WMC Pro's and Con's aka The "How was your conference?" thread.
Well it's about that time. The time following a vacation where you reflect on all the things that occurred during what would inevitably be a crazy week in Miami. I figured I'd share some thoughts and hope to hear just what all of you thought of Conference, the city of Miami, hotels, DJ's, clubs, and anything else you experienced in Miami this year:
Pro: Hotel balconies FTW! Nothing beats a good balcony with a sick view to wind down the night/morning with good friends. Our balcony at the Fontainebleau was home to many a TA, as well as many a hallucination! 
Con: Hotel service. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! 
Pro: Phil & Fluff and Eli Wilkie. Banging sets from these guys at Porterhouse at Suite on Wednesday night. Phil & Fluff played one of the greatest sets of conference, and when Phil dropped "Jet Lag Slave" with the incoming sample over it I was a dancin' machine. Beyond that, after talking to Phil (an exceptionally nice guy!) following the show, Fluff sought me out just to say hello and talk about tunes for a bit. Complete class acts, I was beyond impressed. Eli Wilke dropped "Heat it Up!" and OMGIDIED!
Con: Steve Porter. Worst set of conference by far. I have lost all respect fot Porter, as I stated earlier, I've heard pop and top 40 jocks mix and program in a more meaningful manner than Porter. Completely disgusting.
...and while we're on the subject of the Porterhouse night:
Con: Whoever promoted Porterhouse. They lied about the lineup, and got the staff at Suite to support their lies. Posting a fake lineup is poor form. And to further prove that the lineup was indeed completely falsified, when I met Luke Fair on Friday night and told him we had come out to see him spin @ Suite on Wednesday, his response was "What?" He had no clue what I was talking about. Poor form all around to those promoters.
Pro: Jimmy Van M and the first hour of John Digweed's set. Amazing, just what I wanted to hear, absolutely phenomenal, except for...
Con: Pawn shops absolutely absurd issue with overcrowding and poor club design. We had to leave an hour into Diggers set simply because I was so frustrated that there was NO WHERE to dance. I've never seen people packed into a club like that before, I was genuinely having panic attacks at the thought of having to get to anywhere in that club.
Pro: Sasha and Luke Fair @ Glass. By far the two best sets of conference for me, and far and away the best club we went to in Miami. The staff was friendly (the only staff at any place we went to that I could say that about), the club was setup in a very cool fashion, and was probably the most intimate setting I will ever have the chance to see Sasha in (I didn't get tix for the boat party ). Luke Fair's set was absolutely fire, I could only ID 2 or 3 tunes, and even though he was opening for Sasha, he didn't hold back the way most openers do. Even Sasha was loving his set so much that he did a pretty crazy sick opening mix out of Luke's last track into the beginning of his set, something I've rarely if ever seen Sasha do before. It was one of the classiest things I've ever seen happen on the decks, and to top that, I got to meet and speak with Luke for a bit following his set and he was absolutely a class act and a nice guy (even when I told him I wanted to steal his CD book ). Sasha's set was my favorite of conference by far, I can't even explain how much I dug it. I wish I had a video of the dancefloor being destroyed by16 Bit Lolitas - Destiny, I've never seen an entire club go as bananas as EVERY SINGLE PERSON did in Glass that night. It was surreal. God I hope a recording of that sets makes it out here.
Con: The staff at just about every single business we patronized in Miami, but especially Cafeteria. Every restaurant, bar, and club (save Glass) that we went to was full of absolute douchebags, but Cafeteria took the cake. Not only was the staff full of incompetent, moronic, meathead assholes, but they also ran the single most disorganized event I have ever been to. No matter who was playing, I would never, ever return to this "club." There are nicer restaurants and clubs in Appleton, WI.
Pro/Con: Desyn, Demi, and Omid @ Cafeteria. I'm sure their set wasn't as bad I thought it was that night (I was really, really done with Miami by Saturday night, so I didn't give them the chance they deserved), but it really bothered me that none of them seemed to take the gig seriously at all. The mixing, for the most part, was super tight, but with everyone tagging off every track the flow just wasn't there, and the first hour and a half to 2 hours just seemed to be the same kind of Electro-House vibe the whole way through, and it just wore on me. Add to that all the assholes in that club, and by 2:30 I was ready to just get the hell out of there. It was unfortunate because we had all the TA's out for it, but I just couldn't deal. I will say though, the two things (musically) that saved this night for me were:
A. When Desyn hit the decks the last time before we left and he played "Time for a Change" and really pulled them out of the seemingly stagnant electro vibe.
and...
B. Seeing Desyn as wasted as it looked like he was and giving him a great big hug in the booth. I love that guy. 
... extra thanks to Myra for getting me the fuck out of there when I needed to <3
Con: The sincere lack of emphasis on the music at WMC. There weren't really any "new" bangin' tunes out there that were just killin' the dancefloor this year, and in fact, I heard way too many tracks on most nights that were easy to ID. I expected to hear some new stuff, and unfortunately just heard all the tracks I've been hearing for 6 months now.
Beyond that, the crowds had nothing to do with supporting Electronic music. It was, for the most part, all about excess, greed, money, overwhelming displays of wealth, and "being seen." I realize that the majority of TA's are NOT part of this group, as most of us (from the Trance Crackers to the House Heads) were in fact there for the music, unfortunately, I don't believe that to be the case for the majority of the people down there. If WMC is the pinnacle evvent for electronic music and DJ's, perhaps the shallowness and materialism that is so often associated with this scene by the general public is a bit more legitimate than I thought. This was the single thing that bothered me the most during the entire trip.
But for all the issues addressed negatively, the one positive thing that made every penny worth it and every minor irritation worthwhile was...
Pro: PARTYING WITH THE TA'S FOR THE GOD DAMN MOTHERFUCKIN' WIN!!!!!!!!! I have never in my life enjoyed being with people more than I enjoyed being with the TA's (And non-TA's) we met down there! Myra, Garth, Tony, Jamie, Craig, Bas, Bunny, Robin, Rommy, Josh, Greg, and anyone I may be forgetting right now: YOU KIDS ALL RULE! I couldn't believe the amount of fun I had with all of you, and will never in my life forget the fun that we all had together. From getting ruined with Myra and Garth the first night down there and describing our hallucinations on the balcony, to getting to spend a few hours with Jamie and Craig just chillin' and talking about tunes and life, to spending 2 hours with Bas at 6 in the morning dominating a conversation in a room full of TA's, and getting a table with everyone for Desyn, the best times I had in Miami all came because of TA's. Thank you kids... I will miss you all!
Phew! That was a ton to write, a lot of con's, but the positive's BY FAR outweighed the negatives. And though I don't think I'll ever really want to come down for conference again (nothing too negative, I just personally didn't care for the aforementioned lack of emphasis on music), I can't wait to see all of you kids again!
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