One of the major events of the Mardi Gras celebrations in Sydney, Australia is Sleaze Ball held at the beginning of Fall for us northern hemisphere types  or Spring for those southern Down Under folk. The party, a bit  smaller than the main Mardi Gras party that follows the Mardi Gras parade, is a costume party held in Hordern Pavilion & Dome.  This year Sleaze Ball is on October 3, 2009 and the theme is Game On.

The costumes are, I think, the key to the party’s success and the legion of dedicated supporters and fans.  Being in costume allows one to express yourself in a manner as flamboyant and out-there as you wish, the only limitations being your imagination and a marginal sense of public decorum. Wearing a costume also provides a disguise, a license to reveal your “normally secret alter ego”  it is liberating. Certainly Sleaze Ball, in my experience, is the party where strangers become immediate acquaintances, communication on the dance floor flows freely between all and is vocal and tactile, not the surreptitious eye games of affected glances, sideways looks, demure longing stares.

A couple of years ago we attended Sleaze Ball with a theme of Zirkus, the exaggerated escapism and hedonism of the German circus of the 1930’s. We wore bright blue and white form fitting spandex one piece body suits, the fabric was covered with silver glitter. Accessories included matching wrist bands, trailing ribbons at the waist and, in random pattern, lots of little mirrors sewn on to the fabric. We were the “Flying Sky”  trapeze artists. Under normal circumstances, I would not have been caught dead wearing  such an outfit yet with total comfort we walked up Oxford St en route to the party, fielded several comments from bystanders ranging the gamut from insults to compliments which we tossed back with the aplomb of a tennis pro’s volley on the court at Wimbledon. Hordern Pavilion had been transformed into the BIG TOP, small platforms were located at different levels on the over arching structure defining the tent. Jugglers, Fire eaters, Flag and Fire dancers performed on these stages throughout the night supporting the circus atmosphere of the earth-bound clowns, strolling jugglers, stilt walkers and army of other circus fantasy characters. Smiling, happy groups  kept forming, dissolving and reforming as people moved around the dance floor. It seemed everyone was everyone else friend. The overwhelming memory of that night is the warmth, congeniality and humour of the hundreds with whom we talked, danced, chatted, teased, flirted and admired.

We leave for Sydney tomorrow, with our costumes packed and grand anticipation for what will unfold on Saturday night in the Hordern Pavilion & Dome.

DJ M will start with a song, a vocal line, maybe acappella, a melody, a drum sequence, any part of the music robust enough to provide the anchor and form on with to build the remix. He then will add musical components to develop the fuller sound he seeks. These added sounds can be instrumental, synth, vocal, percussion, etc., elements in any of the styles of House, Electro-House, Progressive House, Deep House, Tribal and Trance to achieve the tone, color and emotional feeling he seeks for the remix. The decision as to what kind of elements are chosen depends on his instinctive feeling for the music and the rhythm of the dance at that point in the set. A single set may incorporate several different songs each with a different predominant musical form.

The statement of form, mood, emotion and color of the overall set is manipulated by repetitions of this process. Thus it is unusual for a set of DJ M’s remixes to be in a single musical form or style and seldom can be accurately described as a Trance set or an Deep House set  for example.

DJ M views his technique as essentially the same as the procedure that a fine Chef uses to create new dishes especially with fusion of more than one particular cuisine.  A little Italian Oregano herb, a pinch of Indian Curry powder, a splash of Japanese Shoyu …… smile.  Hence his  use of the term DJ M Fusion Mix to describe his remix style. Additional qualifiers can be added for example: DJ M Fusion Xtended Mix, DJ M Fusion Club Mix, DJ M Fusion Vocal Mashup Mix; the examples are limited only by your imagination and word play skills.

Despite general widespread economic woes, retail Hong Kong was busy. How do they achieve it ….. by facing the facts and providng such deep discounts that buyers are motivated. Armani Emporio at 60% or 70% discount is actually affordable. Never thought I would write such an on the face of it absurd comment! The wardrobe now sports several cool AE T shirts and a drop dead gorgeous raincoat with second top shell that will be way too hot for me to wear in Thailand but I could not resist the bargain! Thus are fools seperated from their cash.

We stayed in the Central Park Hotel, a very cool chic boutique hotel that I can strongly recommend. Staff were excellent, services good, view from the 20 th floor room awesome and breakfast had all the little quirky things I happen to like!

The ferry trip to Kowloon still enchants especially at night as the skyline leaps into multicolor splendour and doubles the joy with rippled reflections across the harbor when we got to the Kowloon side

The new airport is a model of efficiency especially the intown check in and high speed trains, got Narita and Inex beat hands down! Once at the airport hiking boots may be in order if your gate is a distant one as the distances are great.

The definite conclusion is that Hong Kong is still a great venue for a fun and diverse weekend away in SE Asia.

The party after party after party dished up wonderful eye candy with large numbers of buff shirtless men, good music including our friend and Thai DJ Colleague DJ Spectrum K who played his progressive house magic at one of the parties. We attended 3 parties before staggering back for breakfast and a long sleep. Hardier friends continued on through to Sunday evening.

DJ M was guest DJ at VOLUME in Hong Kong on Saturday, August 1, 2009.  Evan Steer, is a wonderful host and warm friend who made DJ M and Roy feel very welcome. There was a lively diverse crowd who obviously were enjoying themselves and DJ M’s music. Despite stiff competition with back to back parties in HK over the entire weekend, the VOLUME crowd stayed until after 2:00 am even though Evan had warned that he expected them to drift off to the other parties after 1:00 am. Evan kindly extended an invitation to return and DJ M would like to do so as it was a lot of fun.

Tag Art Music On Line [TAMO, www.tagartmusic.com] airs DJ M’s fortnightly radio show on Sunday September 13, 2009 at 7:00 PM ET. The show on Sunday September 13, 2009 is DJ M’s tribute to the memory of Michael Jackson. As a former dancer and DJ , DJ M has always admired Michael Jackson’s artistry and genius with both his music and his performances. These new remixes of DJ M’s favorite songs of Michael Jackson are humbly offered as a tribute to a great artist and for your dancing pleasure. Come Danz with Michael and DJ M … 5, 6, 5, 6, 7, 8!