WMC: Thursday

WMC was the time. This was the 4th time I've gone since 2002, and they just keep getting better. It helps to have more friends in the industry who can hook us up..getting VIP for Kaskade's shows is incredible and we are extremely fortunate to be friends with him. I have a lot of photos and stories to share, so I'll just go day by day - starting with Thursday.

I arrived at Le Meridien around 2:45 pm and was thinking I could just chill by the pool all day and head down to South Beach later. But when I texted my friend Naomi who doubles as Kaskade's wife, I learned that he was spinning at Juicy at Nikki Beach at 4:00 pm, so had to shower, change and get my arse down there stat. Our hotel was about a 20 minute cab ride from South Beach so I only got dressed up once a day cuz if we were at the hotel we were prettymuch in the pool or lounging in chairs on the beach. The show at Nikki Beach was packed to the gills with many girls wearing nothing but a string bikini, platform heels and a lot of silicone/collagen, but once I found the guy with my VIP wrist band, it was all good. Even if I did feel overdressed in a dress and gladiators. My friends Patrick & Jodi were able to join us which was awesome, and Patrick bought us a pitcher of expensive and delicious mojitos. I was finally there and it was time to sit back, relax and enjoy the madness of South Beach. After Kaskade's set he was mobbed by fans wanting pictures with him, which he always obliges because he is the nicest DJ in the biz. Once we were able to get out of there, I went to lunch with Kaskade, his wife and manager at Big Pink and caught up with them.

We shared a cab up Collins and I left them at their hotel and went to meet up with friends at The Shore Club for the Buzzin' Fly Records party which was awesome, I'm just bummed Jeff missed because he didn't arrive until later that night. He had to do actual work or something. Yuck. He loves Ben Watt (who is 1/2 of "Everything But The Girl," btw) and so do I - he played a fab set that kept me dancing the entire time. I had actually never seen him spin live before but really dig all his albums and everything Buzzin'fly puts out. Some friends had staked out a comfy bed by the pool to lounge on and sip our $16 sugarfree red bull vodkas while listening to some tasty Buzzin'fly beats. The DJs before Ben were kind of electro and I didn't really get into it until I went right up near Ben Watt's DJ booth to hear him. Incredible. The Shore Club is also one of the most beautifully decorated places I've ever seen - lanterns hang from trees and ceilings, big floor pillows sit in piles, outdoor beds and hammocks with breezy orange and magenta fabrics and lots of candles give it a gorgeous Moroccan lounge feel - which is what I want to do on my roof deck at some point. It's my favorite style and they've mastered it, so it was just nice to chill there for a while. Of course that's because it's an Ian Schrager hotel and I prettymuch love all of his hotels, especially after meeting him at the opening I helped do PR for at Clift San Francisco.

I found Jeff on Collins around 10 pm and we went to grab tacos at T Mex right on 14th and Collins - one of our staples. The funny thing about South Beach is drinks are like $20 each but you can get amazing cheap food on every corner, so that's usually what we do. No need to break the bank on dinners although we always hit Sushi Samba which is one of our faves, and last year went to Danny Devito's celeb filled restaurant down on Collins & 2nd and it was insanely good - and expensive. Who knew the lil' limoncello lovin' actor would become a restaurateur??

After fueling up we decided to head to a club nearby with some friends to see Chuck Love, Heather and Lawnchair Generals. Sadly it was a big club kind of off the beaten path and there weren't a lot of people in there, so the energy was low. And I haven't really been listening to the deep house Om Records sound lately - I'll always love it but heard so much of it when I lived in SF, that I really wanted to hear some new sounds this weekend, and I did at the various parties we hit. Deep house seems to work a lot better in smaller venues than the big clubs - which is one reason Kaskade has adapted his sound to work better in big rooms. He went from crowds of 300 a few years ago to now usually in the thousands of screaming fans who want to dance their faces off, and the deep house jams just don't cut it. We headed back to our hotel around 2 am to get some zzzzzs as Friday was a busy day..