PB Wolf DJ Diary: 777: Day One

Posted Tuesday, June 12, 2007 @ 12:55 in Music by Peanut Butter Wolf

Day 1

Well, it finally started. The tour I've been waiting for. I appreciate the fact that I'm going back to Europe in 2 weeks and that I was in Japan again last week, but this is the tour I've really been anticipating. Day 1 was definitely an interesting start. To begin with, I got to share the decks with my main homeboy DJ Sweet Steve (AKA Baron Zen) who I've been friends with forever and started my DJing with when we were kids. (Check out the DJ Chris and DJ Steve best of 1983 mix that we did back then if you get a chance.) Steve flew out for the weekend cuz we did a Baron Zen music video for a track of his I remixed yesterday. That's another story altogether though.

So today, when we got to Do-Over, this guy Lloyd who I've met from Turntable Lab was spinning and he was playing good soulful '70s and '80s stuff. "Nights" by Billy Ocean comes to mind and I told him that was the only Billy Ocean song I liked and we debated a little. I was suprised to find out he was only 22 years old, but then someone told me his dad was a DJ back then. I'd never seen Llyod spin before and I was definitely impressed. Steve was next and he kinda followed suit with a lot of '80s funk and some old school hip-hop. Sugarhill Records was well represented, which was a good thing. Next up was Arabian Prince, who Steve insisted I try to get to share the bill with him. His computer broke down on him this week, so he was forced to dig in the crates a pull a vinyl set out as well and did a great job. He ended with "Supersonic" and the crowd ate it up. Ramalama damalama namanama, bamadama, yeah, that's it, that was it.

Sweet Steve had to catch a plane home, but I got to start my set off with the Baron Zen "Burn Rubber" track I just put out on my label Stones Throw which was remixed by Dam-Funk who was also in the crowd. (I know, it's getting really confusing). People loved that one and with one song, I had already violated my self imposed rule of playing all '80s house. I stuck to my format for the rest of my set though, although right away, it got real messy. After a few songs, my right turntable started feeding back and skipping as well. It really interrupted my flow because house music is meant to be mixed smooth with long transitions and all I kept thinking about was how the set was being recorded and how "not smooth" it was sounding. Crunchy Peanut Butter. I swear it wasn't my fault. (That's what they all say). I started thinking ahead to Wednesday when I'm gonna play old, beat-up reggae 7"s that have dust caked on them and how much more of a nightmare it might be with the skipping on that night. I started panicing on the inside and tried my best to keep my composure on the outside. The crowd were good sports though and I pulled through and eventually got into a groove.

Overall, I had a LOT of fun, even though I played very little songs that anybody there knew and it was hard to gauge the reactions. I purposely played early because I didn't wanna have to play late and cater to drunk people who expected to hear more hits. (I got drunk later my damned self, which is yet another story.) I feel like since I'm doing this different genre every night thing, that I have to prove myself to people with each type of music I play by playing the obscure stuff that gets slept on so I can show them I know "what's up". Then I run into the "not rocking the party" problem. As a Libra, I understand the balance thing, so I slipped a couple classic house hits in there though.

Although I realize that this LA tour is kinda gimmicky, I am taking it very seriously (maybe too seriously) and don't want to make a mockery of any of the types of music I play out at it, except for maybe Tuesday night. I really do like everything I'm set to play on these 7 days and don't expect everyone to like everything, but am curious to see how people react to the different things. It was good to see a lot of my crew out today, from artists like Madllib, MED, and Guilty Simpson, to other DJs like Rhettmatic, Houseshoes, Blue Jems, and Diplo, and my other "non-performer" friends. I have to say what's up to Toph who also played a concept oriented set. He did a bike ride from the Bay to LA for an AIDS charity and played records from his friends crates today.

I stayed late at the club and my ears are now ringing, but this is definitely the most fun I've had in a while, from getting the set together, to being able to share the music. I told the crowd that about 80% of my set were songs I've never played to a dance floor before and that wasn't an exaggeration. I'm glad that LA has a rich enough music scene to be able to do something like this. I'm glad that I was able to get some cool sponsers like KCRW, Uber, V Tech, Fusicology, Stones Throw, and Flavorpill who believed in my idea and got behind it. And all the club promoters/owners who took me up on the offer. I realize that the whole concept of doing 7 days in a row in the same city and expecting people to come out each night is kinda obnoxious, so I won't take offense if tonight is the only night with a line around the block, but unless an act of God prevents me, I plan on spinning for 6 more nights.

Party on. Waynes World!

 

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