A short (well, ok, long) blurb about leaving my day job: I was fed up with the favoritism, lack of leadership, micromanaging, bull shit my boss is famous for. I worked in an entry level position at Catholic Relief Services for just over 3 years; as my djing began to increase, and studying never ceased, I seriously considered and eventually decided I would leave my job. The rational behind my decision was three fold. First, my relationship with my direct superior was toxic at best. She didn't respect me, let alone concede that I had any good suggestions so we were constantly at odds. It began with the comment from her after I let something fall through the cracks (with good reason, but that's a different blog post). The quote was "If I had my way I would let you go today". That is the environment which I had to work under. Second, when I was hired and all through my time there I was encouraged to pursue my education. On my performance assessments it clearly stated I was seeking a degree which my boss signed off on every year. Well when it came to me actually going for it my boss and unit director of the department were inflexible about my schedule. This was after I was told repeatedly it was totally doable. Working part-time, schooling full-time and retaining my benefits. It had been done before and was currently being done in other departments. I was denied and told it was because it would affect the department to much. two words; unparsed BULL-SHIT! Lastly, my confidence in believing in myself gave me the courage to make a drastic change. With the goal of obtaining a degree and calling my own shots; I wasn't beholden to a j.o.b; I wasn't going to be the black sheep, troublemaker, scapegoat of the department. I would leave and be my own boss for awhile. So I did it. May 10th or so was my last day with CRS and the beginning of a new phase. I moved out of my Biddle St apartment into my boyfriend's (now partner; Kevin Olive) house to reduce my overhead June 1st. So I have moved on with my life. School is now my primary my focus; DJing/Music is my passion and happens to pay the bills too. Cheers! OK Rewind to early 2010. (late Feb, early March)
The last blog entry I posted was back in March of 2010 following the 6 month anniversary of my weekly restaurant gig "Deep House Dining". (jez, am i that boring) At that point I was settled in my cute little apartment, fung shi'd and all, on Biddle St in mid-town Baltimore; enjoying the feeling of living my life on my own terms. It was just barely Spring so my hormons, and creative energy switch was turned to the ON position. I began to explore event opportunities at City Cafe and other Baltimore City venues; the sky being the limit. I quickly realized that my efforts to expand my weekly event at City Cafe was not the best idea or was embraced by the owners. This reality was due to an older symphony crowd that frequents the restaurant on the weekend. I scheduled a meeting and it was agreed to continue the weekly house music mixer with some slight adjustments; with the goal of complimenting the establishment as a whole. Not to fundamentally change the restaurant into a live music venue. So the planned monthly guest DJ idea was scrapped. This also meant a slight change to the music style during the earlier dinner hours. I began mixing a downtempo, ultra lounge, Eighteen Street Lounge inspired music. Nightmares on Wax, Thievery Corporation, and J Boogie quickly became popular; their tracks filling the early evening air. I eventually move into deep, and often funky house music later in the evening when dinner is finishing up but while the spirits are still a'flowing. The change in approach has been good for both parties. The partnership between City Cafe and myself strengthened as we headed into the warmer weather months.
So I began to look at other venues and ask other Djs and promoters in Baltimore about possible collaborations on future events. Soon it became clear to me that even though I made some new friendships with musically like-minded people, it didn't necessarily mean business partnership would be the next faze of the relationship. I was initially bummed about it, but I had ideas and energy so I moved forward with them. One of my ideas was a Sunday Tea Dance called STEEP. I figured since Baltimoreans are so gaga over Brunch, it would be a great fit for the gays, allies, and brunch crowd in Mt Vernon. In addition to a new event I thought a new venue would be a draw as well. Well I was WRONG. The party at best a debuted the venue, Water Stone, to my gay friends more than a tea dance where people actually, umm DANCE. Frankly though, the venue is located is in a deadzone of Mt Vernon; at the southern end MD General Hospital. Additionally, the "dance floor" was choked off by large marble-top dinner tables that were hard to move. And even though the owner was all for people dancing it didn't happen. However, something good came out of STEEP; it was the awesome artwork images created for it by my good friend (and former partner in crime) Regan Kireilis. So from March to June 2010 STEEP was an option for folks looking for something fresh to do; I thank Alex Funk (April), Ray and Amy Casil(May), Keith Hoffman(June), Water Stone, and all who attended for being apart of it.
By mid Spring I was been djing full time; traveling between DC, Baltimore, Philly and New York, working 9-5, and attending college part time. Needless to say, I was beginning the feel burnt out. I really enjoyed traveling and playing music so I pushed along. I was working heavily with a DC based promoter, Jacob Pring, who was working in other cities with different gay owned venues. The event was being held for HIV + guys to provide a safe space to meet others in the same situation. I was one of two Dj's to begin the event with Jacob in Washington DC(Keith Hoffman being the other DJ). I was the first DJ to play his POZ event at Vlada in Hells Kitchen, NYC. It was written about in the NY Times online. My picture with a caption ran with the article. Here is a link to the article. I wasn't mentioned in the piece, but the picture is under the "interactive feature link" http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/a-night-out-with-the-h-i-v-positive/#more-168733 After a couple of months, however, the weekly trips to NYC, and DC and the start of the June summer semester caught up with me. I missed a night in DC because I my mind was on the beginning of school and resting from all the traveling. Plus after misunderstanding between Jacob and I with the launch of Philly POZ, I decided to lay low for a while and focus on local projects.
June is PRIDE month for most large east coast cities; Baltimore's is one of the oldest in the country and is held on the 3rd weekend in June. Baltimore PRIDE is put on by the GLCCB and supported by other sponsors, including Grand Central, Hippo and City Cafe. For the past 3 years, local DJ Alex Funk coordinated a dance tent on Eager St in front of City Cafe. As Pride 2010 ideas began to percolate I approached the owners of City Cafe about working with Alex on making the Dance Tent a more polished production. With no disrespect I approached Alex about collaborating but was met with little interest. After discussing the options with City Cafe, and mentioning that Alex wasn't very interested in working with us the owners were sold on the idea of doing it ourselves; in addition to Alex's efforts. Long story short I received an email claiming that I was trying to take control of an event that wasn't mine to control. I blasted back making the point that PRIDE was for EVERYONE and that I attempted to try to collaborate. Eventually all issues were ironed out between the parties involved and Baltimore PRIDE 2010 Block Party went off PERFECTLY! I brought Keith Hoffman and Keenan Orr from DC up to play along side myself, Gabriel and Alex. It goes to show that working together; checking ego at the door, and being helpful can bring satisfaction. I held an after PRIDE Festival party which was fun and ended up being the last STEEP.
After PRIDE the focus shifted to the promotion of the Baltimore's own Ethan Graham Entertainments SuperHero Ball; as well as my own party scheduled in late July. On July 3rd Club Hippo (a Baltimore gay owned and operated institution) was transformed into your favorite Hero or Villain's layer. Lantern (Peter), Keenan Orr, Kuhmeleon and myself played and it turned out to be a fantastic debut for Ethan.
All the while I had begun the process of coordinating a party scheduled for July 24th in DC called MISBEHAVE back in the Spring. The line up was great and included Juan Zapata, Sheila Storms, Keenan Orr, The Metaphysical and others. But it was cruised from the start. I was to busy traveling and djing to promote it properly. Prior to getting fliers printed, I received a call from a "birdie" who told me that the heard through the grapevine the venue, EFN Lounge (formally BeBar) was rummored to be closing in July. This was in late MAY, mind you. I took the advice as credible, but improbable and pushed forward anyway. Well again I WAS WRONG! LOL. As the date moved near I began to talk with the general manager, Bill Gray about the logistics and stuff. It wasn't until about three weeks away when Bill emails me the news that the venue was being shut down temporarily due to an alcohol violation; from Friday to Friday beginning July 23rd. Re-opening the following Saturday. Needless to say I was bummed to have invested some money to have that happen. But I thought it over and decided not to seek a replacement venue and canceled all together. I informed the parties involved and let it go. It was a let down for me, but also a relief too. I wasn't sure how well it was going to do and would have rather cut my losses there, then "push forward" and potentially have lost more. Well as the dust settled from the closure it was reported officially in MetroWeekly (a local DC fagrag) that Bill Grey and his business partner were dissolving there relationship and closing the club for good. For the record, I stil want to throw larger parties than just cocktail mixers, but I realized I cannot do it alone.
As the summer semester in school began to wind down the itch to get back out there and do my thing was again in the ON position; fyi - my hormones stayed ON :) I began doing my "rounds" with local promoters looking for possible gigs. By the time I realized, it was mid August and I was just weeks away from a real achievement and music milestone. On my 31st birthday, August 27th 2010 Deep House Dining celebrated its 1 year anniversary. Balloons from Ethan and flowers from my boo marked the occasion. I also recorded my set that night marking the anniversary with a live mix posted on Sound Cloud. To my knowledge, no other DJ in Baltimore has held an exclusive restaurant gig for a year. The reality that a whole year had past brought into focus the personal satisfaction I have gained by re-discovering my passion for music and more so DJing. The passage of a year has also brought forth a considerable amount of exposure which has given me more opportunities to DJ in Baltimore and beyond. I was asked to DJ a second night at City Cafe on Saturdays, I was asked to re-launch an after-afterhours at Grand Central on first Sundays, I am working with Dionysus (a local bar) on last Wednesdays on an event called Coffybeatz, and was just asked by local promoters Firefly Productions to Dj a first Wednesdays night at the newly renovated Fletchers, now called THE GET DOWN. All and all the past year has flown by for good reason. Well that's about it in a nutshell. I could recall EVERYTHING, but these are the highlights and some low lights of the past year. Thanks for reading all of this, now follow my blog. Cheers - C-Dubz
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