I can't believe I almost forgot to mention the Haitian relief benefit I'm playing at on the 19th alongside Mr. Ricardo, Kardinal Syn, Nexus6ix, MC Addition, and special guest (who is a last minute addition and does not appear on the flyer) DJ Bolivia. I've managed to score a peak hour set, so come on out to hear some of Chef Napalm's biggest choons. Not to mention supporting a fantastic cause, of course. As I understand it, all money will be donated to the Red Cross Fund for Haitian Relief.
Usual rules apply: come up and tell me you read about the show on Kitchen Heat and I'll buy you a drink.
Set times are:
9:00pm - 10:00pm DJ Bolivia 10:00pm - 11:00pm Mr. Ricardo 11:00pm - 11:20pm MC Addition 11:20pm - 12:30am kardynal syn 12:30am - 01:30am Chef Napalm 01:30am - 02:00am Nexus6ix
As an aside, I was inspired to design a flyer, but the promoter didn't like it. I'm still quite pround of it, tho. It's posted below.
I know that it’s coming up on two (2!) weeks since the Terrence Parker show, but it was such an inspirational experience that both Fred “Nexus6ix” and I have been busy beavers. We’ve got a bunch of irons in the fire, so to speak, but mainly it’s just been an ever-inflating creative bubble that I’m praying doesn’t pop anytime soon.
As I’m sure you’ve gathered, the show was incredible. I have never, ever, in my life seen a DJ cut-up house records the way Terrence did in the wee hours of September 20th. Most of the time I find the work of “turntablists” (Read: Scratch DJs) to be entirely un-musical. Don’t get me wrong; I admire their dexterity and sense of timing immensely, but I think there are very few who make their art truly danceable. That’s not to say they can’t be make their sets danceable, but when they do their styles become closer to that of a traditional club DJ than a scratch DJ. Terrence went the other way: he came at it from the club mixing side and applied the techniques of the turntablist. He knew those records inside and out, backwards and forwards, upside-down. He’d grab a record from his bag, put it on the platter, cue it up without using his tele-head-phone, and drop it into the mix like it was nothing. He pick out a record, cue it, and start cutting it up for awhile, put it back in his bag and mix in something else. It was less like watching a DJ and more like watching a wizard work magic or watching a saint work miracles.
To top it all off, he’s a hellova nice guy. A lot of DJs, even local guys, are at least a bit of a diva and will turn their noses up at you if you’re not “their people”. Terrence was absolutely the antithesis of the diva DJ. He seemed pleased to chat and we talked about records for at least an hour before he went on. It was a real pleasure to meet him and with any luck, I’ll be seeing him again soon.
The video below will give you a taste. The sound is terrible, but if you can get past that, there’s nothing but genius there.
The last little piece of the story happened when we had to shut it all down at 2:15am. We were packing up the gear and Terrence was talking with us and other patrons while we worked. Out of nowhere the obviously very drunk guy comes up to the both and says to Terrence, “Budweiser?”
Terrence says, “Na, man, thanks. I don’t drink.”
Drunk Dude responds, “No, for me,” and drops a couple of bucks on the booth counter.
Terrence just stares at him, stunned. “Dude, this is the DJ both. The bar is over there,” he says with a bemused chuckle.
The guy stares back at Terrence, confused. Then he responds, “Come oooon! Just gimme a beer!”
At this point Fred steps in and says, “Look, pal, do you see any liquor here?” and gestures to the wall behind the booth. “The bar is over there!”
Buddy mumbles a “Fuck you” and stumbles away.
Terrence looks back and forth between me, Fred and Tommy, eyes wide. Finally with a wry smile he says, “I spend a lot of time in clubs, but that’s a new one for me, fellas.”
It was certainly an amusing cap to a unique show.
Friday, September 18, 2009
IT'S HERE! I am very, very, veryveryveryveryvery excited and I'm looking forward to seeing lots of you out tomorrow night. If you can make it, tell me you ready about it on Kitchen Heat, I'll buy you a drink, and we can celebrate my birthday with TERRANCE-FUCKING-PARKER!
Fantastic night at Element on Tuesday. It wasn't a huge crowd, but they were appreciative. My friend and colleague Mr. Ricardo was added at the last minute, making five (5!) DJs for just over four hours. I had a chance to play twice, at the beginning for around a half-hour and then again in the last hour. That last set was by far the best. I had a chance to really pull out all the stops and drop some bangers. My brief playlists are below for anybody who's interested.
I'm excited to announce that I'll be playing alongside Hellacopta and DJ Double Dee at Element on Canada Day Eve. Come on uptown and celebrate Canada's 142nd birthday the right way.
Yup, THE Terrence Parker is coming to Saint John in September and I'm opening.
For those not in the know, Terrence is one of the famed second wave of producers to come out of Detroit in the early 90s. Unlike the majority of his contemporaries, Terrence favoured the soulful sounds of gospel, soul and house to the brittle timbres of Kraftwerk and techno. Expect to hear lots of horns, piano rolls, and vocals, not to mention some incredible turntablism. He's the kind of DJ who makes me embarassed to call myself one. We're all in for a treat, no doubt about it.
What is it? What is the Saint John Sound? Fred (Nexus6ix) and I had a conversation last week about finding the sound of our city. Neither of us had any idea what it might be, but we are looking for it. We agreed on one thing: it is NOT electro-house.
