Kulture Klash IV Show Blog

In case you missed Kulture Klash this past weekend, I figured I'd let you know how my sets went.

After doing much practicing on Saturday morning to get the kinks ironed out of my main set, I went to the site to set up my turntables and chop it up with Sonar from The Spaced Invaders (go here to see their wrap-up blog from KK4). We got all our turntables set up on the outside stage (6 decks, for 3 DJs... I was buggin out over how cool it all looked), and I ran home to get some food and a shower after a quick sound-check.

When I got back out to the space, Sonar was getting some food; but the other half of the Spaced Invaders (DJ Flatbroke) was just pulling in. We chopped it up for a good bit, and I helped him set up the LCD projectors for their visual DJing. If you haven't seen how these kids get down, they lit up the entire side of the old food bank with visuals that went with the music. After that (around 7), the kids from Chaos in Gotham showed up (I puts on for those dudes ever since my days cooking at D'Allesandros) and got set up on stage real quick.

I started spinning around eight to get any problems with sound ironed out; and although I had to deal with some low-end feedback and trying to convince Joe, Korey, and the rest of the dudes from Chaos to get on stage and start their set for 30 minutes... the set went alright. After they played their set (very good, got lots of girls dancing), and Flatbroke played a promo video for Continuum Skate Shop (49 Spring St. right next to Suite Sole), I went--very nervously at that--for my planned, hour-long set.

Before going on, I asked Sonar and Flatbroke to do some cutting during the instrumental lulls in my set. We had all sorts of plans to do some question and answer cutting between the three of us; but we were behind on time, so I ended up having to rush some songs in earlier than I wanted, which didn't leave much time for cut sessions. Some songs went over really well on the dance floor, though. People really seamed to dig the Jay Dee remix of Janet Jackson's Got Till It's Gone. All in all, I performed my set as good as I could possibly do it. I hadn't even gotten some of the blends to go that well in practice sessions at home. Apart from ForthNBack sound-checking during my time on stage, my set went perfectly.

I took a little break to get a beer and catch up with folks after my time was up on stage (I also needed to cool down a bit... I was a little heated at ForthNBack for going over my set with their sound check). Femi and them had a great show from what I heard, but I was concentrating on handing out copies of the What I Put On mix as well as Hunter's Pre-Emptive Spring BBQ Blend. I chopped it up with Josef and Will from Visualive (I fox with those kids ever since they put us on with ForthNBack after the D'Als block party). They were handing out mini-discs with all sorts of music (even some of mine). In fact, they even did some web hosting for your boy. Check it out here. Those boys are doing big things in oh nine for sure.

After coolin with Mel, my roommates Matt and Alan, and catching up with Gus; I made my way onstage to do some cuts during The Spaced Invaders' set. Those boys crushed it. Had the crowd moving in ways I've only dreamed of doing. Big ups are most certainly deserved to Flatbroke for going dumb on the set and dropping serious breaks. Sonar was the consummate professional as always... fixing technical problems when they sprouted, keeping the visuals moving with the changing music, gettin the crowd hype, and making sure everything sounded good (he was the last link in the turntable daisy-chain before the sound board). I don't think I've ever danced/smiled/smoked more cigarettes on stage than during their set. I was super nervous, and all I had to do was cut samples during drum breaks. The crowd went off during their (our?) set, and I was most certainly happy to be a part of it.

I'm still looking for pictures of the outside stage, but I found a video that might give you and idea of how things looked. You can hear my main set in the beginning of the video (shot on the way into the venue... good shots of the huge visuals on the whole side of the building), you can see Mel's interview (and his shout-out for your boy) at 7:42, and you can see some of the Spaced Invaders' set (and some of my scratching) at 9:32. Peep:

somuchfun...lookingforwardtocrushingthenextone.