Carl Craig In Bucharest

Here we go, the big one is on this friday. I'm honoured to be dj'ing with the one and only Mr Carl Craig this friday in Bucharest. Carl is without doubt one of greatest electronic music producers to come out of the house / techno genre over the last 20 years. I'm playing from midnight til 2am, then its Carl for the rest of the night. The venue is the Arenele Romane, a great outdoor amphitheatre which holds about 5,000 people. Tickets are priced sensibly at 25 ron in advance from bilet.ro.

Clubbing Mag Party with Carl Craig and Logan
27 July 2007
Arenele Romane
Bucharest

Good Old Romanian Logic

Thanks to EU funding Bucharest has seen a surge of activity, consisting of road repairs, new buses, tramlines etc, to bring it up to a satisfactory european standard. As the picture above highlights, it's great to see the money being spent so well on clear and logical road signs.

Dancing Under The Stars

If you're stuck in the heat hell-hole that is Bucharest this weekend and are looking for a sensible alternative to hitting the beach then why not pop down to the newly renovated Bar Cuba which is now called Zoom. I'll be playing records on the terrace overlooking the lake, under an open sky. They've done a great job with the soundsystem with enough power to shake 1000 sweaty bodies into action - oh and they have a pool if you fancy a dip too.

Bucharest Heatwave

Yesterday it reached 46 degrees in Bucharest. 10 people died, and if you so much as move you drown in a pool of your own sweat. It's going to be even hotter today so work has officially been cancelled and all further descisions shall be made while drinking a beer in the shade on a terrace bar! Proof of the heat can be found in the above photo, where even the dummies in the shop windows we're stripping off!

Yann & Inaki's Birthday Pool Party

In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country

Carta 1400 Hotel
in the cable car
begging at the train station
the wildlife at 'hanul dracula
obligatory dracula tourist crap


So after only a couple of hours rest from the festivities at the Web Club it was time to drag ourselves to the train station for a weekend in the Romanian countryside. I can't believe i've been living here for a year now and apart from visiting other cities have hardly set foot in Romania's rural retreats. First stop Sinaia, and after a quick stop off for steak and chips it was into the cable car for a 1400m climb up to the hotel. The room did the job, with a balcony overlooking the Prahova Valley with Sinaia snaking its way between the mountains. A couple of hours sleep was needed to recharge before heading off to the terrace for some more food which comprised of mici, mustard and chips. For those of you who have never heard of mici they are a meaty Romanian delicacy resembling a sausage without skin. I understand they are made from mici mice which are tiny rodent like creatures that guard the entrance to mystical fairy lairs deep in the forest. Unfortunately I didn't see any on this occasion but I was lucky enough to run into a huge brown bear who was rummaging through the rubbish bins by the side of the hotel. It's the first time i've seen a bear outside a zoo and believe me they're big, hairy and scary.

The next day and it was back on the train for a 3 hour journey to Sighisoara, followed by a taxi ride down a dirt track for 2.5km until we stumbled upon the guest house known as 'Hanul Dracula'. This was a great little hideaway with a terrace, a pond with an island in the middle and a small wildlife park stuck on the side. Deer, ostrich, falcons and farm animals accompanied us around the grounds as we drank red wine and watched the sun set behind the forest.








Sighisoara is located in the centre of Transylvania, Romania. It is one of the best examples of a small fortified medieval city, it's landmark being the 64 metre high clock tower which was built in 1556. Of course there is the usual fare of tacky tourist stalls and suchlike, but generally it really transports you back into the past. We walked up the clock tower, visited the torture chambers and ate some food (which tasted 500 years old). Sighisoara is a must see destination if you ever visit Romania, and rounded off one my best weekends in this country.

rOBOT rampage

Thanks to all of you who came down for the latest instalment of rOBOTS at the Web Club. Another full house, another great party. Another party is scheduled for august so watch this space. We've also been booked to play at the COS electronic music festival in Cologne in August, hurray!

Tunes of the night:
Henrik Schwarz - Walk Music
Kavinsky - Testarossa Autodrive (Sebastian Remix)
Hot Chip - My Piano (dub)

Blast from the past
Secret Knowledge - Sugar Daddy

S-E-C-T-O-R-7

One From The Vaults

For everyone who regularly reads this blog (that's both of you), you will realise we have another rOBOTS party coming up this friday. We're always on the lookout for fresh young talent to grace the turntables. This week whilst moving studio I unearthed something some dj sent to me a few years ago when I was back in good old London Town, and it made me chuckle so I thought i'd post it up here. I used to run a weekly club called Bumpy Capers and some aspiring dj from out of town sent me a photo and biog requesting to come down and spin some tunes. Well, Mr DJ Paul Haze, i wonder if you made it to the big time or if plumbing was indeed your destiny.

"This man's big personality is the key to a successful function!" (Click images for larger versions).

Moon Monsters Launch Attack Against Earth

Warning Warning!! After a rapturous welcome last month the rOBOTS return to twiddle their knobs behind the sonic pleasure console at The Web Club this coming friday. Setting their laser beams to stun, the rOBOTS will excite, confuse and delight Bucharest's earthlings with an artillery of indiefied electro tunage and teched out beats, all fueled by their favourite earth juice - beer! Once again the rOBOTS have scoured the universe for their most prolific music makers, and this month we see DJ's With Bad Haircuts (Berlin) and Logan (London) joined by new recruit Tony Almeida from Cologne's Agenda Suicide Club.

Last month it was a full house at Web Club. This month let's blow the roof off. See you all down there this friday.

This Weekend...

was magic!