As posted on the fab Fader blog.

Last week I came back from a weekend of shows with a cold and a busted computer and hard drive, determined to get things straightened out. So I went to this Apple service center here in Paris (they don’t have official Apple stores) and they told me it would take 10 to 15 days to swap my motherboard. I thought “I’ll show YOU a motherboard” (I don’t know what that means) and I said “non merci.” For a minute I even considered going to London to get it fixed. Thank goodness I know a few people at Apple in the US and they got me in the right hands in Paris. That simplified things quite a bit. 

So I had a clear plan for the laptop now. I took this opportunity to do a complete backup of all my drives here. Sometimes you need a little wakeup call to do these things. The computer wouldn’t be ready for my New York gig at CMJ but I had a laptop I could use in New York so it was all falling into place finally. When I booked my ticket to New York the week prior I hadn’t noticed anything special, aside from the fact that it was a bit more expensive than usual. But I thought that was due to the short notice. On my way to the airport on Wednesday I saw that the itinerary said “British Airways / Operated by OpenSkies”. Let me just cut to the chase: I discovered my new favorite airline. OpenSkies just started this summer and the WHOLE plane is business class! They only operate between New York, Paris and Amsterdam for now but it’s the truth in the booth, son. So much so that I dedicated my first blog post on my new Colette blog to it. (More on the multiple blogs next week.) 

The whole objective of my short trip across the Atlantic was to not get more sick. I treated myself to a Dead Sea Salt scrub at the always-popping Great Jones Spa. The lady was like “you need more work, come more often!” I love their snacks over there, they have good dried fruit. I crossed the bridge to get a haircut in the ‘Burg — it’s part of my “I’m home for 2 days” routine. And I headed uptown for dinner with my big bro. My girl was in town too, she travels with her dog now. It’s a sight to see at the hotel. Meanwhile Kanye’s out in South America and I’m helping him work on this final track on his album so whenever I had a sec I’d bust out the laptop and work on his joint. 

Thursday we had our Fool’s Gold 1 year anniversary blowout at Webster Hall. For anyone keeping track, our first release was actually in May of last year but the first Fool’s Gold tour kicked off at CMJ 2007 so as far as parties are concerned that’s where we’re setting the clock to zero. That means we had to get a cake! 

There was an early show with Crystal Castles and then our event kicked off around 11:30. The switchover took a bit too long (how long does it take to move amps?) but we finally got our jumpoff jumping off, starting with Treasure Fingers. My man Trackademicks kicked off the live performances. His single is finally set to come out this Fall. Then Kid Sister did her thang, dressed like the cast from In Living Color. I DJ’ed her set and Gant-Man was the hypeman. (That’s a lot of “man”s. I actually know a guy called Man-Man. Not to be confused with Guy-Man.) Then I helped my brother do a DJ set, which consisted of Laidback Luke’s greatest hits followed by a drop-mix set of rap sureshots, and it was nothing short of amazing. I think people really like looking at him on the decks with his suit on. After that we had Jokers of the Scene, Nacho Lovers and Sammy Bananas rock it till the early morn’. Cool pictures here, here and here.

On Friday I got up way too early because of my sworn enemy, jetlag. I had a few meetings and then went on a shopping spree with Dave. Again, part of my “I’m home for 2 days” routine. Gotta re-up for the new season, ya dig? Speaking of, can we ban the word “swag” now? 

Anyway, I digress. In the evening we went to a little get-together at our French homie’s über-posh apartment in the now deserted financial district. Ate some cupcakes with El-P. After that I called it a night. So in fact I didn’t even go to any other CMJ parties, but I kept getting texts from Nick, from my manager, etc, saying “Tiga just played Shake It Down. Pete Tong just played Shake It Down. Blablabla Shake It Down.” That’s the joint I did with Laidback Luke and it’s coming out next month, and DJs seem to like it so I’m geeked!