A DJ Stream of consciousness
"The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts." Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.
Shoes. 8pm, two couples on the dance floor, first tanda. Help them warm up, not very experienced, something easy to dance to, early thirties. Guardia nueva or guardia vieja, it's a label, put the volume up as more people arrive, acoustics will change, dim the lights a bit. Crazy nuevo moves in the ronda, evil stare from the DJ, music to calm them down. Medium tempo to get the ronda going, Donato con Lagos, with steady rhythm, nopoinitthosetwodon'tlistentothemusicmightaswellplaychachacha. Easy-peasy rhythmic music at this point, more dancers, let's get more lyrical as the dance floor fills up, De Mare, "Torrente" to start, look at the dancers faces, smiling. She looks grumpy while she dances, she always does anyways, he dances the nuances in the piano, need more energy, Biagi valses from the 50s, steady rhythm but not too fast, Juan, what were you thinking when you fired him? Build up energy, not all at once, 9pm, time for the hard core stuff, D'Arienzo time! Up the volume a bit, adjust medium range, sustain energy. Play something light and uplifting, Calo con Berón. Milonga time, Canaro will get them going, "No hay tierra como la mia", the dance floor is getting chaotic, slow down, Fresedo or OTV? Keep the ronda going with a rhythmic tanda, faster Rodriguez or slower Malerba? Sip the whisky, time to get romantic, Di Sarli, Rufino or Podestà? Give them some rhythm, Lomuto time, pick up the energy with De Angelis valses, look at that smile, the ronda is flowing, who is that guy at the door? Time for some Troilo, now, the time is right, look at the dance floor, not Marino tonight too many inexperienced dancers, Fiorentino it is, everyone is on the dance floor. Look at that smile, 10 pm, more mainstream, people enjoying themselves, slower or faster here? People are getting tired, don't play fast milongas in the last half an hour, slow down again, start with something strong, Canaro con Maida, "Yo me burlé de vos, porque no te entendí, ni comprendí tu dolor". More mainstream tango. Everyone is up dancing, rhythm again, keep the energy up with D'Arienzo valses. Tanturi con Campos, Una Emoción. Energy, rhythm, smiles. Pugliese. La Cumparsita. 11 pm. Shoes.
Please bear in mind: this is an example of stream of thoughts when I play music at a weekly event in Edinburgh. In other venues the music selection - especially at the start - and the train of thoughts that go with it, would be quite different.