What I Learned From My First Ever DJ Set!!!

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

OK so I played a show in Virginia this past weekend and a couple of weeks ago they asked me "do you want to DJ at this local bar where they have DJs afterwards?" and thinking about how I usually turn down any offers to have fun after the show (owing to my seething hatred of fun), I thought I'd sort of step out of myself for once, and said "sure." Hadn't ever worked a crossfader, half my vinyl's still back home in California, etc. etc.

So I combed through my records and grabbed anything that I thought might make people dance, and when I had a spare hour in VA I went shopping and bought 1) that Panjabi MC single with Jay-Z on it and 2) a beautifully preserved copy of Biz Markie's "Just a Friend" and after the show I went over to the bar, more and more nervous, kind of relieved that there weren't many people there just in case I sucked at DJ'ing, and then there I was. Opened with Eric B & Rakim's "Follow the Leader" and...PEOPLE DANCED! And it was so exciting! The electro stuff I played didn't get that much of a response, the Panjabi MC/Jay-Z track got the biggest response of the evening (lots of shouting, highest concentration of people on the dance floor), the Biz Markie went over great, and, surprisingly, the second best-receieved song of the set was Romeo Void's "Never Say Never."

Oh my God it is so much fun to do stuff that isn't in the stuff-you'd-normally-find-yourself-doing file! I am still giddy about it!

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 8 September 2003 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

re: the thread title, the lesson of the set, clear as crystal, was:

THE PEOPLE WANT TO HEAR HIP HOP

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 8 September 2003 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

second lesson, somebody needs to base a hip-hop track on "Never Say Never"

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 8 September 2003 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

did you play the new posh spice single?

― gabbo giftington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 8 September 2003 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

or "save the gorillas"?

― gabbo giftington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 8 September 2003 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

oh you can believe that if I'd've known about "Save the Gorillas" before the weekend I'd have lathe-cut a copy my damned self

funniest moment of set: the hip-hop DJ who'd preceded me comes up during a song, sez "what's your DJ name, I wanna hype up the crowd" and of course I have no DJ name so I said "umm, I don't know, Johnny D" and the guy grabs a mic and there in all his backwards-baseball-cap glory starts up with the "All right all right! Give it up for DJ Johnny D! Let me hear y'all!" and the floor filled up again even though I was playing some downtempo indie hiphop at that point and he just kept on big-upping me and it RULED

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 8 September 2003 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

hi, lesson number 3. you let DJ Jason D know where your records are in california because if you're not listening to them, somebody should be....

― JasonD (JasonD), Monday, 8 September 2003 17:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Where were you in Virginia, John? Wish I'd have been there.

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 8 September 2003 21:07 (twenty-one years ago)

RoXor! DJing is awesome fun especially if people dance. One day Club FT will find a location where dancing is the idea rather than boozing. OK 'as well as'.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 8 September 2003 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Hrmph. Yer lucky. Almost every time I've dropped 'Big Pimpin' or 'Bassline' or something no fucker danced. Ever. The biggest crowd response I've ever got was about four of my mates dancing to Kishore Kumar in a nearly empty room.
Mind you I've always DJed in places in London and Brighton where people are more interested in discussing their Bark Psychosis rarities than dancing so that may be the problem.

― Myron Kosloff, Monday, 8 September 2003 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

No one danced when I played 'Into the Groove', even.

― Myron Kosloff, Monday, 8 September 2003 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Where were you in Virginia, John? Wish I'd have been there.

Richmond! At a Red Roof Inn most of the weekend, exhausting all possible television options.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 8 September 2003 22:19 (twenty-one years ago)

It is fun isn't it? I got everyone dancing to Lord Kitchener's "London Is The Place For Me" the other week by cunningly slipping it inbetween "Train In Vain" and, er, Altern 8...makes life worth living, really.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Tuesday, 9 September 2003 10:19 (twenty-one years ago)

my lesson from djing - and dont call me mysogynistic. it seems, quite frankly that for people to dance you need GURLS to be present. Or at least, this makes the phenomenon more likely.

― ambrose (ambrose), Tuesday, 9 September 2003 10:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Richmond! At a Red Roof Inn most of the weekend, exhausting all possible television options.

Damn I wish I would have known -- I would have been there (I'm in Richmond.)

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 9 September 2003 10:52 (twenty-one years ago)

ambrose is right, if the girls don't dance you ain't got a chance

― s1utsky (slutsky), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 03:40 (twenty-one years ago)

the song that went off the most last time i played was "obstacle 1"

― the surface noise (electricsound), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 03:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Soul of any kind usually works, lesser known indie/punk don´t here in STockholm

― Jens (brighter), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 10:26 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.