HENTUCKY BREAKS - THE RETURN - In support of Teenage Cancer Trust
FRIDAY AUGUST 13TH 2004 @ MATECANA - The Review by Ivan Madeira
Hentucky Breaks returned to the Matecana (for the last time due to a change of management) for the return of Hentucky Breaks.
The build up to the night was quite hectic. With lots of things to sort out in the club, and last minute panics with the equipment (which was all sorted) the night got off to a start.
First on the decks was myself. I decided to take the early set as I wanted to make sure the night would run smoothly, as it was my birthday (well technically it wasn't till August 22nd, but I was going to be away that weekend, so decided to celebrate early with all my friends there), and well let's say I would predict that I would be worse for wear come 11/12ish. Before you know it, people are buying me drinks (unknowingly by me I found out half of them where spiked with various spirits) and I'm trying to mix. Well it was a struggle remembering which channel was what, as I was using CD decks and the Technics. Not many people where in anyway, so I just played what I wanted to, said hello to a couple of people when I could and just carried on really. I played a more chilled set dropping stuff from Appreciate by Pete Rock & CL Smooth to the Eels - Rotten World Blues. Wasn't a particular technical set, and didn't play half the stuff I wanted, such as the variety of records I have from the Breaking Bread Crew or my electro mix of Back to the Future Theme, whilst mixing in Joy Division - Love will tear us apart. But I'll save it for the CD me thinks.
Come 10pm it was time for DJ Hope to get on the decks, and for me to get cracking on me drinks. As people started to come in at a steady pace, I was meeting and greeting people whilst chatting to Dakuan and Ben. Come 10:30pm the tequila boy and girl began their job of getting people merry. This was the job of Emma and Ryan (big shouts to you two), where the proceeds from each sale would go to help fund Emma's Raleigh International Trust Project http://www.raleigh.org.uk/. I must say they done an outstanding job at getting people to buy shots and worked very hard throughout the night. So as the alcohol was flowing and people coming in at a steady pace, the night was starting to get busier. People where cracking jokes, and just chilling and enjoying the funky house sounds from DJ Hope.
Competition
After 11ish it was time for Dakuan to get on the decks. By this time, the pub trade had come in (Big up Onemonkey for coming down with his friends), and the party breaks where coming out of the system the dance floor was bustling. Basically the surge of people who came in just went straight onto the dance floor and where having it up. Was excellent! With people chilling, and dancing it was the ideal atmosphere I wanted. More friends where coming in, who I gave up hope on to be honest, which was the shit really. By 12am, it was time to start the "Dancing like your Uncle at your Sisters wedding" breakdance competition. To be fair the dancing on show was a mixed batch with some funky dancers on show. People where getting further into the groove, and the music was louder.then all of a sudden silence. The limited kicked in! D'oh first rule of the club was broken! It took a couple of minutes to reset the limiter so during this time the winner of the raffle was announced. After a couple of tries a winner was found, and won a V Recordings jumper, a selection of CDs (Break CDs coming his way soon), 4 tickets to see Lee Hurst at the Comedy Club and a bottle of red. Not bad for the price of a shot hey? Anyway the limited turned itself off and the competition resumed. After the 30mins was up a couple of onemonkey's mates won the Hentucky Breaks male and female t-shirt. The looser of the competition went to Ed. This was to punish the man for winning the goodie bag last time. He wasn't really dancing and thought fuck it why not? The prize was an old woman's dress, which he got into with makeshift boobs from two plastic cups. A little humour to the night never hurts does it? Well Tolu eventually jacked the dress and took it home with him (watch out for skinny Nigerian man down Walworth road in a Green flowery Hentucky Breaks granny dress).
Antics
The party resumed, with the occasional woman coming up to me asking if I could sort the DJ to play some Sean Paul? Eh yeah, Equinox is just a bus ride away my dear! Can't please everyone as loads of people where loving Dakuan's set. After more drinking on my part it was time for Genocide to come on the decks for 1am. At this point a miracle happened, Shane actually arrived. This guy a good mate of ours, is well always late, no matter how early you tell him to come he will always be late or sometimes he's so late it's not worth him coming (*cough* last 5 meet ups - *FLOPPED* cough). Quite surprising as Joanne went out to get chicken and came back, that Shane came back. "Yes mate can I have a number 5 with extra Shane." You know that South London man smelled the chicken and thought it was the MFC in Herne Hill. Anyway by this point everyone was pretty cained, and dancing away to Pete's sound. After a while the crowd started to thin out, with the core dancers of Ed, Jose, Marcie and myself dancing away with randoms straggling in once in a while for a dance and requests for Salsa by the boss lady. Eventually it was time to call it a night, with an excellent set by Genocide. He topped it off, by playing Joy Division - Love will tear us apart (well I just shouted press play on my CD please mate). By this point I was wrecked and well wanted to go home. All the stragglers got their stuff and were ready to go.
Overall it was an excellent night! £320 was raised for TCT and around £60 was raised for Emma and her Raliegh project. The real celebration is going to be at Scotland on the actual weekend for my birthday so that's going to be madness. I want to give a massive shout to everyone who turned up. Respect for popping down and saying hello. Hold tight for the pictures (famous last words hey?), and hold tight for future Hentucky Events, and DJ gigs/productions/mixtapes by myself. More photos can be found here.
To check the out the profiles of the performers on the night and other people who have helped contribute to Hentucky in any way, check Click Here. If you would like to contact me regarding Hentucky Breaks then please do so. The Hentucky Mix can be downloaded below. So I hope to see you at the Hentuckybreaks night and hold tight for further mixtapes from Hentucky Breaks.
