[My Weekender] with Patrick Mai

Patrick Mai is a seven-year veteran of the Shanghai scene and is better known for his time spent as former Creative Director and resident DJ for the original Club dkd. Currently, he is an Account Manager and Systems Engineer for Ling Hua ProSLV, a company providing professional grade sound, lighting a visual systems for various concerts and parties around the city.

"It's Friiiiiday, and you ain't got sh...", actually wait, I do got sh*t to do, TOMORROW, which means I won't be partying tonight. After seven years in this city, I just can't do the whole go out and be functional the next day. Maybe it's because I'm getting older. Or maybe is because I went to the University of Wisconsin and I have a bachelor's degree in binge drinking. Either way, I can't hack it, and I need my body and mind to be completely functioning tomorrow, so instead, I go the gym.

Now, I wouldn't exactly call myself a gym rat, but I love going to the gym. The point is not to get huge, but to release your stress and clear your mind. My gym of choice is Physical in Mei Luo Cheng, it's freakin' huge, has a juice and protein bar, and it's full of characters like that guy that looks like Terminator whose calves are seriously made out of metal. Not to mention everyone in the locker room blow drying their balls. Before you ask, yes, I've done it.

So after a few sets and a good run on the treadmill, I'm off to meet my girlfriend for dinner. She never likes going to the same place twice unless it's really good, so [Radar] is seriously a godsend. Perhaps tonight we'll finally check out Cha's, the oldschool cha can ting, or if she's not feeling that we can head down to Ji Heng in Gubei for a second serving of the best Taiwan niu rou mian in Shanghai. I am now finally a proud Shanghai homeowner, and Gubei has become my neighborhood of choice to settle down. It's way more chilled out than Jing'an and Luwan, but not completely desolate and cold like Pudong. Besides, the completion of the subway to Gubei 2010 should reflect very positively on my property value ;).

So after a good meal and lots of chatting and cigarettes, we're off home. I'm staying at my girlfriend's mother's house while my place is renovating, so the rest of the night is looking like laptop sessions in which I will surf beatport for new music while my homegirl catches up on the latest in guo guang bang bang mang episodes, complements of course by PPS and youku.com. Does anyone even watch cable TV anymore?

***SLEEP***

***ANNOYING ALARM #1***

***REALLY ANNOYING ALARM #2***

***SUPER ANNOYING ALARM #3***

...and I'm finally up. Today is a huge day, because I am on my way to the biggest freakin' sound system project I have worked on to date -- Linkin Park @ Shanghai Stadium. The entire week has been devoted to setting up this system to spec, from rigging the line arrays to setting up the stage monitors. Now our crew is on standby making sure everything works while the touring boys take the system for a ride. Working the big shows are really fun because not only do you get to see the show from behind the scenes, but you also get to watch and learn from the older, more gangster engineers. It's not as hands on for me as the smaller systems I've done, such as the Magic Garden Trancescape party and the Void Warehouse Party, but a system is a system, and it all takes the same skills and procedures to make it sound good. I firmly believe that every system, whether it's a rock concert, pop show or a DJ party, should be done right. It's more than just hooking up a couple speakers to an amp!

So the show goes off without a hitch the crew begins dismantling the system, I'm finally off! Now is the time I can actually begin thinking about where to go get plastered, since I'm not DJing tonite. Shelter's got Mochipet tonite, but Shelter is always going to be good, so why not take a risk and see what else is out there? DMC Champion, DMC Champion, oh look, another DMC Champion.

Shelter it is.

No matter what, however, as 3am rolls around I will be heading down to Lounge 169 for some late night shenanigans and to meet up with my girlfriend who should just be finishing her round of Muse/Richy. If anyone is wondering what happened to the Hi-Tec after parties at Anar, they moved to 169. If you haven't been, it's kind of like if the old dkd and Lalaland got together and had a kid. Good sound system, straight up techno/progressive, and open late. In other words, right up my alley.

***BLACK***

Sunday is the day you plan to do a lot of things, and wind up doing about half of them, if any. My girl is out cold, so it might be awhile before anything gets accomplished. I'm expecting my buddy Nate to call me anytime now about the system for the second Electrograss festival in October. It's going to be even bigger, and if we work together it will most definitely sound better. While I'm waiting however I suppose I'll head down to the gym do whatever I can in my hung over state until my girlfriend wakes up and calls me. After a quick shower and blow-drying of my balls, we'll meet up in Gubei, check how the renovations are coming, and finally have that swim in my pool that we keep planning on every Sunday. :)