Eighth Dimension (badmood@earthlink.net)
Thu, 9 Sep 1999 13:51:57 -0500
At 12:54 PM +0000 on 9/9/99, jason egbuna wrote:
> djs are paid enough when they prove that they're talented. we've all seen
> how big some djs have gotten over the years, but it only happens out of
> respect for their talent (Carl "King" Cox, Super dj Keoke (sp?), etc.).
keep in mind , with any 'celebrity' situation , the driving force is the
cult of personality ... I doubt many people go to hear Keoki spin to hear
his skills and selection ... instead they pay big bucks to be in the same
room with the 'bad boy of techno' ... and , honestly , if the promoter is
going to charge $20+ dollars for an event that Keoki headlines , and his
'personality' is the draw , then Keoki deserves to clock the dollars .
Really .
To create a bad analogy , it is like the controversy that always arises
over basketball players' salaries ... I feel that if people are going to
pay high ticket prices to be in the same stadium with Michael Jordan and
the venue is going to follow through and charge a lot , then Mr. Jordan
should stash all the mad cash he can ... follow me ? (though obviously I'm
not including talent in this equation as we know Jordan could mop the court
with Keoki anytime ... ha ha)
The promoters are going to charge large amounts regardless because that's
the way they are ... so the DJ / draw should obviously make a good portion
of that , instead of the promoter pocketing it all (which happens half the
time anyway) ....
> there is one place where there's nowhere to hide, it's behind the tables. if
> you suck, you will be exposed, and never paid.
When the 'cult of personality' strikes , sucking is not an issue ,
unfortunately ... I've heard people brag about hearing DJs sets where the
DJ was so messed up he couldn't spin and was falling over etc ... but they
had a great time and got their moneys worth because they were watching this
famous person screw up ... I'm not saying it's right ... just the way it is
...
Just be thankful there are DJs like Gilles Peterson who can walk the line
between being a personality and educating with some banging new tunes , eh ?
> as for vinyl vs. cd mixing...can we really call anybody who "spins" cds a
> real dj? c'mon, it's too simple, and you really can't do a whole lot with it
> once you've got it going...
Wrong-o ... you've obviously never tried ... I mean REALLY tried ...
I take a Pioneer CD player with me whenever I play out ... two turntables
and this baby , and it's all over ... you can do things with turntables
that you could never do with CDs , but the opposite is true also ... when
you combine the two you can do all sorts of dancefloor rocking techniques
and tricks ...
The last time I saw DJ Smash spin , he played nothing but CDs ... he
beatmatched perfectly (which isn't that easy on CDs, really ...) , did
plenty of tricks and backcues , crazy stuff involving stuttering the CDs
with the pause , and even had tons of his own acapellas and sound effects
burned on CD to manipulate ... he rocked it as well as any turntable DJ
could ...
To knock a new technology like CD-mixing is like saying hip hop isn't music
because it doesn't use live instruments ... it's what you do with the
technology , bro , and how you can twist it and turn it and make it
something that wasn't intended ...
As Dirk said here as well --> it doesn't really matter in the long run
because you're always striving for the same end result : to rock the crowd .
-Michael Q-Burns a m
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