Venue: The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA
Presented by: Outerlimits

The second weekend of November brought another Outerlimits event at the Masquerade. It marked the return of Bad Boy Bill and DJ Funk to Atlanta after six months. All in all, it was a party with some rather interesting moments. From the crowd reception to the live PA from The Saint and Spiritual Being, to the obnoxious jackass who kept trying to climb on every single person in my company to get onstage before three of us had to threaten him to get him to leave to the projectionist who showed The Avenging Disco Godfather in the main room while Andy Hughes played epic-y trance...it was an evening with some damn interesting spots of excitement sandwiched between folded arms and ennui-ridden stares during yet another go round of six month old )E|3( tracks.

We arrived at the Masquerade to the sounds of DB upstairs and Lion downstairs. To be honest, it felt like we were all basically waiting for some House. Drum n' bass permeated the party as new faces in the crowd were breaking and getting down. Unfortunately, my entourage was standing around just like me...much to the dismay of the surrounding groups, judging from the sewage plant-dirty looks we were getting. DB left us all feeling a bit high and dry. I think the only really huge moments during his set were the revival of "Tough at the Top" by EZ-Rollers (with vocal accompaniment by yours truly) and certain members of my party going around asking mean mugging kids when "that Oakenfold guy" was going to play. The video display was very good, though. The juxtaposition of "DJ DB" with shadow puppet-like animation depicting some sort of Marxist army marching made for some interesting imagery.

When DB stepped off, we were up for a, well, interesting PA. The Saint and Spiritual Being played. The flood of junglists from the upstairs room during the opening dialogue was one of Biblical proportions. It's almost tragic; interesting is the most perfect adjective to describe this PA. One man helms the equipment and plays very trance-y sounding tunes. The other guy paints his face like Hawk of the Road Warriors (remember 80s wrestlers besides Hogan, Macho Man, and Andre the Giant?), paints some strange designs on a pair of white painters' pants, and prances around the stage with a stogie and a cirrhosis-inducing-sized bottle of Jack Daniels. I headed downstairs. Yet another )E|3( track drove me back upstairs. By that point, I was ready, just like everyone else, for some Booty/Ghetto/Tranceheads-seem-to-loathe-it House. I almost felt bad for The Saint and Spiritual Being. Everyone was practically shouting them off the stage by the time they saw Funk setting up behind the duo. Suddenly, as they packed their gear, the sounds of hard Chicago house began pounding. It was time. As I cut off would-be "freakers" from making a beeline to grind on my friends, the temperature in Heaven (upstairs at The Masquerade) rose dramatically...as did the levels of artificial fog. Note to technicians: Excessive fog blown in the presence of your patrons can make them feel violently ill in combination with the requisite and omnipresent cigarette smoke.

As square feet of dance space became square inches of dance space, the guilty pleasure known as a DJ Funk set was in full flight. Yes, it was raunchy. Yes, he trainwrecked more times than MTV has aired the "Thriller" video. No, he didn't mix properly a few times. Yes, I managed to grit my teeth a few times. But I did yell "She go down!! She go down!!" during the call and response of "Booty Bounce." In essence, despite any technical flaws he has as a DJ (who would argue with his bad mixing?), if you take the "K" away in his DJ name, you have his sets: Fun. That's what they're meant to be. And sure enough, it was a lot of fun...except for the nitwit who thought it would be a good idea to use unsuspecting people to boost himself up onstage. Probably due to the fact that he weighed at least 220, he failed miserably. We had to get belligerent after the fifth time that he attempted to leverage himself on a 125-pound young woman.

I took a break from the festivities and near strip show upstairs to check out some of Hive's set downstairs. I felt rather disappointed that his reputation didn't live up to his set that evening. However, it seemed to be a trend that evening that the DnB talents were of notable reputation and a poor delivery that night, in my eyes. It sounded like Hive was basically playing a lot of the stuff that our local talent throws down. Go figure. After a bathroom break and a refreshing bottle of water, I was back upstairs. Funk was closing out, and Bad Boy Bill was stepping in. Mercifully, he was much, much better than he was at the May Outerlimits (sauna) event. Bill was definitely in the spirit. His first two tracks didn't stray from Funk's sound of booty shaking hard house. However, one could see the hands festooned with jewelry from the back of Heaven. As soon as the familiar "Bad — Boy — Bill" sample started up, he kicked right in. Then, midway through, it felt like he kind of ran out of gas. The umpteeth remix of "House Ain't Giving Up" (which I almost went back upstairs for) and several other Mix CD friendly tracks were in rotation. I really, really wasn't feeling UFO! downstairs in Hell at all. Dissatisfaction with the tunes usually leads to socializing, which became the order for a great deal of Bad Boy Bill's set. Finally, the slump lifted. Bill went from the same familiar tunes into banging tech house. It perked up ears like a dog whistle at the SPCA. It held my attention for a good bit of the remainder of his time onstage. He really lost me with the last track though. Maybe it was the ambience as kids pulled out lighters like an Aerosmith concert. Maybe I thought about running across the street to Ponce Kroger for macaroni to go with the cheese I was sensing. Whatever it was, I felt a strong "Index and Middle fingers in the throat" moment.

Bad Boy Bill stepped down, and Andy Hughes took over. The crowd thinned down to the die hards. Around this time people were telling me to kick myself for missing Matt B's set, which I did promptly. This is roughly the time of late night/early morning at which one of the absolutely oddest things that I have ever witnessed occurred: The video projection began showing the Blaxploitation classic The Avenging Disco Godfather with Rudy Ray Moore of Dolemite fame. In the middle of an uplifting trance set, I'm watching Rudy Ray Moore get down in a "Soul Train" line wearing a baby blue velvet jumpsuit with his stomach halfway hanging out. It was definitely a moment to call home about. All in all, I have to say that this was certainly not the best Outerlimits event I've attended. Not by a longshot. The DnB felt very, very weak to me, but it was a very memorable party. I mean, how many parties have you attended in which you got to hear such decent and moral tracks as "Shake that Ass" and "Pussy Ride," watch a guy dressed like an arts and crafts project dance around with booze and stogie in tow, and see Blaxploitation juxtaposed with trance? Definitely an unforgettable night. Props to Colby and Tony for giving me some fond memories that will last for a long, long time!!!!!

Bangin' In London
Compiled and mixed by Bad Boy Bill
Record Label: Masterrights
Track Listing:

1. Phreaky Deaky
2. Funky Man
3. Psycho
4. Big Booya
5. Chi's Revenge
6. House Ain't Giving Up
7. Feel the Same
8. Oh My God
9. Pumping
10. Ibiza in My Soul
11. Musica
12. Necessary Evil
13. Twister
14. Raise Your Hands
15. In and out of My Life
16. Dr. Funk
17. Body Rock
18. Tha Music
19. Be Wit U
20. Disco to Disco [Les Rhythmes Digital Mix]
21. I See You Babby
22. First the Groove
23. Fly Away
24. Push That Thing
25. Radio Electron
26. Funk Master
27. Rise
28. Spaced Invader
29. Moving Thru Your System