The Part-Time DJ: Love My Music, Love Me

[Swifty]

So very funny.

From Saturday's Globe and Mail (although some parts seem like they could be from The Onion):

The part-time DJ: Love my music, love me
By TRALEE PEARCE
Saturday, July 12, 2003 - Page L1


I knew it when, at a recent party, I heard three different people say "I DJ at a club. You should come."

There was the actress with a regular DJ night at a cocktail bar. A fashion designer handing out flyers for a concert/ political event she's spinning tunes at and a graphic designer with a regular gig at a lounge. I'm certain that if I had just met a few more people, I could fill up an entire week's itinerary.

These days, everyone's a DJ.

In addition to turntablists who make their living by their music obsession, there are otherwise gainfully employed people moonlighting for something way more elusive than money. It's the basement record collection elevated to centre stage: the music geek as rock star. Just think of John Cusack in High Fidelity: Love my music, love me.

At groovy club The Apt in New York, DJs Andrew & Andrew host regular events with two iPods. Club goers can choose seven minutes worth of songs, thus DJing a set.

"They have a voice," one of the Andrews told the New York Post, "They can show people what music they identify with. It's for the people. It's democratic."

Movie stars are itching to get behind the decks in Hollywood. Some, like actor Jason Lee, would rather spin than front a rock band like Keanu. And as part of his neverending 21st birthday celebrations, cool kid Prince William hit the turntables at a charity event recently. Three Toronto music critics -- Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star, Kieran Grant, formerly of the Toronto Sun, now at Eye Weekly, and Matt Galloway of Now Magazine -- band together for a quasi-regular DJ gig, titillating their pals with pure music geek arcana. One of the personal trainers who owns my gym performs DJ gigs across town, for heaven's sakes.

But, like playing guitar, isn't DJing a specialized skill?

Graphic designer/filmmaker Pablo Mozo, who DJs under the moniker Mr. Mozo at Toronto's Chelsea Room on Thursday evenings, says it's just playing songs.

"You have a CD collection? You can be a DJ," Mozo, 31, says. "Real DJs want you to think it's all hard -- 'Don't touch those knobs.' "

When I ask about what the important buttons on the mixing board are, he deadpans, "Uh, treble. Bass."

All kidding aside, Mozo calls his style "poor man's DJing." He doesn't match beats between songs, or any other fancy tricks. "When a song fades, you hit play for the next. Simple."

And, with the advent of the iPod, you don't even have to schlep records or CDs any more. Mozo relies mostly on his 1,500-song iPod. Even career DJs like Canada's Richie Hawtin have moved to iPods, and MacIntosh is reportedly working on a professional version that will include more bells and whistles.

For Mozo, DJing is all about sharing his love of music. "It's like going to your older brother's bedroom, hearing a song, and saying, 'Dude, that song's so cool.' It's an ego trip for your record collection."

Ironic juxtaposition is, of course, de rigeur. Mozo regularly plays such disparate songs as Guns N'Roses' cheesy rock song Paradise City, Foreigner's classic 70s tune Jukebox Heroes and more recent electro-punk like A.R.E. Weapons' Don't Be Scared back-to-back.

Imax film producer Doug Hylton is also a music moonlighter. If you're out for a swanky lunch with the Los Angeles-based Canadian expat, take a peek at his Platinum card: It bears his DJ name, "Disco."

"My DJ name is tied into my personality," he says on the phone. "I'm an upbeat guy. I'm very happy. You can say disco sucks, but I don't think anyone does any more. There is something so infectious about it. You can't say Get Down Tonight by K.C. and the Sunshine Band doesn't make you shuffle a bit."

Hylton, 38, who DJed seriously during his time at McGill University, now spins at several parties a year, including a 2,000-person New Year's Eve extravaganza at the L.A. mansion of fellow Canuck Dan Waters (he wrote Heathers and Batman II) and a fundraiser for Bet Tzedek, an L.A. charity that provides free legal aid. This year's "Justice Ball" is tonight, and sharing the bill with Disco is none other than Macy Gray. He expects another 2,000 partiers.

In this milieu, three-minute songs stand as shorthand for entire teenage histories, musical obsessions and pop-cultural movements. ("If I could DJ movies, I would. But they're two hours long," says Mozo.) It is the job of the amateur DJ, because he or she doesn't have to worry about the latest trends, to conjure up these potent cultural moments.

Like Mozo, Hylton knows to keep it universal. "When I started in university, I didn't know any of the fancy DJ stuff, but I did know, 'This is a song to dance to. And this song isn't.' "

He swings from AC/DC to Barry Manilow. A favourite tune? Night Ranger by Sister Christian. "The people at my parties might dance twice a year. They go to Uncle Sol's third wedding in West Palm and they dance at one of my parties. They don't need to hear Crispy Ambulance's new single."

Moving a crowd is his skill, he says. And he readily admits he carries his fun-loving DJ persona into his professional life.

"I can go back and forth. I can be Douglas R. Hylton, Upper Canada College uber-WASP MBA guy and I can completely go to this very gregarious, big personality."

Which is not a bad thing in Hollywood. He's producing an Imax movie right now on Nascar racing.

"That's when the director will say to me, we need a little Disco," he says. "And that simply means, the officials are not letting us on the track or we can't get any cars. Just send in Doug. Don't ask how he's doing it, but 15 minutes later we can stay all night and I've got 30 cars on the track."

[coreyj5]

That is hilarious. I must say I am bummed out that djs are moving away from vinyl. There's some awesome stuff you can do with vinyl that you can't with a cd player (although even that is changing). Plus it makes collecting a little more challenging than just downloading a song.

[Lawrence]

So very funny.

From Saturday's Globe and Mail (although some parts seem like they could be from The Onion):

* * * *
"You have a CD collection? You can be a DJ," Mozo, 31, says. "Real DJs want you to think it's all hard -- 'Don't touch those knobs.' "

* * * *

For Mozo, DJing is all about sharing his love of music. "It's like going to your older brother's bedroom, hearing a song, and saying, 'Dude, that song's so cool.' It's an ego trip for your record collection."

These two sentences really sum it up. When it all comes down to it, it really is rather simple.