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Stephen Ceplenski

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Issue 51

The Circuit of Life

This was a particularly hard note to write for this issue. noiZe has always worked to provide in-depth, thought-provoking articles that stress responsibility and harm reduction. At the same time, we cover topics that are related to dancing, relationships, travel, clubbing, and nightlife—all within our over-arching themes of “Celebrate. Explore. Live.” This issue’s theme stresses “Celebrate,” because in it we celebrate a great friend who has recently passed away.

Many of you have heard about the untimely passing of DJ Cary Stringfellow, a talented DJ as well as a personal friend for over ten years. noiZe doesn’t generally run “news of the day,” so it was a bit of a struggle figuring out how to write about Cary. Our DJ Profile segment tends to be a long view of a person’s life and career, not a breaking news story. In the end, we decided that how Cary lived his life was so much more important than how he died. The circuit of life spins ever on, so it’s important to take the right lessons from a life well lived.

So in remembering Cary, we chose to focus on the person he was, the events where he spun, the dozens of CDs he sent as gifts, The Trevor Project (http://www.thetrevorproject.org) to which he devoted his talents, the little gifts, the smiles, the laughing and even the skimpy underwear he wore on the dance floor.

I have a personal collection of over 22,000 digital photos. Flipping through them to find photos of Cary, I came across dozens of guys that we haven’t seen in years, or those with whom we haven’t stayed in touch. It started to get very depressing. But when I got to the photos from the past three years, my mood changed completely. I saw new friends, new faces, big smiles, and some old friends as well. Girls, promoters, dancers, performers, smiles, smiles, smiles. And I realized how lucky we are.

There are people we have lost, events that no longer exist, and significant changes in club culture and in parties across the country—change is constant. But change brings new experiences. New experiences create new friends and are the means by which we truly live our lives richly. Keeping a positive attitude always helps color events in the best light. Remembering the positive aspects of others’ lives, of your life, of a friend, or even of the cute boy you met but didn’t go home with last weekend is the best way to paint your own life with the brightest colors possible.

Too many times we focus on the negative in our lives—the DJ playing a song we don’t like, getting pushed on the dance floor, not meeting anyone at a party, the long line for the bathroom, or running into an old flame. It helps to put things into perspective if you evaluate everything else as well, and soon you will realize that things are pretty damn good after all.

This is one of the (many) reasons that for 15 years and 57 issues, it has always been our goal at noiZe to cover every person and event positively, using our experience and proven track record to promote dance, festival and Circuit events, and the lifestyle surrounding them.

On that note, let’s take a look at what we have in store for you in this issue:

City Spotlight: The Big Easy Parties On New Orleans is back, and with a vengeance. With multiple events over Labor Day and Halloween, this Southern belle of a city is back on the map with some of the best events at a great value.

Promoter Spotlight: Franco Beneduce San Francisco’s Magnitude event continues to be one of the shining stars for dark and dirty dance parties in the city. Learn how Franco took over this event a few years ago and managed to keep it fresh and exciting.

Event Spotlight: Mark Nelson’s Great Adventure Mark Nelson’s New York event mailing list is one of the most dependable sources of information for what is going on in New York City. And his yearly theme park party lives up to the same high level of quality. Find out why, and learn some more about Mark.

Dallas’ Flagging Weekend Highlights This Independence Day Weekend marked the Fifth Annual Flaggers’ Conference, organized by an eleven-man committee plus dozens of volunteers in Dallas. This year’s conference brought more than 70 participants from all over the United States and Canada.

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