[Dynagroove] Fwd: The death of house music?
BadIYE at aol.com
BadIYE at aol.com
Sun Nov 2 01:56:24 PDT 2008
____________________________________
From: BadIYE
To: cade at dynagroove.com
Sent: 10/31/2008 3:02:19 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Subj: Re: [Dynagroove] The death of house music?
One of my favorite moments ever as a promoter was when my good friend Sergio
(now deceased unfortunately), came to me at a party I was promoting (can't
remember which right now). He had this huge grin, eyes all smiles, put his
arm around me and said, "hey man, i'm having a great time"...My sceptical ass
said "oh, E hitting you pretty good or what?" and he said "nah, this is only
my second, and final, beer", and i realized, yeah, he don't look altered at
all, just relaxed, exactly the way a second beer would make you feel. And then
I said "So you must be liking this DJ's set, eh?" and he said "are you
kidding? this guy is horrible! where the hell did you find him?" and just then I
realized the DJ was in fact playing some cheezy house mix of The Never
Ending Story (no joke). I winced and took a mental note "DON'T hire him again!".
I must have looked back at Sergio with a look of confusion...because he
laughed and said "Duuude!! just look around you!".
I then took what must have been my first non-stressed out look of the night,
at the dance floor and at the bar. Everyone I saw was smiling, laughing,
dancing, conversing and in some way enjoying their time there...no one seemed
to care that at that particular moment, the music sucked (not even the half
dozen DJs in the crowd who didn't even flinch or rush to me to complain); or
that the bar was 3 deep with only one bartender, or that the venue was nothing
out of the ordinary; or that there was a long line to the co-ed bathroom.
For whatever reason, that specific night, everyone who came left all that
baggage behind and they just, collectively...let it go. And I realized: Isn't
that the purpose of our scene after all? To just let go? THIS is the way it's
supposed to be. We shouldn't always be chasing the "perfect" night.
A wave of positive feeling washed over me. I clearly remember looking back
at Sergio. He was no longer paying attention to me. He continued to smile,
scoping the club and repeating to no one in particular: "yeah, man, i'm
having a great time"....
Imad
housesaladla.com
In a message dated 10/21/2008 3:58:43 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
cade at dynagroove.com writes:
OK it is only natural that I start to pipe in. *wink*
Is house music dying? No not really considering that house is still making
the charts today. House has been hitting the charts for the last 15++ years
D-lite, Daft Punk, and now that Estelle remix and tons of others I am sure I
am skipping.
Every city has the superclub that has it's "house" night. It may not really
be the house that I like and borderline cheesy. I also think house has
evolved. If any of you have been in the "electo-house" scene you know
"house" is far from dead. in fact I popped by an "electro-house" event this
past saturday that had 700+ people in it. Mind you it was probably a 16 -
26 year old crowd. But this is now their music. Just like "Disco-House" I
consider my generation's "house" music.
House is no different then any other Genre. Compair it to rock and roll.
It went from elvis and some how got all the way to creed? lol House is no
different. Some genres are more popular than others. I kinda think of the
electro house as the euro sythesizer rock of the 80s. ha
So house is far from dead.
However underground house is pretty much extinct. We are probably one of
the last cities in the world that still does this type of thing. So yeah it
is almost dead. It lives in LA barely. But I see do see that the scene is
only shrinking. In my opinion it comes down to the following reasons
1) Lack of unity
2) Lack of money
3) lack of appreciation
4) too many egos
5) narrow minded people
6) Drugs
I am sure I can think of more.
But lets break these down
- Lack of unity
It amazes me how many people tell me they have my back, Support me, want to
"help" me, want to "get involved" but then they end up running against me.
I understand there are going to be people who run against you. But these
are people who preach unity and preach their support. These are people you
put on the guest list for years, these are sometimes DJs you book, These are
even sometimes promoters you have combined forces with before. No matter
how far ahead I announce my party and get the word out. Someone who has
always claimed to be a supporter runs against me. When I book a date I make
sure it is not conflicting with any of the normal players. I have moved
dates, canceled events, and even combined events when I did not want to. I
see a core group of promoters that do the same but a lot of people don't.
The most negative effect I see because of this is crowds getting split.
Both events hurting. Imagine taking someone to their frist underground and
it is only 1/3 capacity? Ever heard or told someone "It is normally more
packed then this?"
- Lack of money
Whenever some new promoter comes and asks me for advice the first thing I
tell them is "Don't expect to make any money out of this." There is no
money in underground events. It is cause for celibration if you break
even. lol the last dynagroove I lost $500 and when I told some other
promoters you know what they said to me? "Oh nice! not bad at all!" lol
It amazes me how people assume you make all this money. If I were making
money on this I would be doing more then 3 - 5 parties a year trust me. So
now we have to save money to do the party. We have to save money to loose
money. Explain that to me. lol
i understand that 420 is a lot of money to people. I guest list people we
all do. But if you can't afford $20 but can afford $10 instead of asking
for the guest list maybe offer your $10 up?
- Lack Of Appreciation
I spend 3 -4 months planning an event. I put 5k of my own money into it.
Then I start getting emails "Yo cade I am one of your biggest supporters can
you hook up a guest list!?" "its too dark" Its too bright" "its not loud
enough" "there are no visuals" "you don't have real bathrooms only porta
potties" "its dirty in here" "i don't like this spot" "I am not feeling this
DJ" Thats what you hear night of and after your event. Yes you get some
positives but believe it or not you get more people complaining then just
comming up and saying "I'm having fun thanks" I admit this has gotten to
me. I used to just look at the dance floor and seeing a large crowd dancing
was enough to zone those naggers out. But now it effects me. I think to
myself "does anyone appreciate this?" Throwing a party is hard work and
worst of all it is stressfull. What if no one shows up? What if the police
come? What if fire marshal comes? What if a fight breaks out? What if the
live act I booked does not interest people? What if the DJ plays like
ass? What if I loose all my money I have to pay my mortgage! It is
stressfull.
When I go to events and if I do not like them I keep it to myself. I know
how hard the promoter is working. I know what it is like to try and take on
the responcibilty of making sure everyone has fun.
Appreciate what we have and give the promoter some appreciation. This way
we get more parties and the quality will increase. the promoter will be
encouraged to run again.
- Egos
I really doubt I need to delve into this. But if I have to hear a DJ
announcing to everyone how much the DJ playing sux one more time it would be
too many. I understand sharring your opinion. But announcing it is not
constructive. Do we really need to hear about this? Do we need to hear
about how this style of house is better then that? Do we need to hear how
"we don't think outside of the box?" Do we need to be told to stop
"Nutthugging" on our favorite DJs? Do we need to be told to stop
nutthugging Chicago? Sand Fran? Germany? Come on grow up.
I rememeber a day when most of us were dancing. Most of us were waiting for
the next mix. what will the next track be? But now I see us standing
around with our arms crossed frowning at the DJ. Are you that DJ that
stands against the wall with the beer in your hand not impressed? Get over
yourself. Get to dancing create a vibe. If your not feeling it then get
away from the DJ, Get away from the dance floor. Shit maybe you should
leave the party!? lol it's not like you payed to get in anyway lol
- Narrow minded
yeah so there are fags in the scene get over yourself.. There are also
honkeys, spic, jews, niggers, gooks, and any other deragatory name you can
think of in the scene. Yeah so what if they even have glowstick in their
hands... putz.
- Drugs
Yeah yeah yeah. We all know they are there. But come on people. Coke? is
this the 80s? whats up with the 30 somethings still smoking speed? How
discusting. If I am 18 and just kinda breaking in the scene and all the
old crusty scensters are drug adicts I would not want to hang around
either. Is this the future we can tell them to look forward to? I
understand recreational use of some things. I can even appreciate the
effect it has on some crowds. But we have mothers and fathers who are
smoking speed habitually, doing coke every weekend, even driving home
drunk. These are peopel with kids? It is not good for the scene. it
creates paranoia, drama, long bathroom lines, and can even make an event
smell like shit. I recently walked into a party and all I smeeled was a
speed pipe. I turned around and walked out.
Not many promoters know what it is like to have to carry a person out of
your event to an ambulance. It is a horrible feeling. horrible.
So what do we need to do?
Promote fun. Promte good music. control our jelousies, And please keep the
substances under control.
did I come across holier then thou? not my intention..
If you have a problem with me then lets wrestle.
Cade
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