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Web Nuggets: Please school this noob on "What Makes A DJ?"

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  1.  (8247.21)
    IsaacSher: I am not known for my public dancing. At all. I go to clubs, for concerts usually, if not dance nights (yeah, I've been to 'em, I just don't dance is all--I soak up the music, the people, the atmosphere, sometimes the alcohol). As long as you don't leer at people, you'll be fine--most people on the dance floor are too focused having fun/not running into each other, to really care about the people off to the side, staying out of their way.
    • CommentAuthorprof_k
    • CommentTimeMay 18th 2010
     (8247.22)
    Not meaning to hijack the thread, but
    a small town in Indiana that, to the best of my knowledge, would not have tolerated any clubs opening up in its borders. The place was infamous for ignoring its teenage/college population, to the point that the only entertainment teenagers had was hanging out in the Wal-mart parking lot and having sex. Between that and the local educators refusing to teach kids about birth control beyond abstinence, it's no wonder that Richmond had one of the worst teen pregnancy rates in the nation. But I digress.

    would describe the town in Iowa I grew up in, too... with a college not too different from Earlham, just weirder.
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      CommentAuthortexture
    • CommentTimeMay 19th 2010
     (8247.23)
    Don't mean to derail either, but just wanted to share this... back in the days when I was going clubbing regularly (1999 or so), and had just started DJing, a mate grabbed me in a club where he was playing a set, with eyes like saucers, and decided to give me his take on DJing.

    "Basically, if you can count to four... you can do it," he said. "I'll show you the secret." He placed his hand on the record he was about to mix in and moved it back and forth against the needle. "One, two, three, four..." At this point he flicked the crossfader across to the incoming tune. "... get fucked!" The new record came in, perfectly in time, and the twenty or so gurning loons in front of the decks began frugging insistently, pupils dilating, mouths hooting their approval. That has stayed with me! Mind you, he was playing hard house *shudder*.

    Another pithy phrase from one of my friends comes to mind, in relation to DJs that use autotune / computers / samplers / mixers with effects: "If you can't get it up with two decks and a crossfader, you ain't a DJ mate." Not sure if I agree - seen as many bad vinyl sets as I have excellent laptop sets - but there is something to be said for respecting the old-school ways.
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      CommentAuthorcity creed
    • CommentTimeMay 19th 2010
     (8247.24)
    @Isaac Sher - GO to Mr Scruff :P Awesome.
    also: what shining_lion said - don't leer or scowl at anyone (I'm sure you wouldn't) just look as though you're having fun and you will seamlessly blend into the party organism.
    • CommentAuthorIsaacSher
    • CommentTimeMay 19th 2010
     (8247.25)
    Okay, all this talk about how awesome Mr. Scruff is has me seriously curious. To Google, For Great Justice!
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      CommentAuthortaphead
    • CommentTimeMay 19th 2010 edited
     (8247.26)
    DO EEEET. I don't think I've played a set without "Ug" in ages.

    And GO to the gig.
  7.  (8247.27)
    I come from a different school of DJ. Freeform radio DJ, which for me amounts to sequencing individual tracks in a interesting fashion. Not necessarily about beat or genre, but (for me) about juxtaposition. The secret is in the segue. I describe it as doing a live improvised musical performance using other people's music.

    Unlike in a club setting, my radio show is more of a monologue; instead of feeling for the Flow in the crowd, I challenge the listener to keep up with me (and I challenge myself to surprise myself now and then).
    • CommentAuthorIsaacSher
    • CommentTimeMay 20th 2010
     (8247.28)
    Okay... so it looks like the Mr. Scruff gig is at the Green Dolphin Street club, which is... oh nice! Only a 15 minute drive from my house!

    This looks very promising. I'll need to call them when they're open later to confirm that I'm looking at the right place, see if there's a dress code or anything. What interests me about Mr. Scruff is that wikipedia almost makes him sound like a Jazz musicican rather than a DJ.
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      CommentAuthorcity creed
    • CommentTimeMay 20th 2010 edited
     (8247.29)
    a taste:
    Spandex Man - Mr Scruff
    the first Scruff I heard, love this tune forever. His live shows are something else again though, you lucky dog.

    edit to add:
    sorry, couldn't omit this one:
    Get a Move On
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      CommentAuthorPaul Sizer
    • CommentTimeMay 20th 2010
     (8247.30)
    What interests me about Mr. Scruff is that wikipedia almost makes him sound like a Jazz musicican rather than a DJ.

    It's pretty common to argue that scratch DJs like Scruff really are the improv jazz musicians of the times, reacting to what's happening during the set and never having things the same twice. As measured and planned as they sound, there's always an element of true improvisation in each of the sets, something that I have yet to even come within miles of. Guys like Scruff and DJ Shadow are fearless and tight in their skills.
    • CommentAuthorIsaacSher
    • CommentTimeMay 20th 2010
     (8247.31)
    I'm going to have to see if I can recruit anyone to go to this with me. My wife falls asleep before 11 and doesn't like tight crowds, so she's out. Our roommate is somewhat interested, but doesn't want to be packed in around college kids that he has a curmudgeonly disdain for. I'll have to see. I'm liking what I'm hearing of Mr. Scruff, though!
    • CommentAuthorIsaacSher
    • CommentTimeJun 1st 2010
     (8247.32)
    FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

    This was a crazy weird weekend with far too much happenning at once, and I just *now* realized that I missed the Mr. Scruff show on the 29th.

    Crapity crap in a crap hat.

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