What IS hot, DJ Roomba? She sucked us all in with her debut mix, which included a heavy dose of local love for The Replacements, Sims and Dessa. It was a slammin’ debut, filled with great classics (we’ve never played Get Rhythm by Johnny Cash before – who ARE we?!) and the latest and greatest (I’m looking at you, Beyonce. Countdown is my new fav [although she filmed the video while pregnant and now she's a new mom; it's clearly so last week]).

I gotta say, I love the Black Eyed Peas, but them on a continuous loop? Fate worse than death. Sorry, Will.i.am.

DJ Roomba’s debut mix:

After DJ Roomba, we welcomed back DJ Lux to the turntables. As a den mother, we make sure there are no holes in the DJ schedule and fill in as needed, but thanks to the back-to-back DJs, we haven’t had a DJ Lux mix since the Rocktober mix. Forever! You would think that would give plenty of time to make a mix, but of course, it was finished at the last minute on Thursday.

Looking back at the songs, it’s clear what my subconscious was thinking of when putting together the mix: Sex and money, baby. Any Which Way, Milkshake, Sex and Candy, Money and I Need a Dollar? And those are the most blatant examples. I bet Common and the Beatles feel awesome to be in such good company as the surprisingly lucrative Lou Bega and not-so-subtle Kelis.

DJ Lux’s mix:

Thank you DJ Roomba and DJ Lux for your fantastic mixes! And thank you to all of our dancers for making them extra awesome – I always love when someone hears a favorite song and really rocks out. TONIGHT! DJ Jazzy Jenn returns and turns the technology up to 11 – come dance to her mix! Between Roomba and Lux, 5 songs from Jazzy Jenn’s mix were played in the last two weeks, so let’s see what she comes up with – I say play them again, since clearly they’re favorites.

Coming up at DDPP:
1/26 (TONIGHT!): DJ Jazzy Jenn
2/2: DJ G Funk
2/9: Open – could be you!

Don’t forget about March Madness coming up too – let us know if you have a theme mix and would like to DJ during March!

Due to technical difficulties, we sadly missed DJ Common Era’s first attempt to debut as a DJ and spin this spelling mix. Well, ladies, this week’s DDPP was R-O-C-K-I-N-G.

Emeritus den mother DJ Reaction once said that she felt all the blog posts she wrote started out “I was tired and wasn’t feeling the DDPP thing, but then I went and left feeling awesome!” That was me this week. Running late, a bit of a headache, and I kinda wanted to make a blanket fort and finish The Hunger Games (at the recommendation of quite a few DDPPers). But let me tell you, I could have left DDPP in a hot air balloon powered by my own good vibrations.

DJ Common Era gave us a bit of schooling in the ways of the world. Things we learned how to spell this week at DDPP:

(Fergie is either a really awesome speller or needs the extra help with spelling so puts it in every song).

Thank you, DJ Common Era, for the fantastic mix… it was worth the wait! And thank you to all our ladies who made it out, new faces and some old ones we hadn’t seen in awhile. Coming up next week is DJ Roomba, with her debut mix! YES.

Coming up:
1/8: DJ Roomba
1/15: DJ Lux
1/22: DJ Jazzy Jenn returns!
1/29: open! DJ with us!

DJ Common Era’s mix:

1.    Respect, Aretha Franklin
2.    Saturday Night, Bad City Rollers
3.    Hollaback Girl, Gwen Stefani
4.    ROCK in the USA, John Mellencamp
5.    LOVE, Ashlee Simpson
6.    Calling, Aqua
7.    Fergalicious, Fergie
8.    Word Up, Cameo
9.    Damaged, Dannity Kane
10.  Solo, Iyaz
11.  DANCE, Justice
12.  Money Honey, Lady Gaga
13.  DISCO, Ottawan
14.  SOS, Rhianna
15.  Damn You Look Good and I’m Drunk, Cobra Starship
16.  Glamorous, Fergie
17.  My Console, Eiffel 65
18.  Holla Back, Fabolous
19.  YMCA, Village People
20.  Pump It, Black Eyed Peas
21.  (Cool down) EMPTY, The Clientele

If I had these kid’s moves, I would be one happy DDPPer.

Happy New Year! See you next week for the triumphant return of DJ Common Era and her ABC mix!

Coming up at DDPP Twin Cities:
1/5: DJ Common Era and the ABC mix
1/12: Debut of DJ Roomba!
1/19: DJ Lux
1/26: Open! Don’t you want to DJ with us?

Looking at the track list, I’m bummed I missed Rashes’ mix on Thursday. Not only was there Bon Jovi, Neal Diamond and plenty of ska, Rashes played my favorite Spice Girls song (because, yes, I am the type of person that has a favorite Spice Girls song):

Thank you DJ Rashes for another awesome mix! And thank you to all the ladies who made it out to help Rashes warm us up on a cold winter night. Next week, Debutante returns to give us the last DDPP Twin Cities mix of 2011 so don’t miss out!

Coming up at DDPP Twin Cities:
12/22: DJ Debutante
12/29: Off! Happy New Year!
1/5: DJ Common Era’s ABC mix
1/12: Debut of DJ Roomba
1/19: DJ Lux
1/26: Open! We want YOU to DJ!

DJ Rashes’ mix:

Then it was d’autre langues. Los demás idiomas. W innych językach.

Either way, we were blinded by DJ SCIENCE!

Yes, an entire mix in non-english languages. We had French. We had Spanish. We had Polish.I may or may not have felt the urge to break out in one of these:

Alas, not this time. But you bet your ass I went home and did some lunges to get my quads in shape for the next time DJ SCIENCE! busts out the Polish.

Thank all you lovely ladies who made it out for some foreign lovin’ and huge thanks to DJ SCIENCE! for her tantalizing mix.

This upcoming Thursday, DJ Rashes gets back in the DJ booth to spin us a new mix! Word has it she’s pulled out the old high school cds, which always means a nice throwback to a simpler time (although is that true? Was it simpler? Did anyone really like high school?).  Join us on Thursday to find out what DJ Rashes has in store!

Coming up at DDPP Twin Cities:
12/15: DJ Rashes
12/22: DJ Debutante
12/29: Off! Happy New Year!
1/5: DJ Common Era’s ABC mix
1/12: Debut of DJ Roomba
1/19: DJ Lux
1/26: Open! Could it be you?

DJ SCIENCE!, send us your mix!

Our stereo had other plans, however. The CD would. not. work. NOOOOO!

It’s always sad when technical difficulties threaten our dancing, especially for a DJ’s first mix. However, we went to our trusty backup mixes and DJ Common Era pulled one from the archives – DDPP Chicago’s 2007 Mix of Love.

It was awesome, as Chicago mixes usually are. Their reputation as mix-master deluxe was confirmed by the Twin Cities ladies last night. When this song came on as a cool down, it was one of those “Only Chicago…” moments.

In the meantime, DJ Common Era got back on the calendar to debut her spellmaster mix, coming to us on January 5. In the meantime, we’re still BCE – Before Common Era. So practice up!

Next week DJ SCIENCE! brings us a new mix, hot off the turntables and straight to the dance floor. She promised it would have something, a je ne sais quoi quality about it that we’ll just have to show up for see. See you next Thursday for DJ SCIENCE!

The calendar:
December 8: DJ SCIENCE!
December 15: DJ Rashes
December 22: DJ Debutante
December 29: Off! Happy New Year!
January 5: DJ Common Era’s re-debut
January 12: Debut of DJ Roomba.

And the DDPP Chicago 2007 Mix of Love:

Eclectic Electric Variety! Groove shocked us with some high voltage, did the electric slide, took us to outer space in our rockets, played a bit on our radios (including taking me back in time to a memory of being a freshman in high school, listening to Everclear while riding home from play practice with the coolest senior boy… oh the days of unrequited love), and yes, we did the polka.

On top of the polka, Groove played a song that has one of my most favorite videos in the whole entire world. It makes my Top 5 Videos list every time and here’s why:

If you didn’t, go back and watch the whole thing. I’ll wait.

Did you watch? SO BIZARRE. If we ever do a music video night again, there’s a good chance this might make the cut. I shared the video with a fellow DDPPer and she laughed so hard, she had the hiccups for 45 minutes. Seriously, ladies. Also, this is awesome. On Wisconsin!

Thanks DJ Groove for the electrifying mix and thanks to our dancers for joining us! We are off next week for Thanksgiving, but we’ll be back on December 1 for our newest DJ debut! Come dance off your turkey-coma with us!

Our plans to rock out the rest of 2011:
November 24: Thanksgiving – go eat turkey.
December 1: New DJ debut!
December 8: DJ SCIENCE!
December 15: DJ Rashes
December 22: DJ Debutante
December 29: OFF! Go celebrate the New Year in style.

And DJ Groove’s Eclectic Electric Variety mix:

We had an awesome 3rd anniversary celebration, and let me say, on top of the general radness of the evening, I’ve never seen roomful of ladies rock out to MmmBop quite like you ladies did. Truly awesome. Hanson would be proud.

Right?

We celebrated with treats, goody bags, prizes and some mix CD-sharing, along with giving a copy of our 3rd Birthday mix to all of our lovely ladies (PS: If you didn’t get a copy but would like one, please let us know! PPS: Some of Judie’s mixes she picked out accidentally went home with a different dancer – if you found some surprise mixes when you got home, could you bring them back so we can share with Judie? If you listened and became attached to a mix, we’ll make a copy for you!)

Thanks to all our dancers, new and returning, that made our 3rd Birthday so dance-tastic! And thanks to all our DJs throughout the year that kept our feet dancing on Thursdays: DJ Low-Fi, DJ Groove, DJ Reaction, DJ Lux, DJ G Funk, DJ Rashes, DJ Noopy-G, DJ Footnote Girl, DJ Hamsterdance (DJ Mad Max), DJ Jazzy Jenn, DJ Buzz, DJ Debutante, DJ Bouncy Squirrel, DJ BKillin’It, DJ SCIENCE! and DJ Xplosion (so new she didn’t make this year’s mix – next year!)

Special shout out to our Den-mother Emeritus DJ Reaction – we wouldn’t be here without you and miss your fly moves every week! Here’s a secret birthday present for you:

(Seriously. I googled “secret birthday present” and found 10 pictures of these two barbies. I have no idea what it’s about… but those barbies look like prime DDPP dancers, assuming they ever become real people. Moral of the story: The internet is weird. And we miss Reaction.)

This week, DJ Groove serenades us with her latest and greatest mix. Always a good time with DJ Groove, that’s what they say. So dance with us! Also, we are starting a new benefit for DJing: DJs dance free! So if you DJ, your dance is on us – just one way to say thank you!

Coming up:
November 17: DJ Groove
November 24: Thanksgiving – no dancing. Just turkey.
December 1: New DJ debut – Name TBD.
December 8: 0pen!
December 15: open!

And the birthday mix:

DJ Xplosion made us shiver in our space boots, bringing us a Halloween mix that covered all the spooky bases.

There were wolves:

(Little den mother trivia for you: In middle school I thought the guy in the hat was super hot and gave me an irrational love for this song. Now? Not so much. Well, still love the song.)

Zombies:

Ghosts:

Sidenote: LOOK at Dan Akroyd. So much attitude. I feel like he could be posing at the end of a runway. I love it.

General freaky stuff:

After DJ Xplosion’s mix, I would definitely go into a haunted house with any of our dancers – I know you’ve got the mettle to come out unscathed.

Did you figure out the answer to this week’s trivia question? The most played artist in DDPP-Twin Cities’ 3 year history is… Drumroll, please…

Britney Spears! We’re clearly Brit-Brit lovers here at DDPP-TC. My personal guess was the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, but Britney handily beat him, 36 plays to 29.

Thank you to DJ Xplosion for a wonderful Halloween mix and thank you to all our dancers, especially our two newest ladies – I hope you had fun!

Next week is our 3rd Anniversay, so come out to dance, win some prizes, get a goody bag and celebrate 3 years of DDPP!

Coming up on the calendar:
November 10: DDPP’s 3rd Anniversary!
November 17: DJ Groove
November 24: No DDPP – Thanksgiving
December 1: New DJ!

DJ Xplosion – send us your mix!

In an unforgettable debut, DJ SCIENCE! did some time travel magic with her Boy Band mix, bringing me back to my middle school bedroom.

(Ok, so that’s not actually MY bedroom, but it exists in the world. Friends, do not underestimate the power of a pretty face, even if it is a boy band face.)

Speaking of Mr. Donnie Wahlberg, guess what he and Marky Marky named their new restaurant?

YESSS.

DJ SCIENCE!, thank you for the trip down memory lane with your Boy Band mix. I may or may not have sang along several times… but I’ll never tell.

DJ SCIENCE! started off with boy bands and DJ G Funk brought us full circle with her dude-heavy Rolling Stone Top 20 Artists mix.

We asked you how many women were in the top 20 of Rolling Stone Top Artists of All-Time list; sadly, only one lady made list. ONE. Rolling Stone, you’ve disappointed. Aretha, thanks for reppin’ us women and coming in at #16. Rolling Stone must not have seen your inauguration hat. (Madonna pulled in next at #36. 36? Bah humbug.)

Not surprisingly, G Funk filled the mix with classics, including a band I frequently forget exists:

I don’t know why I always forget about the Beach Boys, I just do. Oops. Maybe if the Beach Boys wore Aretha’s inauguration hat, I’d remember them more.

DJ G Funk, thanks for bringing us the Top 20 Artist mix and reminding us why we always need a little diva in our lives, if only to offset the massive onslaught of Top 20 lists like Rolling Stones’.

TONIGHT! We have another DJ debut so come dance with us – 6:30 at Old Arizona! Our trivia question for tonight: Who is the most played artist in DDPP_TC history?

Don’t forget next week is our …. 3rd Anniversary! Come dance to our DJ-sourced mix, win some prizes, and take home a goody bag with treats. Don’t forget to RSVP on Facebook so we know how many treat bags to make!

DJ SCIENCE!’s Boy Band mix: