DJ fail.

So I had an epic fail as a DJ on Friday night. Truly noteworthy.

Here, your 21st birthday is when you are truly a full blown adult and its a huge deal. So on Friday we ended up going to Luka's 21st. It was down some road so bumpy and terrible we had to park our car by the "tar road" and our friend Danny gave us a ride to the party in his "bucky" (ie truck). When we got to the party everyone we knew from Haenertsburg was there and a bazillion people we didn't even know existed. At one point our waiter from the local restaurant we'd just eaten at showed up. It was that kind of blow out. It was also "Cuban themed," btw, which as far as I can tell just gave people an excuse to wear hats.

Anyways. There was a crazy dance floor that all the young types were stumbling around on, and being my slightly-inebriated self I decided I was done with "African House" music and wanted to change things up. I was shown the iPod by some kid who insisted that he had just chosen an awesome playlist and everyone was gonna love it and I should leave it on. The first song was "Le Freak" and people were jamming, but up next was "Mr. Jones" so I felt free to find something else despite the fellow's warning to the contrary. Being the party genius I am, I found my solution early in Ace of Base. KILLER DANCE PARTY CLASSIC "I saw the sign." Just thinking about those opening few lines of synthesizer gets my singing along juices flowing. I wait until "Le Freak" fades away and press play ready to be cheered for by my adoring new South African (but remember... white) fans.

Dead silence. And confusion. I watched in horror as the gyrating bodies slowed to a halt. African crickets filled the air. No one had ever apparently even heard the song. The guy came rushing over to save the day, confused as to why I would have done such and thing. Ruining everyones good time. Quickly he clicked back to his playlist. "la, la, la, la, la, la, la...." Mr. Jones by the Counting Crows came booming through the speakers, and people... lost... their... shit.... Cheering and singing and drunken jumping up and down. For the counting crows. WHAT THE FUCK. The mother fucking counting crows. Don't get me wrong, I like that song too... but I am still flabbergasted. So I've given up on trying to have any sort of musical exchange with these (white) South Africans.

Hopefully the results will be better with the kids who get to play Djembes and Marimbas and Kalimbas. Some real music can be appreciated.