DJ Purple (the duke of House): Calendar

This was my first "live" dj set in Chicago since 1998, so naturally I was looking forward to it. My set time was moved to '10 PM - Midnight', which also excited me. I played as scheduled, and although the crowd was very small, my enthusiasm for the music and the atmosphere was large. I was also informed that the night was being streamed live and that was also being recorded - extra motivation for me to bring the heat...

"Don't Leave Me This Way"

I was recently informed that TEDDY PENDERGRASS had passed away. Shock and sadness were the initial reactions which soon gave way to gratitude and reflection. On the previous Friday night "Afterhours (a deep house session)" internet radio mixshow, I closed the night with three classics by Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes. For Monday Night Vybes my gameplan was this: at the right time, drop the Teddy Pendergrass/Harold Melvin classics intertwined wih the house tracks containing the samples. Sure enough I found the right time to "werk the box". The final tally: "Don't Leave Me This Way"[Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes]/"Don't Remix Me This Way"[Johnny Vicious Remix], "You Can't Hide From Your Bud"[DJ Sneak]/"You Can't Hide From Yourself"[Teddy Pendergrass]/(back to)"You Can't Hide From Your Bud", "Nobody Could Take Your Place" [Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes]/"Phillys Groove" [Romain & Danny Krivit]

It was an emotional sector of the mix-set. After my set was done I once again reflected on Teddy and came to the conclusion that I had satisfactorily paid tribute to one of the premier voices of soulful music.

R.I.P. Teddy Pendergrass...gone, but never forgotten!

The event was postponed due to the weather.

"The House Exchange"

"10 Years of House Music"
Another Excellent Night!

When I got confirmation of my booking for this night I took notice of the flier: “…favorite top tracks from the US & UK”. With that in mind my intention was to present the classics at just the right times. As it turned out, all three DJs were ‘taking pages of the book of classic tracks and personal favorites’. The end result was a pure celebration of the “feeling” that is House Music. K-Pharaoh was ecstatic at some of my choices of tunes. My closing track for the night (Kenny G - “Havana” [Todd Terry Freeze Mix]) was the most memorable because it was my opening track for the Battle of the DJs in Wellingborough, UK, circa 1997. (See also BLOG: August 1997 - BATTLE OF THE DJS) In the eyes of K-Pharaoh, that was an amazing night. As for this particular party – it was also reminiscent of the night we had at the world-renowned Ministry of Sound: inside the Baby Box. (See also BLOG: August 2001 – A DREAM COME TRUE)
By the way, the crowd made a difference, too. Not only was it large (nearly 200) but also very enthusiastic, right near the 1:45 AM timeframe. Mind you, the club closed at 2:00 AM…

"Nite Lite"

What a night!

For starters, there was a group of six of us who had dinner an hour before kicking things off (including Julius). We covered a variety of subject matter ranging from cell phone coverages to vinyl/mp3/wav preferences to the Bears to the Southport Weekender. After dinner the hosting DJ needed to open up the club so I helped Julius with some last-minute preparations. After we arrived at the club Julius and I noticed how the place had a considerable number of people in attendance. This was fine since my set time was to be from 10:30 – 11:30. The challenge that was put to me was to hold the crowd – no problem! The bigger challenge for me personally was to contain my nerves!! I was very nervous, not out of fear but out of excitement from seeing the crowd reaction. By the time I dropped the third record I knew I had the crowd and that I could keep them until 11:30 when Julius “the Mad Thinker” would take over. At the end of my set there were several people (friends and strangers alike) who gave me accolades on my performance. They made statements like “you rocked it” and “you killed it”. To hear that was very humbling, and I also knew that I once again met the challenges that come with crowds – contain the nerves and hold the crowd while staying true to one’s style/method. Case in point: out of approx 12-15 tracks played, about 2 of them were on CD. The rest were on vinyl!

"Night at the Disco"

This night was better than expected. It had a slow crowd in the beginning so I was able to begin my set with a mellow sound. By 11:30 people had started to show up in force and by that time I had already decided to lean towards some disco. The highlight of my set was the chance that I took with a 12" single that I pulled from my collection the night before. I played it and was amazed at how long it was (21:46) - but I decided that I needed to play this record on the night, even though I wouldn't need to go the entire length. The crowd did not "get it" right away but I stayed with this record, working the controls, until they finally "got it". After that record was faded out the night just took off! The record: "America", by Prince and the Revolution!

"9th Annual Red Party - a Benefit for Wild Utah Project"

This event was truly a breath a fresh air. At the time of booking confirmation it had been over a year since I played on the Salt Lake City circuit and I was starting to get "withdrawals" (itchy). Although the Soul Revival mixshow was an excellent outlet I still missed the immediate feedback from a live crowd.

For me to even get booked for this was virtually an act of serendipity. I was initially inquiring about guesting at a different show, "Night at the Disco" and got a response from Nick James, with whom I was familiar, from the PRISM nights. I got the info about the Red Party, which Nick described as "the best party I ever played". I was able to find out why he made that statement.

My set was from 9 - 11. The fisrt 45 minutes were a crowd warming session where I kept with the smooth selections. During the time I took requests and accomodated the best I could. I was soon able to drop the "musical bombs" and next I saw a packed floor! It was a sea of red (no pun intened), all digging the music. The irony was that I did not play any of the selections that I REALLY wanted to go with because the crowd was so into the older stuff such as Lipps Inc, Herbie Hancock, Michael Jackson and Shiela E. The crowd really loved the old school disco and funk that had soul and feeling. Apparently people were asking Nick "who is that DJ". If they didn't know me after this show I think they will after NATD...

One final note, I couldn't really tell how many people were in attendance but if I could take a guess I would say about 200+...

"Together Again"

"Back to School" with Radio Flair

"Radio Flair"

"Radio Flair"