The history of Bluestate, Part III: The Stories

The third in a series. Expect a surprise ending. Dont forget to come to Bluestate at the Black Cat on Dec. 29.

This is one of my favorite memories:

Speaking of nobody looking, right before or after Mr. and Mrs. Dceiver left for the night, and after most of the rest of DCist called it quits, N.M. leaned on something and nearly all of the lights went out. She scrambled to see what got unplugged and then ran to get someone from the Black Cat staff to undo the mess she thought she caused. Meanwhile, a cheer rose up from the dancefloor and everyone started tearing it up, or at least I think so, since the only light outside the booth came from behind the bar and from some Christmas lights strung along the bottom of the stage.

The above photo is from a written request that arrived about 10 minutes after I played "Into the Groove" in an attempt to get the crowd, unusually taciturn during my first set, to get on the floor. Lure 'em in with something familiar and catchy, then get them to enjoy something unfamiliar, I thought. That's the way we usually try to do it -- a little bit of sugar makes the Les Savy Fav go down -- but the pop completely took over since it looked like everyone was having so much fun. Sure, the point of Bluestate was to play music we like but don't hear at clubs, but when the people want Michael Jackson, let them have it.

It turns out that the fuse that powered the lights and fans blew. For about 15 minutes, it was absolute madness.