On the evening of June 17th 1997 i had the honor of djing a very personal, expressive and fun 4+ hour set at a happening, laid back bar/restaurant in Vienna known as Blue Box. Continue reading for a bit of the back story...
A bit of the back story: i flew in to Vienna two weeks prior, was traveling alone and had a flexible Eurail pass to get me nearly anywhere in Europe by train or boat, plus my return flight was open-ended and i could depart from any number of major cities across Europe whenever i wanted. It was an adventure and i had no set plan and no contacts to meet up with, so i was able to go with the flow and enjoy the ride.
Within an hour or two of touching down in Vienna (or Wien as it is called in Austria) i was befriended by a complete stranger who ended up becoming my host and close friend who showed me the city, introduced me to amazing people and made sure i was happy and comfortable while in Vienna. It was a simply magical experience through and through.
Some of the great things about Blue Box in 1997 (aside from their amazing goulash + awesomely strong coffee) was the atmosphere, the clientele and the djs that would be spinning. Unlike my experience as a dj in the states, the djs in Blue Box freely played a wide range of musical genres during their 4-5 hour sets, and while they were skillful they were less concerned with deftness and more focused on the sounds put forth.
At Blue Box, you could hear a dj spin an opera piece, followed by a drum and bass track, followed by a deep house or lounge tune followed by some spoken word stuff; it was total free form and the audience dug it as much as the djs did. That made the experience of spinning there that much more interesting and it was a blast for me to be a dj from Iowa playing for a groovy audience in Vienna, Austria, who were there to get into it and get down.
This is the first hour of that evening.
The recording was done on 60 minute cassette tapes.
The image shown is the handbill that i created for the event. i chose to dub my performance "Trust Your Illusion" because in many ways i felt that i had transcended my own illusions of fear and trepidation about traveling alone in Europe with no set plans and no real contacts to meet up with.
i trusted my own illusion of fear, in the sense that at one moment, as i was leaving my loved ones at the gate in Chicago O'Hare and walking toward the unknown, i considered turning back and forfeiting whatever experiences i was about to have.
But i didn't...even though i was gripped by fear like never before.
Instead i moved forward, used the energy behind the fear and pushed through the illusion which seemed so real.
As soon as i boarded my flight, the negativity lifted and disappeared and i was left with an endless sense of peace, possibility, wonder + magic....and that empowering experience led me to Blue Box.
So while it was a slight play on words, what i was intending to communicate by "Trust Your Illusion" was that our illusions -- good or bad -- could ultimately be powerful tools used for transcendence which open doors of great possibility.
Giving thanks beyond words -- i will always remember this evening with much love!!
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Blue Box on Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/blue-box-wien
