erol Alkan in Smartbar made for an evening not to be forgotten anytime within the next several weeks or before the next Prime Time Of Your Life party (whichever comes first). Yes, there was a dude that looked exactly like the one dude in Justice and yes he graciously posed for photos with random strangers (and the other dude from Justice) all night long. This proves we don't need celebrities but just quality impersonators. Nope, no need to spend those dollars during the prime time of your life.








UPDATE: Kicking & Screaming took some pretty f'n awesome photos too so check them out HERE!

Minneapolis knows how to have a good time... and also knows how to make a bitchin' fried egg with bacon sandwich. Hats off to Too Much Love's resident party guru Sovietpanda for inviting me up and bringing me out to the middle of the First Ave. dance floor. Thanks to The Moon Goons and Ben for takin' pics. Cheeeeese!

Photos HERE and HERE

Missing Toof straight-up posted TWO brand new edits of mine (Thanks, Toof!). Both are part of "Fidget" edit series I'm currently working on and all of the edits, eventually, will end up on a new mixtape of mine. As much as I love the originals (thank you Sinden, Count Of Monte Cristal & Speaker Junk), it's not always easy getting away with spinning those crazy "meltdown" parts. You know what I'm talking about if you listen to these UK boys. So, basically, I wussied the tracks out like the American boy I am and made them full-on bangers with little to no "meltdown" fillers. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! I kid, I kid.

Click it to get it...

Mr. Clayton was up in it late on 6/29 for Prime Time Of Your Life with special guest The Juna Maclean. He got some winners for us all to enjoy.

Click RIGHT HERE to witness the fiz-un... or peek below for a "sneak peek."

Clayton "The Huxtable" Hauck brought this AMAZING gadget called a "camera" to the Empty Bottle this past Friday night for the Walter Meego, Vampire Weekend, Far Rad and Bald Eagle spectacular. With said gadget he was able to steal part of our souls and permanently record them as digital files. Supposedly he can also make physical prints but I have yet to see such an amazing transformation performed!

Click RIGHT HERE to witness all of the the black magic... or peek below for a "sneak peek."

Thanks, Clayton!

Popstatic (aka Jarrett) and I went out last night with our boy, Edwin. Listened to tunes, drank some drinks and laughed about Jarrett not making it to Michigan for a hot event cause the people picking him up were on the other side of Lake Michigan. Whoops. PTOYL is coming... and here to stay. FACT!

----------

From the desk of Popstatic...

Hey whats up, people?
For those of you that don't already know, the Prime Time Of Your Life party featuring The Juan Maclean is quickly approaching.

So naturally, you're all probably wondering, what Prime Time Of Your Life is...
PTOYL is a monthly party that myself and DJ Bald Eagle (of Life During Wartime) have recently started. We intend to make it a dance party where every month, we act as the resident DJs and bring in a well-known guest. We've ran the party for a few months now and have been giving it trial runs at different venues. We are considering several places for its eventual home and are pushing this June event (the aforementioned Juan Maclean party) at Smartbar.

Although we play a very wide variety of music (house, techno, disco, hip hop, whatever), we're not interested in turning this into some kind of hipster phenomenon. We're interested in bringing in like-minded artists with an emphasis on the music. This party will be built for soundsystems with an absolute minimum amount of pretension. That is to say, we're not interested in cultivating a place for people to be seen or feel popular, we're interested in playing parties with some staying power, enduring jams, and a nicely-modeled brand to it.

I know I don't stand alone when I say that I'm sick of going out and hearing people cycle through endless amounts of bullshit and poorly encoded mp3s that make your ears bleed. I myself have been waiting for some changes. I don't profess that this will be the party to snuff out a lot of the watered-down musical scenes that exist right now but at very least, it will offer an alternative with style and distinction. Although there is much to like about a lot of whats hot in underground dance music right now, I don't see a lot of the DJs out there doing interesting things with it. Believe me... I LOVE Ed Banger as much as the next person but I don't plan on turning this party into a one-dimensional affair or love-letter to France. I'll also be damned if its even remotely boring. When I play at this party, I'm interested in exposing some of the linkages between whats hot now and what was hot in the past. You might hear Lindstrom rubbing shoulders with LFO, classic disco, bass music, new shit from Trentemoller, The Beach Boys, The Avalanches, Dubsided Records, perhaps an occasional Ed Banger, fuck... anything with some soul and some soundsystem integrity that doesn't sacrifice the needs of the dancefloor.

Anyways, there's my take on the whole thing. Let me know if you have any questions, you wanna get involved or anything of the sort. I'm pretty excited about it and I want to see you all there.

Thanks,
Jarrett

Clayton (aka Mr. EveryoneIsFamous.com) and I took a trip up "north" for a holiday BBQ. But not just any BBQ, this was an all day and night DJ/BBQ throwdown with The Glamour, J2K, Matt ROAN, Why-B, myself and a bunch of others spinning the hits you know you hate. Watch as Bald Eagle talks to people, spins records, raises a drawbridge with mind powers, parties with pretty girls AND passes out in an IGo car (it was a royal blue Honda Fit... slick).

CLICK THIS TO SEE ALL THE WONDERS THAT HAVE BEEN SPOKEN OF