NYE (Part One): On the Decks Tonight...

Sifting through my New Years snaps, it seems that there are just too many good'uns, so I thought I'd split them up a bit; save peoples' scrolling finger some energy.

For those that don't know, I spent the night with some mates at a bungalow (not a cottage) in rainy Shaftesbury, which is a quaint little Dorset town pretty much due south of Bristol.



I took along my decks, and Richard was under strict instructions to ensure that I didn't take any of my breaks/drum'n'bass records, as Mr Freakes was going to bring along his collection of cheesy 80's seven-inches that had gone down so well at his Birthday party (although I did manage to sneak in a little bag of my own!)

Now just a few days before Christmas, Mr Freakes bust his arm up good and proper in a snowboarding accident, when showing off to the kids on a school trip. Note that he still wears his hospital tag with pride...



I realised that this would be the ideal moment to suggest that we have a long talked-about 'scratch-off' on the decks...

Mr Freakes was clearly in some discomfort, but played through the pain barrier, using his fingers on the crossfader as he couldn't grip it with his thumb. But that's no excuse...

I whooped him!

As the night went on, everyone took it in turns to have a stint on the decks. DJ Legge got things started and looked the part. His set was full of classics and seemed to go down well with everyone. Wendy was clearly getting into it...



Next up was DJ Baaaaaaaxx, and all of a sudden things were getting very eclectic. For me, the biggest 'whoop' of the night came when he snuck into my record bag and dropped 'Origin Unknown - Valley of the Shadows', which is that old-school drum'n'bass tune with a huge bass line that has some woman talking about 'standing in a long dark tunnel'. This was closely followed, however, with 'The Bangles - Walk Like an Egyptian'...



...And that was followed up with 'Dire Straights - Sultans of Swing'!

Sam clearly thought that the rest of the room was distracted while it was playing...



...But without him realising, I managed to capture him strumming away on his air-guitar!



Mr Freakes took to the Decks before Midnight, and with only five minutes left in 2006, he realised that he still hadn't selected a tune to play as Big Ben struck 12. A frantic search followed, and between us, we managed to just about play 'Europe - The Final Countdown' quietly as everyone counted down to midnight, and then 'Dee-lite - Groove is in the Heart' became the first tune of 2007. Not a bad start to the year...



Except that everyone forgot to give Mr Freakes any Champagne...



Finally, as the night drew to a close, DJ Woo put everyone else to shame...





Not only did she look the part at the wheels of steel, but she also managed to pull off the mix of the night, which was even more eclectic than Sam's best efforts. 'Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World', into...



...Oh, now what was it again?!