New Day Rising

You hear working DJs say it every year: New Year's Eve is for amateurs. Too often it's that night of the year that makes gigging feel like just another job in the service industry. I used to have a regular NYE thing I'd do every year 'till I just couldn't take it anymore and pretty much stopped DJ-ing or even leaving the house on December 31st. Most lasting memory of my former NYE gig: putting on "Hypnotize," turning to get the next song out of the crate, turning back around to the turntables and seeing champagne spilt all over the still spinning record, the perpetrators long gone. (Remarkably, it kept on playing fine; I guess Puffy was right - can't nothing hold him down.)

I'm pretty optimistic about this year, tho. There's actually a high probability of having fun. First of all there's safety in numbers. Monk, G-Man, and myself will all be over at the usual spot. And our special headlining guest is the legendary Original DJ Jazzy Jay. Jay's the man. He was Bam's first lieutenant on the mix, and hand built speakers for Zulu Nation. He held down the Roxy, Negril, Danceteria, and KISS FM. He did "It's Yours." He recorded and mixed Divine Force's "Holy War." He mentored Diamond D and most of D.I.T.C. He's got his own personalized edition of the Rane 57 with his logo on it and everything. And he's still super nice on the slice, as anyone who's caught him up at the park jams over last several summers well knows. 

One of Jazzy's sets from St. Nicholas a few summers back still stands out in my mind as one of those perfect summations of why dudes like him are the original masters of their craft. Late summer afternoon around dusk, only maybe 25 people sitting on the grass on a hill just hanging out listening to him effortlessly go from Candido to C.J. & Co. to Cloud One, leaning on the Echoplex just enough to give it all this dream-like quality. Then, boom - he drops "When Doves Cry" and he's out. It was a thing of beauty. Lasted a total of maybe half hour, 40 minutes tops, but everybody there that day felt like life was quantifiably better afterwards.
I don't know if transcendent moments that sort of sneak up on you like that can realistically happen on NYE. But I'm looking forward to finding out. Speaking of finding sh*t out, the other day Monk fwd-ed me the link to this youtube clip of Jazzy and Bam giving a scratch tutorial on TV BITD. Check out Ad Rock from the Beastie Boys in the audience during the Q&A portion at the end. Priceless.

This vid is great too: Jazzy again explaining the fundamentals of cutting. (Gotta love the part where he sneaks his arm around the show's female host real smooth.) This clip also features fellow BX legend Whiz Kid.

And if you don't know, now ya know. See you Thursday, suckaz!