Will start this on a sad note… May the soul of H’s father rest in peace… Was shattering to hear the news on Friday morning… My deepest condolences... Il ba2eye bi 7ayatek H :(, I hope you will continue to be strong, as you’ve always been dear…
I slacked again and haven’t bothered to update this blog of mine for a while… Although I do post something every now and then on the other one, it’s relatively easier to find something to put up there, it’s copied (And formatted) lyrics…
So, I am going blank again… Ironic that you always think you have stuff to write about, yet, when you start typing away everything disappears… Frustrating at times! Will get inspiration as soon as a random thought pops up in my head..
I finally got the Powershot G7 camera, so far so good, pictures are ‘noisy’ sometimes and I initially struggled while taking night shots, but eventually it turned out fine, still, not as good as the 400D, but it does the job… And oh, just to prove the fatuous guys at the Duty Free in Jordan wrong, I hope I will take the bill when we go there again (the difference was over $100). Yeah, so mean and narrow-minded you can say, but I always jump at the opportunity to prove something wrong (Even myself).
That “go again part” was quite vague me thinks, one of those moments when we rattle on about something, assuming it is a well-known and well-documented worldwide fact, when the reality is not many (Or none at all) have any bloody idea what we’re on about! So to enlighten the masses: I’m going to mansafland (i.e. Jordan, also known as el Gordon) towards the end of this month AGAIN. My family were already planning to go and booked everything, when I came back from that ‘raving’ trip, I changed my mind about staying in Dubai, another reason is the fact that I couldn’t find a ‘proper’ summer or part-time job. Surprisingly folks were glad I changed my mind… But there was one really, really important issue… SPIDER aka. KATKOOT! Where to put the poor little mixed Persian thing? {Although I’d rather consider him a pure Persian when he is NOT!)… We eventually decided to put him at a “pet chalet” somewhere in Dubai, never knew such a place existed here till we got him in December as a tiny and scared two-month old kitten… I still remember how worried I got the first time he sneaked out of the house… He always tried, but to no avail, but that night it was a gloomy and dark one, and it was even raining (Pouring cats and dogs as some say ;)), was out at football practice (Which I miss nowadays since we stopped it ages ago) to be told when I got back home that he has been out for over two hours…The fear of losing him was immense… I never thought one could build any sort of emotional bond with an animal, how wrong I was… After some more searching around the compound, the silly “Spider” turned out to be lost in the garden next door, seemed equally delighted to be ‘found’… Dam, that was a LOT of stuff to write up about a kitten, but he’s adorable nevertheless…
Electronic-music wise, last four weeks have been lovely… New tunes, new sets, nice gigs (Bart Claessen in particular)… Paul Van Dyke’s new album should be out soon, and the dude from Berlin himself is due to play in Bahrain in November (Road trip anyone?)… Above & Beyond are not coming in September anymore (Maybe I mentioned that before, not arsed to check), but hey, Ferry Corsten is coming in mid-September… Cosmic Gate supposedly signed and confirmed, but neither their website, nor anywhere else… All I hear is that they’re due to come before Ramadan (Which also starts in Mid-September)…I will miss their gig in Amman though, it’s happening four days before I land there… Won’t get to hear Nic play his own “What You Need” live *sigh*
Now, I wish I could write more… But, I can’t… Finished it on a totally different note to how it started: With psychological blankness… So much to say now... Things I ponder whether they should be concealed or revealed...
Till the next time...
*hug to all*
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Friday, August 03, 2007
Trip diary - Waiting... Again
Note: You might have read this, I posted it then removed it after realising that there was another 'diary post' that I have not posted yet.
Trip diary Day 5 – Queen Alia airport [July 29, 2007]
Haven’t slept since yesterday, was kind of worried that I might miss my flight if I went to sleep… Will continue where I stopped last night...
Here goes, Ashtek began playing at around 12-ish me thinks, another good local dj, nice warm-up for Gunther & Stamina, I think they’re quite underrated, it was the first time that I see them perform live (Missed their gig at Fashion TV Arabia’s gig in Dubai a few months ago). They played for about two hours, before Beebee took over the mixing duties. (Note: Flight started boarding at that point, now I am completing this 24 hours after arriving back in Dubai…). Bee Bee started his set with Karen Overton’s “Your Loving Arms” (The only track I ID-ed, hehe), played for about an hour or so.
Fila, one-half of Egyptian duo Aly & Fila, he's the one who’s more into DJing, leaving the production duties to Aly, started spinning, at that point, I decided to try my luck and sneak into the backstage area, luckily enough the security personnel didn’t spot me, and even afterwards, they did not seem to bother, thinking I was part of the crew maybe. It was far more fun there, seeing Fila mixing, in addition to meeting a childhood friend of his (A cousin) and a fellow trance hitter! Cool stuff, Fila is one really down to earth guy, gotta like the guy! He was brilliant, tracks that I expected him to play and he did anyway: “Whatever”, “Why” and his collaboration with Shadi of Lebanon aka. Amadeus “A Dream Of Peace”. He was forced to stop playing at 4:00am, as Julian, the event organizer asked him to do so as apparently the yacht club operators/managers/owners/whatever wanted that, in addition to the fact that guests of nearby hotels were complaining about the loud music. I bet he would’ve loved to play on, so many people came up to the dj booth asking ‘us’ (Me and Kevo, the fellow TH member) if the party is over or not, and other random questions, one even asked us where he can get the CD of the tracks that were played, hehe! Stayed there for a while talking to Gunther, Bee Bee, Fila, Julian and the people in charge of the lighting and the amazing visuals…
Went back to the hotel with Kevo, we initially planned to take the 7:30am bus back to Amman, but ended up falling asleep after eating a late, late dinner, woke up at 2:00pm (!), checked-out, and that took ages, the service overall at the Inter Continental was below par. Also had to struggle to find a bus back to Amman, ended up being put on separate seats for the long journey, but hey, at least we got on a bus when initially the bus was full. One was seated on the ‘hostess’ seat, when there was no hostess to begin with, and usually the hostess on such buses is a MALE! During the 4-5 hour journey, we met some new friends who were there at Aqaba and Wadi Rum (They were also staying at the same hotel). Cool bunch =). It took a while to find a cab while in Amman, when I finally found one, he started the same stupid price haggling argument, I wonder why they initially answer your question of how much are they going to charge with “Whatever price that suits you, sir”, only to begin arguing once you bring up ANY price! Even if it was well above the normal rate if they used the bloody meter… I mean, they should realize that sometimes if they don’t push for it, they might get that extra 1/2 JD or 1 JD that they're nagging about… Idiots!
Was checked-in and given the exact same room at the Holiday Inn! Bet it hasn’t been occupied at all since I checked-out three days earlier. Met with a friend, cruised around Amman for a good hour or two, finally got to see the new ‘place to be’ in Amman that's called Vy… The gym, bar, café and God knows what else (Not sure of what it offers exactly, but it’s quite massive and luxurious =)). After some driving around, went to get some sweets before heading back home. Stayed up watching tv, and decided eventually to stay up, simply becaue I overslept on every single day of that trip, thus, I just couldn’t risk missing my flight (Although thinking about it now, it might not have been THAT bad to spend another day in Amman…)
At around 4 or 5am, I signed in on msn (Well, not online, appear offline mode/status is good enough), and found a friend whom I only knew online, one that I argue about football with, the Champions League and AC Milan (The team he supports), and we decided to meet up, went cruising again in the early hours of the morning, empty streets rock! Went to the new bridge again, to Abdoun, deer ghbaar which has Casper & Gambini’s and Noodle House now and also to some oldish parts of town! Sometimes I wish I knew more people there to go to such places (Referring to NH and C&Gs), maybe I finally do now... But on a second thought, Dubai has these places and more, but I hardly go there either… Hmm, some food for thought there. Asked Mohammed (My friend) to drop me somewhere near our house there, I walked for a bit in a neighborhood that I shouldn’t have gone to (Second time in that trip), before going to our neighborhood… Felt awkward, first time being there in almost a year… Took some pictures before the battery of my SLR died (Didn’t have the spare one on hand :(, too bad).
Went back to the hotel, chatted on the phone with a friend for a bit, very constructive convo (Bless you H =)), before packing, checking-out (3rd check-out in 5 days!) and heading to the airport, everything was smooth. Got myself in mini-trouble when I cost the Duty Free a $700+ sale of a Canon camera, I advised the lady that wanted to buy it to NOT do so, as the price was ridiculously inflated when compared to prices in the UAE and probably the US. Some cameras in the States are sold at almost half the price they sell them for here in Dubai. The sales executive followed me after that to criticize my so-called unacceptable attitude, and accused me of being wrong about the prices, at that point, I claimed for the first time to be a so-called “professional photographer” and that I know the prices of these cameras, especially the G7 and my very own 400D, hoping that would shut him up but he kept on blabbing. Anyway, screw them, they’re supposed to be competitive prices and WITHOUT taxes, hey, I intended to buy the G7 myself from them IF it was cheaper than Dubai… If they want to cheat people into that, it’s their problem. They still had my obsolete S2 IS on display! Didn't check the price, but it would have been some ridiculous figure probably. The S3 IS and even S5 IS are out now! In the Dubai duty free on the way to Amman I checked out the prices of the same cameras, and they were the priced the way they should be =)... Their loss afterall.
On the flight, I happened to be sitting next to a mature and cool woman, kept on talking for most of the flight, was cool to do so. Most of the passengers are usually grumpy old farts after all or annoying crying and screaming kids ;). Upon arriving back in Dubai, it was a case of continuous and endless dozing off and waking up again. Was an exciting and enjoyable trip, but at the same time it was also tiring… I can safely say that I somewhat miss Jordan (Never expected I’d say that before), I hope I get to go there with my folks when they go there next month… Let’s see what happens =)
Cheers to Julian, Laith and his gang, all the djs, the ‘bus’ people, Kevo the fellow TH-er, Omar, Mohannad and many others for everything! Rave on peeps and see you on July 25, 2008 =)! Praying it wll be John Askew warming up for Paul Van Dykeee!
Trip diary Day 5 – Queen Alia airport [July 29, 2007]
Haven’t slept since yesterday, was kind of worried that I might miss my flight if I went to sleep… Will continue where I stopped last night...
Here goes, Ashtek began playing at around 12-ish me thinks, another good local dj, nice warm-up for Gunther & Stamina, I think they’re quite underrated, it was the first time that I see them perform live (Missed their gig at Fashion TV Arabia’s gig in Dubai a few months ago). They played for about two hours, before Beebee took over the mixing duties. (Note: Flight started boarding at that point, now I am completing this 24 hours after arriving back in Dubai…). Bee Bee started his set with Karen Overton’s “Your Loving Arms” (The only track I ID-ed, hehe), played for about an hour or so.
Fila, one-half of Egyptian duo Aly & Fila, he's the one who’s more into DJing, leaving the production duties to Aly, started spinning, at that point, I decided to try my luck and sneak into the backstage area, luckily enough the security personnel didn’t spot me, and even afterwards, they did not seem to bother, thinking I was part of the crew maybe. It was far more fun there, seeing Fila mixing, in addition to meeting a childhood friend of his (A cousin) and a fellow trance hitter! Cool stuff, Fila is one really down to earth guy, gotta like the guy! He was brilliant, tracks that I expected him to play and he did anyway: “Whatever”, “Why” and his collaboration with Shadi of Lebanon aka. Amadeus “A Dream Of Peace”. He was forced to stop playing at 4:00am, as Julian, the event organizer asked him to do so as apparently the yacht club operators/managers/owners/whatever wanted that, in addition to the fact that guests of nearby hotels were complaining about the loud music. I bet he would’ve loved to play on, so many people came up to the dj booth asking ‘us’ (Me and Kevo, the fellow TH member) if the party is over or not, and other random questions, one even asked us where he can get the CD of the tracks that were played, hehe! Stayed there for a while talking to Gunther, Bee Bee, Fila, Julian and the people in charge of the lighting and the amazing visuals…
Went back to the hotel with Kevo, we initially planned to take the 7:30am bus back to Amman, but ended up falling asleep after eating a late, late dinner, woke up at 2:00pm (!), checked-out, and that took ages, the service overall at the Inter Continental was below par. Also had to struggle to find a bus back to Amman, ended up being put on separate seats for the long journey, but hey, at least we got on a bus when initially the bus was full. One was seated on the ‘hostess’ seat, when there was no hostess to begin with, and usually the hostess on such buses is a MALE! During the 4-5 hour journey, we met some new friends who were there at Aqaba and Wadi Rum (They were also staying at the same hotel). Cool bunch =). It took a while to find a cab while in Amman, when I finally found one, he started the same stupid price haggling argument, I wonder why they initially answer your question of how much are they going to charge with “Whatever price that suits you, sir”, only to begin arguing once you bring up ANY price! Even if it was well above the normal rate if they used the bloody meter… I mean, they should realize that sometimes if they don’t push for it, they might get that extra 1/2 JD or 1 JD that they're nagging about… Idiots!
Was checked-in and given the exact same room at the Holiday Inn! Bet it hasn’t been occupied at all since I checked-out three days earlier. Met with a friend, cruised around Amman for a good hour or two, finally got to see the new ‘place to be’ in Amman that's called Vy… The gym, bar, café and God knows what else (Not sure of what it offers exactly, but it’s quite massive and luxurious =)). After some driving around, went to get some sweets before heading back home. Stayed up watching tv, and decided eventually to stay up, simply becaue I overslept on every single day of that trip, thus, I just couldn’t risk missing my flight (Although thinking about it now, it might not have been THAT bad to spend another day in Amman…)
At around 4 or 5am, I signed in on msn (Well, not online, appear offline mode/status is good enough), and found a friend whom I only knew online, one that I argue about football with, the Champions League and AC Milan (The team he supports), and we decided to meet up, went cruising again in the early hours of the morning, empty streets rock! Went to the new bridge again, to Abdoun, deer ghbaar which has Casper & Gambini’s and Noodle House now and also to some oldish parts of town! Sometimes I wish I knew more people there to go to such places (Referring to NH and C&Gs), maybe I finally do now... But on a second thought, Dubai has these places and more, but I hardly go there either… Hmm, some food for thought there. Asked Mohammed (My friend) to drop me somewhere near our house there, I walked for a bit in a neighborhood that I shouldn’t have gone to (Second time in that trip), before going to our neighborhood… Felt awkward, first time being there in almost a year… Took some pictures before the battery of my SLR died (Didn’t have the spare one on hand :(, too bad).
Went back to the hotel, chatted on the phone with a friend for a bit, very constructive convo (Bless you H =)), before packing, checking-out (3rd check-out in 5 days!) and heading to the airport, everything was smooth. Got myself in mini-trouble when I cost the Duty Free a $700+ sale of a Canon camera, I advised the lady that wanted to buy it to NOT do so, as the price was ridiculously inflated when compared to prices in the UAE and probably the US. Some cameras in the States are sold at almost half the price they sell them for here in Dubai. The sales executive followed me after that to criticize my so-called unacceptable attitude, and accused me of being wrong about the prices, at that point, I claimed for the first time to be a so-called “professional photographer” and that I know the prices of these cameras, especially the G7 and my very own 400D, hoping that would shut him up but he kept on blabbing. Anyway, screw them, they’re supposed to be competitive prices and WITHOUT taxes, hey, I intended to buy the G7 myself from them IF it was cheaper than Dubai… If they want to cheat people into that, it’s their problem. They still had my obsolete S2 IS on display! Didn't check the price, but it would have been some ridiculous figure probably. The S3 IS and even S5 IS are out now! In the Dubai duty free on the way to Amman I checked out the prices of the same cameras, and they were the priced the way they should be =)... Their loss afterall.
On the flight, I happened to be sitting next to a mature and cool woman, kept on talking for most of the flight, was cool to do so. Most of the passengers are usually grumpy old farts after all or annoying crying and screaming kids ;). Upon arriving back in Dubai, it was a case of continuous and endless dozing off and waking up again. Was an exciting and enjoyable trip, but at the same time it was also tiring… I can safely say that I somewhat miss Jordan (Never expected I’d say that before), I hope I get to go there with my folks when they go there next month… Let’s see what happens =)
Cheers to Julian, Laith and his gang, all the djs, the ‘bus’ people, Kevo the fellow TH-er, Omar, Mohannad and many others for everything! Rave on peeps and see you on July 25, 2008 =)! Praying it wll be John Askew warming up for Paul Van Dykeee!
Trip diary - End of a rave, and the long road.
Trip diary day 4 – Bus going back to Amman [July 28, 2007]
The raves are over, now on the way back on yet another bus heading back to the more familiar and busy surroundings of Amman. Been two crazy days really. I’m kind of blank now, just sitting there not knowing what to type! Guess I should just talk about what made me go on this whole trip, the Distant Heat electronic music festival!
We finally left Aqaba’s yacht club at around 9 pm, the bus ride was fun, met some cool people, amongst them is a couple of sponsors working with radio stations (Play FM IIRC), a couple of Jordanian/Palestinian dudes and many Europeans (Irish and Dutch), of course, the first few interactions were to teach them the typical swear words in Arabic, amongst a few other more reasonable expressions such as hello, sorry, good night, it’s always fun to see how foreigners pronounce Arabic words, khmaar instead of 7maar (Hmaar as in donkey), but for some reason if the word already had the ‘kh’ part they wouldn’t be able to pronounce that part! Don’t worry, we ‘exposed’ them to a more abusive array of abusive terminology ;).
Arrived there at around 10 pm after a stop at a checkpoint and a long sandy road, I simply have no clue whatsoever how people actually managed to get there, let alone the fact that most cars were small (As in small, I mean salons, hatchbacks, and so on, not big SUVs and 4x4s), there was no signage and directions (Or at least I couldn’t notice them), no street lights and no proper roads, but hey, many people probably know the exact location, apparently that is where people usually go to camp when they go to wadi rum (Hence, the adjacent camp with many tents. Also, the small fact that this is not the first time the festival was held, it’s been held for several years in a row boasting names such as Markus Schulz, Armin Van Buuren and Ferry Corsten.
Got off the bus, got my wrist band and proceeded to the main area in front of the dj booth, BeeBee, a Jordanian talent was doing the warm-up and boy, the first time I hear a set of his and it was magnificent, he certainly knows how to get the crowd pumped up. Played a mixture of some electro, prog house and prog trance if memory serves me right, wicked stuff. Roamed around the massive ‘venue’, VIP area was neat and well-planned, seemed a tad too crowded though after midnight, not that it matters much to me as I hardly hanged out there, Wonder why I paid extra, I didn’t sit on the comfy couches, nor did I drink any alcohol, thus, coupons were gone for water bottles and red bulls. The water was supposedly being given out for free, but it wasn’t, not that it matters much now though, the whole extra coupons thing is a control measure and to entice big drinkers.
Dave Seaman took over the decks at around 12 or 1, can’t recall correctly, he was until recently a dj that I only recognize by name, but his set was magnificent, perfect for electro and prog house lovers. By the time he started mixing, the place was already busy with many ‘ravers’… I wish I could remember some of the tracks he played, all I recall is Muhannad aka. Moe (Met him on the bus, cool fella) IDing two or three tracks produced or mixed by Trentmoller, other than that, I remotely recall a track being played towards the end of his set, one that Gabriel & Dresden have something to do with, probably was either “Tracking Treasure Down” or “Till There Was You”… Before Dave finished his set, while being in front of the dj booth I saw Toni and Jono Grant of A&B talking to someone in the backstage area, I simply couldn’t stop myself from going there to try and talk to them, which I succeeded at after persuading one of the security personnel to let me in, I talked to them briefly and took pictures with them, I went again with a couple of new friends (God bless Facebook), but couldn’t get in without the event promoter, organizer, manager, EVERYTHING (God bless her!), Julian, sneaked us in, we took a picture as a group with the two Anjunaboys who came with MY CAM (Will get back to this point later), Paavo stayed back in London, it seems a habit for dj bands to divide activities and tasks between them, usually someone is more into production and the other is more into mixing and DJing =). Also met FILA of Ali & Fila! Who by the way didn’t spin at Tala Bay in the morning as I thought and anyway, I thought it was ALI rather than Fila! Heh, people will know this by the time this is posted, but the Lebanese beach-goers will be in for a big surprise on Sunday, as part of MixFM’s great beach parties called One Big Sunday, he’s the one who is the surprise, I went on Trancehits today and read comments showing how curious people were, I PMed a couple of them spoiling the surprise, I just couldn’t hide it hehe! Some went as far as thinking it might be Ferry Corsten or something, but my first impression so far is that this Fila fellow is the friendliest and most humble dj I have met personally thus far, he didn’t have ANY attitude whatsoever, and he seemed even happier than us! Respect to the Egyptian dude! Also met BeeBee, djing and party animal hehe! Tried to talk to Dave Seaman, but I guess I ran out of my luck with security guys at that point.
Above & Beyond, world number 9 djs according to the controversial DJ Mag yearly poll, who have recently rocked the Olympic stadium in Los Angeles graced the decks of Wadi Rum soon after that. Two tracks into the set, for some f***ed up reason, naïve and stupid me entrusted a total stranger to carry my camera while I was recording a video, only for what I imagined was unthinkable to happen. As soon as I turned my head, that lowlife and tactless effing cunt disappeared with OUR memories, excuse my French, but that is the least I could describe that piece of s***… I am still kicking myself in the backside for assuming he was with the new friends I met there, I don’t want the camera itself, I was whining and nagging about it in my last diary update!!! I just want the bloody memory card with all the videos and photos that I took. He can shove the camera up his backside as far as I am concerned, chances are he will not even know how to use it in the first place! Thank God I still have my baby, my Canon AND I will get another Canon when I am back in DXB, a smaller one of course than the 400D. This just shows you how precious pictures (and recently videos) are to me, they have no monetary value, but the fact that they evoke memories and good times is more than enough. And by the way, the less I say about the crappy attitude I got from people I asked for help the better, you can keep your silly advices and hoes to yourselves!
Back to the music, it took me a while to recover from the fact that everything from that night is gone, par a few pictures other people took, but I eventually got back to a state of trance, I kept track of the, err, track list of A&B’s set, I couldn’t ID everything, but I recognized many of them, which were played on their radio show, Trance Around The World, I’ll nag again and say that IF I still had my cam, I’d have been able to ID them later on when I watch the videos. (Or at least someone would’ve helped out on Youtube, Trancehits, or wherever. Here is my improper track list with a few comments:
“Welsh Morphology”. kind of an intimidating ‘vocals’(But no lyrics) in this track IMHO, but still quality beat nevertheless.
A Life Less Ordinary – Alex Morph vs. Rank 1. YES, I finally IDed it after hearing it live for the umpteenth time!! But of course, I have no clue whatsoever which remix
Needs To Feel – Super 8 & DJ Tab [Wippenberg remix]. This is one of my favorite tracks at the moment, limited, but deep vocals, I ‘overheard’ it while arguing with security at the venue entrance :P
Air For Life – Above & Beyond vs. Andy Moor. They simply had to play it, the first track I ever heard by them, still recall hearing it on the radio in Lebanon in the summer of 2005, massive, massive tune.
I Can’t Sleep – Above & Beyond. They played it at 4:30 am!!! I couldn’t quite understand why Jono & Toni were pointing at their watches when the track started playing, took me a few seconds to figure out, but I went berserk nevertheless once it started, call their productions cheesy if you want to, but this isn’t, this is a classic.
Waiting Here For You – Thrillseekers feat. Aruna. YES, they played it! Don’t think it was the original (Breakfast remix perhaps?).
Fly Away – Vincent De Moor (me thinks)
No One On Earth – Above & Beyond [Gabriel & Dresden remix]. Reminded me of a former trancehitter (S), always nice to hear this track.
Untitled Audio (Not sure)
Dangerous Power – Gabriel & Dresden (I think!). Another track that I didn’t expect to hear.
“Touch Me” – Mike Koglin & Jono Grant mash-up/remix. Crowd went absolutely nuts when he played it, again. Great timing as the sun was rising!
Sun Is Shining – Bob Marley [MLV remix]. Wohooooooo! Orgasmic, simply orgasmic, with the sun literally shining on the rocks in the magnificent natural setting!
Tri-state – Above & Beyond. [Some remix, I think Robert Nickson]. No comments!
Nothing – James Holden. Top notch.
Sand In My Shoes – Dido [Above & Beyond remix].
Good For Me – Above & Beyond.
Alone Tonight – Above & Beyond. This was it; I’d have been content if they stopped playing after this!
Home – Above & Beyond [Club mix]. I expected a “Satellite” finale rather than Home (I think this was the last track of their set), but it was good to hear it nevertheless… “Looking for a place called home” :(
As mentioned before, there were several other tracks that fall in the HIB category (An acronym I made up for Heard It Before type of tracks). They finished their set at around 6:30-7-ish…
BeeBee, did the after-hours set, only recognized Armin’s Rush Hour, the third track of the set. I left the area soon after and met up again with some of the guys who were on the bus, what was after that was an organizational scramble, as we could NOT find the bus that brought us in the first place, and kept on asking the bus drivers till after more than 30 minutes of canvassing, we finally found one. Don’t recall the time we got back to Aqaba at, but it was a long journey nevertheless. Was too knackered to go to the after party at Tala Bay, where some upcoming local Jordanian DJs were spinning till sunset… Went online for a while before sleeping till the evening, headed to the Yacht Club, where the ‘smaller’ rave was taking place. Arrived at 11, only to be told at the doors that the ticket was NOT sufficient to guarantee entry, what else was needed? COUPLES, they must be freakin’ kidding me, luckily, Stamina, one half of the BO18 club residents in Beirut Gunther & Stamina was entering at the same time, I talked to him for a bit and he managed to convince the bouncer to let me in, chatted with him, Gunther and another Jordanian DJ called Ashtek when we got in the club briefly about what set they’re going to play (Hope I got the spelling right).
At the time of writing, we are about 90 kilometers away from Amman. In total, it’s more than 300 KMs. I wonder how much time would it take me IF I was driving my own car, the last time I drove to Abu Dhabi in UAE, it took me about 50 – 60 or so minutes, with ‘normal’ driving it takes one hour and a half.
I stopped writing at around 7:30pm as the bus stopped for the passengers to refresh for a bit by buying some overpriced stuff. Chatted all the way back with some more new friends, yey! Will continue later, got to consider what I am supposed to do now…
The raves are over, now on the way back on yet another bus heading back to the more familiar and busy surroundings of Amman. Been two crazy days really. I’m kind of blank now, just sitting there not knowing what to type! Guess I should just talk about what made me go on this whole trip, the Distant Heat electronic music festival!
We finally left Aqaba’s yacht club at around 9 pm, the bus ride was fun, met some cool people, amongst them is a couple of sponsors working with radio stations (Play FM IIRC), a couple of Jordanian/Palestinian dudes and many Europeans (Irish and Dutch), of course, the first few interactions were to teach them the typical swear words in Arabic, amongst a few other more reasonable expressions such as hello, sorry, good night, it’s always fun to see how foreigners pronounce Arabic words, khmaar instead of 7maar (Hmaar as in donkey), but for some reason if the word already had the ‘kh’ part they wouldn’t be able to pronounce that part! Don’t worry, we ‘exposed’ them to a more abusive array of abusive terminology ;).
Arrived there at around 10 pm after a stop at a checkpoint and a long sandy road, I simply have no clue whatsoever how people actually managed to get there, let alone the fact that most cars were small (As in small, I mean salons, hatchbacks, and so on, not big SUVs and 4x4s), there was no signage and directions (Or at least I couldn’t notice them), no street lights and no proper roads, but hey, many people probably know the exact location, apparently that is where people usually go to camp when they go to wadi rum (Hence, the adjacent camp with many tents. Also, the small fact that this is not the first time the festival was held, it’s been held for several years in a row boasting names such as Markus Schulz, Armin Van Buuren and Ferry Corsten.
Got off the bus, got my wrist band and proceeded to the main area in front of the dj booth, BeeBee, a Jordanian talent was doing the warm-up and boy, the first time I hear a set of his and it was magnificent, he certainly knows how to get the crowd pumped up. Played a mixture of some electro, prog house and prog trance if memory serves me right, wicked stuff. Roamed around the massive ‘venue’, VIP area was neat and well-planned, seemed a tad too crowded though after midnight, not that it matters much to me as I hardly hanged out there, Wonder why I paid extra, I didn’t sit on the comfy couches, nor did I drink any alcohol, thus, coupons were gone for water bottles and red bulls. The water was supposedly being given out for free, but it wasn’t, not that it matters much now though, the whole extra coupons thing is a control measure and to entice big drinkers.
Dave Seaman took over the decks at around 12 or 1, can’t recall correctly, he was until recently a dj that I only recognize by name, but his set was magnificent, perfect for electro and prog house lovers. By the time he started mixing, the place was already busy with many ‘ravers’… I wish I could remember some of the tracks he played, all I recall is Muhannad aka. Moe (Met him on the bus, cool fella) IDing two or three tracks produced or mixed by Trentmoller, other than that, I remotely recall a track being played towards the end of his set, one that Gabriel & Dresden have something to do with, probably was either “Tracking Treasure Down” or “Till There Was You”… Before Dave finished his set, while being in front of the dj booth I saw Toni and Jono Grant of A&B talking to someone in the backstage area, I simply couldn’t stop myself from going there to try and talk to them, which I succeeded at after persuading one of the security personnel to let me in, I talked to them briefly and took pictures with them, I went again with a couple of new friends (God bless Facebook), but couldn’t get in without the event promoter, organizer, manager, EVERYTHING (God bless her!), Julian, sneaked us in, we took a picture as a group with the two Anjunaboys who came with MY CAM (Will get back to this point later), Paavo stayed back in London, it seems a habit for dj bands to divide activities and tasks between them, usually someone is more into production and the other is more into mixing and DJing =). Also met FILA of Ali & Fila! Who by the way didn’t spin at Tala Bay in the morning as I thought and anyway, I thought it was ALI rather than Fila! Heh, people will know this by the time this is posted, but the Lebanese beach-goers will be in for a big surprise on Sunday, as part of MixFM’s great beach parties called One Big Sunday, he’s the one who is the surprise, I went on Trancehits today and read comments showing how curious people were, I PMed a couple of them spoiling the surprise, I just couldn’t hide it hehe! Some went as far as thinking it might be Ferry Corsten or something, but my first impression so far is that this Fila fellow is the friendliest and most humble dj I have met personally thus far, he didn’t have ANY attitude whatsoever, and he seemed even happier than us! Respect to the Egyptian dude! Also met BeeBee, djing and party animal hehe! Tried to talk to Dave Seaman, but I guess I ran out of my luck with security guys at that point.
Above & Beyond, world number 9 djs according to the controversial DJ Mag yearly poll, who have recently rocked the Olympic stadium in Los Angeles graced the decks of Wadi Rum soon after that. Two tracks into the set, for some f***ed up reason, naïve and stupid me entrusted a total stranger to carry my camera while I was recording a video, only for what I imagined was unthinkable to happen. As soon as I turned my head, that lowlife and tactless effing cunt disappeared with OUR memories, excuse my French, but that is the least I could describe that piece of s***… I am still kicking myself in the backside for assuming he was with the new friends I met there, I don’t want the camera itself, I was whining and nagging about it in my last diary update!!! I just want the bloody memory card with all the videos and photos that I took. He can shove the camera up his backside as far as I am concerned, chances are he will not even know how to use it in the first place! Thank God I still have my baby, my Canon AND I will get another Canon when I am back in DXB, a smaller one of course than the 400D. This just shows you how precious pictures (and recently videos) are to me, they have no monetary value, but the fact that they evoke memories and good times is more than enough. And by the way, the less I say about the crappy attitude I got from people I asked for help the better, you can keep your silly advices and hoes to yourselves!
Back to the music, it took me a while to recover from the fact that everything from that night is gone, par a few pictures other people took, but I eventually got back to a state of trance, I kept track of the, err, track list of A&B’s set, I couldn’t ID everything, but I recognized many of them, which were played on their radio show, Trance Around The World, I’ll nag again and say that IF I still had my cam, I’d have been able to ID them later on when I watch the videos. (Or at least someone would’ve helped out on Youtube, Trancehits, or wherever. Here is my improper track list with a few comments:
“Welsh Morphology”. kind of an intimidating ‘vocals’(But no lyrics) in this track IMHO, but still quality beat nevertheless.
A Life Less Ordinary – Alex Morph vs. Rank 1. YES, I finally IDed it after hearing it live for the umpteenth time!! But of course, I have no clue whatsoever which remix
Needs To Feel – Super 8 & DJ Tab [Wippenberg remix]. This is one of my favorite tracks at the moment, limited, but deep vocals, I ‘overheard’ it while arguing with security at the venue entrance :P
Air For Life – Above & Beyond vs. Andy Moor. They simply had to play it, the first track I ever heard by them, still recall hearing it on the radio in Lebanon in the summer of 2005, massive, massive tune.
I Can’t Sleep – Above & Beyond. They played it at 4:30 am!!! I couldn’t quite understand why Jono & Toni were pointing at their watches when the track started playing, took me a few seconds to figure out, but I went berserk nevertheless once it started, call their productions cheesy if you want to, but this isn’t, this is a classic.
Waiting Here For You – Thrillseekers feat. Aruna. YES, they played it! Don’t think it was the original (Breakfast remix perhaps?).
Fly Away – Vincent De Moor (me thinks)
No One On Earth – Above & Beyond [Gabriel & Dresden remix]. Reminded me of a former trancehitter (S), always nice to hear this track.
Untitled Audio (Not sure)
Dangerous Power – Gabriel & Dresden (I think!). Another track that I didn’t expect to hear.
“Touch Me” – Mike Koglin & Jono Grant mash-up/remix. Crowd went absolutely nuts when he played it, again. Great timing as the sun was rising!
Sun Is Shining – Bob Marley [MLV remix]. Wohooooooo! Orgasmic, simply orgasmic, with the sun literally shining on the rocks in the magnificent natural setting!
Tri-state – Above & Beyond. [Some remix, I think Robert Nickson]. No comments!
Nothing – James Holden. Top notch.
Sand In My Shoes – Dido [Above & Beyond remix].
Good For Me – Above & Beyond.
Alone Tonight – Above & Beyond. This was it; I’d have been content if they stopped playing after this!
Home – Above & Beyond [Club mix]. I expected a “Satellite” finale rather than Home (I think this was the last track of their set), but it was good to hear it nevertheless… “Looking for a place called home” :(
As mentioned before, there were several other tracks that fall in the HIB category (An acronym I made up for Heard It Before type of tracks). They finished their set at around 6:30-7-ish…
BeeBee, did the after-hours set, only recognized Armin’s Rush Hour, the third track of the set. I left the area soon after and met up again with some of the guys who were on the bus, what was after that was an organizational scramble, as we could NOT find the bus that brought us in the first place, and kept on asking the bus drivers till after more than 30 minutes of canvassing, we finally found one. Don’t recall the time we got back to Aqaba at, but it was a long journey nevertheless. Was too knackered to go to the after party at Tala Bay, where some upcoming local Jordanian DJs were spinning till sunset… Went online for a while before sleeping till the evening, headed to the Yacht Club, where the ‘smaller’ rave was taking place. Arrived at 11, only to be told at the doors that the ticket was NOT sufficient to guarantee entry, what else was needed? COUPLES, they must be freakin’ kidding me, luckily, Stamina, one half of the BO18 club residents in Beirut Gunther & Stamina was entering at the same time, I talked to him for a bit and he managed to convince the bouncer to let me in, chatted with him, Gunther and another Jordanian DJ called Ashtek when we got in the club briefly about what set they’re going to play (Hope I got the spelling right).
At the time of writing, we are about 90 kilometers away from Amman. In total, it’s more than 300 KMs. I wonder how much time would it take me IF I was driving my own car, the last time I drove to Abu Dhabi in UAE, it took me about 50 – 60 or so minutes, with ‘normal’ driving it takes one hour and a half.
I stopped writing at around 7:30pm as the bus stopped for the passengers to refresh for a bit by buying some overpriced stuff. Chatted all the way back with some more new friends, yey! Will continue later, got to consider what I am supposed to do now…
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Trip diary - in Aqaba [July 26, 2007]
Trip diary – Day 2, @ Intercontinental Aqaba hotel
Well, well… Second day in Aqaba, three more hours to go before I get on another transportation medium, the bus that will take me to Wadi Rum and Distant Heat, apparently there have been buses to take people from Amman to the festival and back, but I wasn’t aware of that, but hey, some touring around the country (In Arabic ruboo3 il wa6an! Heh) won’t hurt anyone. The hotel is much nicer than Holiday Inn, almost as good as the Four Seasons in Amman, the family’s preferred accommodation in the capital. Actually, it might look better, it’s roomier in general and has nice décor, the interior design is spot on. Won’t go into architecture and exteriors, all the buildings in general look alike in the Levant region with no distinctive features (Apart from a few trying to look distinctive). But the service here does not match the Four Seasons, the interactions, the small details, the unspoken things as well; the ‘feel’ you get from people is lacking here (First impression? Having to drag my bags up the stairs leading to the entrance, a misunderstanding with the bellboy, and some minor errors in check-in)… But hey, it’s way better than many, many properties around the world, and it is probably amongst the top hotels in this country, I am just being mean and picky I guess!
Extended my stay as I wished for another night, meaning I can still recover here without bothering to check-out and find another hotel. Yesterday was quite good, after chilling in the guestroom for a while, went downstairs to have dinner. After that I contacted a very friendly and cool guy whom I’ve arranged to buy my rave tickets from, had a brief chat about how things will go, some small tips and such… Went afterwards to a beach/pool type of café at the hotel which serves argeela/sheesha and drinks, was very calming! Made me miss the cooler months in Dubai (Although it is humid here, but not as bad as DXB! Trust me!). Took some pics around the property, including a representation of my infamous long exposure dancing ghost picture, but this time on the beach, better background than a parking lot! Bet people were wondering how bored and silly I am, but hey, this is me, I guess I’m destined to always be the odd one out and quite eccentric. ;)
Now I’m bored out of my skull, waiting for the minutes to pass, I just hope everything goes according to plan, no unpleasant surprises such as any cancellations, technical failures, terrorist attacks (lol) or even worse: My cam’s batteries to die! Talking about that, I think sometimes that I shouldn’t have gotten a point-and-shoot Nikon which doesn’t offer much flexibility to control the outcome of the pictures (Well, it probably can, but I’m a manual mode whore, shutter speed and all that crap), but hey, it really, really makes up for it by having a flexible body and quick responses or whatever the actual description of something that, err, responses quickly. (Google it, Nikon Coolpix S10). Two batteries and three memory cards with a combined capacity of almost 3.5 GBs, that should be enough, eh? ;)
This will be the longest party I’ve ever been to; I think I’ve been in Dubai for too long! But I’ve been sick, I’ve been knackered and shattered before, only to be ‘saved’ by EDM, so, I think and hope I will last till the very finale of above & Beyond’s 3-4 hour set… I guess the trick will be to not get too excited during Dave Seaman’s set that precedes the Anjunaboys’ few hours of madness. (Tony, Jono and Paavo, heard all three are coming… I really want to meet them :()… Before I end this, currently ’warming-up’ by listening to TATW # 173, this track rocks: “Saved Again” – Cerf, Mitiska & Jaren (I think, I have the track list though somewhere)… Hope they play it, along with Falling, Shadow World, Waiting Here For you and Dave202’s Generate The Wave (Don’t think I heard it at any clubs live yet, I’d go mental if they actually played it, although it’s a bit old now…
Fingers crossed… Let the voyage into the rum commence (Well, in 2:30 hours time ;))
Well, well… Second day in Aqaba, three more hours to go before I get on another transportation medium, the bus that will take me to Wadi Rum and Distant Heat, apparently there have been buses to take people from Amman to the festival and back, but I wasn’t aware of that, but hey, some touring around the country (In Arabic ruboo3 il wa6an! Heh) won’t hurt anyone. The hotel is much nicer than Holiday Inn, almost as good as the Four Seasons in Amman, the family’s preferred accommodation in the capital. Actually, it might look better, it’s roomier in general and has nice décor, the interior design is spot on. Won’t go into architecture and exteriors, all the buildings in general look alike in the Levant region with no distinctive features (Apart from a few trying to look distinctive). But the service here does not match the Four Seasons, the interactions, the small details, the unspoken things as well; the ‘feel’ you get from people is lacking here (First impression? Having to drag my bags up the stairs leading to the entrance, a misunderstanding with the bellboy, and some minor errors in check-in)… But hey, it’s way better than many, many properties around the world, and it is probably amongst the top hotels in this country, I am just being mean and picky I guess!
Extended my stay as I wished for another night, meaning I can still recover here without bothering to check-out and find another hotel. Yesterday was quite good, after chilling in the guestroom for a while, went downstairs to have dinner. After that I contacted a very friendly and cool guy whom I’ve arranged to buy my rave tickets from, had a brief chat about how things will go, some small tips and such… Went afterwards to a beach/pool type of café at the hotel which serves argeela/sheesha and drinks, was very calming! Made me miss the cooler months in Dubai (Although it is humid here, but not as bad as DXB! Trust me!). Took some pics around the property, including a representation of my infamous long exposure dancing ghost picture, but this time on the beach, better background than a parking lot! Bet people were wondering how bored and silly I am, but hey, this is me, I guess I’m destined to always be the odd one out and quite eccentric. ;)
Now I’m bored out of my skull, waiting for the minutes to pass, I just hope everything goes according to plan, no unpleasant surprises such as any cancellations, technical failures, terrorist attacks (lol) or even worse: My cam’s batteries to die! Talking about that, I think sometimes that I shouldn’t have gotten a point-and-shoot Nikon which doesn’t offer much flexibility to control the outcome of the pictures (Well, it probably can, but I’m a manual mode whore, shutter speed and all that crap), but hey, it really, really makes up for it by having a flexible body and quick responses or whatever the actual description of something that, err, responses quickly. (Google it, Nikon Coolpix S10). Two batteries and three memory cards with a combined capacity of almost 3.5 GBs, that should be enough, eh? ;)
This will be the longest party I’ve ever been to; I think I’ve been in Dubai for too long! But I’ve been sick, I’ve been knackered and shattered before, only to be ‘saved’ by EDM, so, I think and hope I will last till the very finale of above & Beyond’s 3-4 hour set… I guess the trick will be to not get too excited during Dave Seaman’s set that precedes the Anjunaboys’ few hours of madness. (Tony, Jono and Paavo, heard all three are coming… I really want to meet them :()… Before I end this, currently ’warming-up’ by listening to TATW # 173, this track rocks: “Saved Again” – Cerf, Mitiska & Jaren (I think, I have the track list though somewhere)… Hope they play it, along with Falling, Shadow World, Waiting Here For you and Dave202’s Generate The Wave (Don’t think I heard it at any clubs live yet, I’d go mental if they actually played it, although it’s a bit old now…
Fingers crossed… Let the voyage into the rum commence (Well, in 2:30 hours time ;))
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Trip diary - Going to Aqaba
Trip diary – Day 1, bus going to Aqaba [July 25, 2007]
Overslept today (surprise, surprise), but was able to check-out on time and rush to the bus company to book my place on the bus, which was leaving in 10 minutes. Opted not to fly by plane as it turned out to be a hassle, lots of waiting and commuting, by the time the flight would’ve landed in Aqaba, I’d be already or almost there on coach. It isn’t that bad, the ‘music’ is horrible, lots of the new cheesy Arabic tracks that I do not even know. Such songs were al I knew really a couple of years back. Thank God for the iPod and the stuff I downloaded on the laptop before traveling, the 2MB connection back in the Academy has proven to be very useful when it comes to downloading torrents and uploading videos to Youtube, I guess I should reduce the size of the videos I take, I was checking out some old videos yesterday, including some videos of the Above & Beyond gig almost a year ago, the video quality was OK, more like webcam quality, but the sound was almost as good as the videos I usually take with my point-and-shoot Nikon camera, the size was significantly lower.
Didn’t see anyone yet, doubt I would, apart from the few Facebook friends which I contacted and will probably meet there in Aqaba or Wadi Rum, there is a gig in Lebanon that has been pushed forward to this Friday instead of the following Friday as originally planned, it’s tooo tempting to go, Dirty South and Ron Van Den Beuken, would be something! But for the time being I should be content with Above & Beyond, Dave Seaman and the bunch of Arab talents, such as Bee Bee & Aly & Fila. Didn’t eat anything yet in Jordan, not hungry, I guess it’s psychological, would probably eat well and not feel stuffed if I forced myself. (Late correction: That was wrong, RVDB plays on Friday August 3rd, 2007 in Forum De Beirut, excuse the spelling).
On another note, apparently Above & Beyond won’t be spinning at Peppermint come September as originally planned, the last time I checked, their website still had Pmint pinned for the 6th of September, before Ramadan, but nothing has been confirmed yet by the club itself. Would be gutted, was looking forward to telling them I saw them live at Distant Heat as well, lame, I know. But also, they really have to unleash their talents at a big club like Peppermint, hope they change the set-up for them like they did for the recent Sasha gig. But I also hope that Deep Nights bring a cheesy house DJ on the same night, that would do the same effect as Markus Schulz vs. Benni Bennassi, I think I mentioned it on the other blog, but many people went like “Markus who?!” when it should’ve been the other way around. At least we had more space to ‘shake it’! The whole (Well, almost) two or so rows of people that were in front of the DJ booth are more ‘ravers’ than posers, would be fun to party with them again once everyone’s back to DXB, too bad one of them is leaving to Canada though for good, all the best to her! (Although we hardly spoke to each other, but Peppermint connects people, how cheesy, eh? =))
Overslept today (surprise, surprise), but was able to check-out on time and rush to the bus company to book my place on the bus, which was leaving in 10 minutes. Opted not to fly by plane as it turned out to be a hassle, lots of waiting and commuting, by the time the flight would’ve landed in Aqaba, I’d be already or almost there on coach. It isn’t that bad, the ‘music’ is horrible, lots of the new cheesy Arabic tracks that I do not even know. Such songs were al I knew really a couple of years back. Thank God for the iPod and the stuff I downloaded on the laptop before traveling, the 2MB connection back in the Academy has proven to be very useful when it comes to downloading torrents and uploading videos to Youtube, I guess I should reduce the size of the videos I take, I was checking out some old videos yesterday, including some videos of the Above & Beyond gig almost a year ago, the video quality was OK, more like webcam quality, but the sound was almost as good as the videos I usually take with my point-and-shoot Nikon camera, the size was significantly lower.
Didn’t see anyone yet, doubt I would, apart from the few Facebook friends which I contacted and will probably meet there in Aqaba or Wadi Rum, there is a gig in Lebanon that has been pushed forward to this Friday instead of the following Friday as originally planned, it’s tooo tempting to go, Dirty South and Ron Van Den Beuken, would be something! But for the time being I should be content with Above & Beyond, Dave Seaman and the bunch of Arab talents, such as Bee Bee & Aly & Fila. Didn’t eat anything yet in Jordan, not hungry, I guess it’s psychological, would probably eat well and not feel stuffed if I forced myself. (Late correction: That was wrong, RVDB plays on Friday August 3rd, 2007 in Forum De Beirut, excuse the spelling).
On another note, apparently Above & Beyond won’t be spinning at Peppermint come September as originally planned, the last time I checked, their website still had Pmint pinned for the 6th of September, before Ramadan, but nothing has been confirmed yet by the club itself. Would be gutted, was looking forward to telling them I saw them live at Distant Heat as well, lame, I know. But also, they really have to unleash their talents at a big club like Peppermint, hope they change the set-up for them like they did for the recent Sasha gig. But I also hope that Deep Nights bring a cheesy house DJ on the same night, that would do the same effect as Markus Schulz vs. Benni Bennassi, I think I mentioned it on the other blog, but many people went like “Markus who?!” when it should’ve been the other way around. At least we had more space to ‘shake it’! The whole (Well, almost) two or so rows of people that were in front of the DJ booth are more ‘ravers’ than posers, would be fun to party with them again once everyone’s back to DXB, too bad one of them is leaving to Canada though for good, all the best to her! (Although we hardly spoke to each other, but Peppermint connects people, how cheesy, eh? =))
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