 |
|
|
BACK TO THE ESSENCE:
Diary of a Mad DJ
FRI:
Ship two 12" singles -- R.A. The Rugged Man "50,000 Heads" and M.F. Doom "Greenbacks" -- to a guy in Bloomington, Minnesota. Total price: $54.
Scheduled to DJ a party at Itisness for $50. Should have known better than to accept another invitation from them. One time I played there, and got totally burned by the other DJ they hired (we'll call him DJ Cock-bloc). But turns out the party gets cancelled. With no party to DJ, I go digging for records. Come across a white label 12" EP containing Nice & Smooth "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow," 3rd Bass "Brooklyn-Queens," D-Nice "Call Me D-Nice," and ATCQ "Bonita Applebum Remix.". At another store, I discover a sealed reissue of Various Artists Live Convention '81 for $11.95. Kinda hesitant at first, because it's a reissue. But I'm smelling cheddar.
Get back home and some friends invite me to go see Lifesavas and Blak Scienz Tribe at the Meow Meow. We get to the show and the place is empty. I bail. Get back home and my housemate, Cole, invites me to a toga party. Whatever... I'm game. Get to the party and they're playing ragga. Everybody is dancing. Figure I should go get Daddy Freddy Stress out of the car. I give it to the host, but he never plays it. Instead, he and some friends take turns playing drums along with the stereo. Half the crowd flees to the porch, while the other half gets in touch with its hippy spirit. At this point I realize I've lost my keys. Fucking left 'em in the car! But it's not a total loss, as the AAA locksmith tells me I should check for Dennis Chambers drum breaks.
SAT:
Up around 2:30pm. Make breakfast. Get a message from VERS, asking if I want to DJ a party that night. Before heading out to buy some records, I return a meat grinder to my friend Gabe. He gives me some records I loaned him: Doug E. Fresh "The Show" and Spoonie G. "Spoonin' Rap". Blast off to Platinum Records and grab a copy of Dusty Fingers Volume Three, which includes breaks for Pacewon "I Declare War" and Encore "Spectacular". Return home and do my usual pre-party preparations: grab a crate's worth of records, check some bpms, and find some sure-shots.
Get to the party around 9:30pm. It's relatively quiet. I spin some records and the crew is feeling it. By midnight the apartment is packed. Gutrot no longer has room to do windmills on the carpet. A cipher has formed, but it's hard to hear it over the noise. Someone holds the vocal amp above the crowd. Random people stream into the apartment and head for the cipher. Tension is rising. I stop the music and tell the crowd to shut up. People hardly notice if the music is on or off. What's this... the cops are outside?! The party comes to a grinding halt. There are about 100 people in a 10'x15' space. Finally, around 2:00, I am able to get out from behind the decks. Turns out the cops never even showed up... it was just a trick to get people out of the apartment.
SUN:
After a greasy, bacon-friend breakfast, I head offf to a record convention. The selection is disappointing. I go through every reggae, hip hop, funk, and soul crate. I am lucky to find a copy of L.A. Dream Team "Calling on the Dream Team," for $4. My tranquil Sunday jaunt is not without incident... I have a run-in with DJ Cock-Bloc. He's working a table. When he sees me passing by, he shoves a $15 copy of O'donel Levy Simba in my face, proclaiming it the "funkiest" record at the convention. He says so-and-so samples it. Asks me if I'm into funky jazz. I tell him I'm broke. And that I'm looking for records to sell. "That's too bad," he replies.
Finish up the weekend by putting Various Artists Live Convention '81 up for sale on eBay. Minimum bid: $49.99.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
