Djnyc Funk n' Soul, nyc dj

Times Square record store to reopen

This is so great, completely takes you back to the old New York.  It took me so long to switch from records to cds (literally up until 2004) and I have a deep attachment to all my old funk, latin soul, brit pop, salsa, hair metal, etc. records.  Unfortunately it just got to be too laborious lugging them into gigs in Manhattan.  In L.A. it's much easier because everyone has a car, parking spot and places are less tricky to navigate.  The more you can minimize your gear in NYC the better off you are. 

The famous Times Square subway Record Mart, which was first opened in 1958 by Jesse Moskowitz, is set to reopen in the first week of October. Unfortunately it won't be offering records, which to me would be transcendent to be able to walk through the Times Square subway hustle and bustle and look for records. In a way he'd be defying all the rules of capitalism and commerce. Of course to float that rent I'm sure is no bargain. The good news is that the mart will have music from Cuba, Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico and and other countries, and they will be playing tunes as you rush by in your commute.

Another video clip from the Rainbow Room 8-11-07

Here's a clip from the Rainbow Room where we played some merengue, salsa, latin soul, funk, roots, reggae, cha cha cha, calypso, motown and disco. Enjoy!

Our next event is at the Tobacco Warehouse

We'll be at the Tobacco Warehouse for our next gig and it looks like a sweet place to have an event, particularly for the views, serendipity to the Manhattan Bridge and convenience of accessibility.  The trick with a lot of these venues is that often times the locations in Manhattan are easiest for out-of-towners who are not familiar with New York, and sometimes the most stressful for those of us here in terms of parking, cost, security, etc.  It looks like our friend Henry has been there as well and has some nice photos.

Video slideshow from Rainbow Room

Slideshows are always tricky at events, both to sync up with the audio, the timing, length and content.  This is one of two which Bruce and Ko presented at their wedding and I must say it was extremely effective.  So nice to see a chronology of a person's youth and it really adds another dimension, especially if you have people who may not know each other as well.  Give it about 6 seconds to load...

Spring 2008 schedule filling up fast

It looks so far like people are booking earlier this year for events. If you're interested in hiring us for an event in Spring 2008 please contact us info@discjockeynyc.com as soon as possible.  We only participate in a limited number of events each year so once a date is booked we're unavailable. 

Also tonight an excellent free event at the Hudson Hotel.  'DJ Spinna' Williams pursues the full range of his roots (Funk, Soul and Jazz), foundation (Hip-Hop) and future (Electronic/Dance music) for 4 hours tonight.

Here's the info:

Date: Monday, August 27th
Time: 6:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: Hudson Hotel (356 West 58th Street)
Cost: Free with RSVP

Some more photos from the Rainbow Room Event

Here are some additional photos from Friday night.  We always try to get photos of us (the last one in this post) during the events unfortunately since neither of us are photographers they usually end up looking like surveillance photos! 

Photos from Bruce and Ko @ Rainbow Room

Last night was an excellent time.  Bruce and Ko created som slide presentations which were by far the best we've ever seen, and chronology from each of their lives from when they were little.  When done well they can be so effective and really add another dimension. We played some Korean pop songs, merengue, salsa, funk, soul and of course disco! The security at the Rainbow Room was very tough and I ended up having to wait outside the building for a 1/2 hour to get back in and retrieve all the equipment. 

Off to the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Plaza Tonight

We'll be at the Rainbow Room tonight for an event, heavy security at Rockefeller Plaza understandably so we'll have to get there a little early. It'll be a late night as well, will post some photos and songs we played tomorrow.

Korean wedding at 24 5th Avenue - June '07

We have some great photos from this night, Bella and Peter's wedding. This will be probably part one of two or three.  24 5th Ave is interesting, it feels like it takes you back a little in time with it's history in New York City. It was originally constructed in 1926 to replace the Brevoort mansion. There is a wine bar and restaurant adjoining it which have the original facade on the inside still due to landmark construction laws. If you're sitting at the bar you can see the original concrete which they were not permitted to change when they wanted to extend the bar area further out. 

Talent Agency Party @ Zanzibar

Here are some photos from a talent agency party we dj-ed over the summer at Zanzibar.  It was an excellent night, despite New York's fine cabaret laws, where we got to play all kinds of music from electro jazz to soul to funk to roots reggae.  You can see a photo of me up in their "booth" and a view of the crowd from the booth as well.  The booth was a little precarious especially because there were a lot of people in front of it and next to it walking around, but all in all a decent space for an event. 

A few more from Lladro event, Beverly Hills, CA

Ok this time is really the last of the photos, there were a few more I wanted to post.  The system we used was the Torq Advanced Exponent and Virtual DJ.  I have mixed feelings about both, it'll be a while before we fully move over to using only computers, I like CDs still and I think the computer will be great for more background music type situations.  But the flexibility to have all your mp3s at your disposal is incredible, you can save and reuse playlists and always add notes to songs which can be saved in the ID3/ medadata of the MP3 tracks. A lot of times what I'm looking for is more of a mood and less of a genre, which is often hard to find. So being able to build a database over time clearly is the way to make your life easier, especially for events that require a huge mix of different types of music.

The last of the LLadro photos

I ended up playing a set of calypso, roots african, roots reggae, latin soul and electro jazz at Lladro. One of the amazing African compilations is called Golden Afrique (pictured below) with my favorite tracks Taximen, Autorail and Jalox Saboteurs.   

A few more photos from Lladro

Photos from LLadro

So the guest musician ended up being Mike Garzon, who is David Bowie's pianist. He was great, he played very uptempo classical pieces.  The piano you see pictured was Liberace's.  There was also about 40 press members there and some stars although I only got a brief break to check out the action.  You can see the setup below, we had part of the sound, video and auction setup downstairs and I was up on the second floor in the corner.  I got to see a lot of friends from L.A. who dropped in as well. The art auction was a mixed bag, the curators felt that some of the collection was overpriced and therefore did not bring in as much money as hoped to the foundation.  But it's a learning  process I'm sure next year it will be organized a little differently. It was awesome to have Dave's help spinning as well, so that I could take a break and talk to everybody.  You can see our setup in the last photo and the sound/ video in the atrium as well.

World music, afro funk, electronica @ LLadro tonight

Tonight is the big night in Beverly Hills @ Lladro.  It's a benefit for the Real Medicine Foundation which is in 10 countries including Nigeria, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Germany.  I'll be spinning a mix of music from different parts of the world including Afro Voodoo Funk, French rap, roots reggae, Hatian calypso, 18th Street lounge electronica like Federico Aubele and Thievery Corporation, etc. 

We'll see how it goes, there's an auction as well with artwork by Basqiat, etc. so it will be a mix throughout the evening.  There will also be alive music but the guest has not been announced yet,  looking forward to the night. Will post some photos tomorrow. 

Itunes - the good and the bad

As we've been building our music library the past few years Apple has taken the lion's share of our budget for new music. In 2006 we spent almost $600 on Itunes and feel it's important to purchase the music we use  and participate in the system. With that said one of the great things about Itunes is how easy it is to search, browse and purchase music. A lot of people would agree that they have been so successful for this reason, it's actually easy to buy a song from Itunes then to go try to find it elsewhere on the web.

The flipside is that imposing a 7 CD burn limit on tracks you purchased and copy protecting MP3s so that they do not work in any other program or on an unauthorized computer. What's with the 5 computer authorization anyway? Don't they know most tech geeks have at least 3 computers? It also mysteriously crashes when you approach the 7 CD burn limit often.  So you have all these extra steps, reimporting burned CDs, or using a program like tunebite to re-record the copy protected tracks, just to use music that you purchased.  I'm surprised Apple doesn't see how much money they will make if they take out all these restrictions, I honestly think they would move from 3rd to 1st as the largest music retailer in the U.S.

Belvedere Mansion, headed to LLadro in Beverly Hills

Here are some more photos from Saturday night. We have some great video clips as well when I have some time to color correct I'll post as well. Sean is looking more like a detective than a dj out in front of the Belvedere.  Tomorrow I'm headed to Los Angeles to dj at LLadro in Beverly Hills at a benefit for the Real Medicine Foundation.  There will be celebs there, not sure who yet, and also art for sale by Basquiat, Yoko One and Sean Lennon.  More info here...

Excellent night at the Belvedere Mansion

last night, will write more tonight and post more photos/ videos, for now here are a few!

Headed up to the Belvedere Mansion tonight

We're headed up to the beautiful Hudson Valley tonight for an event at the Belvedere Mansion.  It's a beautiful spot, very romantic, reminds me a little of Amherst, where you instantly put yourself in the headspace of a victorian cottage sipping red wine and reading Hemingway.  It's been a while since we've travelled North of Manhattan for an event so I'm looking forward to it. 

Top 20 songs ruined by commercials

After djing for a while in New York City and Los Angeles we always try to be sensitive to songs that people are just sick of hearing.  Nothing can signify the death of a song faster than it being dropped into a national television advertising campaign.  For me numbers one and two are a tie, I remember hearing Curtis Mayfield's Pusherman while some suburbinator with shades was driving his Izuzu SUV through the woods. Pink Moon as well by Nick Drake playing through the speakers of a convertible Volkswagon.  Once the context of the song changes from formative childhood experiences to subliminal messages of KFC chicken buckets and Carnival cruise ships, you should take the song and bury it permanently.   Listen here!

1. Curtis Mayfield - Pusherman (Isuzu)
2. Nick Drake - Pink Moon (VW Convertible)
3. Johnny Cash - Walk the Line (Levis)
4. Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire (Burger King)
5. The Jam - Start (Cadillac)
6. The Killers - Mr. Brightside(Target)
7. Clash - London Calling (Jaguar)
8. Iggy Pop - Lust for Life (Royal Carribean)
9. Led Zepplin -  Rock and Roll (Cadillac)
10. AC/DC - Back in Black (Gap Ad for face crap)
11. Scorpions - Rock You like a Hurricane (Chili's)
12. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama (KFC)
13. Creedence - Fortunate Son
14. U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday   (NFL)
15. Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun (Wendy's)
16. Iron & Wine - Such Great Heights cover (M&Ms)
17. Röyksopp - Remind Me (VW)
18. James Brown - I Feel Good (Laxatives)
19. Nancy Sinatra - These Boots are Made for Walkin' (Frozen Pizza)
20. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things (Martha Stewart)

Dance Floor Killers (Cont'd)

Getting back to the original list of music that can be considered the death of any party, there are a few tracks which deserve honorable mention as djnyc dance floor killers.

1) Patrick Swazi - She's Like the Wind
2) Billy Joel - We Didn't Start the Fire
3) Michael Bolton - How Am I Supposed to Live Without You
4) Pat Boone - Tutti Frutti
5) Billy Joel - Tell Her About It
6) Peter Cetera w/ Cher - After All
7) Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You
8) Starship - We Built The City
9) Beach Boys - Kokomo
10) Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up

Island Records Rhythm & Blues - 1964-1969

To pick up where our other review left off, this is the second Island Records compilation which I like.  There are a lot of good songs on here, and most people know the Spencer Davis track Gimme Some Lovin', but as we are always looking for the best of the best I think there are 3 standout tracks on this album:
9) Jackie Edwards - Come on Home
16) The Wailers - Put It On
18) Pioneers - Long Shot Kick De Bucket.

The second two of these tracks made our top 20 roots reggae tracks list and you can listen to them here.

A few more venues that deserve honorable mention

In and around Manhattan there are som excellent places as well that also have nice vantage points of the city and were great to work at. Giando's in Williamsburg deserves honorable mention with its fantastic views of the Williamsburg Bridge and lower Manhattan.  It's also very easy to get to, navigate and leave as well.  The other polace just outside of the city that was excellent to work at as The Water's Edge in Long Island City.  In terms of parking and accessibility it was very easy and the staff there were accommodating as well. 

Our top 5 favorite places to dj in Manhattan

After djing in New York City for a few years and being a part of events in and around the five boroughs, we've been able to visit and work in many different types of locations, from bars to clubs to restaurants to grand sized ballrooms.  The are a lot of factors that go into making a venue a great place to work in and from experience one of the most important factors to us is the Maitre'D.  If the event is  large and there are a multitude of activities happening it's crucial to have a Maitre'D running the show that can handle everything.  Usually they hire great staff as well.  Our vote for best Maitre'D in New York City is Tom at The Bryant Park Grill.  All of the staff there are friendly and accommodating and the place is an absolute pleasure to work at.   Here is a list of our favorite places to dj in the city which includes staff, service, accessibility, and overall experience:
1) Cipriani (Wall Street)
2) Thalassa (Tribeca, beautiful location, fantastic staff, excellent food)
3) Bryant Park Grill
4) Central Park Boathouse
5) Union Square Ballroom

Broaded your musical horizons with Itunes

Whenever I'm searching for new music for an event I usually check Itunes, Pandora, and KCRW to see what's out there. Itunes is excellent because you can fire through a lot of music very quickly and that's one of the reasons that it is so popular.  There are a couple of sites out there worth checking out if you want to build on your Itunes playlists.  Mystrands analyzes your Itunes library and builds custom playlists based on your music. The downside is that it requires an additional piece of software to run alongside Itunes.

The Filter is another site which does something similar, you install there software, select 3 songs from Itunes and it creates a new playlist based on those 3 songs.  These are great ideas but I think like Pandora in practice you rarely are going to be able to replicate your own selection of music.  Although I haven't tried them yet so I may be pleasantly surprised.  Two sites beyond these, I Like and Fiql, let you share your Itunes playlists with friends and vice versa, you can sort through other playlists.  I would love to see a site take this to another level, where it's djs posting and sharing their playlists with other djs. Imagine how great it would be to have a site where Gilles Peterson and Garth Trinidad were posting and sharing their playlists and how much time it would save you.  I often find Imixes to be so random and if you type in a Tito Puente salsa song on Pandora it offers up an Enrique Iglesias ballad as a suggestion. Surely this meta data we are all creating can but put together in a way that's more effective.   

Djnyc's Top 20 Roots Reggae Tracks

These aren't in order other than alphabetical but here are some of our favorite roots reggae songs.  ***Listen here!

1. Put It On - Bob Marley 
2. Simmer Down - Bob Marley
3. One Love - Bob Marley & The Wailers
4. Shame & Scandal - Blues Busters
4. Marcus Garvey - Burning Spear
5. Creation Rebel - Burning Spear
6. Mistress Music - Burning Spear
7. Natty Never Get Weary - Culture
8. 007 Shanty Town - Desmond Dekker & The Aces
9. Book of Rules - The Heptones 
10. The Harder They Come - Jimmy Cliff
11. Love the Life You Live - Midnite 
12. Long Shot Kick de Bucket - The Pioneers
13. Starvation - The Pioneers
14. 54-46 Was My Number - Toots & The Maytals
15. Pomp and Pride - Toots & The Maytals
16. Reggae Got Soul - Toots & The Maytals 
17. Christmas Feeling Ska - Toots & The Maytals
18. Pressure Drop - Toots & The Maytals
19. (Take Me Home) Country Roads - Toots & The Maytals
20. Return of Django - The Upsetters

Djnyc's Top Ten Dance Floor Killers

During our search to scour the earth for the world's best music we've also been blessed to encounter the world's most terrible music. It was a tough list to compile as it was necessary to comb through endless Montavani, Anne Murray and Engelburt Humperdinck records to come up with the top 10. 

This is music that can be considered a "waste of hearing" in that if you're alloted a certain number of human hours on the planet with the ability to hear, these songs would be on par with the sounds of a lawnmower next to your bedroom window, nails scraping along a  chalkboard, the subway rider next to you chewing his Bigmac with his mouth open, and the sound of barf splatting against the pavement.   Actually hearing one of these songs at the right moment may incite the last sound, in which case you'll have come full circle.  When the song first comes on the initial thing that should pop into your head is "damn, that really sucks."  You might be on a boat with the wind blowing through your hair, or at Gina's wedding in Pawtuck. 

If in the heat of the moment you whipped out one of these gems and were courageous enough not to duck behind the dj both you're almost guaranteed a mortifying experience.  The flipside, of course, is if you're able to work one of these tracks into a set and "bring it to another level" you would be considered a king of kings amongst many dj circles.

HERE'S THE LIST

Listen here!!!

1. How Can We Be Lovers - Michael Bolton
2. Songbird - Kenny G      
3. Hip to Be Square - Huey Lewis & The News   
4. Life Is a Highway - Tom Cochrane   
5. Restless Heart - Peter Cetera
6. When the Going Gets Tough - Billy Ocean            
7. You're Only Human (2nd Wind) - Billy Joel               
8. Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler
9. Heartbeat - Don Johnson
10. The Shoop Shoop Song - Cher