This happened just last year.

My buddy Jimmy is pretty involved and well connected within the music community.

By music community, I'm more specifically referring to the dance slash electronic music scene

all along the East Coast, predominantly New Jersey and New York.

It's actually pretty impressive what he and his team have been able to accomplish in just

two years.

The general gist is this.

Their company hosts what they call events at high-profile venues, typically the most well-known club or

party space in whatever city they happen to be in. Then they outsource the talent, which, mind

you, is typically a very well-known and sometimes borderline famous DJ. I'm not too

involved or invested in that scene, so I'm not exactly sure who they've gotten to perform, but I will tell

you that there have been some huge names in the mix, but enough context. Jimmy and I go way back.

I'm talking 20 plus years. I've basically known him my entire life, and he's been my best friend

for damn near most of it. Because of that, he lets me, along with a bunch of

our other hometown friends, come to his shows for free and hang out with the talent in the

VIP section. It's actually really cool and something I wish I expressed my gratitude for

more often. Jimmy was scheduled to host a huge event the weekend of July 4th on the Jersey

Shore. It was going to be their

biggest one yet, and all our mutual friends were going. Jimmy invited me to come down early with him,

and I obviously obliged. The two of us made the hour and a half drive with our other friend Ryan,

and we found ourselves at the venue a good four hours before the doors opened. Ryan and I didn't have

much to do while Jimmy and his team set up, so we decided to get a bit of a head start on the

...