It’s appropriate that things should come back around this time of year to where they started: with a post about Certified Bananas and Providence Is Burning in the title. That post came after a debauched night in Cambridge at the Enormous Room, and this one comes from my new digs on Westminster.

As I hauled every piece of luggage I owned this weekend, all packed to the gills with my overwhelming t-shirt collection, I thought of just how lucky I am to have lived with such amazing folks as those I cohabited with on Congress Ave. Onto the next phase I guess. Now I gotta get these possessive pronouns relearned. What once was our house now is your house. Ted’s house is now also my house. Complicated right? At least we can all agree that this shit is our house. John Legend has one of those perfect voices where no matter what you lay it over, it sounds rich, bright and joyful. And UK wünderkind Powdersoul is no exception. This kid’s going to be all over the funky house scene in no time. I’ve been begging left and right for his bootlegs since I heard his remix of Yolanda Adams’ “Lift Him Up” on DJ Spen’s recent Essential Mix. This is just some of the shit folks who come early will get treated to at the massive monthly that’s about to hit PVD.

When the Banana boys, Jackson and I figured out the logistics of our nascent monthly party, Providence Is Burning fit for so many different reasons. First, there’s the fact that, apart from party #0 which will be raining fire on Building 16 May 12, it all goes down at Firehouse 13 on the final Saturday of the month. Got that numerology? On top of that there’s the inclusiveness we want to connote. Paris Is Burning is an amazing film chronicling nearly seven years in the lives of some of the most iconic stars of the 80′s Vogue scene. Yes, you may know Vogueing from Madonna, who featured gone-but-not-forgotten legend Willie Ninja in her video, but that culture saved lives apart from her appropriation. Where else could a 13-year-old, Hispanic or Black queer go in the 80′s to find the support of a family? Not only is it important for me to make Providence Is Burning inclusive, I also want it to be a refuge for heads that have nowhere else to go. I’m not equating the daily tribulations of a trans person of color in NYC during the 1980s with the paucity of institutions supporting genre-defying creative expression and nightlife for forward-thinking 20 and 30-somethings in Providence, but I am saying that I can’t wait to see what types of friendships and partnerships arise from the ashes. We’re gonna burn this mother fucker down.

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But seriously, I had no idea who made this when it came out, and now that discog has credited Parkside, I can go on enjoying it with the same tepid admiration for the remixer’s ability to channel the syrupy original, with its alien drums and slapped bass. If I had to put this remix of “By The Way” in a genre, it would be mosh house. I actually really liked this whole album. Anthony Kiedis has always had stellar lyrics.

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I think I first heard “Born Slippy” when I went to see Trainspotting at Liberty Hall Cinema in downtown Lawrence. I must have been about 12 years old and I really had no concept of what rave was or why I liked the blissful synths that soundtracked such pathetic lives. Today I know it’s my disposition towards pastoral chemical consumption. “Jumbo” was released as the third single from Beaucoup Fish in 1997, a year after I had worn out my tape of MTV’s Amp that had “Pearl’s Girl” on it and even bought the new studio album. It wasn’t until I picked up a five cd-maxi box set with all the mixes for the absolutely massive “King of Snake” that I stumbled across this beautiful Balearic workout by Futureshock. Those boys could do no wrong, but then again, neither could Underworld back then. Remember how dope the live DVD for Everything Everything was? Wasn’t quite the same on the 2 Months Off tour when I saw them play before Radiohead at the Giants football stadium.

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While Jackson has been getting really into New Jack Swing as of late, I’ve been digging in the nether resources of hard drive 3 trying to find some no-album Mp3s from the late 90s. Definitely not pre-Napster, but still back when I would dub my downloaded music to my MD walkman. So I came across this track that probably came out in 2002, but was never quite appreciated for how dope it is. Fact: dance music has horrible lyrics. Since nothing can be universally true, Icelandic art-dance circus people Gus Gus decided to write “David. “this song is a fuckin’ choon. It has the sexiest, craziest, nastiest, shortest and most g-rated lyrics ever: “I still have last night in my body. I wish you were with me. David.” For some reason I always want that line to be “wish you were in me.” Since having the album version is like having vanilla icecream, try this creamy dollop of a remix by Underworld’s Darren Emmerson. This NJS bumper, courtesy of Jackson, is for my boy Teddy.

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