Well dear listeners, here it is: the epic conclusion of the Club Rosewood trilogy. I originally planned the first mix in May 2019 as an illustration of my approach to DJing. It came out on the same week as my birthday, which I thought was the most suitable time to burden the world with "an illustration of my approach to DJing." People will tolerate a certain level of self-aggrandizement on your birthday. That mix was the first one ever recorded on my new turntable setup in my new apartment. It was also about a month into a new job where I was frantically trying to find my footing while battling a vicious case of imposter syndrome. I listen to that mix now and can still sense that giddy, anticipatory energy.

Then in May 2020, all kinds of weird stuff was happening. Quarantine was still very much a novelty at that time, if you can believe it, and I was only too happy to stay locked up in the house with all my records and video games. You see, I was actually being a hero by scheming up new mixes, playing through the entirety of the Grand Theft Auto series, and thanking the UPS delivery man from behind a locked door. I even used the title "Trapped in Club Rosewood (But I Ain't Even Mad)". I would soon become mad, often sad, and very seldom glad over the next year.

And so we come to May 2021, after a year that may have left each of us permanently warped in some way or another. I don't mean "warped" in a purely negative sense, really, merely a change of shape that has made us different now. I got rid of some bad habits, but I also played over 150 hours of Cyberpunk 2077. I avoided record stores for over a year, but I never stopped trying things out on the turntables. As Tom Sizemore says in Heat, "For me, the action is the juice." Sorry, I just watched that again. What a movie.

I suppose the obvious question is, "Why is this mix five and a half hours long?" And the best, most direct answer I can give is, "This is all I've got." I've always loved the concept of the all night set that requires you to set a mood early on, build a dancefloor to the peak, and then land the plane. It calls for a wide diversity of sounds in order to keep things interesting, and many of my favorite DJs are very good at controlling the energy of a room over several hours.

This here is what I'll call my "all afternoon set," designed for the cautiously optimistic months ahead. It's a hodgepodge of new discoveries, quarantine favorites, and classics that hold a very special place in my heart. A project of this size was difficult to put together, but it also helped me get out of my head to a certain extent; it's pointless to worry about a less-than-stellar transition when your mix runs longer than the Snyder Cut. Plus, it's not like you can expect to hold a listener's rapt attention for five and a half hours. That gives you the freedom to keep things loose, play out tunes for longer than you normally would, and keep the digressions and tangents intact. It sounds a lot like a normal Friday night here at Club Rosewood.

Most of all, this mix is my love letter to DJing, an art form that continues to be an inspiration and a source of joy in my life even while the dancefloor has been away. The good news is that I'll see you all out there soon - certainly as a dancer, and maybe occasionally as the one picking the tunes.

( hangout music, dance music, reflective music )