We learned early on that music was an essential part of our booth. When we played music, we noticed that we attracted more people to the booth. We bought a cheap little boom box, and since I am the music lover, I provided the tunes. But I played music according to my tastes. I learned really quick that this wasn't going to work. One day, my selection of Serge Gainsbourg was snickered at by a teen girl. I was going to have to cater to the masses.
The second year out, we started experimenting. We discovered that some types of music attracted people, and some types of music drove people away. Heavy metal, punk and alternative music repelled people. Country music was neutral. It didn't repel, but it really didn't draw people either. Hip hop attracted people. Techno attracted people. And oddly enough, the Ramones drew people.
One of the problems is that - if your music is limited - you get sick of your music really fast. You have to listen to it all day, every day for weeks. So I am always trying to improve my playlist.
Last spring (April, 2011), I was downloading music to prepare for the upcoming fair circuit. Most of it was hip hop. I use whatever means available to scour for music. Browsing, but mostly taking suggestions from Facebook friends.
One of my friends (Martha from Chicago) posted a link. It was to an artist called Skrillex, and her commentary was "Dubstep f****d my mind." The track was named "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites". I had never heard of dubstep, but I listened to the song. My mind was totally blown. This was electronic music for deejays. It was so random, and there were so many changes in the song that one could barely keep up with it. I was hooked. I downloaded the song (along with a Skrillex remix of a Black Eyed Peas song) and added it to my playlist.
I am no stranger to electronic music. While I was an exchange student in Belgium in 1988, I was introduced to the rave scene - before it was called rave. Acid House. New Beat. Techno. I brought this music back with me, and by 1989, all of the underground clubs were pumping this music. I was totally into it. We were clubbing four nights a week - all so that we could listen to the music. I even wore the smiley face buttons. I was a regular denizen at all of the raves in Phoenix.
I do believe that it was DeLaSoul that once said (rapped), "Everyone wants to be a deejay." I was no exception. I had no equipment, but I dubbed some very good mix tapes. I had a huge vinyl collection. I even deejayed a couple of parties. My dream was to open a club. I even had my eye on an old warehouse that would make a great club. In 1990, I moved to Utah and auditioned as a deejay at Club DV8. House music had not quite made it to Utah. I didn't get the gig.
So 21 years later, I discover dubstep, and it has all of the electronic magic that acid house once had. I found myself in a pickup truck, hauling airbrush equipment, on my way up north to start our fair circuit. I put a CD in for my brother-in-law to show him my playlist. He listened to Skrillex for the first time, and he - like me - was totally blown away.
Our first gig was a summer festival in Utah. I only had two Skrillex songs in my repertoire, but I had a tremendous response from them. Tremendous! "Is that dubstep?!" "Is that Skrillex?!" The sounds drew crowds to our booth like none other. I went home that night and downloaded the whole Skrillex catalog. Plus, people would come up to me randomly and make suggestions of other dubstep artists - deadmau5, Nero, Bassnectar, Datsik, Mt. Eden Dubstep, Notixx, etc. I was downloading music every night, updating my playlist.
By the end of June, we had the best booth in any show we went to - bright lights, a colorful display, my brother-in-law's mad airbrush skills, and the "sickest" music blaring out into the night. Nobody else had a booth like ours. We got praise every night - not just on the art, but on the music selection. My brother-in-law was introducing me as his deejay.
What we didn't know was that we had timed this just right - the beginning of summer of 2011 was the beginning of the dubstep explosion in the United States. And I was fulfilling my dream of being a deejay - at 41 years-old. I was making sounds that were drawing in and amazing people. It wasn't uncommon to have people start dancing in front of our booth.
At first, I was just using my phone connected to a speaker. By July, in Wyoming, I was deejaying live from my laptop.
By the end of the summer, the dubstep craze was dying down. And this is how you could tell - at the beginning of the summer, in June, the people that were coming to us and talking about our music were all college students. By the end of the summer, by September, it was little kids who were asking, "Is this dubstep?"
But we caught it when it was just starting out, and that was exciting. I don't think I will be going on the fair circuit this summer due to health issues. (I wish I was. I love the mad bohemian lifestyle.) But I am certain that many booths will be blaring dubstep in the summer of 2012. But we were the first. We were innovators. And yes, I am saying that with a little pride.
So people asked me, "What did you do this summer?"
And I responded, "I deejayed hot music for thousands of people every day all summer. What did you do?"
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