“DJs are the pacemakers and avatars of our culture,” said DJ Darek Mazzone, one of KEXP’s on-air personalities and a true turntable connoisseur himself. We were talking on the phone last week about his top-secret DJ summit, held so far under the radar on February 9 and 10 that he was able to bring together some of the top names in the world–Grandmaster Flash, DJ Krush, DJ Cheb i Sabbah, DJ Spooky, Sandra Collins, and local celebs like Vitamin D–without tipping off the gossip mill. The thing is, other than Cheb i Sabbah’s gig at the Last Supper Club on the 10th, none of the vinyl icons performed in Seattle, limiting the buzz about their stay to an appearance by Krush at the chic little Pike Place Market restaurant Zig Zag Cafe. The DJs were here, according to Mazzone, just to check out “some cool stuff” and bring the DJ culture and the tech culture–i.e., Microsoft–together, and start what he hopes will be a continuing understanding between the two. Mazzone acted as a “cultural ambassador” to the event, which went down at the Pampas Room at El Gaucho, and was a step toward helping Seattle gain more footing in the electronic music scene. “I wanted to showcase our local scene and create a buzz,” he explained. “This was a small thing, the first one, but I’d like this to be a yearly event, eventually like the Winter Music Conference. But for now I’m keeping it small and building up the opportunities.” It’s still pretty amazing to me that Mazzone secretly got all that talent together here for two days, but I guess with Microsoft behind you the possibilities become a bit more possible. My plea is that next time we get a chance to see these icons live–especially Krush, who’s been a favorite of mine for years.
Speaking of DJ culture, you may have seen ads for a new club called Premier (on First Avenue, a block south of Safeco Field), which opened with little media buzz. Although so far they’ve only had large-scale DJ events and private functions (the club wasn’t going to open until April but demand caused them to open early), they plan on expanding into punk, rock, and hiphop as well. Although I expected some complex Fenix Underground-style club mansion, Premier is a converted parking lot that’s going for a stark industrial-chic vibe: brick walls, exposed pipes, concrete floors, with a walled-off bar/restaurant (complete with a huge chandelier) on the side. The capacity–1,500 people–is a step above places like the Showbox, but so far the place lacks the Showbox’s warm, grand décor. The owner, the affable Mark Naficy, seems to be banking on his connections in the industry and his experience with quality sound equipment. He’s been in the business for years, starting out as a sound guy for bands like Alice in Chains and Soundgarden and moving into renting out his own equipment to other clubs and owning a rave space called Naf. He says Premier has a million-dollar sound system that is among the best in the city, and he’ll be using it for bands like NOFX, Berlin, and the Psychedelic Furs–who I saw in San Francisco a couple years ago and who are one of the few popular acts of the ’80s who can still pull it off live.
More changes in the venue world: Joan Hiller, a former PR gal and current music writer who was the assistant booker at the Crocodile, has left that post to join the ranks of Sub Pop. Taking her place is a sweet Sonic Boom employee, Pete Greenberg.
And get ready, the American press’ 10-years-after-grunge onslaught has started, with a cover story in the new issue of Fader kicking things off this month (look for a piece on the topic in the April issue of Spin by Stranger writer Hannah Levin). The cover image for Fader was taken by our own Charles Peterson, whose studio will be one of the stops for a BBC crew, here this week with a “grunge superfan” who’s being taken around to Seattle “hotspots” for some kind of documentary. Be sure to wear your flannels if they come your way.