Interview with David Mancuso

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Matthew
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Joined: Sat May 17, 2003 7:31 am
Location: St. Petersburg, Florida

Interview with David Mancuso

#1 Post by Matthew » Fri Dec 30, 2005 4:54 am

I came across an interview with legendary DJ, David Mancuso, and it's got some stuff that I think swing DJs would find interesting. It appears to be from 2002. You can read the whole thing at: http://www.attitude-nocturne.ch/retro/a ... ancuso.htm.

Here are some cool bits.
RN: SO HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHAT IS A WORTHY RECORD TO PLAY, AS FAR AS NEW RECORDS ?

DM : I try not to. If someone brings in a record, I'll see what happens. I'm talking about someone, from a record company or whatever, who's been coming to the party, maybe I've known them for ten years. There's a reason why they brought the record. Sometimes if I know the person well - Kenny Carpenter walked in one night, so to break down this whole thing of what you have to go through... So he came in with a record and I said okay, put it on. So he came in with a record, hoping that it will be played at the Loft, and here is walking in with the record, and next thing you know he's putting the record on himself, I like that. It's giving him full opportunity, and again it's a form of musicianship, if you don't let the egos get in the way.
RN: BUT THERE'S SO MUCH STUFF THAT COMES OUT IN SO MANY DIFFERENT GENRES AND I JUST WONDERED WHAT YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS IS IN TERMS OF CHOOSING RECORDS OUT OF THAT ?

DM : A lot of times it will come this way. There will be a record that's sitting there and I haven't listened to it yet and I happen to know that title is there and someone will ask me if I have it. So I'll play it. And that's how I get introduced to the record.
(Talking about the sound system in the Loft)

...A recording studio... I mean it's amazing any music can come out of one, once you walk through that door you're fucked, 'cause they have to add this, that, bla bla bla. There's a man who has two microphones, two tape decks, and he'll ask what kind of sound you want and he'll find the room for that sound, whether it's a gymnasium or an auditorium or whatever, but once you try and do what he's doing with machinery it's like going back... I don't care how clear the glass is, it's slowly but surely going to affect what goes. The thing I most resent is people saying, 'but they won't hear the difference.' I don't believe that, I just don't believe that, I can't accept that. There is a third ear.
RN: LET'S TALK ABOUT WHO CAN GO TO THE LOFT... IT'S A MEMBERSHIP CLUB

DM : No, it's not a club, and it's not by membership. That's . . .

RN: SO EXPLAIN THOSE MISCONCEPTIONS OF MINE

DM : On your card it says 'your invitation.' A membership club, the way I always understood it is a place you join, you pay dues, whatever, it also puts you in a different category with the law, okay. I try to keep it... (lights cigarette) It's funny we both have the same lighter,... its very good, very good, that's what I'm talking about (laughter). No, it says your invitation on it, and as much as if I had the money what I would do with my place is make it more domesticated. It's gotten better, but if you didn't see certain things you might not know someone lives there. It looks like a club. But if you walk in there during the week you know someone lives there. You'll know. But it's an invitation, it says, your invitation on it, I don't charge for it. The same procedure I used from the beginning is what I still use today, it's become a tradition, and I won't fuck with it. It's kept me going 24 years, I don't need much, I just need a little place to have my parties and a little place in the mountains, that's enough for me. I'm not looking at any franchise thing or any of that stuff. That's not the way it was planned, that's not the way it happened. Even the name the Loft, I didn't name it, I just told people: 'call it whatever you want to call it.' I lived in a loft building so people eventually called it the Loft. So it's a given name. I don't advertise it, I don't publicize it, I keep it private, and it's a party. That's the whole thing. I'm not offended by the word club, but it makes it feel a little less like home. When you come in there on a Saturday it's your house too. I'm only a caretaker in a sense, like people say we belong to the land. That place is there not just because of me, because I could never afford...it's there because of everybody else. It's also a community center, I do community work, but that's something else.

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