As Eric from Wallpaper said: "9 years is a pretty long time to do anything", and especially to keep a dance party running.
But Will Eastman has.
So, on Saturday, converging on the mainstage with Will was Pogo, Bliss guest-DJ all-star, in from Chicago for the occasion, aforementioned Wallpaper which is, in my opinion, the band that should play at every party at that precise moment as you are "having one beverage too many" and a cavalcade of old and new faces, some of whom were there for the first Bliss and some of whom were, probably, in 4th grade for the first Bliss.
Dancing.
Dakota, through some sort of super ninja powers, became the first person not to get in trouble for taking dance party photos at the Cat, in forever, (the occasion did warrant it) and this is what he caught:
full set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dakotafine/sets/72157606939656057/
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God loves a cheerful giver.
Does DC have a hipster scene? I am so behind the times......
The par-tay looked...ummmm...fun.
J. Stakes
Washingtonian: What’s your take on the word “hipster”?
Svetlana: It is a dirty word. We actually said a little while a go that while we approve all BYT comments those that use the words “scene” and “hipster” WILL BE DELETED. I am sticking to it. You can swear on BYT, you can call me names, but you cannot use the word “hipster”.
comments are on auto approve now.
its like running around without your pants.
this previous one slipped by.
we DO NOT condone it.
banning specific words in comments = book burning
I miss Tim Pogo. I should have done an interview before this show. My editor should have asked me to do an interview before this show.
Not knowing how to use a blender and spilling crap all over my 1930s stove and wood floors = ass kicking.
I think the stuff over the wood floors cam after one of the girls that looked 16 knocked over your spice rack onto the floor. Those girls made Martin a bit nervous.
I'd also like to add - how nice would it be to get something like Metro Cafe back? (from a while ago) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/entertainment/new_features/barsclubs/britpopinvasion.htm
I thought that was Joel who knocked the spice rack (and hot sesame oil) all over the floor.
The stove incident was earlier in the evening, when Eddie was oogling Svet's muddling of mint leaves and not paying attention...
"Not knowing how to use a blender and spilling crap all over my 1930s stove and wood floors = ass kicking."
you put that piece o' junk, bottomless blender on your stove on purpose as a booby-trap because i broke dress code. shame on you.
p.s. that kitchen floor hasn't been that clean since 1939. you're welcome.
p.p.s. mint julip + monkey gland = retarded eddie
hats of to Will & Co... 9 years, and thanks to the black cat staff for being great hosts... with a bit of luck, there will be more black cat dance party shots to come
eddie - not as retarded as someone else who was asleep in my back yard. I left the house with about 10 people in it and went to the Cat. When I returned there was just one person left and he was asleep in the back yard, probably in some dog poop.
that was a long nap, then. he was asleep before you left.
bliss was a blur
"They've come to dance to familiar-sounding rock music. No thumping bass lines, no skittering techno beats."
Yep. That's what I loved about these nights. IMO they've changed to attract that larger crowd.
And sadly we need a new Metro. The Cat with its all ages policy tends to draw people on DJ nights not for the music, but for the all ages policy. The old Metro (and the Cat, even, for many years of these DJs) drew people who were into the music for the music, not -just- to dance.
The crowd that first populated Metro (and the Cat) for the music is still out there, but a lot (LOT) of them don't come because the musical forumlas have changed.
"and thanks to the black cat staff for being great hosts"
I thought I just had a mild stroke, but it was my mind just boggling. I assume "great hosts" means "slightly less hatefully homidical than usual, but only slightly"?
"The old Metro (and the Cat, even, for many years of these DJs) drew people who were into the music for the music, not -just- to dance."
... because dancing is ruinz Ummerica? And can dance widout likes muzik? Like funny zombie? I am baffled by this comment. Or maybe Dakota's comment really did give me a mild stroke.
What's baffling about it? There are those who go out to dance and will dance to anything, and there are those who are interested in certain types of music and seek out places that play it in order to dance to it. Or just sit and listen to it.
"The crowd that first populated Metro (and the Cat) for the music is still out there, but a lot (LOT) of them don’t come because the musical forumlas have changed."
or because they have moved away...
...or because they miss seeing michael wear eyeliner.
i know's when i listen to music i make a point of not dancing cause that shit is for underage hipster wannabe's. everybody who's anybody know that the really cool people don't make that mistake. they're to busy standing in the corner trying to not get their picture taken lest they be labled a hipster doofus.
sean - what in the fuck are you talking about? How do you get that from anything I've said?
the confusion comes from your suggestion that dancing to anything is not good. and that this new music agnostic crowd somehow dilutes what would be a more focused, better dj's setlist. It's like what they say.
Sean, please shut the fuck up.
because the music and the scene change and it sounds like your the one who's not keeping up. your statement was retarded and elitist all at the same time.
cat fight!
these comments are always the same...lets complain about the pictures because they depict 'hipsters', or these parties are wack because the only people who go to said party are hipsters, and/or the music is wack, or we need the old scene back.
Sexy...I like your pics, the scene, the music, and the people whether they are there to dance or they are the musical purist angry that they’ve got to mingle with 18 year old who are just happy that there’s someplace they can go and have fun on a Saturday night.
I especially like it if you’re a belligerent dude in a banana suit who argues with bouncers for 2 hours. That was the funniest shit I’ve seen in months.
My statement that people who once floced to these nights as they were originally envisioned, but don't come to them now because their musical formatting has changed is retarded and elitist? How so? You aren't making any sense at all.
If you start a night called "Sailing" and you play yacht rock and you promote it as yacht rock and people come to it because you play yacht rock, but then you decide that if you added some 70's disco then you could get those people to come, so some do, then you throw in some 80s electronica to get more people are you really going to be surprised if the original yacht rock crowd that came for the music don't show up anymore?
I know music changes and tastes change. Duh. But if you decide that you suddenly want to turn Sailing into Baltimore House then you can't complain when your crowd disappears. Why not start Pigtown instead and either let Sailing die, or keep it at its original forumula?
I think you mean "Run like the wind" which has been begging to be remixed. And it's just "house".
alright michael i see your point.
and i guess my comment is the obligitory 'complaining about the comments' comment.
Michael, i agree but also you DO have to take the whole age issue into consideration.
People who flocked to Bliss 9 years a go may be married with babies and babysitters now.
Or mortgages.
Or whatever.
Those people, naturally, don't go out as much.
Same thing is going to happen in 9 years to those kids that go to Nouveau Riche or shorts today.
Natural progression of things.
As I said in the first paragraph-9 years is a long time to do anything.
sean - it's cool. I don't go to a lot of events because they aren't playing the type of music I prefer to hear. In turn I don't like events marketed a certain way to suddenly start introducing the music that I don't want to hear that's being played elsewhere.
I should add I am speaking in generalities here with regards to events, not targeting anyone really.
Fitsum? Is it? I have no idea but I've seen Baltimore House and NY House.
I've yet to see Winnipeg House though. But I've been in one.
Svet - I'm not specifically targeting Bliss. There are a LOT of nights that change their format rather than just kill the night off and start anew - if you're a good DJ known for throwing a party then you shouldn't have to use name of the event for name recognition to keep a crowd, you should be able to start a new night on your DJ name alone - and most of these guys do.
But yes, people get older and don't come out for many reasons, but they also don't come out for reasons I've stated above. Many are much more snobbish than am I.
If I am going to anything marketed "indie" for example, I should hear any fucking Madonna. Likewise if I attend "Birt-Pop" then playing Iggy Pop just doesn't fly in my book. I go to hear British popular music that I haven't heard before, or that I have and enjoy.
Likewise I promise never to show up at a house specific event and pester the DJ to play Love and Rockets. Pinky swear.
sorry, insert "not" before hear in the sentence about Madonna.
bliss hasn't been an Indie specific party for a while right? I mean, if i had an event, venue, and night that has worked so well for so long why change anything but the music. That's the first thing that would have to change for the event to survive right? the kids are gonna move on and Will still has to make a living. I don't fault the guy for adapting his party to the crowd.
Me-ow. Geez.
sean - that's where we're different. I'd change the event name itself so to preserve the memory of the original. That's just me talking though. Later on you could re-create it for special occassions and bring out the people that know and love the forumla. Follow the Bowie example...
michael - so how do you decide when the party is over? after it slowly dies do to lack of attendence? I certainly wouldn't want that to happen to my party.
sean - you kill it before it's over. It's marketing.
As Def Leppard said: "it's better to burn out, than fade away"
Many thanks to everyone who came out and danced like mofos on Saturday! Dakota, great pics as always. It's a pleasure to have some photo evidence of the party and big ups to the Black Cat for allowing it.
To be clear, it was actually the 8 year anniversary, but I'm looking forward to next year already. AND everybody come out to 9:30 Club this Friday for the Tittsworth record release party. Gonna be nuts!
Ok. Michael, normally I just ignore your comments about dance parties because I think they can best be described as myopic, but you've done your best to kick up some dust here so I feel obligated to respond, briefly.
Bliss has always been a hodgepodge of my musical tastes and, naturally, over the course of 8 years my style and tastes have changed as I've grown as a DJ. Get over it, and if you think for a second I should have to change the name of my night because I don't play the same music I did 8 years ago you're crazy. I love Bliss. I love the people who come to Bliss. And I will do this until I'm dragged kicking and screaming away from the dj booth. Period.
Now I know you love arguing on the internet so have fun with the 8 thousands posts that you're about to make. I have work to do so that's all I'm gonna say about your comments.
Will - it's marketing. Look how many people are now paying attention to and participating in your Bliss thread. You've got more buzz. You're welcome.
Neil Young said that, not Def Leppard
Neil Young - "Better to burn out than rust out."
Def Leapord - "Can somebody help Rick zip up his fly."
okay, i'm confused: "Sexy…I like your pics" (sean p.), is that compliment in reference to the images in this post? i mean, don't get me wrong, i love fitsum's images as well, he's an excellent photographer, but please just excuse my narcissism for a moment as i express my incredulity...
seriously, my inbox is blowing up, 36 comments (which, by the way, all end up in my email), once again of Michael and company having some absurd conversation about spilling gazpacho in his bunson burner, and i'm like, wtf...
listen, next time you're all at a party i'm shooting, please, come up and introduce yourselves to me so that at least, i can picture your cretinous faces, or even better, post pictures of your cretinous faces as i read your comments and scowl... now, an in-depth dissection of each of your (surely) fallible tastes, styles, dance moves, looks, (and cooking for that matter!) THAT would be a conversation worth having...
Will - you take shit way too seriously and get snippy about it. We've had this conversation way too many times in person. You have successful parties all over the city but it doesn't mean that they are perfect parties. I also specifically stated I wasn't targeting Bliss because, hey, I still go even if I much prefer the music you used to play because I felt that took a lot more courage and a lot more effort to seek out new and exciting indie bands than it does playing the same crap I can hear at many other places - that's why I loved Bliss and that's why a lot of people loved Bliss and that's why a lot of people don't come to Bliss anymore - because they can hear the same stuff elsewhere if they cared to. Fuck I watch the crowd at Bliss and many (MANY) of them are just underagers there because they can get in. If that's what you want to cater to to keep the click numbers up then that's your choice, but I also notice that people in this city that I know love the atypical music that you used to offer us on a silver plate simply do not come and it's for every reason that I am outlining.
Used to it was running up to ask you what new song that was you were dropping. Now it's oh, it's some hip-hop-esque remix. Big Whoop.
Hell the comment I heard that describes it best (you can PM me for the source) this very weekend was "Wow, I remember when Bliss was the exact opposite of this."
But it's your night. People have opinions on it. I have opinions on it. You can ignore them if you wish or you can take healthy criticism because you know that I at least will make the same case with you in person, and have, and am not afraid to openly criticize it (and still attend) unlike others who will just go off and give up.
But fuck dude, you've been a DJ force in this city for quite some time - a little criticism isn't going to change that. If you think that criticizing your new tastes in events and music means that I don't like you as a friend well that's just ridiculous.
nah dakota...i was mearly trying to kill Fitsum with kindness as he told me to shut the fuck up. i realize you took these pics. there's one of me actually. hooray! Thanks.
Fitsum, you're wrong. It's on the 1983 Rock of Ages track off of Pyromania.
oh, and i'm sorry mikeypoo... 17000 posts from you and your butt-buddies about your pre-game mojito session does not equal buzz for bliss. fartbreath.
Dakota - and manipulating the staircase trying to capture a lesbian love-in doesn't make you a decent photographer either. it does make it kind of creepy. How many shots were taken up there? A lot more than made it here that's for sure.
I see everything.
But nice way to be a dick. I'm just a lot better at it than you are. I've had more practice.
@Michael
oh right, it's in the beginning of the song w/ the cowbell and all. Just not the guys that comes to mind -- young, The Stones ...
Btw, I'm pretty sure Alma and Britt were playing to the camera. Naturally I have a hard time will calling shots of adults 'creepy'. I can see 'intrusive' but ... 'creepy' should be reserved for things that are like ... creepy. Like this . It's down there with "hipster" and "douchebag" one the hierarchy of meaningful words.
@sean p
I think I meant to refer to the guy who was ranting about hipsters etc who got deleted. my fault dude.
@all
everyone should know by now that Dakota is better a better shooter than I. Also less-banned, better-liked ... but not sexier. Sorry D.
Dakota - I would surely be game for such an event - but you assume that I would know who you are. How can I find you next? No need to describe yourself as that will make everyone seem a bit creepy, but perhaps you can wear a nametag next time you head out? Although I think i've run into you once or twice at fort reno.
SF - I regretted using the word creepy even as I typed it.
I probably meant annoying. Oh, and forced. It just wasn't a natural occurence.
And while I could have cleared the staircase, I'm not that much of a dick. At least until someone wants to be one for no damned reason.
Michael: Me+You+Deck Shoes+Christopher Cross= The best dance party the capital yacht club has ever seen. Let's do this.
wow, i missed a lot. i hate working.
"As Def Leppard said: “it’s better to burn out, than fade away”"
neil young said it first. better to burn out than it is to rust (not rust out) *and* better to burn out than to fade away (hence my, my. hey, hey.)
you're bringin' on the heart ache.
farewell. i must earn money.
Man, are those topsiders making a strong comeback or what?
Still hate em.
just thought i would "blow up" your inbox again:
"Dakota - I would surely be game for such an event - but you assume that I would know who you are. How can I find you next? No need to describe yourself as that will make everyone seem a bit creepy, but perhaps you can wear a nametag next time you head out?" - TSF
pretty much what i wanted to say. it was sort of a bliss pre-game and we talked about it in the comment section for bliss. big deal. boo fucking hoo, you baby.
p.s. i like your pics, whiny
Pedro, that's hilarious.
I'd be willing to put up with Toto if you have a yacht on which to host it.
Michael, Will Eastman is at his own leisure to play whatever he likes. Sure, he has changed drastically over the last few years, but it is his dance night. Which may be why the description of his dance night includes 5-6 different words, ranging from 80s to hiphop. If you're looking for a straight forward playlist of the songs you want to hear, stay home. Or just go to the dance nights and get drunk enough to forget there's a stick in your ass and dance.
Though the Cat does allow all ages, if you go to other dance nights on given weekends of the month, you'd be surprised at how the amounts of minors fluctuates. It all depends on the music you're going to hear. You see more regulars and older folks for certain nights, as opposed to others. Bliss has been made such a popular dance night, it makes sense to have a bigger turn out of all ages. So put the two together, and that would explain why there were so many people who were 1) underaged and 2) dancing to anything. And who gives a shit if people will dance to anything, it's what they came for.
Let Eastman get his hype because he deserves it, he puts on one hell of a show. And as I'm sure you're familiar with Dakota's photography by now, drunk girls making out is seriously a guarantee for each photo set of his.
I do agree with you on certain points: Missing pogo, and being disappointed at what is played sometimes by Eastman, seeing as the epitomized "Bliss dance night" for me was left in the dust somewhere. As it has been for many people I know who won't go to Bliss anymore. Though, I will still admit he is a great DJ. And some people will always dig bliss, so let them.
One serious word of props to Will: the man can mix. DJs are more than just arbiters of taste, there is a technical element to it, and I think Michael would have to agree that even if he doesn't care for every song Will picks, the man's got major skills.
Also, no DJ is going to pick every song that you want to hear at exactly the moment that you want to hear it. Sometimes you just have to switch off the critical part in your brain and enjoy other aspects of the events, like chilling with friends that you don't get to see every day.
On a side note, I have been known to pass out from time to time, but I count every episode that does not end in someone finding me with a syringe sticking out of my arm as a vast improvement over the time I spent as a Vietnam Vet strung out in Thailand.
No Ironic, Michael hates DJ's, he only likes selectors/jukeboxes. He does not like songs mixed, he wants to hear the whole thing, loud, no remixes, etc.
What I find ironic is people using the words "mix" and "black cat" in the same sentence.
oxymoronic, maybe. not ironic.
On ocassion I drop in to hear DJ DK mix. That man is a fucking genius.
Hate most of his music though.
If it's not "yacht rock" and I have my boat shoes on.... I'm sailing out of the harbor.
I hate when I get my ironic/oxymoronic messed up.
Maybe we should move this thread to the buzzboard?