The weather started getting chilly so I went back to my hotel and changed quickly for the evening before running back to the national to catch Robbie Rivera. Robbie was pumping up the energy but I noticed the volume was subtly getting lowered. That seemed odd until I looked at the DJ booth and noticed a police officer issuing a citation for noise violation. The hotel, party promoter, and Robbie all got $2000 tickets. Needless to say, I was there snapping pictures to commemorate the occasion. As things were winding down, Zak and I walked up Collins to hit some stuff downtown. We passed by a car and I recognized Dawn Tallman. Only in Miami during WMC, do you pass a car with Michelle Weeks and Dawn Tallman just casually hanging out.
We stopped by the BPM Boutique and enjoyed Kevin Hedges (aka Blaze) playing wonderful soulful house music. Ultra Nate was there with her Sugar posse and invited us to come see her at Jazid later in the evening, which I immediately added to the list. First for me, though, was Club Deep where I wanted to see some of the New York posse in effect. The DJ was using Final Scratch which I had never seen in operation before. I was amazed by how "real" it looked and how reliable it seemed. The dancefloor is quite unique being built on glass over an aquarium with fish... something different. I worked my way up Washington stopping at Goddess for the Slip n Slide Party. Duane Harden was spinning and singing at the same time. I bumped into Moses Modesto - producer to watch out for. We were chatting and then I heard one of my all time favorite songs "God's Child" which forced me onto the dancefloor. The vibe was wonderful and the crew was festive.
Next came the X Mix/Ben Sherman party at Mansion. To me, the building will always be Glam Slam where I saw Billie Ray Martin and Staxx of Joy perform with Westbam DJing back in 1995, but I digress. Junior Sanchez was on when I got there and he was followed by DJ Sneak. The place was packed and the dancefloor was slammed but I couldn't help but notice that the sound was overpowering. To me loud is good, but loud and noisy is bad. The visuals - lights and video - were top-notch though. My friend stayed longer and said that Armand Van Helden tore the place up with his mix of Britney's "Toxic."
We headed down to Crobar for the Made in Italy party. We connected with Barbara Tucker and her diva posse Dawn Tallman, Michelle Weeks, and Sabrynaah Pope who performed "Peacemakers," a song that was quite appropriate in these political times. Bob Sinclar was spinning and all was wonderful. Zak was joking that if you put a girl on stage with a microphone, Ron will be there to photograph. We went next door for some pizza before heading down to Jazid to catch Ultra's set. Unfortunately, we got there a bit late but something told me that this wouldn't be the last time I saw Ultra.
We slept in late on Wednesday and then headed down to Armani Exchange. We both got presenters bags from DanceStar which had $20 coupons from Armani and I was intent to buy myself a nice souvenir. I never knew I could look good in black leather <grin.> We made our way back to Lincoln and met Ceevox for a nice Italian lunch. I always like to end WMC with a nice relaxed meal with an old friend. Getting to know Ceevox over the past year with constant IM's and chats, she felt like family.
