There is no future in the past -- Sorry, Mark Farina!

I never thought I would see the day when I wasn't excited about Mark Farina playing in Orlando; he was one of the first DJs I ever fell in love with almost 10 years ago and his influence strongly shaped my musical taste. I spent the entire week leading up to Farina's performance at Firestone this past Saturday contemplating why I did not feel more enthusiastic. Is it me? Has my current obsession with heavy electro music tainted my opinion? Have I changed so much that I can't appreciate what once meant so much to me? After much deliberation on the subject, I decided the answer was no, proven by a nostalgic look back at his catalog.



As you can see from the photo above, the decline started with Connect: no one wanted to like this mix more than I did, but there was no denying how boring it was. The lameness continued through the disastrous Air Farina, his first stab at producing tracks (zzzzzz), the Live at Om double CD with Derrick Carter (both booorrrriiinnngggg), Mushroom Jazz Vol. 3 and Vol. 5 (although I loved Vol. 4, which almost crushes my whole line of reasoning), and the House of Om release he is currently whoring promoting on his Myspace. I listened to the "exclusive podcast mix" from his page recently just to compare how his style had evolved throughout the years -- turns out it hasn't. The first song he plays is his own remix of Iz and Diz's Love It Dub from 2002 that echoes memories from that year's Winter Music Conference.

Most of the people who showed up to see Mark Farina were only there for his brand name; a name they have heard a million times, a name that brings a certain level of comfort. Nevertheless, they were bored by his music and you could see it in their eyes: the idea of seeing "Mark Farina" far surpassed seeing him in real life because the memory of what he used to be exceeds anything he will do in the future. Observe the following photos (ignore the obvious photo quality differences when comparing):

Bored.


Not bored.

Photo by Kevin Collier, KColl Designs

Same club, same night of the week, two very different audiences. One is colorless and the other is vibrant; one looks back as the other looks ahead. Which crowd would you rather be in?

As I stood in the upstairs loft at Firestone and listened to the future music being played by Mot and Andrew Spear, I gazed down to the dance floor through the glass windows and observed Mark Farina performing for his crowd. They will always be stuck in the year 1999 and will never evolve to become anything more; it is the comfort zone where he and his fans wish to stay. I felt as though I was watching my past flash before my eyes: I saw my 19 year-old self dancing uncontrollably in a sea of people, experiencing things she was only naive enough to do at the time. While I appreciate these moments of reflection, I will not cling to them for dear life. Dance music is not about clutching the one fiber of greatness you loved "back in the day when things were cool." It continues to be about relentlessly forging ahead and constantly discovering whatever is new. Anyone who doesn't keep up will inevitably get left in the dust to become the old guy in the club who complains about how "the scene just isn't what it used to be." No one likes that guy.

Ironically, my contemplative flashback was set to the Justice remix of ZZT's Lower State of Consciousness -- a song that epitomizes new-meets-old, crazy-meets-awesome, future-meets-past rave music -- which seemed all too fitting in the moment. And I found my current 28 year-old self grateful for the ability to progress into the unknown (yet ever-exciting) future of music, without dwelling in those "good old club days" forever.

Sheena Easton does Epcot

The main purpose of this blog is to showcase the side of Orlando that ISN'T related to theme parks; however, every now and then, they are unavoidable. Like, for example, when you find out Sheena Easton is playing at Epcot as part of the cleverly-named "Eat to the Beat" concert series. Disney concerts automatically equal FREE concerts, thanks to the fact that my mom has worked there since the dawn of time, so I scored some passes and we were off.

Disney sucked as much as it usually does -- hot, crowded, and kids kids kids -- but luckily we were only there for the show. Sheena opened with "Strut," a favorite song of mine that evokes memories of being eight years old and prancing around my room in a matching leg warmer/headband ensemble. The song could have been quite a crowd pleaser if she had been performing for an audience who actually cared; instead she was playing to a group of drained adults looking for any excuse to sit down for 40 minutes. "Strut" was followed by an upbeat tune that I vaguely recognized and a slow, drawn-out ballad I had never heard before; the end of which prompted a middle-aged gentleman to cheerfully jump to his feet and frantically applaud. He was either the biggest Sheena Easton fan on the planet or just extremely glad the song was finally over.

The way she sashayed around the stage and made bad jokes reminded me of a cheesy Vegas act, which was confirmed when she announced that's where the group had been playing for the past few years. Nevertheless, her voice is still amazing and she looks damn good for pushing 50. She was joined by her back up singer for "We've Got Tonight," the Bob Seger original she remade with Kenny Rogers. Once I realized the show included popular duets, I desperately hoped the next song would be "U Got the Look" but, alas, it never came (cue the shot of Prince in his distant castle screaming "Forget it, Sheena! No song of mine shall ever be played at a place unworthy as Disney World! Mwuahahahaha"). By this point, the Standing Ovation Guy was in full effect after every song although his trend had not caught on with anyone else in the audience; quite a commitment but somehow he managed. If only we could all demonstrate such discipline.

True to her Vegas style, she came into the audience during "Telefone," a song that is a blatant rip off of "Gloria" from Flashdance. She also pulled an overly eager (and a tad flamboyant) audience member onto the stage, making all of his dreams come true. He was much more excited about the idea of being on stage with Sheena Easton and spent the majority of the experience posing for his friend's photos. He was already envisioning the witty story he'll tell at cocktail parties for years to come: "There I was, right next to her, I just couldn't believe it! Oh, she was just so fabulous! And her hunky bodyguard that pulled me off stage! He can guard my body any day!" The crowd found his over-exaggerations quite comical, and I expect they will return home and also retell the tale: "Oh, Jim, you'll never believe it - we saw this Shelia E. concert at Epcot, and right in the middle, she pulled a gay onto the stage. It was so cute! Do you believe it, a gay on stage at Disney World???" And after the flamboyant antics had ensued and the song reached its conclusion, the Standing Ovation Guy dramatically arose from his seat and started to clap. Go figure.

The biggest crowd-pleasing song was, as expected, "Morning Train" and the catchy, bubble gum tune caused everyone to bop along gleefully -- particularly appropriate in a Disney setting. For me, this song is the epitome of what Andrew Spear refers to as "Driving in the car with mom music" and I have vivid memories of her and me singing the un-feministic lyrics at the top of our lungs. When I first told her why I wanted Disney tickets over the phone, she excitedly exclaimed, "Oh! Our old song!" followed by the familiar chorus of "My baby takes the mornin' train, He works from 9 to 5 and then..." For some reason, this memory never gets old to either of us.

Before Sheena began her last song, she left everyone with a warm, fuzzy Disney ending: "With all that's going on in the world, who here cannot look around on this beautiful day here at Disney World, and just take a deep breath and say... 'Life is good!'?" Seeing as I had watched a documentary about World War II earlier in the day, I had to agree that anyone sitting in that amphitheater had nothing major to complain about. As she ended her show by belting out her James Bond hit, "For Your Eyes Only," I thought the Standing Ovation Guy's head might explode. In his mind, the show really had been for his eyes only. It was finally his moment to shine -- and shine he did. Shine he did.

I am so going back to see Exposé at the end of the month.