In my humble opinion… Madonna.

But opinions are like, well, you know how the saying goes.  Music is so speculative anyhow, so who really comes up with all of the honorific titles is a mystery in itself, so I turned to the mighty Google to find an answer. I searched “Queen of Pop” and found no help there, just more confusion. Wikipedia has a list titled “Honorific nicknames in popular music”, so I thought I would use that as a starting point.  After sorting through the names and titles – some familiar, some realistic, and some just silly – I was able to sort out that according to that article, there are apparently seven ladies that have been crowned Queen; Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Janet Jackson, Christina Agiulera, Mariah Carey, Kylie Minogue (huh???) and of course, Madonna.

You can’t believe everything you read on the internet, or so I’ve been told, so I decided to ask a few DJ friends of mine the simple question; “Who is the Queen of Pop?”  Most answered the same… Madonna, with a random Katy Perry thrown in there, but hardly a contender by any means.

As it turns out, Madonna will also be performing at the halftime show at Superbowl XLVI (2012), three decades after the release of her debut single ‘Everybody’.  Still relevant enough to rock the Superbowl after thirty years… Quite impressive.

As for the others Wiki mentioned, here are my irrelevant thoughts.  Love Britney, but not quite Queen material.  Janet, Christina and Mariah, ummm, not.  Gaga is too new, and Kylie – although talented – is really about as relevant as Debbie Gibson.  I was sort of surprised not to see either Diana Ross or Donna Summer on the Wiki list at all.  Summer would have been my choice for Queen of Disco at the very least, with far more hits than the named Gloria Gaynor, and Diana Ross simply reigns supreme – pun totally intended.

Looking at Madonna overall, taking into consideration her longevity, perpetual self-reinvention, and fifty plus Billboard Top 40 hits, her relevance – at least right now – looks fairly significant. One might even argue that Madonna’s cultural impact opened the door for female pop artists to follow.

So this DJ, Musicologist and music aficionado would crown Madonna as the reigning Queen of Pop.

Who would you choose?

-Craig

Pop Crown Illustration by Sean Gallo

Musicology

The 2012 year has begun, and, if you’re reading this, so far so good – we’re all still here. As Christmas of 2011 concluded, and the barrage of holiday tunes dissipated, R.E.M.’s It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (and I feel fine) was the tune that took their place playing inside my head.  Whether it be Nostradamus, the ancient Mayans, or some nut jobs like Harold Camping or The Westboro Baptist Church, it seems that every couple of years someone else is predicting the “end of days”… Can you hear me yawning?

As someone suggested to me only days ago; “How do we know the Mayans didn’t just run out of stone to make more calendar?”

Besides being completely overrated, I think this whole “End of the World” thing should be a little more organized, not chaotic and haphazard like the lyrics of the R.E.M. song.  I don’t think it’s too unreasonable of me to ask some specifics, so that I might know when it would be acceptable to stop making mortgage payments.  The word mortgage itself – taken from the Latin meaning “engagement until death” – suggests that perhaps Fannie Mae might be behind the vagueness of it all. Essentially, Armageddon would mean no more bank bail-outs, and we all know ‘they’ can’t let that happen.

But I digress.

Apparently what is “great” is that it all starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes and an aeroplane, not to mention that Lenny Bruce is not afraid (giving much relevance to a comedian, and perhaps the irony of it all).  I mean, of course Lenny Bruce isn’t afraid, he’s been dead since 1966 for Pete’s sake. Being that I personally experienced my first earthquake in 2011, I can tell you there’s really nothing great about them.  As far as the birds, they must be the Alfred Hitchcock variety, and the snakes could be anything from the serpent in the Garden of Eden to the ones on that aeroplane, which wasn’t even invented til long after the decline of the Mayan culture, so really, what does it all mean?

“The future’s uncertain and the end is always near”.
-Jim Morrison, deceased.

It’s fairly clear that our society has some obsessive, if not romantic fascination with the end of the world, and regardless how it would come to pass, I’m afraid we would get no warnings like snakes or birds, it would just happen.  That being said, if this whole Mayan thing doesn’t work out, things will be business as usual.  Instead of concerning ourselves with endings, perhaps it’s best we embrace beginnings, and all that is good in the world.  The sun will still rise, children will still laugh and smile, life is good…

And I feel fine.

Happy 2012

-Craig

In an article published just over two years ago titled “What Is A DJ Supposed To Know?”, I expressed an opinion that inherently, first and foremost, a DJ is ‘supposed’ to know about music. Reading that article again with hindsight being 20/20, I can see that much of what I wrote in that article was fueled by my own personal opinion coupled with a great passion for music, specifically ‘popular’ music.

Although I still believe this to be true, admittedly, I acknowledge that a DJ must posses some additional skill sets in order to execute his duties as a DJ… Particularly the Mobile DJ. Stating the obvious, it would help if the DJ was familiar with and had a general understanding of acoustics, sound and amplification equipment, as well as emerging technologies and platforms on which play music. At the same time, there are some other extracurricular skill sets which might also enhance the Disc Jockey’s ability to do his or her job correctly, some of which I hope to cover here. To begin, I searched the term ‘Disc Jockey’, and came up with this definition:

A Disc Jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, disk referred to phonograph records, while disc referred to the Compact Disc, and has become the more common spelling. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.

There are several types of Disc Jockeys. Radio DJs or radio ‘personalities’ introduce and play music that is broadcast on AM, FM, shortwave, digital, or internet radio stations. Club DJs select and play music in bars, nightclubs, discothèques, at raves, or even in a stadium. Hip Hop Disc Jockeys select and play music using multiple turntables – often to back up one or more MCs. They may also do turntable scratching to create percussive sounds. In reggae, the DJ (deejay) is a vocalist who raps, “toasts”, or chats over pre-recorded rhythm tracks while the individual choosing and playing them is referred to as a selector. Mobile DJs travel with portable sound systems and play recorded music at a variety of events.

The definition suggests that in each instance, aside from the playing of (and therefore knowledge of) music, there are ‘specialists’. Varied types of DJ for various applications, each possessing unique skill sets that lend to their specific responsibility or ‘type’ of DJing. Aside from the Reggae and Hip Hop varieties, I have personal experience in the other three roles; Club DJ, Radio DJ and Mobile DJ, the latter two requiring an additional skill set in common – the use of the microphone. The use of the microphone, and the ability to articulate correctly and properly while using it, is a learned skill, and something that naturally – like anything else – evolves and improves with time.

Further examining the Club DJ versus Radio DJ, I think it’s fair to assert that each has their strengths aside from music knowledge.  In most cases, the Club DJ has a much greater technical ability than the Radio DJ, but is often more fluent in a specific style or styles of music (ergo a Club DJ at a disco club might be more versed in 70s music than a Club DJ that specializes in House music).  The Club DJ can mix beats, blend and sometimes scratch or even re-mix on the fly, all of which are skills the Radio DJ has no need for.  The Radio DJ – or ‘personality’ – is often just that.  Unlike the Club, Mobile, Hip-Hop or Reggae DJ, the Radio Jock seldom even chooses the music which – unlike in the early days of Radio – is often pre-programmed.  The Radio DJ is more of the personality, making announcements, taking callers, introducing songs and chatting a bit about the tune or the artist before or after it is played, being careful not to talk over lyrics or leave what is known as ‘dead air’ (gaps between songs or commercials).  The proper use of the microphone and grasp of the English language is therefore essential to the Radio DJ, while possessing a general knowledge (less specialized than the Club DJ) of various musical genres.

The skilled professional Mobile DJ embodies all of these skills, or at least a lot of both.  Like the Club DJ, the Mobile DJ must chose the next song, and then the next, ‘reading’ or anticipating the reaction of the crowd, whereas the Mobile DJ must have a broader knowledge of music, as his audience is often more diverse than the genre-specific nightclub or radio station.  The Mobile DJ must also blend music to some degree, and although may not be the ‘mixologist’ that the Club DJ is, they often posses a sufficient degree of skill… enough to keep the party moving.  The experienced Mobile DJ is also comfortable with the microphone, having the ability to make necessary announcements articulately and with precision, although typically with less frequency than the Radio DJ.

Essentially, the Mobile DJ is more well rounded than the Club DJ or Radio DJ, and although you could certainly engage the services of a Club DJ to do your wedding, or a Radio DJ to play at your Sweet 16 party, both might have limitations in their abilities that the Mobile DJ has evolved beyond.  Not to be mistaken, I am not suggesting that the Mobile DJ is ‘better than’ the Club or Radio DJ, just better at what they do.  A Mobile DJ might be hard-put to make the transition from party to radio or club, but it’s more likely that the Club or Radio DJ would be harder-put to transition the other way.

To use an analogy: the Club DJ is the Ear Doctor, the Radio DJ is the Oral Surgeon, and the Mobile DJ… well, they’re more of the General Practitioner, able to cure what ails you with a well-rounded helping of musical love and care.

~Craig

‘DJ Brain’ illustration courtesy of Sean Gallo Designs

One week ago today (Monday, July 25, 2011) our blog, and website re-vamped in March of 2010, reached 500,000 visits.  This is an achievement that gives me great pride which I felt worthy of mention, but admittedly, I cannot take credit for it’s tremendous success.  There are many contributors – photographers, guest writers, illustrators and industry colleagues (as well as close friends and colleagues)  – who have been friends to our DJ blog and website. Some of you have contributed, some have edited and corrected, some have participated, and some have been helping to spread our articles and blog posts thorough every social media hub available. To all of you – a list that would be far too long to compile – I give my sincerest thanks.

In the week following July 25 of 2011, we have gained yet another 5,000+ views, a remarkable feat in itself for a DJ company limited in every possible way a company could be in gaining traffic.  For the most part, we are a regional DJ company, confined to Philadelphia and the surrounding areas, we are stifled by copyright laws regarding music on our site (a huge obstacle for a DJ company… music, DJ, get it?) as well as copyright laws regarding photos and images.  Yet, we still prevail.

In the two and a half years since the initial launch of the blog (when we really had no idea how to use it), and the year since it’s infusion with our website, our DJ business increased exponentially, meaning, we have more booked dates than at any time in our twenty year history.  I credit this with ‘sharing the wealth’.  Our blog is not just about us and what we do (which would get boring very quickly), but about other event industry professionals and their work, their companies, and their ideas.  It is about music, and about parties, and, or course, about the Disc Jockey.

So, back to my staff, I commend them on their dedication to our blog.  Like everything else the staff of Cutting Edge Entertainment does, we put our all into it 110%, and the same can be said for this blog.  At the end of 2007, our Philadelphia DJ company was smacked down by the same omnipresent recession that many other companies and industries were crippled or destroyed by, yet we weathered the storm.  While print advertising became almost obsolete, the internet – and hence our blog – gave us a new platform to reach customers, show our work, share our principles while providing better customer service – via available information – then we ever dreamed possible.  Our blog became a living, breathing and evolving resource to help customers not only to find us, but to learn what we are all about.

The bonus, or unforeseen advantage that our blog gave us, which we could never have anticipated, was not limited to the information we were  able to share, but included information and knowledge we were able to gain.  By being ‘online’, our DJ staff were able to learn and grow as individuals.  We took in as much or more as we put out, learning new trends, new (and old) music, new ways of doing things and, most significantly, how to be a better DJ – while improving our service to our customer.

Read our DJ blog and decide for yourself.  It’s fairly simple to navigate, as you can simply click on ‘Blog’ on the navigation bar above, or reference the ‘CATEGORIES’ section along the right column to help find information more specific to exactly what it is you are looking for.

As for those companies still struggling simply to be found…  Start a blog.  Remember the voice in Kevin Costner’s head in the film ‘Field of Dreams’; “If you build it, they will come.” And for our little Philadelphia DJ company blog, with over three hundred individual blog posts and half a million hits to date, I think of the credo of a little space toy named Buzz Lightyear… “To infinity and Beyond!!”

Craig Sumsky
Director and DJ
Cutting Edge Entertainment

Illustration by Sean Gallo

www.cuttingedgedjs.com

Guest Post by Saundra Hadley

Disclaimer: This blog post comes from a “place of love” and hope for change.

I’d like to talk about a subject that is talked about quite a bit, but usually behind one another’s back.  It’s time to pull the Band Aid off ….

Wedding planners often refer to DJ’s as being the one vendor that is their “wild card” at weddings. I’ve also heard a DJ or two refer to wedding planners in that their primary responsibility at a reception is to cut the cake.

Both comments are demeaning to our respective professions.

Don’t you think it’s time that we get along?

Of course, there are many planners and DJ’s that love to work with each other. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to planners and DJ’s alike who have shared openly their likes and dislikes when it comes to the other profession.  Here’s my viewpoint:

DJ’s have big personalities. Um, hello?  You’re on the mic and putting yourself out there in front of  (an often inebriated) crowd of people!! Demanding guests that come up to you and ask, “What’s the song that goes like this …..?” Only to follow by attempting to sing something that bares no resemblance to any song on this planet. You have heavy equipment to break in and break out, crazy floor plans that give you a 2’ x 2’ space to setup and you’re lucky if you get a meal.

Wedding planners have big personalities as well. We direct vendors, deal with drunken guests, are on our feet typically 12-16 hours, we’re overly organized and usually are Type A personalities. And this is just the wedding day, not all the pre-planning. Our mutual clients ask us for assistance to help develop the flow of their wedding day (including the reception).

To me, wedding planners and the DJ are somewhat similar in both personality and duties. Without a wedding planner, the DJ often will be the director of the reception. Perhaps THAT is where we bump heads?

What if …. we were to co-exist in a world that would be collaborative, professional, fun and easy so our mutual clients would have the best wedding day possible?

What if … we shared information, watched out for each other, left our egos at the door while shamelessly and with great humility work together to create a mind-boggling event that would make the heavens open up? Okay… I’ve gone too far.  How about an event that is so awesome, we both get referrals from our clients and happy guests?

Wouldn’t our workday go smoother and easier? Now we all have horror stories (on both sides). There are plenty of non-professionals in EVERY vendor category that is completely frustrating for everyone.

What if … from this day forward, Disc Jockeys and wedding planners around the world will take a pledge, to put all those negative experiences behind us and move forward to do better and be better?

The next time you think (both DJ and wedding planner) that you have the toughest job at a wedding. You’re wrong. Caterers and servers have the toughest job. Don’t believe me? Go hang out in the kitchen.

Saundra Hadley
Event Engineer
planning…forever events


Saundra Hadley is a professional event engineer (planner) and owner of planning…forever events in Evansville, Indiana (and the surrounding world) since 2003.  Since first meeting Saundra (through social media, of which she is quite the wizard) and following her on twitter, it’s clear that she not only  loves what she does (creating wonderful weddings and events), but she knows her stuff and she’s darned good at it too. Sometimes she talks about subjects that most people won’t openly discuss, and I’m honored to have her guest post here on our blog with just such a controversial topic. A few years back I also guest posted on Saundra’s blog, which you should check out as well. Saundra is also the official wedding expert for the Fox affiliate (Fox 7) in Evansville.  Quite an impressive lady.  Thanks for sharing this topic with us Saundra!

-Craig

Visit Saundra at  www.planningforever.com
or on twitter at www.twitter.com/planningforever

www.cuttingedgedjs.com

I spend a great deal of time on the internet and throughout an average day I’d say I read up to seven or eight blog posts/online articles relating to the event industry in general. Over the course of several years, I’ve come across dozens of blogs authored by folks in the DJ industry from all across the United States, Canada, and even one in New Zealand. From reading their published posts, I’ve been able to evolve our own DJ blog into what I feel is an informative resource, representative of our DJ Company and the diverse types of events at which we perform, for clients who – by nature – are equally diverse. Thus far, it’s been quite successful, as our blog (and website) are not only the most trafficked of any Philadelphia DJ Company, but one of the most highly trafficked in the Philadelphia event industry – period.

Yet the question remained, how could our website be driving so many more visits than other Philadelphia DJ websites and blogs? Just knowing the analytics still left the unanswered question of why, so I figured the best way was to investigate. After some surfing around and looking at the other Philadelphia DJ websites, I found only two that seemed to actually blog on a semi-regular basis, one of which was very focused (certainly more than ours), and was very event-centric, meaning that they stuck to a formula of posting events where they had performed as the DJ. Although it didn’t particularly stimulate my mind, it was positive and upbeat, showing event after event (weddings, proms, bar mitzvahs and the like) and did an excellent job of showcasing their work.

The second blog… not so much. I see them huffing and puffing away, trying to generate traffic, but after reading through at least two dozen of their blog posts, I understood why they were merely spinning their wheels. It was instantly clear that this company was not only very one dimensional, but were sending out an overtly negative message, certainly not conducive to a customer service based business philosophy. They seemed more focused on what they wouldn’t do than what they would do, and – as a consumer myself – that was a huge turnoff.

Whether it be a DJ, or a florist, or a photographer, or a caterer, the service industry revolves around the wants of the client. Nothing else matters. “We will not do that” is not in our vocabulary, nor should it be in that of any business that wants to please their customers. If I were having a wedding, and while interviewing a potential florist I expressed I wanted white roses, I wouldn’t want to be told that they only do red roses, or a caterer who would only do chicken even if I wanted steak.

If the client wants the DJ to make announcements at their wedding, the answer is “yes we will”. If the client asks for the DJ to let their guests sing on the microphone, again, we answer with a resounding “Yes, we would be glad to”. If the client wants us to play a song, no matter what it is, we play it. Some clients want the DJ to play the Hokey Pokey, and some clients don’t. It’s your event, we are merely the facilitators, and this is what makes each event uniquely different.

The word ‘no’, or the phrase ‘we don’t do that’ should be a big red flag. Okay, so there are always exceptions to the rule… we won’t curse on the microphone or DJ in only our underpants, but otherwise, we’re pretty accommodating.

I believe I can easily draw a direct correlation between the words ‘yes we can’, and the traffic to our website. ‘Yes’ is a welcome word, and ‘no we cannot’ or worse yet ‘will not’ are the kinds of phases that a client or customer – myself included – just doesn’t have time for. If I say I want chocolate, and you hand me vanilla… you’re in the wrong business.

-Craig

www.cuttingedgedjs.com

And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did
~Elton John

On the ninth day of October, 1940, John Winston Lennon was born in Liverpool England to Julia and Alfred Lennon. Only a month earlier – almost to the day – Nazi Germany had begun sustained bombing raids on Britain, which would continue until May of the following year. His parents split, he had an absentee father and a preoccupied mother, so he was raised by his mothers sister and her husband for most of his childhood and adolescence. Sadly, his mother was struck by a car and killed when John was only seventeen, but not before buying him his first guitar. He formed a band, added some new members, met Paul McCartney and George Harrison, changed the name of the band to The Beatles and went off to play Rock & Roll in the clubs of post-war Hamburg Germany. In 1962 they signed a record deal with Parlophine (EMI) records, and the rest is history.

On December 8, 1980 John Lennon was gunned down and killed outside of his New York City apartment building.

Some say there was a bombing raid going on in Liverpool the night John was born. It would seem John Lennon came in and out of this world surrounded by violence. Perhaps this lends to the duality that is John Lennon.

John Lennon left behind a legacy of music and mythos that still fascinate and intrigue us. Sure there’s The Beatles, but there’s also the notorious Yoko Ono, the battles with the Nixon administration, and no shortage of outspokenness and political incorrectness. From claims of being “bigger than Jesus” to naked album covers, it seems Lennon was surrounded by controversy at every turn. Much, if not all of which was self imposed.

For better or for worse, John Lennon was the darkness of The Beatles. It was that darkness combined with the light (literally and figuratively) of Paul McCartney that balance the collaborative genius that was Lennon/McCartney, or McCartney/Lennon. For every All You Need is Love there is a Run For Your Life, and for every “Strawberry Field” there is a plea for “Help”.  Yes John Lennon spoke out against war, and urged us all to “Imagine” a better world, but he also struggled with anger management issues (like assaulting female news reporters) and Heroin addiction,while being guilty of mocking handicapped and disfigured children, and being – at best – an intermittent and absentee parent to his first son Julian.  It is also my strong opinion it was Lennon’s actions (and particularly his inactions) that sealed the breakup of The Beatles indefinitely.

Yet every person has a duality, it’s just that John Lennon seemed to be Ying and Yang personified and on steroids, where polar and contrary forces interconnect and in John’s case to great extremities which were clearly apparent.  Good and Evil, light and darkness on an amplified scale and ever under the scrutiny of the the media microscope.

Google decided to recognize John Lennon’s 70th birthday with one of its custom Google doodles, and it is likely Lennon will continue to be iconisized in movies, books, art, theater and the news media. Certainly the sadness and circumstances of his untimely death – as it often seems to go – played a major role in jettisoning him into the hallowed halls of music’s fallen heroes, his spirit dwelling in a fictitious utopia with the likes of James Dean, Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison and Marilyn Monroe.

Thirty years ago we lost a man. A man who gave us the gift of song.  Not a God, not an immortal, but a man who through sharing and wearing his darkest and innermost emotions on his sleeve left us with beautiful music. 

A man I wish was still with us.

Happy Birthday John.

-Craig

www.cuttingedgedjs.com

Guest post by Joe Pulcinella

There is a lot of talk going around Washington about cracking down on photographers and other creatives for the “crime” of using unpaid interns. The classic argument (among others) is that we have minimum wage laws to protect the workers of America and to force young people into performing tasks for free would undermine the government’s best intentions to allow everyone to earn a living.

Ok, I’ll go so far as to say that I, like most people, don’t want to see anyone “forced” to work for free. But to ban unpaid internships would hinder, not help, those young people who would like to break into the industry. Let me explain why by addressing some the arguments against unpaid internships.

“Everyone should have a right to earn a living wage.”

The misconception with this reasoning is that not everyone needs to earn a living wage. One example would be young people who are still living at home and would greatly benefit from exposure to the workings of a small business. This experience is worth much more to a young person than a few hours of minimum wage could ever be.

“Employers would force young people to work for free.”

An employer/intern relationship is a consensual one. The compensation (in this case, a learning experience), is already agreed-upon by both sides. In the absence of this right of an intern to offer her services for free in exchange for knowledge, the intern may very well not have an opportunity to learn at all since most creatives are sole proprietorships without the resources to pay inexperienced people to learn on the job.

“The intern has no bargaining position with the employer.”

This couldn’t be further from the truth. The intern always has the ultimate bargaining chip in that he or she can simply walk away if the experience is not to their benefit. A good intern would be a valuable commodity in the creative community, and if afforded the opportunity to learn in exchange for a little labor, could start their own business and effectively compete in the industry themselves.

This is by no means an exhaustive refutation of the arguments against unpaid internships. It is only a starting point. So to deny an intern the right to offer service in exchange for experience would serve only to keep new entrants out of the market. To require an arbitrary, minimum hourly wage would only eliminate these valuable positions and encourage unemployment among young people. Keeping a free market truly free would not only benefit employers and interns but also our clients.

Joe Pulcinella
Photographer
www.photojoe.com


Joe is a professional wedding photographer, and this is the second time he has authored a guest post here on the Cutting Edge Entertainment DJ blog.  I really enjoy Joe’s writing style and fresh perspective, and in this case I would have to say I agree with him.  As a DJ, the time, knowledge, experience and relationships I have honed, evolved and invested are priceless, and to think that I should have to pay someone to share that is absurd.  In contrast, I believe that in many cases an unpaid internship can be more valuable in the real working world than a college accreditation or even a degree.   As an example, if you were to ask a bar owner if they would rather hire a bartender fresh out of bartending school versus a bartender with real experience, nine out of ten times the answer would be the latter.

Thank you for your post Joe, I look forward to more in the future.

-Craig

click here to check out Joe’s last guest post
www.cuttingedgedjs.com/blog/2010/02/09/be-in-love-with-photography

Photo Of Joe Pulcinella courtesy of Rosemary Taglialatela
www.2daysphotos.com

www.cuttingedgedjs.com

The last residency I ever held as a club DJ was at Club Zadar in New Hope, Pennsylvania… Here is my story.

I was a club DJ before I got into private events. Nightclubs were my gig for almost a decade, and although I wouldn’t call it my glory days, it was fun while it lasted, lasting just long enough for the memories to be fond, with little regret. I was the Friday night DJ at Zadar for close to four years, and I fought the good fight (or so I thought), but in the end, they tore down the club and put up a parking lot. No pun intended Joni.

Zadar, for me, was the trophy club.  As far as I was concerned, all the clubs of the day were pretty much the same, droll, with all the freestyle and club redundancy that Zadar wasn’t.  Zadar was punk, meets gay, meets tourist, meets goth with a sprinkle of preppy and  yuppie interspersed in the crowd.  It was cavernous and dark, trendy yet industrial and bare in parts.  A great window ran the length of the club facing the Delaware River, but nobody cared, they weren’t there for the scenery they were there for the scene.

It was music by groups like Nitzer Ebb, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and of course, Talk Talk that drove the throngs of Zadar-goers to the dance floor.  It was hip, it was different, and if you asked the DJ to play something on the Top 40 charts they’d likely tell you where to go, and how to get there.  Zadar was different, but they weren’t going to let me keep it that way… not for long at least.

The great DJ Chas Paris was a resident DJ at the time I went in for my interview, and he was one of the few Philadelphia area club jocks I was eager to work beside.  He was – and is – a great DJ, particularly in the genre that was so Zadar. Punk, industrial, new wave, alternative, post modern… too many classifications. If you ask me, it was just Zadar music.  To my surprise and dismay I wasn’t to coexist with him, I was to be his replacement.

In my interview, they (Jack and Kevin, the managers) were explicitly clear.  “We want you to play music like The Fizz” (another Bucks County nightclub), but I just yessed them and told them I could do whatever they wanted.  At least that’s what I told them in the interview.

My first night at Zadar – the Friday following my Tuesday interview – I spun with my DJ partner Joe Quinn.  I must say we rocked the house.  We didn’t really give a damn what the managers said, and that probably has a lot to do with why I don’t work in clubs anymore.  I’m convinced that club managers know less about music than I do about quantum physics, with the only difference being that I don’t pretend to know about quantum physics.  We played New Order, Front 242, Lords of Acid, Erasure and Stereo MCs, and the crowd raved.

But the managers didn’t.

So the next week we dropped a few poppy tracks, and I got told by one of the regulars – a young woman with green hair known to all the employees as “Ms. Zadar” – that I sucked as a DJ.  This became a fairly regular occurrence.  Manager Kevin would make regular visits to the DJ booth to yell at me, saying I’d been playing too much of that “Zadar sh*t” (he had a colorful vocabulary), and that I’d better start “Fizzing it up” right away or else.  I’d typically acquiesce until Joe or I saw him become preoccupied with other “managerial matters” (hitting on girls), and then I’d slip back into something less mainstream, but not before Ms. Zadar would drop by to remind Joe and I of our shortcomings as DJs.  It was a cycle we became quite accustomed to.

So yeah, I was sick of the commercial fare of freestyle and club music. I longed for the alternative scene of Zadar, but the writing was on the wall, literally, as the management began hanging neon beer signs around the club trying to “change the image”.  Personally, I couldn’t understand why they were taking such a cool thing and making it uber lame.  The first two and a half years were a struggle, but for the most part Kevin let me do what I wanted, and Jack (the other manager) really didn’t know anything about music, so he never really got in the way.

They were good times.  Big Mike and Gary at the door, Derek at the back bar, Lisa and Mark (who eventually married), Frank, and even Ms. Zadar (along with many others) became my Friday night family (well, maybe not Frank).  We would pack the place wall to wall, and I tried my best to stay true to the patrons who came to Zadar to drink and party, and hear the tunes.

Then Chas came back.  Not as a DJ, but as a manager!  Salvation never seemed so close, but it was fleeting.  With the change of management they also brought in a new GM.  The Irish guy (real Irish, accent and all), who would only advance the demise and eventual doom of the joint.  Unlike Kevin, this guy was a “professional”, or so he thought.  I personally thought he was a tool, and I’m sure the feeling was mutual.  This guy – in all his managerial wisdom – didn’t give a hoot what the customers wanted to hear, and he certainly didn’t just let Chas run the club as I had so desperately hoped.  He knew enough about music to dictate what I played with an iron fist.  Eight months of that and Joe and I handed him our letter of resignation.  He liked Joe a lot more than he liked me, and was quite happy to tell me so as I packed up my gear that last night and walked out the door.

I think Zadar lasted another two years, under the brilliant leadership of that Irish guy.  DJ Moe Green was our replacement, and I’m fairly certain he was happy to “Fizz it up”. Moe’s affable that way.  When it finally closed it’s doors, Zadar had an auction to sell off it’s relics, of which I acquired quite a few.

Since then I was the DJ at Mark and Lisa’s wedding, and Derek’s as well (Derek and I actually predate Zadar, first meeting in college), so I guess I wasn’t as bad as Ms. Zadar professed.  I caught up with Chas a few nights ago on the phone just to catch up, and he shared some of his Zadar stories with me, which surprisingly weren’t much different than my own.  To all the Zadar DJs who came before me, I fought the good fight, and I went out swinging.  Thanks for letting me fill your shoes for a bit, it was fun.

There will never be another Club Zadar, which in my mind will forever be to alternative music what Studio 54 was to disco and The Savoy was to swing.  All moments in history which have long past.

I understand there’s a Zadar reunion in the works, which I have no intention of attending.

Craig Sumsky
Club Zadar DJ

P.S.  Gary, if you read this, look me up sometime bro, let’s have a beer.

Click here for more of my pre and post Zadar adventures

www.cuttingedgedjs.com

Okay so we all have the desire to want to look good and more importantly the desire for others to think that we look good, but with the fashion trends constantly changin and few things remaining constant, this can be a completely daunting task. These are the quick reflections of a young stylish adult.

Being a 22 year old soon-to-be college graduate I am often placed in a weird place in the world of fashion trends, the middle ground.  You don’t want to seem too old with your attire while at the same time you are well past the days of big name brands molesting the clothing you adorn. The best policy is to keep it clean and keep it simple.

With this hot and humid weather, a nice fitted pair of jeans and a classic sneaker is an option you can never lose with. Most of the time this is what I choose. Its clean classic and timeless.  Sperry’s (a brand of boat shoe) are also a must have in every closet for the summer season.

One of the most important things about clothing is that it must match your personality.  Before you are even given an opportunity to express yourself verbally, your appearance speaks volumes.  This is a very dangerous and powerful fact.  This allows a person to give off whatever impression they wish to simply by what they choose to wear.

The next is to make sure that your clothes are appropriate for you.  There is nothing worse than seeing someone who is wearing something that is completely too small for their body.  Smaller is not nessicarily sexier (women tend to violate this rule the most).  I love women with all my being but when I see a women who is a XL trying to fit into a Medium, the next thing i see is four people slyly TwitPic’ing her.

Lastly I greatly dislike this “skinny jeans” movement.  It’s a personal choice of course which is what I talked about earlier but I would be remiss if I didn’t sound off on this nonsense.  The worst part about this whole movement is that  I’ve never seen a guy wearing these ‘super skinny jeans’ walking with a girlfriend.  Bottom line, your jeans should not be as tight as the ones your girlfriend is wearing.

Just some kick reflections of a young stylish adult.

-Nate Jones

Nate is a dancer and MC with Cutting Edge Entertainment.  To learn a bit more about him, check out some of these posts on our blog.

Nate on Cutting Edge

Nate on Hip Hop

Nate Style

Photo courtesy of Erin Duffy

www.cuttingedgedjs.com