You know what I don’t really miss? PROM!

Remember those agonizing months when you tried to pretend you didn’t care whether you got asked? Remember shopping for a dress in the juniors department of Dillard’s because the adult dresses were too expensive? Remember elbow-length gloves and painful updoes? Remember uncomfortable shoes and limos with tacky interiors? Remember overpriced dinners at stuffy restaurants with peevish waiters? Remember watching your ex dance with his new girlfriend out of the corner of your eye? Remember losing your contact lens during the last song, and fleeing the dance floor in humiliation when six of your friends, despite your pleading, dropped to the floor to look for it?

Okay, you may not have be with me on that last one. Still, I bet you have some fun prom memories to share. Well, share them with Dance Dance Party Party at our first annual DDPP Prom Prom, the only night of the year when you are free to bring a date (or multiple dates) of ANY GENDER WHATSOEVER!! That’s right, we are celebrating our first year of successful boogying, abandoning our “no boys” policy for one night only and opening our arms to people with all different kinds of, you know, junk. Bring your mate, your gay friend, your straight friend, that friend you have a crush on, your cousin, your brother, your father or son, or all of the above! Basically any guy who likes to get down and has been complaining about being left at home on Sunday nights.

We have rented the lavish LARGE STUDIO at NiaSpace (3212 S. Congress) for this gala affair, so even though the cost is still just $5/dancer, we will have room enough for everyone to thrash around to their hearts’ content. DDPP will be at the same time as regular DDPP, 7-8pm on Sunday nights.

One more thing: We are taking requests for a group mix tape for the DDPP prom! So think back on the best (or worst) songs you danced to, wanted to dance to, or refused to dance to way back in 1902 or whenever your prom took place. And email us your requests at dancedancepartypartyaustin at gmail dot com, or post your request right here on the webby-site. We’ll have some fun surprises for you, including door prizes and souvenirs of this very special night. Do not miss this gala event! As always, you wear what you want and dance how you want.

Class of ’11, We’re Goin’ to Heaven! Um, that’s the theme. Dance it up, y’all!

All of this puts me in a nostalgic mood, which makes me want to go back and give a shoutout to all those heroic lady DJs whose playlists have fallen through the cracks in the last couple of months, casualties of my recent blogging hiatus. First among these dancing queens of DDPP is DJ JamMaster Fresh. Now, DJ JamMaster Fresh first wowed us way back in June with a super-tight ’80s mix that had us anger-dancing in warehouses, holding boomboxes over our heads, and applying lipstick using only our bosoms. By contrast, her August 2010 “Bouncy” mix featured an eclectic array of musical themes and genres, from Janet Jackson to The Clash to St. Vincent to Bobby Brown. DJ JamMaster Fresh’s Bouncy Mix rocked the hottest part of the Austin summer with four decades’ worth of tasty tunes, proving to one and all that this was one mixmistress with RANGE. Thanks, ‘Fresh! Give us another mix soon!

And now, for your viewing pleasure, here is the best image that came up when I google-imaged “JamMaster Fresh”:

Just picture this guy when you’re listening to DJ JamMaster Fresh’s Bouncy Mix. And bounce you will!

I’m back! After a prolonged hiatus from blogging DDPP, I am here to say that we are still alive and dancing, sometimes to very ridiculous music. This will be the case tonight as well!

Yes, it’s a very special and not particularly spooky Halloween mix that DJ EZ-Bake has prepared for you tonight! So come on down at 7pm to NiaSpace (3212 S. Congress, lefthand studio) for the sweetest and stickiest mix of the year!

In the next couple of days, I’m going to be doing some back-blogging. Specifically, I’m going to try to post ALL the fantastic dance mixes that our fantastic DJs have been creating since the end of the summer, or at least as many as I can find on my computer. I may have fallen down on my posting duties, but believe me ladies, I’ve been saving your mixes and they’re gonna be posted. Why should I do this? Not just to acknowledge their brilliant creatrixes, but BECAUSE THESE MIXES ARE GREATNESS. You will want to beg, borrow, or download these songs for your personal enjoyment! (Several of them have already made it to my gym mix. The ultimate test of a heart-thumping, ass-wiggling playlist is if it makes an hour on the elliptical go by without throwing me into an existential morass.)

One more thing: NO HALLOWEEN DDPP! That’s right, Halloween is all about gruesome costumes and scaring the kiddies, so we’re gonna let y’all get your exercise doing that instead of dancing. BUT ONLY FOR ONE WEEK! After that, it’s back to the groove. So don’t get out of practice or anything.

Dennis Hopper died. Spain won the World Cup. The California Supreme Court struck down the 2008 ban on gay marriage. A lot to digest. But there’s one thing that will perhaps define the past summer more than any other event:

Yes, it’s been a slick, slippery, environmentally disastrous summer, and we residents of the gulf coast are perhaps more cognizant than anyone of the threat to our enjoyment of shrimp scampi. However, as DJ M.I.L.F. discovered and revealed to us last Sunday evening, there is always something to be gained even from natural disaster, if only a more profound understanding of the dangers of deep-sea drilling. And, in this case, a pretty rocking mix of tunes that delicately alluded to, acknowledged, and sometimes poked fun at our collective consciousness during the hottest months of a hot Texas summer. Ladies and gentlemen, the Oil Spill Summer Mix:

Of course, I will also remember this summer as the one where I moved to Austin and began organizing DDPP, making this one of the nicest and friendliest and breakfast taco-iest summers of my life. Thanks, ladies, for helping make that happen, and thanks to DJ M.I.L.F. for her mixes and her co-den-mother-ship. Mothership! That makes me think that some P-Funk might be on my next mix. . . . .

Meanwhile, stay tuned for a funky-fresh mix next Sunday from Cat, aka DJ JamMaster Fresh! Can’t wait – her last one was solid gold!

Sunday, August 15
NiaSpace, 3212 S. Congress, lefthand studio
7:00-8:30 p.m.
$5

Be there!

Last night, DJ Babycakes made DDPP history. Wrap your brain around this: Babycakes’s musician husband WROTE AND PERFORMED A BABYCAKES-THEMED TECHNO SONG FOR HER FIRST TRACK. More than a novelty, Babycakes’s professional introduction testified to the beauty of a truly devoted life partner. I might have shed a tear, if I wasn’t so busy shaking my ass to DJ Babycakes’s imminently danceable mix, a melange of early 90s techno hits from Snap, Technotronic, and more. How well I remember secretly bopping in my bedroom to “Groove is in the Heart,” “Pump Up the Jam,” and “Connected,” my melancholy R.E.M.-stoked adolescent persona temporarily abandoned. I could never admit back then that those songs really rang my bell. Thank god for Babycakes and her parade of techno hits, because I finally got to cut loose and dance like crazy to songs made to keep the floor packed. And I wasn’t the only one: old friends and new, we all got down in one of the fastest-paced dance-outs on record. Here’s to more DJ Babycakes in the future!

But the 90s were about more than great TV shows and Lindsey Lohan’s innocence. They were also about throwing down some truly amazing techno beats on the dance floor. Remember raves? Well, I don’t really either because I never went to one (and I bet the people who went to raves mostly don’t for different reasons). But here’s what I picture:

And some glow-in-the-dark stickers that say this:

My point? I’M GETTING THERE. My point is that this Sunday a certain DJ Babycakes is going to throw us our own personal, booze-and-boy-free rave!! That’s right, 90s techno party this Sunday! Wear your pacifiers and bring glow sticks, y’all, shit is going to get all crazy up in here!

Dance Dance Party Party
Sunday, August 1
7:00-8:30 p.m.
NiaSpace, 3212 S. Congress (lefthand studio)
$5

Now, here is a picture of a dog in a bee-keeper’s costume:

And here is a picture of the Bee Gees:

And here is DJ Pozey’s all-star division-one spelling bee mix, for those of you who want to test your skills at home: