Sat 2 Oct 2010
Note: the playlists for FlashDances 28 & 29 are after the break below…
I’ve been thinking about the future of FlashDance lately…But before I carry on with my thoughts, let me say how much fun the last 3 FDs, (27, 28, & 29) have been – I love you folks! Thank you for always making it worth the effort! And as for what follows, please don’t think it means I don’t appreciate y’all….
It is a mixed time for FlashDances & I’m curious what the future will hold for my beloved little party… As supa-fun as it still is, I’m beginning to wonder if after 5 years, FlashDance’s time might be ending….
On the plus side:
- the last 3 FDs have been FANTASTICALLY FUN!
- FD 27, the 2nd Annual Michael Jackson Memorial FD, was HUGE! (but it is different than a normal FD.)
- FD 28 reopened an area of the City that I feared we’d have to abandon due to a bad run in with the law near there last year…
- I got Sainted at FD 29!!! (More on that here – SO AWESOME!))
- I’m playing the best music mix I’ve ever done at these last 2…
On the minus side:
- Attendance was super sparse at the start of 28 & I almost gave up and went home (though it rallied into a great night.)
- We didn’t manage to have one in August (I was totally swallowed by the work monster) but no one seemed to miss it (usually I get emails.)
- At FD 29, attendance seemed down a good bit for a while, but luckily lots of random passersby joined in and it got big & super fun!
Some may say that I’m over-focused on attendance, but honestly it is about crowd-energy: a dance party full of people feels so much better than a dance party of a few people. And, depending on the size of the outdoor space, even a well-attended FD can feel sparse. The size problem is often most acute at the start of FD – when I’m most nervous…. but maybe that’s my fault for being late so often… Then again, the FD list is now over 1875 people, so it seems like getting at least 40 people at the start of an FD would be easy. Obviously, no one is doing anything wrong, if FD isn’t fun enough to sustain a critical mass, maybe it is just time to let it go. We’ve had a ridiculously fun 5 years!
Luckily, we’re not there yet, it is still super fun, It’s just that I’m wondering if maybe people are starting to move on… I guess we’ll see. For now I’m still having a blast, so we’ll keep going….
Which brings us to Halloween!?!?!? Given the drama of last year’s attempt at Take Back Halloween what should I do this year? I’m fairly sure I’ll do a FlashDance but hw, when, & where are all unknowns… Put your thoughts in the comments so everyone can discuss….
FlashDance 28 7/24/10 Playlist:
- Flash – Queen
- You Sexy Thing – Tom Tom Club
- Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours – Stevie Wonder
- Renegade Master (Fatboy Slim Old Skool Mix) – Wild Child
- Harder, Harder, Harder, Harder! (Daft Punk Vs. Passions) – Electrosound
- Hey Mama – Black Eyed Peas
- You Dropped A Bomb On Me – The Gap Band
- You’re The One I Want In The Next Episode – Grease Vs Dr Dre & Snoop Dog
- We Trying To Stay Alive – Wyclef Jean
- Tightrope (feat. Big Boi) – Janelle Monáe
- Bulletproof – La Roux
- Beauty In the World – Macy Gray
- Superstition (fade) – Stevie Wonder
- Imma Stop Loving Drugs (Ke$ha Vs. Glee Cast Vs. La Roux Vs. Black Eyed Peas Vs. Iglu & Hartly) – Titus Jones
- We Are The Ones – The Coup
- Head – Prince
- P Control – Prince
- Get Ur Freak On (LP Version) – Missy Elliott
- Aaja Nachle – Sunidhi Chauhan
- Show Me Your Jalwa – Richa Sharma, Kailash Kher, Salim Merchant
- Tabba – DJ APS Feat. Mohammed Siddiq & Ranjit Kaur
- Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) – The Jacksons
- Intergalactic – Beastie Boys
- Praise You – Fatboy Slim
- Suffragette City (Illuminoids Remix) (David Bowie Vs. Illuminoids) – The Illuminoids
- A Little Less Conversation (Elvis Vs JXL Radio Edit Remix) – Elvis Vs JXL
- Telephone – Lady GaGa & Beyoncé
FlashDance 29 9/25/10 Playlist:
- Flash – Queen
- You’re The One That I Want In The Next Episode (Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg vs. Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta) – Disfunctional DJ
- M.I.A.’s Lips Ain’t Sealed – DJ not-I
- Telephone – Lady GaGa & Beyoncé
- Don’t Phunk With My Heart – Black Eyed Peas
- Dance To The Music (w/ will.i.am) – Sly & The Family Stone
- Dance Wit’ Me – Rick James
- Tightrope (feat. Big Boi) – Janelle Monáe
- Smooth Criminal – Michael Jackson
- Digital Love – Daft Punk
- Gifted (Boombotz Remix) [feat. Kanye West, Santigold, Lykke Li & Maximum Hedrum] – N.A.S.A.
- Touch My Girlfriend (Mariah Carey Vs. Avril Lavigne) – Titus Jones
- Bulletproof – La Roux
- Bad Romance – Lady GaGa
- Om Mangalam – www.Songs.PK
- Jogi – Panjabi MC
- Sajanji Vaari Vaari – Sunidhi Chauhan & Shekhar Ravjiani
- Mo Money Mo Problems – The Notorious B.I.G. Featuring Mase & Puff Daddy
- Freedom 90 – George Michael
- Yo Viviré – Celia Cruz
- Hey Hey Hey – Michael Franti & Spearhead
- Rock With You – Michael Jackson
- Beauty In the World – Macy Gray
- The Cure vs Jay Z – G
- Ghetto Supastar – Pras
- I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas
- September – Earth, Wind & Fire
- Dancing Machine – The Jackson 5
- Remember The Time – Michael Jackson
- One Way Or Another – Blondie
- SOS – Rihanna
- Day ‘n’ Nite (Crookers Remix) – Kid Cudi
- Kissed It (feat. Velvet Revolver) – Macy Gray
- One Nation Under A Groove – Funkadelic
- Like A Prayer – Madonna
- F**k You! – Cee Lo Green
- It’s Not Unusual (Single Version) – Tom Jones
- Late In The Evening – Paul Simon
Deep, you should absolutely keep going with FD, it’s awesome. I don’t have a lot of suggestions but echo some of those above about music; in particular I would fade longer tunes out more quickly, depending on the reaction of the crowd. I like the mix of classic and contemporary classic, but would throw in more mash-ups. I would consider using an FB event to help promote and expand the following, as well as growing the mailing list.
I love FD and would love to see it continue! Perhaps getting the “Tree Guy” Scott Munson that is at most events in the city to add the upcoming FD’s to his email blast cause I hear he has about 16k peeps on his list. Here’s his site: http://planttrees.org
btw, thanks for FD!
Deep,
Thanks for doing a great thing for the community! Keep it up, SF needs you!
Alan
Hey Deep,
You need more people on your email list. It’s totally normal for this to happen, it happens with the reading series we do at The Monthly Rumpus. You have to continually renew the email list. What about having a way for collecting emails at the Flashdance? A lot of people there are friends of people on the list but not on the list themselves.
I haven’t been in a little while myself but it’s really a local institution. I’m going to send out a note and see if I can get more people on the email list. I’m out of town on HW but intend to make it back to a Flashdance soon.
Stephen
Ah. I just discovered flash dance a few months ago and went to the Michael Jackson one. It was awesome. I’ve unfortunately been out of town for the last two, but sincerely hope you keep them going. It’s such a great idea and I really want to experience another.
hey deep! hello from india! Whatever you decide to do, thanks for being the patron saint of flashdance. That energy is what makes San Francisco great, whether directed to a dance party or a protest.
I wonder how many of those 1875 people still live in SF. I know a handful of my friends have moved to other cities for things like postdocs or jobs.
I moved to so cal and am in SF once in a while and now I’m in India for a year.
My vote goes to keeping the event as sober as possible — I love when it’s multigenerational and people are nice to each other because they’re happy, not because they’re high; the open drug use and drinking is not so fun. I realize this is SF, so maybe that’s an impossible dream.
FlashDance is wonderful, and should absolutely keep going. A few things that might help it gain steam:
Changing it up helps keep momentum going.
1) a more varied playlist. Sometimes it seems like it’s the same music at each FD.
2) play more *current* dance music, and make sure the songs are either high energy or so classic they should be played anyway.
3) the playlist itself needs to be mixed up more. Not 3 Michael Jackson songs in a row, or 3 Bollywood, etc. If we just heard the first 2 minutes of a song, please don’t start it over again. Also, remixes that last longer than 5 minutes should be cut down
All that said, I love FD. I will be back! Just trying to give some ideas
peace.
sad I’ve missed the last few and appreciating you for keeping them going. hope to see you at future flashes and other events!
aaah good lists deep thx for sharing
iwanna make it to the next one!! has been ages
hope all is well homefries, see u around
xxo.meli