Hello! There’s more:
Mike and I, a couple of middle aged punk rockers, used to walk to our fave disco, Killingsworth Dynasty. It was a super inclusive, chill club that served solid vegan food, never felt meat-market-y, and hosted Strange Babes DJ nights on the regular. We felt lucky to have such a gem in our neighborhood. Well dear reader, early in the pandemic, it closed forever. 😢
IF WE BUILD IT, WE CAN DANCE
Rather than sulk, I hired Todd to build the mobile DJ Station that we’d planned to finish ‘someday’. I measured the components, figured how all the wires would need to thread together, and built a model in SketchUp to help Todd visualize the thing. It was important to over-communicate everything since it all had to happen at a safe distance due to Covid.
THE 3-D MODEL:
It’s a simple design that uses materials already in our home: that apple ply with the cool edge grain, and some smoky plexi-glass. With vibration-proof casters affixed to the bottom, skipping is not a problem. We mounted analog speakers to the wall in the addition, so the system is not totally wireless. The speaker wire does partially tether the whole set-up, but we want to be able to play music if the Wifi goes out!
And with that, Mike’s dream of 2 turntables + a microphone is reality. Woot! I found a smart sculptural ladder (this one) to access all the vinyl. We continued to splurge on Sonos components, adding bookshelf speakers throughout the house. The effect is like walking through a hotel where music follows you as you putter. Now that Mike and I both work from our guest bedroom, we listen to KEXP all day. When a solid jam comes through, we meet on the dance floor to stretch our legs.
The best part? Since travel and live music are canceled, we now stream archived music events on our smart tv and pump the sound in every room. We pretend we are there, watching from a monitor in the catering tent or the club. It’s a survival strategy masked as exercise. Never gets old.
THE BLINKY BOX:
One more thing! The snarl of wires attached to the tv via the modem and various tech devices was bugging me. I’m unapologetic about my appetite for tv; I stare at those wires A LOT. So, I fashioned a ‘blinky box’ to cover them all up. It’s a mini version of the DJ station that we D.I.Y.’ed. It works!
WHAT’S NEXT?: While I continue to tweak the interior, we’re getting serious about landscaping our broke-down yard. Arborists removed a few trees last week. Things are looking pretty bald right now, but outdoor living is happening in 2021.
Until then, Happy Nesting!