The idea of this blog all came about when I realized that I needed to have surgery on my knee, so I wanted to make sure I got back to that.  People keep asking me how I hurt my knee and seem to be disappointed when I tell them that there wasn't really an incident that caused my knee to start bothering me.  Then I thought to myself... "IS THAT REALLY TRUE?"

IT'S NOT.  It's them damn red lights!

I originally tore my ACL back in 2002 while playing pro football for the Chargers.  I was in NFL Europe with for the Barcelona Dragons in the off-season and in the ninth game of the ten game season I tore my ACL.  It was a very crushing blow (mentally, not the hit) because I was leading the league in touchdown catches and it seemed that I had a good shot of making the roster in San Diego when I returned.  As upset as I was that night, I figured I couldn't do any more damage to my knee and I went out.  I guess I forgot to mention I was in Amsterdam.  I took myself right to the Red Light district to get a glimpse of what the city had to offer.  Though I did not taste of the local fruit, I was floored by everything I saw.  I walked all over the city on a torn ACL, danced, fell down a couple of times, but had a good time nonetheless.  The next morning, when the doctor looked at my knee he asked, "you haven't been walking around on this thing have you?" :-/

My other red light incident takes me back to sophomore year of college.  I lived in a dorm called Mirielees and it was definitely the spot to get into the most trouble.  One day some very smart fellas from Kappa Alpha Psi took a boombox into one of the lounges, unscrewed the lightbulb in the ceiling, and replaced it with a red light.  I don't know how the party got crackin, but that was one of the best parties in my time at Stanford (no disrespect to Club D or Kev G's party spun by J. Period).  The thing that was so unique about this party was that the playlist was was all slow jams.  WE WERE GETTIN IT IN!! There were no chaperones to separate you when you were dancing to close.  No move was too risque and many of them required tremendous quad strength (Image is not from the actual party).  The morning after was the first time I ever felt pain in my right knee.

Many new relationship were formed as a result of that party and it was officially named "THE DRY HUMP PARTY" (I only remember there being one).

:-)  If anyone has pictures, please share them.

So this mix is the soundtrack for the Dry Hump Party.  It can also be used for the Red Light District in Amsterdam (if you care to get down like that).

GETTIN IT IN MIX

As a dj, the most annoying thing in the world is to receive requests all night long.  I know people mean well, but a lot of the times the song that you want to hear, is just that....the song YOU want to hear.   Most of the time it's not the song that will keep people dancing, bobbing their heads, or whatever effect you're looking for.  So this is my public cry to all my friends to stop requesting songs from djs.  They don't care if it's your birthday (unless you are the one who paid them and booked them). They don't care if it's your favorite song.  They also can't hear you if they have headphones on (pay attention).

DJing is not as simple as pushing a button and listening to whatever song you'd like to hear.  Imagine you were on the floor of the NY Stock Exchange and someone came up to you and was like, "um... I was wondering if you could buy 2000 shares of Microsoft... It's like my favority company!"  Better yet, if a student stood up in your class and said, "I know everyone is reading silently, but can you teach math now?  It's my birthday!"  That wouldn't fly.

There is a catch!!  If you actually make a request that makes sense and works with what I'm playing at the time it could work for you.  Unfortunately, that happens like 1 request out of every 100.

In one of my first business school classes, Prof. Garth Saloner described a classroom scenario that was like having someone jump out of the bushes while you're riding your bike and putting a stick in your spokes. That's what requests are like.

So how do I get my song played?

1. Cut a hole in the box.... (just kidding).

1. I'm starting to ask for requests on Twitter.  If I think the song is worth a spin, I'll try my hardest to work something into the mixes that I post on my blog.

2. If you ask a dj for a song when you're out, make sure it's one that won't leave the dancefloor looking like someone farted out there.

3. Ask once and don't come back unless you have a drink for the dj.

4. Ask when it's not packed.

5. BEST ANSWER - Have the CD ready to play on your ride home

If you want a DJ, you gotta let him/her work. If that's not in your nature, then get one of these.  It's reliable and it plays whatever you ask it to play.

This mix is the result of my first Twitter request.  Big ups to D. Banks for picking a good one.  My apologies for not having clean versions of all songs.  It's the rappers cursing... not me.  ;-)

Down South