Conference for me has always been it's share of adventure, drama, and outright danger. Historically, I've been injured, robbed, sick, and so forth before or during conference. So, while I love Conference, I always try to walk softly the week or so before.

This year, it actually worked. We'll do this by date, though that could break down with the hours I kept.

03/17 - B-Live

- Not quite Conference, I know, but close enough. Most of the New York crew I was looking forward to hanging out with and having a drink or ten got stranded by some snowstorm up there. So I never got to follow up with getting Jeff tanked. Nonetheless, B-Live went off without a hitch. Our fearless CCO deemed it "the best production we've ever done..." Local heroes Spam All-Stars went well with the breezy late afternoon, Barker with AM was something very worthwhile, but the true show-stealers were Camp Freddy. Watching (and photographing) some of my rock heroes was a real trip. Cover band on steroids, pretty much. Oakie rounded off the night pretty well. Word on the street is more B-Live action Stateside to come. Afterwards, we all retired to Cameo for a drink or ten, some shit-talking, and some quick photo-ops with Camp Freddy alum and Disturbed lead singer Dave Dramain. Not having any life outside of clubland, I wandered off to Space, only to catch some high drama pan out.

03/20 - Pop Tarts III/Perfecto at Cameo

- After a few days slamming out an edit for the B-Live set, I was itching to get out for some Conference action. I was well-rested, healthy, and relatively intact. After doing a quick change, and grabbing some memory cards and some spare batteries for the 30D, I set upon what is rapidly becoming "the" way to start the Conference, namely the Pop Tarts event. Now in it's third year, Pop Tarts features DJs Lee Burridge, Danny Howells, Conway, and Money playing everything but dance music. Well, it's music you can dance to, but not anything like Murk, Cedric Gervais, Southside, Sander Kleinenberg, etc. It could be New Order, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Sir-Mix-A-Lot, whatever strikes their fancy. Host venue Automatic Slim's was packed to the hilt. Promptly made (err pushed, hadn't had a drink yet so wasn't feeling sociable) my way to the stage, where host Diego promptly hands me a very strong drink, so I can at least do my job properly. Various rabid girls (one bit me), and watching Lee, Danny, Money, and Conway play whatever, and successfully mix it, was a trip. In Diego's words, "I'm gonna do this for the next ten years!". Why not? Don't take life so seriously. Have a drink, relax, and realize the DJ doesn't care and neither should you.

Figured I'd take leave around 1:30 or so, and wander off to Cameo. On the way out, Plexi PR's Betty Kang intercepts me, hands me an all-access pass to the Made Events, which came in very handy. More on that later. Anyway, I sauntered off to Cameo. Now, I'm not a huge trance fan these days, but Cameo is South Beach's hottest new club, so I had to scope it out for Conference. Let's put it this way if you haven't seen my photos of the venue yet, there's a shortage of LEDs. Designer Cal Fortis and lighting installer Joe Zamore ransacked every cache of LEDs in the world, and stuck them in the venue. Who needs punch lights when you've got tens of thousands of the little buggers blasting away? And of course, the new sound system by owner/operator Louis Puig (of Space fame), and David Padilla (The Mix, Warsaw) was in full form, with Sandra Collins actually doing a great job. Never been a fan, but teamed up with video artist Vello Virkhaus, it made for a helluva show. Around 2:30ish, Oakie gets on, to much fanfare. He's got some custom intro now which is all subwoofer. Just this bass. It could be a song, but they don't pay me to trainspot, so look it up yourself. You're old enough now. Photo op time. I like to use the light rather than blast with my flash, but this guy from a certain Euro wanna-be-CP site made that impossible. Oakie and just about everyone else was blind. No courtesy from this guy. Gives the rest of us who choke on cigarette smoke to bring you club photos a bad name. I eventually got my images, but it took a bit. Needed a drink after that. Then another. Then another from the extremely kind Emma from Chaotica. I was sociable by then. Oddly enough, the event was sponsored in part by Tao, out of Las Vegas. They had this girl in a tub of water in roses out front with the Tao logo projected above her. A quick snap, but I mused to a bartender that she'll be all prune-y after sitting in there for two hours. Some more socializing, image capturing, and around 4 or so, Paul drops the trance I remember. Beachball, Flaming June, Greece 2000, etc. The beach being what it is, we gotta split at 5, but it managed to go till 5:10. Not bad for Day 1.

03/21 - Club World Awards/Danny Howells Digs Deeper/Lights Out/Subliminal

The first true marathon day. I banged out a quick edit at the office, and then trundled over to Opium Garden for the Club World Awards. It's by the club tech/operator mag Club Systems International, so the crowd is the people who really make the clubs go, the DJs, the owners, the installers. And some promoters that have been around for more than a week. CSI always invites me, so how can I say no? In attendance was a plethora of clubland luminaries. Danny Tenaglia. Alan T. Rob Fernandez. Scumfrog. D:FUSE. Deep Dish. Second Sun. Cedric Gervais. Oscar G, the whole Pacha NYC crew...too many to list. Plenty of photo ops, and free Bacardi. I showed up with a friend who was kind enough to pay cab fare if I got her in. So I made good on that, and in we went. The show's a hoot. Stuff only real club geeks care about, but a hoot nonetheless. Legend Oscar G walked away with "Best Resident DJ", and local sound reinforcement outfit Infinite Audio walked away with the best sound system award for their work at Pacha NYC. And Privé picked up "Best Lounge". Miami ruled the CWAs.

A few free drinks later, a quick pit-stop so my friend could change from daytime-wear to nighttime-wear, and then a random decision to hit up Danny Howells at Pawn Shop, as we were late and had pretty much missed Ali (Dubfire's) CD release party at Mynt. The Danny Howells event was put on by Made, so the pass Ms. Kang kindly provided me with came in super handy. It was +1 so my friend was doubly glad to front the cab fare. Not to mention new manager of Pawn Shop, Paul Brown, kindly provided some Grey Goose-and-tonics upon entry. I've worked with him at previous assignments and he knows my poison. Danny was on the decks, and kicking it off in style. Sometimes he starts a little slow, but by the time we were there, it wasn't noticeable. The crowd was into it hardcore. Which is good. I cannot work with a dead crowd. Or a hipster crowd. Why'd I say that? Anyway, clambering onto the Mack truck that forms Pawn Shop's DJ booth, I angle for a few choice Danny images. Danny can mix, make a face for the camera, and probably sip an energy drink all at once. Had to bust out a remote flash since PS's lighting array doesn't often point into the booth, and the nearest fixture has low output, so no use asking the LD. (Trade secret, if you shoot in a club, get to know your lighting tech. They can be your best asset. Know the basics of lighting too.)

By then, my surplus Blackberry (I never buy new phones) is buzzing, telling me Steve Lawler is ruling Twilo at the moment, so I make haste. My cab buddy had found some Conference friends, so she was in good hands. I bid farewell, and ran around the corner. Twilo, like it's New York namesake is a tech tour-de-force. And Steve was using it to the maximum. The party is called Lights Out, but the lights were not out, but very deep