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I never wrote a “let’s get to know me” post like RH when we both joined EF records, but it seems necessary in order to explain the title of this post.
First off, I go by BirdFlu. I’ve never headlined any event ever. The first show I ever played was when I was in a crew called Sugar Water Purple. We played between sets by 6 different hardcore and screamo acts (and had to beg for the event organizers to let us play after driving 3 hours to the show with our own PA) at an all-ages show in a roller rink in Asheville. Needless to say after telling that story, I try and stay humble. I got my start DJing on WSBF FM Clemson. I owe a ton of my success to my mentor and partner in the Bubbleguts Brothers; JectWon, aka Hunter Bazaco. I use turntables and vinyl, which makes most people assume I hate on anyone using any other type of DJ equipment. Those that make that assumption need to apologize to Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, because they have stepped into the Erroneous Zone.
So despite having been DJing for longer than I’ve done anything in my life; before I joined up with EF Records, I never spun any dance records. No form of disco, or house, or electro, or drum and bass… Back in Clemson, I showed some aspiring DJs at the station who were into house music how to use turntables to mix records, and I owned a handful of faster records that I never played in sets. Then JeffET moved in. It took him more than a year of living in the room next to mine to coax me into playing genres of house and techno; but after playing our first show together as the CPO Gents, it became obvious that I needed to broaden my range as a DJ--which meant broadening my record collection.
Now that I’m playing sets with Jeff and Rocky Horror, I find myself leaving all the hip-hop and downtempo at the house when stocking my show crate. I’ve spent way too much on records in the past 2 months considering my salary at the library, but I’m slowly learning more and more about genres of music that I had previously neglected.
And finally, we get to the point: I don’t know much about house music despite always liking it. I just was so focused on the hunt for the endangered species that is good hip-hop on wax for so long, that I never found time to listen to anything else (or was simply too closed-minded to). So I’d like to make this a series of posts, and I’m gonna be honest about what I never heard before; but you gotta promise not to judge if I post something that makes you say “I can’t believe he never heard that shit. He calls himself a DJ?” Word? Word. This first volume is--embarrassingly enough--house jawns by DJ Spinna (a damn hero of mine and one of my biggest influences) that I now love, but Just Found Out About.
Stevie Wonder -- My Love is on Fire (DJ Spinna Remix):
Music In Me feat. Shaun Escoffery:
Gordon Chambers -- Fall In Love (DJ Spinna Remix):
Joey Negro -- Love Hangover (DJ Spinna Remix):
Shouts to Jeff on that last one. Stay tuned for more discommodious--big ups to the online thesaurus for providing that hilarious synonym for embarrassing--confessions of my ignorance. Until then…
