You know, a traditional American hat...

So my co-worker "Jim" who is a bit of a typical young, outgoing, party hopping dude, informs me last week that he will be DJing at his local watering hole. Now, for most of you reading this, you have DJed, have a friend that is a DJ, or at the very least have been to a bar or club with a DJ and so I am going to assume that the term DJ conjures up a similar idea to both you and I. I am not sure it means quite the same thing to him. Jim is a young guy but his musical tastes lean more towards classic rock and cheesy blasts from the past. He is fairly certain that all things cheesy are ironic and therefore cool. Which lets be honest isn't a far stretch from the stereotypical ironic hipster we love to hate. The difference is that the hipster in Williamsburg, London, San Francisco or Baltimore or wherever actually has a point of reference for what is "hip". Jim over here - ehhh, not so much.
But that's ok. Jim is truly all about just having a good time, for good times sake. So he orders a few CD's and when they arrive he decides he is going to go through them to listen to what gems he has scored. The title of one collection of CD's is "Old School Hip Hop to Jog to" - or something like that. There are a few Sr. Mix A Lot songs along with House of Pain's "Jump Around", you get where this collection is headed right? The next compilation he has is "100 of BEST Disco Songs". I don't think I have to elaborate on the musical genius that is hiding within this collection of tunes.
Now I have been called a music snob on more than one occation, and the term pretentious has been hurled my way before, so I recognize that my making fun of this mix is pretty low, but...come on you know you feel the same way about this. And so, a good chunk of the afternoon is spent with Jim and Pam listening to these compilations, skipping happily through them to discover more and more one hit wonders and hopeful party rockers. It was like a VH1 Rock Doc: "Behind the Worst Music of our Times".
This whole DJ thing gets better when Jim informs me that it will be a theme party. The theme you ask...80's track suits, yes, in all their neon or velour glory. I expect it to be a killer night out on the town. I'll let you know how my rump shakin' get's on.
The icing to this DJ cake comes when Jim says "Oh, I got one of those traditional American style hats, so I can keep my hands free. You know those hats that you can put a drink on either side of." Ya, the good ole traditional American double beer helmet. His other thoughts on traditional Americana: the red plastic cup. Well, he has a fair point with that one.