Chicago Vibe Alive

Posts Tagged ‘travel’

It has been too long. Promise I will be back posting with some great shots. Some quick ones here of a night time tour. I have been wanting a shot of the Philly Church for some time so I am glad I get a good one. MW

Sky Ride

If you go to Los Angeles you need to go to BOTH of the Gettys. I recently visited the Malibu Villa location and it was like going to another country. You have to make reservations prior so I went online and filled out the form. But, supposedly I needed to bring a print out of my “confirmatuion”. When I got to the gate they asked for my ticket. I told them didn’t have it and I thought I would be on their list. The lady proceeded to explain how I didn’t do what I was suppossed to and then asked if I was really from Chicago (saw my ID). The guard said she lived in Chicago for a bit and asked me to “prove it”.  I then had to lay down some Chicago ramblings: “So I get pastries cooked in a brick oven off Devon and California from a Georgian bakery, I like to stop by Morse Market when I’m in the area, if I want to feel like I’m in Jamaica or the islands I get a meat pie off Howard, I get my daily groceries at Harvest Time market on Lawrence and Rockwell,” I proceed to explain a Chicago dog after that was it. She got the hint and lets us through.

When You enter the Getty the layout is confusing, but then you quickly get a handle on things. The sculpture garden transports you to Italy in about 5 minutes of being there (if not too busy of a day). The pool, the greenery and black iron (I suppose) sculptures spread across an area a bit smaller than a football field.

Inside are amazingly preserved artifacts  from Roman and Greek cultures. There were two statues of Hercules – one from Greek culture and one from Roman. Other pieces to note are the extensive glass and coin collections. They provided some cameos etched in glass that you could view through a digitalized microscope camera. Overall, the food was great (true at both of their museums), not crowded and best of all you felt like you left the country.

Malibu was really crowded so my friend and I drove down to Venice Beach. I always imagined “Venice Beach” as what all of Claifornia and Los Angeles looked like when I was young.  It was everything I thought it would be: Great mix of people, green portions of short dense grass great for sitting, extensive clean sand beaches and great activities like handball, gymnastics, basketball, bikers, rollerbladers, funnel cake vendors, fortune tellers, all around. I really want to get a shot of the iconic handball courts. It was about 4 pm and the sun was going down creating shadows that were perfect. Only problem was I was too far back to get the exact shoot I wanted. Have to go back.

Last spot to mention was the LA Zoo. Very cool set-up for a zoo. All of the cages were placed outdoors and most of the inhabitants were birds. Got some funny shots with the black and white.  There was tropical foliage all over and the zoo grounds were kept very clean. Thinking about the Boston Zoo it is nice to know they are doing well. The seal underwater shoot is my favorite picture I have taken in months.

All black and whites are 35mm film and color are digital shoots. – Matt

Getty Sculpture Garden

View from the top of the Getty Malibu Villa entrance

This is my last DJ mix post for a while unless I want to dig into the vaults of crappy mixes that I recorded for practice but I think I am the only one who enjoys those mixes. The Wanderlust mix came at an intersting cross-roads in my life, I had just returned from a global trek through Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Tonga. I had finally graduated from college a year prior and was in Minneapolis struggling to find work. I had recently been contacted by a friend in Chicago to DJ a loft party on Halloween and I saw this as my chance to do some self promotion so I put together this mix. The loft party turned out to be epic and one of the most ridiculous venues I have every played and subsequently moved to Chicago and played the same party 4 more times since that night.

Here are a few clips from the last year we did it back in 2006, by far our biggest turnout, almost 1000 people showed up, I overheated the amps at least 3 times, had to take about a 10 minute time out until they cooled off each time and the cops showed up. Someone kicked in the door of my bedroom, we found crack on the floor etc… this is really nothing out of the ordinary, each one of these parties were very similar with regards to debauchery. Anyone who has been to one can surely attest to that.

The mix again crosses a lot of different sub-genres of house music. Starting out deeper and progressing into a couple vocal tracks. I played one of two of the only 2-step records I own and segued that into some minimal tech house from Osbourne with his track Afrika on the Ghostly’s Spectral label.

Other highlights are the progressive Olav Bososki mix of the raggae classic from Sister Nancy, “Bam Bam”. This track is soooo addictive and when I heard this remix I needed to have it ASAP so I could play it at that party, it went over well with the diverse crowd. When you are dealing with a crowd of maniacal Halloween-ers all in costume, shitfaced in a packed loft full of 900 people there tends to be some magic in the air and I would take full advantage of that and try to work them into a frenzy. Anyways, here is a clip of the original from Sister Nancy that was released in the early 80′s.

I finished the mix with the CZR classic “Bad Enough” on Subliminal. I first heard this record on a Charles Feelgood mix back in 1998 and didn’t find the record until about 2003. This sucker just drives and I aspire to make tech house music like this. Just beating up the same sample over and over and making a disco floor burner out of it by building so much depth into the track. Love it!

Click here to download the mix tracked out and ready for itunes or listen below

1. Feel The Vibe – Too Strong presents No Chance
2. Unknown – Unknown
3. Make Me Freak – Grant Dell
4. Shuggie Love – Monkey Bars feat. Gabrielle Widman
5. Ladies & Gentleman(Pound Boys Gold Coast Remix)- B-Funk
6. Vibe is Tight – Thomas Sahs and Ben Wah
7. Crazy Love (Stubborn’s UK Garage Mix) – Full FX Crew feat. LD
8. Afrika – Osborne
9. The Test (CZR re-edit) – Mantese
10. Indian Summer (Water Fire Rhythm Love EP2) – Olav Basoski
11. Color Blind (The Catalyst Sampler v3.0) – Rhythm Section
12. Waterman (Water Fire Rhythm Love EP2) – Olav Basoski
13. Bad Enough – CZR