Chp 393. Remember the time…

An empty room, even a vacant floor of an under construction building will do, as long as there is a working plug point nearby. If it is a furnished room, the guys push the sofa, tables, vases etc to the side. If there is a carpet, the guys roll it up and move it to a corner too.  

After that, one requires an old tape recorder and a couple of audio cassettes. Most of the audio cassettes are “collections” that consists of all their favorite songs “recorded” by the owners. Sometimes a quick telephonic call needs to be made…

Hello. Oh hi Mrs. X. This is Y speaking. Can I please speak to Z?

(Z comes to the phone…)

Dude, you’re coming right? Great. And oh, don’t forget to bring the new La Bouche cassette you bought the other day ok? We’re depending on you. Ciao.

And after that, ladies and gentlemen, your “house party” is ready! :)

Man, those were indeed the wild times! That’s what it was like rocking the party scene in the mid 90’s. Unlike most people of my generation, I was exposed to the party scene pretty early in life because I have three elder sisters.

I still remember that big house party my eldest sister threw at our house. It was her 16th birthday party, so that would make me 7 years old then. After she got permission from dad and mom to throw the party at our sitting room (and a promise that dad and mom would not interfere and step inside the room), her friends started arriving one by one. Oh those bell bottom jeans and leather jacket days :)

So I was at the far corner of the room playing on my Atari... I think it was “Space Invaders”. Most of the guys my sister invited were sitting with me playing the game turn by turn! Lolz… I remember the chicks trying to pull their guys away from the videogame so that they could dance with them, and finally my mom had to come and pull me out of the room because my sister probably went and complained to her about me :)

On MY 16th birthday, I threw a party in that same room. Of course one big difference was that, that day was extremely cold and wet due to the winter monsoon. There was booze but since my folks were kinda strict, we could drink (secretly) only in the balcony. So we ended up battling the freezing climate outside just to take a quick sip. :)

The highlight of any house parties back then was THE CIRCLE.

Yeah, somehow we would always make this circle as we danced to the rhythm of whatever’s playing on the tape recorder, and one by one, somebody’s gotta go to the center and do his/her "special move", no matter how goofy or wacky it is.

That was so much fun then.

I’ve seen how house parties are in Hollywood movies. Well, the parties we used to have then were nothing like those, but still it was fun for us.

And then of course if it was getting late, the parents would start calling up the host’s house to say that it was time for their son/daughter to come home. My friends always used to make fun of me because among the guys, my parents were usually the first people to call up the parents of the place where the house party was happening to tell them to tell me to come home. That kinda sucked.

The Role of a DJ:

Sometimes, to listen to “continuous good music”, while one song was playing on the tape recorder, the “DJ” had to sit nearby, rewinding or forwarding a cassette with a Reynold’s pen. He had that special talent of looking at a cassette and based how much reel had been wounded on one side, knew exactly what song would be playing next! Sadly, such talent became extinct when digital music overtook the industry.

This was so much fun those days –



Yeah move that finger, you slick slick DJ. Spin your pen rewinding the cassette with one hand while playing La Bouche, Toybox, Whigfield, Dr. Alban, KrisKros, Snow, Mr. President, Outhere Brothers, E-Type with the other hand, one finger on the play button and another on the stop-rewind-forward buttons. Oh yeahhh DJ, you’re killing itttt! Awesomeeee! DJ Rox! DJ Rox! DJ Rox!

And as the party moves towards its end, the DJ changes the music from dance to slow.

Ah… this is the part where couples slow dance to songs like “Purple Rain” (Prince), “Room in your heart” (Living in a Box), “Something about you” (Bad Company), “Take my breath away” (Berlin), “Sukiyaki” (4PM), “So much in love” (All-4-one), “All out of love” (Air Supply), and so on…

Young kids who’re in love slow jam together, cheek to cheek… girls too ask their crushes if they like to dance with them… guys looking for an opportunity to make out with somebody, anybody, too look forward to this section of the night…

Also, that was the part where guys like me were always the “Forever Alone” guys, sitting in one corner of the room admiring the guys who got the ladies… :(

To me, it was always like…

Dammit gurl, why won’t you slow jam with me? What’s wrong with me? I thought you like to listen to me humming Super Mario Bros opening theme when we’re dancing together? And five years ago you told me you found my GI Joe and He-Man collection impressive, now you suddenly have a change of heart and find them childish? Arrghh woman, make up your mind!

Hehehe…

Anyhoo, today being Valentine’s Day, I kinda remember all those great songs of yesteryears, and here is me wishing you all a very happy (and successful) Valentine’s Day!

Cheers!

Ps. Here are a few “slow” music videos to end this “blog party” :)