A few days ago, Mr. David Morales, living legend and most definitely a very talented house dj/producer, was to headline some party at Ruby Skye in SF. Along with him was good friend Frenchy le Freak, representing the local scene. Scheduled to play around 1am, he of course shows up 20 minutes late, so far, so bad, but nothing to call home about (it seems like starting your set on time is the most debasing thing when you’re a world famous dj). But then, after hanging around a bit, he simply declares the club “sounds like shit” and he won’t be playing there. Then proceeds to hang around the stage, royally ignoring the turntables, as if his mere presence was what people had come for.
Now, I’m no huge fan of Ruby Skye, but one thing is sure: the sound is pretty damn good for a club of this size, in fact, it’s probably among the best sounds you can get in the City. The sound system is more than decent and the room itself, being a former theater, has flawless acoustics…
Finally, after half-an-hour middle-man negotiations between the club manager and Morales’ agent, some kind of agreement was reached and Mr. Big Star Dj headed over to the decks, where he half-heartedly botched a low-quality set in front of a crowd he obviously could not care less about. Of course, the real issue that night was not sound quality or any such thing: the deal was probably more about acting out some diva caprice on a whim, flex some ego around and, most likely, extort extra cash from a rattled club manager who would probably sooner slit his wrists than having to announce the headliner was a no-show… This is an all too common story. Ask any club promoter, manager, DJ: they will all have their story about such or such Big Name DJ not showing up at the last minute, asking twice the previously agreed price, or just casually sliding a mix CD in and not touching a knob for the whole set…
And it sucks. Big time. It sucks because it gives a bad name to every dj out there, including the ones who work hard to respect their public and not feed them crap just because they can. It sucks because, of course, such set give a really poor idea of what good House music can be (“is that what a legendary DJ sound like?”). But first and foremost, it sucks because this is the exact opposite of all things House music used to stand for (DJs check their rockstar ego at the door, the vibe is more important than the venue etc). Anyway, next time some over-hyped super-dj comes playing in your vicinity, you should probably wonder whether you care to see some jaded button-pusher who doesn’t give a fuck about the crowd or the vibe, or if you would not be better off with some obscure but talented local dj who truly cares about the public…