Betace's High

Starting this Friday and running throughout the month of February, I will be doing a weekly residency at the Ace Hotel in Manhattan. Which is apparently a scene of some sort, according to this Sunday's NY Times article. While Q-Tip throws down in the basement, I'll be up in the spacious lobby from 8pm to midnight. The best part of the night? I'll be playing four hours' worth of old-school country, redneck funk, and bootcut soul! Expect to hear lots of Willie and Waylon, along with lasses like Jessi Colter, Terri Gibbs and Dolly Parton, not to mention dudes like Steve Young, Travis Wammack, Gene Clark, Joe Tex, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gary Stewart, and Billy Joe Shaver, to name but a few. Put some scoot in your boots and tears in your beers!

A sampling of drunken exchanges with the DJ

"Hi. Can you plug in my iPhone so that we can hear Leo Sayer's 'I Feel Like Dancing'?"

"Buuut, we're playing a song right this very instant that's about feeling like dancing."

***

"You remember that Falco song, 'Der Kommissar'?"

"(Pauses in deep contemplation) Yes. I do remember it."

***

"Can you play Chromeo?"

"We've played nothing but talk box songs for the last hour."

"Yeah, but I'm trying to impress this girl."

***

"Cool, you about to play that CJ & Co. Devil's Gun record?"

"Fuck yes I am!"

***

"You know, if you played the Beach Boys right now, everyone in this bar would start singing."

"That's exactly what we don't want."

DJing tonight at Stanton Public

Tonight, I'm filling in for my friend Gerald (Other Music) at Stanton Public in the LES, which should be fun. And free. And crispy cool. And featuring a pretty sweet subwoofer to give it all some boom. I myself am a fan of cask beers and drinking Dogfish Head on tap. Though last time there, they were showing American Psycho (in black and white no less!). Kinda hard to play 80s-tinged dancing tracks knowing that up above his head, Christian Bale is espousing the virtues of Huey Lewis and the News.

betanimal collective

Took a few days to come down off the high of DJing both Animal Collective shows this past week. It's hard to ask for a better audience than two ballrooms packed with AC zealots filling up on free venue water and doobage. The crowd response was pretty overwhelming both nights. Inauguration Night, we did a pretty implicit set that went something like this:

Grateful Dead's "US Blues" >>
Lee Dorsey's original "Yes We Can" >>
Mr. Finger's Chicago classic "Can U Feel It?" >>
this bananas track from Kenya >>
to this cherry-on-top track that made the crowd go ecstatic.

The Man repaid the band in kind with a glowing review of MPP the next day.

Not sure what sort of stick was jutting out of Caramanica's balcony seat though.


Second night was more scattershot, but fun nevertheless. We subjected the room to Seventh Sons, Fleetwood Mac, Francis Bebey, Yoko Ono and Gloria Taylor dubbiness, Bee Gees, African Head Charge, wicked Devo and Misa Criolia edits and other unmentionables.

While 7,859 days out of the year the Brooklyn Vegan comments section offers myriad reasons to either gouge out eyeballs, kick babies or else go postal, we got some love (though almost always in tandem with some cruel dissing of Abbey and Blues Control):

"Blues Control was meh...
but that DJ was AWESOME especially with all the Obama-speech mix! i was groovin!!"

Posted by Anonymous | January 21, 2009 12:16 PM

"Geez, Blues Control must be up for the worst set I've ever experienced in my life. The music the DJ was playing as we waited was way more interesting.

AC had a pretty good show, and the sound I believe was fine. I was right by the barrier and the bass was shaking me up!

I thought Fireworks was the best in the set, or maybe I just miss the real drums in their music. My Girls, Brothersport and Slippi were other highlights to me."

Posted by dee | January 21, 2009 1:42 PM

"dear god though that opening act needed to be put out of her misery. that baby sound effect was probably the worst thing ever.

dj in between sets was pretty great also."

Posted by kp | January 22, 2009 11:22 AM

"All in all, not that great. The DJ between sets played better music. That opening act was a total joke - someone should have pulled the plug on her."

Posted by Anonymous | January 22, 2009 1:29 PM

DJeta

Inexplicably, I have found myself with five DJ gigs through the rest of January.

Tonight I will be playing records at Stanton Public with my friend Gerald.

Saturday afternoon I will be DJing that 70s music as part of Buffalo Exchange's 35th anniversary at their Driggs Ave. store.

Next Tuesday and Wednesday a few friends and I will be "exposing the young white world to dub, South American, and African styles" as the DJs for both of the sold-out Animal Collective shows. (Perhaps you've heard of them?)

And then next Thursday, Eric from Brooklyn Flea and I will be at Daddy's, pretending that we are spinning both the Metallica and Lindstrøm afterparties.