Man, BBQfest in Memphis is probably one of the more grueling tests of my endurance for the over welling smell of burnt pork, drunk idiots and loud music. Despite efforts to derail me for work related training a second year around, I was able to join up with the Usual Saucepects for a great year and 10th in the RIBS division. Top 10 is a pretty big deal! Big props to all my team mates and our Pitmaster Troy Black! It was one hell of a week! Thanks to everyone that came by and hung out with us. Can’t wait til’ next year! #UsualSaucepects
2015 rolled around pretty quick. I have to say that looking back to 2014, the word “BLUR” comes to mind. The last of my 30’s are coming to an end and with that, I say “screw you sir!” I still have plenty of life left in me as well as music to share. Speaking of which, here is the new flyer for my Thursday night weekly at Mollie Fontaine Lounge. Chillout is my choice of music for the ramp-up to the weekend… “FistPump Friday” ,”Slammin’ Saturday” on to “Sultry Sunday”.
The weekend always seem to be full tilt. Why go from 0 to 100, celebrating the end of “humpday” like you just finished 1st in an Ironman Triathlon? Oh I agree, by Thursday, the feeling to smack the shit out of a co-worker and telling the man to shove it is coming on pretty strong. So why not join me at the bar on Thursday and allow me to propose another way about this…
I say take a moment and think about all the debauchery you might be planning and the amount of havoc it will reek on your liver. Before you second guess yourself and your weekend full of bad decisions, pause to appreciate the life long stories you are about to create, tilt back, down that shot “Drew” placed in front of you then say to yourself, “I’m not even going to remember most of it, so F it, let’s get mixed!”
Thursdays are becoming a thing amongst my midtown crew. Chillout is more popular than I expected between me and my cohorts and the environment is perfect. You’ll hear selections from Bonobo, Mount Kimbie, Air, Boards of Canada, Massive Attack, Zero 7, CFCF, Tycho and more like it. Lounge at it’s best!
If you get a chance and need a little social activity but want to avoid the urban meat market, rooftop parties and frat edm fist pump… then you now know the biz. BLENDER every Thursday – the anti-social social! Mollie’s – theMachine and Me.
If you would like a little taste, here is BLENDED Vol.1 – selections from Thursday night (Blended, not mixed!). Enjoy!
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m an 80’s nut. I have been djing an 80’s night since I was 19ish in some form or fashion. I’ve always been mesmerized by the synth and a lot of mixes over the years have had some form of 80’s mix or “80’s inspired” composition. I recently rediscovered an artist who I passed over years back. I have a man crush on the music of this French house producer named LIFELIKE aka Laurent Heinrich. He has worked with Kris Menace, A-Trak and even Chromeo, just to name a few but I’m more in to his underground remixes and original works.
I’m so into this guys sound right now that I can’t seem to grab up enough music like it. It seems a lot of people are doing something similar like retro wave, future disco, or synth pop but a few of his tracks hit like wave of excitement coming over you. It’s the perfect blend between upbeat pop, hypnotic arpeggiated rhythm and the right mix of synth with a house/techno beat. Music like this is what reminds me of how I felt as a teen in the 80’s and how the sound of the synth inspired me… it’s that good. Here is a little taste of one I like, placed to a mash of video snippets from an 80’s movie fav – MAD MAX. Enjoy!
Something about this song… its synth pop lead, maybe the subtle hint of depression, who knows. It calls to me. Strange. It’s like MYLO meets Bravery with a dash of LCD Soundsystem. I’ve been playing a trentemoller mix on my Thursdays at Mollie’s for a few weeks now and I keep coming back to it when I daze off during the day sometimes. I’m loving it, it calls to me.
I have recently acquired a Pioneer DDJ-SR for a weekly I now do at Mollie Faontine’s for chill/lounge. It’s compact enough for me to sit at the bar and dj while entertaining others with conversation. It has all the features of a DJ setup with only a few slight exceptions which honestly are more of a habit to see or use and really aren’t show stoppers. I was having a discussion with a dj cohort of mine and we came to the conclusion that possibly the reluctance to switch to a prime time controller setup is mostly being too self-conscious of what others think. Are my DJ friends and comrades going to think less of me for using it? With 25 years behind me, what do I have left to prove? NOTHING. Anyone who cares already knows my background, knows what I can do and what my skills are, matter of fact…. I really shouldn’t care what anyone thinks anyway.
Way back when, I said to myself that I would make the switch from wax to CDJs when I can do with them what’s possible on vinyl. When I felt confident that was possible, I made the switch and it made sense too. Being one of the first few working djs in Memphis to use Final Scratch, I was able to dj with an enormous amount of music at my fingertips that would have required hours of load in and load out to my weekly gigs and not to mention the amount of stress on my shoulders and back. Vinyl is way too heavy and way too limited from a selection standpoint. It’s too expensive for a weekly purchasing budget and from a “lifespan of play” perspective, just not practical when compared to the benefits of digital format/media. Fast forward 10 years later and I’m still using CDJs… until now. Digital hardware is the next step in evolution and it is loathed by many circles of the “vinyl purist” as well as other pro DJs who already use the digital format (CDJs). Why? Maybe the art form, the artistic expression, the art…. blah blah. I guess it all depends on what’s best for YOU.
I still love my wax (vinyl) and I still use my good old CDJ 800’s (which are almost obsolete by todays standard version) for most gigs. While we are on the subject of old gear, what’s up with the prices of dj equipment these days? Simply from a cost perspective, it seems you have to be crapping out gold bricks just to afford a CDJ (cdj 2000 – $1800 if you find it on sale) and of course you have to have 2 of them. Let’s not even speak of a mixer… might as well sell your first born (Pioneer DJM 900 – $1999 – and that’s the basic model). All these things are needed to maintain the appearance that you are doing something deserving of artist praise or better yet, have skills that are deemed worthy of any respectable dj stature. There the caveat is again… the approval of others.
When low cost and convenience provides me with everything I need, why still lug around the heavy stuff? If I don’t care what people think and can still rock it just a well, hell even add some functionality to the mix all while making things easier on me, why wouldn’t I consider using this for my prime time sets, especially of the gigs are just my dj friends and me? Wouldn’t the crowd appreciate the fact I’m giving them more? Isn’t that what’s really important for the true DJs out there or even the older PROs that are trying to show how it’s done? The focus, in my opinion, should be more about what’s being delivered and less about how. This has been a lesson not easily learned by a “seasoned” dj as myself.
MAN! I’m lovin’ this site and this particular article is another good one that needs to be shared. It’s a long one but worth the read. If you are passionate about what you do as a dj then take a few and dig in.
You have to ruthlessly love your craft, and respect it. It’s about creating momentum. It’s about commitment. It’s about putting your heart into it. Waiting for a “big break” is for the weak. How about falling in love with the journey instead of the destination?
What are YOU doing to ensure that you’re doing your craft justice?
I’m always trying to find inspiration and motivation in a world of mass dj culture and technology overload. Hell, I myself am apart of that world. I’m a IT guy who is a DJ for crying out loud. Yet, as I grow older, I tend to feel a little more nostalgic regarding the art of djing and it’s history. Now before all my dj comrades read this and bust my balls because I no longer buy vinyl, let me say that buying the wall of records I have in my studio and the countless other purchases, trades, warped and or destroyed wax over the years added with the 2 decades plus I’ve been doing this have earned me the right to be nostalgic without being a vinyl purist hipster in a world of CDJs and controllers.
That being said, if you know me, I’ve had my share of resistance for technology and I’m now a much more tolerant dj when it comes to controllers and iphone/ipad apps that come out daily from which you can dj. I still think however that the time spent to learn the craft and art of djing is worth doing. You learn from experience. There is no software or controller that can earn it for you. The journey must be made and when you reach a moment, and trust me you will, where the technology fails you, what will you have to fall back on? It’s these moments that separate the bedroom djs from the veterans. Here are some links that I find just as inspirational as they are educational.
Man, BBQfest in Memphis is probably one of the more grueling tests of my endurance for the over welling smell of burnt pork, drunk idiots and loud music. Despite efforts to derail me for work related training a second year around, I was able to join up with the Usual Saucepects for a great year and 10th in the RIBS division. Top 10 is a pretty big deal! Big props to all my team mates and our Pitmaster Troy Black! It was one hell of a week! Thanks to everyone that came by and hung out with us. Can’t wait til’ next year! #UsualSaucepects
