from the editor

Again, the cover this month is a graphic that Chrissy whipped up for me, based on the name of the headliner for our 4th Anniversary Event that will be held at Kabal Restaurant & Nightclub on December 10th, 2005.

I am definitely looking forward to that every bit as much as I was for PHALLOUT, where Brent Crampton grabbed this shot of me with Lady Espina. Down from Iowa City, she did a great job opening up for internationally known talent, Adam Jay! It was good to hear some real Techno boomin' through speakers once again in Kansas City.

The photos this month saw us headed in a new direction at Balanca's. DJ True decided to pursue other goals and we took the month to form what is now called PHATuesdays, still at Balanca's, still on Tuesdays. We are hosting open decks there until Midnight. After that, our latest discovery, fresh in KC from Lincoln and fresh off a great set at PHALLOUT, DJ Fool takes the decks for a couple hours with a bit of a different style of House than he usually plays. Closing out the night, DJ O.E. (also known as Joe... the other camera guy, spins up some retro that keeps me wondering, "Now where did he get his hands on that!" Come down and check out it some time. It's really chill little night with good friends, good music, cheap drinks and it's not in the same old place.

Micro came to town at the first of the month as well. Opening for him, as part of the prize package for winning the phocas DJ Battle, was local House legend, Tony Markham. He definitely warmed it up right for those that came out.

We made a few detours to various points as well. I went off on a tangent and checked out the Atmosphere show in Lawrence. Though it probably would have passed under my radar, I was glad it didn't. It was really good... and a really Sold Out show! SvS took a detour up to Canada to play the MadBar in Toronto for Leaden Beatz vol 10 and brought some pix from that and SenseOne chimed in with Crush from Brooklyn.

Meanwhile, on the home front, the boys at DeepFix Records hooked up the passing through DJs, Jeff Bloom and Trevor Matthews, giving up residencies for the night to allow them to make a special appearance at Frisky! As well, they jumped on an opportunity to bring Diz in on a Saturday night to serve up a good solid does of House on wax to a nearly packed house.

Jack & Jill started their new residency at Jilly's on Broadway and it's looking good for them, though Propaganda is still in effect on the first of the month. Jimmy van M popped in to Kabal for a special night of fun on Thanksgiving and that very next Saturday, we landed on Voodoo at Harrah's and followed it up with a dose of Richard Vission at Kabal in an overflowing room!

It was definitely good to have finally been able to arrange a time to visit Voodoo. I thought that the venue was beautiful and the staff to be fairly friendly, despite rumors I had hear to the contrary. Unfortunately, I did find that the rumor of fluctuating drink prices was somewhat accurate. It is really unfortunate that a couple of the bartenders could not seem to remember the price of a drink. As well, the gymnastics... get rid of 'em. It's cute and it's interesting until it's 3 deep at the bar. At that pint, it's just annoying, especially if the person isn't very good at their juggling act.

In addition I was really sad to hear that the one night we choose to go and check out Voodoo, turned out to be the final night of them bringing in world-class electronic dance music talent. Apparently, they are shifting their direction and moving to more mainstream musical interests. It would be a waste if this truly was the end of being able to see world-renowned DJs in such a world-class room.

Closing out the month, I do still have a couple of sets of photos on hold that I will be putting up in the next day or two. Our new contributor, Jen Runnels did the photo work at the recent performance of Infusion, just last night and Senseone just sent me some photos from the Polychromatic Techno Party 7.0 in Philadelphia.

It really has been a fun month for all of here at phocas.net and we're gonna have some more fun, especially on December 10, 2005! Even though I knew they were beat from all the work they did on PHALLOUT, I told my whole staff that I still needed one more thing from them. I needed them to come out to the anniversary party and do just that, Party. I want them phocas on that and nothing else. I hope you will too, so come out and party with us, because it's going to be one fun night!

Finally, I would like to extend a very special thanks to the following people's contributions to PHALLOUT: Jason the Benefactor; the Knights of Pythias for allowing us to mess up their place for the night; Chrissy for a bomb-ass flyer and taking the role of art director, running with it and seeing it through to the very end; Justin and David's perseverance through scissors and spray paint and all the logistics involved in putting the puzzle together, Jon... The Security Guy... all 4 or 5 of them (how did that happen?!?); Kate, for jumpin in where we needed her; Shaun for creeping me out with the gas mask and black commando suit; Nate for Oompa Loompas!; The Decontamination Unit & Restricted Area Personnel; Ashley & Kristin for helping to expand some minds with their relentless flyering; Joe & Ho for makin it GLO; bPositive & Brent for coming all the way out for little ole' me; 3rd Degree Burn for spinnin some stix (wish we coulda had fire in there); Arrythmia (i probably spelled it wrong again) for making that last run for me; Da Pizza Place for the last minute munchies; Larry Miller & The Guys from Audio House Sound for most excellent sound & lights; Mark Jones for coming in to work sick as dog anyway and then tearing up the check; Solaris for the Tennis Ball Theory; Shadowrunner for running in the shadow of his need for sleep, Stephanie for the "woah" look that was plastered on her face all night and Sherri sittin in a window most of the night and putting up with it all, before... during... and after. Last but not least, thanks to everyone that contributed something to making this a truly special event, the the talent and everyone that came out and had good time! Keep your eyes peeled, you know we can't help but do it again!

Until then...

I will see you on the Dance Floor!
(especially December 10th)

~phocas~