Showing articles tagged Friends

There's so many witty nicknames that can be derived from the name Sebastian.  Let me post them for you, in a handy bullet-style list. I know. How good am I to you guys? Merry Christmas!

• Seb
• Sebs
• Sebby
• Sebster
• Sebalicious
• Seb-a-stain
• Sebaceous
• Sebmeister

All of these have been bestowed upon me by friends and co-workers.

As a DJ I initially had the moniker of 'DJ Kinky'.  Here's why.

I was sharing a house with a close friend, James.  We had a common wall between our bedrooms.  I had a 'night visitor' that playfully asked me to hit him with his belt.  So I did.  He laughed a little and said 'harder'.  Poor James was huddled under the covers in the foetal position by this time, trying not to listen to the perverted sounds coming from the next room.

Suddenly he heard an almighty cracking sound, followed by a man yelling in pain.  Then the slamming of a door, and the thundering footsteps of the same man running to the bathroom. Then the following conversation - 

"You fucking drew blood! Fuck!!"

"You said HARDER"

"Fuck you!"

"YOU said HARDER"

*muffled getting dressed noises, more stomping, front door slamming*

Then poor James, who had no doubt now been scarred for life bravely opened his bedroom door and peered into the hallway, to see me slumped against the wall, clutching my stomach, crying with laughter.

"Hey Kinky.." said James.

And the rest, as they say, is history. 

Here's a selection of the incredible people I've been lucky enough to meet through my work as a club DJ.  A lot of people assume you wouldn't forge close or worthwhile relationships working in Nightclubs but the opposite proved to be the case for me. 

This is one of my favourite shots. Taken at Connections Nightclub before the opening of a 'Studio 54' party.  That's me on the left, on the right my friend Mel.  She worked as a dancer and performer and is - as you can see here - absolutely stunning.  She graciously agreed to be pimped by me for this picture. Bitch still owes me 25% too. Don't MAKE me hit you with my RING HAND!

Another Connections pic, this time with my gorgeous friend Nicole.  She's always been so supportive of me and still comes to see me when I venture out of my cave to spin somewhere.  She's also been there for me more times than I can count and along with her partner Sean and our friend Brian is responsible for helping me get through some of the most difficult times of my life.  She also makes the most phenomenal Rocky Road I've ever had.  (Behind the scenes gossip - I was so drunk this night that just after this pic was taken I fell asleep upstairs in the DJ booth.  They left me there, locked up the club and went home, the lovely peeps. Oh and in case you're wondering, the alarm there is LOUD).

This is a pic from waaaay back in the mid 90's at one of my earliest gigs.  The beautiful redhead on the left is Kirsten, who always came to hear me play even though she hated clubs and was more into Marilyn Manson than the bouncy house music I played.  Note my pathetic attempt at a goatee coupled with home-bleached hair.  Pretty sure I thought I was in Ace of Base at the time.  Bless Kirsten for never mentioning my fashion faux pas. She now lives in Melbourne and no doubt still twitches should 'The Sign' come on the radio.

Another pic from Connections, this time taken during rehearsals for a show.  Because the DJ box was upstairs, for tech runs one of us would have to sit upstairs for hours on end pressing 'Play' on the show cd.  We didn't even have Twitter back in those days to amuse ourselves so it was torture.  Pictured to the right of me is Suell (short for SueEllen) who I originally met when she was dancing at a club I used to play at called 'Pink'.  She was dressed as a mini Kylie Minogue and was such an incredible dancer that I left the DJ box mid song to go and say hello.  Unfortunately at that time someone also decided to fall on the front of the console, knocking the needle skidding across the record and leaving 400 people standing there in silence while I yelled "YOU LOOK (record stops)...FUCKING HOT! Oh. Excuse me."  She spent the rest of the night taking the piss out of me and we became firm friends.  She has such an amazing heart and I don't know anyone that doesn't adore her.

Yet another Connections shot - up in the DJ box circa 2005.  To my left is 'Sheila Mann', drag diva extraordinaire.  I'm still close with her alter ego James to this day.  He has a sense of humour exactly like mine so almost every conversation is peppered with random observations and downright filth.  He's a trained dancer so his drag performances were always amazing and his style was incredible.  Combined with the amazing sets and dancers at the club it was often like watching a music video, only live. James was also around when I started to develop really bad anxiety and would make sure I kept my sense of humour about the situation while never making light of what I was going through.  

A more recent pic now, taken at the Court Hotel in 2009.  This shot always makes me laugh.  On the left is Chad, who I met through a mutual friend and ended up becoming close with over the summer of 09/10.  He always has so much energy and would come and hang out in the DJ box during my longer sets (4 hours plus) and we'd play with the crowd, set the strobe to 'Warning : Epilepsy' and make up ridiculous interpretive dance moves to the lyrics of songs.  'When Love Takes Over' was a particular favourite.  Chad is also my go-to date when I need a plus one for anything. 

Back to Connections in 2004 now.  Next to me is Gavin, who was Assistant Manager at the time, and is now the Manger.  He's hilarious, incredibly supportive and kept me sane throughout my 10 years at the club.  We used to run a Wednesday night together that each week changed theme to represent one of the Seven Deadly Sins. My favourite memory of those nights was the two of us on our hands and knees with buckets of warm soapy water and a scraper, trying to remove fake money we'd attached to the dance floor with spray glue earlier in the day.  By this time we'd both been working since 1pm, it was close to 5am and we were completely exhausted.  We were singing pop songs in a thick Irish accent, weakly scraping at those damn fake banknotes and laughing deliriously. We were so scared of the cleaners we stayed back until every last trace was removed.  We learned a valuable lesson and were a little less enthusiastic with decorating the room in subsequent weeks. And just so I can name drop, on the right isPrincess Julia, a DJ from London who was part of the 80's 'New Romantic' movement and was in the original video of 'Fade To Grey' by Visage. She played at a party called 'Bitch' with Mark Moore of S'Express.  My claim to fame is that they wanted to see my house, so we spent an afternoon there going through my record collection and I made them sandwiches. </bragging>.

I've already introduced you to my superstar DJ cousin Stuart (left) in my last 'pictures of your friends' post (Day Three - here) but I couldn't resist posting this shot of the two of us here - we were DJing together at a men-only dance party (I think it was called Manifold or something equally witty) and for some unknown reason I decided to dress as a policeman.  It was a pretty realistic uniform and I scared some of the patrons later in the night when I went to the bar to get us some drinks.  They practically ran.  I didn't take it personally though.  I mean, I cried but that was pretty normal! 

This is a picture of Queenstown in New Zealand, where I spent an incredible adventure holiday with my pal Reuben in 2003.  

It was my first overseas trip and the most action packed fortnight of my life as I took on snow skiing, the luge, quad bike riding and jet boating.  At night we collapsed in the chalet and watched bad movies as we devoured footlongs from Subway and I got to experience what it's like to hang out with one of your best mates on one of those great beer swilling, face planting, hilarious rites of passage where you take on your fears and return a different man.  

Reuben was the best guide I could ask for.  He's one of the most enthusiastic, sport-mad guys you could ever meet and as a veteran of the snow season he made sure I experienced everything Queenstown had to offer.  In return he got two weeks of watching his socially inept, uncoordinated gay mate provide non-stop involuntary physical comedy.  

On day one of me learning snowboarding the instructor told me I'd 'get the hang of it by the second day - everyone does.'  On day two he told me he admired my enthusiasm but I should probably look at skiiing instead because the poles made it harder for me to resort to using my face as a brake.

Even the flights there and the trip through customs were a little unique, as you can read about here - not sure if I'll ever be allowed back in New Zealand but guaranteed I'm a customs officer's dinner party story.

This is a shot from 2008, with two of my closest mates.  On the left is Scott and on the right, Stuart.  I've known both of them for several years and they rock.  This was taken at Scott's 30th Birthday party, held in a cocktail bar with broken aircon so we all look nice and brown due to being partially roasted. Hot tip! Who needs bronzer?

Scott dated a friend of mine and when they broke up I got Scott in the divorce. He's one of the most inspiring and motivated people I know and he is our group's social convenor.  If it wasn't for Scott most of us would only catch up once a year or so.  He also has this amazing knack of being there when you most need him, purely on instinct. 

Stuart is the same age as me, we are both DJs and we both worked at Connections (Nightclub). We both love music, are obsessed with TV, popular culture and technology.  At one time we lived on the same street and even dated brothers who just happened to be twins.  Knowing all of that imagine how blown away we were to find out we're cousins...

We'd been working together for about four years when my Grandmother mentioned that she knew of another guy in our family who was a DJ.  It wasn't until a few months later and a few phone calls that she confirmed that the mystery DJ was Stuart.

Seven years later we're extremely close and he's my favourite human in the whole world.  He cooks like a trained chef, mixes incredible cocktails, has more energy and enthusiasm than anyone I've ever met and boasts a degree in classical composition to boot.  

I love both these boys to pieces and can't ever imagine not having them in my life. Here's to you, lads.