mink

My brother gave me some tracks from the Trance Nation Hits 2007 CD last night, and I have got to say ... it's probably the most solid music I've heard for a while! Tracks 1, 2, 4 and 5 below are some samples from the collection. 1. Giuseppe Ottaviani - Through your eyes (Thomas Brozwear mix) 2. Dave 202 - Generate the wave (Original mix) 3. Benny Benassi - Feel alive 4. C-Quence Pres. Assure - Enemy Territory (Original mix) 5. Epos - Vivagio (DJ Danjo & Rob Styles remix)

It's been a while since I updated my blog, but a lot has been going on. I was at Lafayette a few days ago, and then John and Olga came down for the weekend. I ended up seeing the Statue of Libery, and taking some amazing photographs! I'll be putting those up on my website soon (thanks to Olga's Fuji). Also, one of my friends from back in the day invited us to a house party, and I already have my hands on some new music from that night. Rest assured that those tracks - as well as tracks from a hot Trance Nation album my brother gave me to listen to whilst on the subway - all be incorporated into my new mixes: "Rhythm Electro (Episode 3) - And Beyond" and "Revolution Trance (Episode 5) - Subway". Speaking of which, I've been window-shopping online for speakers, and I can't wait until I can get them. You'll know when I do :) Otherwise, New York continues to burn my wallet beyond extremes, but I'm learning how to deal with it. I'm in coll...

So I have officially moved into New York City as off yesterday! I'm really excited, and I start my internship on Wednesday. In the meantime, we'll be getting all the orientation jazz out of the way for classes and such. It's going to be a good semester, hopefully! In other news, I need to set up my deck and get cracking on those mixes. If all works out with my next paycheck (ching ching), dj ace is going to get a major upgrade. I'm thinking about getting monitor speakers, since I know I'll be doing some recording in the near future, so stay tuned with that. Otherwise, don't forget to listen to the 4th episode of my 'Revolution Trance' series - 'Into the Sky', mixed and recorded live in December! More coming soon. -- Small steps. Big things. http://www.alaminkheraj.com

Been getting swamped with good music, so I thought I'd let you guys in on some of it. Here's what's been playing a lot on my computer: :: Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland - Promiscuous girl (Crunk remix) :: Fedde le Grand - Get this feeling :: Fonzerelli - Moonlight party :: Karen Overton - Your loving arms (Original club mix) :: a LOT of Shawn Mitiska Happy listening!

It's cold, I've only done half the things I wanted to do today, and I lost 2 monopoly games today. Yeah ... it blows. But it's not the end yet. I have tomorrow morning left to run around like a headless chicken. Might not be able to make my mix tonight. Worry not though, because yesterday I got some tracks that I figure I'm going to have to make a new hip hop mix for!

So I realized that my term here at Lafayette is almost done for the interim. And as usual, I realized this a bit too late. Lotta things have to be sorted over the next 3 days, some less exciting than others. Most importantly, I have to catch up with a new mix (Rhythm Electro Episode 3 - And Beyond) which, to my disappointment, I failed to play this past Saturday as planned. I'll hopefully be able to make it tomorrow night, if I manage to tackle some EXCEL work. And then ... I'm off to New York City! I have an appointment with a certain Balkan. "Acetronik to Misson Control ... Permission to shift into Sixth."

Yes, it works - just next time, I'll remember to take off my signature below! In other news ... I'm currently trying to find a way in which to integrate the blog template into my website. As you've probably realised, it's inconvenient to go to an external page just to read my blog when you're on my website. Also, I'll be working on how to play my mixes from the website, as opposed to being able to download them.

Ah, what can I say - I had to try this out (e-mailing a blog-address to have it automatically post). Whether its a good or bad thing, I think I am getting the hang of this. -- Small steps. Big things. http://www.alaminkheraj.com

I forgot to mention - the iPhone is out!

So I finally embedded a dedicated 'dj ace' calendar onto my website . It's not all that, but it's something for potential bookers to look me up with. Someday, it'll all be done in flash ... for now, I gotta keep my feet on the ground. I still have to work on putting up some photos, and I have to also update the FAAP website. Those updates should be coming in the next few weeks. Less than two weeks of break left. In two Wednesday's I'll already be in Manhattan for orientation with the BGIA program. Yikes.

So I think I've made a pretty solid decision on where I want to go after I graduate from Lafayette: I'm going home. I think I may have finally found a way in which to combine making music with building community spirit and encouraging the alleviation of poverty. I'm not going to say much about the idea because I have a lot to figure out, but in short words, I intend on teaching kids back in Dar-es-Salaam how to DJ, mix and record, through FAAP's Tanzania branch. That's all for now, more coming later :)

So here I am, a week into the year 2007, and already things are beginning to take shape. There's a lot I want to accomplish this year, and hopefully, with the right amount of focus and work, I'll get there. For some reason, I keep thinking that goals have become even more important than they ever used to be, and that as long as I have some kind of target to hit, I can hit it. For now, I'm caught up with a few things here on campus. Whoever says that staying at Lafayette over vacation is boring isn't doing the right things. I'm working with the Network Center, doing research, helping to fill out an FAAP/UWC proposal amongst other tasks, but I'm still having a great time. 3 weeks until Bard in NYC and I can't wait!

OK, so I've gotten this to work with my website. Posts will directly update the links and such on the ww2 server at Lafayette. I'm thinking I'll use this until I have my own domain and webspace. Until then, this should be good to go!

Just testing to see if my blog works, afterall! I never thought I'd actually start a complete blog. Wow ...