Velanche,
about a year ago I was lucky enough to have hired Francois K. (Body & Soul)
to spin at my company's party during the CMJ Festival in NYC. As it got to
about 1:30am, the dance floor was thinning out, and Francois looked over to
me nervously and asked "what do I play?" I still have to laugh at the
concept of Francois asking me what to play. "Whatever you want man, you're
totally on point; it's the crowd that's not working" is all I could say.
Happens to the best of them.
A bit of unsolicited advice, however. Always have a stash of 'transition'
records ready. Snag 'em with something you don't think can miss (usually
something better-known, cuz they may not be there to get educated, but
rather to hear what they know), then when they're movin and groovin, slowly,
track by track, bring 'em to a new place. If you keep them moving, they may
not even realize the change has taken place...
And now a friendly dig--with the current generation of cd mixers, how could
you spend 3 hours a day practicing beat matching? You practically only need
to push a button to do it now--and they'll even let you pitch adjust!
Keep on keepin on
kevin k
dj k-now
----- Original Message -----
From: "Velanche Stewart" <vstewart@calpoly.edu>
To: <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>; <list@amtrakdjs.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2001 5:55 AM
Subject: My First Hosue Party
>
> Hello:
>
> I've just returned home from my first DJ gig at a house party. I've
> purchased a DJ CD set over eBay earlier this month. I have played with
> them for about a week and a half, spending about three hours/day
> practicing beat matching, transitions, and the like.
>
> The hip=hop DJ was spinning, and I was asked by one of the party hosts
> to take the stage (I was already at the party for 3 hours at that
> point). About two songs after I've started, the floor cleared. So after
> another song or two where the floor was either empty or have a couple
> doing its thing, I had the hip-hop guy take over once again.
>
> I had to leave to get some air, and took a walk. I've found a dark spot
> next to a parking lot of an office complex, and sat there for awhile. I
> would have kept my butt there, were it not for an SUV pulling up next to
> me. I then picked myself up and left.
>
> I've returned to the party, determined that I was going to play with my
> toys, spin good music, and do the best I was able to do. I've found out
> at that point that while I was away, the cops gave the housemates a
> warning regarding noise violation (music being too loud).
>
> After a few songs, two people turned into four...four into eight...and
> so on and so forth. In the end, there were at least two dozen folks
> dancing. As I was cueing another song to play, one of the partygoers
> (who perhaps was someone living at the place) came to me and said that
> the music had to go off...
>
> Once again, the cops made their presence known. This time, the house was
> cited for $300 for a noise violation (me, apparently. :)).
>
> But all in all, I was relieved that the tide started to turn. People
> were staying with me, and believed in feeling the musical vibes. I was
> very proud of the fact that I walked back in and was willing and ready
> to take care of business without losing my principles. Yes, I had
> several people trying to make requests and wanted to give me different
> kinds of music that they thought would be good...according to them.
>
> My thought on that one was that you were either going to be into it or
> not. If I have started to play other's music (suggestions by some of the
> dancers on the floor), I would stop having fun at that stage. So in the
> end, I did have fun...and they have fun....and clearly, they were
> disappointed when I had to suddenly shut off the mixer. :)
>
> So I suppose the moral of this story is that perservance, as in all
> things in life that are worth the time and effort, can make good
> beginnings of something close to one's being. Not everyone will feel the
> vibes, much less be into the same sort of music one is playing. All the
> better to weed out everything, and make sure that you can face yourself
> in the mirror knowing that what you feel inside of you is the right
> direction to go.
>
> Make your moves...and believe.
>
> V.
> --
> Velanche Stewart
> vstewart@calpoly.edu
> Linux, baby!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Wed Aug 29 2001 - 18:42:52 CEST