FlashDances 8 & 9: Everything Wrong & Everything Right!

[Note: What follows is a long ramble about my 8th and 9th flash mob dance parties, FlashDances 8 & 9 & what worked and didn’t. If you want to cut straight to the PIX click here, or the MOVIE or the PLAYLIST ]

Woooooooo! So Saturday night was my 9th FlashDance & if you didn’t come, ummm… well it was ok and kinda fun. If you did come or didn’t but CAN handle the truth: WOW – that was the best one yet! Am I the only one who thinks FD9 was the best? (Who else has been to all 9?)

Click here for a movie of FD9
Click above for the movie

CLICK HERE for the PIX

FlashDance 8, a month ago (July 28th), was technically the most difficult & the smallest attended ever, but still managed to be a hell of a lot of fun. The big thing I learned at FD8 (besides that people don’t like going to the Marina) is that the crowd is everything and as long as there is music, everything else is details. In addition to being the smallest attended, FD8 had the worst weather, the most location problems*, the most significant technical difficulties, and I was super-late. Ugh. But even after all that – we had big fun! Why? because people were IN to it. For example, when the audio cut out – people just sang :-)… all in all I biked home with a big smile on my face after FD8….

That all being said, all the problems stressed me out & disappointed me. If everyone who was there wasn’t so much fun and so forgiving, I would have been seriously bummed about the night. So I really wanted to FlashDance 9 to be more like FD7 – BIG SIMPLE FUN EASY.

We nailed it! You guys are awesome. That was SO what I wanted. Here’s the scoop:

  • Peeps: Like I said, the crowd is everything & you guys were great as usual! From Ankur’s serious MJ moves, to Allegra’s crew & their hard core line dancing, to Lisa’s wig and Gretchen & Palak’s relentless grooving it was just GOOD! But really, I just love watching everyone having such a good time and working their boogie, and the warm, inviting, positivity of it all. Too bad we scared off that gaggle of old Israeli(?) ladies we tried to get to come dancing at the end 🙂
  • Music: The thing that I’m always most critical of is the music. Some people want all-80’s all the the time. Some people want all up-tempo trance. Others want the standard party dance numbers etc etc. I want new interesting fun stuff that doesn’t bore me. So balancing it all is tough. Saturday I felt like I nailed it & LOVED the music. This was probably my favorite FD playlist yet. Even the stuff I thought was experimental went over big. I was really excited that I got to play “You Can’t Hurry Love” by the Supremes & folks were into it. And I was pleased, shocked, and appalled by the fact that you all are trashy enough to enjoy (gulp – I’m saying this for all to see online) “I Think We’re Alone Now” by Tiffany as much as I do. Luckily the unreleased (in the U.S.) Groove Armada track, the great mashups & the COOL Turkish cover of Madonna’s “Music” (thanks Peat!) should be able to salvage some of my musical street-cred / snobbery 🙂
  • Location: What can I say the Ferry Plaza is MAGIC. The stage, the lighting, the view. Brilliant. If I wasn’t set on exploring new spaces all over our fine city, I’d do all of them at the Ferry Plaza. I guess last year was a little warmer but it was fine. In terms of passersby it is decent, not fantastic – but even that worked out pretty well. There seemed to be a decent number of new faces who stumbled in….
  • Gear: OK BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE NEW SOUND SYSTEM! Did you like it better? I did! The big thing I wanted was a sound system that would increase the “zone of great sound” to a bigger size while still being portable by bike because the low-carbon aspect of FD is huge to my earnest little heart. The other big thing was a sound system that I didn’t have to push to the limits to get a good sound – that is why the old system kept cutting out: it was maxed out & overloaded. Well the new system pulled all that off in SPADES. I’m really really happy about the new system.

    The other piece that I upgraded was my means of getting to FD – ladies and gentleman I give you my dorky-cute new best friend: Trikasaurus!

    My dorky cute little friend!

    I luuuuuuuvs Trikasaurus! It made getting everything there & back SOOOOOO much better AND EASIER AND MORE FUN for me. For the transport piece of all this to go from fairly stressful & annoying to actually fun is a HUGE win. Even cooler is the fact that it is about to get even EASIER: My friends TR Lingley & Aaron Lander are going to be making a little FD rig to put on Trikasaurus to make it super-easy and not require a million bungie coords! (Thanks for the extra bungies Gretchen!) Wooo! I can’t wait….
  • Random Coolness: Two awesome things that happened (on top of all the general fun) really grab me:
    • As we were starting to wind down, a Muni Streetcar pulled out and 4 or 5 breakdancers jumped out & just HIT IT! They were awesome awesome awesome. Just AMAZING. Evidently they are a bunch of street performers from Fisherman’s Wharf – so if you’re ever there (why!?) give them some props!
    • So there was a woman at FD who had a really rough emotional day – I won’t go into details – but after it all was over she made a request for “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M. which I put on. When I turned around, my friend Kevin was slow dancing with her a giving her the big hug she needed – they had JUST met. Thanks Kev. Nice work.

So there you have it. It was nigh on perfect. In fact the biggest thing that could have been better was me! The last few FDs I’ve showed up without as much energy as I’d like: Saturday I had no downtime & hadn’t had dinner so I wasn’t shaking it at full power. Next time I’ll fix that……

Rock On Dance Monsters!

‘deep

*though I still think if there isn’t a wedding & we are actually under the dome, the Palace of Fine Arts would rock!

PLAYLISTS:
Here are the playlists for both of the last two FlashDances. Most of the songs are available on the iTunes store except the mashups. For those, Google is your friend!

Here is the Playlist for FLASHDANCE 8 – I basically just played whatever people wanted to hear:

  1. Flash – Queen
  2. Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine, Pt. 1 – James Brown
  3. Milkshake (DJ Zinc Radio Edit) – Kelis
  4. Don’t Hold Back, Sweet Jane (Chemical Brothers vs. Velvet Underground vs. U2 vs. Sugababes vs. MARRS) – Go Home Productions
  5. Dance To The Music – Sly & The Family Stone
  6. Like A Prayer – Madonna
  7. We Don’t Stop – Michael Franti & Spearhead
  8. It’s Tricky – Run-DMC
  9. Always On My Mind – Pet Shop Boys
  10. I Want You Back – Jackson 5
  11. The Safety Dance – Men Without Hats
  12. You Make My Dreams – Hall & Oates
  13. Thriller – Michael Jackson
  14. Excellent – Blackalicious
  15. Do The Thang Thang (Bhangra Remix) – Shakti Feat Bikram Singh
  16. Tabba – DJ APS Feat. Mohammed Siddiq & Ranjit Kaur
  17. Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) – Mika
  18. Crazy in Love РBeyonc̩
  19. I Wanna Be Your Lover – Prince
  20. Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours – Stevie Wonder
  21. We Can Work It Out – Stevie Wonder
  22. I’m Wondering – Stevie Wonder
  23. Tell Your Mama Come – Black Eyed Peas
  24. Right Here’s the Spot – Basement Jaxx & Me’Shell Ndegéocello
  25. Tainu Leke – Sonu Nigam, Sherya Ghosal, Kunal Ganjawala, Sadhna Sargam & Shanker Mahadevan
  26. Hey Mama – Black Eyed Peas
  27. Baby I’m A Star – Prince
  28. A Love Bizarre – Sheila E.
  29. Dec. 4th, Oh What A Night – Jay-Z vs. Frankie Vallie & the Four Seasons
  30. Salaam-e-Ishq – Sonu Nigam, Sherya Ghosal, Kunal Ganjawala, Sadhna Sargam & Shanker Mahadevan
  31. Freedom 90 – George Michael
  32. Working Day And Night – Michael Jackson

Here is the Playlist for FLASHDANCE 9 – I really liked this mix….

  1. Flash – Queen
  2. My Prerogative (Single Version) – Bobby Brown
  3. Walkin’ Out Yo Girlfriend (Unk Vs. Avril Lavigne Vs. Toni Basil) – Lobsterdust
  4. Get Down (Calvin Harris Remix) – Groove Armada
  5. Upgrade The Casbah – The Clash vs. Beyonce vs. Nelly Furtado vs. Ofra Haza
  6. Bird – The Time
  7. Beat It – Michael Jackson
  8. Feel Good Roboto 2 – Gorillaz vs Styx
  9. Music – Sertab Erener
  10. Phenomenon – LL Cool J
  11. Another One Bites Da Funk – Party Ben
  12. Flashdance…What A Feeling – Irene Cara
  13. I Think We’re Alone Now – Tiffany
  14. Like A Prayer – Madonna
  15. Baby I’m A Star – Prince
  16. Crazy in Love РBeyonc̩
  17. Flipsyde (Indian Mix) – Flipsyde
  18. Tabba – DJ APS Feat. Mohammed Siddiq & Ranjit Kaur
  19. Bombay – Timbaland featuring Amar & Jim Beanz
  20. Salaam-e-Ishq – Sonu Nigam, Sherya Ghosal, Kunal Ganjawala, Sadhna Sargam & Shanker Mahadevan
  21. Do The Thang Thang (Bhangra Remix) – Shakti Feat Bikram Singh
  22. The Glamorous Life (Club Edit) – Sheila E.
  23. Lollipop – Mika
  24. You Can’t Hurry Love – The Supremes
  25. Respect – Aretha Franklin
  26. Lose My Breath – Destiny’s Child
  27. SexyBack – Justin Timberlake
  28. It’s Tricky – Run-DMC
  29. Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) – The Jacksons
  30. Beat It – Michael Jackson
  31. Get Up Offa That Thing – James Brown
  32. Don’t Phunk With My Heart – Black Eyed Peas
  33. Don’t Start Me Down – Pink vs. Electric Light Orchestra
  34. You Make My Dreams – Hall & Oates
  35. (Come ‘Round Here) I’m The One You Need – The Jackson 5
  36. Dec. 4th, Oh What A Night – Jay-Z vs. Frankie Vallie & the Four Seasons
  37. Let It Be Me (Bavor) – Beatles vs Shaggy
  38. Everybody Hurts – R.E.M.

2 thoughts on “FlashDances 8 & 9: Everything Wrong & Everything Right!

  1. Deep! Thanks for giving me yet another reason to miss SF. I got to your site via Drain. Hope you don’t mind. I’m glad you updated, I was getting a little tired of looking at that pastry. I warn you – my blog is all about parenting – I wouldn’t read it if I didn’t write it. Good to see you still mixing up your magic!

  2. only in SF would you get away with a guerilla dance party like this. we loved it, our baby girl danced it up.

    love love, the reckholders

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