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In terms of club geography, the DJ booth is second in importance only to the bar. It’s separated from the dancefloor for a reason: there is work going on here. Sadly, the sanctity of the booth is abused by both DJs and partygoers all too often. So, in consultation with a couple of working DJs, we present to you a few pointers on DJ booth etiquette.

A) For the DJs

Any working DJ knows that they need space to work. There needs to be a place to put your drink, your stuff needs to be secure, and you need to be able to mix. However much they bitch about it, though, most DJs are just as disrespectful of the booth setup as the guy who was on before them. Don’t leave your shit all over the place – you know it pisses you off, so why are you leaving four empty glasses there? Also, don’t take other people’s stuff. If the slipmats belong to the club, leave them there. Random cables lying around? Someone might have left them there last night. We all get too drunk to put our equipment away properly sometimes – wouldn’t you appreciate it if someone gave the club whatever you’d left behind? Common courtesy, people.

B) For the guests

1. THE DJ IS PLAYING MUSIC SO PEOPLE CAN GET DOWN.

If you’re standing around in the DJ booth, you are not getting down. Sometimes it is acceptable to chill in the booth all night: when the DJ is your only friend at the party and you specifically came to the party to keep him/her company. Otherwise, the booth is a separate area for a reason – like we mentioned in the first paragraph, it’s a space to work. And seriously, people, you do not look cool because you’re awkwardly standing around trainspotting. You look much cooler if you say hey to the DJ then get the fuck onto the floor and bust some moves.

2. Doing drugs in the DJ booth is a time-honored club tradition. The DJ is not going to mind if you abuse their space in order to consume drugs… just make sure you offer the DJ the first line/hit. It’s a respect thing; you’re saying “thanks for letting me use your space and for the music you’re playing.”

3. Request blocking is a duty if you are hanging out in the booth. The DJ is working, and you’re sort of in the way even if you’re invited. So, pitch in for the sake of the party and stop drunk Becky when she tries to request Journey for the third time.

4. Don’t fuck up the equipment. There are cords and buttons and computers and all that back in the booth – you don’t want to be that asshole who trips over the cables and kills the music. Be careful.

5. Grinding on the DJ is permitted and, usually, encouraged.

We’re teaming up with our good friends over at TGRIOnline and co-hosting a party, Friends – A Celebration of 50 Years of Pop Music on June 10th over at Wonderland Ballroom in DC. Our good friends DJ TMY and DJ Cold Case will be spinning the best teen pop music from the past 50 years. In the lead up to the party we’re going to be posting a few entries on things we wish we had known about when we were teenagers.

You’re at the club, event or if you’re a teenager, school dance, and you see someone across the room you know you just have to dance with. How do you go over and ask someone to dance? Whether it’s someone you’ve been crushing on hard for awhile or a complete stranger asking someone to dance is really easy. It’s way less pressure than asking them on a date, there’s no commitment and if they say no there are plenty of other people on the dance floor if you get rejected.

1. Confidence

Confidence is really the key to a lot of things in life, asking someone to dance is no exception. As we’ve told you many, many times awkwardness is the enemy of awesomeness so don’t be awkward. Go up to that lucky lady/dude and ask him/her to dance.

2. Have fun.

If it looks like you’re having a miserable time or hate dancing no one is going to want to dance with you. You don’t have to have any fancy moves, in fact it’s discouraged, but you do have to look like you want to be there.

3. Ask them.

There are a couple of ways you can go about asking someone to dance.

You can simply ask them. We recommend the tried and true “Hey, want to dance?” This generally works for people who aren’t currently dancing and works the best for high school dances.

The other way is to just start dancing with them if you’re both already on the dance floor. Not in the creepy SNL Night at the Roxbury way and no grinding (at least not initially) but simply by making a move and dancing by them. If they want to dance with you they’ll let you know with their body language, if they don’t they’ll turn their back on you and go back to their friends.

4. Don’t linger.

If someone doesn’t want to dance don’t be creepy and linger around them. This will only turn them off further and makes you look like a creep to other people who you may want to dance with. Instead hold your head up high and move on.

Dear Edukatorz,

I can’t dance, but all my friends want to go to the club. Please help.

-Two Left Feet

Dear TLF,

Our sympathies! But don’t worry, this is a really common problem, and there are a number of good solutions.

First, ask yourself, do you want to go to the club? Yes, among many social circles, going to the club is a popular group activity, but it won’t necessarily alienate you from them if you don’t like being there. You can always meet them at the diner afterwards, or pregame with them!

However, if you do like the music and enjoy the social atmosphere, or even just want to occasionally join in your friends’ preferred hobby, you can certainly get by without dancing. Make yourself the official wallflower among your friends! When they get tired or need a drink, they’ll look for you to the side of the floor. No one can dance all night straight (unless they’re on a lot of unhealthy drugs), so you can definitely spend a pleasant night hanging out at a table to the side.

Then, of course, there’s always the chance that you can, in fact, dance. This is risky, but some people are just too shy to realize that dancing isn’t really that hard, and you don’t have to do any fancy moves (in fact, we discourage most people from engaging in fancy moves, since most people look ridiculous doing that). But if you decide to try it, be aware of what you’re doing and please desist if you find yourself knocking drinks out of people’s hands.

Hope that helped, and good luck at the club!

-The Edukatorz

Well, we cheated you out of one post this week, because this was a week of procrastination for the Edukatorz. But that means you deserve bonus material! From time to time we’ll post about some miscellaneous tidbits about partying and the weekend in this brand-new feature, Hangover Saturdays.

Immediate concerns first, then. If you’re out partying and drinking, you’re going to have to deal with a hangover at some point. This is not fun. Massive headaches, nausea, dizziness, cotton mouth, etc. all combine to make a bad hangover one of the most painful morning experiences you can have. We could tell you how to avoid them in the first place, but it’s Saturday and it’s too late to go back to Friday, so let’s talk about the morning after.

There isn’t any “cure” for a hangover, but understanding what it is can help. It’s basically your body processing too much alcohol and being dehydrated. Therefore, coffee isn’t going to fix anything – it’ll make you more dehydrated. Of course, if you’re a caffeine junkie, you may as well go for it because otherwise you’re going to be dealing with an entirely different kind of headache. Much better drinks for getting over a hangover are water, juice, or sports drinks like Gatorade.

Some people say that you have to pop some Advil or Tylenol before bed to cure a hangover. This is false. First off, those pills only last 4-6 hours, so they’re not going to be helping by the time you wake up. Also, taking acetaminophen (Tylenol) when you’ve been drinking makes your liver unhappy, and no drinker wants their liver being more unhappy than it has to be. The best idea with over-the-counter pain pills is to take ibuprofen or aspirin as soon as you wake up.

Other than that, time is pretty much the only other thing to help your hangover. A drink in the morning might ease the pace of your hangover, but that drink wears off and you just end up postponing the inevitable. Get back in bed, turn down the lights, turn on the TV (on a low volume, of course), and swear you’re never drinking again (until tonight). Good luck!

Whether it be anchor tattoos, yacht rock and now parties on actual boats, hipsters love them some some nautical themes. It is unclear why hipsters are so enthralled with nautical themes. Perhaps the emptiness of the vast ocean is a metaphor for their empty existence, or, more likely, they just think it looks cool (hipsters are not that self-reflective even if they play like they are).

Hipster boat/yacht rock parties are the perfect type of hipster party. They combine ridiculous outfits, old “not cool” music with an “alt” twist on a rich persons activity (boating). All of these parties have a few things in common.

Dressing Up

Where do you even get a captains hat? And note the "ironic" Miller Lite necklace.

One of the whole points of a boat/yacht rock party, etc. It is imperative that when attending a hipster boat/yacht rock party, etc. that one dress up lest you look like the Becky or Chad* who didn’t want to get in on the fun. Acceptable forms of dressing up include Captains hats, eye patches, boat shoes, blue and white stripped shirts/sweaters, collared shirts etc. You don’t want to roll in like a pirate though, that’d be a little weird, it’s a boat/yacht rock party not a pirate party, save that for your Pirates of the Carribean cosplay.

Venue

Ideally you’ll have your venue on a boat, but that can’t always be the case. If there’s no boat available for hipsters to hang out at (or if other people on the marina don’t want that element) one must decorate the party venue with nautical themes. This is one time it’s ok for hipsters to decorate their party.

Booze

It’s a hipster party, clearly there will be booze. Nautical themed booze are in order, usually made with some sort of rum. Of course this will eventually devolve and everyone will be drinking PBR by the end of the night.

Music

Yacht rock is clearly in order for any party with a nautical theme. Put on some smooth tunes like Michael McDonald or Hall and Oates and you’re good to go. I guess seafaring shanties or pirate jigs are also acceptable, but that’s getting too close to a pirate party which is not the point at all.

I dare you to not like them!

*Oddly enough, dressing like a Becky or Chad (or more likely their parents) would be totally appropriate for this type of party.

Why is Deadspin swagger jacking us?

This Sunday the Super Bowl is upon us. Even those who profess to “dislike” sports or don’t watch football (i.e. lame-o’s) watch the Super Bowl or at least attend some sort of Super Bowl Party or related event. If you want to host your own festivities there are a few things you need to keep in mind when planning to make sure your party doesn’t totally suck.

1. Television

You will be watching the game on television, therefore the quality of your television and cable/satellite connection is paramount. If you have a dinky television and the cable has a tendency to go out DO NOT HAVE A PARTY, it will only suck. Now, we’re not saying you have an awesomeHD flat screen (the Edukatorz don’t have nice things like this either), but your television needs to be adequate, use your own judgement. And if a friend of yours with a nicer TV wants to throw a party and poach your guests it’s probably a good idea to just combine parties and take advantage of his/her television for the day.

2. Decorations

Are you a lifelong fan of a team in the Super Bowl (not a bandwagon fan)? Are you Martha Stewart or Sandra Lee? Are you throwing a party for small children or teenage girls?

If you answered no to all of those questions don’t have decorations. You are having a gathering for the purposes of watching a full contact violent sport, not throwing a 6 year-old’s pretty princess birthday party.

3. Seating

Make sure you have ample seating in your house for guests for your party and that there are no obstructions to the television. No one wants to go to a party where they can’t see the game. If there are going to be some Chatty Cathy’s there or people who are uninterested in the game, make sure they have an area they can hang out in that won’t be distracting for the people actually watching the game.

4. Food

Every good Super Bowl party has food and lots of it. You could be cheap and leave out a bag of chips and some salsa, but you don’t want to have an awful party. Instead try to have some variety. You don’t have to have a full spread (though we always do), but you have to have enough food that your guests will enjoy. If you’re going to order pizza, make sure to order enough and thateveryone’s happy with the toppings. If you’re getting a coldcut platter, wings or subs make sure everyone there will enjoy them. We’re DIY type people so we usually like to make a variety of dishes like wings, nachos and chili complemented with some dips for chips and a dessert item.

5. Beverages

Last, but certainly not least (actually, after the TV it’s the most important consideration), beverages. This is not the time for Sparks. Football is an all-American sport so you’re going to need an all-American drink – beer. Make sure you have plenty of beer available for your guests or that they bring enough beer if you’re doing BYOB. No one wants to have to miss the Puppy Bowl because you have to go run out to get more beer. Always buy more than you think you’ll need, the worst that happens is that you have too much beer, what an awful problem.

If you don’t drink beer or alcohol for that matter I guess you could get some sodas, ice tea, fruit juices or something. Probably a good idea to have those items on hand anyway for guests who don’t drink and for the designated driver if you have people who drive. (Note: The party the author is throwing will only have beer and water, that’s how we roll.)