djjoemama Posted September 15 Report Share Posted September 15 A few people have been asking, so I'm writing up a short review of my little DJ tour through SE Asia for everyone... As some of you might know, myself & Jason Swamy (of NYC's LeSouk, Movida & Crobar notirety) were gigging in August in Bali Indonesia, and Hong Kong... Since it was my first time there, we took some extra time out to really see the area (i mean its a 20+hr flight from the east coast of the US, so you may as well spend some time there!)... We were orginally slated to hit up Bangkok as well, but due to some local issues with the Thai gov't we were forced to postpone our visit until December...I'm not posting the pics here in the post, but feel free to browse them @ August 2006 | Joe Mama | Fotki.comBALIWhat can i say... this island is absolutely AMAZING... The people, the customs and the culture are not to be missed! I highly reccomend a visit if you have the opportunity. We got to the island a few days ahead of shedule and were able to relax for a bit before our gig @ KuDeTa on the upcoming weekend. Mid-late august is the high season of sorts for Bali, and things weren't too terribly busy compared to Ibiza's high season, but it was still an absolute blast. After we arrived and met with the owners of one of the clubs, we were privvy to find out he was opening another venue, Baccio, that week, and invited us to play the night of their soft opening. That evening, he and several other promoters that were out must have taken a keen liking to the sound we were playing as we were invited to do another gig @ one of the other main clubs on the strip Paparazzi, a few days after the KuDeTa gig... It was quite surreal and amazing that after only 2 days on the island we had already managed to arrange for a few more nights of fun playing out... It also turned out we were playing at KuDeTa the night after the biggest party on the island of the year - This year it was being sponsored by Russian model/tv personality cum Fashion Designer Mia Shvili's line, 'Chic Blesk Krasota'.This party lived up to the hype. And more.Stopping by KuDeTa during the week, we could witness the massive transformation this beachside venue was undergoing. The lineup for the evenings festivities went something like this:Opening duties by Montreal's Cirque De Soleil troupe, followed by a brilliant & sexy warmup set by resident DJ Donni 1... After that, the mic was passed to diva Jocelyn Brown for an exquisite live PA... Not to be out done, Miss Brown was joined by Erykah Bahdu for a couple of duets to finish it off...Note: Erykah had been flown in for a private pre-party the night before, and if you look @ the pics, not only can she sing, but party as well, as she was performing sans one stiletto from her boot! Mark Farina had been flown in to headline the party for the night, and he came out rockin... I dont think i've ever heard him play as hard as he did starting that set off... Now i have to add, the production efforts that were put into this event topped anything i've seen in years! And the crowd was possibly one of the sexiest crowds I've ever been a part of (with the exception perhaps of the party Roger threw @ The Versace Mansion during WMC a few years back!)...While tossing back some bubbly in the VIP, it became apparent the hostess had some very cute friends as I bumped into one Kate Moss, and a couple bodyguards, Alessandra Ambrosio, and a few other of those winged lingerie godesses...Whom i must add do not really look as good as they do in the pictures... they look much better. Oh and somewhere between that duet and Farina playing, there was a $40K USD fireworks show over the venue and beach that took place...yowza... I Love Bali. After-party? Well it woudnt be a proper night unless someone flew in the Fugees, incl. Lauren Hill & Wyclef for a private performance @ their villa (why did the camera batteries die sooo early!!!!) Things after that were a bit burry to be honest as we definitely had a great time, and somehow even managed to make it back to our hotel in one piece just after sunrise. Afterall, we did need to get some proper rest as we were playing just 8 hours later.The next day we woke up after about 4-5 hrs sleep, put together our music and headed back to KuDeTa to play the sunset session from 4PM-11PM... I was a little nervous as this was my first 'real' sunset bar type gig where i had an opportunity to play tracks i never thought I would have a chance to... Some leftfield, ambient, trip-hop etc mixed with some funky deep 4/4 stuff.... Highlights were being able to share some old school Roger Waters cuts from Radio KAOS, "The Tide Is Turning" which proved to be a real winner for the sunset crowd (reflecting on it, I think I was just pumped about seeing Roger W. live when I got back from Asia on his Dark Side of The Moon tour!)... We finished off around 11ish, and had a few drinks with the music director from KuDeTa, and thanked him for all of the clubs hospitality, and hopefully we'll be there again this winter!The last few days in Bali we spent sightseeing, visiting some of the best surf beaches in the world (Dreamlands!), shopping, and one little treat for our bodies @ one of Bali's most famous spas... This I reccomend to ANYONE< guys or girls... Just to give you an idea, we did the Volcanic Special, which included: Volcanic Ash body wraps, hot stone massage, deep tissue massage, hydrotheraputic massage, facial, manicure & pedicure... all this took about 6.5 hours, and cost a grand total of $80 USD!!!!! This would have been like $600+ in NYC or Boston, and you feel like a million dollars afterwards...We couldnt stay for the rest as the Junction House Music festival was slated to start that evening, with Nicolas Matar, DJ Gregory, Julian Jabre, & Shakedown performing a sunset party... As we were driving back in from that we noticed that another friend from NYC, DJ Three was playing the afterhours that night @ Club Double Six... It was our last night there, so we stopped in to say hi to Chris, had few and called it a night as we still had to pack for our AM departure... We made it to the airport with minutes to spare, and as we were boarding, ran into Three on the same plane headed to Hong Kong - turns out he was playing in HK that night after us as well...quite a coincidence...HONG KONGA mere 4 hours later, we were in my parter Swamy's hometown of Hong Kong... HK is such an amazing city.. For as much as they embrace their traditions and customs, they push forward with technological advances in their city's infrastructure like no other city I've visited on earth. We dropped off our bags, caught a quick nap, and it was off to the gig @ Armani Bar. They had brought in extra sound to support the house system for our night which made for much better that expected evening... The crowd was a diverse mix of ex-pats and locals sprinkled with models to fill the gaps... Everyone looked as though they stopped @ one of the 6 or so Armani stores in the mall to get dressed before coming in... Dont let appearances decieve you though, they were definitely up for it... Swamy & I brought up the party sound, and were able to really kick it up a notch for this event, and everyone was smiling and dancing when we finished some 6 hours later... We hung out for a few before the managers took us around on a quick afterhours tour through a few spots before we bumped into Three again @ Volar... Not wanting to waste too much time in the clubs and try to get some rest we called it a night around 7ish and went home to get some z's... We spent the next few days in HK shopping and sightseeing, as there is just soooo much to absorb there... Hopefully the pics can give you some idea of what it was like there.....Cheers!Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaydup Posted September 15 Report Share Posted September 15 Roger Waters cuts from Radio KAOS - Nice Joe!new drinking game - do a shot everytime you read the word proper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djjoemama Posted September 15 Author Report Share Posted September 15 Roger Waters cuts from Radio KAOS - Nice Joe!new drinking game - do a shot everytime you read the word properThats only 2 shots... I would do a shot for every 'to' thats in the article.. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaydup Posted September 15 Report Share Posted September 15 I was just mocking you .. jeez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.