DJ

Dj PiperCub.

Originally uploaded by bluemarvel.

Since I’m DJing in Buffalo two weeks from tonight, I thought I should get some practice in using nothing but the PowerBook to spin up the tunes. Notice in the picture that the dual deck CD player does nothing more than provide a stand for the computer. My, how technology changes.

When I first started out I used nothing but vinyl, since compact disks were a very young technology at the time. I’m quite proud of my mixing skills when it comes to vinyl but I’m not happy with how I do with CDs. I’m finding that I can adapt to using the computer and USB DJ console much more because it gives me that “vinyl feeling”.

Ah, the good old days. But here’s to the good new days!

As I was busy reassembling my music library today, I was delighted to find a CD single I’ve been looking for since Earl and I moved into this house almost three years ago. It’s my favorite record of all time.

BT, “Remember”.

I remember when I first discovered BT’s music. His album ESCM arrived on my desk at the radio station back in 1996. Unfamiliar with this BT, the CD didn’t make it to the weekly music meetings for a number of weeks. There were no record reps calling me begging me for airplay. It wasn’t even mentioned in the trades.

When I first started out as a Program Director I used to screen new music by throwing it in the CD player in the car and going for a drive. I figured most listeners listened to the radio in the car, so I would do the same to see if the song was good or not. If I liked it, the CD case stayed in the passenger seat. If I didn’t think it worked, it got thrown in the back seat. If I really hated the record, it got thrown on the floor of the back seat and then into the dumpster when I got back to the station. It was a system that worked well for a number of years, until the station became overwhelmed with music. Then the music director and I would just plop CDs in one of the payola boomboxes we had, listen to the first 30 seconds and if it grabbed us, go another 30 seconds, otherwise it was tossed in the garbage bin. I seem to remember records scoring higher if they were wrapped in colored paper instead of the traditional white flyer. By the way, Britney Spears’ “Hit Me Baby (One More Time)” went into the trash bin after the first 30 seconds, right down the same road as the Spice Girls “Wannabe”. No one ever said the 30 second rule accounted for bad public taste.

Anyways, I distinctly remember listening to BT’s full length CD, “ESCM” and being absolutely gripped by the amazing use of technology on all his tracks. I ended up going for an extra long ride that day back in 1997 because I wanted to listen to the whole CD before going back to the station. The CD flowed, I was swayed and my ears felt caressed. While it was never a big Top 40 hit, “Remember” gained a permanent spot on the station playlist and in the mix shows.

I’m glad to have found the CD. It’s once again found a place of prominence in the music library.

Here’s the track on Amazon if you want to take a listen. The vocals on “Remember” are by Jan Johnston.

This weekend has flown by and unfortunately I have accomplished very little of what I had on my “to do” list. The floors haven’t been vacuumed, the furniture hasn’t been dusted and the cat litter hasn’t been changed.

I’ve been too busy playing in the music studio.

I’ve been asked to DJ at bear night in Buffalo in October. The last time I DJ’d was at bear night in Buffalo last September, so it’s been a little while. I’ve been messing around with the equipment here at home in the meantime, and while it’s quite enjoyable, I don’t get the “rush” I usually get when I see a crowded dance floor with lots of hot, sweaty people doing their best gyrations to the music I’m playing. Maybe I should play some videos or something here at the house but I don’t think that’ll be the same either.

Earl and I did go out to the local bar for a few drinks Friday night to survey the current gay club scene in Utica. Sigh. Times have changed and occasionally I feel like an obsolete model when we go out locally, as the folks here all like that hip-hoppy, shuffle like you’re depressed music that doesn’t have any energy behind it whatsoever. I don’t know why that’s the case since when we go out in other cities, the music is still quite acceptable. So Friday night I told the bartender, that would be first Earl, that I would gladly spin one or two nights over the next couple of months to see if there’s any interest. I’ll probably have to keep pestering them about it, just like I did way back in 1992 when I first started spinning there.

Meanwhile, I’m currently recording my favorite 12-inch singles into my PowerBook, after running them through a program called “ClickRepair” which does a really good job of getting rid of the clicks and pops time has put on my precious vinyl. I’ve done three records so far: “You Keep Me Hanging On” by Reba McEntire, “That’s What Love Can Do” by Boy Krazy and “Happy” by Legacy of Sound featuring Meja. I shudder to think that these three tracks are at least a decade old. I’ve got about 40 or 50 more to go to be ready for bear night. While the vinyl is recording, I’m messing on the other computer getting the feel for the software I use to spin.

Thank the Universe I haven’t lost my touch.

Perhaps I’ll have to put together a mix MP3 to share.

I’ve recently acquired some new toys in my music studio here at the house that allows me to do some really nifty stuff. Do people say “nifty” anymore? “How cute is he? Oh he’s ‘nifty'”. Hmm, I don’t think nifty is a common phrase anymore.

Well my new toys are nifty. And groovy. And keen.

Anyways, I have a couple of remix ideas floating around in my head that I’m hoping to get down on virtual tape over the next couple of weeks. One of these ideas includes remixing an upbeat Carpenters track to adapt it for a dance floor. I realize the mound of legalities involved with that, so it would never, ever be commercially released in any shape or form but I’d still like to play around with the track in the studio, even if only for learning purposes and my own amazement.

I think Karen Carpenter has _the most beautiful_ pop female voice ever. Ever. Hands down, bar none. She has a natural musicality about her that has not been duplicated to this day, regardless of how many try with electronic gizmos. She was truly a talented musician and when she passed on at such a young age this world truly lost something special.

Because of the great respect I have for The Carpenters’ music, I’m wondering if today’s audience would be receptive to a remixing of one of their uptempo tracks or if it would just smack too close to tacky. I’m not talking about vocal or instrumental replacement in the track, but rather percussion and instrumental augmentation to make it a little more danceable. I shudder when I hear these remixes on satellite radio; some dance diva wannabe taking an 80s ballad, croaking it out with lots of electronic processing and then proclaiming a dance hit. That’s not what I’m looking for. I’m looking to preserve the music of the Carpenters by bringing a slightly updated sound to it for modern audiences to enjoy.

Am I crazy?

I admitted this onMark’s blog the other day, so I figure I might as well come clean and admit it right here on my blog too.

I love 80s and 90s mass produced music by Stock Aiken & Waterman. Dare I say, my love for this “hit factory” music was a driving force in my becoming a club DJ in the late 1980s.

There I’ve said it.

If you’re not familiar with producers Stock, Aiken and Waterman, here’s some titles that may revive some memories (or nightmares) for you:

Rick Astley, “Never Gonna Give You Up” and “Together Forever”
Donna Summer, “This Time I Know Its For Real”
Dead or Alive, “You Spin Me ‘Round”
Boy Krazy, “That’s What Love Can Do”
Bananarama, “I Heard A Rumor”, “Venus” and just about everything else they ever released
and the dance diva herself, Kylie Minogue, “The Locomotion” and “I Should Be So Lucky”.

Through the wonders of YouTube, I’ve found some beefcake and musical nuggets from the late 80s and early 90s to share. Enjoy.

Jason Donovan, “Too Many Broken Hearts”
Kylie Minogue, “I Should Be So Lucky”
Sonia, “You’ll Never Stop Me From Lovin’ You

Now where are my cassette singles?

###

While I was surfing around on YouTube, I came across another bunch of 80s gems by Alisha:

Into My Secret
Baby Talk

Alisha performed at one of the radio station concerts we hosted in the late 1990s. As program director, I asked the music director if he could get a hold of “Alisha’s people” as our retro act for the show. I about pooped my pants when he got her to sign on! As I recall she was very nice when we met her and put on a great show.

As the waning hours of on-call fall away, I’m busying myself looking up music videos on You Tube. I must be feeling the need for hitting a dance floor in a retro club or something, because here’s what I’ve been watching tonight:

Sonia – Never Stop Me Loving You.

Hazell Dean – Love Pains.

Sinitta – Right Back Where We Started From.

Nu Shooz – I Can’t Wait.

Will To Power – Fading Away.

I seriously need to get out of the house.

It’s time for a Saturday Night dance break. We’re going back to 1991 for this one and it’s one of my favorite dance tracks of all time.

Watch the video for Boy Krazy – That’s What Love Can Do.

I have a song stuck in my head this morning. Do you think I’m doing a little bit of daydreaming at my desk?

“Summertime, Summertime”, Nocera, 1987.

Take me, take me to the water
Summertime, Summertime
Maybe, we can fall in love
In Summertime, Summertime

So I was catching up on blog reading and came across Jimbo.Info (one of my favorites) and read about a new dance track is shooting up the charts in Europe and is hitting the trendy clubs here in the States. It’s by Global Deejays and it’s called “Stars On 45”.

Oh. My. God.

Stars On 45, also known as just “Stars On”, made all those medleys that were big in the early 1980s. There were two Beatles medleys, a smattering of Abba hits, “Stars On Stevie” and many more. I was a Stars On 45 fanatic in my early teens and still have all three of their albums, appropriately named “Stars On Long Play” (and II and III).

I taught myself to beatmix by lining up the hand claps on the 2nd and 4th beat of every Stars On 45 record. I made my own medleys. My interest in radio and recorded music was spawned by Stars On 45.

And now Global Deejays has mixed their “Stars On 45” jingle tags into a house track. Here’s a sample you can listen to.

Being in a “music” mood of sorts today, I did some searching around on the internet to see if my two favorite groups from my teen years, The Human League and Animotion, were out on tour these days. I would love to see these two groups perform.

Imagine my surprise to see that they performed *together* in Las Vegas recently! Hello? Where was my invitation? And to think I still have the letter I received from Astrid Plane back in 1985 in response to a fan letter I had written.

It seems like I never have any luck trying to meet The Human League either. I tried pulling strings back when I was a program director for the radio station, no dice. I had to sit in the audience like everyone else.

The closest I can get right now is this lucky fan’s photo on the internet. Time to crank up the iPod baby.

Astrid Plane of Animotion and Susan Sulley and Joanne Catherall of The Human League with an unidentified fan.