Entry One Hundred Ninety-Six.
Friday, 2016.01.15, 11:56 PM CST.
Thank you; I'm really, really lucky.
Current Mood:  Not too bad.  Actually, pretty accomplished... and grateful.
Current Scent:  Minotaure by Paloma Picasso.

There have been plenty of times in my life where I've looked at the cards I've been dealt and thought, "Well, this isn't exactly how I expected it," or, in some cases, "Well, this just isn't fair at all."

This isn't such a night.

Tonight, I came home to an empty house (my wife has the kids out camping), I ate a few slices of Mario's pizza, I watched some "Millennium" on DVD (yep, the old Lance Henriksen series from 20 years ago), I messed around on some various promo stuff, and now I'm sitting here, sipping Yoo-Hoo from a wine glass, working on this blog entry, which I had actually started putting together several days ago.

You know what?  I'm really, REALLY lucky.

And I'm thankful.

Please let me explain.

WHERE I CAME FROM:

As a lot of you know, when I first got into the DJ industry almost twenty-eight years ago (!!!), I was helping my friend Dave doing mobile shows - school dances and company parties - with his company, Mirage Productions.  A year and a half later, I started doing my own mobile performances with my company, EKG Mobile Music.

I worked my ass off, hauling gear to weddings, and proms, and homecomings, and reunions.  I became one of the most unorthodox mobile DJs in the area, continuing with the arcane art of vinyl mixing long after it was the norm, and collecting the best and rarest remixes that I could find - often having them shipped in from out-of-state.

I didn't actually get into the club DJ scene until the 2000s, and when I did, hardly anyone knew who I was.  They had no reason to!*  I'd been DJing for so long... but I wasn't part of the actual "scene."

*[Edit, 2016-01-16:  Okay, technically, some of the old-schoolers in the scene might have known me from the "Edge of Insanity" radio programming, which later became known as the "EOI Network," back in the early 1990s.]

So, I worked... some years more than others.  I created my own events, some of which were pretty cool and some of which (*ahem* Bikini Pop Fiasco *ahem*) were admittedly kinda sucky.  I found a couple of very brief residencies here and there.  I got to know some of Tulsa's promoters, and whether my experiences were positive or negative, I learned a lot from them.

WHERE I AM NOW:

My life is a lot different these days than they were when I first started.  I just passed my nine-year wedding anniversary, I've got two healthy kids, and I've got a decent house in which to live.

All of those things, alone, should make me feel pretty damned lucky.

DJ-wise, I am more active than I have been in over a decade; in the last year, I think I may have DJed at more events than the five previous years combined.

I have parted ways with the ResurXtion series of events, but I'm still friends with the ResurXtion promoter, Jessy James, and I am still very much a ResurXtion supporter.

I currently have my own monthly event at Lot No. 6 called Pop in a Blender, at which I play a variety of tunes from the 80s and 90s (occasionally even eariler) with more recent pop hits.  Of course, I avoid playing garbage like Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber and Chris Brown.  The party currently has its own Facebook page and its own mini-website (alternate link here) if you want to check it out.  I just treat it like a big, informal dance party - never taking things too seriously, just having a lot of fun.  It's a blast.

I've also recently started a new monthly retro night, Nitro:Gen, at Nitro Lounge.  (Facebook page here; website here, alternate link here.)  For reasons I won't go into here, the club's former monthly retro nights were cancelled by the venue.  This left a void which I stepped up to fill, and I'm going to do everything that I can to make it the best retro night that Tulsa has had in a good long time.

WHY I FEEL LUCKY:

It feels really weird to even consider myself an "event promoter."   I really see myself as a longtime DJ who happens to do promotion work.

Over the past few years, I have met some wonderful individuals and I've found some very uncommon opportunities.  I have very slowly, cautiously branched out from DJing to club event organization and promotion.

People seem to like what I do.  When DJs work for me, they are paid fairly and treated with a great deal of respect.  Just as importantly, I make a point of walking around and thanking people in person for taking their time to come out.

And therein lies the main thing that makes me feel lucky insofar as music is concerned:  the people.  As I've said on Facebook numerous times in the past, without people coming to my events, I'm just a dude playing music in an empty room.  I am extremely lucky to have the audiences I do.  And even if an event weren't going all that well, I would still feel lucky to have a dozen people show up.

See, HERE is what boggles my mind:  Let's say I come up with an idea for an event (like Pop in a Blender or An Old School Techno Night).   I arrange a location, I work on the graphics and text, I put together the promotional materials, and I tell people about the event.

People show up.

People actually take the time out of their busy lives to come to an event that I've set up.  Do you know how lucky that makes me feel?  I'm actually successful at something that I love - DJing - and I'm able to host parties that people genuinely enjoy.  Sometimes, I still feel like that awkward little nerd who started delving into the world of DJing with his friend in 1988, and now there are people who follow me online and take note of when I'm having events.

That's insane.  I mean, it's the good kind of insane, but still -- that's just craziness.

I couldn't be more grateful for that.

Huge thanks to EVERYONE who has supported my events, either by showing up, by spreading the word, or just by sending me some encouragement every now and then.  I really appreciate it, and I'm going to do my best to bring you the best events that I can throughout 2016.

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