Clubbing Package Pt.17. Mau Papi @ San Jacinto Square, El Paso

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Clubbing Package ep.17. Mau Papi @ San Jacinto Square, El Paso

Main Plot Starts Here

I flew across 3 states following Maurice West. I am not in love with him. Just a raver becoming obsessed with big crowds and cool DJs.

Chill Morning

Coming back from 11:11 EP TX, slept around 4 am, and woke up around 10 am. I was sleepy and tired, but could not fall asleep. Jiayi told me to get the free hotel breakfast, but I just couldn’t pull up before 10 am. I was glued to the bed until 10:30.

Chugged some coffee. Goofed around. Called a frog, and how did it become 3 pm? I need to go outside!

Chill Afternoon

Eventually went outside around 4 pm. Roamed around Downtown El Paso. On the highway, distant mountains looked religious. I could hear cowboys playing guitars on the hill.

El Paso, TX. It’s so easy to fall in love.

Reached downtown! I saw the fences near the event venue — it was San Jacinto Square. Couldn’t remember. But there were fences, tents, …, things getting set up. Cool.

One of the best ways to get to know a city is to spend some time with the raw bricks, right? It was above 90 degrees, and my eye shadows were melting. I was walking on the street randomly.

I checked out the El Paso Museum of Art. Yo. I can’t believe I am checking out modern art museums. I am doing it for my beloved sister. It was a free entrance! The AC brought me back to life, and the paintings are vibrant. Mexican culture feels vibrant. The contrast and high saturation were yelling at me. My eyes were dazzled. Every stroke seemed so brave and expressive. Jiayi would have liked it.

This painting is my fav.

I spent quite a while walking down Bienvenidos, Downtown El Paso. It looks like a local commercial street. I walked from one end to another, went to the other side ot the street, and walked back to the entrance. Saturday evening. Not many tourists. It was just chains of local commercial shops, reminding me of 江南古镇 actually. Many shop owners either do not speak English or have heavy Spanish accents. It does feel familiar to my home in that I swear 80% of the goods are made in China, except for some artsy shops. Too obvious! They even have fake labubus…

Outdoor market.

I wanted to buy a cowgirl hat, because I was wearing a jean fit specifically for this. Didn’t buy anything because I grabbed my own hand after checking my bank balance. Also, because all the shops closed at 6 pm.

Didn't get the hat.

Pregame Was Too Early… Again

The event flyer says that the event starts at 8 pm. I should have known better after all the heavy pregame and sober main plots. But this time they were playing Sticky! As the plaza speakers banged one of my summer go-to tracks, I was like fine, I am going for another 4 hours of solo pregaming.

I walked inside the plaza, and the bartender at the bar started waving at me and inviting me for a drink. I said no thanks! But only after 30 minutes of roaming around and taking free stickers, I went for a drink. Tequila + redbull again. It is the same drink I have been chugging from Lollapalooza.

That's me fam.

I was chewing the ice, and then somebody came over. No way, it was the guy who helped take my picture from 11:11 EP TX. Ok, now I am sure he just wants to hook up. He was talking to girls after girls, and I am pretty surprised that he remembers my face. Bro’s got Chinese tattoos on his forearms that say “change” or something. Couldn’t remember. Conversations flowed quite… normally. But I was eyeing the security, who was kind enough to take pictures for me, and the security was eying us as well. Thank you, dear sir. The guy asks me, Do I find his friend attractive? Do I find anyone here attractive?

I was quite speechless, so I told him I was not here looking for guys. If I have to answer, I think Mau P is quite attractive. The guy left on a good note, and the security looked away.

I need another drink.

…

Almost There

It was 11 pm. The same openers for Mau P at Radius in Chicago, Clüb De Combat, were opening here again. I became quite familiar with their sets, so I sat at a bench near the dancing crowd and started crowd watching. There were 2 middle-aged dudes on the bench by themselves, just vibing, as well. It was a long bench, and we were just sitting there, grooving and observing.

People come and go. There was a buffed guy on my right doing push-ups for a solid 30 minutes… And someone joined him and raced him… I think they had a good time.

During the past 3 hours, I have gone inside the crowd, left the crowd, and gone inside again. All because I heard some tracks that pulled me in, and then I got bored. I realized that now my nervous system is screaming for help as the redbull is making me drowsy, and I would even get “bored.” Inside the crowd, my neighbors were lighting up a joint, and I asked for a hit. He gave me the joint. I took a hit. It was this hit that glued me to the bench for half an hour. I haven’t felt high in so long.

On the bench, I could feel my heart racing and pounding at a steady pulse. I wish there was something I could lean on or lie down on. My eyes couldn’t really focus, but the heavy-bass low-frequency music was dissecting itself in front of me. The world was somehow blurry, but the frequencies were showing up in layers.

In the mid-autumn festival of 2022 (or some other time), on an Uber on our way back to campus from 35 Nathan Rd, I asked QiYuan how it feels to get high. He told me, it feels like… as if you can sense all the production tracks one by one, layer by layer, when you are listening to a song. Kicks. Snares. Melodies. Leads. Clear. Separated.

So this is what it feels like.

…

I heard someone ask me, “Are you from Boston”? I thought I was tripping. But then I turned my head left and saw a guy with eyes like black crystal holding hands with a European-looking girl. I don’t recognize that face well, but the voice is too familiar.Dame it, it was the Uber driver *Leny who sent me to 11:11 EPTX! What are the chances? I started straight-up laughing. We greeted each other. I insisted that we take a selfie together. We did. Life! Always surprising you.

Leny and his girl!

…It was almost 12 am, and I figured I would join the crowd one last time till the show ended. I joined at the right moment. Mau P was up. On time.

Mau Papi

Until this moment, I have seen Mau P in the Hamptons, in Lollapalooza, in Radius, and here in Downtown El Paso. I listened to his sets on repeat and repeat. I knew his tricks. I knew he would insert a motif of Drugs from Amsterdam during Merther. Interestingly, this time he didn’t do it. But he played Dress Code. He played some Anaconda remix. He played his half-hype, half-chill club playlist. What surprises me is that he ended his set with an encore on Ocean Drive! Incredible. I am so glad that I clicked into the bio of Duke Dumont and discovered this treasure. Mixed feelings! I spearheaded through the crowd towards the main stage — super close to the DJ deck. I could see Mau P’s beanie and his cigarettes. Ocean Drive was fading away… So did the alc and the joint, and the process bar of my interstate tour.

Maurice West @ El Paso

Mau P played for about 1.5-2 hours. Similarly, the crowd was doing its own thing. People were pushing each other, shouting, spilling drinks, throwing pick-up lines… Some guys carry girls on their shoulders; some homies were fanning… It was a much smaller and chillier crowd than Lollapalooza. I enjoyed it. I had enough room to sway against the beat and breathe in some fresh breeze. It was a tender summer night screaming to show its tenderness through heavy techno EDM. It was nice for me. It has always been.

Pausing, Just For 2 Weeks

No more encore. The crowd was spreading out like salt and pepper. I followed some of them into a nearby hotel because the Uber rate near the plaza was crazy-high, and the streets were getting darker. I was chilling in the hotel lobby. The AC was soul-touching.

That’s the end of my SOLO interstate tour, I guess?

From Keinemusik @ Corona Park to Riff Raff to Blackpink @ Citifield in NY, to Cloonee and Mau P and Dom Dolla @ Lollapalooza to Mau P @ Radius in Chicago, to Odd Mob @ 11:11 EP TX to Mau P @ San Jacinto Plaza in El Paso.

So far, I’m extremely sleep deprived. Got 5 hours of sleep back from NY, and 2 hrs a day before Lolla, and just avg 5-6 hours till today in El Paso. Fam, I’d say I’m drained :) I’ve never raved so much in my fucking life.

Palm trees @ Hamptons, D.O.D + Goldfish + San Pacho @ Boston Cruise, Bsmnt, Club Cafe…

Starting from when did I fall in love with House music and raves? I think it’s just an excuse for some reality escaping, and I love it. For a while, I am just being who I am, or am I really being who I am lol, and what role am I really playing? Red eye flights and ear-blinding bass. Red Bull and shots stopped working on me. Spent way too much, enjoyed every bit of it. Every single bit. I was close enough to see all my favorite DJs and watch enough crowd to be amazed by the blending of cultures through bonding by some narrations of frequencies. Isn’t it just a bunch of frequencies after all? Right. Music is just frequencies. Variations. Somehow, they make sense and make people move. I’m just a bit more sensitive to lower frequencies, I guess.

Uber Drivers Can Be Anyone

Now I’ve talked to 3 amazing Uber drivers: Leny the music producer, the kind-of-stateless 4-teenage-kid-custody guy, and this driver who took me back to my hotel, James. James the Egineer. Below were some drunk thoughts I typed down on my phone that don’t make sense:

James the Engineer raised two surgeons, and one of them went to Harvard. James and I high-fived in the end. James said, How does a young lady like me just travel solo and walk alone and end up safe? I seemed very trusting. Am I just cautious? Nancy, go see the world when you’re still young, because you will get locked up in a job. James is a railroad engineer and goes to the gym in the morning, finishes around 12 am, and drives Uber part-time. He met a bunch of weird Gen Zs along his Uber career journey — the throw-ups after parties, drunk girls making out and striping each other, the dead sleepers… He said, people could be weird. He said it’s the first time he has met a Chinese person. He said he has been in Texas all his life. He works 10 am-12 am, weekends through Wednesday, and 2 days off, Thursday and Friday.

More Strangers

Also, drunk journals continued after meeting James:

I helped 3 strangers open the hotel door because it was locked after midnight. They were about to check in and just came back from Mau P as well. The girl asked if I wanted to drink with them, and pointed at their boxes of beer! I said thanks, but I gotta catch a flight after 2 hours. Thanks! The dude said, Boston sucks, except that performer. Boston sucks! I need to defend my second home: Nooo, I literally go to college there, man!!! They look like… couldn’t tell if they’re from Mexico or Europe?! Also, I think I might need the 2-hour sleep? Shops closed early at 6 pm today, and nothing was good. I need to get some merch for a frog and some other friends and coworkers. So, 5:30 am flight? Maybe just sleep for an hour then.

I love it. Next stop is Vegas, and then New York, and then Boston. Pausing, Just For 2 Weeks. Just 2 weeks.

Next Up:

🫡🫡🫡

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Published 02 Aug 2025