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DJs – THEN & NOW, Week 9: STEVE AOKI!

A long time ago, the great DJ Steve Loria once told me that the best part of being a DJ was being able to have his cake and eat it, too. What he meant by that was the fact that he could play the most amazing house music he could find, and make lots of people happy in the process. Today, we have another DJ named Steve who likes to have his cake and eat it, too…actually, a more accurate way to put it would be having his cake and then throwing it into his audience! Yeah, I think you know who we’re talking about here! From the depths of Hollywood depravity (ha!) comes the EDM generation’s favorite destroyer of desserts, the one and only STEVE AOKI!

Steve Aoki

The photo on the left was taken at the old LAX club in Hollywood, where Steve and the late DJ AM used to hold court regularly. The one on the right is from Steve’s book signing at The Last Bookstore in DTLA.

Anyone for some Benihana?

“DJs – THEN & NOW”, Week 8: MARK FARINA!!!

What’s up, people! Yes, it’s time once again for “DJs – Then & Now”, and this time around it’s our pleasure to acknowledge another old-school house master who definitely has made his mark on the electronic music world. In fact, it’s pretty to hard to find many American DJs who’ve made such an impression that fans marked their calendars after his performances so that they could look back and smile on a night that rocked their world. Yes, it’s the one and only MARK FARINA!!

Mark Farina FINAL

Wow, eighteen years and a beard are sure ways to mark a change, aren’t they? One thing that hasn’t changed–the amazing house beats that Mark has blessed the rave scene with for the past two decades! This man is definitely worth checking out, as you’ll see in this clip from one of his performances at Sound in Hollywood!

So what excuse do you now have for missing this guy’s show? Answer: NONE! And furthermore, the EDM generation definitely could use a good lesson about quality house music from time to time, so it’s fantastic that people like Mark have been providing that music all these years. So the next time Mark comes to your town, do yourself a favor…don’t miss him!!

OFFICIAL BOOK SIGNING PARTY on Friday, Dec. 4th at COUTURE HOLLYWOOD!

We’ve got a BIG signing party coming up this FRIDAY, DEC. 4th at COUTURE HOLLYWOOD! Here’s author Michael Tullberg’s latest blog post that has all the details!

*Whew!* Thanksgiving week is over with, and I have a lot to be thankful for, that’s for sure. I have a lot of people who believe in what I do, and more people every day finding out about “DANCEFLOOR THUNDERSTORM“. This past week in particular was very productive and hectic, because the book got a big spike in attention and sales, thanks to back-to-back web articles from two huge Internet outlets! The first was from the mother of all dance music, the legendary Mixmag in the UK. Mixmag has been around longer than any other dance music magazine in the world; they are the premiere global authority on electronic music. They were they first in, they’re the last one standing from the old guard, and they’ve always reigned at the top of their field, both print and web-based. So when you get their official stamp of approval for your work, that means you’ve accomplished a lot. The dance music community in Europe and the UK jumped all over this, re-running the gallery story loads of times. Lots of domestic outlets reported on it, too. A print article is in the works as well–will update you on that when the time comes. Here’s the link to the original story:

http://www.mixmag.net/read/the-time-before-edm-blog

Now, normally getting a big shout-out from an organization like Mixmag would be enough complimentary showcasing to last a whole week–except nobody told the people at Buzzfeed that! The very next day after the Mixmag piece came out, Buzzfeed released their own image gallery of my work, stirring up even more Internet reaction. Their approval charts were extremely favorable, which means the word got spread around to a lot of other Internet outlets who normally wouldn’t have found out about the book. Plus, there have been more requests from other web pages to provide them with pictures in the wake of this article–quite nice! And, it looks like we may have secured our seventh retail outlet, and we’re fishing for more…a very big fish, in one case. Again, details to follow…here’s the Buzzfeed article for now:

And to top it all off, I was also shooting most of the week either for Getty, or for the VRtuality show that went off at Avalon yesterday. So I’m also thankful for this day of rest so I can recharge and get ready for another busy week, which culminates on Friday with my Official Book Signing Party for “DANCEFLOOR THUNDERSTORM“! That’s gonna be a killer show, with Steve Loria, Eve Falcon, Reza Gerami, Riley Warren and Danny B spinning! Plus, there’s NO COVER! That’s right, free admission all night long! plus there’s gonna me free drinks for the first hour thanks to some great sponsorship from Serpent’s Bite Whisky, too. And I’ll be there selling and signing books! It’s gonna be a great night, so I hope you folks invite who you like and bring yourselves down to Couture Hollywood, which is at 1640 Cahuenga Blvd. in L.A.
SEE YOU THERE!!!

NEW HOLIDAY BOOK SIGNING TOUR for “Dancefloor Thunderstorm”!

NOW APPEARING at a party near you…it’s the new “DANCEFLOOR THUNDERSTORM Holiday Book Tour”, in support of DANCEFLOOR THUNDERSTORM: Land Of The Free, Home Of The Rave! The tour is taking place in select electronic music-related events in Southern California during the 2015 holiday season, where author Michael Tullberg will autograph copies of DANCEFLOOR THUNDERSTORM (available for purchase at the events), and reminisce about some of the legendary parties of all time like EDC, Nocturnal Wonderland, Dune and many more!

Being the very first rave photo book in America, DANCEFLOOR THUNDERSTORM is naturally the ideal holiday gift for electronic music fans of all ages. Whether they’re original ravers looking to go return to the legendary parties they loved so much, or new EDM fans who wants to learn about the history of this culture, DANCEFLOOR THUNDERSTORM is the must-have rave accessory for the 2015 holiday season.

The “DANCEFLOOR THUNDERSTORM Holiday Book Tour” is taking place at the following events:

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DATE                     EVENT                                              LOCATION                           DETAILS

Nov. 22                 re:love Los Angeles                         Elysian Park, L.A.               Facebook/social media

Nov. 28                 EDMX/After Hour Power              Avalon Hollywood              afterhourpower.com

Dec. 4                   Official DFTS Signing Party         Couture Hollywood          Facebook/social media

Dec. 12                 Ken Ishii/Incognito show               TBD                                       Facebook/social media

Dec. 31                 Together As One                               Silverado, CA                     http://newyearsevela.com/2016/

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DANCEFLOOR THUNDERSTORM is also available for ordering online at www.dancefloorthunderstorm.com, and at select book and music stores in and around Los Angeles, including Amoeba Music, Book Soup, and Skylight Books.

 

New book launch party details!

Hey everyone,

What’s up? Good news: the plans for the book launch party is now all set! The official date is now October 8, 2015, and the venue is the great INDUSTRY DTLA salon & event space! Here’s the DJ lineup:

Mark Lewis
Riley Warren
Freddy Be
Jason Blakemore

AND…the party is FREE, from 7:00 – 11:00 PM! This is gonna be a great night of old-school fun, and we hope that many of you can make it down! More details TBA!

Image from Massive Armageddon!

Image from Massive Armageddon!

BOOK RELEASE PARTY!

GREAT NEWS! “DANCEFLOOR THUNDERSTORM: Land Of The Free, Home Of The Rave” is at this moment being printed up and will be released later this year! After a successful IndieGogo campaign earlier this summer that raised upwards of $10,000.00, the presses are rolling and the final product is finally going to be available to the general public!

HUGE thanks to all the contributors who helped make this possible! And get ready for a book release party, most likely in early October! Stay tuned for updates!!