I’m still processing the events of Saturday night/Sunday morning, but I have to say it was an incredible night. Lots of kind words from staff, patrons, and the two veteran DJs in attendance. It was a tag-team approach with Sonny D, Tommy Knuckles and your’s truly switching out every 30-40 minutes. My sets felt good, solid, and the selections seem to have been a hit on the dancefloor. People were dancing at any rate. Things didn’t start to go awry until my last set, between 5 and 5:30am. I was having real trouble concentrating and the mix just didn’t lock in the way it should have. I may have been the only one to notice, however, because everybody kept dancing and I didn’t catch any of the verbal insubordination reserved by ravers for train-wreck mixes.
What amazes me most about the night was the friendliness and camaraderie between all who attended. When one goes out at night to an event such as this in other cities, one invariably sees various illicit activities and/or forms of casual violence. This is just accepted; with the good comes the bad. That was not the case at Way Back When. With what I would consider a skeleton staff, consisting of the two co-promoters, co-promoter’s husband, male and female pat-down people, one huge bouncer (who was late), and bartender, they managed to pull of a night that was visibly thug-free and drug-free (Not to say that there wasn't any drug, you understand, I just didn't see any).
What made the night even better was that Deb was able to come with me. Through the kind generosity of my parents, who stayed with the kids all night long, we met lots of great people and danced our asses off between my sets. I can't wait for the next one.
