Back in the Saddle!

by jayman | Sep 9, 2008

It is time to start the show back up. INTERFERENCE – every Tuesday from 6-8pm CST. I’ve been missing it rather much lately and I think I have taken enough time off from it. The show starts back up this evening and I’ll be flying solo this time around. I’d like to get back to doing a SHOW rather than a straight mix so you’ll be hearing me chat as well as give the latest “whats up” that I used to in the earlier version of the show. I’ll also be doing a little mix-up with the music i’ll play as well as see about getting guests involved again. Well, I’ll just let you judge for your self, see you guys at 6pm! Make sure if you decide to tune in, that you hop into the chat room and let me know you are listening! Who knows, I might just give you a shout out!

Wedding and Party Plans….

by jayman | Aug 26, 2008

Man, I’m starting to feel the pressure of the wedding beginning to bear down on me. With less than 6 weeks to go, its seems like all the sudden there is this whole ball of things to do that I thought were kind of taken care of and its freaking me out a little. Money is coming down to the wire and bills are accumulating faster than expected. All in all, I’m handling it pretty well but I’m having trouble sleeping, more so than usual and I’m find myself a little more mentally occupied than normal. I’m losing concentration on things I need to be doing day to day… of course it doesn’t help I’m trying to plan a Halloween party and a wedding at the same time, well they wont happen at the same time but, you know what I mean. PLUS…. I got my wedding band in finally and it turned out to not be the right inlay color, WTF. Since it is titanium, it cant be remade, so I had to incur an additional cost of another band, which they can’t fuck up this go round (it’s really my fault for not checking on the color before ordering it).

Well, the clock is still ticking so no need on sweating the details right, so here is the front of the flyer which I’m getting made in a huge 36″ x 48″ poster, mega-sized! Halloween is going to be great this year and my costume is going to be a lot of fun as well….. October is going to fly by, I swear. Wedding on the 4th, week long honeymoon in the Maya Riviera at the Riviera Maya (funny huh) and the Halloween party….lots to do and very little time to do it in.

HALO… bad ass.

by jayman | Jul 22, 2008

Mac Misery

by jayman | Jul 22, 2008

Yes, It has happened. I have lost my Mac. I made the jump to upgrade my ram in my Power Mac g5 (Dual 2 ghz cpu model) from the already upgraded 1.5 gigs to 5.5 with an additional 4 gigs of ram (4 single gig sticks). After installing the ram, the system booted fine with no issues and I about shit my pants when I saw the 5.5 gig memory total in the ABOUT MY MAC dialog box. I was really excited to press my mac to the limit. The upgrade was essentially for music production. Lately, I had been getting the audio clip notification and cpu monitor was peaking way to easily. With the new 5.5 gigs of ram, I was sure to not only be jamming out in LOGIC but also able to handle some dvd/imovie compilation with a bit more ease. Two days in and a simple photoshop to itune alt-tab and BOOM! the audio started to studder and I couldn’t force quit either of the apps much less move the mouse. I had to force the machine off…then on reboot, I got what I had expected to see on the first boot after placing the memory in the machine. The Three Blinks….which I knew meant the RAM was faulty. I had to check and make sure but my guess was right, three blinks mean incompatible memory. Being a computer tech, there are a few things you can try and even with my mac experience, a few secrets to get the machine running, so I had my fingers crossed. I took all of the memory out, leaving the memory that was in before (the computer was in a working state before i put the memory in so i figure it should still work) I reboot and same issue, now my previously good memory was bunk. I took all the memory out that I had put in the machine, leaving just the original 512 that came with the unit (i know, ridiculous, isnt it) … same issue. How could this be? Of course the memory only comes with a limited warranty with no warranty that the memory could possibly damage the system. So now with no one to blame and the origianl memory no longer working, I was freaking. I had flyer work to do as well as music production I was planning on getting involved in come up on the weekend. I had my laptop from work so thank god for pc versions of CS. With all the memory swapping, I got the machine to boot ONCE but froze before it got to the log in screen. Een with all the key command to reset nvram and pram even resetting the PMU on the board (thats geek talk there) NADA! The worst part of all this is the equivalent, MAC PRO, starts, and yes,I said STARTS at a mind blowing $2700.00, WTF! That alone before taxes is more than I paid for my last car, a honda accord coupe. I think even worse than that is i’m trying to apply for financing and we all know apple and their turn down rate of 99.9999% of all applicants denied. I think i need a shot of Jager.

“…to play or not to play.” That is SO the question.

by jayman | Jun 10, 2008

On a side note I needed to air out some things I have been thinking lately and can’t seem to figure out. Last night during our Monday usual, Brian brought up some conversation regarding some older music styles like drum and bass, ragga and other variations of breakbeat. I started to think about how I haven’t heard Brian talk about dance music more than just a sec or more in quite some time and how odd that he would be bringing up DnB. During his conversation, I started to contemplate where Brian had begun as with most of the people I know, there passion comes from their start in the dance music scene. I was thinking how music was similar for me as well. Drum and Bass was more breakbeat/jungle then when so many genres were still a part of a primordial sludge generally referred to as TECHNO. Now, I know everyone is different and everyone has their own path to take in life but when I see someone with great talent, I feel obligated to give that extra push in hopes that something great comes of it. I thought I gave Brian that push but I guess his passion lies elsewhere. Brian has done well for himself on the point of djing, but our diversion from the DnB conversation to the idea of his career was brought about when Dirty brought in his mix for us to listen to and I asked him, “Where would you intend to play a set like this?”

At this point, I could see where all of us at the bar might get our feelings hurt (I was made privy to this fact when I was in Chicago and was told I was way too sensitive and that must be a Memphis thing – of course this hurt my feelings). Since Chicago, I have learned to be a bit more straight forward with people because if not the point would get lost in the emotional turmoil caused by such a question as this. I’m not sure where my prospering intentions for Brian’s career got lost but over the years Brian’s view of me has changed somewhat from the earlier days of our friendship. I have to think this because of what was said next, “Oh gawd, here he goes…”. Perhaps my question was misinterpreted or maybe he didn’t think I appreciated Chris’s mix, or even perhaps that he thought his artistic interpretation of the mix was being challenged, who knows?

My point wasn’t even a point, it was just a question. The reason for asking was that I was questioning my own purpose, my own reasons for djing. I wanted to know what his intentions were of the mix. One might ask, why do you question one’s artist nature? I do so because I want to understand my passion for what I love. Im always at odds inside with where I am and where i’m going, what is perceived as popular and what is not, and what I want versus what everyone else wants. Chris’s mix was great. Smoothly programmed, well mixed and groovy all at the same time. His mix however was, well, chill. There in lies the issue which raised my question. I wasn’t questioning his artistic purpose but i was interested in his inspiration.

I am driven by a force that I can’t explain. I could try to describe it to you but i’d come off sounding like a religious freak and i’m far from religious. It’s like being pushed, similar to your car that wont start and you have to get a friend to push you with their car to the first pull off. Am I making sense? The force is something deep within me that comes out when I hear a sound or have a feeling. It is intense yet soothing. I wish there was a word that would encompass it all but anxious is as close as it gets. This feeling makes me excited and hyper but focused. I causes the music I make to be mainly fast, hard and driving. Thats is why I am the dj I am. Im about energy and the immediate dispersion of it. Techno and whatever sub-genre you might want to say I dabble in is the perfect fit for me and its where I call home. Over the last 15 years I have experienced so many different facets of Techno its so hard to put a cap on it and say, here it is, this is me. I love so many different styles and other genres as well. House, Breaks, Chill Out, Jazz, Ambient, Two-Step….. Rock, Reggae, Top 40, and even HipHop. Its always Techno that I come back to. My career has revolved around it and evolved from it. When I make a mix or play a show, its that force that pushes me.

When I asked Dirty that question my reason was this. I make mixes to relay that energy. They spread the music I play, representing me and the force behind me, more or less. It’s the hope that someone will not only get the mix but enjoy it so much, sooner or later, i’ll get a gig from it. As a dj, I have come to accept that I am playing a song created by someone else and combining it with another person’s song to create a fluid atmosphere of music. I try to make that atmosphere closely resemble how I feel when i’m affected by that driving force I mentioned earlier.

I love chill out more than most and some people don’t know that about me. Chill, Down tempo or more subdued mixes appeal to that part of me as Chris’s had. His mix was not ambient by any means but yes, it was more subdued than I would have imagined. I was unclear why he would submit such a chill mix to Proton when my goal would have been to try create a prime time set to represent the energy that would have been my best moment as a dj. I know, I know….. we are different people and we all have different ideas, like I said before. Thats what makes Chris him, and me , me. I wanted to know his inspiration for making that mix and why he used it for proton. “Where would you intend to play a set like this?”

I guess I will close with this thought. I’m always at odds with myself and the music I play. When is the best time to play this track or that track. When Do I say to hell with it and play what I want to play regardless of whether people will like it or not. Sometimes, I guess its just about doing what you want regardless of the out come. Play some ambient at a 1am slot or some 160 bpm DnB at 10pm. Submit a mix to a big EDM station thats nothing but indie and folk, how do you get a gig at a house event when you play techno music, what do you play for a crowd who only wants to hear the dj after you and how do you promote to a scene that doesn’t like your music ….. who knows. I don’t have the answer, and my guess is no one does. I’ll move along and continue on with my never ending pursuit of dj happiness.