Suzy Solar's Tour Diary entry #14

Tampa, Florida & Atlantic City, New Jersey : August 29th - September 6th, 2004

VIEW ATLANTIC CITY PHOTOS HERE

Aug 29th
Brian and I are scrambling around, trying to pack and get our promotional materials ready for our trip to New Jersey tomorrow. We're going to speak at the International DJ Expo and I'll also play at the "Women on Wax" party. But first, I'm playing in my hometown tonight at The Amphitheater's ultra-exclusive "Tantra" party in Ybor City (Tampa), Florida. Check out www.amphitheaterybor.com  for photos from this event. Why? Because everyone who is invited to attend this party must show up wearing lingerie or bed wear in order to get in. And this show is by invitation only. No invite, no entry.

Whenever I play a Tampa show, it feels like I'm planning a small wedding or something because of the huge guest lists, the phones ring every five minutes, then I make sure I meet up with everyone at the event, and people come over afterwards and crash out my place. I've been known to have a convoy of cars following me to the event (some still get lost), and I usually have a large entourage of people walk in with me, some of which who have been waiting by the door for hours for my arrival. Sometimes drama happens with my friends at my shows and if I can't help them, then I have no choice but to ignore it and smile and keep playing or sign autographs or whatever it is I'm doing. It gets a bit confusing and overwhelming sometimes and I'm thankful that I always have Brian there to assist me.

At 7PM, my friend DJ Jason Borst and his friend, Matt, arrive at my place after a three hour drive from Gainesville. Brian helps me out by taking them out to eat while I get ready.

Since this private party is smaller than the other ones I've just described, it's just us four leaving from my place. We all go in one car. There are about 30 people on my guest list tonight, and as anticipated, some are waiting by the door to walk in with me. Since the dress code is strictly bedwear and lingerie, Matt and a couple other of my fans have a hard time getting in. It's 15 minutes to midnight (the time I hit the decks) and I have to find the manager to get him to at least get Matt in. We can't find anyone to help us so Brian gives Matt his bathrobe and we all walk in.
I arrive at the decks 5 minutes to midnight with lots of people wanting to talk to me. We make our way through the packed walkway leading to the DJ booth. Things are a bit confusing with my adrenaline pumping and trying to feel the vibe of the crowd so I can figure out what to play, while talking to people. To make matters worse, I have ADD. We left my place early, but for some reason , we got here later than planned.

There are lots of beautiful women walking around in nothing but skimpy lingerie:-) The opening DJ, Rick Castle, is playing sexy house so I make a transition to trance with the unreleased house track "Paradise Sex." The MC and other staff members make sure that I'm good and drunk by buying me lots of Disaronno shots. I normally don't have more one or two drinks until after my set, but there's a feeling of celebration in the air that I can't refuse. Playing in Tampa is a bit challenging because it's a breakbeat town, but everyone here knows that I play trance, so they know just what to expect. I spin some new stuff mixed with classics that I've been dying to play. I build my set to the point to where the energy in the club is in a wild, sexual frenzy. At just the right time, I drop Digital Delinquents "Forever," which is like the musical equivalent of an audio orgasm. The place is going nuts and I especially love seeing the guys in front of the DJ booth dance and sing along.

At 2AM, my set is over and I help judge a lingerie contest. It's a tough one because the girls are all so beautiful and they dance so sexy. There's one girl who is so wasted that she keeps falling off the little stage that they have set up for the girls. Then for no reason, she freaks out and starts throwing punches at everyone around her. The bouncer picks her up and throws her out. I decide to pick Nina, a gorgeous young Asian girl in a sheer pink nighty, and she won $500. Since I'm the new "Tantra" resident, the manager wants me to MC the next lingerie contest. That's so awesome! I can't wait!

"Tantra" shows happen once every six to eight weeks, so if any of you want to go, please email me and I will put you on the guest list;-)

After talking with my friends & fans, I round up Brian, Jason, and Matt and we leave for my place. Since it's a Sunday night, no one else is coming over. At my place, the guys are still in their pajamas, spinning records and chatting. It's funny to me because we're having a grown up pajama slumber party and they don't even realize it:-) LOL!

It's 4AM and the phone is still ringing. Damn it! I get everyone go to sleep because Brian and I have to wake up in four hours to go to the airport. I know it sounds weird, but I sometimes like having people passed out in the spare bedroom and in the living room because it reminds me of the days of when I used to throw 2 - 3 day long house parties every weekend.

Aug 30th
I wake up very excited for the trip to New Jersey. I've never spoken at a seminar before and I'm really looking forward to it. The International DJ Expo is the biggest, longest running DJ show in the U.S. It will feature over 4,000 DJs, 30 DJ seminar panels & the largest DJ exhibit hall in America, and will run from August 30th through September 2nd. Jason and Matt leave, and Brian and I head out to our new adventure.

Upon our arrival to Newark airport, we rent a Sebring Touring convertible, which is pretty stylish for a rental. Driving in New Jersey is very confusing, even with a map and directions. Good thing Brian is driving! I'll just go to sleep for the two hour drive to Atlantic City.

DJ Times magazine is paying for our hotel room for two days, but they are putting everyone up at the Best Western. I normally would not agree to stay at a hotel of that caliber, but my new booking agent assured me that the seminar people will be staying there so it can't be that bad. Sure enough, I meet some seminar people as soon as we walk in the lobby. One of them, Richie Rich, a hyper forty-five year old New York City MC shows us where to eat and walks with us to Deja Vu, which is where I will play in two days. Although it's only a block away, the area is sketchy and I'm happy to have some company to walk and talk with. Richie's got some interesting stories about his life that he's writing a book about.

Aug 31st
I can't believe I'm not hungover, after getting drunk with Richie and having only a few hours of sleep. Brian and I decide to eat at a diner a block over, but afterwards we can't get a cab. We walk around the whole block, and no cab will stop for us. I'm getting a bit concerned because I believe that now we're going to be late for our first seminar. We walk back to the hotel and they call us a cab.

It's 11:45AM and we arrive at the Atlantic City Convention Center fifteen mintues to our panel time. We're actually the first from this panel to arrive and the DJ Times representative is impressed that we're early;-) I didn't think that I would get nervous speaking to an audience because I've hosted a TV show and I no longer get nervous playing in front of people. I thought wrong. I find myself a little anxious once I enter the seminar room. This panel is called "How to Rock the Clubs and Still Clock Mobile Money." Sometimes Brian and I still do private parties and corporate parties for extra cash. We still have all of our equipment from our mobile days, so why not?

There are five panelists, including me and Brian and the moderator, who leads the discussion. I feel that the panel is going smoothly. It's an awesome feeling to watch the audience as I tell my story about how Brian and I started out as a local mobile DJ business and what we did to progress into international club DJs, while still doing mobile gigs. At the end, we answer the people's questions. I love being able to help out those who seek answers on how to be more successful. Even when the hour is up, people are coming up to me and asking me more questions, and I give them my advice and take pictures with them. I realize that there was nothing to be nervous about.

Brian and I go to browse the expo hall's exhibits after our speech. All the big companies have booths: Pioneer, Denon, Technics, Gemini, Numark, etc. Within a couple of hours of meeting people and hearing the helpful "Producing Tracks" speech, I can't stay awake any longer and now I'm "socialed out." That's a phrase that I made up that describes the feeling you get when you're exhausted and you are no longer able to socialize with anyone.

Back at the Western, a deep nap has been our best friend for the past couple of hours. We awaken just in time for a night on the town. A walk down Atlantic City's infamous boardwalk on the beach is just what I need. We walk down to Donald Trump's Taj Mahal hotel & casino to check out the nightclub in there called Casbah. It's a nice club but I'm not too thrilled with the way the door staff treats Brian. We decide to stay for an hour for the Casbah's Pioneer party, and then leave to go see Johnny Budz at Deja Vu. Brian and I meet lots of great people and are having a ton of fun. It's a late night once again.

Sept 1st
I can't believe I'm not hungover. I really mean it this time! People bought us drinks left and right last night. I've had about eight drinks. I've puked on five when Dave Attel from Insonmiac Theater fed me Jagermeister a couple of months ago. We've only had a couple of hours of sleep, but I'm alert because I'm even more excited to speak on the Female DJs seminar panel today.

My manager, Oscar, and booking agent, Jessica, picks me and Brian up in a mini van. With Jackie Christie driving, I sit in the very back row with DJ Keri and Jessica.

Like I said before, New Jersey is very difficult to drive in. We can see the convention center but can't get to it. The roads are set up so that you can't make a left hand turn and we wind up driving down a strange highway, not able to turn around. Then I see a sign that says that we are leaving Atlantic City, and we start to worry. After many many wrong turns, going for miles and miles down unfamiliar roads, and enduring sitting in the back of the swaying van (often getting bounced around on Keri and Jessica with the three of us getting nauseous), we finally arrive on time at the convention center.

The Female DJs seminar consists of me, DJ Keri, Jackie Christie, Lysa D, and the moderator, Cary. I know that there's nothing to be nervous about, and yet I manage to become more anxious today than for yesterday's panel. I'm very hyper, like I've had a ton of coffee even though I haven't had any yet. I use that energy to my advantage and I feel that I am better at speaking today. I got to mention important facts that I forgot yesterday and I'm able to be myself and use humor more.

The audience today is larger and they are really wound up. They have lots of questions, they're interacting more often, and the vibe in the room is electric. These people are very curious about us, but they basically ask the usual stuff that we normally get asked in magazine interviews. We address questions regarding the struggles and accomplishments we have reached involving radio, touring, producing, and writing music. As anticipated, the first issue to come out in the open is about female DJs using sex as a marketing tool, and I'm happy to answer openly and honestly without holding back. Richie Rich had told me two days ago that he was going to show up and ask us off-the-wall questions and he did... I can't believe it! It's actually a breath of fresh air for me because I want things to get shaken up a bit. Then he gets up from the back row and comes up to the panel tabel to drink our water. It's really funny:-) The hour and a half passes quickly and we panelists hang out afterwards to meet people coming up to the table and to take more pictures. That was fun!(Check out October or November DJ Times magazine, there's going to be some photos of us in there:-))

We all take some time after the seminar to go downstairs into the expo hall to meet as many people as we can, and then head back to the Best Western. Jessica, Keri, and I immediately claim the front and middle rows of the van at the same time, as if we had just communicated by telepathy. We aren't in the mood for another upset stomach session. We don't budge, and the three men have no choice but to sit squashed together in the back row.

At 10:30pm, Brian and I walk with Jackie Christie to Deja Vu. It's the "Women on Wax" party with me, Keri, Jackie, and Lysa D. This showcase and the Female DJs seminar panel are the first ever all female line up in the history of this expo. That's great, because then it lessens the sausage fest factor;-)

Deja Vu normally plays hip hop, latin, and house on Wednesdays so I'm a bit out of my element here. It makes me feel so much better to see people like Richie Rich, Anthony Acid, and tons of people that I've met at the convention here at the club. I also really appreciate it when my fans say that they've come to see me.

More than 800 people are here at the club. At 2:30am, I take over the decks and play a party rocking trance set. There's a hip hop DJ playing upstairs, so if the locals want to hear hip hop, they can go upstairs. If they want to hear something new, they can stay to hear me. That's my attitude and I don't change for anyone. The people on the dance floor are really enjoying the music and are dancing their asses off. I'm pleased with my set, and so are my fans and the people in town from the DJ convention. One great advantage about playing from the heart, as opposed to playing what the club normally plays on Wednesdays, is that now I've caught the attention of some promoters who are talking about bringing me to their towns. I'm also happy to have converted a couple of people tonight who have never heard trance before. All in all, Brian and I had a blast. The girls all kicked ass on the decks and I hope to get to play another show with the girls soon.

Sept 2nd
Brian and I are finished with our work at the convention. We've extended our stay in Atlantic City so we can have a little vacation. We immediately go check in to Donald Trump's Tah Mahal. I'm a really big fan of Mr. Trump's TV show, "The Apprentice." I've even read his book "How to Get Rich." I look up to him even more now because a lot of what he says in the book are things that I've learned on my own as a business person in the music industry. It gives me perspective that I'm doing things right.

In his book, Trump talks about his many fine hotels and I always thought that it would be really cool to stay at one. The lobby is breathtaking with its fine decor and multiude of chandeliers that could easily buy you a house with one. Our room has a beautiful view of the ocean and the top of Taj Mahal. We spend the day relaxing, playing the slots, and having a few drinks. People have been telling us to check out Borgata hotel & casino, so we take a cab there. Damn New Jersey roads - even the cab driver has a hard time getting to it!

Borgata is newer than Taj Mahal and we are impressed with its modern, exquisite artsy decor. We play more slots and eventually come out ahead a good chunk of change. People have been raving about the food in Borgata, so we make a reservation at Susanna Foo's 5 star restaraunt. She had competed on the "Iron Chef" television show so I just have to try her cooking. We wait three hours to get a table, but it's so worth it to have Iron Chef food. The taste is like being kissed by a million lusty mermaids!

Sept 3rd
I'm happy to have finally had a whole a day to relax. We check out of Taj Mahal and make the two hour drive to Boonton to spend time with Brian's family. We are supposed to fly home tomorrow morning, but hurricane Frances has just hit the southern part Florida.

Sept 4th
Brian calls Continental airlines every hour to make sure we're still flying. They assure us that we are. Halfway through the 45 minute drive to Newark airport, Brian calls again and they finally announce the anticipated: Tampa airport is closed.

We pass the day by having Brian's aunt, uncle, and cousin take us to the nicest malls and designer stores in Newark. My birthday is coming up on October 6th, so we spend our gambling winnings on my early birthday presents;-)

It's now 10:30pm and Brian and I are driving to our hotel in Newark. We wanted to stay by the airport so it would be easy to leave, as we are not morning people. We had heard that Newark has very bad neighborhoods and we now we are seeing it for ourselves. Brian gets off an exit too early and we wind up in the ghetto. It's a Saturday night and there's lots of activity on the streets. With the cell phone about to die, Brian gets someone from the Hilton to stay on the line with us until we find the right road.

It's a good thing that we reserved a room when we did. It's Labor Day weekend and all of the hotels in Newark are booked up. A lot of people weren't lucky enough to get a place to stay.

Sept 4th
Tampa airport is still closed and we have to stay another day. While our neighbors back home are suffering through bad weather and power outages in the raging Florida heat, Brian and I shop some more at the mall and then head to 5 star Don Pepe's for lobster and chocolate martinis.

Sept 5th
We finally get to go home. Because of my motion sickness, I refuse to sit in the back of the plane, so Brian and I got separated. The flight doesn't bother me sitting in the front row, but afterwards, Brian said that I would have hated it back where he was sitting. For him to say that, it must have very turbulent back there.

Driving home, Tampa looks like a war zone. Hurricane Frances took down trees, street lights, signs, power lines, and damaged homes and businesses. The Courtney Campbell Bridge, the main road that takes us home, is under water so we had to go around it. The roads are in chaos. With no street lights at certain intersections, cars would just plow right through, almost causing accidents.

We're safe at home now but awaiting the new hurricane, Ivan. The news says it's even bigger than the last three that Florida has had this month. Wish us luck, we're going to need it!

Suzy Solar's Tour Diary entry #13

JUNE 25TH - 28TH, 2004 - CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA - MAX BELL ARENA

VIEW CALGARY PHOTOS HERE

June 25th
Today is a very exciting day for me. Every year at this time, Brian and I fly to Calgary, Canada to play at Apollo Productions’ massive Canada Day parties at Max Bell Arena. (Canada Day is their independence day holiday, like how July 4th is to the USA… and they party like crazy!) Brian and I have many friends in Calgary because we’ve been there so many times and we know that it’s going to be one of the best times of the year.

The one thing that really sucks is that I have the flu and I feel like dog shit. It feels like someone lit a fire in my nose and throat. My nose is completely stuffed up so I’m a little concerned about flying because my massage therapist told me that she once flew with her nosed stuffed up and blood came out her ears. Now she has problems with a punctured ear drum.

I’m faced with the choice of taking cold medicine or my usual doctor prescribed Valium to combat panic attacks from flying. Remembering the bloody ears story, I chose the cold medicine.

It’s a 4 hour flight from Tampa airport to the Las Vegas airport to transfer to the 3 hour flight to Calgary. We have the misfortune of having to fly through some rough turbulence and I can only describe the experience as “hellish,” due to the fact that the cold meds make my heart race. I did manage to get a nasty panic attack.
To make matters worse, we land at the Vegas airport and I don’t even have enough time to gamble at the slots. (Oh poor me;-)) But hey, it could be worse. At least I don’t have diarrhea.

The second flight is better because it’s a midnight flight. There’s no screaming babies, everyone’s asleep, and it’s pretty chill. People are like birds when it comes to sleeping. When you want a bird to go to sleep, you put a blanket over their cage and the bird goes to sleep, thinking it’s nighttime. On a night flight, the crew turns out the lights and the people will sleep, even if it’s on a different time schedule from their own normal sleep pattern. That’s way less stress for the crew and the passengers are happier because there’s no one awake to irritate anyone else. Lights out birdies!
We arrive at Calgary airport at 3AM. Usually we get searched and asked a million questions by the customs officials, but this time the lady just said “You know not to bring illegal substances here right? We don’t have to search you?” Brian said, “Of course not,” and she let us right through. I suspect they were just too tired;-)

It’s so sweet to be back in Calgary. A fan of mine works at the Delta hotel and he gave me and Brian an upgrade to an awesome suite. He had a card and a plate of chocolate rodeo boots waiting for us. (Calgary is “stampede country,” where they hold the world famous rodeos.) And now, world, it’s lights out for us.

June 26th
Just like clockwork, the phone wakes us up. It’s an every day occurrence for us, even on the road. Thai, the Apollo promoter, tells us that Gary D and DJ Dean have flown in safely and checked in, but Guyver (Tidy Trax UK) did not bother to come or even to call to explain his absence. I assure Thai that I always come prepared just in case something like this happens, and I can play an extended set - no problem - even if I’m sick.

Brian and I decide to make to make the most of our time and we walk a block over to China Town. It’s so cool, it feels just like being in Asia! They have some funky stuff there. We enjoy some authentic Malaysian noodle soup and bubble tea. Then I wind up in a fish market, playing with live prawns in a tank. I wanted to do it just to do it because when I was 11, my parents took me to an aquarium theme park. My dad bought me a frozen fish from a vendor to feed to the fish in a tank, and I was in awe over how cool the frozen fish looked and felt. Then my mom yanked it out of my hand and yelled in her Japanese accent, “Don’t touch germy fish, stupid kid!!” Then she hit me over the head with the frozen fish, and all the kids laughed at me!

Back at the hotel, we decide to sleep for the rest of the day until the show. I really want to walk around more, but my flu is driving me crazy. I don’t mean to be crass, but I’m sneezing profusely, blowing snot rockets everywhere, like there’s no end. Even when I sneeze into a tissue, the force of the sneeze still sends the boogers flying all over my face, hands, clothes, down my arm, and on anything else it can manage to land on. I know the set up at Max Bell, and they will have cameras in the DJ booth and with two large projection screens the size of a movie theatre’s, with me on it. I imagine in horror, the close up of me sneezing with large snot rockets all down my face, flying everywhere and landing on the mixer. I can see the ravers all tweaked out, not believing their own eyes, grossed out and not ever letting me live that one down. I pray for a miracle that the sneezing and runny nose would cease, if only for that hour and a half while I play.

Our driver, Hector, picks us up at midnight to take us to Max Bell Arena. The promoter, Thai decides to split the gap in Guyver’s time slot by playing a short set himself with his friend Nate Dawg Jaxxon, giving the rest of the time to me, since I was supposed to follow Guyver anyway. (Secretly, I’m happy that Guyver didn’t show because I have more fun when I get to play longer sets;-)) This reminds me of when Brian and I used to be promoters in Tampa, and we sometimes had to cover DJs’ time slots who didn’t show up. I feel for Thai because it’s very stressful to run a massive event and have to DJ to cover someone else’s time slot last minute.

The stage is set up on a scaffold about 12 - 15 feet high with a steep ramp leading up to it. Even with running shoes on, it still feels like I could slip down it. It’s a damn good thing that I don’t have a fear of heights because this stage is sketchy! And when people walk or jump on it, it bounces to the point of where it seems like the wood floor would break.

Between the stage and audience, it’s gated off with security guards (like at a rock concert) and there’s beautiful decorations like 15 foot red Chinese dragons, a waterfall with lasers making awesome designs in the water, and the two large projection screens on either side of the stage. There’s about 2500 - 3000 people in the audience and they are ready to party all night long, since the event will close at 7AM and there’s a rave afterwards at The Warehouse.

I finally got to meet Gary D and DJ Dean (Both from Germany). (I’ve met Dean at Loveparade before but we didn’t get to hang.) They are in full party mode and will be staying all weekend, just like me and Brian. I’m really excited to meet them because I’ve heard that they are lots of fun and I’m anticipating some wild & crazy times. My Calgary friend, Nicky, a 20 year old Asian girl, is also fun and will be hanging with us as well.

In the VIP room, people are taking pictures of us. Gary sets the mood by twisting Thai’s nipple for a picture, then puts his finger in Dean’s mouth in another photo. I love these guys!

At 1:30, I hit the decks. I had one shot of vodka, just enough to cut down the sporadic, hyperactive edge I get from having ADD, so I can think clearly. (ADD makes it harder for me to concentrate on one thing at a time.) I remember when I first played large shows like this one, I used to get really nervous. Now I wonder if I’m too relaxed. The system is tight so I can ride out and EQ long, complicated mixes with the greatest of ease. I’m in total control and I feel as though I own the place. It’s a really good feeling, and it’s something that only comes from years of playing out under different circumstances, always knowing that I will know what to do in any situation… no matter what. The only thing that bothers me tonight is the fact that I can’t get the CD mixer to work properly so I refrain from playing any of my unreleased material on CDR. Sometimes CD players break, and that’s why I know to bring a wide selection of records just in case. I’ve even seen a CD mixer break during Digweed’s set years before, it kept skipping every CD he played in it. Shit happens.

The sound of the massive system echoing perfectly through the arena space, with the audience cheering is something that I will never forget. Since the DJ before me played hard house at 150 BPM, and Dean & Gary will play hard German trance, I decide to interplay the intensity of hard tracks like Sioux - “Pho,” with Dutch melodies like Afterburn “Summer Sun” and pretty vocal tracks like Solarstone “Speak In Sympathy,” and Aalto “Taurine,” stuff that really work a large system with sounds that fill the arena. Someone give me mouth to mouth; I think I died ten times!!
Dean comes up to the stage during my last two songs and compliments me several times on my mixing technique. This means the world to me because I really look up to him. During his set, Brian takes me out into the crowd to meet the fans and take pictures with them. The perspective of the DJ booth from the audience is so cool, the way it’s so high up like that. There is a fleeting thought in my mind that I can’t believe that I played way up there in front of all these people, and didn’t get nervous.
I also just realize that my runny nose and sneezing had stopped just one hour prior to my set. I had a box of tissues ready, but I didn’t even need them. A miracle happened.. Ok, now it’s time to party!

Brian and I make our way backstage to the VIP room where many people handed me beers, vodka, whiskey, and other things. We sit with Gary and Nicky and enjoy a comical conversation with them.

Gary takes over the main stage after Dean. Brian and I hang with our Calgary friends who we traditionally see every year. While taking a piss break backstage, I notice a security guard passed out with an empty box of doughnuts so I get my friends and we take pictures of me laughing at him:-)

After Gary’s set, Brian and I are housed to the max, and have to go to our hotel room to rest before hitting the after-hours club. We are listening to the recording of my set from tonight, but before it’s over, there’s a knock at our door. It’s Gary, Dean, & Nicky! They’ve come to take us to the club with them. (How sweet!!)

It’s 9AM at The Warehouse, and the five of us are standing at the bar drinking vodka and red bull. Gary and I are in deep conversation when suddenly he stops and a serious look came over him. Then he asks me, “do you know where my records are?!” It was funny! They’re in the booth where they’re supposed to be, silly;-)

Dean and Gary soon hit the decks with full force and we’re loving every minute of it. Those guys are just as much fun as I imagined they would be. They love to have fun and hang out all night long. They’re so animated and fun to watch, that even if someone didn’t like hard trance, they would still enjoy Gary & Dean’s awesome party vibe. We would love to see their whole set, but Brian doesn’t feel good. Concerned that he’s getting sick too, we decide to take a cab back to the hotel .

There’s one thing that I’ve noticed about Calgary, is that the taxi system is good. Even one of the drivers had mentioned that the Calgary residents pride themselves on being friendly and neighborly people. It’s no wonder we fit in so well here! The only other place we’ve been to in the world that had a more impressive taxi system was Las Vegas. The worse taxi drivers we’ve had are in Miami. Rotterdam, Holland is also pretty bad. About the Miami taxi drivers, I feel it’s worth mentioning here about how bad some of them are because we really thought we were going to die a few times while riding with them. Check this out; during the last music conference in Miami, we were riding with a driver who was talking about how cool the music conference people are and that he’s on our level because he’s drinking a beer right now. Then he said that he just finished up a “run” with a customer and that the runner let him do a line of his methamphetamine. The driver is obviously very intoxicated, swerving, and won’t shut up. Then he started talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone, which wouldn’t be too bad except he handed the phone to me and told me to talk to her. So I did, then handed the phone back to the driver. He then tells me that she’s playing with herself!! TMI!!!!! TMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While we’re on the subject, I’d like to tell you one more crazy Miami cab driver story. Once Brian and I got a cab from a South Beach hotel to Club Space. The driver didn’t say a word the whole time and had a Walkman on so loud that I could hear what’s coming out of the headphones. Then he had the radio playing between stations at the same time and he would be changing the stations even though he was unaware of what was actually playing. Then we got on the highway and he proceeded to slow down and speed up wildly for no reason, swerving so bad that people were honking at him, driving in two lanes, and slamming on the brakes when there was nothing there in front of him. After a wild ride, we got to Space and he didn’t even turn around or ask for any money. Brian had to smack him with the money a few times before he took it! The Lesson: always make sure your driver is sober BEFORE you get in the cab. Not all of them are crazy fuckers, some are nice, just be aware of what you’re getting. We have even more stories of drivers who’d almost run people over while we were riding with them and they’d try to play it off like they were just going to ask them if they needed a ride!

June 27th
Brian and I hear a knock on our door while still sound asleep. The clock says it’s 6pm but I wish it was lying. Nicky is here to invite us to see Oakenfold with her. She still hadn’t slept. My throat was so sore last night, that all the talking I did made me hoarse. I begin to explain in a weak voice that Brian is going to be playing at Bamboo tonight. I feel a little sad because it looks like I won’t get to see Nicky again until next year.

At Bamboo, Brian plays a wicked set of progressive breaks. The turnout is next to nothing, since Oakenfold is playing a couple of blocks away. It’s still fun to hear our best breaks out loud and talk to people. When Brian plays the Odyssee Breakbeat remix of my track, “Ocean of Love,” I have a weird feeling that Oakie is also playing it at the same time at the other club. (Oakie put in a request to license my track for his new mix cd, so I know he has to be playing it sometime during his live shows.) After a few drinks, Brian and I head back to the hotel. By this time, I’ve completely lost my voice and I can’t even cough.

June 28th
I feel better today and I even have some voice back. Thai picks us up. He knows me well enough to know that every time I come to Calgary, I want to eat authentic Chinese food in China Town. (In my hometown, Chinese food sucks ass!!) He arranges one last get together at one of his favorite Chinese restaurants. When we walk in, Gary, Dean, Nicky, and a few other of our friends are waiting for us, eating dim sum. It’s the perfect ending to our Calgary experience! One last bonding session, then it’s time to go. See you next time, Calgary!!

Suzy Solar's Tour Diary entry #12

June 4th - 6th, 2004 - Quebec & Montreal, Canada

VIEW MONTREAL / QUEBEC PHOTOS HERE

 This entry begins with an anecdote pertaining to spiritual guidance that I carried with me on this trip to Quebec & Montreal, Canada. Last month, while visiting my friend Ferry Corsten during his show in Miami, the Marriott Hotel room service woman stole my laptop. (When I have some free time, I will write an entry on that after I write about my next Canada trip in July... see the entry titled "Boycott Marriott.") I was depressed because the laptop contained my music programs and original music in the works. Plus, the laptop was very expensive and will take me some time to replace it and the work that was contained in it. I knew that I didn't deserve to have it stolen, because I am a kind person and I help other people whenever I can. I had faith that something positive was going to happen for me after that.

A week later, Mat Silver (Above the Sky Records, www.mat-silver.com  ) from Germany wrote me. I have never met him, and yet he surprised me with an email that said, "I don't know why, but I felt that I had to write... would you like to produce your own kind of trance music?" He included this link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062502182/ref=3Dbxgy_cc_text_a/00=2-1679284-0628022  . It's to the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, a powerful story about realizing your Personal Legacy and the lessons to know along the way to spiritual happiness and earthly success. Mat has read my road diary, which documents my personal growth, and mentioned that this book will help me understand things. Boy did it ever! I have always felt that the universe is working in my favor and the book says that if you want something very much, the universe conspires in helping you achieve it. Everyone has been given a personal calling from birth and we must all overcome our obstacles to make our dreams come true. I've been saying this to people for a long time, and it's very cool to see it written so well in a story that's easy to understand.

One more piece of positive news that happened: Just after I got the email from Mat, I also got a call from the UK in regards to Paul Oakenfold wanting to license the Odyssee breakbeat remix of my first track "Ocean of Love" for his new mix CD compilation "Creamfields." I'm praying that the contracts go smoothly and that very soon I will have a "Creamfields" CD in my hand with "Ocean of Love" included in his mix:-)

June 4th
At 3PM, Brian I board the plane and we start our journey to Montreal. We didn't get very much sleep, as usual last night. Instead of taking a nap, I am drawn to the power of the book The Alchemist. Like me, the main character, a boy named Santiago, has a passion for traveling. His father, just like my parents, tried to talk him out of doing what his heart yearns to do. In his journeys, Santiago was ripped off, then found himself hooked up with someone to work with to help carry out his future goals. (Just like the laptop situation with me!)

By the time the plane lands, I come up to the part in the book where Santiago finds himself in a strange new land in Egypt. Brian and I have never been to a French speaking country before so it's almost as if I'm living out the adventure in the book. Our driver, a girl named MC and her friend Jeff, greets us at the airport sporting a huge sign with my name written and a star drawn on with black marker.

We are taken through downtown Montreal to our hotel, Bourbon, in the midst of the gay district. Brian and I feel a little bit of culture shock because everyone is speaking French, the signs are in French, and we have never been in a totally gay community before. Also, the hotel is a bit run down than what we're used to.

As Jeff helps Brian check in, MC and I stand outside to people watch and to get away from the heat in the lobby. The street reminds me a bit of Bourbon Street in New Orleans where they hold the Mardi Gras parade. While enjoying the chilly night air, we watch with interest as some men saunter by holding hands while others sport the walk of a woman perfectly. I joke to MC that if she and I were to hold hands, then we'd fit in much better;-)

At the hotel 50's style diner, Brian and I try some authentic French-Canadian cuisine. On my chat room, (#ets-global) one of my fans had told me to try a local dish that consists of minute steak, gravy, cheese curds, mushrooms, and onions on top of french fries. I order that up right away. Although it looks like puke, it's actually as delicious as I'd heard it would be.

The air is filled with promises of a wild time. Jeff takes us to a bar where his friends are hanging out and the DJs are playing drum 'n bass. Once we arrive, my lack of sleep and jetlag catches up to me and I find it hard to talk to Jeff and his friends. They are very nice and I feel bad because I think that Jeff thought that he's being a bad host, but I'm just having a hard time staying awake and adjusting to the new culture and language.

Brian and I take a cab back to the hotel with the full intentions of going to sleep. But once there, the sweet hooks of disco music captures my soul and I have to drag Brian to the bar and have a drink. I love disco and there's nowhere good in my hometown to hear it. Over vodka martinis and Hoegaarden beer, I hear the only English speaking people in the bar. A burly young woman yells at her friend that some girl is trying to steal her girlfriend. Everything is so surreal like I'm living in a movie. I feel happy to be alive and lucky to be experiencing a new scene.

June 5th
After a few hours of sleep, Brian and I check out and venture down to the hotel diner. I pick at my ham and mozzarella stuffed pancake as I begin to read The Alchemist again. I come up to the part where Santiago and his caravan travel across the Egyptian desert. Santiago tells the Englishman character to pay more attention to his surroundings instead of reading his books so much. I remember my surroundings and put the book down. I look around and notice the locals with their unique personalities, wearing various types of interesting outfits. I appreciate being able to take in their culture.

Our ride is late so I pick up the book once again. During the part where Santiago turns himself into the wind, a brisk wind blows through the open air diner, turning the page twice in a row just as I was ready to turn the pages. As I was getting into the story, the page then suddenly blew in the opposite direction as if to tell me to stop reading. I look up to see Jeff approaching the door.

Jeff and his friend Franco pick us up and we start the three hour drive to Quebec. They take us to their favorite rest stop along the way, and we burn time with the various statues of dinosaurs, monster truck, and the world's largest tire.

We soon arrive in the modern and beautiful art deco district in Quebec. After helping us check into our new hotel room at L' Autre Jardin, Jeff and Franco leave us until it's time to take us to our gig. Brian and I are happy with this hotel, as its artsy and upscale atmosphere pleases us. I especially like how the lamps in the hotel hallway are shaped like five foot tall metal flowers and the air is filled with a perfumed flower scent.

I rush Brian out the door so we can go explore our new surroundings. I'm starving and eager for some French food. On our walk, we encounter beautiful graffiti art in painstaking detail, spanning over the entire highway column from the street to the very top. I find a restaurant that looks good to me, and am very very happy to find one of my favorite foods - fois gras. They prepare it as a pate baked in a crème brulee with a hard caramel topping. We decide to eat on their patio, drink red wine, and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere. I've never been to France, but I can swear that Quebec is the next best thing to actually being there. I'm sad that I won't get to see the breathtaking Quebec waterfalls and parks on my stay. I'm already starting to plan to come back! By the way, this is the best fois gras that I've ever had;-)

After a short rest at our hotel, our drivers pick us up. Brian and I are very excited to play tonight. The "One" rave was originally supposed to be in a warehouse but there were problems with that venue so the party got moved to a massive rave club called Cube. The main room is huge, plus they have DJs in a side room and in another room upstairs. Once there, we finally got to meet the promoter, Yves (DJ Kynoxe), whom we've been talking with for the past two months. He immediately made us feel comfortable and I feel like we're friends already.

Brian and I took notice right away that this scene is just like how the Florida rave scene used to be back in '96 - '97. The candy kids are decked out in their colorful attires and have good vibes. Everyone is friendly and wanting to meet us and talk. Yves showed us around in the sweltering heat. It's so hot that the walls are sweating. Since the US passed the anti rave laws, it makes us even more grateful to have this opportunity to rave out like this once again. I got so used to having to
play in regular nightclubs that I forgot to take into consideration that this will be an non-alcoholic event. I really like to have my Ketel One vodka before I play.

A group of Yves' friends take me and Brian to the club Palladium a block away to get drinks. I immediately bond with the girl named Melissa. We get to the Palladium and they are playing hip-hop. Since black people are very rare in Quebec, it's interesting to see a hip-hop club filled with all white people. I've never actually seen that before. I am a bit irritated that this club doesn't serve any top shelf liquor so I order the highest quality liquor in the house: Captain Morgan's. Blah. But hey I guess it could be worse. At least it's not owl piss.

Back at Cube, Brian and I hang out with our new groups of friends and meet new people as I wait to play. At 3AM, I hit the main room decks as the night's headliner and was greeted with the excitement of cheering fans. I wave to the audience right away and they wave back and have their hands in the air. This is how I know that it's going to be a really good show because the connection with the party people is strong. I waste no time and start out with the new Cosmic Gate remix of "Age Of Love," building the intensity with my pumping melodic trance and tech-trance. I wish I have more time to play, but my time slot is only an hour and a half. I am very happy with my set and I really got into the emotion and peaks and valleys of the tracks. The audience and I are having a blast together. This really is one of those events that I will always remember, even buzzed! ;-)

I exit the DJ booth starving so Melissa and one of the DJs take me and Brian to Subway's. We watch the sun come up over the mountains in the distance as we eat, and I'm filled with spiritual satisfaction. This inner peace is so euphoric that I want to write a song about it.

Back at Cube again, we hang out in the upstairs room waiting for Brian's set at 8AM. It's now 6AM and the DJ is playing a great set of electro clash. The only other time I've gotten to hear this style of music in a club was two years ago in Germany. Melissa and I are having an Ecstatically good time as we dance and talk to people. Thank goodness that she's here to help me translate when fans talk to me;-)

Brian hits the decks a little after 8AM, and I must say that I'm especially proud of him tonight. I'm always proud of him, but tonight he's playing extra good and is keeping the party rocking in that hot little room. During his set, Yves pulls me aside and tells me how impressed he was about my set. Before tonight, he had only heard me play on my online radio shows, and I always play my best in a club - not in my studio. So when he heard me tonight, he was totally floored:-)

At 9:30AM, the party is still jamming but Brian and I have to go to catch our flights:-( I'm especially sad to leave this party. I feel really attached to the party people of Quebec now. We say our goodbyes to Melissa and our new friends and head back to our hotel room. We have just enough time to watch the video of my set and enjoy the remnants our buzz before we have to pack our luggage.

June 6th
Jeff and Franco, tired as hell from working all night at the rave, pick us up at noon and drive the looooooong three hour trek back to the Montreal airport. The journey is a blur to me because I can't keep my eyes open.

Customs at the airport is really hard today for me because I'm too tired to answer questions properly. I thought for sure that they were going to pull me aside and search my luggage but they didn't. Thank goodness they just let us through, because I'm exhausted and on the tail end of a buzz and not in the best shape to deal with customs officials.

As tired as I am, my adrenaline is still pumping and I can't sleep on the plane. I read The Alchemist again, and I am intrigued about what it says about the Universal Language. It's the unspoken language that happens between people of different languages and with animals. I now come to realize that I've spoken the Universal Language with the French people of Quebec. Although we may have a spoken language barrier, for that time that I was on the decks, we were communicating with each other in perfect harmony through music, emotion, energy, dance, and body language. It's quite a spiritual experience!

I finish reading the whole book just as we touch down in our hometown of Tampa, Florida. And now, also comes the ending to the chapter of my first trip to Quebec and Montreal. I must let the world know about my experience. So it is written and let it be told. "Maktub."

VIEW MONTREAL / QUEBEC PHOTOS HERE

Suzy Solar's Tour Diary entry #11

April 24, 2004 - Buffalo, New York

VIEW BUFFALO, NY PHOTOS HERE

Today Brian and I embark on a trip to Buffalo, New York to play at the Sphere Entertainment Complex. It's Buffalo's largest and nicest nightclub where the best international talent comes to play. (Check it out at www.spherebuffalo.com  - impressive!) Tonight's show is the "Chicks With Decks" party with DJ Irene, DJ Rap, Dayhota, and me on the main stage, along with several local female DJs in the side rooms. It's now 4AM as we drive to the Tampa airport on no sleep at all. Usually, we are just going to bed at this time.

Lately, flying has gotten easier for me due to the fact that I'm no longer stubborn about taking my doctor-prescribed Valium. Because of my flying anxiety, I now just go ahead and take one -half as soon as I board the plane. I am also now armed with an anti-nausea wrist band and my usual reading material, neck pillow, laptop, and arsenal of DVDs and CDs.

We touch down at approximately 12PM. It feels so good to be back in Buffalo! We go to the club to do a sound check. Ready to drop from lack of sleep, we get dropped off at our hotel to rest. We can't. We try to walk around outside but there's nothing to do.

At 10PM, we hitch a ride with DJ Dayhota and her boyfriend, Charles, to the event. I first met Dayhota a couple of months ago in Miami at the Music Conference and it was really cool to get to hang with her again.

Rochester resident Holly Ray hit the main stage first with her Florida inspired flavor of breakbeat.  Dayhota drops her own style of house next, followed by Irene and Rap tag-teaming on four turntables. By this time, 3AM, the club is packed and full of energy. I meditate and stretch out really good before I hit the decks. It helps me to get the mental and physical energy flowing.

Usually, the club closes at 4AM, but the promoter says that last week Deep Dish played till 6AM. He says that if I can keep them in there as long as they did, they'll keep the club open till 6. Sounds like a plan! When I hit the decks, I always like to take the listeners on a journey through the different stages of the night.

I start out with harder edged trance and tech-trance because Irene & Rap played hard stuff. I just take it from where they left off, and build into an intense melodic state of trance. The system is so tight, that there's no problem at all. And the stage, just give me a stage and I feel right at home. The funny thing is how I feel more comfortable on a stage than I do playing on my internet radio shows from home. I love the interaction with the audience more than anything.

At around 6AM, they have to start tearing down the stage. They take away the equipment around me but I keep on going. Then the monitors are taken away. Who needs stinking monitors anyway? I switch to headphone mixing and keep the vibe going. The audience and I are having soooo much fun together. My fans have also adorned me with roses. The promoter asks Brian if I'm going to stop anytime soon. Brian just laughs and says, "she'll keep on going till you pull the plug."

With the sun beaming in from the stage doors, I play "Touched by the Sun" by Envio. Brian gives me the sign that it's time to stop, so I go talk with my fans a bit. (And yes, the club staff and promoter were impressed that I kept the party going as long as Deep Dish;-))

Ready for another drink, Brian and I venture upstairs to the dressing room and find that Dayhota and Charles have stayed for my whole 3 hour set. That really means a lot to me! I also heard that Rap and Irene stayed for at least half my set before they had to catch their flights. Rap is such a sweetheart. I always appreciate the little things like when Rap kissed me on the cheek while I was playing before she left the stage. I also got to hang with her a few months ago at a hotel after party in Orlando, Florida. (I invited Ferry Corsten and he brought her to the party... wow!) I really wish she had more time to hang this time.

The promoter hands me and Dayhota a whole bottle of vodka to take with us to the hotel. We decide to relax in my room and get drunk. We're pretty wild when we get together! It's too bad that our drinking session has to be cut short. Brian and I have to hurry off to the airport and catch our flight. It's just as well anyway because we almost got kicked out by the hotel management. I can't wait to see Dayhota and Charles again because I know that we'll have a really good time:-)

We arrive home the next day at about 4PM. It amazes me at how I can go on no sleep like this. However, it will all catch up with you in the end no matter what. I wind up sleeping for 18 solid hours with no memory of falling asleep on the floor.

Suzy Solar's Tour Diary entry #10

DECEMBER 7 – 8, 2003 – San Salvador, El Salvador, Central America

VIEW SAN SALVADOR PHOTOS HERE

Brian and I woke up at 6:45AM, excited for the day to come. That was our first time going to El Salvador and I was glowing with anticipation. The day saw me going to play a show at Club Code with live act Lasgo from Belgium (known for their hits “Something” and “Alone”) and El Salvador DJs, Ofo and Walter DJ.

As much as I hate flying, I actually missed that familiar feeling of being at the airport and taking off into the blue skies. We had taken a break from touring for a couple of months to work on original tracks, and I was getting bored of being in our hometown of Clearwater, Florida. Once you live the life of a jetsetter, you can never look back.

It was a half an hour drive to Tampa International Airport, with most of it being a long stretch over a bridge overlooking a gorgeous bay. I tried to concentrate on the beauty of the water to calm my flying jitters but all that did was make me think of drowning. I decided to use humor. While Brian was driving over the bridge, I played a joke on him by asking “Did I remember to turn the stove off?” The look on his face was so funny!

The airport was packed, as this was one of the busiest times of the year for flying. The promoter, Piero Cristiani, wanted to bring us the day before the show but the flights were all sold out. Unfortunately, the flights were also all sold out the day after the show so we couldn’t stay an extra day either. Also, the guy who hooked up my booking with Piero forgot to tell him that Brian was coming with me, so we had to rearrange the flights last minute. I refuse to fly alone. The flight bookings got a little messed up so only Brian’s ticket was first class. We tried to get my ticket upgraded but first class was also sold out. Being the sweet and generous guy that Brian is, he let me have his ticket and he sat in coach.

The first flight was on a small shuttle plane to Miami, about an hour flight. This plane was so small that it didn’t have a first class section. I have had a phobia about flying all of my life so I always ask to sit closest to the front because it makes me feel better. Despite sitting in row one, I still had a panic attack during take off and was gasping for air. The stewardess encouraged me to breathe in and out into the barf bag to regulate my heavy breathing.

As a child, I had always dreamed of being an entertainer and I wanted very badly to see other countries and live my life traveling the world. Entertaining is my blood and I was determined to overcome my phobia for flying. I had always thought that I would get used to it and that my fear would go away. It hasn’t. It might have something to do with the fact that I was in the air coming home from a gig in Hawaii when the September 11th bombings happened. Another time, the engine on a plane that I was on in Germany went up in flames during take off. Sometimes I think that I’m crazy to get back on a plane and go off to strange new countries, but I’ve decided a long time ago that I wouldn’t let fear stand in the way of my dreams.

I calmed down for the transfer flight to Central America because sitting in first class soothes me. The motion of the plane doesn’t bother me as much and I don’t feel stressed out like I do in coach. Also, a funny thing happens when I sit in first class and the coach passenger’s board. They stare at me hard as they’re walking by. That time I had glow-in-blacklight electric yellow hair, a tight black shirt that had “rock star” written across it in rhinestones, and a Christian Dior punky padlock necklace. I could read the boarding passenger’s faces. Some of them were wondering what a young freak like me was doing in first class. Some of them looked like they wished they were in my shoes (or in that case, seat). A lot of them looked curious to know who I am or interested in knowing me. Some guys would not stop staring. I should have picked my nose just to give them something to remember me by;-)

I entertained myself by drinking the free alcohol that comes with the purchase of a first class ticket and chatting with a nice lady sitting next to me. She was a normal housewife, but with a little inspiration from someone naughty like me, she was soon looking at my magazine full of Victoria Secrets models and barely dressed female stars, talking about how hot they were!

After a two-hour flight, we touched down in Honduras to let passengers off and others on. Brian and I stayed on that flight. Then we had to take off and land again in another airport in Honduras. I hate take off and landing in particular and we had to do it four times to get to our destination. The cool thing about that was the fact that we got to look out the window and see really cool things. During landing, we saw mountainous terrain with colorful houses and buildings and twisting rivers. The runway was so short, that the pilot had to make a rough, abrupt stop in which the plane bounced upon touch down. Just ahead of the runway was a steep drop-off with a street down below. The passengers clapped at the captain’s successful landing. The lady next to me said that landing there always makes her nervous.

During the last take off, we were in awe over three rivers of fire in a forest that resembled lava flow. There was a huge mountain in the background with clouds “hugging” the mountaintop, stagnant. The other clouds flew by while smaller cloud patches rushed must faster than the bigger ones. During the highest point of the flight, it looked like we were above an endless sea of clouds dotted with patches of mountaintop. While I was enjoying the awesome view, free beer, and my set from my September www.tranceairwaves.com show, Brian (sitting in coach) had to put up with a lady talking to him in Spanish. Even though he said he didn’t speak it, she kept talking and all he could do was nod his head and say “uh-huh, uh-huh” the whole time.

We finally touched down in San Salvador, El Salvador at 6:30PM (two hours behind EST, Florida time). Piero greeted us right away with his driver. Night had fallen and the December weather was warm. I was wearing short sleeves and didn’t need a jacket. Our surroundings immediately reminded us of Ecuador and Colombia, only the people of El Salvador people spoke more English. The climate, swarm of flying insects, and children peddling in the street brought back memories of South America. This took me by surprise because I would have guessed that it would have reminded me more of the other parts of Central America that I have been to.

The drive to our hotel was long and interesting. The driver had to drive honking his horn the whole way because people would run stop signs and pull out in front of him. It seemed like we almost got hit many times. This type of driving is typical in the Central and South American countries and I knew to expect it. The roads were up on a mountain and I got to see the breathtaking view of the valley down below blanketed in lights once again, like in Colombia.

We arrived at Hotel Princess, a gorgeous five star hotel with all the amenities for a luxurious stay. Our room was like we were staying in a castle, and I was happy to learn that the hotel had a water purification system for drinking and showering, 24 hour room service of gourmet meals and liquors, great view overlooking El Salvador with a mountainous skyline, pleasant English speaking staff, and even the toilet paper was scented. I brought back a piece of the toilet paper as a souvenir.

Piero said to order anything we wanted, so we immediately ordered up some authentic tacos and burritos, tortilla soup, ceviche in a coconut shell, grilled lobster and seafood plate, and a shot of their finest cognac. I was still drunk from the flight and accidentally tried to order room service from the hairdryer instead of the phone on the opposite side of the toilet! (I was in the bathroom asking Brian what he wanted while he was showering;-)

We relaxed for one hour and then had Piero come get us so we could enjoy Lasgo, Ofo, and Code’s resident Walter DJ before my set. I really wanted to meet Lasgo, but our timing just didn’t work out where we could. They got there immediately at the time of their performance. I really liked the club’s set up. The sound was great, the DJ booth was tight with the newest mixing technology, and phat lasers. Also, the people there were all very nice and took good care of us. The crowd had a good vibe and they were cheering with their hands in the air. Code’s sponsor, Miller Beer, gave out glowsticks sporting the Miller logo. Lasgo played on the mainstage and the DJs played in a DJ booth that was raised up really high, above the stage.

In retrospect, I should have been in the booth earlier to get a feel of the set up. No one knew how long Lasgo was going to be playing, so I wound up going up there during their last song. I was rushing around to get things situated. The turntables, set up on a concrete platform, were too high up for me so they had to move the CD players and and set the turntables up on the unstable wood part of the booth. This made the records skip on one side and very difficult to cue up. After a few songs, Brian was able to fix the skipping while I looked for the next record. I’ve come to find that things are usually a little awkward at first when playing in a new country, but once I get comfortable, I feel that that music I play is born on wings and that my physical self is an extension of it. Then something takes over me, and my soul becomes one with the sound. It was as if I could fly and soar above the sea of light, fog, crowd, and melody, freefalling into the intense parts of the songs. It’s an awesome feeling.

My set was at about 1AM on a Thursday night, the liquor had to stop at 2AM (although they extended the liquor sales until about 4AM that night;-)) and Code is known for a more commercial crowd, so I knew that only the diehard underground fans were going to stay to the end. I was debating on whether or not I was going to start with something they knew like “Time of our Lives.” Then I decided that I didn’t come all that way to play stuff that they could hear on the radio, so I went ahead and hit them right away with the underground trance sounds that I’m known for. I didn’t want to waste any time, just in case I only had an hour to play. I started with some harder edged German tracks and took them into “a state of trance” with some of my favorite Dutch epic trance. My emotional highlight of the night was when I played a promo from one of my best friends, Daniel Wanrooy and his partner, called Odyssee “2 Worlds Collide,” and my other current favorite track, Afterburn “Summer Sun.”

Ever since a fan accidentally knocked a 60 lb monitor on my head, I don’t allow fans to come up to the booth, and instead I hold meet and greet sessions after all of my shows. (That incident happened at Club Stereo in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. The female fan was so excited that she jumped up and down, knocking the monitor down. The light tech grabbed me just in time so that when the monitor hit me, it slid down my head instead of cracking my head open. The monitor fell on the mixer and broke the crossfader. I had passed out for a split second, barely knew what happened, got up, shook it off, grabbed the next mix just in time, and kept going. I was so engulfed into my set, and I wasn’t about to let a bump on the head stop me.) However, that time in El Salvador, I made an exception and let people come up to the booth. Seeing that the club was going to stay open, I signed autographs and took pictures with them while I played because I knew that a lot of people had to work the next day. Whenever I hit the decks, I’d play until the club has to shut down. I didn’t care about sleep. I’d hang out until it’s time to get on the plane. That meant that I had no idea when I was going to stop playing and I wanted people to be able to meet me in case they couldn’t stay to the end or in the event that I did get to play until I had to run out to catch my flight.

At almost 4AM, the cleaning crew started to clean and the bar closed. The crowd showed their appreciation with a huge round of applause and loud cheering. I had one last drink and hung out for 15 more minutes with Piero, DJs, staff, and the remaining clubbers. Something that we thought was really cool was the fact that we met someone from our hometown in Florida. It’s really a small world after all.

Once back at the hotel, I realized that we didn’t have much time until we had to leave for the airport. Instead of getting a short nap, we watched the Simpsons on our laptop, called room service, and ordered a succulent El Salvadorian breakfast. It included poached eggs with spinach and cheese sauce, bacon, two feta cheese wedges, refried beans, and coffee that was like heaven in my mouth ( www.coffeenest.com ). The Central and South American countries are infamous for their coffee.

Two hours after Piero dropped us off, he picked us and took us to the airport. The drive there was cool because this time we got to see everything in the daylight. I was captivated by the cool patterns in the rock formations in the mountains on the side of the road. It looked as if the patterns were etched but it was natural. We don’t have mountains in Florida so I’m always happy to see stuff like that.

At the airport, we bought 4 bags of coffee (American coffee is like diarrhea water in comparison!) and some T-shirts. My favorite souvenir now is a T-shirt that says “I survived in El Salvador without being shot” and has a picture of a guy with seven bullet holes and a knife in his head.

I was overtired, and the sleep deprivation was getting to me. I was so thankful to have gotten to sit in first class again, although I was sitting next to a guy who kept twitching and moving around really weird. We had to transfer in Honduras again, but this time we had to get off the plane. During landing, I had to take my headphones off and deal with the twitcher and the stewardess sitting in front of me clicking her ball point pen several million times a minute.

We had a two and a half hour overlay until our next flight to Miami. Brian and I sat in the lobby with nothing to do and I was so tired that I felt that I would go crazy. There were two television sets high above us, both with bad reception and on different channels with both volumes up in Spanish. The people in the lobby had nothing to look at so it was weird, like we all would look around and couldn’t help but see one another. So the people in the lobby would look over at us again just to see if we were still looking over at them. We were also trying to see if they were still looking at us too and it became like a strange game.

Brian and I decided to watch more Simpsons on our laptop. Thank goodness we have that luxury! There was nothing to eat there but a sandwich at the only stand with food. I ate a beef sandwich but immediately got dizzy and my stomach hurt. I got scared because one time, Brian ate a sandwich at an airport in Colombia and got sick. I always carry something for my stomach when I travel, and I was lucky that it worked. I felt better just in time to board the plane to Miami.

I slept the whole time, avoiding conversation with the lady next to me by putting my headphones on, with my back to her. I was just too tired to deal with any more talking. Then we had to deal with the customs in Miami after landing. This time, we didn’t get hassled but it was still time consuming, standing in long lines, and frustrating as usual. We barely made our flight to Tampa. I love looking out of the window when leaving Miami. South Beach and its surrounding islands built up with mansions and high-rise condos, blue waters dotted with bright blue reefs and luxury boats are breathtaking when seen from above. After a smooth flight, we endured the half hour drive home to Clearwater in the Friday evening work traffic.

It’s now the day after the flight and I’m very jetlagged, but so happy to have experienced El Salvador. Piero said he’d have us back with more time to hang out next time. I am looking forward to it already!

VIEW SAN SALVADOR PHOTOS HERE

Suzy Solar's Tour Diary entry #9

Amsterdam & Rotterdam, Holland – July 30th – August 8th, 2003

CLICK HERE FOR HOLLAND PHOTOS

July 30th
A dream had come true for Brian and me. We got to travel to Amsterdam and Rotterdam and stayed for a week. Of all the places we've been to in the world, I would have to say that Holland is my favorite and I could totally see myself living there. When you read this, you'll see why. Good times, good times!

Although I hate to fly, both flights over there were not bad at all, though the second flight overseas was long and boring. What made it even worse was the fact that we had to sit on the runway for 45 minutes. While in taxi mode, I can’t listen to my music or watch DVDs to soothe me. The sounds of screaming babies and mindless chatter of passengers added to my anxiety of flying. I then realized that I could use my unplugged headphones anyways. No, not to throw at people or hang myself with;-) If your headphones fit snuggly and cover your ears, you can still use them to block out unwanted sound during take off, landing, and taxi mode. On the bright side, at least the pilots didn’t fly like drunken penguins.

We flew by night and I was supposed to be getting my night’s sleep. I don’t understand how people can sleep on the plane. Most nights, I have insomnia anyways, and flying makes it worse. I felt like some kind of demented voyeur, watching over the peaceful, sleeping passengers. This pisses off insomniacs like me, and I felt like grabbing and shaking them.

I passed the time by watching Adaptation, which was brilliant and totally inspiring to me, and Four Rooms, a weird movie full of suspense and good to fill in the time. When my DVDs were over, I didn’t want to wake Brian so I endured having to watch the in-flight flick, which was some stupid girlie movie. I had more fun watching a weird drunk man standing in his seat, clapping his hands, whistling, and almost getting in a fight with a marine bigger than him.

July 31st
After a total of 13 hours flying and layover, I felt the rush of excitement as we touched down at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. We were supposed to take an hour-long train ride to our hotel in Rotterdam, but Misja Helsloot was kind enough to pick us up from the airport. This was our second time meeting him. Misja is very intriguing and his personality type reminds me of me. He’s got a business mind, yet he’s fun loving and a wild and crazy artist as well. I was very happy to be in his company.

There was a massive heat wave going through Europe, the worse one in history, and Misja’s car didn’t have air conditioning. It was so hot that I wanted so very badly to get out of my pants. Brian and I had erroneously packed warm clothes, thinking that it would be chilly. It was so hot that Holland’s next-door neighbor, the Germans, tried to get their government to supply them with free beer and ice cream so they could deal with the heat. I also saw in the news that the heat wave has actually killed people.

We were lucky to get a room at the Hilton, because they had air conditioning. Most buildings in Europe don’t have it because it’s not usually hot and they don’t need it normally. We were smart to do our research on hotels before we got there.

After Misja saw us in, he left and Brian and I went to sleep for the remainder of the day.

August 1st
I woke up really early, excited to explore. We were in the center of a nice shopping district. Brian and I were still tired, so we only looked around a little and then rested up some more.

It was Roland K’s (Gesture Music, Misja Helsloot’s label manager and producing partner) 25th birthday and we were invited to his house for a dinner with friends and family. Roland picked us up and we got to meet him in person for the first time. His pleasant, laid back personality made it easy to talk to him. Brian and I had met him through Andy Prinz on MSN and we’ve been chatting ever since. Also, I met Daniel Wanrooy (a Dutch producer who has two releases on Massive Drive) through email and I introduced him to Roland and Misja. Now they are producing music together. Daniel and I had become very good friends through MSN and I was thrilled to get to meet him for the first time in person at Roland’s house. Misja was also there, along with Bram Vank, DJ San, Miezz, and some of their other friends. Roland’s mom cooked some delicious BBQ & Dutch food and then we had the most awesome marzipan cake. Mmmmmm cake.

Afterwards, Daniel drove us back to our hotel. We got to bond, and it felt like déjà vu, because we clicked in person like we do on MSN. It was very cool. In my travels, I’ve come to find that people are just like they are in chat.

Later that night, Brian and I went to Club Calypso, where I played a show with Misja, Roland, DJ San, and Miezz. The turnout was small, because the massive event Dance Valley was the next day, just outside of Amsterdam. Even so, the crowd was very responsive to my set and I was having an ecstatic time seeing everyone dancing and cheering. I was happy to get to see some of my other Dutch friends again too. Also, I got to meet some fans that came out to see me, and I made some brand new fans that have just heard me for the first time. One guy came from France to go to Dance Valley and saw that I was playing at Calypso, so he made a special trip to Rotterdam to see me. And, it was an honor to play with Roland and Misja.

Back at the hotel, my adrenaline was still pumping and it was very hard to get to sleep.

August 2nd
After three hours of sleep, we woke up to get ready for Dance Valley. Roland picked us up at precisely 10AM. The Dutch are very punctual people.

40,000 people were allowed to attend Dance Valley this year. Last year, 90,000 people went and there were problems with a sudden cold front and rain coming through, people getting sick, and ambulances weren’t able to get to them in the traffic. This was still a lot of people, and the traffic getting to the event was long. Fortunately, we were with Roland, and he had a sticker for his car to go around them and enter through the artist’s entrance. We got a VIP band that covered free admission, entrance through the side (no lines to stand in), and free bathroom privileges (no lines, and we didn’t have to pay to use it). The general public had to stand in line to buy a bathroom ticket, and then stand in another line to use the bathroom. (What if someone had diarrhea?) Also, we had to buy tickets to obtain food, stand in another line to buy tickets for drinks, then go to the food area and stand in line to get the food and another line to get the drinks. If you ever go to a venue with this set up, it would be  wise to get your tickets when you get there, before you get hungry, thirsty, or have to use the bathroom. Fortunately, this was the best party we’ve ever been to, so this situation didn’t bother us too much.

The line up for Dance Valley was to die for. There were about 150 of the best DJs and live acts in the world. See www.dancevalley.nl for line up and more info. It was so big, that it would take a half an hour to walk from one side of the event to the other. We mostly stayed in the Impulz tent and saw Misja, DJ Astrid, DJ Jurgen, 303f, and Ferry Corsten. I got to talk to Ferry again, but had to talk to him through a fence because my VIP band didn’t get me in backstage. Ferry had given me his phone number before I got to Holland but regretfully, I didn’t get a chance to call him. The other thing that I regretted not doing is checking out the main stage. We passed by it, and the vibe and the sound coming from that area was outstanding. The sound was crystal clear and I felt drawn to it, but just didn’t go see it. There was mostly trance on the main stage too!

All in all, I was very impressed with Dance Valley. Everyone was friendly (with the exception of a certain Japanese hard trance DJ, who was stuck up towards me. I should have told him to get that cock out of his ass.) We had so much fun!

Also, we couldn’t help but noticing that they were able to sell alcohol. It was nice to get a Barcardi Breezer at the event, since most of the same type of events in the US can’t sell alcohol. They also had smart shop booths set up where people could buy marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms, and other specialties like cocaine and ecstasy substitutes. People around us could light one up right there in front of everyone and no one would think anything of it. The smart shops also had drugs info sheets to educate the party people. Another thing that impressed us was the fact that every DJ went on exactly at the time they supposed to, as printed out in the schedule sheet. This was a very well organized party.

We left Dance Valley early to play at The Hook of Holland on the beach. I knew that some of my American friends were going to be at Dance Valley and I had hoped to run into at least one of them. As time goes by and the more I travel, the more I value friendship and the more I miss my friends. As we exited the venue, Brian and I saw our old friend, Zoe, from our hometown with her boyfriend, Sasha  (didn't see Digweed though). They were being driven through the grounds in a golf cart. Since she now lives in England with Sasha, it would have been  nice to talk to them again but their driver didn't stop and all we could do was wave to each other:-(

When we were getting ready at the hotel, we watched the rest of Dance Valley live on MTV. European MTV is really cool. They play a lot of good electronic music. We got to see some of the stuff we missed like Tiesto and other DJs live on the main stage. Another thing that I love about European MTV, is the relaxed censorship. They aired girls from the audience wearing nothing but their underwear! 

Later that night, Roland, Miezz, and I played at The Hook of Holland. It was a really good time because I love playing to the Dutch people. After a few drinks and a good set, we turned in for the night.

August 3rd
It was Sunday and most of the shops were closed so we just relaxed. That night, Roland took us to see Terminator 3. It was an all right movie, something to pass the time. The movie theaters there sell beer and wine so that was really cool. Also, the popcorn in Holland doesn’t come with butter. It comes either plain or sweet. The candy isle was massive and had different types of Dutch candy that we’ve never seen before. Brian got a huge bag consisting of a few of each type, then wound up getting a wine buzz and spilling the whole bag of candy while getting up after the movie. Ha!

August 4th
Daniel picked us up at precisely 11AM to take us to Amsterdam. We took a double-decker train and sat upstairs. The ride took about an hour. This gave us time to do some more bonding.

Brian and I were really happy to finally get to see Amsterdam. The last time we came to Holland, we only went to Arnhem. We wanted to see the infamous hot spots that we’ve so often heard about. You only live once right?

Our first stop was the Sex Museum. There were statues with huge penises and pictures of naked women on the walls. On the way up the stairs, there was a butt on the wall that passed gas on me as I walked by. The different rooms took us through “sex through the ages.” It was quite interesting, but you can only look at titties and schlongs for so long. After a quick pass, we went to our second destination: a coffee shop.

At the coffee shops, you can order different types of marijuana and hashish from a menu. They come in an assortment of names like power plant, silver haze, and white widow.

Cannabis College was also on the agenda. This establishment was open to the public to educate people about the benefits of marijuana. For a small donation, the general public could go downstairs and witness a grow room with plants a big as some people’s bedrooms.

A day in Amsterdam wouldn’t be complete without a stroll through the alleys of the Red Light district to see the hookers in separate windows, each with their own tiny room with a single size bed, a sink, a closet containing feather boas and various types of costumes and lingerie, a locker for their money, and a door to let their customer in. When they were “getting busy” with a customer, they closed a red drape over the window. I had fun waving and flirting with the girls;-) Some were really nice looking and others were downright nasty, shoveling in food to feed their oversized bodies. Our friend who had been there before on tour said that there’s a menu of things you can do to the girls and a price sheet for each thing. I actually think that this business is a good idea, because some guys can’t get laid. I’d rather them go get a hooker than go out and rape someone.

On the way out, we also saw smart shops, where people could buy different types of magic mushrooms and herbal ecstasy. Boy, what a Trip that was! Did I mention the sex shops? Yes, they had quite a lot of them. You can buy every type of sex toy in any size, shape, and color imaginable. Can’t get it up? No problem! You can also get sex stimulants and generic Viagra for guys and girls. For those who like to watch, there were also establishments with live sex shows.

For those of you who are not into coffee shops, sex shops, or hookers, there were a plethora of pubs, where we enjoyed drinking beer and people watching. Two blocks over from the red light district, there was a really nice shopping area to get the latest fashions. There's also great food everywhere. Even the McDonald's (there's one on every block) was good. Try the McKroket, it's out of this world!

If you ever go into the red light district, watch out for the junkies demanding change. They are pretty scary. One guy threatened to cut Brian if he didn’t give him some money. (No, he didn’t give him anything and nothing happened.)

August 5th
Brian and I went to the zoo. It was interesting because they had different animals than at the zoos in the US. They were weird looking creatures, but the signs were in Dutch so I couldn’t begin to tell you what kind of animals they were. It was so hot though, that it was hard to enjoy. I felt bad for the animals because they looked so miserable. Even the kangaroos were panting.

We went shopping too, and I got some really neat clothes and shoes, which I can’t wait to show off to my friends in Florida. We rested for the rest of the day.

August 6th
Misja talked about taking us to Breda to Tiesto’s record store, Magik, but wound up being too busy. He gave us directions to get there by train. The heat wave was still fierce, and we had to ride in a train with no air conditioning for 45 minutes.

Breda was a small, boring town. When we got to Magik, there was no air conditioning and it was really hot, but once we heard the records it was totally worth the trip. We also got to meet Raf, a producer for Black Hole who also worked at Magik. Brian and I bought about 20 records and the best part was getting to go through the new promos bin from behind the counter.

Taking the train back sucked. We waited in the heat with no place to sit for almost an hour. The heat and the constant swaying motion of the train almost made me puke. Fortunately, we got to our destination just in time.

Later for dinner, we walked to the little China Town a couple of blocks down and had some delicious authentic Chinese food. Remember: the Chinese food is good in Holland and Germany.

Roland and Miezz picked us up that night and took us to the beach. It was still very hot and I could not take it anymore. I had to get out of my pants. I bought a skirt just as the stores were closing. Roland thought I was crazy to think that it was so hot because I’m from sunny Florida. The difference is, is that in Florida every place indoors is air conditioned so if you get hot, all you have to do is go inside somewhere. Also, Florida buildings are air conditioned so cold that you need long pants to not get chilly. In Europe, we did a lot of walking outdoors and almost every building didn’t have air conditioning. After a while, I started to feel claustrophobic in my clothes and wanted to take them off. Once in my skirt, I felt nice and breezy.

We enjoyed the beautiful red sunset over the water and relaxed over a couple of drinks and some ice cream. The ice cream in Europe is made different than in America and I recommend trying it. The area we went to was a hot spot with a strip of restaurants, shopping, and bars on the beach. Brian and I didn’t know that Holland had such a nice beach so it was a really nice surprise.

August 7th
We were sad that it was our last day in Holland. We didn’t want to leave. Though our legs were sore from all of the walking, we went out and made the best of our time on foot. We hit the shops that we missed and had more Chinese food.

Later, we took the subway to Roland’s house. This was really confusing, as the directions at the station were in Dutch. We almost got on the wrong train a couple of times. That would have sucked, since we were already lost to begin with and didn’t want to end up in a bad part of town.

We made it to Roland’s house safely. Roland’s mom made us a delicious plate of Dutch waffles with powdered sugar. Mmmmmm.

Daniel showed up and we went to Roland’s studio. They started to work on a progressive trance remix for my track “Ocean of Love.” It was really cool to be there because I’ve wanted to work with them on producing music. They are both very talented producers and they know just what to do to make it phenomenal. Brian and I were very pleased with the way the remix was starting to sound. Too bad we didn’t have more time to hang out in the studio.

Roland drove us to our hotel early so we could pack and get some sleep. We bought so much stuff that I had to sit on the suitcase while Brian closed it.

August 8th
Brian and I had to wake up early to go the airport. Roland’s mom was nice enough to drive us because the airport was an hour away. We were very thankful because it would have been very difficult to take all three of our suitcases (2 large, 1 carry on), laptop, and record box on the train and sit in the heat.

The flights home were not bad at all, and I was actually tired enough to get some sleep. This time, it was 17 hours total flying and layover. We watched Tiesto’s DVD “Another Day At The Office,” and saw the places that we had been to, like Magik and the sights around Breda. We also saw Raf in it too. It made me miss Holland already.

We missed Dance Parade, which was on this day. Ferry said that he had his own float and so did Misja. If it was anything like Dance Valley, then we really missed out on something special. All I know is, that it was hot. We heard that Misja passed out from heat exhaustion during his last song.

It’s been four days since we’ve been home and I still haven’t gotten my land eyes back. As a matter of fact, my sleeping schedule is now almost opposite of what it was before I went to Europe. Also, I was actually chilly getting back to Florida and it took me two days to re-adjust to the cold indoor air conditioning.

Thanks for reading my Holland diary entry, and check back soon for more exciting tales as touring DJ. 
 

Suzy Solar's Tour Diary entry #8

Seattle, Washington and Calgary, Canada - June 26th – 30th, 2003

CLICK HERE FOR SEATTLE PHOTOS

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

June 26th
On that day, Brian and I traveled to play at a new destination, Seattle, and a traditional yearly return to Apollo Production’s Canada Day show. Excited for our shows, we failed to check our plane tickets and hotel accommodations thoroughly.

Our plane tickets were on rows 19 for both flights to Seattle, so we naturally assumed that we would be over the wing. I get motion sickness sitting towards the back of the plane, so if we are not sitting in first class, we always ask to get moved over the wing or before it. (Instead of having the promoter get me one first class ticket, I ask for two coach tickets so my boyfriend can come with me.) Anyway… this turned out to be a small plane and guess what? We sat towards the back.

This particular plane, though small, had individual TVs for every seat with a Direct TV hookup. For a small fee, we could surf the channels. Brian and I had only gotten one hour of sleep last night, and we were supposed to snooze on the plane. However, I could not resist the call of the Direct TV, and spent the whole three hours glued to VH1 classics with genuine interest in the 80’s videos. I love 80’s videos! They just don’t make them like they used to.

Flying in to Denver to make our transfer to Seattle, the air got very turbulent. The air flow between the mountains made the flight very rough and I hated every minute of it.

The next flight was pretty much the same story. After three more hours, I was so relieved to be on the ground and in Seattle, the home of Frasier, one of my favorite TV shows.

Victor (DJ Whistler), the promoter picked us up at the airport. He took us around to see the town, the Space Needle, the Seattle skyline over Pugent Sound, and record shopping on the hip Broadway strip. Here’s where we messed up. We should have had him take us to the hotel first, then sightseeing.

Tired, Victor took us to the Pacific Plaza Executive Center. He left after check in, but I wish he could have been with us to see this room. The three of us thought that this was going to be a really nice hotel. Victor had no idea how bad this place was. Plus, it says “executive center,” not “motor inn” or some shit like that. Brian and I even looked at their site and thought it was going to be nice.

The bellhop took us up to our room. The first red flag went up in my head when we got off the elevator and saw Ionic air cleansers in the hallway. (If it really had clean air in there, then what did they need those for??) They we saw our room. There was no air conditioning (climate control) and the room looked really old and musty. The bellhop informed us that the building was built in 1928 and that there was no air conditioning in the whole building. It was in the middle of summer and it was VERY hot. Plus, the air was stale and moldy. I have allergies to dust and mold, but we were very tired and decided to tough it out.

We got hungry, so we wanted some room service. They didn’t have any. It was 7PM and Brian went to look for some bottled water. There were no drink, snack, or ice machines in the hotel. Outside, the stores were closed and so was the Starbuck’s.

Luckily, my fan and online friend, Andrea and her husband, Mike, flew in from Ohio to see my show. (That’s about a four flight for them) I called them and we got to meet in person for the first time. They drove us to Ivar’s Salmon House, where we had the most delicious salmon ever! We had the best table in the house, overlooking the Seattle skyline over Pugent Sound. Andrea and I, as former goth chicks, didn’t notice the view too much because we were intrigued by a large spider spinning its web in our window. We named our new pet spider Mr. Nibbles, and allowed him to provide our entertainment for the evening. We enjoyed our dinners and chocolate martinis, watching in awe over the way Mr. Nibbles would trap bugs in its web and take each one to the center of the web, making a large pile of wrapped up bugs. Gross, huh?

Back at the hotel, we decided to turn in early so we could wake up early and go sight seeing. I fell asleep right away, despite the heat and having to keep the window open, hearing ambulance sirens and people yelling in the parking lot next door.

At 3:30AM, I woke suddenly from a deep sleep with an allergic reaction to the dust and mold in the air. I had a very hard time breathing and it freaked me out. (Three months ago, I went to the doctor with the suspicion of having asthma. He ran some tests and said that I didn’t have asthma, but I do have bad allergies.) I told Brian that we had to get out right away. I tried to call the front desk and tell them what happened, but it felt like my throat was partially closed and my words were too choked up to talk. I had to have Brian call around to find another hotel. In the meantime, I was really hot and tried to soak myself with cold water from the sink. That sink didn’t even have cold water.

Brian tried to call the hotel operator but they wouldn’t answer. Then he tried to use his cell phone to call around. First, he called the Marriott and asked for a room for two nights. A woman answered, quoting a price. Then Brian’s cell phone died when he tried to make a reservation, and three more times trying to call back. We packed everything, went downstairs, and had the front desk call us a cab.

Our cabbie took us across town in an un-air conditioned cab from downtown to the airport Marriott. When we got there, the same woman told us that the rooms were sold out, and that they didn’t have air conditioning. She also tried to tell us that there are no hotels in the Seattle area that had air conditioning, but I knew that that was total bull shit because Andrea said that her room had it.

We had the cab take us to the Hilton next block over. Guess what? They had air conditioning! We took the room and it was nice. Finally, our bedtime arrived at 5AM.

June 27th
With less than five hours of sleep, Andrea and Mike called to take us to the Space Needle. We rode with them back to the downtown area. As the four of us stood in line to buy our tickets to go up the Space Needle elevator, I double-dog-dared Brian to buy us youth tickets for people under 17 years old. They were ten dollars cheaper each, but it wasn’t the principle of the price. I’m 33, and I just felt like being a teenager for the day;-) The ticket conductor fell for it!

Andrea and I get a little freaked out about elevators, but the view through the glass going up was phenomenal. The top of the Space Needle had an observatory deck all the way around it overlooking all of Seattle, Pugent Sound, and Mount Rainier off in the distance.

Next door, the Experience Music Project music museum was beckoning us over with their massive, colorful, twisting art-deco building designs. We didn’t have the time to take the tour inside, but saw the Turntable Restaurant and shopped in the gift shop.

Before our day came to an end, we went to the infamous Pike Place Market, where the workers throw the fish to each other. I saw this on Frasier, and just had to go. It was fun, and we got to have Bubble Tea again. We don’t have this in Florida. For those of you who have never had one, it comes hot, iced, or blended into a smoothie with tapioca balls, gel cubes, and/or fruit that you suck up through an extra wide straw.

Later that night, our driver, Jaymz and his girlfriend took us to Studio B, an all-ages club where the event “Divalious” was being held. I went on after hard house DJ Girlie, and bridged from hard house to hard trance and epic. The crowd went absolutely nuts! What a great audience, and great vibe. I really enjoyed the night. DJ Mea went on after me, playing a tight set of break-beat and looking good enough to eat.

During her set, Brian played upstairs in a separate room. I walked around and signed autographs for my fans, took pictures, and talked with them. I liked how this promoter always had someone with me to help keep me from being overwhelmed with too many fans at once. It was hard to even get to the bathroom because I was stopped so many times. I love when this happens though. Meeting my fans is one of my favorite things about the business!

One thing that I was most impressed about was the tremendous amount of support that I got from my fans. Many of them traveled from great distances to be there. Andrea and Mike flew across the country, some people drove from other states, and another guy even planned on flying to see my Canada Day show in Calgary the next day. An artist, Rick Gallegos, showed up and surprised me with a painting of me! Last year, he also painted a portrait of my face on the wall of a building in Spokane, Washington, as big as a door. I need to come back to the west coast very soon and play again;-)

CALGARY CANADA

CLICK HERE FOR CALGARY PHOTOS

June 28th
I hate to fly, especially on propeller planes. Unfortunately, there were only propeller flights going from Seattle to Calgary so that’s what we had to take. It was such a beautiful day with no clouds in the sky. The flight, to my surprise, was smooth. With no clouds to obstruct my view, I could see us flying over the Rocky Mountains laced with snowcaps and green grass. Much of the Rockies look like rock, hence the name. That was breathtaking, and definitely worth taking the flight just for the view alone.

Just when I thought that it was smooth sailing, the clouds rolled in and gave me the most turbulent flight ever. I might as well have been on a rollercoaster, which I hate too. I don’t know why, but I can’t shake the feeling that flying will be the death of me. But still I wander…

Canada is the hardest country to get into, and we had to go through customs then immigrations to give them our work permit. We’ve been through this airport so many times, that many of the workers knew me by name and asked what color my hair is going to be next time. (This time, I dyed my hot pink strips in my hair that glow in backlights.) They usually hassle us, but it was more relaxed this time. It wasn’t without its stress though. They searched my bags and said that next time I had to claim my bag of snacks or they would fine me. Then I was informed that they would not allow ephedrine (found in common cold medicines) into the country.

Our driver, Hector, picked us up. I immediately requested to be taken to an authentic Chinese restaurant. Where I live in Florida, the Chinese food sucks because there isn’t much of an Asian population. One of things I love about Calgary is the Asian culture and getting to hang out with other people of Asian decent. That’s something that I feel that I’m missing in my life, because I’m half Japanese and I don’t know my mother’s side of the family or have any Asian friends in my town. Hector took us to one of his favorite Chinese restaurants and I ordered the hardcore food and a bubble tea.

Arriving at our hotel at The Delta, I saw Rachel Auburn from Tidy Trax UK also just getting there. She had such a friendly vibe about her, that I felt comfortable to introduce myself. She was really cool, and seemed like someone fun to party with.

My fan, Jay, who works there, gave Brian and me an upgrade in a nice suite. They had a delicious plate of chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us.

After some rest, it was time to play at Max Bell Arena for the Canada Day show. (Canada Day is Canada’s national holiday to celebrate their country’s independence.) Brian played a breakbeat set outside in the tent as Rachel Auburn took the main stage with her trancey hard house sounds. I played after Rachel to more than 3000 screaming fans. I opened with my track “Ocean of Love,” the Daniel Wanrooy hard mix, and then played an intense hard & epic trance set. What a rush it was to play for such a massive audience!

DJ Bossi from Cosmic Gate took over the decks right after me. Brian and I had an Excellent time hanging out onstage, partying with our friends, and watching Bossi throw down. We also got to enjoy wicked sets from DJ Simple (Switzerland), Troy Allen, and many others. Everyone was so nice, and it truly was one of the most memorable nights for us.

June 29th
Sleep? Who needs sleep?! After not being able to rest at our hotel room, we decided to go to the after hours club Auxiliary until it closed at 1:30 PM. Brian played a few songs on a broken mixer while I sat in a corner with my friends and fans. Tired, I was not altogether “there,” but still Excited about being in Calgary and having such a great time.

Needless to say, we slept like logs when we got back to our room. That night, Apollo Productions promoter Thai and some friends took us to get more Chinese food and then more of our Calgarian party-loving friends came over for a little get together. With only one hour of sleep, it was off to the airport.

June 30th
We upgraded ourselves to first class so we could get some sleep. That was a really smooth flight, although that first class was smaller than others and didn’t have the Internet connection like others do. However, the three hour flight felt like fifteen minutes while we slept, so we wouldn’t have been awake to use the Internet connection anyway.

The first class was sold out on the next flight (D’oh!) and so we had to deal with being really tired in a cramped space.

It took me nearly a whole week to get my land eyes back after that trip, but it was soooo worth it! I can’t wait to do it again!!!!

TRANCE ADDICT MEETING WITH ARMIN VAN BUUREN

CLICK HERE FOR TRANCE ADDICT PHOTOS

July 12th, 2003
I’m writing this to let all of you trance heads out there to know about a site called www.tranceaddict.com  . This is an awesome site for people who love trance music to come together. The Trance Addict members often meet at shows, and I have had the opportunity to go to one of their biggest meetings recently.

Armin Van Buuren has been hooking up dinner meetings with Trance Addicts in different parts of the world, including one at TGIF in South Beach, Miami. Brian and I went to TGIF along with 15 other TA’s and Markus and Heather Schulz. Armin was very nice and chatted with everyone until it was time for him to leave and go to the club where he was playing at, Opium Garden. He also gave out promos from his label, Armada.

At Opium Garden, we TA’s got to sit at a VIP table that was elevated, overlooking the dance floor and right next to the DJ booth. We had the best table in the club, and were so close to Armin, we could reach out and touch him. Markus Schulz opened up with his progressive sounds and then Armin hit the decks, slowly building into an intense emotional trance set. At 4AM, Armin and Markus tag teamed. It was really cool of Armin and his manager, Maykel, to hang out with everyone at the show too.

The TA’s are very nice people to know. Their great vibe, fun nature, energy, and unity made the night especially magical. Don’t forget to look at my gallery under Miami 2003 to see photos from this night!
 

Suzy Solar's Tour Diary entry #7

Bogota, Colombia, South America - June 13th – 16th, 2003

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM THIS TRIP

June 13th

Friday the 13th saw us going on another great trip to Colombia. Brian and I left our place at 1AM for a five-hour drive to the Miami airport. On our South American trips, we go to Miami first to hook up with our road manager, Javier Fernandez.

I had very little sleep in the car and had played on www.di.fm earier that day so I was pretty tired, but still excited. A little voice in my head had me a bit worried about going to Colombia, since we had just read in the news about a Miami woman being kidnapped over there recently. To make matters worse, just last week George Acosta told me “I wouldn’t go to Colombia too much. Take it from me!” I know that there are risks, but I have to live. I have to do my thing and see the world for myself. I will never forget the immortal words of Pink Floyd: “All that you touch and all you see, is all that your life will ever be.”

Our flight was actually decent. I hate to fly, but this time it was kind of enjoyable. We watched the obnoxiously funny cartoon “Family Guy” on our laptop… God I love cartoons.

We touched down in Bogota at 1pm their time. The promoter of the club, Javiear, also known as DJ Deep Mind, greeted us at the airport. Since his name is the same as our road manager’s, we’ll refer to him by his nickname, Paisa. The last time I had played in Bogota, Paisa played before me at another club, Gotica. Now he’s booked me for Le Club, the club that he currently works at.

Paisa and our driver took us sight seeing through the nice parts of Bogota and then to our hotel, which was German. I experienced a sense of déjà vu, because I have a tendency to accidentally speak German in Spanish speaking countries, and Spanish while in Germany. Also, the Bogota landscaping and buildings bear a strong resemblance to Germany.

I was relieved to find out that I no longer felt culture shock going there, and in fact, it was like a second home to us. The only thing that I wasn’t used to was the occasional dizziness and shortness of breath that accompanied being in such a high altitude. (2,600 meters closer to the stars!)

We decided to relax a bit. Turning on the TV, we saw a rave being broadcasted at 3 PM. During our last trip in Medellin, Colombia, we saw another rave on TV with Gatecrasher residents. Our friends at Elit Entertainment threw both shows, and we were really impressed to see them on TV.

That night, we ate at the hotel restaurant and had really bad service. The food wasn’t too good and the air conditioning (climate control) broke in our room. This was supposed to be a really nice hotel too! Javier was right on it, and called another hotel. It’s a really good thing that he’s with us because most people in these countries don’t speak English and it’s very hard to communicate with them.

Later that night, we all headed to Le Club. But before I hit the decks, I got to try ajiaco, a hen soup, at one of the local restaurants. It was the best soup I’ve ever had! As a bonus, we got to see a five piece Colombian band play.

Paisa’s nights at Le Club are dedicated to trance and house music, and the crowd there is educated and they really love to party. I had the misfortune of having broken headphones. It’s a good thing that we brought two pairs with us, but the other ones were at the hotel. I borrowed Paisa’s, which were two sizes too big and most of the sound escaped, making me strain to hear the mix all night. I took over the decks after DJ Jeff, a house DJ and started bridging to trance with trancey hard house. Originally, I wanted to play prettier stuff but these people wanted it hard and fast and they wanted it right away. It was 3AM and it was due time for the heavy artillery. I played a three hour set, building up to an intense peak at 5AM with a record that Cosmic Gate gave me last year, their mix of Sioux “Pho,” then taking it over the top with the original mix of Merge “Armageddon.” Then something very weird happened. Two girls started to fight and it spread throughout the club, resulting in a full scale club riot. I stood there not knowing what to do, while “Armageddon” laid out a weird soundtrack to the violence before me. Brian and I ducked down in the DJ booth, knowing that there were guns in the building (we were with armed security).

In America, the party would be over after a riot, but a lot of the clubbers stayed. They kind of staggered around the dance floor in disbelief, but still wanted to continue to try and have a good time. I built the vibe over again, pitching it down a couple of beats per minute and began to play pretty trance. I started with Talla 2XLC “Can You Feel the Silence,” the soft version, to soothe the remaining clubbers. I don’t think anyone got badly hurt and no shots were fired, but it was still really scary. I guess that’s Friday the 13th under a full moon for you!

At 6AM, Javier said “OK let’s go!” so we hopped into a cab, which was playing the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy In The UK,” and headed to a house party at Jersson (Elit Entertainment)’s place. We enjoyed his awesome condo with huge windows overlooking Bogota, complete with his own personal bodyguard and servant. We watched the sun rise over Bogota and the view of the mountains with the clouds skimming across the top. After Jersson played, I played a few songs on the decks that Scott Bond had just played on, while he was there last week. Then it was time to go…

June 14th

After a couple of hours of sleep, we switched hotels to an even nicer one. This new one had huge rooms with panoramic windows and a living room to entertain our guests.

We made two new friends last night, Angelica and Alejandrina, sisters. They took Brian and me to a shopping mall and I got some really hot clothes. I can’t believe the drivers in Colombia, it’s insane! There would be busy intersections where they don’t stop for red lights and everyone was trying to bully their way through stand still traffic.

Javier called and said that Le Club wanted me to play there again tonight. They loved me, despite the fact that I had trouble hearing with Paisa’s headphones and I wasn't too happy with my set. (I always think I suck even if it's a great set!) Angelica and Alejandrina said that it wouldn’t be a good idea to go back because of the riot and that it was really scary. Hhhmmm… nope, that’s not a good enough excuse for me not to go.

After a much needed nap, Paisa picked us up and took us to an Arabian restaurant. The food and ambiance was great, with comfortable couches and live house DJ. Then it was off to Le Club.

This time, I had my working headphones and I was comfortable, allowing me to be totally in the zone. I went on at 3AM, and played till the club closed at 7AM. I love to play really long sets because I enjoy taking people through the different stages of the night. I went on after house DJ Crash, and started off in some trancey hard house, through a hard trance transition, then to intense epic trance. The epic trance stuff is my favorite and that’s when I really shine. It felt as though the energy was flowing from my fingertips, through the mixer, and pouring my heart and soul through the speakers. I became overwhelmed with emotion and it was a truly spiritual experience for me. The clubbers were going absolutely bonkers and they were one with me. Then the sun slowly started to come in through the club windows and I played trancey progressive to the sunrise. When the club closed at 7AM, the clubbers wanted more so I played an encore track, the Daniel Wanrooy remix of my track “Ocean of Love.” What a great night! I have to thank Paisa for feeding me those La Bomba energy drinks. They were quite euphoric when mixed with vodka and much better than any other energy drink that I’ve tried.

June 15th

Brian and I got to sleep all day. At night, Paisa, Angelica, Alejandrina, and Kike from Elit Entertainment took us out for some drinking and a movie at the mall. We missed the last showing of the movie so we chilled out at a bar on the top floor of the massive multilevel mall. The guys who worked there were cool and played my “The Perfect Trance” CD on their system.

We retired for the night at 3AM.

June 16th

I didn’t want to leave Bogota. I became quite attached to the city and its people. Paisa said that he’d bring us back soon.

We endured a bumpy flight that upset my stomach, then got hassled by the customs officials because they are looking for someone by the same name as mine. I’m getting used to it I guess.

Before our five hour drive home, we checked out two houses in Miami because we are planning on moving there very soon.

Well that’s it for my life on the road for this month. Log on in a couple of weeks when I will have the entry for my Seattle, Washington and Calgary, Canada at Max Belle Arena with Cosmic Gate entry!

 

Suzy Solar's Tour Diary entry #6

Medellin, Colombia - May 2003

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM THIS TRIP

May 22th
Brian and I drove 5 ½ hours down to Miami to meet up with our South American road manager, Javier Fernandez. We were all going on a trip back to Colombia, but this time to Medellin. I was really excited to be playing there again. This time, I wasn’t as nervous as the last South American trip because I knew what to expect. Also, we feel safe with Javier, who is a professional road manager, promoter, and booking agent specializing in the South American countries. He had won a platinum record for his Enrique Iglesias “Vivir” world tour, selling over 750,000 tickets with more than 83 concerts in 1997. Currently, he is bringing Cirque Du Soleil for their first ever tour in South America.

We spent the night in Javier’s awesome condo overlooking Biscayne Bay. Although comfortable, it was very hard to sleep because of my anticipation for the next few days to come.

May 23rd
The three of us headed down to the Miami International Airport. Usually, Brian fulfills the road manager duties, so it was really nice to have someone else take over and let Brian enjoy the trip. I still put him to work, though, as the photographer/videographer and to fill in odds and ends while Javier was busy. I will have to admit that having two managers was pretty damn sweet.

The airport was very hectic and frustrating. DJs really have to go through a lot to do what they do, especially after 9/11. I can’t believe how many times we were searched, and how many long lines we had to stand in before we finally boarded the plane.

We had the bad luck of having to fly through a storm. If you’ve read my other entries, you already know that I have a fear of flying, especially during bad turbulence. It feels as though the plane would fall from the sky at any moment. Accelerating through the storm clouds, an eerie hush fell over the passengers. There was a vibe of tension through out the cabin as the turbulent dips turned my stomach. I couldn’t even enjoy the beautiful ocean view with the bright blue coral reefs. I looked at the stewardesses’ faces for reassurance, but they were also fear-stricken, clenching in their seats and looking as though they were praying to God to see them through. It’s funny how they could have this job and they look that worried. Then suddenly, we emerged from the clouds and the flight smoothed out. The passengers let out a sigh of relief and started to move about in their seats. Brian and I passed the time by watching Beavis and Butthead on our laptop.

After a 3 ½ hour flight, we touched down in Medellin. The weather was absolutely perfect. As soon as we stepped outside, we were greeted by a man with a sign that read “Susy Solar.” His name is Ramirez, our driver and security for the remainder of our trip. We all started the 40-minute drive up twisting and turning roads over a mountain. Javier said that this is one of the most beautiful places in the world, but I couldn’t tell because it was pitch black and I was watching the crazy drivers whip past us on the narrow roads. The experience was thrilling and I was really enjoying myself as we drove. I thought about my friends and family and I wondered if my dad worries about me going on these adventures.

Finally, I saw the most breathtaking view. I saw the city in the valley down below, blanketed in bright lights and surrounded by other mountains. It was so beautiful!

During the ride, the local radio station 92.9FM called Javier’s cell phone to conduct an interview with me. Javier had to translate. It was really weird to be talking on the cell phone and hearing my voice come out through the car radio, and then being translated into Spanish, while driving through a mountain. During the interview, Ramirez pulled over at a look-out point. We exited car and enjoyed the gorgeous view of the lights down below. Unfortunately, my camera couldn’t capture the essence of this experience.

We checked in at our hotel called Club Campestre, a five star country club. Its amenities include polo, golf, gym, tennis, football, horseback riding, gambling, sauna, gorgeous swimming pool, and other great things that I can’t remember. We got to relax a bit before my show, which is where I start to focus and center myself mentally. When I’m able to do this, I always have a good show. While getting ready, I took notice of the Colombian TV. They were airing a Kama Sutra program, which featured naked people demonstrating how to have better sex. What a country!

My show was at Club Sessions, a really cool club in Medellin. This had to be the tightest DJ booth I’ve ever played in. It was set up on a stage above the bar overlooking the dance floor. Behind me was a huge projection screen with trippy visuals. This club was able to stay open all night and I was fired up to play until the wee hours of the morning. The crowd was great and the party favors flowed freely. Some of the most beautiful girls in the world are from Colombia and the club was packed with gorgeous women. I hit the decks at the 2AM peak time. Unfortunately, the police made the club close at around 5 AM because of the loud music. I signed a lot of autographs after my set until it was time to go. The club let us take an opened bottle of vodka with us, which is illegal in the US.

On the drive to our hotel, we noticed that the other Colombian drivers didn’t stop for red lights. We arrived safely and enjoyed our vodka and the view of the mountains from our room’s window.

May 24th

At 9AM, I woke up to loud house music coming from a huge sound system from the hotel next door. This made me quite curious, as it seemed as though there was a club that had been open all night playing electronica. Last night, I heard them playing trance.

Originally, I was also supposed to play a show in Bogota, Colombia and Quito, Ecuador, but they got postponed to a later date. This left us with a couple of days to relax and do whatever we felt like doing. We enjoyed the five-star dining and roamed around the lush grounds, but then got the itch to explore outside. Javier and his girlfriend, Paola, took us to a mall. The mountainous view along the way was stunning. I had only gotten an hour of sleep so it had caught up with me while shopping. Even the Colombian coffee couldn’t keep me awake. Brian and I took a cab back to the hotel while Javier and Paola shopped. The cab driver didn’t speak English and it was hard to communicate with him. The roads were confusing and the drivers out there weren’t stopping for the red lights, stop signs, or traffic controllers standing out there directing the traffic. It was stressful to me, and I was amazed at how patient and happy the cab driver looked. Brian and I got to get a nap in before a night out on the town.

Later that night, Ramirez picked us all up to go clubbing. Medellin was packed with people outside going places. The first club we went to was up a mountain with huge windows that overlooked the city of lights in the valley below. Tech house DJ Marco Carola from Italy was playing. The club was already full so we went to another club called Mi Casa. Javier got us a VIP table and we started our partying. We had an Excellent time! Afterwards, we stopped along the side of a mountain to get some food. I was quite wasted and didn’t eat anything. Just like the club last night, Mi Casa also let us take our bottle of vodka to go.

Back at the hotel, Brian and I stayed up all night with our new party materials and watched Gatecrasher resident Matt Hardwick and other great DJs play at a rave on TV.

May 25th

With very little sleep, I was once again awaked by the house music from the other hotel. This was the day that we were scheduled for sight seeing so Javier took us to a tourist area where the history of Colombia was on display. We ate at an open-air restaurant overlooking the city down below, with the buildings lining the valley floor. We watched the sun go down over Medellin and the valley slowly became illuminated with a blanket of lights. Again, the weather was perfect. I tried pig’s ear for the first time and didn’t quite care for it. It was like eating a mouth full of cartillage. It’s a Colombian tradition to eat pig’s ear and I always love to try new things. As a matter of fact, just last week I ate kangaroo and absolutely loved it. It’s like a tender, juicy steak and not gamey at all. Now I drool when I see a kangaroo!

We turned in early to get a good night’s sleep. I was so exhausted…

May 26th

Again, I was awakened by the hotel next door`s playing loud trance music. The sun was already up and I was tempted go rave out one last time before my flight. Instead, I opted for the lack of hot water and endured a cold shower.

Ramirez took us once again through the 40-minute drive up an over the mountain. This time, it was during daylight so I got to see everything. This was such an amazing view! We were so far up, that we were actually above the clouds hovering over the city. How strange it is, to be higher than the clouds.

We had a great flight home and I had time to reflect on the great, wild, and relaxing time we had in Medellin. What an experience! The first time we came to South America a few months ago, I had culture shock so bad that it was hard to enjoy the trip.

Coming in through the US, the customs officials hassled us when they saw my record box. They asked me a million questions, which ranged from “how much money do you make” to “do you have ecstasy?” Then they searched us for drugs and almost forgot to give us our passports back. Silly airport;-)

Oddly enough, I experienced culture shock coming back to America. We tried to enjoy the day on the shopping and dining district of South Beach, Miami but it somehow seemed foreign to me. There was a Memorial Day hip-hop festival and the area was packed. Also, Miami was much hotter than Medellin by comparison and it was unbearable.

I slept during the 5 hour drive home. This was one of the best trips of my life and I’m really looking forward to my Bogota, Colombia show on June 13th!

Suzy Solar's Tour Diary entry #5

Atlanta, Georgia - Goddess IV - April 2003

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM THIS TRIP

April 4, 2003
Today saw Brian and me taking a short flight to Atlanta, Georgia to play for the all female "Goddess 4" event. Although there was a war happening, I swallowed my fear to board the plane, for the shear love of the music. The flight was decent, and DJ Keri and her husband, Mike, greeted us upon our arrival. Florida breaks DJ Debbie D had also flown in and found us at the lobby. I was excited to be there and we all giddy with laughter. We checked in and decided to rest before our driver was to pick us up to go sight seeing.
With no rest in sight, Debbie D read our minds and called us. "We're on our own," she said, "the driver has too much to do." We met her downstairs and decided to go look for something "different" to eat. The last time we were here, we went to the little 5 points area so that's what we decided to do.
In our hunger, we weren't quite thinking straight about how far it actually was. I think we didn't care. It was the just the thought of getting out of the hotel and going on an adventure. We caught a shuttle bus that took us to the airport, where we caught a train, which took us to a train station, caught another train, took a bus, then walked to little 5 points. Let me first elaborate that this confusing journey took us almost two hours, with various notables happening like the customer service at the bus station not wanting to talk to us when Brian asked for directions, but when Debbie or I talked, we got free rides. Everything around us happening was pretty surreal to us because we have no trains in our home state of Florida.
Walking with a new guy friend we made on the bus, cars slowed down to stare and honk at us girls. Used to this, I just laughed and pushed on, eager to eat. We soon realized that this was more of a shopping district, after frantically searching for food with no luck. We wanted sushi, but with no sushi or anything else that was open (!) in sight, we settled for a meal at Vortex, a world famous burger joint with a walk through skull with psychedelic vortex swirls for eyes. The meal was great, but I was expecting to take in some culture like shopping at the underground clothing stores, which carried some of the best club clothes in the world. The meal took 45 minutes to get our table! We wasted all of our time there, having to leave immediately after finished eating to catch a ride with our driver, DJ Sikora. We were thankful that he had taken time from his busy schedule to drive that far to pick us up.
Back at our hotel, Debbie, Brian, and I burned some time in my room for a while. I've known Debbie for years, but this was the first time that I actually got to spend some quality time with her and get to know her. We got to really bond, and I got to see the real Debbie, apart from the clubs and loud music.
With very little rest, it was time to get ready for the show. Sikora came to pick us up. Riding down the glass elevator, we noticed a convention going on and I lifted my skirt to moon everyone downstairs. It was so noticeable, that they could see even from outside!
The "Goddess 4" venue was held at The Atrium. We got there at 10:30 for the very first act, not wanting to miss a single beat. Upon my arrival, the promoter told me of the problems that this show was having. This was an omen, but I came here to get down and have fun and that's exactly what I did.
Despite the problems behind the scenes, I really enjoyed the talent. Upon meeting the girls, I noticed that we were all carefully chosen according to talent, appearance, and personality. There were different genres of music too.
DJ Keri played an awesome set, complete with live vocals. It was my first time seeing her play live and I was very impressed. However, something wasn't right with the sound and she apologized to the crowd while they cut to silence to solve the problem. Her audience patiently waited for her to tear it up once again.
I got to meet DJ Miss Lisa and we hung out for the majority of the show. Her down to earth personality made it easy for me to talk to her. Speaking of problems, Lisa said that the DJ booth in the main room was pushed to the back corner of the stage and there was no monitor or CD mixer. We were scheduled to play on that main stage so we naturally got upset about it. (This was also the stage where the live acts where playing.) Then we were asked if we had brought our needles because there weren't any on that set up! That put Lisa's set behind by a couple of hours while we waited for a local to bring his.
About that time, lots of pictures were being taken of us. Another person asked if they could get a picture of Lisa, Debbie, and me with a group of people hanging out. Debbie said, "Let's do something different with our hands," so I jokingly grabbed her breast for the photo. Then she exclaimed, "that's the guy's mom right there," pointing to a middle-aged woman who was also in the photo. How embarrassing!
After Keri, Debbie played a wicked break beat set, dancing around and really getting into it. Brian, Miss Lisa, and I ventured in the main room to see Spacegirl throw down an awesome live performance. Looking around, I noticed some remarkable lightstick talent and saw how the locals dressed. These party kids had a style that I had not yet seen. They combined retro 80's design (some like Rocky Horror Picture Show and others like new wave bands) crossed with the traditional rave clothing. Most of these outfits were homemade. The best outfit was a guy wearing a tight Batman shirt with black underwear cut like Speedos and no pants. (He did not work there.) Anything goes here - this is a place were the bartender can go to work with her bedroom slippers on. There were other party kids in their underwear too.
Miss Lisa hit the stage, opening with her awesome track "Crawling." The soundman had thrown a so-called "monitor" up there (an old main room speaker turned around) but too far, too loud, and distorted. And still no CD mixer! I tried to explain that I have unreleased material on CD that I wanted to play, and that unreleased material is the backbone of a really good DJ set. Brian tried to get the sound guy to make things right, but with no luck. There was also no lighting on her, which Brian got someone to fix halfway through her set. We enjoyed Lisa's hard house set while we talked to the next DJ, Nancy Way. She's been DJing for 20 years and has a 21 year-old daughter who spins breaks! That is so cool! Nancy was also upset at the set up. Most of her set was also unreleased material on CD. Brian tried again to get a CD mixer. He was told "in a few minutes" but it never arrived. After her pumping progressive set, I was up.
The monitor was way too loud, distorted, and so distant that there was a huge delay. It was not being controlled by the mixer, so I could not turn it down to mix in my headphones. This particular mixer did not have a cue/program feature for mixing in headphones anyway. Also turning my headphones up louder than this monitor was too much of a risk of permanent ear damage. A lot of DJs would have refused to play under these conditions, but like I said, I came to get down. I had the trancing hour, my favorite time of a party, and was ready to drop the best trance bombs. In my excitement, I didn't realize how far away my record box was and walked over to get the next record with my headphones on. The cord extended to its farthest point, snapping the headphones off my head as it pulled me backwards in a "clothesline" manner, then made the needle scratch across the record some. This must have looked funny to whoever saw it;-) I was not too thrilled with my mixing but I was at least having fun playing my favorite big room records and seeing the party kids going off. (Don't get me wrong, I was still pissed about not getting to play my new promos and my own damn track!) Although anything that could go wrong went wrong, the people loved it, and they greeted me after my set. I thanked them for coming and then left with my friends, Floyd and Charlotte, who now live in Atlanta. The time was then 6:30am and I was starving.
The liquor I drank was not settling too well on an empty stomach. I asked Floyd to go through a drive through when we saw one. There wasn't a decent one for another 15 minutes. Once in the parking lot, we were entertained by a very intoxicated woman stumbling around on the sidewalk by herself, grabbing at things not there. Then a car came whipping by, knocking down a fence, and almost hit her. Man I wish I had been videotaping!
We stopped by Floyd and Charlotte's for a little while to catch up on things. I was very impressed by Charlotte's artwork. I think I was pretty grouchy though, because I was so tired. We decided to get a move on back to our hotel. Then Floyd and Charlotte lost their car keys.
Not finding them, and having to resort to the spare set, we started the journey back to our room. But this was a mission in it self. No one in the car was quite sure how to get there, so we went through the airport to retrace the route in which we arrived. It was very busy at 8am, so the airport had a traffic jam due to the random car searches and further up, people loading and unloading. We endured the stalled time, then missed our exit and had to circle around again.
This time we got pulled over for a random car search. Of course, they looked through the truck and questioned the record box. All clear, they proceeded to let us by. We were finally on the right path. I was deliriously over-tired and ready to go to bed… then Brian reminded me that it's not really 8:30 at all, but 9:30am because of daylight savings time. After a brief cursing session at the M…F… time change, I fell fast asleep.

April 5, 2003
We awakened at 11:00am because we didn't know that the room was paid for this day too. We were told yesterday that the hotel was busy and we couldn't get a late check out, which is routine for us. We decided that we were going to stay until they made us leave. No one bothered us. We left at 4:00pm and that's when we found out that the room was paid for today too.
I recently saw on CNN that airport service is better and friendlier than before, but this is not true. I have noticed that the customer service, particularly at the ticketing counters and food/coffee places, was generally unfriendly. They reeked of attitudes, not smiling and being short with us. This happened at both airports to and from Atlanta. Debbie said the same thing and I didn't even bring the subject up first. She came from a different airport too. Mysteriously, the only people who were really friendly were the guys working the metal detectors.
Just before take-off, it started to rain pretty hard. We were delayed on the runway then started on a very turbulent flight. I hate flying anyways, and was so scared that dug my claws into Brian's hand, practically crushing it. I had to take my prescription Valium. Everything smoothed out shortly afterwards.
Back at Clearwater, Fl, Brian took me out for sushi, but I was too tired to eat. I fell asleep as soon as we arrived at our place, not even wanting to watch my weekly Sunday evening cartoons.

April 6, 2003
I slept for 13 hours then started working on my new mix "The Perfect Trance 2.0" for Neurodisc Records. Look for it June 10th nationwide at major music stores!

Suzy Solar's Tour Diary entry #4

Ecuador and Columbia, South America - December 2002

CLICK HERE FOR THE PHOTO GALLERY OF THIS TRIP

December 5, 2002

     I am ready to face what lies ahead for me. Tonight, Brian and I are starting our excursion to Guayaquil, Ecuador and Bogota, Columbia. This will be our first time in South America. There is an element of danger that is involved with traveling to a third world country. I am well aware of the various situations that could happen, but still I go on, in search of the thrill.
     We drove five hours to Miami so that we could catch a flight on Avianca airlines. They are the only airline that flies between Bogota and Guayaquil. We went to Javier's (the promoter) place in Treasure Island to rest up before our trip. We burned time on his balcony overlooking Biscayne Bay and downtown Miami. Javier was already in Ecuador so we hung out with his roommate.

December 6, 2002

     Our day started with a frantic drive to the Miami International Airport. We had a very hard time finding Avis to return our rental car. We finally arrived at the airport just in time to make our flight. The lines at the airport were very, very long but surprisingly fast and orderly. We had a good laugh when three of the search officials thought that I was 11 or 12 years old. Our trek consisted of a three and a half hour flight to Bogota first, then we caught a connecting flight to Guayaquil. Both flights were extremely turbulent during the landing. I have never liked to fly, and especially not when the planes felt as though they could flip over at any moment. As we ate our first meal at the Bogota airport, we tried to be careful about what we ate and drank. Not careful enough though, Brian got sick for a few hours.
     When we landed in Guayaquil, our first impression of the airport was that it was very reminiscent of the news clips of the evacuation of Saigon. The airport was very poor and reminded us of a flea market. There was no lobby for people to wait for their arriving guests, so we were led to the outside area. I was shocked to see how chaotic it was. Ecuador is on the equator, so it was very hot and humid with about 500 people waiting, packed like sardines. Taxi and hotel representatives were also on the outside next to the door, grabbing at our luggage and trying to entice us to use their services. I was very confused about how to find Javier, so I asked a man standing at the door to help. He raised his hand and the crowd silenced. He called out, "Senor Javier Fernandez." Javier answered back, making his way though. We carefully walked though the small, sketchy pathway between the people while an old man pushed me forward with his luggage.
     On the ride over to the venue, we learned that George Acosta was in Ecuador's capital, Quito, to play a show on the same night as me. Javier took us first to a really good sushi restaurant next to the venue, La Creme. (Too bad Brian was sick! I wound up eating his food for him.) Then we rushed off to our five star hotel room at Oro Verde. There was no time to rest though, just to change our clothes and then return to the venue.
     La Creme was decorated in Hispanic art deco design and very cozy with plush couches everywhere, even in the ladies bathroom. Lexter was the opening DJ and I went on upon my arrival. I played alot of new records that I had picked up two days prior to our trip. The people really got into it, and it was hard for Brian to keep everyone out of the DJ booth who wanted to talk to me. One girl who slipped past Brian came up to me, and her long hair got into the needle of the song coming in, making the needle skip during the mix. The club wasn't as packed as I had hoped, being that Guayaquil is a very small city and electronic music is still new there. Javier assured me that the booking in Columbia was going to be the big one. We still had fun and it was very cool to play there & meet fans in this country who had my "The Perfect Trance" CD. I played until closing at 4AM, and then hung out a little later to talk to my new fans.
     With no time to spare, we were driven to the airport to catch a flight to Bogota, Columbia. We were very lucky to have Javier flying with us because we didn't speak the language. We arrived at 4:45 AM, with our flight departing at 6:45. This airport was like a zoo! There were no distinguishing lines, just masses of people standing in what they hoped was the right one. We stood in line for 2 hours and only moved 10 - 15 feet. Then our airline, Avianca, closed the counter and announced that everyone who had not checked in missed their flights. There were lots of people in that line, and things got ugly with them yelling and screaming. I thought a riot was going to break out at any moment. Javier rushed up to the counter along with everyone else, and tried to make another reservation for the next flight to Bogota. After two more hours of waiting, we finally got a flight at 11:00AM to Ecuador's capital, Quito, then a transfer to Bogota. Javier had told us before we got there that Avianca does this to him often but he has to fly it because it's the only airline that flies between Guayaquil and Bogota. We agreed that Avianca has the worse customer service!
     It was 9AM and we were exhausted, waiting at the terminal for our flight. We made beds out of the seats and took a nap, only to be awakened by a woman who worked there. She said that Avianca didn't have a reservation for me and Brian for the flight, which was bull because we had stood in line for four hours to make it. Shortly afterwards, Lexter and producer Punk Floyd arrived for their flight, which was the same as ours. That made the situation less miserable. We finally got our flights situated and we boarded the plane on time at 11AM.

December 7, 2002

     The half hour flight to Quito was good, and I liked seeing the mountains and scenery from the window. This city is quite modern and 12 times bigger than Guayaquil with 12 million people. We were relieved to be in a nicer airport. Weird thing, we heard that George Acosta's flight got screwed up too, and he wound up at the airport that I had just come from. The three of us were on a waiting list to make the transfer to Bogota at 12PM, but after waiting in line at the check in counter, we were angry to learn that they were making us wait until 6PM for the next flight. We didn't understand why some people who were behind us in line at the other airport were getting on this plane but not us. At that point, we were exhausted from not sleeping and made beds again out of the airport chairs. People were looking at us like we were homeless but we didn't care. Time was moving ever so slowly. Two hours felt like four hours. Javier called his friend, Veronica (a promoter there in Quito) and she picked us up. Ever since I  learned about the equator in elementary school, I had been wanting to go to there, to the middle of the earth at latitude 0. And luckily, that's where she took us.
     There was a monument and museum at latitude 0 and we were very happy to get to see it. The view was breathtaking, with the mountains all around. There was a yellow line painted for the equator and a long walk up stairs leading to the monument. It was hard to breathe in the high altitude and the air was a little chilly. After a great Ecuadorian meal, we headed back to the airport and waited in line again. I was delirious at this point and had started to hallucinate. Sitting on my record box, I closed my eyes and thought that I was at my house sitting on the toilet. Startled awake by a noise, I found to my dismay that I was in fact not at all where I thought I was. I went back to my bed on the chairs while Brian and Javier did the waiting. When Brian woke me up, we had to face some bad news. There was something wrong with this plane, and our flight had been delayed for five more hours. We were then rescheduled for departure at 11PM. We checked in our bags and dragged our tired legs upstairs to the terminal to take some more power naps. It felt like we were sleeping in a shelter and I was being bitten by mites. My feet hurt so bad that I felt like chopping them off to put them out of their misery. We were very worried that we would have another delay and miss the next show. I was pissed off, and prayed that I would not be stranded there any longer.
     After what seemed like an eternity, we took the one hour flight to Bogota. We had just enough time to check in to our beautiful hotel room and get a quick shower. Within a half an hour, we had to check out to go straight to the venue, Club Four Rooms - Gotica.
     Brian and I were very impressed with Club Four Rooms. The decor and vibe was like being in Ibiza or Miami. There were four massive rooms with a different DJ in each one. The club was full of beautiful people and there were dancers with seductive costumes on elevated platforms. When we walked into the room where I played in, the energy from DJ Deep Mind hit me. The people were really into his pumping trance set. Javier was right... this place was packed wall to wall. I loved the people there and I had a wonderful time playing to such an awesome crowd. It was a very good show for me. The whole time I kept thinking "This is what I travel the world to search for... I have found what I have been seeking." I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had to rush off to fly back to Miami. We arrived just in time to catch our flight.

December 8, 2002

     After a rocky landing in Miami, we drove down to Miami Beach and ate oxtail soup and fried meat pie at an authentic Colombian restaurant, since we didn't get to eat in Colombia. We were quite exhausted so we stopped by Javier's place in the vicinity to change our clothes. The five hour drive back to our place in Clearwater was the hardest drive that Brian and I had to make in a very long time. It was a rough trip, but it was all worth it. We will be back soon...

Suzy Solar's Tour Diary entry #3

Rochester, New York - August 29th 2002 – September 1, 2002

Aug. 29th

This Labor Day weekend, Brian and I hopped on a plane to join the ATB and Spacekid show in Rochester, NY. Our friend, Cristin was one of the promoters throwing the party. She picked us up at the airport and took us to a nice part of Rochester for dinner. We met up with some of her friends and started our Labor Day partying.

Aug. 30th

We awakened at noon, excited for the day to come. The weather was gorgeous. I thought it was even better than what we were having in Florida. Cristin took us to meet Andre Tanneberger, known to the music world as ATB. He stood up and shook my hand upon our arrival. Dorian (Cristin’s partner), Jurgen from Radikal Records, Rudi (known as producer SQ-1), and Spacekid were also there ready to go. We all left to take Andre to his in store meet and greet at FYE. A handful of fans showed up for autographs and pictures, but Rochester isn’t a big trance town so we weren’t too surprised at the low turnout.

Later, we all went out to dinner at Chili’s. We enjoyed pleasant conversation with Andre and his group. Brian and I noticed that they all took the ice out of their sodas. They are from Germany, and when Brian and I were over in Germany, we were always served with no ice in the sodas. I was especially happy to talk with Jurgen because we had wanted to meet with him for the past year. Andre talked about wanting to be close to his fans, and that he wanted to have the turntables set up on the stage instead of up in a booth. We thought that was really cool of him. He was also funny. Over dessert, he said that my cake looked a tit! Then when we left, he wanted to teach me a new German word. I don’t know how to spell it, but it sounds something like this: “schbabbitty schbabbitty voob.” I asked him what it meant and he said laughing, “oh, you’ll find out someday!”

After dinner, Critstin took me and Brian to my in store meet and greet at Neutral, owned by MC Jumper. We got to meet some really cool peeps there and I picked up some really good records.

The ATB show was held at Universe, formerly known as Gotham City. The building was an old church and had a very high ceiling, stained glass windows, and paintings of demons on the walls. There was a good turnout and an awesome laser light show. We all hung out onstage for Spacekid and ATB, but I had to rush off during ATB’s set to play at the after hours club, Industry. I was supposed to go on after ATB, but Universe had to close at 3, so they made the official after hours for ATB at Industry. I was impressed with the DJ booth at Industry and the club was also nice. I went on at 3, but was having a hard time getting mentally ready for the beginning of my set. There was cheering and people came up to the booth to say that they loved the music but I still wasn’t satisfied. A half an hour later, I dropped Sushi’s “The Earthshaker” and suddenly something clicked inside me. I found my groove and the audience picked up on my vibe, cheering loudly and dancing hard with their hands in the air. Within minutes, Jurgen showed up with SQ-1. I was very happy to see them having a good time and taking pictures of me. That’s when I started to really have fun and took my set to the next level. I was finally satisfied and got excellent feedback.

September 1st

It was hard to leave Rochester. I felt attached to the people and I hope to be back soon.

Calgary, Canada – June 29th to July 1st, 2002

June 29th

Brian and I flew to Calgary, Canada for Canada’s Independence Day, known as Canada Day. Apollo Productions brought us up there to play at Max Bell Arena with Cosmic Gate, Scot Project, and DJ Mea. We got a really nice hotel suite upgrade thanks to a fan who worked for Delta hotels. We had a huge room with a great view overlooking Calgary and the Rocky Mountains off in the distance. The hotel even delivered us a complimentary fruit basket. Thai, the promoter, took us to get some bubble tea at an Asian cafe. This refreshing drink is served hot or frozen, and comes with an extra wide straw to suck up tapioca balls and your choice of fresh fruit from the bottom of the tea. Excited to be back, we kicked off the weekend with Brian playing a set at the after hours club, The Warehouse.

June 30th

With our cell phone ringing so much, we had no choice but to wake up earlier than planned. We decided to walk to the Asian mall to have some sushi. The sushi in Canada is awesome. We then walked through the mall and encountered interesting things like dried bats on a stick. The owner of the store said that people make potions from them. We also happened to run into John Kelly and DJ Brian from Moonshine when we went back to our hotel. They were leaving after playing at a show at another venue. Our friends picked us up and took us record shopping at Feroshus record store and then to their friend’s place for a small get together. The drinking and partying was already starting. Realizing that I had forgotten my camera, we drove around looking for a store where I could buy a disposable. In the confusion, I put the receipt in my wallet and threw away my credit card.

We arrived at Max Bell Arena for Dj Mea’s set. Brian had played earlier but we left to rest up a bit before my set. The crowd was filling up the arena and I got psyched. It felt so good to be back in Calgary again. During my set, I was having a great time feeling the energy from the 2500 party people. I was loving it! They were all into the fact that I played a bit harder than usual to make up for Scot Project not being able to show up to this show. He was in Japan for the World Cup Soccer Game and couldn’t make it to Calgary. Bossi and Nik from Cosmic Gate greeted me on the stage. I was so happy, they got there for my set. Brian and I got to sit back onstage as they threw down their wicked tunes. After their set, Thai from Apollo invited me to play the after hours at The Warehouse so B and I went back to the hotel to rest up for it. We wound up not waking up until it was over. Then the party came to our hotel room. We had to call the airport to change our flight so we could stay an extra day. Good times, good times!

July 1st

Back home again…. :-(

Suzy Solar’s Tour Diary entry #2

Winter Music Conference – Miami, Fl. - March 22– 28, 2002

March 22nd

I woke up at noon excited for the music conference. I had been looking for inspiration for my new song, and I was hoping to find it there. I was on a musical quest.

Brian and I drove 5 hours to South Beach, Miami and checked into our hotel. They were holding a model search while pumping trance music. Things were already looking good.

For dinner, we hooked up with our friends and ate at Sushi Rock. It was phenomenal! Then we went to Opium Garden to see the Hooj Choons party. The club was open air with a covered area for the dj booth and dance floor. It started to rain slightly. My friend, Rich wanted to sit down really bad so he bought us a VIP table under the covered area. We were with two other girls and an old friend, DJ Dre. We ordered a bottle of Grey Goose and us girls got crazy with the music as Red Jerry and Sander Klindenberg played. It was a good warm up for our week.

March 23rd

Brian and I woke up at 2pm and went to get our badges for the conference. Prior to leaving for Miami, I had called George Acosta and he said to come find him so he could give us passes for his show at Club Level. At first try, we ran into him at his record store, Grooveman. He was just leaving to play at Ultra. We got our passes and went shopping down Washington. Miami has the most awesome clothing and shoe stores.

At Club Level, we enjoyed the VIP area, which is on the private part on the third floor. George calls it “The George Bar.” There was a Pacha party in the main room, but Brian and I decided on hearing Ariel Baund and Eddie G in the side part of the second floor. That little room was rocking! Ariel played his tasty flavor of progressive and Eddie played an energetic set of hard melodic trance. At 4am, George hit the decks in the main room. I had fun talking with his girl, Linda, in the DJ booth as George played his hard driving melodies. We stayed til the club closed at 6am.

March 24th

As you might have guessed, our day was shot. We slept until 3pm and slowly went to the convention center, where the conference was being held. It was just closing up at 5. We decided to eat at China Grill. Words can’t describe how good this place was… You will just have to try it sometime. I especially loved the lobster pancakes.

Later, we went to Club Spin. Paul Oakenfold was playing really good, and I loved the vocals and energy in his set. We left during D’Fuse’s set to try to wake up at a decent hour…

March 25th

Not! We got up at 2pm.

Miss Shiva, the beautiful and talented DJ/producer (Sony Records) from Germany called us. She had just flown in to Miami after playing in Peru. It was our first time meeting her and I was excited. We took her to see the beach, and then to the Giant afternoon party to see Chris Fortier. The weather and the vibe of Miami couldn't be any more beautiful for her first visit to the US. She and I began discussing producing music together over rum and Cokes. This made me very happy, as I was looking for someone to produce with.

That night, we got dressed up and bought a VIP table at Billboards. Miss Shiva, DJ Dre, and some other friends joined us. We ordered a bottle of Grey Goose. Miss Shiva and I danced to the hot tunes being spun by Armin Van Buuren. I loved his stage presence and the way he smiled the whole time, getting the crowd into it. During his set, Edgar V introduced me to Ferry Corsten. I gave Ferry my new CD “Live @ Trancedomain” and talked with him a while. I was very happy to meet him. I am a very big fan of his work. His track, "Out of the Blue" changed my life.

March 26th

Brian and I went to the conference a bit. Bored, we decided to head over to Ocean Drive to eat dinner. We enjoyed the view as we ate pallella on the patio of a 4 star restaurant.

Our club of choice for the night was Club Space. Getting there, I felt a tug at my arm. It was Ferry Corsten! We stood in line with him, Armin Van Buuren, and Pete Mutso. Ferry said that he listened to my CD and complimented my mixing. He then got us in on his guest list. We walked in just as John “OO” Flemming was playing his last two songs, which were excellent. Judge Jules hit the decks, playing harder and faster than usual. Pushing the limits at what seemed like 146 beats per minute, the crowd went absolutely wild as he pumped out hard house and trance. I was feeling real good as Jules tweaked the build-ups and worked my brain into a higher state. After two hours, Tiesto took over and amazed us with a four hour trance set . There was so much energy in the club, that Ferry couldn’t resist pulling me onto the dance floor.

Ferry talked with me the whole time and he bought us B-52 shots. He is truly a wonderful person. There is a light that shines brightly within him and his kind soul illuminates from within. There were things that I noticed about him, like the fact that he had waited in line with everyone else instead of trying to use his name to cut in front of everyone. He was a perfect gentleman and was genuinely intrigued by what I had to say. He introduced me to his friends and to some promoters from overseas. Above all, even though he had a VIP wristband and I didn’t, he spent the whole 6 hours talking to me instead of going to the VIP section. This made me feel very special, and all of a sudden, my inspiration came. Something clicked inside me, and the idea for my song hit me. I have found what I was looking for. (Check out my track "Fix" when it's finished!)

Armin Van Buuren - Suzy - Ferry Corsten
 

As night turned to day, Ferry, Armin, Brian, and I went to the patio to see Danny Tenaglia play an unannounced set. We drank some more and went back inside to hear Johan Gielen play his awesome trance music. At 7am, Ferry and Armin had to leave. They were flying out that day to play a show overseas. With no place to sit down, Brian and I left soon after. Even though we wanted to hear Johan, our feet hurt too much.

March 27th

I woke up with a bad hangover. It was our last day here but we didn’t do anything but watch TV and enjoy the ocean view out of our hotel window. I had been invited to play at the conference, but there was no way I could have made it. With a night like last night, everything else will pale in comparison. I was completely satisfied.

Suzy Solar’s Tour Diary entry #1

Buffalo, N.Y. – March 8-10, 2002

March 8th

My manager, Brian (DJ Lil’ B) and I embarked on a trip to Buffalo to play for Dreamcycle USA. The damn Northwest airline has lost my luggage again, the second time in two weeks.

The promoters, Josh and Missy took us to Groove Club for Brian to play a set. It was a great underground atmosphere and I met a lot of cool people. My friend Cristin drove from Rochester with her boyfriend, Mikey, and met us at the club. We got really drunk and danced til dawn to some great DJs. I was most impressed with DJ Cluster from Toronto.

When Josh and Missy drove us to our hotel, we stopped at a red light where a club was just closing. Two college-aged hippie types appoached us and asked us seriously, “Hey, do you guys want to come over to our place and play some ping pong?” None of us knew them! Then they started to wander in the road and Cristin (following us) almost hit them.

March 9th

I woke up at 12 pm, startled that my luggage wasn’t there yet. The airline had said that they would deliver it to my hotel at 9 am. I called and they said that it hadn’t come in on a flight yet. Damn! We had plans with Crisin and Mikey to go to Niagara Falls that afternoon. I was nasty, and had to go to Kmart to buy some underwear and socks. I had hurt my leg from the night before so I limped into Kmart in a hurry and asked real loud “Underwear? I need underwear!” Brian said that I looked like a retard. We drove to the US border and parked. The four of us had a nice walk to the Toronto side to see the Falls. It was my first waterfall… and the sound of the roaring water was something that I longed to hear since childhood. As a light shower of rain started to fall, we decided to eat at a 4 star restaurant with tall, panoramic windows overlooking Niagara Falls. We enjoyed the view as day turned to night.

During our meal, the power went out. The thick windows started to shake as high winds pushed rain at a peak gust of 61 mph. The temperature had dropped from a record high of 69 degrees F to 39 in one hour. Outside, I felt like an ice fisherman from Alaska, almost getting blown over a few times. We hailed a cab to our car as the rain turned to snow. It was really scary having to drive in the freaky violent storm. 

We made it to the hotel safely and my luggage had finally arrived. Just as I started to get dressed for my show, the power went out in the hotel. There was no light, heat, or hot water. We cracked open all of our light sticks and played CDs on a battery powered DVD player. I put on my makeup in the emergency lighting by the stairwell.

Josh and Missy picked us up. The wind blew snow horizontally in waves of “total white out,” in which there was very little visibility. The power lines were down and huge objects were being tossed about. I was scared to drive over there but the show must go on.

I headlined at their all female event “Female Instinct,” with seven other DJs. They had rented out a roller skating rink and the show was all ages. I wished there was more people but the weather was “not fit for man nor beast,” as the Buffalo News stated. I was ready to rock the venue. The vibe was pure and the party kids (and promoters) were very cool. I felt right at home with everyone. I had so much fun playing there! This town has the best light stick dancers that I have seen so far. Their style is an art form that is all Buffalo’s own. The party went on to 8am, and we stayed for the last DJ. I enjoyed hearing everyone play, which varied from trance to house to break beat. With a little help from my friends, I kicked off my shoes and was the last one dancing. There’s nothing like the thrill of chasing the adventure and playing for a good party. I feel so alive.

March 10th

Flew home, the damn airline lost my luggage AGAIN!!!!!!

Diary archive – Denver, Colorado, USA

Aug. 24th – 27th

I would like to archive the details of our journey to Colorado and Hawaii. It started with a strange dream just before our departure to the airport. I had the most horrifying nightmare in which there were plane crashes, hurricanes, bridges collapsing, tidal waves, earthquakes, people on land being hit with planes, and Britney Spears singing. It scared me so bad, that I had a feeling that people were going to die. (This was two weeks before the 9-11 attack. See below in Hawaii entry for the outcome of this premonition.) I developed a sudden fear to board the plane and had to be coaxed by Brian. I had already gotten over a fear of flying when we started to travel a lot, so this new behavior seemed quite irrational. We arrived in Denver with no problems.

The promoters picked us at the airport and we were happy to feel the warm, dry Colorado air. We arrived at our hotel then went sight seeing. At The Garden of the Gods, the beautiful red rock mountains felt spiritual and filled me with inner peace.

The trek to the venue was very hot. The promoter’s car had no air conditioning and we had to ride in the searing heat with the sun blaring on us for two hours. It’s a small price to pay to do what we do. The venue, called “Out of this World,” was full of great party kids who were all very nice. I played an energetic set in my silver skirt with black vinyl top and glow balls to match the theme. The Spacemen played right after me with their alien costuming and 3D visuals. As soon as I stepped out from the DJ booth, my fans wanted me to sign autographs for 3 hours straight. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone. Still being mobbed by fans, I had to be escorted to the bathroom by a bouncer, and then back through the crowd to the backstage area to rest. I got to meet Keoki’s little brother, DJ Kibbles & Beats, who was attending university in Colorado. We drank together and talked a bit. Check out the gallery for photos from this show and from Hawaii.

Hawaii, USA - Sept 6th – 11th 2001 (and the 9 – 11 attack)

Sept. 6th

Brian and I flew to Hawaii to play a show for promoter Matthew Grim. Again, I was reluctant to board the plane but I wanted very badly to go to Hawaii. I had become quite green 7 hours into the flight, feeling so light headed and sick that I would pass out trying to go to the bathroom. I was trying not to make a scene, but the couple next to me kept handing me the barf bag so the stewardess got concerned. My stomach was really upset, but not the barf bag way... the other way. The woman in the bathroom had been in there for like 15 minutes and there was no way I could walk to the back of the plane to use the other one. The stewardess had to bang on the door to get her out. I looked in the mirror and my lips were blue. I had this feeling of doom, like I was going to die. Brian had to talk the stewardess out of calling for an emergency landing to take me to the hospital. He knew that it was just a panic attack and that I just needed to take my Valium. In my anxiety, I somehow managed to break the toilet. How painfully awkward!

We landed in Honolulu with the warm fragrant air greeting us. Mattew picked us up and took us to a nice hotel in Waikiki. Our room had a beautiful view overlooking the water and mountains. We were within walking distance from shopping, fine dining, and the beach. Brian and I spent the day walking around the shopping area and I got a pair of Chanel sunglasses and a white gold with diamond necklace for an early birthday present. Later, we indulged in the nightlife by going to small nightclub to have a few drinks.

Sept 7th

We decided to go to Waikiki beach. Brian went surfing and I rented a raft. The water there is so blue and clear. The weather was perfect and I enjoyed the view of Diamond Head Mountain. It was one of the most relaxed moments that I have ever felt. It was perfect.

I began to crave sushi really bad so we walked around until we found a nice sushi restaurant. This was absolutely the best sushi I have ever eaten, and the most authentic. We also were craving some excitement so we called a couple that we met over the Internet, Tre and Erica.

We went nightclubbing again and had more drinks. We visited a few clubs and my favorite so far was the after hours club The Shelter.

Sept 8th

Brian and I went to the North Shore with Scrappy, a friend that we met online. We met with his friends and went to the Waimea Bay beach. It was so beautiful! The water there was quite turbulent. I had to be very careful while playing in the waves because I can't swim. I got knocked over a few times and my top came off! Brian got to jump off the imfamous “jumping rock” and we discovered a cavernous area where the water would rush in and out.

That night, Brian and I played an energetic set at Club Eye. A big group of our new friends showed up. The club had an underground atmosphere with the interior consisting of black walls and the floor was just the pavement painted black. The people were all very nice and the vibe was energetic and positive. I had fun playing and meeting everyone. By chance, we met Keoki’s other two brothers, Kekoa and Maleko. They are radio celebrities in Hawaii. When the club closed, we were tempted to go to an after hours but we wanted to get up early.

Sept 9th

Brian and I went back to Waikiki Beach. Later, Matt Grim and his girl picked us for some more sushi and a movie. Matt, with his green mohawk and black satin goth clothes, was blaring Marilyn Manson while we cruised in his BMW. I wish that I had friends like them back home. We had a relaxing night and went for a walk at the docks after the movie.

Sept 10th

Scrappy took us to one last destination before we had to leave. We went to Bellows Beach and took in some more sun. We then visited Kailua beach for a few minutes before having to rush off for our flight. It was the perfect end to the perfect vacation. We got stuck in traffic and barely made our flight.

Sept 11th

We flew all night and since there is a 6 hour time difference, we lost half a day. It seemed like a regular morning but at 8:30 AM, my nightmare had started to come true. Just after we had boarded our transfer from Texas to Tampa, the stewardess came over the loudspeaker with alarming news. “Attention all passengers,” she said, “Four planes have been hijacked and two have hit the World Trade Center. We don’t know what’s going on, but we must land the plane within 10 minutes before they shut down air control. If we don’t we will be stuck in the air. We don’t have a gate or runway yet, but fasten your seatbelts because we will be on the ground within the 10 minutes.” It seemed like some sort of movie or surreal dream. The passengers looked concerned and I was starting to worry.

The closest airport was in New Orleans so that was our destination. In the airport, every monitor screen showed the World Trade Centers being bombed over and over again. It felt like a war zone. People were scurrying to get hotels and cabs. We managed to get a room 20 minutes away. Some people weren’t so lucky and got stranded at the airport.

We got to our hotel, which was walking distance from the world famous Bourbon Street, where Mardi Gras happens. Just as we were starting to feel safe, we turned on the news and saw the people of New Orleans worrying about being bombed because the president was in the area at the time. I could feel my sanity slipping a bit, and we had to go for a walk.

Tired and hungry, we ventured over to Bourbon Street, where the excitement is. The street smelled like piss and vomit. It was weird to see it practically void of visitors. There were a few people with big crosses and signs that read, “The end of the world is near.” We got to eat some real New Orleans cooking and that cheered me up. Afterwards, we had a couple of drinks at one of the clubs on the strip.

Sept. 12th

We got to the rental car place right when it opened and started the 12 hour drive home. To make matters worse, a hurricane was coming and we took a chance driving through a tropical storm. We wanted to get home in time to make our flight to play a massive show in Toronto, Canada.

Brian and I made it home safely. However, the flight did not fly to Toronto and we were very very depressed about it. As for the rest of my dream (see Colorado entry above for my premonition), the hurricane had made a tidal wave that killed some people in Central America. The earthquake happened in Los Angeles two days before 9-11. (Brian and I were supposed to play in LA at that time but we turned it down for the booking in Hawaii.)  Later, they caught the guy who tried to bomb the Golden Gate Bridge. Then a plane in New York crashed and hit people and houses. The Britney Spears singing symbolized a major set back that us DJs and musicians will have to endure in the next few months to come. I have always been psychic, but this one really takes the cake. 

Calgary, Canada - Feb. 8th – 11th, 2002

This was our first time back on the plane since the 9-11 attack. After months of shows being cancelled on us, Brian and I were ready to rock. Apollo Productions had rented out a skating rink. I headlined and Brian went on after me. It was packed… the event had sold out. Outside, it was really cold with snow on the ground. I was impressed to see people standing in the long line, which almost wrapped around the building, despite the weather. Brian almost got a ticket for playing too loud but the owner of the rink had talked the cops out of it. I had a great time playing there and meeting people, despite the tight security who wouldn’t even let us bring our pens in. (I smuggled one in anyways for signing autographs after the show.)

Afterwards, we went to a house party at DJ Seratonin’s with some of our friends from when we played before, and with some new ones who we just met. I don’t remember much from that house party, but I do remember that the DJs were playing really good. I can’t wait to go back for Canada Day!

Toronto, Canada – Feb. 15th – 17th, 2002

Brian and I went to Toronto to headline at “A Match Made in Heaven 2.” It was a Valentine’s Day party at Zen Club arranged by Purple Heaven. The girl DJs battled the boys. I was really impressed with the awesome vibe, the decorations, and the fact that they would do something different like give a number to people so they could go around and try to match it up with the opposite sex. It was like one big happy family in there, the unity was like an old school rave when everyone knew each other, complete with group hugs on the dance floor and light stick dancers. We enjoyed hearing all of the DJs play and were happy to see our friends, DJ Beaker, Sarah, Graham, and our new friend, Kris. Toronto is one of our favorite places in the world to eat, shop, and party. We already miss it there.

Germany - March 17-25, 2001

March 17th

This was our second trip to Germany. Brian and I boarded our flight to Frankfurt to play for www.radio-unity.net and to headline for the Websessions tour, which consisted of three shows. We were so excited that neither one of us could sleep on the plane. Upon arriving in Frankfurt, we noticed a sex shop in the airport with dildos and anal beads on display in the window. We considered this a good omen.

We took a cab to the Frankurt Hilton, the nicest hotel in the area. We had just two hours to rest before we had to play on Radio-Unity, the best Inernet radio site in Europe. We had so much jetlag that we could not rest.

Sascha Niederhoefer (the resident DJ and host of Radio-Unity) picked us up and took us to the Internet radio station. The studio was in a decorated basement with live video. We were supposed to play with our friend, DJ Sakin, but he couldn’t make it, due to a conflict in his booking schedule. Rick Air played an awesome set with us and we had a great time hanging out with everyone. Afterwards, Sascha took us to a Burger King and it was much tastier than the American Burger Kings. The customer service was awesome too.

At that point, Brian and I had been awake for 32 hours, so we went back to our hotel to sleep. We missed a massive party with DJ Shah and Brooklyn Bounce at Paramount Park.

March 18th

Frankfurt is known for its shopping, fashion, and food. We walked around that afternoon and took in the culture, eating some of the best meals and buying great clothes. The coolest thing that I saw there was two girls in two different parts of the shopping area wearing miniskirts with a slit up the front with no underwear! What a country!

For dinner, our friends Wolfgang and Stephan (who we had met in Florida while B and I had a residency at the Blue Room) picked us up and took us out for some real German cooking. I loved the way the buildings and roads looked. We did some more sightseeing and called it a night.

March 19th

More shopping! The city of Frankfurt allowed a skate competition in the shopping area and we thought that was cool. We ate at one of the best restaurants in the world – Conrad’s. Germany is known as the land of chocolate so we indulged in the best sweets at a candy shop. We met up with Drizzly Records and did more sight-seeing. We took it easy and went back to the room to watch some German television. The German MTV was very cool, as they played lots of trance videos. There was hardcore porn on the regular cable, but we chose to view the MTV.

March 20th

We rented a car and drove an hour and a half to Karlsruhe. Stephan had offered to let us stay at his house for a night. He took us to a castle, which was something that I had always wanted to see. Then we went record shopping. Later, we got really drunk with a group of his friends. Wolfgang taught us “hosenscheisser,” which means “shit pants.” We retired early for the drive to Bayreuth the next morning.

March 21st

B and I woke up with a great German breakfast and left for the four hour drive to Bayreuth. It was very cold and raining. The drive on the Autobahn was pretty scary. The German drivers are very aggressive and they drive VERY FAST. The rain turned to snow and it was our first time driving in snow. Our tires seemed to come off the road quite a bit as cars went whipping by us like it was nothing. I was so tired, but I dared not to sleep so that I could be Brian’s second pair of eyes on the road. As we neared Bayreuth, my fear turned to joy as the beautiful snowy landscape took my breath away. It looked like something you would see in a fairy tale or a Christmas card.

We met with the Websessions promoter, DJ Daniel Sun. He took us to his house to stay for the remainder of our stay. This was a very beautiful part of Germany, away from the cities. We went to get schnitzels for dinner and met with the other promoter, DJ Sinclair, the self proclaimed “number one fucker in all of Germany.”

Later, they took us to a club for some drinks. We had to park in a McDonald’s parking lot and then I saw something very cool. On the window, hanging inside the McDonald’s was a huge poster for Websessions with my name at the very top with 25 other DJs from Germany and Switzerland.

March 22nd

The Swiss DJs showed up and we all chilled out.

March 23rd

Our tour started with a gig at Fragile, a popular bar in Sonneberg. It was American house music night and they had the place decorated with red, white, and blue statue of liberties and American flags. The owner of the bar and his resident DJ, Hero and Pipo tag teamed. Brian and I decided to tag team, in the spirit of the flow. They got us so drunk that we passed out on the way to the next gig at Fun. It was a good thing, because the drive there was really scary.

We arrived at Fun in a daze. It was a massive show, with five different rooms. I was still very drunk and could barely see the mixing board. (Good thing it was a Pioneer like mine at home.) I took over the decks after DJ Natron (one half of Flutlicht). I got an awesome response from the crowd, and the dance floor got packed for my set. B and I had lots of fun meeting and hanging with the DJs.

At 7Am, the club closed and we went back to Daniel Sun’s for some sleep. It was a very long drive with six people in the car and we passed the time by playing jokes on each other. One funny they did was honking and waving to old people and seeing their reaction… it was very funny!

March 24th

We had gotten one or two hours of sleep, then headed to the meeting point where the 30 of us boarded a tour bus to Dresdin. This was one of the most memorable part of the trip because of the breathtaking view. There were mountains, mini waterfalls, many streams that intertwined and flowed into each other, meadows, and snow on the ground. We partied with the crew, drinking shots of Gooal, an imitation of Jagermeister. The journey took all day and we arrived at Dance Factory in time to eat before the show.

Dance Factory was by far the largest club that I have ever seen. It could easily hold 5000 people. Brian opened the show in the underground area of the club. Upstairs, I headlined in the main room, which was being aired on two radio stations and an Internet radio show with video. We had just enough time to see Daniel Sun and his partner’s live act, Wulf & Sun. We were very impressed.

A representative at Paradise Booking drove us to the airport. It was 4AM and we hadn’t slept for the second night in a row.

March 24th

This was the part that I feared the most. We took an airbus to the Frankfurt airport, where we boarded our plane to Miami to attend the Miami Winter Music Conference. Upon take-off, the engine on the wing caught on fire! There was a huge fireball that went up. The plane flew at half power to dump the fuel in a safe place and return us to Frankfurt. This took three hours. It felt like the longest three hours of my life. We began to drink the shots of Gooal that we smuggled from the tour bus. When we finally touched down, the passengers clapped in relief.

We waited for two hours at the airport to board another plane. To our dismay, this plane had problems too. We had to sit on the runway for another three hours for them to fix it. We finally took off and endured the nine hour flight to Miami.

We were so happy to be alive that we didn’t care about the sleep that we missed and went straight to a party at Shadow Lounge to see Oakenfold. The doorman liked how we carried ourselves and gave us free admission and free drink tickets. We must have looked really happy to be there!

November 2nd – 5th, 2000 - Panama City, Panama, Central America

Brian and I realized that there are no posts for any of our Central American shows. We sometimes get too busy to write about some of our favorite moments. This archive was inspired because we had a really good laugh about our first show in Panama and wanted to share our experience with you. Enjoy!

November 2nd

On this day, Brian and I headed to Panama City, Panama to play for the Festival Juvenil 2000. This is a children’s holiday, and every year the city holds massive parties and parades in honor of the youngsters. Promoters/DJs Sergio Mix and Tom Sawyer threw a huge all ages trance party in a centrally located convention center. DJ Trancelott (Orlando, Fl) hooked up DJ Myth I. S. (NewYork), and me for their line up.

Brian and I drove 2 hours from our home in Clearwater to Orlando to meet up with Lance (DJ Trancelott) so we could all fly together. This was the first show that I had ever played in Central America and we felt safer to have Lance’s company, since he had been there before. The flight was good, especially because Lance is a natural born comedian and we couldn’t get enough of his antics.

As we stepped off the plane, we overheard someone mention my name and wondered how that person knew of me. Then we were all greeted by a customs official and led around the massive line of the other passengers waiting to get searched. It was really cool to not have to deal with immigrations! I was really impressed with how the promoters were able to have that much pull.

This trip predates the September 11th bombings, so this was first time that we had ever seen guards at the airport wearing full camouflage uniforms, holding machine guns with ammunition belts strapped across their chests. From there, we met with Tom Sawyer and his friend, Jose, who owns a clothing store there called The Planetarium, and they drove us to our hotel. We met up with Gary (DJ Myth I. S.) there and went to our rooms, which were all next to each other. To our surprise, we had to slide the hotel key card into a plastic slot on the wall to turn the air conditioning and lights on. The climate there was very hot and humid and we were miserable in the heat. To avoid having the rooms get too hot while we were gone, Gary taught us to insert any card (ID, bank card, credit card) into the slot and leave it there to keep the AC on.

We were all hungry so we ventured to the hotel’s open air restaurant and bar on the roof. We were in awe of the breathtaking view of Panama City, with its mountains. Off in the distance, the highest peak boasted a Panamanian flag.

After a decent meal, we all went to the Super Estacion 92.1 FM radio station to meet with their on air personality, Rachel. We did an interview to plug our Atlapa Festival Juvenil show for the next day and Lance’s show for that night at Club Bacchus. It was a bit difficult because they had to first ask us the questions in Spanish, then in English, then translated our answers in Spanish on the air.

Afterwards, Jose took us to his store for some shopping. I didn’t bring enough clothes because my friends told me horror stories that made me wary of checking in any baggage. I brought only what could fit in a carry on bag.

While driving, we heard a radio commercial for Lance’s booking at Bacchus. It was funny because they had a Ricky Martin song playing for his promo! We also noticed that the roads had no lines in them and the drivers were very aggressive.

The clubbing hours fell upon us so we all went to Bacchus for Lance’s set. The club was one of Panama’s finest, and had a DJ booth in a balcony overlooking the entire club. Brian and I got drunk and I found the bathroom situation very confusing. I couldn’t figure out how to interpret the lights above the stalls to tell which ones were occupied or not, and no one understood English around me. I was experiencing culture shock pretty bad but we had fun. There was a good crowd and Lance threw down a great set. Afterwards, we all retired for the night.

November 3rd

The day started early for us. The four of us went back to 92.1 FM to play a couple of songs each to promote the party. I’m not going to lie, we were a bit nervous but it worked out fine. Then we all went to one of Jose’s favorite restaurants to have a good meal before the show. I got to try monkfish for the first time. It was very delicious, served deep fried whole with all the bones intact. (It’s very rare to find fish served whole in my hometown.)

Afterwards, it was off to the venue. We pulled up to the side door, and immediately were swarmed by the party kids. We had to be escorted by security to the backstage area. The locals Sergio Mix and Tom Sawyer had already been playing, warming up the crowd. I hit the decks with a fierce energy and was really in my groove. After my set, Myth I. S. threw down his hard beats, followed by Trancelott. I loved this crowd, and I hung out at the edge of the stage and talked and signed autographs for three hours. This party was sponsored by Colgate toothpaste so I got to throw lots of samples of toothpaste into the crowd. When the show was over, I noticed that there was not a single drop of toothpaste in the whole place. Also, there was very little litter on the ground. They were very respectful kids!

The show ended at 10 pm, and we all headed to the official after party at an intimate club in the vicinity. We were seated at a booth directly under a balcony. Someone accidentally dropped a glass that grazed the side of my head. It didn’t do any damage, thankfully. Lance, Tom, and Sergio played to a packed house while the rest of us drank and danced all night. When it was time to go, the bar let me take my drink to go. (In America, that’s illegal;-))

November 4th

The children’s holiday celebration had started and we were awakened by the blaring sounds of marching bands from the day parade. Looking from our windows, we could see the parade. Someone was supposed to pick us up to go eat and sight seeing, but no one showed up. We settled for another half decent meal upstairs and watched the parade run its course next to the hotel in the sweltering heat. Bored, we went to our rooms and waited some more for someone to show up.

Day was turning into night and it was time for dinner. We were tired of waiting, tired of hotel food, and no longer scared of walking around Panama City by ourselves. It was time to venture out and find a good meal. The parade had ended, so Lance, Brian, and I were finally able to walk down the main road. Panama has a big Japanese population so we naturally figured that the Asian food would be phenomenal. We were right, although it took us a while to find a restaurant that didn’t look sketchy.

Back at the hotel, we were itching for some action. The three of us took a Trip, heading back up to the roof bar and had lots of drinks;-) Quite loaded, we decided to go walk to the radio station to look for Tom Sawyer and ask him to show us around. We had a hard time getting in the door at the station because we didn’t speak Spanish and the person talking on the intercom didn’t speak English. Then a strange thing happened. All of a sudden, the Spanish that I had learned as a child growing up in Miami came back to me in that instant. It was like a light switch that went on in my head. Suddenly I was able to understand him and the Spanish words just came out of my mouth. It had something to do with getting to a certain level while under the influence. I communicated with him and we were buzzed in the door. Unfortunately, Tom Sawyer wasn’t there yet so we walked back to our hotel.

We called Jose and he picked us up shortly afterwards. By that time, we were pretty wasted. I surprised Jose with my newly developed ability to speak Spanish. “You speak Spanish now?!” he asked, quite amazed. We went on a tour of Panama for two hours. The drive around was gorgeous, with roads that went through lush rainforest landscapes. He showed us the old city and also took us to a famous lookout point that was once attacked by the pirate, Captain Morgan. The fort covered in bullet holes is still standing and now serves as a monument.

After that, he took us to the Panama Canal. We drove through a poor neighborhood where there were holes in the walls of the buildings where people lived in. The tourist area of the canal looked so much like San Francisco bay, that I had a strong feeling of déjà vu. It’s one of the most beautiful places that I’ve ever seen and I’m pissed that I didn’t get pictures!

Jose brought us back to our hotel around midnight. For us, this is very early so we decided to get more drinks. The bar on the roof was closing so we went next door to the strip club just to check it out. Usually, I like strip clubs but the vibe in that place made us feel weird. It was too seedy for us so we finished our drinks and left.

Lance convinced us that it was safe to walk around that area at night so we walked to Bacchus. His reasoning was that there’s a security guard with machine guns outside of every bank, and there’s a bank on every corner. Although he was right, I really don’t recommend for any tourists to be walking around at night over there. It’s also not safe to take a cab either. Some of them pose as cab drivers but they are really robbers or kidnappers.

At Bacchus, they were playing a style of music that we have never heard. It was like fast reggae salsa top-forty Latin, some of which sounded like it was on the wrong speed. The DJ would play about a minute of each song then slam in the next while talking in Spanish really fast over each transition. The crowd was really into it but we just didn’t get it. Confused, we watched the action around us as we finished our drinks.

On the walk back to our hotel, I felt quite paranoid about my surroundings but kept my cool. Then we noticed a huge 24 hour supermarket that was the only thing open at 3am. Curiosity got us and we had to check it out. There were camouflage clad guards armed with machine guns like at the airport. I guess no one shoplifts here! It was like a normal market, only with more fruit flies. Then the guards started to look at us weird and we felt really uncomfortable. We felt like we had to buy something and get out. Even though we didn’t really need anything, I got a pack of gum and Brian got some spare batteries.

Once in bed I couldn’t sleep at all. I was still too hyper. We watched an awful movie on the pay channel, which did the trick nicely.

November 5th

Jose picked us up to take us to the airport. Poor Gary… he slept through the whole adventure yesterday! Being the great guy that Jose is, he took us on another tour to recap some of the great stuff that Gary had missed. We had a good flight home but a dreadful drive back home from the Orlando airport. We were so tired!

I’m very happy to have documented this trip because I never want to forget a single moment of our first time in Panama!