NO REQUESTS VOL. I RECAP (and rant)

June 10, 2019

From the beginning at BL&D (we are around about 5 years into this now) we have been hosting parties to enjoy big tunes and give ya’ll a good excuse to dance. At some point early on it became clear that our city wasn’t really well set up for this kind of fun anymore. The club and bar scene has changed (read: shrunk) drastically in the past 5+ years. While there probably is not a ton of love lost for the spaces that did exist, the reality remains that there is not the variety of spaces, dance floors, music genres, etc. available for a robust nightlife scene in Hartford at this point.

Nightlife is important for community. We won’t make the case for that today, but its true and we wish more folks recognized that and sought to make Hartford’s more robust. We are mostly left with a string of bars and restaurants willing to host DJ’s occasionally and a smattering of events thanks the legwork of the few promoters left in Hartford. We have had the privilege of working with dozens of these DJs over the years and they really are the people (as well as handful of promoters still working) carrying the nightlife torch for our community. The DJ business, given our lack of investment in nightlife is unsurprisingly a challenging gig, not only financially but in terms of self expression.

No Requests was in many ways a direct response to all of this. Let’s create a space with DJ’s for DJ’s. Let them play what they want, let them lead. The first one was all possible because for brief moment in time The Royal had created a space where this kind of self expression was possible. The irony isn’t lost on us that the venue had to close only a few weeks after it opened (and after our party) because of parties like ours. Sure it probably wasn’t the best location for such a space, but the idea was there and working. It shouldn’t be so damn hard for the powers that be to see the value and find a better location for these types of spaces. It is vital.

Rant over.

This party was damn fun. The Tequila Bandits, aka Connie Carmona, Ian Urgo, and Miles Elliot really held this down for all who came. Its generally a good sign the party is hitting if the DJ is dancing behind the booth but if the DJ’s are on the dance floor too, you may just be witnessing something.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ADRIAN MARTINEZ

If you want to wind it back to that night or if you missed out the mix from the night is below. Check the form below if you care about this kind of thing.

MARCH 08, 2019

NO REQUESTS FEATURED MUSIC BY THE TEQUILA BANDITS — CONNIE CARMONA, IAN URGO, AND MILES ELLIOT.