Orange County, California has some gems, whether or not you’d like to believe so. One of those jewels is a city called Santa Ana. It’s sort of the mecca for up and coming artists. While glancing at some Facebook events one night, I came across a DJ set titled: Dirty Merlin B2B Dirty Merlin.
I arrived at the venue, Diego’s, a local restaurant in Downtown Santa Ana (which has amazing drink specials by the way) like a sly fox. The moment I walk in, Dirty Merlin had already set the vibe. The man is truly an expert. It was perfect. The loungey feels were making me feel good so I decided to grab an IPA with some people I was talking to at the bar, even though I’m completely broke. Not to sure what I was thinking, but hey, you only live once right?
Records For Days
I don’t think many DJ’s give away records at their venues, let alone any. Dirty Merlin, however, is not just any run of the mill. Naturally, I had to investigate the crates. Who knows what could have been in there? I’m proud to say that among them, I picked up Puff Daddy..err..P.Diddy’s Da Band Too Hot For T.V. I couldn’t wait to take in the sounds of Dylan and others. In fact, the two crates that were brought had records from artists like Simon & Garfunkel all the way to Trance remixes of the Bee Gees‘ Staying Alive. There were probably over 60 records total and I wasn’t the only one digging. I grabbed everything with the word “Soul” on it and stashed it in my Mazda 3, which the locals outside found to be a nice comfy couch to sit on.
Too Many Drinks
Turns out when I have no money I have a fetish for cheap drinks. It was about 11 when the party was going off. People were pouring in and Dirty Merlin had moved away from the mellow vibes and shifted to something along the lines of UK Garage making sweet love to Hip-Hop. The crowd was feeling the intimacy. Drink, after drink, after drink is when I decided to get the camera out. Rather than have a flash attached to the top, the Sweetest Drip Crew came solidly equipped with a flood light. Let’s just say that there was no problem illuminating the room (Yes, I’m sorry). Everyone at the event was surprisingly cool about it luckily and I tried to downplay the fact that it was shining brighter than the North Star.
Speaking of lucky, I love when people show up in random costumes to venues. It just makes for a good time. I can now add unicorn to my checklist of: Random People In Costumes At Venues. The list has seen the likes of a banana, Pedo Bear, ice cream cone, tiger, and a hot dog. Please go to more events in costumes!
Dirty Merlin B2B Dirty Merlin
When the night was coming to a close, I went to Dirty Merlin and said my goodbyes. He is truly down to Earth. Not only did he give away 2 crates of vinyl for free, he played for 4 hours and still had people going. I’m looking forward to the next time, Dirty Merlin. Keep it real.
