I still get excited every time I am scheduled to DJ at Barefoot Boogie NYC! It surprises me each event, because in my head, one of these days I am not going to be so excited and pumped for the gig. I have been the DJ there so many times now and feel like I am part of what happens. It is such a positive experience for me and the dance community.
What is The Barefoot Boogie?
The Barefoot Boogie is a freestyle dance which happens twice a month in New York City. We offer a relaxed, smoke- and alcohol-free environment where folks can freely express themselves in movement.
People of all ages, families and kids are welcome. Come alone or bring your friends. You’ll find folks at the dance moving solo, with partners, and/or in groups. Dress as you wish, but please leave your street shoes at the door before hitting the dance floor. The Barefoot Boogie is a not-for-profit, cooperative and volunteer-run venture.
From our pool of talented DJs, two spin each dance. Each of our DJs has his or her own distinctive style, but one thing you can rely on is that at every Barefoot Boogie you’ll hear a wide variety of music: R&B, World, Funk, Tribal, Hip Hop, Ambient, Reggae, House, African, Electronica, Disco, Rock, Techno, Drum & Bass, etc.
Where and When is The Barefoot Boogie?
Our normal schedule is the second and fourth Saturday of each month. We currently have the following format for the dance.
From 8:00 pm – 11:30 pm (possibly extended to 12:00). We start off with warm-up music. On alternate Boogies (usually the 4th Saturday), we have a dance-related class that ends at 9:15, followed by DJed music. At 10:00, we’ll have a community/announcement circle where new folks are welcomed, we give an overview of the dance community, and anyone is invited to announce a service they offer, an apartment for rent, or an initiative they want to share. This is followed by our traditional circle dance (holding hands), and the rest of the evening is DJed music where you are free to express yourself in whatever way you like!
I created two of these Teen Dance Party Mixes for a Christmas Present for someone’s daughter. She is nine years old and is both a Classical Pianist and a lover of Pop Music that she can dance to. I figured these might be helpful for someone else as well, whether it be for a teenager having a Dance Party, a Sweet Sixteen or a client wanting to hire me for their Teen Dance Party. Most of the songs were released in 2012 but some of are from 2010 and 2011 as well to add some flavor.
Teen Dance Party Mix Part I
Teen Dance Party Mix Part I - DJ Mystical Michael
If you would like me to send you a CD version, please fill-out the Contact Form with your information and I will be glad to ship it to you. Here is the link to Teen Dance Party Part II.
This is the second part of the DJ Teen Dance Party Mix Series. Teen Dance Party Part I was more focused on 2012 with some 2011 & 2010 additions, where-as Teen Dance Party Part II is more focused on 2011 & 2010 with some 2012 splashed-in to keep it fresh. Here is the link to Teen Dance Party Part I.
DJ Teen Dance Party Mix Part II
Teen Dance Party Mix Part II - DJ Mystical Michael
Gerry Rafferty Baker Street was released in 1978, some consider one of the great years for Pop Music. This was three years after the dissolving of his previous band, Stealers Wheel due to contract disputes with the recording company. It reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and stayed there for six weeks. Rafferty was born and raised in Scotland.
Gerry Rafferty Baker Street featured saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft. Ravenscroft was mostly known for his work with Pink Floyd that earned him critical success. There is an urban legend that Ravenscroft was never paid for his session work on Gerry Rafferty Baker Street. This is significant since Gerry Rafferty Baker Street was number 1 in the U.K. and number two in The U.S.A., and the royalties and sales that came with an international hit even in these days. When asked about this, Ravenscroft stated this is not true and that he was paid but there are still many who believe he was just not wanting to shed a bad light on Rafferty after his passing in 2011.
Gerry Rafferty Baker Street Music Video
The single version of Gerry Rafferty Baker Street was recorded with the tape of the album version sped up slightly to raise the tempo to be more radio-friendly. This also had the result of raising the key by a half tone.
Gerry Rafferty Baker Street Lyrics
Winding your way down on Baker Street
Light in your head and dead on your feet
Well another crazy day, you’ll drink the night away
And forget about everything
This city desert makes you feel so cold
It’s got so many people but it’s got no soul
And it’s taken you so long to find out you were wrong
When you thought it held everything
You used to think that it was so easy
You used to say that it was so easy
But you’re tryin’, you’re tryin’ now
Another year and then you’d be happy
Just one more year and then you’d be happy
But you’re cryin’, you’re cryin’ now
Way down the street there’s a lad in his place
He opens the door, he’s got that look on his face
And he asks you where you’ve been, you tell him who you’ve seen
And you talk about anything
He’s got this dream about buyin’ some land
He’s gonna give up the booze and the one night stands
And then he’ll settle down in some quiet little town
And forget about everything
But you know he’ll always keep movin’
You know he’s never gonna stop movin’
Cause he’s rollin’, he’s the rollin’ stone
And when you wake up it’s a new morning
The sun is shining, it’s a new morning
And you’re going, you’re going home
I have had several customers ask me lately for copies they can listen to or keep of my professional DJ Mixes, so I produced the DJ Spring 2012 Top 40 Mix. I am going to start creating Music Players for many mixes of different genre available for listening. I posted the DJ Spring 2012 Top 40 Mix first due to the need for access to what is popular now for clients wanting to hear that my professional DJ music library is current, which it always is.
DJ Spring 2012 Top 40 Mix
Spring 2012 Top 40 Mix - DJ Mystical Michael
If you would like a CD copy, I invite you to contact me and I will mail you one for free!
A refreshing and more intimate ABBA Happy New Year Song for professional DJs and listeners.
ABBA Happy New Year Song Music Video
It is a treat to hear a New Year’s song that is not about drinking and partying exclusively like ABBA Happy New Year Song. For me, the passing of the years has been a period of reflection. I have found it interesting that ABBA has made a career of writing songs that have more to them than meets the ear at first listen with positive, cheerful tones. In some ways, similar to how Elton John and Bernie Taupin blended often dark or reflective lyrics to melodies acceptable for popular airplay and sales.
ABBA has sold over 370 million records worldwide and still sells millions of records a year, which makes them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. ABBA was the first pop group to come from a non-English-speaking country that enjoyed consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the UK, Ireland, the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The group also enjoyed significant success in Latin American markets, and recorded a collection of their hit songs in Spanish.
Every year at this time, Dan Fogelberg Same Old Lang Syne comes to mind. It is a sad song but touching and beautiful.
Dan Fogelberg was a writer, singer and multi-instrumentalist. He died December 16, 2007. This song was from his most commercially successful album The Innocent Age in 1981. The double-album with three other hits including “Leader Of The Band” was also regarded critically as one, if not his best work.
Dan Fogelberg Same Old Lang Syne Music Video
Dan Fogelberg Same Old Lang Syne has that bittersweet feel that suites the New Year’s feeling of reflecting back and looking forward simultaneously not sure what to make of both.
Dan Fogelberg Same Old Lang Syne references two lovers from long ago who run into each other at a supermarket. They deicide to have a drink together and it ends up to be a six-pack in her car. After the second toast, the conversation runs dry and they say their goodbyes.
After Fogelberg’s death, the women Dan Fogelberg Same Old Lang Syne was written about came forward and shared her story. She said there were a couple of inaccuracies in his lyrics but mostly true of their high school romance and break-up at departure for college. The liquor store they bought the six-pack is still in business today.
I heard Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi Chiayya Chiayya first during the opening and closing of the film The Inside Man with Denzel Washington. It blew me away immediately and searched online from South Korea, where I was living at the time, for the Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi Chiayya Chiayya to download. It has since been one of my favorite songs to dance and move to. As a professional DJ, I do not have many events where this song can make its appearance.
Chaiyya Chaiyya Inside Job Clip
Like many Indian hit songs, it initially was from the film, Dil Se, and gained popularity from the great music video on the train. The lyrics are based on a Sufi folk song, originally in Urdu named “Thaiyya Thaiyya” by the poet Bulleh Shah.
Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi Chiayya ChiayyaMusic Video
The lyrics below are in both English and transliterated for English readers. Beautiful stuff!
Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi Chiayya Chiayya Lyrics
Jinke Sar Ho Ishq Ki Chaaon
He whose head is in the shadow of love
Paanv Ke Neeche Jannat Hogi
Will have heaven beneath his feet
Jinke Sar Ho Ishq Ki Chaaon
Whose head is in the shadow of love
Saare Ishq Ki Chaaon Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya
Saare Ishq Ki Chaaon Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in heaven
Paanv Janat Chale Chal Chaiya Chaiya
Paanv Janat Chale Chal Chaiya Chaiya
Walk in the shadow
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in the shadow
Saare Ishq Ki Chaaon Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya
Saare Ishq Ki Chaaon Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in heaven
Paanv Janat Chale Chal Chaiya Chaiya
Paanv Janat Chale Chal Chaiya Chaiya
Walk in the shadow
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in the shadow
Woh Yaar Hai Jo Khusboo Ki Tarah
There’s a friend who is like a sweet fragrance
Jiski Zubaan Urdu Ki Tarah
Whose words are like poetry ( Urdu , the language of poetry )
Meri Shamo – Raat Meri Kaynaat
Who is my evening , my night , my existence
Woh Yaar Mera Saiyyan Saiyyan
That friend is my beloved !
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in the shadow
Gulposh Kabhi Itraye Kahin
Sometimes ( My beloved ) flirts like a flower
Mehke To Nazar Aa Jaye Kahin
So fragrantly that you may see her scent
Gulposh Kabhi Itraye Kahin
Sometimes ( My beloved ) flirts like a flower
Mehke To Nazar Aa Jaye Kahin
So fragrantly that you may see her scent
Taabeez Banaa Ke Pahnoo Use
Having made it into an charm , I will wear it
Aayat Ki Tarah Mil Jaaye Kahin
She shall be obtained as a miracle is obtained
Taabeez Banaa Ke Pahnoo Use
Having made it into an charm , I will wear it
Aayat Ki Tarah Mil Jaaye Kahin
She shall be obtained as a miracle is obtained
Gulposh Kabhi Itraye Kahin
Sometimes ( My beloved ) flirts like a flower
Mehke To Nazar Aa Jaye Kahin
So fragrantly that you may see her scent
Mera Nagma Wahi Mera Kalma Wahi
She is my song, my declaration of faith ( Kalama: the Muslim confession of faith , as in , “La ilaaha il Allah” – “There is no God but Allah” )
Mera Nagma Wahi Mera Kalma Wahi
She is my song, my declaration of faith ( Kalama: the Muslim confession of faith , as in , “La ilaaha il Allah” – “There is no God but Allah” )
Woh Yaar Hai Jo Imaam Ki Tarah
My friend is like a priest to me
Mera Nagama Nagama
My song…..
Mera Qalama Qalama
My declaration of faith…..
Yaar Misaale Os Chale
She moves like the dew
Panv Ke Tale Firdaus Chale
She walks with the garden of heaven beneath her feet
Kabhi Daal Daal Kabhi Paat Paat
Sometimes through the branches , sometimes amidst the leaves
Main Hawa Pe Dhoondho Uske Nishaan
I shall search the wind for her trail !
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in the shadow
Main Uske Roop Ka Sedaai
I trade in her beauty
Woh Dhoop Chhaanhon Sa Harjaaii
Fickle , she flits shamelessly from sun to shade
Woh Shokh Rang Badalta Hai
She changes her bright colors
Main Rang Roop Ka Saudaai
I negotiate that as well
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in the shadow
Woh Yaar Hai Jo Khusboo Ki Tarah
There’s a friend who is like a sweet fragrance
Jiski Zubaan Urdu Ki Tarah
Whose words are like poetry ( Urdu , the language of poetry )
Meri Shamo – Raat Meri Kaynaat
Who is my evening , my night , my existence
Woh Yaar Mera Saiyyan Saiyyan
That friend is my beloved !
Amazing version #4! I loved Landslide when it was first released by Fleetwood Mac in 1975 written by Stevie Nicks. I had the opportunity to see Fleetwood Mac perform Landslide outdoors twice in the summer of 1977 on their Rumors Tour. I had such a crush on Stevie:)
Fleetwood Mac Landslide Music Video
Then there was an excellent cover by Smashing Pumpkins which took residence in my car CD player for a month or so.
Amazing version #3 was by The Dixie Chicks who had a huge crossover hit with it and I just recently had a request for this version.
Now, Bush has released another version that is equally as forceful and full of Soul and passion!
Bush Landslide (Rooftop Version) Music Video
Stevie Nicks wrote this while debating going back to college or what to do with her romantic and musical partner Lindsay Buckingham. She was gazing out a window in Aspen, Colorado reflecting on her choices, “looking out at the Rocky Mountains pondering the avalanche of everything that had come crashing down on us … at that moment, my life truly felt like a landslide in many ways.”
Landslide Lyrics
I took my love, I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
‘Till the landslide brought me down
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love
Can the child within my heart rise above
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life
Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older too
Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older too
Oh, I’m getting older too
Oh, take my love, take it down
Oh, climb a mountain and turned around
And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down
And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down
Oh, the landslide will bring it down
It is hard to imagine that these three much celebrated artists could somehow all record together on the same song, will.i.am feat. Mick Jagger & Jennifer Lopez T.H.E. The Hardest Ever.
Apparently Mick Jagger is ending the year strong between the Maroon 5 hit, “Moves Like Jagger” and his performance on will.i.am feat. Mick Jagger & Jennifer Lopez T.H.E. The Hardest Ever, somehow he is back in the limelight again. What may be more amazing is that he is sixty-eight years old! How has he lasted this long with the lifestyle he has chosen? Is it true that last year he was quoted saying that he has a daily meditation and Buddhist practice? Is that the source of his youthful existence? His short piece on will.i.am feat. Mick Jagger & Jennifer Lopez T.H.E. The Hardest Ever even sounds good.
will.i.am feat. Mick Jagger & Jennifer Lopez T.H.E. The Hardest Ever Ever Music Video
willl.i.am continues to find creative means for producing pop hits without following the typical prescriptions. He does things his own way and makes music that is completely will.i.am-ish, like will.i.am feat. Mick Jagger & Jennifer Lopez T.H.E. The Hardest Ever.
“You can go hard or you can go home.”
Critical Response to will.i.am feat. Mick Jagger & Jennifer Lopez T.H.E. The Hardest Ever
The song has received mixed reviews from music critics. Simon Vozick-Levinson wrote a mixed review for Rolling Stone, stating that on the single will.i.am “strews dodgy rhymes (“I woke up in the morning/Hard like morning wood in the morning”) over diamond-bright synths, while J. Lo handles the efficient hook. It all feels a bit perfunctory – except for Mick’s guest verse, a kitschy delight delivered in a “Midnight Rambler” snarl.
The website “DJ Booth” also gave to the song a mixed review, writing that “this tough-as-nails cut finds Will, “Audiobot” and Dallas Austin teaming up to craft a danceable synth-percussion beat to back the B.E.P.mastermind as he delivers his trademark blend of Auto-Tuned singing and guilty-pleasure punchline lyricism. After a tuneful guest verse from J-Lo (who also lends her vocals to the chorus), the Rolling Stones frontman grabs the mic to flaunt his considerable swagger (and his poor math skills: “Hard like geometry, trigonometry / This is crazy—psychology”) in a gruff closing 16.”
Amy Sciarretto of “Pop Crush” wrote that “This is not a pretty dance song. It’s harsh, rough around the edges and, well, hard.” Billboard‘s Chris Payne wrote that ” The concept sounds crazy, but Will.i.am is the perfect studio whiz to oversee the commotion. The master of ceremonies adds to the fun by referencing “Back to the Future” to the Wu-Tang Clan to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in his opening verse.
