18/10/2023
S T O R Y
T I M E 🪩
this is long, but I think it’ll be a good read…especially for the dj’s and other music lovers.
This is a story about a rock (but it wasn’t a rock…it was a rock lobster).
A long time ago (way too long ago) in a galaxy far far away (Chicago) I heard about an underground party called Club Naked. I figured with a name like that it had to be the Chicago equivalent of some Miami-Hollywood-toxic-alpha-male-gold-digger-type bu****it, so I never went. One night someone close to me said I should really check it out. I trusted this girl’s taste so we went. As soon as we got in the front door she introduced me to the main promoter, Troy. Troy was wearing a full three-piece suit when I met him…pants, shirt, tie, vest, jacket. It’s very rare to see someone wearing a suit at an underground. This was an even rarer experience because the entire suit, every piece of it, was made entirely out of clear bubble wrap. The only thing not made of bubble wrap were the tighty whities. (To this day, nobody has ever made a greater first impression on me than Troy did that night.)
So we talked for a bit near the front. In the distance I heard some big house records playing. I got the bug to go in, so Troy escorted us in. The room was like a big square full of people my age…or maybe a little older because I was rocking a fake ID at the time.
I didn’t know who the DJ was but he was playing a bunch of dope, well known house tracks. I was happy, but after about 5 tracks I caught myself doing what all DJ’s do. I started thinking about what I would play next if I was the DJ that night. (If you’re reading this, the odds are probably 50/50 that you’re a DJ too so you know what I’m talking about.). In my head, I was thinking about the next house track I would play, and secretly trying to manifest my thoughts into reality. So, like all DJ’s do when listening to someone else playing, I started paying close attention to the ending beats of the track, to hear what song was coming in next. I remember wondering why I wasn’t hearing a new track come in. I started thinking to myself that the DJ is gonna f**k up if he doesn’t hurry and start mixing because I know this track and it’s definitely gonna end soon. I felt myself thinking, dude there’s like 5 seconds left, you’re really gonna let this record just end?
And sure enough, this guy let the record end. Thoughts went racing through my head. But before I could really process the dead air, a guitar riff rang out of the speakers. It was the opening riff to The B-52’s “Rock Lobster” …and it wasn’t a house remix. It was the original extended version of the song. I have always been impressed when a DJ takes a risk with a crowd. It’s a very rare thing to see nowadays, so of course I was very impressed with what this guy did. I mean he had a packed room full of house heads that were already going crazy to what he was playing, and instead of just continuing with that flow, he let the record end and played Rock Lobster. Balls. I instantly started wondering if the risk was gonna pay off or if he was gonna get booed off the decks. (Chicago crowds were quick to let you know if you weren’t giving them what they wanted.) But then something amazing happened. I realized this wasn’t a risk at all. This DJ had groomed his crowd over time, and he knew exactly what to do. And THEY knew exactly what he wanted them to do.
Almost on command, a bunch of the people in the middle of the floor moved to the outside of the floor. And then the outside of the floor starting to walk, in unison, in a circle around the people in the center of the floor…like a ring around a planet. The walking got faster and turned into skipping and jogging. Then the group in the middle started lightly pushing the people around them. The center literally turned into a “gentle” mosh pit, while the rest of the crowd ran-danced around them. I was so confused. It was so dope, but how did everyone know to do this? It probably doesn’t sound like much now, but it was amazing. Nobody got on a mic. Nobody told the people what to do. This was clearly developed over time. I was so unbelievably impressed.
And just when I though it couldn’t get any better, it came to the part in the song where they sing DOWN! DOWN! DOWN! and everyone got lower and lower until they were all laying on the ground. I could not have been more impressed. There’s something so special about seeing the combination of a confident DJ and a trusting crowd willing to let loose and just give-in to fun. I was 100% sober that night and I felt like I was rolling balls watching that happen in front of me. After a few minutes of soaking it all in, I joined the pit and politely moshed my way around. The DJ played all 10 minutes of the extended version of Rock Lobster and it was transcendent, After the song ended, I found Troy and asked him who the DJ was. “Oh that’s Johnny Fiasco. Pretty great, huh?” Ya Troy, pretty great.
Since then, Johnny has become a legendary Chicago DJ and producer. He rarely gets to LA though. But November 4th, I have the honor of playing alongside this inspirational hero of mine at the next installment of CHI❤️LA. Playing with Johnny Fiasco alone would be an insane gift for me, but I also get to play with my other Chicago brothers, DJ Sneak and J-Dub…and at midnight it’s Sneak’s birthday. This is gonna be one for the books. I’m definitely gonna be making memories for myself. Hope to see you there. (Link in comments.)
