Lessons, pirates, and confirmations

Last night, January 27th 2024 I had a gig at Santos Lounge in Tampa. It was Gasparilla, a local tradition of celebrating Tampa Bay as a city-wide pirate festival - so, Tampa was full of drunken "pirates". There were all kinds of music shows & festivities, no shortage of opportunity for us DJ's. Santos had a full lineup throughout the day and ending with my set at night.

Jask played before me, a local DJ and legend. There are several DJ's whom I respect immensely that speak of Jask with an immense amount of respect. So I felt honored to play after him, and was invigorated seeing him play. I could see why the others speak of him and his music so highly, and I was starting to feel decently nervous about playing after him. Then Rob tells me that I should go play flute with Jask, and I said "I don't want to bother his flow!", really just being nervous about doing the task justice. Rob pushed me to do it and Jask agreed, so I joined him on flute. It was such a beautiful experience and I felt we tapped in well with each other. I was really happy for the opportunity, and felt the music just carried us away.

Then it was my turn to start mixing. The crowd gathered and it was a successful start - it's so funny how nervous I am before playing, and how all of that slips away as soon as the music kicks in and carries me away. Especially when it's coming from such a genuine place full of passion. These days especially, I always play some tracks made by my friends in Israel. It's part of why I went to Israel, is I noticed that a high percentage of my music library was produced by Israelis. Now, I have so many tracks produced by my own friends and it means so much to me each time I play them. Seeing the crowd go wild is even more fulfilling too, because I am proud of these friends and wish they could be there to see how much people love their music way over here across the world.

I played a fair amount of new music last night, which gives me SO much energy. There really is something about new music that I'm hearing on the big speakers for the first time with probably most people in the venue. It helps me to feel the excitement as if I'm in the audience. I'm attracted to the challenge and the risk factor there too, since it's not as "safe" as tracks I've played before & know how well they work. I was really pleased with these new tracks last night and there were some that I resonate with a LOT. I feel that my own taste has been refining itself more and more and I feel so much more sure of the expressions that I offer. With afro house especially, I've finally found a sort of niche that fits me well & authentically, and that much of American society can get down with as well. In fact, I'd really like to practice producing tracks that are in alignment with this style, so I can grow alongside that world (bringing my own twist of course, especially with flute).

I do have some lessons I am learning from last night. One thing I never struggle with is crowd engagement; it comes to me very naturally, and is a blessing to actually be mindful of. I am so invigorated by connecting with the people in the crowd. I love to communicate with them non-verbally (or even verbally with some of my screams - if you know, you know) and I love seeing how they react to each track. I always dance a lot when I play too, since if I were in the crowd I'd be dancing non-stop. When I play, I still feel like I am dancing & partying with everyone else, only with two differences. One is that I happen to be the one twisting the knobs, and the other is that I'm absolute crazy about the tracks getting played because it's my exact music taste. All of these factors combined, I can feel a LOT of energy well up inside of me and I get flooded with excitement.

Last night, I went straight into my signature styles and stayed there - and people went wild, causing me to also go wild. I believe I committed a mistake that Valentina (my DJ mentor / friend / role model) taught me about in my DJ infancy. I wrote about it in the previous post, but essentially, she had taught me to be aware of whether I was giving all of my energy away to the crowd and not leaving enough of it to myself. She advised me to pay attention and draw energy up into myself so that I continued to re-charge and not only put forth. Last night, I got a little carried away. The gig was an absolute blast, but I didn't embody this lesson she'd taught me. Overall the gig was a success - people danced, cheered, vibed, and the connection was there. However, eventually people started leaving. I'm giving myself the benefit of the doubt in assuming that they were exhausted from an entire day of drinking & partying in the sun, and it was also very hot in the establishment. I'm also allowing myself to assume that because the feedback was really strong throughout the set, people had a blast and those who did stay continued to have a blast. However, I noticed that when people left, I instantly became much more tired, myself. I suddenly felt exhausted, like someone had just drained my of my energy source. So I believe there is the lesson right there - I should NOT allow the crowd to be my only source of energy to sustain myself with for my sets. I need to be in a constant ebb and flow of charging my own energy and maintain myself, so I can take better care of myself.

Another lesson I confirmed last night is to people-pleased less and shine in authenticity more. I believe every DJ has their own strengths and weaknesses for how they win the crowd and there is no one way to do a proper job. Some DJ's truly excel at "reading the room" and playing tracks specifically "for the people". They can do an excellent job of meeting people where they're at and giving them what they know and love. I've tried to be more of that kind of DJ, but typically compromise my authenticity in doing so and truthfully the result is mediocre compared to when I play in integrity with my own styles and expressions. I believe more & more now that there are other DJ's, like myself, that specifically succeed from offering a consistent style that is specific to myself. The logic is there - what's truest to me is what I do best. When I allow myself to unleash authentically, like last night, I bring so much more passion to the table and I see people connect with vibrations they may not usually feel or experience. You never know, too - it's best not to make assumptions about people. There can be people in the crowd that actually love these ethnic styles of music and seek it in their own lives, and are happy to finally have the chance to dance to it live. Last night, I played some of my favorite ethnic tracks and the crowd was going absolutely nuts for it. It's an affirmation to continue being true to myself because my truest passions are a pure medicine that I'm meant to bring into this world.

Thank you for reading and see y'all on the dance floor!