That’s a wrap: Josh Wink does Europe

Sunday, February 22nd

I’m happy my body feels and smells clean, though my mind feels dirty and scattered. I check out of the room, pull the door shut with my pruned, over-showered hands, and have five minutes for a continental breakfast to fuel my sleep-deprived being. Fresh orange juice, cut fruit, and hot water with lemon provide me with the sugar jolt I need to notice the driver materializing at the front of the hotel. Off I go. London mornings are usually filled with fog, but today the only fog present is in my head. 

We dash through the historic city as if in a dream. I raise my eyes and ask myself is this really Big Ben? Tower Bridge I’m looking at? How can I be here? Wait, we’re moving too fast. I can’t see - this is the quickest sightseeing tour I’ve ever been on. Is this real? Who is hitting my leg? The driver is poking my leg at Heathrow airport awaking me from my 25-minute slumber.

I walk through T5 like the cleanest zombie you’ve ever seen and head into a magazine shop after collecting my boarding pass. I wander through the aisles hoping to find a magazine that grabs my attention, and funnily enough amongst the numerous periodicals is a well-rested Josh Wink on the cover of DJ Magazine! How crazy is this vision. I laugh wondering if it’s all a dream and I’m still asleep in the car. Usually the visions that make me happy at airports are fellow DJs and friends who I always meet in clubs or airports around the world. It’s funny but true.

Is this a weird dream state?

I’m having a major déjà vu, as the last time I was in this terminal was when I played Matter four months ago and went through this exact framework - club/hotel/car service/airport/ and playing at Panorama Bar Sunday for Cassy’s birthday party with Ricardo Villalobos and Zip. All was the same in travel itinerary and venues then as it is today, and it’s making me feel more dazed than I am. Too much thought.

Demanding security personnel are now ordering me for my safety, and it sobers my murky thoughts a bit. Yet, too tired to be badgered this morning, I go through the usual hoops at my leisure, conserving energy. I won’t harp long here. Just simply say - BA lounges are heavenly asylums. And I travel enough each year just to regain my status to enter this hallowed sanctuary.

Guess what seat I got today? You guessed it (as I mentioned in my Milan flight blog) the second row exit seat. I was happy to have the legroom as I was going to sleep as much as I could on this short flight.

I will share something with you that most people don’t know about me: I sleep with my eyes open. Yes, it’s true. I don’t why or how, but friends usually take pictures and joke endlessly about this condition. Usually I wear an eye mask so my eyes don’t dry (which is a bit painful when you wake up), and this helps shield and protect them from the elements. (Mind you, when I’m really fatigued, I sleep with my eyes and mouth excessively open.)

I don’t recall most of the flight past boarding, except that I was nudged by the passenger to my side, and awoke to the two flight attendants and the entire row in front of me staring. Shocked and dazed, I wonder what the hell was going on.

“We thought you might be dead or had a seizure,” the flight attendant uttered. “Your eyes were wide open, and we could barely see your chest moving.”

I thank them for their concern (even though I was a bit bothered, cause I was DEEP in sleep), assure them I’m well. I joke they should’ve seen the horror on my girlfriend’s face the first morning she woke up before me. She thought I was dead lying next to her. The laughs from the fellow commuters eased the awkward situation, and the flight continued.

Unfortunately, I can’t get back to sleep, so I decide to power up my computer and open Traktor to organize my music for the Panorama bar. I wanted to be on top form, as it’s a special party and I am exhausted.  The key for a good DJ set using a computer is knowing all the music in your collection. ‘Cause at times having too much music is more of a curse than a blessing.

How do you find all the tracks? Good organization.

A great thing about using a computer DJ program is that you can create ‘record crates’ before the gigs. Similar to how I used to pack a record box before a gig. I would go through my collection and put the tracks I wanted to play in my box. Well, it’s the same with the computer application systems now. You drag songs from your collection (the total files on your computer) into a record box you create in the application.

For this example let us call the ‘Record Crate P-Bar’. At the present moment I have 1,038 songs in my Traktor collection, (I’m not going to be playing all of them) and I have an idea of which ones I want to play. I simply drag the track from my collection (by dragging/dropping) and drop it into the P-Bar record box (or as Traktor labels it, ‘playlist’). When I get to the club I open the Traktor application and the “P-Bar” record crate and viola- all the tracks I dragged in are there. 

Well, I get to work on my ‘record box’ for ten minutes before I feel the plane descend and the captain uttering the sacred phrase; ‘We’re making our approach for landing. Please store and put away all electrical devices” and like magic they all vanish out of sight. As I gaze through the window, I smile as it’s nice to see the usual gray Berlin look so enchanting due to its fresh coat of white pristine snow, transforming the city into a dreamy wonderland. 

The immigration control and the ride to the hotel are simple today, a blessing, as I feel I’m losing it. Sleep is failing in its crusade against consciousness, yet not by much. I settle quickly into the hotel, as I’ve been to this watering hole many times. I douse my face in cold water to sharpen my thoughts, and return to the bed where I take off my shoes and allow myself 25 minutes to eat the falafel and savor the fresh carrot juice I gathered en route from the airport.

I’ve noticed after the years of traveling and enduring countless hours of jet lag and airplane journeys there are certain things that help my body and mind cope with these consequences. Jet travel is a big concern for me, and people who are subjected to the regular torments of jet transportation. There is the Aviation Health Institute (AHI) in Oxford, a research program that studies the affects of air travel on humans. Blood and heart disorders from cabin pressure and lack of oxygen over long periods of time are apparent in patients and one of the cures suggested is drinking several glasses of carrot juice four days before and after a flight, which helps offset the effects of reduced oxygen and minerals being stripped from the body.

This hasn’t been proven, and groups still suggest sleep, mineral water and sensible eating after landing as the best answer. Any which way, I love fresh carrot juice, and I was thrilled with the simplicity of drinking and eating on my hotel bed with my shoes off!

I take several deep breaths after the quick meal, and the phone call comes from the reception notifying me that the driver is in the lobby to escort me to the club. Wheeew. I’m starting to feel the massive exhaustion. Full strength now, but somehow the adrenalin kicks in after I think about performing today.

Am I tired or are things in Berlin disappearing?

In the middle of nowhere stands the behemoth former Friedrichshain power plant, which rises above the horizon like a Grecian temple. Haunting bass rhythms pulse louder and louder as you get closer to the mouth-like entrance. It’s day light, 4:30 on Sunday afternoon and people walk in and walk out of the main door similar to worker bees being smoked out of their hive. We make our way upstairs where Marcel Dettmann is finishing up his set at Berghain, where Ben Klock was celebrating his ‘One’ LP release. Radiohead was pumping through the huge speaker stacks and reverberating through the 18 meter high space. His devout crowd was paying homage by swaying and undulating in front of the decks. 

We go upstairs to the Panorama Bar area where Soundstream was jacking it with some old school house. Today P-Bar was tropical hot, and had an acrid smell of sweat, fog juice and other odors I couldn’t pinpoint. We have to bounce and swagger with the rammed in herd just to move a couple of feet - a definite sardine situation going on.

4:30PM. The colossal Berhgain/Panorama Bar

I hang out for about an hour while the crowd was getting more electric by each song played. I speak to friends and club attendees and try to jockey my way to the bar to get a drink. Difficult!

5:30PM comes about and I happily take over from Soundstream who really set things up perfectly. The crowd was a unique blend of people - some looked as if they just had 8 hours rest, breakfast and lunch and happen to stop by the club in the mid-day, and others who looked like they were about to melt and haven’t slept for a week. Gay, straight, black, white, old, young, fresh, dirty, drunk, sober, clothed, semi-clothed, dancing, lying, producers, DJs, anonymous and androgynous humans were found at P-Bar today.

Everyone is up for having a good time with great music at a perfect meeting locale, and I couldn’t wait to tell my musical story. I was so happy to be playing that day. And thank god for music, ‘cause I was able to stay conscious and smile in my impoverished sleep state.

A foggy Dixon and Alex Kid

In between records friends would come up and say hello, including fellow colleagues, Alex Kid, Sascha Dive, Marcel Dettmann, Tobi Neumann, Daniel Best, Pablo (Native Instruments) and Beatportal/Beatport Ryan, David and Noura all smiling and dancing!  I had such visions of where to go musically and I sequester between deep house, tech house, old school house, techno and hypnotic as hell pulses of sound that just swaddled and bathed the open-minded crowd. Yells and screams of enthusiasm were echoed just inches in front of me. Limbs and occasional faces were seen popping in and out of the dense disco fog when a strobe would flash, freezing time for a split second. Man. Amazing!

Big tunes for me:
1) FRS ‘Harder’
02) Julien Jabre ‘Stagger’
3) Sian ‘Red Cloud’
4) Patrice Scott ‘Motions’
5) Sleep Archive ‘Recycled Bleep 2’
6) Miss Kitten & The Hacker ‘PPPO Functions (Sandwell mix)’
7) Jagged ‘Hello Cool Nice (Quarion rmx)’
8) Sunday Brunch ‘My World’
9) Josh Wink ‘Minimum 23’
10) Tony Lionni ‘Found A Place’

My list would continue, as most tracks played got yells and shouts. It’s really an optimum setting to DJ! Endless fervor and energy is expressed from all in attendance and I remember getting a text from Dixon when he arrived that read, “Stop smiling and start working!” I beamed even more. Dixon let my journey continue, as I played for another 45 minutes until I surrendered. Dixon is one of my favorite DJs and I was happy to be with an old friend again, and thrilled for him take ME on a trip. My ears wouldn’t listen to the rest of my body, and I made my way out on the dancefloor and shook my groove thang for some time.

I was bounced back and forth from neighboring dancers on the right side of me, then again on the left, unintentionally helping me balance and stay on my feet. I couldn’t get off the dancefloor, Dixon was simply making it impossible. 12:15AM approached and I had to surrender and admit defeat. With help from the sound staff, I packed up my gear, said my sayonaras, cheers and parting gestures and waddled to the awaiting cabs to chariot me off to my hotel sanctuary.

It all seems a sober blur, a fairy tale of sorts. How did I get here? What time is it?  Is it night? Or morning? 

I lay on the bed, with damp, sweaty clothes, mustering my final mental and physical energy to disrobe. I want to shower. I want to eat. I want to sleep.

I end up barely switching the lights off in the room. I lay in silence, in darkness. Like an uncontrolled reflex, a smile creeps onto my face. I am happy. The tour gigs are finished, just a couple of meetings tomorrow.

I relax and reflect on the previous days, and my smile increases in size. I love my job. I am fortunate. I relinquish to responsibilities, concede to consciousness and fade into deep, bottomless sleep.