Why are all the DJs male?

Message

gatorgal · #46 Post by **gatorgal** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 7:52 am

This thread has been a very interesting read since I am a new DJ in an area of the country where there are few, if any female DJs in my neck of the woods. It's lonely country here... as a matter of fact, if there are any female DJs in Florida, or the Southeast in general, please speak up!

According to some of the comments, I'm not your typical female DJ... I don't have any background in music or singing and I don't have a mathematical/engineering/computer based job. I wasn't exposed to Jazz or Big Band music until I started dancing about 5/6 years ago.

I started DJing because of a "Guest DJ" night and have been very cognizant (sp?) of the lack of ladies who like to spin. It's one of the big reasons I keep at it, since I have been exposed to my fair share of jerks when I've been playing. Luckily, the local guys as well as some of the fellas in Tampa have been very supportive.

If anyone has any new thoughts or anecdotes since the last post here (June, I think) I'd love to read them.

Tina

Swingwombat · #47 Post by **Swingwombat** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 5:55 pm

Hi All

Di From Melbourne Australia here with a hand up as a new Dj downunder.

We have had a few girls starting to develop an interest in DJing latly and it's been great.

I too have a musical and Math background! I sing and Have a degree in Pure Maths (Very nerdy no use to anyone

)

I love the music, I love the dancing sothe natural progression with me was to share the music I love with the poeple I love dancing with

Di

shortyjul · #48 Post by **shortyjul** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 11:27 pm

i started djing shortly after i started dancing because the other djs sucked and most of my friends were lazy.

i still dj because most other djs suck and most of my friends are too lazy.

i miss the supershot of estrogen i used to get when djing with andy.

i would like to think that my dj ability comes from my ability to listen - i learned to listen to music at a very young age - i moved from music boxes and "free to be you and me" albums to my very own panasonic am radio. i felt like i had truly reached a level of listening prowess when i was able to sit through our 5th grade band concert for the entire 25 minutes. i would like to thank mr. jacobus for encouraging my listening - if we didn't listen, he'd throw erasers at us.

i also learned to push buttons at a very early age - i'd like to thank my see -n- say for that.

all of that has come together to make me the dj that i am today.

thank god for djs. god bless us, everyone.

gatorgal · #49 Post by **gatorgal** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 9:36 am

Swingwombat wrote:Hi All

Di From Melbourne Australia here with a hand up as a new Dj downunder.

We have had a few girls starting to develop an interest in DJing latly and it's been great.

I too have a musical and Math background! I sing and Have a degree in Pure Maths (Very nerdy no use to anyone )

I love the music, I love the dancing sothe natural progression with me was to share the music I love with the poeple I love dancing with

Di

Now see, in my narrow American-centric view of the world I didn't even think about the phenomenon (sp?) of female DJs in other parts of the world. I wonder if you have to deal with the same gender issues that we have in American society. These are the things I wonder about as I goof off from work on a Friday.

Keep up the good work, Swingwombat! (What the hell is a wombat, anyway?

)

Tina

gatorgal · #50 Post by **gatorgal** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 9:37 am

shortyjul wrote: thank god for djs. god bless us, everyone.

Ditto.

Tina

julius · #51 Post by **julius** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 1:14 pm

sometimes i can't tell if julie is being serious or not and that worries me.

Swingwombat · #52 Post by **Swingwombat** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 7:31 pm

gatorgal wrote:
Keep up the good work, Swingwombat! (What the hell is a wombat, anyway? )

Tina

Wombat

this is!

Di

Platypus · #53 Post by **Platypus** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 8:15 pm

Think we can round up a koala, kangaroo, and maybe an emu too?

Glad to see some of my dad's countrywomen hanging out on the boards! Looking forward to getting to know y'all.
Kristina

djstarr · #54 Post by **djstarr** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 4:40 pm

So is this now officially the female DJ thread? Nice to see more ladies posting here!

I DJ'ed last night at a venue called "The Hot Jazz Club" in Vancouver; Joel (from B.C.) has a monthly dance there; last night he had three female DJ's and billed it as "Hot Women in the Hot Jazz".

It was a lot of fun; we dressed up, and I played an hour set that was all about women - "Rosalie", "Peg of My Heart", "Satin Doll", "Clementine", "Katy Did" - it was fun! Made me go through my book and pick out some new tunes to play.

And those of you who know Lucy should have seen her last night - definitely hot stuff.......

Swingwombat · #55 Post by **Swingwombat** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 8:21 pm

I've been organising (in the back of my head) a night of all femaile swing.

Not just the singers, but the musicians, arrangers and leaders, the only problem is some of the stuff is almost impossible to get down here! I guess I'll have to save up my pennies and go online and search 'em out.

Got a great Mary Lou Williams Live at the Keystone Korner that I love to listen too. not too much for dancing but boy can she play!!

I Even have a name for the Night

"A Womans Place is In The Groove" it's a song by The Vivien Garry Quintet that I found on an album of the same name A Womans Place is In The Groove

Got some really great woman jazz pieces

Di

gatorgal · #56 Post by **gatorgal** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 6:50 am

djstarr wrote:So is this now officially the female DJ thread? Nice to see more ladies posting here!

I think that's my fault... just wanted a little estrogen shot, since I've been surrounded by the fellas who DJ here a lot. It can be bit... interesting... at times.

Tina

gatorgal · #57 Post by **gatorgal** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 6:59 am

Swingwombat wrote:I've been organising (in the back of my head) a night of all femaile swing.

Not just the singers, but the musicians, arrangers and leaders, the only problem is some of the stuff is almost impossible to get down here! I guess I'll have to save up my pennies and go online and search 'em out.

Got a great Mary Lou Williams Live at the Keystone Korner that I love to listen too. not too much for dancing but boy can she play!!

I Even have a name for the Night

"A Womans Place is In The Groove" it's a song by The Vivien Garry Quintet that I found on an album of the same name A Womans Place is In The Groove

Got some really great woman jazz pieces

Di

That sounds really cool.... good luck!

Tina

djstarr · #58 Post by **djstarr** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 11:41 am

gatorgal wrote:
djstarr wrote:So is this now officially the female DJ thread? Nice to see more ladies posting here!
I think that's my fault... just wanted a little estrogen shot, since I've been surrounded by the fellas who DJ here a lot. It can be bit... interesting... at times.

Tina

no worries - I just think it's funny since when I first started reading the forum, this was the first thread I responded to. Why are all the DJ's male? geez - they're not

djstarr · #59 Post by **djstarr** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 11:44 am

Swingwombat wrote:I've been organising (in the back of my head) a night of all femaile swing.
.............
I Even have a name for the Night

"A Womans Place is In The Groove"

that's a great idea! Please post the set list once you put it together - that looks like a good album.

Swingwombat · #60 Post by **Swingwombat** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 12:52 am

gatorgal wrote: I wonder if you have to deal with the same gender issues that we have in American society?

I've been chewing on this question for the past couple of weeks and decided that the answer is probably not.

The swing scene is relatively new in Australia, there are a few people who have been dancing for years but in reality 4-5 years old is about it.

I have to just speak for Melbourne for the rest as I don't really know how things are going in the other states but I gather pretty much the same.

DJing has really only just started to be recognised as anything more than the guy who puts on the cd in the last 6-12 months. There have been a few long term DJ's (Zot

being one of them) but alot of time and effort lately, has been put into making dancers and people putting on events, see that what DJ's do is important to the all around feel of an evening.

Because of this all Dj's in Melbourne are learning and growing together and face the same difficulties. There are not as many female DJ's but if anything we get as good if not great response from the dancers as the boys. I feel I am as much of the Melbourne DJ community as any of the boys.

Di