I didn't post all weekend because a) I am trying to cut down on my site-management addiction, and, primarily for financial reasons, b) I had my first mobile DJ job in some time on Saturday night - a holiday party on the 21st floor in downtown Cleveland for a bunch of OB/GYNs.

Despite the fact that I have DJ'd in the neighborhood of 2,000 parties, I still always forget how much work is involved in preparing for a job: equipment, clothes, logistics, and most importantly, music. Since I didn't really have my traveling collection separated out like it is when I am working regularly, I had to go through all 20,000 records and CDs to figure out what I wanted to take with me. Of course I didn't really look closely at them all - I just skimmed the titles and snagged likely candidates.

Even after many hours sorting, I still had a combination of way too much and not enough: I forgot "The Electric Slide," "New York, New York" and "The Macarena," much to the horror of some nasty old farts who insisted upon line dancing - I hate line dancing, it is fascist behavior.

Another issue is CDs vs. vinyl: vinyl is easier to work with, CDs are more compact and with all of the reissues and collections that have come out over the last 15 years or so, CD is often the way to go. Besides, other than 12" singles, there simply hasn't been much new vinyl in the last 10 years. But you can't mix CDs, you can't jump from track to track nearly as quickly or easily, and with the tiny little writing, they are damned hard to read in the dark with my 44 year-old eyes. Hence, the dilemma.

It took all day Saturday to prepare, all night to do the party, then most of Sunday to unload and return everything to its place of rest. The party went very well and was a lot of fun, although it dredged up a psychology book's worth of very strange memories.

I'm still thinking about the whole thing and will have more later. My wife Dawn came with me and lent a huge amount of physical, emotional and spiritual support. She thinks it's all easy for me and that I have some magical knack for it - she doesn't realize how much effort it takes for me to force my brain into the proper frame of mind, nor does she realize how much easier it is when she is there. Please check out her report here.