Some like saunas in the mornings, others before bed, and most enjoy a nice sauna after a workout or running.  Not all these times are sauna party times.  However, I think a great time for a sauna party is a Friday afternoon.

• A Friday afternoon sauna party is a great time to wind down, getting your work week over and some closure to the ‘to do list’ of the week.  A great precursor to a sauna party is finishing all your work stuff!
• A Friday afternoon sauna party is a great primer for your evening plans: whether it’s heading out to dinner or over to friends or even to another sauna party!  It’s great to get clean and refreshed for your Friday night’s activities, or just wear a bathrobe over to your next sauna party.
• A Friday afternoon sauna party may just be a party on it’s own.  I’ve had Friday afternoon sauna parties that bleed nicely into the evening.  Order a pizza, or fire up the grill and invite more friends.  This sauna party AS a party is a traditional thing in Scandinavia.  Look for more information on sauna parties, and traditional Finnish style on a later post.

I love Friday nights.  Knocking off work and hitting the sauna by 4 pm on Friday is a ritual for me.  It’s a party on it’s own.

This post is motivated by my buddy Danny Sigelman’s post on sauna music. His big three are: The Hold Steady, Fela Kuti, The Clash.  I’d like to add the following to his great sauna music list:

1. Wilco
2. My Morning Jacket
3. Burning Spear

The commonality of these three artists is as follows:

All three have an uncanny ability to build a rhythm, not often fast, yet methodical and pleasant  (Company In My Back- Wilco, Lay Low-MMJ, Mistress Music- BS)  then have bridges and breaks, then return to the rhythm.. all analogous to rounds in a sauna.  Consistency of rhythm (heat) with breaks and bridges (rounds).

A great sauna music mix- shuffle these 3 albums:

• Burning Spear – Live in Paris ‘88
• My Morning Jacket – Z
• Wilco – Kicking Television

These three lps all capture the value of great rhythms, complimented by bridges and breaks.  All three are recorded live and in the pinnacles of each band’s career.  The sounds of each are crisp and solid… and the cheering of fans after one track mixes wonderfully with whichever track comes next in your 3 lp shuffle.  It’s a great feeling how, in your little sauna, you can bring in recorded moments of wonderfully live music, and as the fans cheer, it’s like a cold water plunge after 20 minutes in 180 degree sauna music heat.

3.5 hours of great sauna music.  Check it out!

Could be said mid tempo is the way to go when it comes to a sauna.

Every genre has some slow jams. even the most aggressive music, be it The Clash, Hold Steady or Fela Kuti can turn their angst or knack for protest into a groove that goes well with clearing the mind. In the end, a center is met when the two are mixed, just like a hot and cold rinse.  With The Clash it’s easy to find a more traditional approach to groove, be it a reggae infused rave up; “Guns of Brixton“, “Straight to Hell”, their luscious cover of “Armagideon Time” or the R&B influence in “Jimmy Jazz”.

Ultimately The Hold Steady is a sound that bonds.  Reflections of High School, meeting friends and rocking out, or gallivanting about the celebration of something.  Sauna is a bonding thing too because there is a physical closure to the space you and your buddies are enjoying: the hot room.  Then you escape the heat by going outside, cooling down and feeling the expanse like the loud pressure Craig Finn and his crew powering up a club and bonding the masses.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti was mostly known for his politics and the company he kept.  His Shrine in Kalakutta, Nigeria not only was a gathering place for him and his brethren but also protection from the outside policies and dangers of the government they feared.  Electrifying the stage and the audience at his performances fueled an inner energy and outer confidence in communal and spiritual environment.  The slow groove of everyday Afrobeat compliments the ritual even in remote suburban environments where perhaps the trouble is not as fierce.

Essentially the rhythm of funk flavored African, the straight up American soul or the most technical approach to what moves sonically and has a beat.  The ever resourceful technical Dosh is an artist well suited for the sauna… check him out between or during rounds!

You’ve heard the one where you went to a fight and a hockey game broke out but how about you go to a sauna and a hockey game breaks out?  This must be in Finland: Finn’s only sit in their designated seats, and value their private space.

One other note.. these three guys are sitting way too close for my comfort.  check out the sparse crowd.

Yes, that’s NOT a typo!!!

It was that cold.  5 guests showed up for this sauna party.  Dan waltzed in at 10:30 pm “somebody has to be on the late shift” as three of us were deep into our 2nd full round of this sauna party.

Let me try to sum up what a 20 below sauna party is like: I started the Kuuma Stove around 8 pm, then watched some of the Minnesota Wild hockey game back in the house, while riding the stationary bike.  Around 8:30 my 9 year old appears in his bathrobe, wanting to take a sauna party with Dad.  So, we hit it.  Sauna party temp: already 140 degrees f. inside, about 10 degrees f. in the changing room, and -20 degrees f. outside.

Around 9 pm, Chuck and Matt arrive the sauna party.

Let me describe what dumping cold water over one’s head standing outside in -20 degrees f. feels like.  Well, you need sandles on or your feet want to start sticking to the ice/snow outside.  No damper to the sauna party!  You step outside and steam billows off your body like a clothes dryer vent.  You splash water over your head, and as cold as the water is, it feels warm because the air temp. at this sauna party is so brrrrrrrrrr..  Now most folks would run back inside to the sauna party, but if you stand outside for a moment, something wonderful happens.

The water on your skin starts evaporating, blood flows freely around your body, and the heat mass from your body gives you a warm tingly feeling as it hits the cold air.  What a sauna party!  A friend likens it to dipping an ice cream cone in hot chocolate.  Your outer skin has a nice crisp layer feeling to it.  When ice starts forming on your hair, well, it’s time to get back to the sauna party and hang out in the changing room and grab a beer.

The changing room of the sauna party has its own compelling climate.  The steam in the chilly room gives a tropical feeling, a rainforest but fresh and cool.  No rush to go back into the sauna.  The sauna party is now in the changing room.  King Tubby, Radiohead, and Theivery Corporation shuffle mix on Rhapsody music player.  A quick flip of the bottle opener and the sauna party is in full force.  Lots of ice cold water to help keep the hydration happening.  Nate’s gone to bed and 2 more arrive for the sauna party.  Nice thing about a sauna party:  you can casually socialize with whomever you wish.  Good one on one time either in the sauna, hanging in the changing room, or outside sharing a cold beer after a water plunge.  175 degrees f. back in the sauna.  Let’s go back in the sauna!

The Kuuma Stove fought back vigorously with each door opening.  Take a moment to consider this:  if the changing room is, say, 20 degrees and your sauna is, say, 170 degrees, you don’t have to be a thermal mass scientist to figure that there’s quite a blast of cold air and heat loss going on each time someone opens the sauna door at a sauna party.  5-6 people at a sauna party can create quite a test to maintaining an adequate temperature in a sauna.  I started the Kuuma Stove with 4 pieces of firewood, and added 2 more throughout the night.  That’s pretty efficient for a long sauna party!

I was told that after an especially grueling negotiation with Nokia executives, vendors are invited to take a sauna with the top brass.  Now, talk about building vendor relationships!  sauna party!  Brush up on sauna etiquette, close the door!!

TIP: If you sell to Nokia, get a sauna and start enjoying your own sauna party!

Some like quiet and tranquility, especially Scandinavians.  Some like quiet conversation.  Either way, I think many like some music while taking a sauna,  but what is the right kind of music while relaxing in a sauna?  Let’s get a list going:

No: Bon Jovi, Emerson Lake & Palmer.

Yes: Toumani Diabati, Thievery Corporation.

What do you like to listen to, while in the sauna?