Gene's Gig @ The Storm in PA

Posted by Gene

My flight was scheduled to leave at 6:15a on Saturday (9/27). I packed the night before and planned on waking up at 4:00a to get to the airport on time. Well, the alarm didn't ring (or we didn't hear it) and J woke up at 5:00a to wake me and ask, "What time is your flight?" Holy Crap! I popped out of bed, told her 6:00 and started changing, brushing my teeth, grabbing my gear and then asked my still sleepy wife: "Can you drop me? I won't make it if you don't." So she jumped out of bed, changed, brushed her teeth and then we were on the road. Driving at 90 MPH we made it to the airport at 5:35a, which is great time because it usually takes 45 minutes to get there from home. I rushed through security and made it on time. Whew, thank you wifey!

I flew from Denver to Houston, then Houston to Philadelphia. It wasn't bad since I was upgraded to First Class all the way. Nice! I arrived in Philly around 2:45p and made my way to Alamo car rental to grab a red Cobalt. It's a nice car, and I usually drive this particular model since they have real get up and go on the freeway and do pretty good on gas. My one-hour drive was about 55 miles north to Quakertown. On the way I noticed there was a toll booth coming up and I HAD NO CASH!!! So I exited the freeway and found a Target superstore. I actually needed stickers for the cue points on my laptop for the night's show. With colorful glitter star stickers and cash in my pocket I was back on the road. The toll wasn't bad, $1.90 was the fee and now I'm in Quakertown.

When I exited the freeway there was barely anything there. Some hotels and motels and a gas station. There were a few more miles of road ahead of me before the club and those miles had nothing but road, trees, some farms and homes. I was starting to worry... Then, finally a small outdoor shopping area, some large chain stores, plenty of cars, now it's getting better.

My cellphone rang and it was the owner, John, who asked if I was near and told me to just drive to the back of the club and drop my stuff off in the motor coach and then go up the office. What? a motor coach? I asked to myself. Anyway, I arrived at the club around 5:10pm and in the back was this awesome looking luxury motor coach that had a big sign on the side that said: "Bikini Bull Riding"...AWESOME! Inside was very, very nice and cozy. Ha! this is why my wife wants one.

Well, I made my way to the office, met John and then took a tour of the club. The Storm is actually the dance club area just off their main hotspot called Montana West, a cool country bar/club that also has a mechanical bull. Hmmm, this is probably where they do the Bikini Bull Riding contest. The inside of the dance club was jaw dropping. The $40k video wall behind the DJ booth was a sight to see and with the best DJ gear from Pioneer all set up for me. There were many, many Elation moving dance lights mounted on two circular truss rigs and a four-way sound system pushing tweets, mids, mid-lows flying on top and then eight 18" subs under the DJ booth. I was so excited I may have fainted for a few minutes.

We did sound check and then I went back to my 'room' to work on some tracks for the show. My belly was grumbling so I walked into Montana West to get some grub. I had a burger called the Little George and it was the best burger I've had between two pieces of toast! Yes, it was toast. Not the thin Wonder bread stuff, but thick and toasty!

I started my set around 11:30pm and the club was about half-full. I didn't do an intro like most of my shows and just mixed into the track the opening DJ was spinning. Well, by the third video I played the floor was filling up nicely. I threw down some of my coolest club sets and made sure to entertain the crowd. Everyone seemed happy including the staff and more importantly - the owner.

The show was over at 2am and I began breaking down my gear, which was basically my laptop and some cables. Some of the staff wanted to hang and chat for a bit, and we did...it was nice to hear compliments from these people that never heard me spin before. I made my way back to my 'room' and packed my luggage for the trek back home. As I was relaxing on the couch, John came in and said I did a great job and I thanked him for his hospitality. I thought it was very nice of him to come up and tell me that.

It was 3:45am and I started my drive back to the Philly airport to catch my 8am flight. Since it was raining pretty hard I figured leaving early would give me time to drive safe and slow. It was hard to see the road and my lifesaver was the GPS on my phone that showed me if any sharp curves were up ahead. I arrived at Alamo around 5:10am and the shuttle bus got me to the airport 20 minutes later.

I had another 2.5 hours until my flight...what do I do? Well, I tried some Dunkin' Doughnuts coffee, a breakfast bagel and a chocolate doughnut (they were all DELICIOUS!) but that couldn't keep me awake 'cause I slept for about 45 minutes and awoke to a text from DVDJ Unique asking me how my night was. I also noticed that my flight was running 30 minutes late so MORE WAITING...AAAAARRRGH, I'm Tired!

Finally we were boarding and I sat in First Class again and fell right asleep. Before hittin' the ZZZs, I noticed that this was the same flight crew that I flew in with. When they were serving our meal the stewardess woke me up and said, "What would you...hey, weren't you just here yesterday?" I replied, "Yup, flew in, did my thing, now going home. I'm not hungry just need to sleep." Well, I was left alone and didn't wake up until the wheels touched down in Houston at 10:20am central time.

I left Houston (still flying in First Class - wohooo!) at 11:36am and arrived in Denver at 1:20pm mountain time. J picked me up and I was EXHAUSTED! I've been gone from Colorado just 30 hours and have only slept for three. People say it's the life of a rockstar, superstar or whatever you want to call it. To me it's a lot of work and little sleep...but I still enjoy it.