the real Electro Dance Party live 2 at the Loft on Main St. in Buffalo,NY went off very well.  I kicked things off around 11pm, a little later than planned as that it was a rainy evening.  Ripping through a set of all written songs the realization came to me that more improvisation will be needed to keep me interested in the future.  All of the songs are different each time but that is not as entertaining to myself as seeing what comes from me on the fly.  Mostly spectators for this show, not so many groovies.  The crowd was a spectrum of fest-goers, late-nighters, hipsters and dance heads.  After smashing my drums at the end of the set (I LOVE doing that) house music duo-trons Fashion Expo 1990 took the stage and I broke down my equiptment and in anticipation of our depature for Desiderata Festival, about 300 miles away in near Utica, NY.  After a short period of relaxation for myself and funking out for Fash Ex 90, the music moved over to one of my favorite DJ duos, the Socialites.  At this period of time, I had a fucking blast being enveloped in the moves of and by the lights of the disco ball by a most wonderful person.  Her name is Kim and man, can she dance!

Off to Desiderata Festival.

After four hours of Cortney traversing the NYS90 eastbound (and thankfully due to the fact that I was exausted!) we arrived to the fest at 7:30am to 300 people grooving and gyrating to various psy-trance DJs.  Never had more fun been witnessed at 7:30 in the morning let alone in the middle of a field on the gorgeous foothillls of New York.  During the nine hours of waiting to play my set, never had my feelings towards hearing my music been better.  Let's just say the rhythms gained monotony and the synths all started to sound the same.  The crowd absolutly loved it, though, and then it came to my realization that my set would not only help break the repetition, but it would also be the second last block of music during a 72 hour mass of jammage and DJs.
    An overcasting of clouds threatened rain.  Massive thunderstorms were headed toward the area and threats that my performance on one of the largest stages and sound systems my music had ever graced would be cancelled almost manifested.  My mediations began.  Deeply breathing and sitting still while being blasted with an enjoyably diverse DJ from Israel,  my thoughts focused on the weather patterns avoiding our place in the geography.  About an hour into my meditation, two Jamaican women approached me on their way away from the stage, which I was about forty feet from.  The first woman, an older one, snapped her fingers in front of my eyes, and me from my trance, and laughed.  The second Jamaican woman reached into her bag and pulled out a coin with the words "Reggae Against Climate Change" on it.  She apparently had been aware of the meaning of my meditations.  At this point my thoughts were aware that it wasn't going to rain and that my focus had better stay partly on the weather and more on setting up my gear.

After setting up and a short sound check, my set began with "Very Small Things Casting Very Large Shadows"  which was a feeling that could be most related at this point in my life.  The emotion of reaching one of many peaks in my time line was one emoted through my music and the realization came to me that this crowd of beautiful people enjoyed what was being performed on stage.  Questions of this had fluttered on the edge of self doubt in my mind, yet my intentions were to destroy them immediately with the use of positive self talk to keep my mind on track.  Finally being able to play for so many people, some hula hooping, some grooving, some sitting and staring at the end of their long weekend was an amazing experience.  In the end the cheers had leed my to know the fact that my music, although much different from the music that had been performed all day, had  reached the approval of a highly critical and spun out crowd.