Last night's chat with Wes about deejaying.
Just wanted to briefly mention this, too.
Had my first real chat about some of my intentions with the deejaying with Wes last night. I really enjoy Wes. So much more than I thought I would!
He'd knock down my ideas, and then would come back to them a few minutes later and say, "I'm not trying to squash your idea; this is just my experience with things." And on the surface he would have a point. Wes has been deejaying out in public now since 2000, and has played in quite a few cities. He's very much entitled to his point of view. But I have a new vision for these things. And I know it will work. He'll catch on later when he starts to see how well it works. :)
He's not go the same level of people skills that I have due to his type A personality, but he's managed to connect himself with a variety of people who are passionate and talented. For instance, he's playing three gigs this up-coming weekend, which means I get to visit a number of new clubs next weekend.
At any rate, the chat went far better than I thought it would. Wes is a purist/vinyl deejay. I'm not sure he really has any idea of what I'm about digitally as a deejay, but can't say for sure. Adam surprised me a year or more ago when he knew all about some of the stuff I was talking to him about, so I'd not presume one way or the other.
I've actually come to respect Wes a great deal as a deejay. He's clearly spent enormous time learning how to use a variety of mixers. He puts so much vim and passion into what he does. He's constantly working on his next mix. The way he does them is he targets them for his next gig.
Like next week, on Thursday, we're all gonna go see some Roller Girl thing, where girls on roller blades are playing some variation of hockey or something. Evidently they're looking for a deejay, and so he's now working on a disco-style 30-minute demo for that. All Wes does is work and do deejay stuff. I watched him shop for records a few days ago, and he shops the way I do. Listens to every sample of every record, and moves methodically through them all. When I was at peak shape, I would do that on around 3-5 mega-websites a week, listening to around 150-200 new tracks each week. Each month I'd end up buying 60-80 new tracks.
One part of the chat that was really touching to me was to hear him talk a little about the reputation and name that our family has built for themselves in the local deejaying community. He spoke of our name with prestige. I so adored his perspective at this point. It's very mythos/tribe oriented, but I see such tribe orientation as a very positive thing if it is used as an expression of healthy self-identity.
I don't want to get fully into this in this blog, but one very inspiring aspect of this move has been to see just how talented and passionate and brilliant my brothers are, each in their own way and their own right. They've all walked an eccentric path, and all have had a measure of success and a measure of challenges along their path, but they all know there's more to the good life than pure materialism. Adam was evidently living a very affluent lifestyle, and now he's back to bartending to pay bills, and he isn't too internally fucked up over it. Visiting Aaron at work was of course amazing. Everyone who ever works with Aaron loves him. They all treat him with amazing affection and respect.
I really do feel at home! This is where I should be, and I couldn't be happier about it. I can't wait to see what's coming on my horizon. :)
Had my first real chat about some of my intentions with the deejaying with Wes last night. I really enjoy Wes. So much more than I thought I would!
He'd knock down my ideas, and then would come back to them a few minutes later and say, "I'm not trying to squash your idea; this is just my experience with things." And on the surface he would have a point. Wes has been deejaying out in public now since 2000, and has played in quite a few cities. He's very much entitled to his point of view. But I have a new vision for these things. And I know it will work. He'll catch on later when he starts to see how well it works. :)
He's not go the same level of people skills that I have due to his type A personality, but he's managed to connect himself with a variety of people who are passionate and talented. For instance, he's playing three gigs this up-coming weekend, which means I get to visit a number of new clubs next weekend.
At any rate, the chat went far better than I thought it would. Wes is a purist/vinyl deejay. I'm not sure he really has any idea of what I'm about digitally as a deejay, but can't say for sure. Adam surprised me a year or more ago when he knew all about some of the stuff I was talking to him about, so I'd not presume one way or the other.
I've actually come to respect Wes a great deal as a deejay. He's clearly spent enormous time learning how to use a variety of mixers. He puts so much vim and passion into what he does. He's constantly working on his next mix. The way he does them is he targets them for his next gig.
Like next week, on Thursday, we're all gonna go see some Roller Girl thing, where girls on roller blades are playing some variation of hockey or something. Evidently they're looking for a deejay, and so he's now working on a disco-style 30-minute demo for that. All Wes does is work and do deejay stuff. I watched him shop for records a few days ago, and he shops the way I do. Listens to every sample of every record, and moves methodically through them all. When I was at peak shape, I would do that on around 3-5 mega-websites a week, listening to around 150-200 new tracks each week. Each month I'd end up buying 60-80 new tracks.
One part of the chat that was really touching to me was to hear him talk a little about the reputation and name that our family has built for themselves in the local deejaying community. He spoke of our name with prestige. I so adored his perspective at this point. It's very mythos/tribe oriented, but I see such tribe orientation as a very positive thing if it is used as an expression of healthy self-identity.
I don't want to get fully into this in this blog, but one very inspiring aspect of this move has been to see just how talented and passionate and brilliant my brothers are, each in their own way and their own right. They've all walked an eccentric path, and all have had a measure of success and a measure of challenges along their path, but they all know there's more to the good life than pure materialism. Adam was evidently living a very affluent lifestyle, and now he's back to bartending to pay bills, and he isn't too internally fucked up over it. Visiting Aaron at work was of course amazing. Everyone who ever works with Aaron loves him. They all treat him with amazing affection and respect.
I really do feel at home! This is where I should be, and I couldn't be happier about it. I can't wait to see what's coming on my horizon. :)