MJDAOG

Posting this late (came out last week) but figured I'd show here in case you haven't experienced my fav clip of the year so far...

Loving this re-edit... so smooth.

Random Thoughts on the Verge of Turning 29...

• Today is my wonderful sister’s 27th birthday, which means that my 29th is exactly a week away. I wasn't expecting to care any more about this birthday than the other 28, but I do. The realization that I'm just a year away from 30 has forced some interesting reflection. I’ve spent a lot of time in the past few weeks thinking about what I’ve accomplished so far, and what I hope to accomplish in the final 365 days of my 20s. I wouldn’t say that I’m dreading 30, but I am using it as a motivator. Truth is, I love my life right now and wouldn't trade it for any period in my past. And yet, I still feel like I have so much left to do and that my best years are still ahead of me. Combining that belief with the age milestone staring me in the face inspires me to work harder and better at the things that are important to me.
• I find it strange to think that I've been alive for 29 different years. It's crazy. I certainly don't remember them all, which makes me kind of sad. Sometimes it freaks me out when I see a picture of myself at age 13 and I remember that the stream of consciousness inside the head of that little kid is the same one in my head right now (deep, I know). It seems impossible.
• The way that recent advances in technology (in particular social media) allow people to document their lives is incredible. The thousands of blog posts, emails, twitter and facebook updates, digital photos, etc etc, that I’ve put up on the Internet over the past 5 years allow me to quickly and easily go back and see where I’ve been, what I’ve thought and said, and even the music I’ve listen to in my mid-20s. I think it's pretty sweet and I’m jealous of kids growing up today who are going to have this for their entire lives, not just the part of it after Wordpress and Twitter launched.

Some friends and I got together to throw a New Year's Eve-Eve party this year on 12/30. I'm planning on getting all of my end of the year partying out of my system that night and then just having a nice dinner/glass of scotch/cigar with the people who matter most to me for New Year's Eve proper on 12/31. If that sounds nice to you too, then join us!

All in all, a pretty weak year...

Good Stuff

1. Hercules & Love Affair- Hercules & Love Affair
2. Helio Sequence- Keep Your Eyes Ahead
3. King Khan & The Shrines- The Supreme Genius of King Khan & The Shrines
4. Kompakt Total 9
5. The Whigs- Mission Control
6. Juan Maclean- Happy House EP
7. Friendly Fires- Paris EP
8. Girl Talk- Feed The Animals
9. Cut Copy- In Ghost Colours (& the So Cosmic Mix)
10. Q Tip- The Renaissance
11. Walkmen- You & Me
12. She & Him- Volume One
13. Bart Davenport- Palaces

Overrated:

1. Fleet Foxes
2. Radiohead
3. Coldplay
4. Kings of Leon
5. Lil Wayne

My smooth 70s groove playlist from last night at the Foggy Monocle Party...

1. Bob James- Amanda
2. Donald Byrd- Fallin Like Dominos
3. Lionel Hampton- Where Were You (When I Needed You)
4. Roy Ayers- Coffy Is The Color
5. Dillinger- Cokane In My Brain
6. Fleetwood Mac- Dreams
7. Lindsay Buckinham- Trouble
8. Paul Simon- Have A Good Time
9. Shuggie Otis- Inspiration Information
10. Amon Duul 2- Spaniards & Spacemen
11. The Bee Gees- Love You Inside Out
12. Steely Dan- Do It Again
13. The Doobie Brothers- What A Fool Believes
14. Kenny Loggins- This Is It
15. Bob James- Westchester Lady
16. ELO- Showdown
17. Kenny Rogers & The First Edition- Just Dropped In (To See What Condition...)
18. The Blackbyrds- Rock Creek Park
19. The Isley Brothers- Who's That Lady
20. Sugarloaf- Green Eyed Lady
21. Average White Band- Pick Up The Pieces
22. Chicago- I'm A Man
23. The Guess Who- These Eyes
24. The Eagles- One Of These Nights
25. The Rolling Stones- Miss You
26. Todd Rundgren- Sometimes I Don't Know What To Feel
27. Toto- Hold The Line
28. Heart- Magic Man
29. ZZ Top- Cheap Sunglasses

Got my new Daft Punk print mounted and up on the wall above my bed. Color me excited...

Lots of babies in my 'People You May Know' box on Facebook thing...

Not anymore you're not...

As I get back into the blog-swing... resurrecting my old 'Hot Tracks' thing...

Friendly Fires- Paris (Justus Kohncke Remix)

Empire Of The Sun- Walking On a Dream

Francis & The Lights

Kuroma

Roundtree- Hit On You

Last month I gathered some friends at Arrow Bar in the East Village to launch a monthly party called Genius Steals. Tomorrow night is the second installment so I thought I'd share some pix from round one...

Genius Steals... Arrow Bar (6th and A)... 11/21 10p-3a

Dear Internet- sorry I haven't called lately.  Actually I've been locked in my room practicing my DJ skillz. I think I'm getting pretty good. This week I have already done a friend's wedding on Saturday and Santo's Party House earlier tonight. Tomorrow I am doing Bowery Electric with Jon, Friday is at Arrow Bar with Jimmy, and Saturday is at Chinatown Brasserie. As you can see, I am a busy DJ, but it's OK because I like sharing music with other people. Anyways- I will try to find more time to talk to you instead of my new friend scratchlive. I still love you Internet.

- Candy Bear

I've been horrible about writing lately, as I've been working on a few side projects and all of my weekends are filled with weddings. Seriously I had weddings in 4 out of 7 weekends.  The last of the 4 was for my good friend's Corey & Alex and they actually asked Jon and I to DJ, which we were happy to do.  It ended up being a blast and I think we might try to spread the word that we're open for business as wedding DJs.  Some good coin in that biz...

Here's a short time lapse vid of the crowd during Daft Punk 'One More Time' (the last tune we played). Some choice photos from the other weddings below that.

In Union Square after the announcement.

I got a chance to fly over to London for work last week and while there, was hooked up with some club level tickets to go see Arsenal at the Emirates (thanks Oliver). I grabbed TBov and we took the tube north to see the Gunners beat Everton 3-1 through 3 second half goals from Theo, RVP, and Nasri. Good times... especially the free beer (see below).

It's over. Barack Obama is going to win. You heard it here first. I started following and supporting his candidacy back in December 2007 and have been glued to the news all year long, watching him take on the Clinton and Republican machines and shrugging them off with class and style the whole way. I've been so inspired by this man. I can't wait until 11/4, to hear John McCain concede, and to run outside and get drunk all night and feel proud to be American for the first time in a while.

With 25 days to go, the polls have Obama ahead by 5.6 points in the national poll and ahead in 7 of the 8 battleground states still in play, of which he only needs to win 1 to take the White House. His favorables are up. John McCain's are down. Barack and Joe Biden have won all 3 of the debates that have taken place thusfar. Everything is starting to point to an Obama landslide, with very little time left for things to change meaningfully.

Just Win One

Right now Barack has 264 electoral votes looking solid. He only needs 270 to win, meaning he needs to win 1 of the 8 final battleground states still up for grabs.  From West to East, they are Nevada, Colorado, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. George Bush won all 8 of these in both 2000 and 2004, but the polls currently show Obama ahead in all of them except Indiana. Obama only needs to win ONE of these 8 to win the presidency. I hope it's my home state of Colorado that puts him over the top.

A Silver Lining In the Economic Meltdown

More than anything else, Obama's surge in the past 3 weeks is due to an external force- the current economic crisis that has caused more than 69% of Americans to cite the economy as their #1 issue in this election. The perception, whether real or imagined, that John McCain is an extension of the last 8 years of economic policy has created a political landscape where it's almost impossible for him to win. By default, Obama is the beneficiary. You won't hear me complaining.

The Only Thing That Keeps Me Up At Night

There's still 1% of me that worries that a country that was able to elect George Bush TWICE is still capable of letting latent intolerance seep into their vote. Should we worry that a meaningful number of people are saying one thing in public to seem tolerant, but when they're alone in an anonymous voting booth, they'll suddenly feel less comfortable casting their vote for a black man? (exhale) I know I'm wrong on this... I better be.

I'm starting a new party this Friday called Genius Steals.  Jon and I will be DJing at Arrow Bar on 6th and A, using our new Scratch Live setup.  No fancy artwork or flyers yet, as this is all being thrown together rather hastily.

The party will be one Friday a month.  Hope to see you there!

This seemed appropriate today...

I'm no finance wiz but I'm also not totally clueless about the market, and when I saw that the bailout hadn't passed the House this afternoon I became legitimately concerned for the first time in this whole mess. From everything I've read, and everything I understand, there's a consensus among both parties that we have to do something as soon as possible to keep credit flowing in the US economy. The fact that both sides agree that we need to take action makes today's failure to pass the bill all that more frustrating, as it would seem that partisan politics is to blame for the hold up on this time sensitive issue. To fail to act by the end of this week could potentially lead to a depression, as credit will freeze up and credit isn't something you can just turn on and off... once it's off, it's going to stay off for a while, and US companies are going to have to downsize to compensate.

I spent most of the afternoon thinking about how this mess is all likely to affect me and my friends, and after talking to my Dad and a couple other people I trust I've come up with a few thoughts.

The Good:

1. No matter how bad this gets in the next 12-24 months, I'm only 28 years old, have a great job, and 30 years of earning power ahead of me. My investments aren't overexposed to this and will likely weather the storm. So all in all, any downturn right now isn't really going to affect me in the long term- I'll be fine and my friends will be fine too.
   
2. There will likely be great opportunities in the next 24 months to invest near the bottom of the financial services, housing, and insurance sectors. Assuming the US economy cycles back, as I'm confident it will, the people who use this downturn as an opportunity to get in low in some industries that have gotten killed lately will enjoy the rebound.
3. In particular, I wonder if there will be a dip in the NYC housing market that will allow me and a lot of my friends, who may be looking to purchase first homes in the next couple years, to get a good deal on a house. That's assuming we can get a loan in a credit tight market, but I think most of us have pretty bitchin' credit so we should be fine.

The Bad:

1. This is likely to adversely affect my adopted hometown of NYC more than any other place on the planet. I feel bad for a lot of my friends who work in finance who have seen their jobs and/or bonuses go up in smoke over the past few weeks. Their pain will be shared by the whole city, as all of the companies designed to service them (like my company SW) will get squeezed. Not fun times in NYC...
2. Our current government, and in particular our President, have once again shown an embarrassing lack of competence. Both parties agree that action must be taken and yet the bill fails by 13 votes? Are you kidding me? The crazy thing is that the Democrats have enough votes to pass it 5 minutes from now but their afraid to do so without getting enough Republicans on board so they can call this unpopular (but necessary) legislation a 'bi-partisan' bill and save their own political necks. FAIL.

The Other:

1. I like Fred Wilson' idea about a price index for the Assets the government bus if this all goes through
   
2. Pete Rojas is right about all of these people saying that this is the start of a socialist state
   

Anyways... here's hoping they get something passed in the next couple days. Obama came out today after the bill failed to pass and told everyone to chill out and be patient- that something was going to get done soon. I hope my boy is right.