Woodstock at AWT - 2019

 50th Anniversary! 1969-2019

It is time for Woodstock at AWT and it will be held this weekend, August 16, 17 and 18.  This has become something of a tradition at AWT and we do it every August now.  This year is the 50th anniversay of the festival and we are lucky because a good number of artists have released their sets to celebrate.  I have taken advantage of this and I now have 26 hours of the concert.  Considering there were only 35 hours and 53 minutes of music recorded that weekend (the whole concert except three songs was recorded directly from the sound board), I now have 73% of the concert; that's almost ¾ of the concert!  I will play it this weekend over the three days in its historical order

If you visit AWT this week, you will see it slowly transform into the concert grounds as the stage and other facilities take shape.  In the past couple of years I have begun to further capture the feel by controling the time of day (day/night) on the sim to match what it was during that point of the concert we experience at AWT.  I have also included things like sunny vs. overcast, rain, and other things.  These have been refined even further this year.  This is truly as close as we can get to attending the actual 1969 event.

If you missed the original in 1969, this might just be your best chance to experience the original Woodstock in cyberspace with us at AWT.  A number of people who attended in the past have said that in a way they now felt like they were there.  Below, you will not only find the schedule and times, but I have printed the entire set lists for this weekend.  Furthermore, if you scroll past the massive set list, you will find interesting moments you will hear this weekend, like when the Dead blow their amplifiers or Pete Townsend of the Who hits Abbie Hoffman over the head with his guitar.  Each event is explained and an approximate to the minute time that you will hear it this weekend.

So pack up your car or micro-bus.  Drive as far as you can down the SL Thruway, then abandon your car and hike the rest of the way to a Woman’s Touch.  When you get here, the chain link fence is down on the west side of the concert field.  It’s a free concert.  Roll out your sleeping bag and enjoy the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair, an Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music.

Concert Times (all times in SL time) 

Friday, August 16
3:30 - 9:00 PM 

Saturday, August 17
11:00 AM - 9:00 PM 

Sunday, August 18
10:00 AM - 9:00 PM

Here are the set lists for this weekend.  Songs in red denote new additions this year for this years concert.  Bands and artists with an asterisk (*) in front of their name denote that we have their complete set.  No song is missing.

Friday, August 16, 3:30-9:00 PM 

Richie Havens 
Hello
From the Prison
Get Together 
From the Prison (Reprise)
High Flying Bird 
I Can't Make It Anymore
With a Little Help From My Friends 
Handsome Johnny 
Strawberry Fields/Hey Jude
Freedom (Motherless Child) 

His Holiness Sri Swami Satchidananda 
Festival Blessing 

Sweetwater 
Motherless Child
Look Out
What’s Wrong
Two Worlds
Why Oh Why
Day Song

*Bert Sommer 
Jennifer
The Road to Travel
I Wonder Where You Be
She’s Gone
Things Are Going My Way
And When It's Over
Jeanette
America
A Note That Read
Smile 

*Tim Hardin 
(How Can We) Hang On to a Dream?
If I Were a Carpenter
Reason to Believe
You Upset the Grace of Living When You Lie
Speak Like a Child
Snow White Lady
Simple Song of Freedom 
Misty Roses

*Ravi Shankar 
Raga Puriya-Dhanashri/Gat In Sawarital
Tabla Solo in Jhaptal
Raga Majh Khamaj 

*Melanie 
Close to it All
Momma Momma
Beautiful People
Animal Crackers
Mr. Tambourine Man
Tuning My Guitar 
Birthday of the Sun 

Arlo Guthrie 
Coming into Los Angeles
Wheel of Fortune
Walkin' Down the Line
Every Hand in the Land 

*Joan Baez
Oh Happy Day
The Last Thing On My Mind
I Shall Be Released
Story about how the Federal Marshalls came to take David Harris into custody
Joe Hill
Sweet Sir Galahad
Hickory Wind
Drug Store Truck Driving Man
I Live One Day at a Time
Take Me Back to the Sweet Sunny South
Let Me Wrap You in My Warm and Tender Love
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
We Shall Overcome
 
Saturday, August 17, 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM

Quill 
They Live the Life
That's How I Eat
Driftin’ 

Country Joe McDonald 
Janis

Donovan's Reef
Flying High
The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag 

*Santana 
Waiting
Evil Ways
You Just Don't Care
Savor
Jingo
Persuasion
Soul Sacrifice
Fried Neckbones and Some Home Fries 

*John B. Sebastian 
How Have You Been
Rainbows All Over Your Blues
I Had a Dream
Darlin' Be Home Soon
Younger Generation 

The Keef Harley Band 
Spanish Fly 
Halfbreed Medley: Sinning For You / Leaving Trunk / Just To Cry / Sinning For You

The Incredible String Band 
Invocation
The Letter
Grather Round
This Moment
When You Find Out Who You Are 

*Canned Heat 
I’m Her Man
Going Up the Country
Leaving This Town 
Too Many Drivers at the Wheel
I Know My Baby 
Woodstock Boogie
On the Road Again

Mountain 
Blood of the Sun
Stormy Monday
Long Red
Who Am I but You and the Sun (For Yasgur's Farm)
Beside the Sea
Theme for an Imaginary Western
Waiting to Take You Away
Dreams of Milk and Honey
Southbound Train 

The Grateful Dead 
Mama Tried
Dark Star
High Time
Turn on Your Love Light

*Creedence Clearwater Revival 
Born on the Bayou
Green River
Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)
Commotion
Bootleg
Bad Moon Rising
Proud Mary
I Put a Spell on You
Night Time Is the Right Time
Keep on Chooglin’
Susie Q 

*Janis Joplin 
Raise Your Hand
As Good As You've Been to This World
To Love Somebody
Summertime
Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)
Kozmic Blues
Can't Turn You Loose
Work Me, Lord
Piece of My Heart
Ball 'n' Chain 

*Sly & the Family Stone 
M'Lady
Sing a Simple Song
You Can Make It If You Try
Everyday People
Dance to The Music
Music Lover
I Want to Take You Higher
Love City
Stand! 

*The Who 
Heaven and Hell
I Can't Explain
It's a Boy
1921
Amazing Journey
Sparks
Eyesight to the Blind
Christmas
Acid Queen
Pinball Wizard w/ Abbie Hoffman incident
Do You Think It's Alright?
Fiddle About
There's a Doctor
Go to the Mirror
Smash the Mirror
I'm Free
Tommy's Holiday Camp
We're Not Gonna Take It
See Me, Feel Me
Summertime Blues
Shakin' All Over
My Generation


Sunday, August 18, 10:00 AM – 9:00 PM
 
The Jefferson Airplane was suppose to end things on Saturday as the last act of the night but things fell so horribly far behind that they didn't take the stage until the sun was rising Sunday morning.  Many purists would say that they are a Saturday act and after their set, there was a several hour break in the music.  I figured if they played in daylight on Sunday, I'll classify them as the first Sunday band.
 
*Jefferson Airplane 
The Other Side of This Life
Somebody to Love
3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds
Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon
Eskimo Blue Day
Plastic Fantastic Lover
Wooden Ships
Uncle Sam Blues
Volunteers
The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil
Come Back Baby
White Rabbit
The House at Pooneil Corners

*Joe Cocker
Dear Landlord
Something Comin' On
Do I Still Figure in Your Life
Feelin' Alright
Just Like a Woman
Let's Go Get Stoned

I Don't Need a Doctor
I Shall Be Released
Hitchcock Railway
Something to Say
With a Little Help from My Friends

Country Joe and the Fish
Rock & Soul Music
(Thing Called) Love
Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine
Summer Dresses
Silver and Gold
Love Machine
Rock & Soul Music (Reprise)

Ten Years After
Help Me
I’m Going Home

*The Band
Chest Fever
Don’t Do It
Tears of Rage
We Can Talk
Long Black Veil
Don’t Ya Tell Henry
Ain’t No More Cane
This Wheel’s on Fire
I Shall Be Released
The Weight
Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever

*Johnny Winter
Mama, Talk to Your Daughter
Leland Mississippi Blues
Mean Town Blues
You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now / Mean Mistreater
Can't Stand It (with Edgar Winter)
Tobacco Road (with Edgar Winter)
Tell the Truth (with Edgar Winter)
Johnny B. Goode

*Blood, Sweat & Tears
More and More
Just One Smile
Something's Coming on
More Than You'll Ever Know
Spinning Wheel
Sometimes in Winter
Smiling Phases
God Bless the Child
I Stand Accused (???)
And When I Die
You've Made Me So Very Happy

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Blackbird
Guinnevere
Marrakesh Express
4 + 20
Mr. Soul
Sea of Madness
Wooden Ships
Find the Cost of Freedom
49 Bye-Byes

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
No Amount of Loving
Driftin'
Morning Sunrise
Love March
Everything's Gonna Be Alright

*Sha-Na-Na
Get a Job
Come Go with Me
Silhouettes
Teen Angel
(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame
Wipe Out
Little Darlin'
At the Hop
Duke of Earl
Get a Job (reprise)

*Jimi Hendrix
Message to Love
Hear My Train A Comin'
Spanish Castle Magic
Red House
Lover Man
Foxy Lady
Jam Back at the House
Izabella
Fire
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)/Stepping Stone
The Star-Spangled Banner
Purple Haze
Woodstock Improvisation/Villanova Junction
Hey Joe

Notable Incidents You Will Hear This Weekend (All times are in SL time this weekend.) 

Arlo Guthrie’s Microphone (Friday, 7:40 PM)
Arlo Guthrie starts off his set with Coming Into Los Angeles but there is just one problem.  You can’t hear the vocals.  There was trouble with his microphone and it wasn’t until about a minute into his first song that the engineers fixed the problem.  You can barely hear him singing, probably through the microphone set up to pick up his guitar.  Despite the problem, this song did make the movie and the first soundtrack album released in 1970.  The song was begun in the middle, after the solo, going into the refrain.  Thus, the flawed part was edited out and only the second half of the song is used.  We will hear it in its entirety, failure and all.

Country Joe McDonald Stalls for Time (Saturday, 11:18 AM)
Joe McDonald was the front man for the band, Country Joe and the Fish.  After Quill finished their set, Santana was not ready to take the stage for theirs.  McDonald was reluctantly recruited to go on stage and do a few songs solo to placate the crowd.  He was not prepared to go on alone so he used the excuse that he had no guitar.  One was located backstage, so he then used the excuse that he had no guitar strap.  A piece of rope was tied to the guitar and he had run out of excuses.  Joe McDonald improvised a solo set and it included one of the most memorable moments of the weekend.  He got the crowd worked up.  “Give me an F…  Give me a U…  Give me a C… Give me a K…  What’s that spell? [FUCK] What’s that spell? [FUCK]…

Yeah, c’mon on all you big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He’s got himself in a terrible jam
way down yonder in Vietnam,
so put down your books and pick up a gun.
We’re gonna have a whole lot of fun.
And it’s 1, 2, 3, what’re we fighting for?
Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn;
next stop is Vietnam.

Part way through the song he addresses the crowd. “Listen people, I don't know how you expect to ever stop the war if you can't sing any better than that. There's about 300,000 of you fuckers out there…”

Joe McDonald with a rope guitar strap, improvises and stalls for time

Bob Hite of Canned Heat has to Pee (Saturday, 1:37 PM)
Canned Heat took the stage and lead singer, Bob Hite, after the first song announced to the crowd, “…There is only one thing I wish, I sure gotta pee!”  It was a direct reference to the lack of adequate sanitary facilities at the concert.  It should also be noted that just before introducing them, Chip Monck, the emcee, remarked about how well they were holding up with the help of the US Army. 

The Grateful Dead are Delayed (Saturday, 3:56 PM)
The Grateful Dead were supposed to take the stage after Mountain.  Well, several things kept that from happening. First, the switching between bands was supposed to be facilitated by a turntable type stage.  While one band was on stage (in front), they could be setting up the next one backstage.  The mechanism failed and they had to manual set up the Grateful Dead’s stage.  Furthermore, the stage had flooded due to rain and this was causing all sorts of grounding issues and there were safety concerns.

The Dead at Woodstock

The Grateful Dead End Early (Saturday, 5:05 PM)
The fear about the water and electrical systems may have been well founded. As they ended a monster rendition (over 37 minutes long) of Turn on Your Love Light, a loud bang can be heard as they blew their stage amplifiers and had to end their set early. 

Abbie Hoffman Crashes the Stage on the Who (Saturday, 8:32 PM)
Abbie Hoffman was a notable 60’s activist and radical who was always controversial and often in trouble with the law.  Between Sly and the Family Stone and the Who, Hoffman had addressed the “politics of the situation” with an angry rant (Saturday, 7:54 PM) about the plight of John Sinclair, manager of Detroit rock band, the MC5.  Sinclair was serving a ten year prison term in Michigan for possessing two joints of marijuana.  (I wrote about the MC5 and John Sinclair, the whole mess, here.)  After the Who was part of the way through their set and tuning their instruments after Pinball Wizard, Hoffman crashed the stage, taking the microphone from Roger Daltry.  He began another stoned rant about Sinclair saying, “I think this is a pile of shit while John Sinclair rots in prison.”  Pete Townsend then attacked Hoffman, hitting him over the head with his guitar.  Townsend can plainly be heard saying, “Fuck! Off my fucking stage!” The Who then went on to Do You Think It's Alright. 

Breakfast in Bed for 400,000 (Saturday, 11:39 AM)
Sunday morning, after Jefferson Airplane had finished their set, Hog Farm leader, Wavy Gravy (Hugh Romney), took to the stage and addressed the crowd.  “What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000.”

Max Yasgur Addresses the Crowd (Saturday, 11:43 AM)
When the original location for the festival fell through, weeks before the concert, Max Yasgur, a local dairy farmer, made his 600 acre farm available.  It was only fitting that he got his few minutes of fame and got to address the crowd.  An older looking man, who looked very out of place, wearing black plastic rimmed glasses, took the stage.  There was no less hip person in the place, yet he sang the praises of the concert attendees.  It was another wonderful Woodstock moment.  Joe Cocker took the stage after him and dedicated his first song to him. “And we’re going to do this um this little number to start off with, the title suggests that farming guy who just came out, did you see that nice little bloke…"

Max Yasgur

Yasgur would later be immortalized in Joni Mitchell’s classic song, made famous by CSNY, Woodstock.

I came upon a child of God,
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, "Where are you going?"
And this he told me...

I'm going on down to Yasgur's Farm,
I'm gonna join in a rock and roll band.
I'm gonna camp out on the land.
I'm gonna get my soul free.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are Scared Shitless (Sunday, 5:13 PM)
Although all four were seasoned concert performers with other bands, this was only the second time that CSNY had played in front of people and the crowd happened to be 400,000.  After finishing their opening number, Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, Stephen Stills admits, “Thank you, we needed that.  This is the second time we've ever played in front of people, man. We're scared shitless."

Emcee, Chip Monck, Closes the Festival (Sunday, 8:35 PM)
Chip Monck was the voice of Woodstock.  His voice filled the void between sets with announcements, messages, directions and warnings about the brown acid.  He worked relentlessly all three days.  The thing is that he was hired to build and operate the stage lighting for the event.  After he designed and built it, the location of the concert changed and the stage was built to different specifications to accommodate the new space.  The new roof over the stage was not compatible with the lighting design Monck had worked ten weeks building.  There was actually no stage lighting at Woodstock.  Only follow spots, operated from those towers that ironically Monck kept warning people about all weekend long.

Michael Lang realized at the last minute that he never hired an emcee, but there was Chip Monck, a man he had already paid $7000 and who no longer had a function.  Thus, Woodstock became the only concert in history to have the lighting director supplying some of the most famous quotes.

What the Hell is the Hog Farm?

There are numerous references to the Hog Farm, such as when a small child was lost and stage manager, John Morris, instructs the child, wherever he may be, to go up the hill and find a hog farmer.  The “farmer” would reunite him with his mother, interestingly named “Sunshine.” (You can hear this incident Friday night during our set at about 7:56 PM SL time.)  So, who are these hog farmers?

Hog Farmers ride their psychedelic bus at Woodstock back in  1969

The Hog Farm was a west coast hippie commune that was recruited to help with running the festival.  It would obviously take a lot of people to work the event and that was where the Hog Farm came in.  They set up a lot of the grounds that were not part of the stage and also ran a “free kitchen” to feed festival goers.  They were also charged with the task of providing security, which hit them completely by surprise.  They decided on a friendly approach and dubbed themselves the “Please Force.”  Their approach to security was to ask people nicely, “Please don’t do that.”

The picture at the top shows some of the hog farmers arriving in their psychedelic school bus.  Looking at the front grill, it seems to be late a 1930s or early 1940s model.  Today it might be considered a valuable antique, but in 1969 it was just a 25-30 year old clunker.  In many ways, the Hog Farm bus has become a Woodstock icon in its own right.

Their leader was a man named “Hugh Romney,” who is better known as “Wavy Gravy.”  His part in the concert, and his subsequent appearance in the Woodstock film, made him something of a hippie celebrity, so much so that Ben & Jerry even named an Ice Cream flavor after him.  He actually did not get his famous nickname until shortly after the Woodstock concert.  The moniker was given to him by the one and only B.B. King at a concert later that year.

Fifty Years Ago... Celebrating Apollo 11

Tonight’s DJ show is going to be special.  We have been celebrating this past week the 50^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, the first time that man set foot on another planetary body other than Earth.  That happened July 20, 1969, fifty years ago yesterday.

                                                                                                                         

My earliest memories concerned the moon. I recall riding in a car at night and watching as the moon followed me to our destination.  It appeared to move with us.  When we came back out to the car, the moon was up there in the sky, waiting to follow me home.  I knew it was me that was special.  If I stayed home, the moon would remain outside my window over my yard.

I was 10 years old when Apollo 11 took place.  I had grown up a bit and understood the folly of my earlier beliefs.  Now I was old enough to understand science and read and going to the moon gripped me with a fascination and thirst beyond most everyone around me.  My father saw this and managed somehow to get me an Apollo 11 Press Kit.  I studied it until I knew everything about the mission.  I knew the difference between TLI and LOI.  I was ready and sat glued to the TV for a week.

Tonight I’m going to relive that week and take you on a musical trip from the Earth to the moon and back again.  Along the way, I’ll tell the story, share my own memories and maybe share an unknown fact or two.  Come relive this historical event through the eyes of one of those witnesses who probably got the most out of it.

Join us tonight, July 21, at 7:00 PM SLT at a Woman’s Touch for the adventure of a lifetime.

Halloween in Springtime at AWT

Halloween 2011, DJ Sue in skull DJ booth on right, click to enlarge

This is a repost of a post from last spring but it has been updated to include the proper information on this years event,the poster from last October (2018) has been added, and other updates made.


“I was working in the lab late one night

When my eyes beheld an eerie sight.

For my monster from his slab began to rise

And suddenly to my surprise,

He did the Mash.

He did the Monster Mash.

The Monster Mash,

It was a graveyard smash.”

Bobby “Boris” Pickett, 1962

Spring is here and the last thing on everyone’s mind is Halloween.  That is everyone except me.  Next month I need to begin work on this year’s, “Tenth Annual DJ Sue’s Monster Mashup,” if I’m to be sure to finish it in time.  That’s right; as most of you know, each year I create a two hour long mashup for Halloween.  A “mashup” is where a DJ takes elements from one song, maybe vocals, and combines them with elements from other songs, like music, to make a new song.

The term “Monster Mashup” has double meaning.  The obvious one is its connection with the song quoted at the beginning, the Monster Mash.  In that context it is a dance done by the monsters in that song.  The other meaning is that it is a monster of a mashup.  In other words, this mashup is a beast.  It is a single, two hour mp3.  Maybe that meaning is only obvious to me as I labor for several months putting it together.

So what is it exactly?  It is really a series of mashups mashed together into one big mashup.  Along with the mashups, I mash in additional sound effects, theatrical pieces, song elements and the occasional untouched song.  The fact that it is one big mashup of mashups adds a third level of meaning to the term, “Monster Mashup.”

One thing I’d like to stress is that not all of the mashups I use are mine.   The majority of them are by other DJs but some are my own creations.  The final product is mashed together by me with all of the elements mentioned above.

It’s hard to believe that this will be my tenth this year. The first year I did it, it didn’t look anything like it does today.  In fact, the “mashup” element didn’t really exist.  It was simply called, “DJ Sue’s Monster Mash.”  It was a regular DJ show of Halloween appropriate songs like Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Warren Zevon’s Werewolves of London.  I embellished the fades and mixes with some spooky sound effects and stuff.

In 2011, I did my second year and you can see from the poster above, that I had referred to it as a “Monster Mash-up.”  I had intended for the “mashup” part to be a one-time gimmick and go back to calling it the “Monster Mash” the following year.

I had the idea in September and I worked furiously to prepare.  It eventually grew to a long list of mp3’s (music or sound files) and a clipboard full of written instructions that looked something like this:

With 28 seconds left, start Thriller, allow last song to fade.

At 1:28 start thunderstorm #2 on deck #3

Cue C. Daniels on deck #4 to 1:45, play to 1:53, loop 4 measures, beat match and fade in

Cue Ghostbusters on deck #2, change beats per minute to 128

With 28 seconds left, start deck #2, beat match @128, leave decks 3&4

In reality, my shorthand looked more like this for the same steps I just described:

@28 sec Thriller

@1:28 thunder2 deck3

DevilGeorge on 4 to 1:45, @1:53 loop 4 fade

Ghostbusters on 2 to 128 bpm

@28 sec Ghostbusters match leave 3&4

I completed the two hour show and even rehearsed it once.  Those close to me knew what I was doing, including my then SL wife, Autumn Spice. When her friends’ club suddenly needed a DJ for their annual Halloween bash, I was asked if I could do my mashup show twice.  I knew many people would be at both the Friday show (see poster below) and the Monday show (Halloween) so I decided to make up a second one on a second clipboard.  I used about half of the show I already had but I also used stuff I had prepared but didn’t need the first time.  These shows were big hits at both SL’s Metro Club and at a Woman’s Touch.

After the reactions to the two 2011 mashups, I had to do one for 2012.  It was this time out that the final change was made and they took their final form, still used today, and we have Hurricane Sandy to thank for it.  Maybe it’s best that I tell this story as a timeline.  From the poster below, you can see that the Mashup was scheduled for Wednesday, October 31, 2012. I live three miles from the water on the New Jersey Coast.

Friday, October 26: Ordered evacuations began in New Jersey.  I finished preparing the clipboard for the live mashup, still five days away.

Saturday, October 27: I had been watching the Hurricane and its projected path, realizing that it could hit and cause issues with the live Mashup if I were to lose power for a day or so.  I had a great idea.  Since I was planning to rehearse the Mashup on my day off, Saturday, I would flip on the record button and record the rehearsed set. This way, I could give it to Ashra and she could play it on schedule on Halloween if I was unable to log on due to the storm.  My rehearsal was flawless and recorded. The resulting mp3 was 2 hours, 0 minutes and 51 seconds long.

Sunday, October 28: I shared my plan with Ashra and she agreed. We even came up with the idea that I’d make a life-sized cardboard cutout of myself that she could put behind the DJ booth.  Alas, the file was too big to email so it never happened.  Knowing the Hurricane was about 24 hours out and I was not scheduled to do a show on Monday, I logged out of my show Sunday night playing as my last song Riding the Storm Out by REO Speedwagon.  I was still under the impression that I’d make it on Wednesday and be able to do the Mashup live.

Monday, October 29: Sandy made landfall before midnight.  I had already lost power about an hour before.  Through previous hurricanes and what not, I’d rarely lost power and if I did, it was never out for more than a couple of hours. I went to bed confident I’d still make my Monster Mashup just less than two days away.

Tuesday, October 30: The Governor put the estimates to restore power to most people at about a week. For the first time I began to consider, I might not make my Monster Mashup on Halloween.  I counted my blessings.  A couple miles down the road there were homes that were completely destroyed. I emailed people in SL to let them know I was well.

Wednesday, October 31: Still widely regarded today as the “Halloween that never was.”  There was NO trick-or-treating anywhere. I sat at home that night, reading a book by candle light and eating the Snickers bars intended for the trick-or-treaters.  The time for my Monster Mashup came and went and I thought about everyone in SL.

Friday, November 9: After ten days without power, the lights came back on thanks to crews from Ontario, Canada working in my neighborhood.  I was able to log into Second Life and many warm welcomes that evening.  Maya Shadowhawk decided to throw a “Welcome Back Sue” party the following day at her Castle on Park Place.  Everyone knew I had prepared the Monster Mashup and asked if I could play it then.

Saturday, November 10: I had thought the whole time that the Mashup would not be played this year and I would just save it for the following year.  Instead, ten days after Halloween I got to play my Mashup.  It’s a lot of work doing it live and I really wanted to relax and visit with my friends, who were just filled with questions about the storm.  In what I saw as a moment of weakness at the time, I played the prerecorded mp3 instead of doing it live.  As a DJ, I had cued each song and started it at the precise moment I chose.  I shuddered at the thought of a prerecorded DJ show.  Maya and others convinced me that I had put in so much work into it that it was definitely not cheating.

DJ Sue's Welcome Back Party at Castle Shadowhawk

I really enjoyed that party, especially since I didn’t have to work hard during it.  I enjoyed it so much that I have not done a live Monster Mashup since then.  From that one in 2012 onwards, they have all been prerecorded.  The Annual Monster Mashup had achieved its final form.  Below are the posters in order of all the following Monster Mashups, from 2013 through 2018.

This coming Wednesday (June 30)

Here at AWT, we have Christmas in July every year and on July 25^th, we decorate and play Christmas music.  So this Wednesday, June 30^th, why not have Halloween in the spring?  For my set I will play that two-hour mp3 from 2012 and relive that twisted Halloween one more time, the Halloween Monster Mashup that almost never was.

Each poster above, when you clicked on it in SL, would give you a notecard explaining the event. This usually had a list of the artists mashed together, sometimes other DJs who’s mashes were mashed in and other things.  I will close with the content on that notecard from 2012, the notecard for the show you will hear on Wednesday…

Trick or Treat to the Beat!!!

DJ Sue’s Third Annual Halloween Monster Mashup Party

Wednesday, October 31, at AWT, 2-4 PM SL time

[AWT Landmark]

Yes, it’s scary, very scary.  Sue has taken all your favorite songs and chopped them up.  She has taken them into her laboratory and stitched them all together, bringing them back to life as one big unholy creation.  This year she seemed to delight in taking her chainsaw to Lady Gaga in particular.  You will hear…

666

AC/DC

Alice Cooper

Aqua

The B-52’s

The Bee Gees

The Beasty Boys

Blue Oyster Cult

Book of Love

Britney Spears

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Charlie Daniels

Christina Aguilera

The Doors

Duck Sauce

The Four Seasons

Heart

The Hives

Iron Butterfly

Kiss

Eartha Kitt

Lady Gaga

Led Zeppelin

Maroon5

Nirvana

Obscure

Ram Jam

Ray Parker Jr.

Rush

Bobby “Boris” Pickett

Redbone

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Rolling Stones

Fred Schneider

The Screaming Lord Sutch

The Sex Pistols

Soulsearcher

The Who

…and Many… MANY… MORE!!!!!!!

Are you brave enough to dare and groove to the tunes?  Hope to see you there!

Remember, if you find yourself panicked and in trouble, just close your eyes and keep repeating to yourself… “It is only a mashup…  It is only a mashup.”

DJ Sue makes her entrance, Halloween 2013