Eclectro Lounge 7

Eclectro Lounge 7 on Easter Thursday: we were afraid not too many people would attend since there was on the same night a competing event at Telakka called Bass & Beer Party, with some hiphop headliners and a quite popular DJ called Bob Ryynänen playing electro too. Yes, it was quiet early in the night, but gradually some people seemed to move in, probably lured by free entrance, so it was not a disaster either. In fact, our first clients were Sami Koivikko and this nice girl I know called Taru. Though I don't know if Taru was disappointed when I did not play Yoko Ono or Stereo Total's version of Nico's 'Chelsea Girls', but it being Easter, the season of the witch, I felt a bit gloomier music was in order tonight. Sorry if I let you down, Taru, but perhaps some other time... Some young hiphop kids were not aware this was supposed to be an electronic night and asked to hear some rap or reggae, but gladly I got an old school hiphop compilation in my bag, so I could oblige. All in all, playing records in a "lounge" sort of bar and space always has its restrictions; you have to keep yourself down, and can't play as hard stuff as you might like to.

The Obligatory Drunken Idiot Department: after it was Mika's turn to play and for me to take a break, I thought it would be a suitable time to take a leak since my bladder felt like bursting. Unfortunately the men's room was occupied but I felt I couldn't hold myself, and I decided I could sneak in quickly to the ladies' room, which was empty at the time; thinking I could do my business rapidly without anyone taking notice. I was wrong. After I was ready, I washed my hands, and with no towel available I just shook the water off my hands. And lo and behold, when I opened the door, there was a drunken couple behind it, a guy with moustache and a bespectacled woman. When they saw me emerging from the ladies' room, they started to insist from me: "Are you a woman? Are you a woman?" I decided it would be better not to say anything, and just returned back to the DJ booth where Mika was now spinning records. But like this was not enough, suddenly there were more shouts from the ladies' room. The moustache man came to me and said: "What have you done? The floor is all wet!" Probably they thought I had pissed on the floor! The guy started to grill me about it, but I just thought I'd better restrain myself and keep my mouth shut. Gladly Abbas, the manager, just wiped the ladies' room floor clean, and the incident seemed to be over, when said couple soon stormed off the bar. Now this feels funny, but I have learned to keep myself in check always when drunkards are involved, them usually being like little children; impulsive and unpredictable like wild animals.

Now we've got only one Eclectro Lounge club night to go, on Thursday 31 April. After that we should have a monthly night on Fridays, but I don't know when that will happen, since Sane seems to have double-booked our first scheduled date on 8 April... Playing records as such is not so hard, but promoting the event and spreading posters yourself as a foot soldier always is. That's been quite energy-consuming for me; therefore I'm glad to have a break from Eclectro Lounge nights now. Though with my catastrophic money situation it's always nice to get some extra.

Here's the playlist for 24 March '05.

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