For now, this blog will serve as my website. Baby steps, people! I fell ass-backwards into DJing in 1995 when my cousin Paul, brother Ed, roommate Fran, buddy Seth and I used to throw parties in Chicago. We'd split the cost of room rental and bar inventory, make fliers and invite everyone we knew. Seth got us a sweet rate on the rental, half of a high-rise penthouse floor on Lake Shore Drive. Ed tended bar and brought the Fairmont and House of Blues crowds. Paul brought the Northwestern grads, the kids who f**ked up the Bell curve for the rest of us in school. Fran brought the Glengarry Glen Ross crowd. I played the music, using an old but powerful hi-fi system with huge speakers made when they doubled as furniture (I wonder if any speaker manufacturer's motto in the 70s was, "we're not afraid to use a lot of wood"), a couple CD players and a certain disposition. Those parties were legendary. The first one fell on a night when the weather was -40 with the windchill, coldest night of the year in a city already known for its cold. The room held 200. 300 showed up. Something... I'm not sure exactly what... was born that night.
I didn't fancy myself a DJ back then. Someone I didn't know called to ask if I was available to play a Leukemia Foundation fundraiser at a bar called Parkway Tavern. I advised her, I am not a DJ. She laughed and said, "Yeah, I've been to your parties." I was tickled that someone I'd never met was calling to exploit my apparent skill of playing the right music in the right sequence to help make a party more fun. I don't even know how she got my number. And so it was. The event was off the hook, everyone had a blast and they raised a ton of bread. Since then, a few years in Chicago and a few in Seattle, word of mouth has kept me just busy enough to never grow tired of playing music for people at events. Alas, I am a DJ.
My strong suit is not that I'm flashy with a bag of tricks and the technical dexterity to beat-match and sample your socks off - I'm none of those things, really. What I bring to the party is a thoughtful approach to the music that will enhance your event.
Need a DJ? Let me know! sodapopseattle@gmail.com
