Working the street, Part II: Halo Lounge

On Tuesday night, after my surrealist experience at Lotus, instead of driving back home, I decide to go to Halo on the tip by the lady from Lotus that "mike" the owner would be there on the decks.

I have been there before, it is one of the better places in ATL. Nice bar, nice video screen, nice DJ booth, nice staff and usually nice crowd. It is medium sized on two floors. It strikes a genuine balance between full-on club and bar. I remember the music as being decent there. Maybe the lady is right and "my sound" would fit better there.

I get there and ask to speak to the manager. This guy called "Ian" comes up. He looks like a hipster with his rectangular glasses. I ask for "mike". "Mike is not here tonight", he explains, "he will be here tomorrow on the decks". Bummer, I came here for nothing. The guy is nice enough, keeping with their reputation so I stay and I order a drink.

I ask if he has a DJ tonight, he says yes and that tonight is "downtempo" night. He asks why I ask, I tell him part of my story, it feels weird pitching a "looking for a gig" story given my "real life" situation. We talk, he is decent guy, polite and fun. He listens, explains Mike's taste: "Kruder and Dorfmeister" mostly. Downtempo then, downtempo, KD doesn't get more downtempo than that.

KD is great, if you haven't heard it. A little on the dopey side, really slow and heavy on the head trip but excellent music nonetheless. I used to really dig KD. KD are two producers from Vienna, Austria. They were REALLY big back in 2000 when they did a double compilation. At least I know Mike has been around and that he knows music. It's been a year since someone quoted KD to me :)

I decide to go upstairs and talk with the DJ, I am here, I might as well talk to the guy. Maybe I learn a thing or two. The DJ is this young guy with dreadlocks. We start talking, I show him my equipment, the virtual DJ stuff, we talk about that for a while, we talk about Serato scratch and how he would like to move to that. I talk about DJ Reggie Reg and how I have hooked him up with such a system. We talk about the death of vinyl. We talk about what he is playing and what he likes, his musical choice is actually very decent.

His name is Kevin, he is 23. He is a software QA engineer by day with a medical company here in town and he DJ's at night for the extra money. He says he plays reggae normally but tonight he has to play downtempo because that is what the man wants. "I need this gig" he explains in a sheepish way.

Since he likes Reggae so much I mention El Bar, as the owner, Jeff, really likes Reggae. Of course he already played at El Bar. He claims he DJ's there on Thursday nights, the reggae night. We talk about El Bar, and how cool that place really is.

Poor kid is stuck here playing what I call "wallpaper house". That is house that is SOoooo innoffesive that it blends in with the wallpaper patterns. It is the idea of "DJ as decoration". It is for places that don't REALLY want a DJ. They want the idea of a DJ. They don't want the music, they don't want entertainment, they want the concept of the "live DJ" without the collateral sonic damage. That's the wallpaper DJ.

The best at this "wallpaper" sound is the San Francisco label "OM". Nice and boring as fcuk. I ask what gives, since Halo does have a reputation for being more hip than this, I remember it more hip. He says it depends on the night, other nights are better than this. He says he really can't take the tempo up or "Ian will be on my ass in seconds". I understand, he needs this gig .

I ask him how much he makes per night. About $150 it seems. The number sounds really low in a way. But in another way, $150 to sit around in a booth playing records isn't that bad on a hourly basis. So I offer $200 for him to take a break and let me take the decks. He seems taken aback.

But he looks at me and asks me to repeat. He seems to not believe me, what kind of freak would offer that kind of money?. He seems to hesitate. I repeat I will give him $200, no, I will give him $300 if he lets me in. In a daze, he mumbles something about "Ian", his "ass" and "needing the job".

Synchronistically enough, right at this moment, this asian chick shows up. She says "can you change the music? we are falling asleep on the couch over there". I find her funny, she is kind of this little asian dynamo. She is obviously drunk. I ask her where she is from, she explains she is from Miami. She is in ATL for training or something. It's her second night here and she is bored as fcuk.

We get to talking about the clubs in MIA. She tells me all about the clubs she likes and I tell her about our New Year's Eve party at Mansion in Miami and how much it sucked. Then I give her my headphones and play "World hold on" from "Bob sinclar" for her.

Some times, you have to be cheap. Bob Sinclar is a cheap move, but I am not above that. Bob Sinclar is a parisian DJ who has achieved international fame with house FINE TUNED for mass acceptance on the dance floor, like World Hold On. It is not wallpaper music, as it has a very catchy tune, it is mass-market house.

I love that tune actually. I play it for my kids. Elvira, my oldest child loves it too. She sings along with it. So does Leo who is 4, well at least he tries. The lyrics go: "World Hold on! instead of messing with our future, tell us no more lies, world hold on, one day you will have to answer to the children of the sky". It is an instant tune, very catchy sticks to your ear. All Leo can sing is "World hold on" then he mumbles and then he yells "children of the sky!" he cracks me up everytime he does that.

I tell the girl to go talk to "Ian". She says "ok" and struts off. Couple minutes later, this hispanic guy shows up and says, in a rather heavy accent "can you change the muuusic, puuut somethiiing we can daaance to". I chuckle to myself. Poor Kevin, he is stuck with a straight jacket of a boss, disgruntled patrons, and a crazy frenchmen trying to take over his decks with offers he can't refuse.

I don't see the dynamo coming back and my drink is gone so I decide to walk around the club. Let Kevin think about the offer a bit. I find her eventually, as she said, she is sleeping on a couch at the other end of the bar! I tell her "come we are going to talk to Ian".

We talk to Ian, she complains about the music, Ian explains it is "downtempo" night again. He is nice to her but she seems to annoy him. She says they are sleeping on the couch over there. I tell Ian that I would love to take the decks over and that I will pay Kevin. He hesitates and says he can't do that, we can't change the programming. He would get fired. After a lot of pleading from the asian girl and haggling from me he doesn't say no, doesn't say yes. He says he needs 100 BPM all night and to "talk to Kevin".

Kevin takes the money, $200 since that is all I could draw in cash. He smiles and steps aside. I am extatic, Halo is such a nice setup. I connect to the system in 30 seconds but for some reason no sound seems to come out. We fumble around with the connections for a little while until I realize that my cross fader is in the wrong position. Note to self: check fader when you connect.

I play modern house and some Prince. I try to keep is slow. The Prince mix was decent. I play "why you wanna do me so bad" with Trentmoller's "Les Djinns". It is a nice mix. I play World Hold On. Basically I play it VERY safe since I am in a straight jacket.

Then I loosen up a bit, I play Marshall Jefferson's "Mushrooms" with Jori Hulkonnen "when we were attached". Both tracks are ethereal. Mushrooms is an edgy house tracks with lyrics you can imagine given the title and "when we were attached" is more electronica.

I really dig Jori Hulkonnen. I think the guy is a genius. He publishes on the french label "F communications" even though he is from Norway. What he writes is really great, again I think he is a downright melodious genius with a very different sound but always right on. He has written a couple of electronica albums in 2003-2004 that were really something, they still are today.

Kevin likes the mix, he tells me so, "nice ethereal sound". Yeah! I like that overlay as well. His compliment goes to my head and I take too much of a risk: i decide to drop "LFO". LFO by "LFO", was a great techno track of 1990, one of the early american ones. The problem is it is VERY blippy, I mean they had this alien silhouette on the cover, you know the type.

DAMN! I was doing all right flying under the radar there for a while. But with LFO and its alien music. I just jumped right out of the decor and onto Ian's managerial radar. Within seconds "Ian" is running up the stairs and is on my ass. I pre-empt by saying "Ian, I have been cruising at 121 BPM" he asnwers that the track is "too technoid" and to basically cut it out.

Yeah it is bleepy alright. He is right, I was way off the beaten downtempo track. I say "no problem" I really don't want to argue with the guy. Since I already have the next track cued up, I switch in about 3 seconds flat :) while he is still there. There are some advantage to being a digital DJ :) A normal DJ would have had to put the record, beat match it, launch it, synchronize it, mix it dadadaadda.

Well, I played for about 1h:45 minutes. I don't see time pass by. I have fun, I like the place. Halo is a nice club/bar. Too bad it is a Tuesday night and it is mostly empty. There are maybe 30 patrons total in the place. No one is dancing. It is better than Lotus, however. It is a Tuesday night after all.

Highlight of the night is as usual props from the patrons. This one guy come by before leaving and tells me he "loved the music, great job".

I guess I get too confident and I push my luck AGAIN with the "Sueno Latino" remix by Derrick May. Derrick May is one of the "Belleville 3", one of the Detroit techno god-fathers. This time around I knew I was pushing my luck but I am drunk, I don't care and I am thinking "f* it, I might as well finish with some panache." I play this track to please myself.

"Sueno Latino" is a classic track, I credit it wth the beginning of the "deep house" movement in a way. It blew me away the first time I heard it in Spain. All synth, barely a beat, I want to say 1997? I could be way off here. 10 years old, not a freaking wrinkle. Still totally cool and cutting edge. Thank you Detroit!

(ed. postscriptum: so in rereading the above paragraph, I have gone to "www.discogs.com" and checked the origins of sueno latino. As it turns out, I am WAY off on many fronts and in a funny way. Sueno Latino was not published in 97 but in 89! Also while the remix did come from Detroit, the original is out of FRANCE, out of freaking France. I didn't know that. Maybe that is why I like it so much? So that track is almost 20 years old :). Funny what a techno snob I am that I thought it could only have come from Detroit, when it came from my own backyard. I thought it was 1997 because a friend gave me a tape with the D.May remix in 97 and I listened to it ALL SUMMER LONG in Spain, it was mixed with early deep house, which I instantly liked. I had this small SONY CASSETTE player, and I basically played it in a loop until the tape was basically dead and I couldn't listen to it no more. I think I was in love with the deep house feel it introduced, it is a vivid memory :)

Anywy, I am playing Sueno Latino and within seconds the police arrives. But this time it is not "Ian", at that point, it is a dish-water blonde, apparently the girlfriend of Kevin, that comes back to take control of the decks. Since I paid off Kevin, they probably thought they would charm me to get the decks back. Fair enough.

It is 1:30 AM. I am tired and I get the message. She worms her way through Kevin and me and starts putting vinyl records on the decks. We start talking about electronic vs vinyl. She is 32, a little full of herself and very excited tonight.

At some point she gets really excited about her selection, she drops "love and happiness" which is about as "wallpaper" house as it gets. It is a boring track, just bad and bland. She seems to REALLY DIG IT, she dances on it like she is high on something, pretending it is cool. That bothers me. Not so much the part where she is trying to regain control of the decks, that is cool, it is the fact she thinks "love and happiness" is a great track.

She yells over the sound: "love and happiness, woohoo, isn't it a great track?". I can't lie, not about music, not about stuff I am passionate about. I yell back: "hell no, love and happiness f**king sucks". So much damage has been done on impressible DJs by OM and Ultra. They put out nice listening music, I mean I have a few OM albums, but please file it under "easy listening" not "club music".

I know it is downtempo and all, but this is not downtempo, it is not cool at all, it is just bland candy house. The fact that she thinks it is cool really bothers me. Everyone is entitled to their bad taste as my father in law likes saying and it is not my place to point it out to them. I feel out of place all of the sudden, this is all too "provincial".

I know it is time for me to leave. Kevin comes and apologetically says "they want her sound tonight, it IS down-tempo night". He tells me that since "I hooked him up, he will hook me up". The words of DJ Reggie Reg, my trainer, ring like an alarm :" DJ is a lone-wolf occupation, do not trust other DJ's".

I don't expect much of that promise but it was nice of him to say anyway. He talks with his girlfriend and he mentions "Marc, I think your sound would be a great fit for Cru Lounge".

Well, at least I got a lead out of them. Apparently this new place has opened 2 weeks ago in town and they are looking for a cutting edge sound. The girlfriend seems upset that Kevin is giving up a lead and he would better keep his mouth shut, and the job to himself. Kevin tells me we should go together to interview with the guy who owns the place. The girlfriend frowns.

I want to go home feed my 3 mo old and the club BS talk is starting to ring hollow at that point. I was supposed to go out of the house for an hour and be back by 10. I thank Kevin for letting me barge in like that, I thank Ian on the way out of Halo, I talk briefly with him. He recommends I come back on a monday night, it is industry night, producers and promoters are here. I might.

And I am finally out of there. It is 2AM, my JBoss bag fits snuggly on my back. It is biting cold. It is funny how ATL is a hotbed of Hip-Hop talent, but for electronica? there is some work to do.

Oh well, see you next time.