Like I needed another excuse for another mix? Yes, it's my birthday... today. And yes, I made a mix for it. And yes, I'm even on vacation and posting this. Haha. So, I thought a birthday mix would be fun, but instead of just choosing a bunch of favorite dance songs from my collection, I needed to limit that down. So here is the rule... it had to be a mix that I added to my library in the last year of my life, but wasn't necessarily new when I did (save one, which I'll get to in a minute). Now, before some of you say, "I can't believe that you didn't have THAT song" or whatever, realize that most of these I already had some mix of, but for whatever reason these stayed under my radar. Be it because at the time, I had another mix I really favored, maybe heard before but my taste has changed a little, or -- heaven forbid -- totally didn't know existed. Ha. So get ready for some MAJOR random, but I think you may find some gems on here as I did (or maybe one of them will give you memories from a happy time or person in your life, as many do for me). This mix doesn't follow my normal flow, in that it starts off bright and happy, goes a little dark in the middle, then comes back around again. Being that it's so random, it was tough to get the layout right, but I think it works best this way for this particular mix. A few notes on some songs... first of all... The Boss. I'm sorry Diana and Kristine, but I really heart this version of that song. Toni sounds fantastic and this mix works just right. Copacabana... yes I'm a Fanilow, but imagine my happiness when I ran across a Ralphi remix. Love it. Go Your Own Way... Fleetwood Mac... enough said, other than it's one of my favorite songs of theirs (well, and give Dave credit here... he kept it true to the original). As far as the Thunderpuss mixes... well, yeah, there really isn't excuse other than I've been trying to fill in some holes and how could I not have had these. I know, I know. Which brings me to Mariah Carey vs Fragma - Toca's Together (Rauhofer's Inpetto Mashup Chris "Needs a Miracle" Edit). Okay, so I first heard the Peter mash-up this year at Disney. It was about 6:30am at the last afterhours and Peter was spinning (and just workin' it... he was great). I had made my way to the middle of the dancefloor by that point (by myself, I should add) and was already in my own world dancing to his music, loving every minute. Then, I heard the hint of (what I thought to be) Toca's Miracle, which is one of my favorite dance songs. Then, however as the song played, it wasn't Coco at all, but Mariah. I absolutely fell in love with the mash-up he did -- considering I usually hate mash-ups -- but I kept thinking (as I danced) I felt like something was missing. That something, to me, was "a miracle". So I did a little mash-up of my own... a mash-up of his mash-up, so to speak, which I give you here as Chris's "Need A Miracle" Edit. Here is a video from that actual moment, of course aweful sound quality. Finally, and speaking of Disney, I finish with Olivia Newton-John - Xanadu (Chris's Sparkly OMP DMC Edit). I first heard this remix at Disney in 2007. It was the song that Roland used for the Fireworks at One Mighty Party and Xanadu has to be one of my "queen-out-moment" favorites. Now, this one violates my rule for the mix above (I didn't find it in the last year), but bless it's heart... I really worked hard two years ago on this edit after that experience to take the DMC remix of that song and make it make how "sparkly" the Disney experience was for me that year. A little chopping, speeding up, and some injection of extra sound effects and I think I got it. It was just dying for an excuse to be used on a mix and, since its MY birthday, I guess I can violate my own rules... haha. :-) Here is another video moment, again sound quality is terrible, but you get the idea. I have included the year released... the year after the slash indicates when I did my edit. Song listing: (2004) Barry Manilo