I was so moved by the spirit to write this, please bear with me, there is a need for it to be said.
I have been on the club scene or culture for almost 30 years. From dancer, to security, to door person, to go-go dancer (yeah I did it, and did it quite well making lots of money from it), to promoter, to the last 14 plus years as a DJ. From failure to success, to starting all over again, I have experienced it all. Through it all I believe I have pretty much remained truth to who I am. Though much can not be said about the scene itself, a lot has changed, I wish I could say for the better, but I can't.
I took an almost 2 year sabbatical (hope I spelled that right) from the so-called house music scene to take a few steps back and reevaluate everything as well as reevaluate myself. For years I have been a part of a scene that in truth and with opened eyes, really did not want me to be a part of it. Hearing those talk about loving you and supporting you and coming to hear you, but never showing up. Then when they see you saying, "I'll come to your next one," knowing it's only talk. Other variables included things like if you were doing a party where there is a cover, and the cover is say $5, and people asking to be on your guest list. But yet those same people are paying $10, $15, $20 to so and so's party. Need I continue? True story, and I'll never forget it. I was doing a monthly party in Atlanta, GA while living there. I was charging $5 cover, $3 if you had a flyer. There was a guy who looked me in the eye and asked if I was doing a guest list. I looked at him as if he were joking, which apparently he was not. I gave him a flyer saying, "sorry, no guest list." He then asked if I can do a guest list for him. A woman standing close enough to hear the conversation turned and said, "If he's asking to be on a guest and the cover is $5 even $3 with a flyer, then you don't need him at your party." She continued, "You can ask three people in line for a dollar if you don't have it, you don't need him nor anybody like him at any of your parties." she made a valid point. I kid you not, that was a true story. If you are doing a party as such where there is a cover. The people that should be on your guest list are people in the industry. This includes DJ's, Promoters, Artists, Musicians, Club Managers, industry folk. Cover charge is just that. It covers everyone's salary for the night, particularly the DJ, Promoter, and all that are involved with them. Even if the venue is not charging a cover, support the bar, because more than likely that is how everyone is getting paid. Countless time I have seen the dancers show up and as someone commented once, "spin on the floor" all night, and not even buy a bottle of water from the bar. In some cases I have witnessed bottles of water being snuck into the venue. No support at the bar means no one gets paid, including the DJ. Which usually ends in mo more party. Nobody works for free, and doing it "for the love" is not gonna pay the bills. I digress.
During my sabbatical, I worked my regular job as stressful as it was. Struggling to survive, barely able to take care of myself while trying to cope, dealing with other issues. I learn more and more about the Yoruba based Afro Cuban religion of Lukumi (a Yoruba word meaning "My Friend") more commonly known as Santeria. Learning to commune with the Ancestors, the Orisha (spirits of nature), and God Almighty. Mostly learning to connect with the Ashé (life force) of my guardian Orisha, Eshu-Elegba (Eleggua), guardian of The Crossroads. The spirits have been with me my entire life, most would say I'm crazy. I'm here to say, "I'm not crazy, I know what I have seen and experienced, and it is real." "Everything Happens For A Reason."
I began speaking to spirits through prayer, small offerings of water and candlelight, and most resent, Tarot Cards, doing an occasional reading here and there mostly for myself. Even doing energy work through the Tarot on occasion. But it just was not enough, I was missing the one key element to my own life energy, MUSIC.
I made the decision to return because there is something missing, mostly from myself, but also something that many just do not do anymore. You have so many DJ's coming up now who mix quite beautifully, but they are not telling a story, not being a messenger of the music. They are predictable, they are not making you think, much less spiritually moving you to dance.
A good friend once told me after listening to me DJ for the first time, "You make me want to dance, but at the same time you make me want to think." That small simple comment (if I quoted it right) he made about my DJ'ing stuck out in my mind. At the time I did not know what to make of it. But as time moved forward I learned to understand just what it meant, and I thanked him for that. For it pretty much define who I am, making me not just a Selector, not just a DJ, but a Messenger.
So I made my return to the turntables around the middle of last year, on my own terms. A friend a really good friend, was DJ'ing a weekly party at a spot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The party was a combination of him DJ'ing, and a different live band every week. He DJ'ed across the board, from reggae, to soul, to disco, to house, to straight ahead jazz and it was beautiful. The various bands that played there would play from funk, to soul, to reggae, to 80's, to experimental, and all points in-between. I asked my friend if I could play along with him one night, in which he gladly said yes.
The night went well, marking my return by playing (and playing freely I might add) to a completely new group of people who were intelligent, eclectic, artistic, independent, openminded, and deep, unplugged. The DJ and I played well together, our styles contrast but complimented each other. Needless to say my return to the turntables was well received, and my friend who became like a brother would invite me back about once a month to play.
Playing periodically at my friend's party marked my return, so I used that as a relaunch of sorts, a rebirth of Aphrosoul. I revamped my DJ bio (more than a few times), opened a WordPress site, also opened a Soundcloud site for my DJ mixes, and a twitter account. I approached a friend who owned a spot not far from where I live. I helped him out about 3 years back by doing a 15 hour new years party. He had been closed for remodeling for almost 2 years around the length of my sabbatical. We talked and he gave thanks by offering me a night. I started my monthly dance gathering at the newly remodeled spot.
I'm using my gathering as a means of obtaining more DJ'ing gigs, paid gigs, as well as music production. I'm also looking to get back into being the opening DJ for live bands and artists, which was how I made a name for myself while living in Atlanta. Moving away from the drama and ego of the whole DJ circle, which I felt never wanted me to be a part of anyway. Paving my own road, to "Ease On Down," and walking to the beat of my own drumming, rebirth.
Marketing myself and what I do more toward the eclectic, the artistic, the independent, the intelligent, the musically openminded, the unplugged, the deep. Keeping it intimate, keeping it local, keeping it Brooklyn.
Being that I gravitate more toward The Loft than The Paradise Garage (WHICH I LOVE BY THE WAY), but I love the freedom of The Loft, which gave it more of an edge over The Paradise Garage. I want the freedom of being deep into a house set, then out of nowhere, drop in some Mahalia Jackson, or John Coltrane, or Dizzy Gillespie, or Rolling Stones, or Boz Scaggs, or Donald Byrd, or Roy Ayers, or Fleetwood Mac, or Steely Dan, or Duran Duran, or even Linus and Lucy (aka the Charlie Brown Theme), and everyone in the room is still with me because they "get it."
With all due respect to all the DJ's in the so-called house music scene, I LOVE THEM ALL, even those who do not love me in return nor even like me. I am not a clone, nor do I desire to be stuck in playing from a "top ten" list. Then it would be just like commercial radio, where you hear the same ten songs every hour all day, all night. You know as well as I do it was never like that. You heard it in the club first before it ever hit radio. By the time it did hit radio, the club DJ was on something else. Again, I digress.
I say all of this in saying that everything has it's rightful place in the universe, and everything happens for a reason. I'm not perfect nor all that righteous, I never made such claims. I make mistakes, have made mistakes, and probably will make a few more mistakes just like everyone else. To those who do judge, prosecute, and execute, I say this. While you are so caught up in pointing that one finger at me, please observe the three fingers of that same hand pointing right back at you.
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