powerofluv Posted April 6 Report Share Posted April 6 WMC 09 RecapitulationsThis Year WMC was definitely different than the past 24 years…To begin the epic Music Convention, is one of the biggest money makers for Southbeach, and it is every year that I’m always busy getting labels a venue andPlace to perform and showcase their music.This year it all started with the preparations, which were way more difficult than years before…It was due mostly venue owners try to bargain each and every event, and to opt for the most lucrative deals…What conducted, to have diverse venue canceling the signed agreement in the last minute, or simply changing the signed agreement by suddenly demanding horrent sumsOf money for venue rentals and all…Besides the City’s special event permit cost were more costly then in the past, even so byObtaining these permits, we were still bothered by the code enforcer, to lower volumes and all…What has “hostage Negotiator†to do with WMC 09?That would have been never a question, nor would I have any Idea that this question could be ever asked, here what we experienced with it…‘It’s 130pm and Mike Agentx Clark DJ-Producer-Remixer from Detroit,staying at my place, and my wife, Sofia (her 2 years old girl) and myself were on our way to a gig…Being late, and caught in mid day traffic we were coming from 41street to SouthBeach, driving on Pine tree drive…We were in a hurry, and we were following the rest of traffic, and so we totally omitted, to see that we were actually driving 30 miles/hour in the Schoolzone, I mean since we were following the traffic all were driving that speed…Now out of nowhere a White SUV showed behind us with blinking light and siren…we’re surprised and stopped the car.That’s when all got scary and surreal… The Agent appearing from the SUV came out by pointing the GUN towards us by yelling to show my hands…I’m totally scandalized by seeing the gun, and seeing the black T-Shirt with the inscription “Hostage Negotiator†wearing Agent…I couldn’t comprehend what was going on and I was implying him to lower the gun, since we have a little child in the car and my wife…besides Mike AgentX Clark.Obviously he followed us and had seen us changing lanes without signalizations and we passed in front of his car, so the agent felt we had a suspicious behavior….After several times asking the agent to lower his gun, and apology for our ‘reckless’ driving style (we were late for a gig) he finally lowered the gun and let us finally go…My DJ friend, my wife and I were numb; we couldn’t believe this just happened…Our Question was why this was all happening, was it because my friend and I are both over 6ft tall and we’re also both afro American with dreadlocks..?What was the deal that this agent of “HOSTAGE NEGOTIATION†unit felt aggressed by us??? By having a colored President, this becomes almost a joke, with scary certainty, that obviously we have some new “Anti-Terror†Units here on the Beach which will not hesitate to pull a gun out for speeding…????What kind of “Hostage†Situation was there, that he felt compelled to do that, and how good are those men trained to deal these extreme situations…?So I repeat the questions again…What has “Hostage Negociator†to do with WMC 09…?The Answer is nothing except they forgot that it was WINTER MUSIC CONFERENCE and not a TERROR facilitating Middle East – Summit!So please Mayor Matti Herrera Bower, please make sure our community is safe, as well safe from those which supposed to protect us and not threatening us citizens.Said that let’s go into the passed week’s frenesia of events, DJ’s, Performers and artists…It’s Tuesday morning and the WMC 09 officially started and as most I was surprised of the sparse WMC attendance…what was happening? No one was really sure, but definitely the actual economy was forcing a lot of artists and DJ’s, to waive the WMC and Miami.Especially by passing at the registrations, I was surprised to find an almost empty registrations room and my WMC 09 Badge was handed to me 10 minutes after I registered.In 13 years of Winter Music Conference, I’ve had never been served as fast!To say, that was a sure sign, that it would be definitely not as packed as maybe we all hoped…By visiting the whole first part of the WMC 09, I didn’t stop seeing almost empty events even the amazing lineups were not attracting a huge attendance…Even one of the top events such as ‘Shelter’ held at Shine didn’t convince me that it could be a successful Conference…The Weather was definitely not at its best specially during the first days of WMC 09, the Winter was still felt…The Music, too seemed to have suffered of the transformation of our economy and so not many labels had anything new, but instead tons of mix-compilations and remixes…Were handed out and It was disturbing to realize we’re al touched by the actual Economy Crisis…My 8th Annual WMC 09 RE-UNION held at the newly opened ‘HOT TUNA’ showed me that deep, soulful and funky house has still some serious followers, and it was a great honor and fun to have legendary DJ WAYNE WILLIAMS (founder of the “Chosen fewâ€) spinning along such artists as like Mike Agentx Clark (Beat down sound Detroit) as well as our Local ‘hero’ Richard Vasquez…The Live Performers such as KRYSTINE WALKER which has her new track â€Give Me A reason†on Vega Records, owned by none else than Louie Vega himself!Amazing to see newcomer blowing away the crowed with top notch performances!Harley & Muscle have shown me that the Italians are still deep into the House music, and that it will definitely continue to progress, no matter what!Finally the surprising Master Kev which has totally choked us by playing that ‘crazy, tacky, and bad taste track…which made us wonder where he had lost his famed groove…People that have made us dance were such as King Britt bringing his amazing colorful soul and tight beats during one of the last events “Philly’s Sundae†which was held on Sunday @ South Seas Hotel.I had this uncanny impression, that the whole Conference was held on the cell phone screens, and everyone including myself was glued on the little screen surfing the net or texting to hundreds of people…This WMC 09 was definitely different than the previous edition,The Organization Website was having problem from the beginning, which was affecting the Labels which saw their listing starting to play cat and mouse with them, by disappearing and re-appearing and which caused a lot of aloof and all…I guess we have to make the best out of it, and I’m grateful that none of my booked event was cancelled, except that one label, which was no more willing to wait to get their venue approved, which was the consequence of the previous chaos of the greedy yet hungry club owners…All in all my WMC 09 experience was great and I definitely enjoyed to hear some amazing sets delivered by such as DJ Wayne Williams or David Solero, which was closing the 8th RE-UNION and proved again, that he is one of the only soulful and deep house local DJ.In many regards it was also relevant to see how the industry change and that lot of myFormer friends no more in the music industry are and somehow I felt with my 30 plus years of deejaying that I become more and more a Dinosaur of the Industry…Said that, I hope that the economy will get back in track and so we will experience again a more populated Conference than this year edition.I would like to thank all the diverse Performers and DJ’s namely,Seria Phatt for her song and performance of “Paradiseâ€-Broken RecordsKrystine Walker for her amazing performance of “Give Me A Reasonâ€-Vega Records and as well as Richard Vasquez for his great Classic Set, Mike AgentX Clark for his deep “D†set and mixes, Sanna my wife which made all problems and situation seems nothing by being with me on each and every step, also the kicking sound of Harley & Muscle as well as DJ ERV which has proven to hold the deck no matter bigger names during the 8th Annual RE-UNION party.At last but not least I would like to thank Carlos Fusaro which has supported us to make all happening for the listings and features and so made it all possible!The venue owners and responsible, Scott and Luis from HOT TUNA, Ros from Flora, then Nicole from Casanova, Which has been so much fun and joy to work with?Then my local friends Marc Sachelli, Raoul, JP and Christian, which have given me and Power Of Love Productions the possibility to experience the WMC 09 in a positive way.So all your music fans, and makers, I wish you all a safe return to your homes and until next year!Yours, Ron D *8*Lim – Power Of Love Productions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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