NEW IMPROVED SITE

IVE MOVED! That's right, in just one week the site has moved to a new location.

http://www.dj2degrees.com

Complete with a new design and feel. :-)

If you were following here, please click the link on the new site to follow there as well.

Thanks to everyone. dp

Return To Saginaw?

So I was thinking about some things that I could do to help myself get back in shape after my surgery. The idea of heading back home started to come to mind. I usually only come home once a year to see my family and get a nice home-cooked meal from my Aunt Jean (my mouth is watering as I type). Heading back to Saginaw could be a good way to work off the extra pounds.

Why is that (you might ask)?

Answer: If you go to a party in Saginaw you will get a workout. First, the music was so fast paced at the crib (I believed this has changed now). Second, there is a high probability that you will be running from something or someone by the end of the party.

Saginaw's night scene is all about the Grand Opening.... Grand Closing!! But sometimes a fight breaks out, people are escorted out, the music comes back on, and people act like it never happened (but then you gotta get back to your car :-/ ). I remember the first time I came to a party in California and I didn't get patted down. I was like, "yo, I dont' know if it's safe in there!"

So this mix is titled The Last 15 minutes of a Saginaw Party.

Folks from the crib will understand the music, the slow jam to end the party, and well... just listen.


To order your limited edition Saginaw magnet, follow the click here.

Heartless

So when I first heard Kanye's 808 Heartbreak album I was really mad. Kanye is usually one of those artist that I would buy without even listening (others include Jay-Z and Outkast). The overuse of the vocoder/autotune, the absence of the normal swagger and wit that Kanye's arrogance exudes through his rhymes was missing. Then I realized...this dude is sad. Like really, really sad. When you listen to HEARTLESS, you really can hear it come out.

Being the empathic self-reflecting man that I am, thought back to a time when I was that sad.... It was 1989 and I had been with my girlfriend [let's call her Michelle Black] for 8 months (that's like silver anniversary for a fifth grader). We used to talk on the phone and fall asleep. We met up at the movies and shared popcorn. I was so excited that my birthday (April 5th) was approaching and I thought, "what's she going to get me?"

Then on April 1st, 1989 the telephone rang and the converstion went a little something like this:

DeRonnie - Hello
Michelle - Heeeeey!! I miss you

DeRonnie - Awww. I miss you too.
Michelle - So we've been together for like 8 months now and I wanted to let you know that I love you!!

DeRonnie - Really, I love you too!!!
Michelle - Psych!!! April Fools...we're done!!! Click

Michelle, I forgive you for breaking my heart. The next girl I dated might not because I was super jaded after that experience for years.

So this mix goes a little something like this.

Heartless 1989 Tracks
1. Boy in love with girl
2. Boy wonders WTF happened
3. New girl finds interest in boy
4. Boy becomes that dude you dated in junior high

I swear I'm over it... :-/ No really.

What Stanford GSB taught me about blogging

So how do you know when your blog is a success? I asked myself this question after a bunch of people sent me messages on facebook like, "nice blog" or "good luck with surgery" and stuff like that. What I want is for people to leave comments on my blog or to have people follow my blog. I thought back to my marketing class at the GSB....

Price - Free...but some might say that time is money
Placement - The good old internet
Promotion - I've posted the blog URL on Twitter, Facebook, G-Chat
Product - Hmm... everybody and their mama has a blog...

Are the music mixes enough to draw people in???

How do I differentiate myself from other blogs???

So I've decided that while I can still walk I would act a fool and show everyone that I do not take myself too seriously (most of you know this already). Embarrassing myself on my blog is sure to get people hanging around to see what I'm going to do next.

Today someone began posting their best memories about my hometown and I thought of these dances we used to have at out local community college, Delta. They were called Kappa parties, but I don't remember any cats being on-line in junior high (but that's besides the point). These were the days when you would dance and you really didn't need a partner, cause you would be doing the running man, the wop, and the troop. For those of you who don't know what those are, you can see demos below.

Behold - The Wop, The Troop, & The Running Man




Attempts to get the Roger Rabbit and the Cabbage Patch did not turn out so well.

Do an Old School Dance Mix

All of the songs on this mix make me think of these dances. Not my best work mixing, but it's late and I am not going back and editing these. :-)

These pics will also serve as my "before" pictures. Gotta go and hit the gym. Comments?

WILLIAM RAY NORWOOD

I can't say that I'm looking forward to having surgery on my knee, but being laid up will give me an opportunity to have some self-reflection, read some books, and watch some really bad TV. When I was in college we used to skip class to watch Jerry Springer (yes and I still made it out), but my new 2009 vice has to be "FOR THE LOVE OF RAY J" on VH1.

Ray J is famous for being the younger brother of R&B singer Brandy and for his infamous video with Ms. Kim Kardashian. He's also a singer/actor and after doing a little research, I found that this guy is really big overseas (it must be all of those UPN shows that run in syndication overseas).

If you haven't seen this show yet, it's like "Flavor of Love" with way better looking people (shouts out to Caviar, Cocktail, Danger, & Cashmere). So this is my apology to everyone that I made fun of for watching "Flavor of Love" and "I Love NY" season after season.

So when did Ray J get so damn famous and desireable? I mean... he doesn't even have a picture on his wikipedia entry. That has to be some sort of indicator of fame, or lack thereof. I guess I should have known when a random girl in Vegas looked me up and down and said, "OMG... you look just like Ray J!" [I'm sure you all have the correct picture of this girl in your head.] I can't hate on Ray J. I guess he's grown up from being Brandy's little brother and found his place in the limelight.

"I've been in this game a long time... I've been with a lot of women but I'm ready to get out. I want to do this show to find a ride or die chick, a chick that makes me want to get out of the game." - Ray J

In honor of Ray J's new show that will keep me entertained for years to come (of course he won't stay with the girl he picks after the first season) I came up with a Best of Ray J quick mix. It had to be a quick mix because I couldn't find that many songs that I actually thought were worthy of my hard drive space. Take a good listen. This is the last time you'll hear this many of his songs at once, unless you get invited to his birthday party.

Ray J Quick-Mix

How I got here

It's ironic that I ended up in the San Francisco Bay Area. When they asked me to take a recruiting trip to Stanford I just had to see what 2Pac was talking about when he penned California Love. Even back then, music moved me. Now 12 years, 10+ jobs, six football teams, four surgeries (soon to be five), and two Stanford degrees later, I'm still here (I left for a minute).

I used to joke that I went to business school so I could enjoy a career where I wouldn't lose my job if I tore my ACL (I was cut from the San Diego Chargers in 2003 after a knee injury). I guess I'm about to see if that is true as I'm set to have my ACL repaired on March 20, 2009. I should be able to keep my job this time, but two of my favorite things, playing basketball and djing parties, will have to be on hold.

I always wanted to write a blog and when I found out that my knee had to be surgically repaired again, I thought it would be a good time to start. This blog is my public declaration of my goal to be able to dunk a basketball again. I hope to keep you entertained with music mixes, comedy, commentary, and documentation of my progress toward my goal. I'll probably make some people mad along the way (I love to spark controversy).

So for my first posting I put together some of my favorite songs from back in the day. Ironically, many of them are by artists from the Bay Area. I guess the music was telling me something.

Pre-op mix