Intro to My Beautiful Ethnography of DJs

Music conveys different types of emotions, techniques, and is present in many cultures. People have a large variety of avenues to listen and experience music. Experiencing it from the hands of a DJ, however, contrasts hearing music from other sources like an iPod or car radio. What makes a DJ much more complex than an iPod, is the unique sense of style each DJ brings to how they play music. A DJ can manipulate music to become something new, match their own style, as well as interact with their audience. This interaction between audience and DJ brings a very interesting social component to the music experience. The DJ and the audience create their own atmosphere and culture complete with values, behaviors, and identifications. It is this interaction and culture surrounding Djs that I am interested in, and will examine during this study.

I have always been intrigued with music and its different style. I grew up playing violin and later guitar. However, in High School I was introduced to a new form of musical expression outside of what I could create with an instrument: Djing. I began putting on my own shows and developing a large repertoire of my own mixes. I found it fascinating how I could combine all of my favorite songs and remix them into totally new concepts. They still retained original elements, but sounded completely different. I continue to be interested in the DJ world and am always eager to learn anything that I can to further understand it all.

Today I DJ at clubs in Nashville and other events in the area. But being a student as well as a DJ, I found that I never have time to immerse myself into the trade. I am a DJ, but I do not have much knowledge about the life of other Djs in Nashville, and I definitely do not belong to any sort of collective group. I am always wondering, “what are all those other Djs up to around Nashville?” Thus I want to discover more about the overall style of Djs in Nashville. Initially I just wanted to learn about the technical art of Djs, however, now I want to explore the culture in a larger sense. I want to know if “those other Djs” around Nashville have a collective style.

Though the main question of style when discussing a DJ revolves around his or her music, it is formed through a number of elements. Thus the information I gather will be focused on a variety of characteristics including a Djs interaction with the audience, his or her personality, equipment, technique and also the purpose or mission desired. In the context of this study, and the question of what a Nashville Dj’s style is, I do not believe it is possible to study DJs without also studying the music that they play. However, in order to asses the style of Djs in Nashville I must also explore the cultural elements involved. Overall I am interested in discovering if there is a style that Djs fit into, if there is a conglomerate of styles, or perhaps if there is not much of a vibrant DJ culture at all in Nashville. Whether it may be a combination, or none of the above, I am interested to see what I can conclude about the subject.

The Poster

I found a couple of different posters advertising different nights to come to the club. One was from the club and one I got online. They are not very big but they both have a mission: to sell something. Unlike other sites where DJs may perform, the club environment seeks to market "fun" to the mass of young and slightly old adults. However, when I think about a site advertising I know that they have planned to target an audience, and I know that the DJ will have planned his music to match that audience as well (or at least would have been told to). Thus seeing the posters makes me think that a DJ's music may not entirely be to his liking or that a club has specifically hired DJs who specialize with the genre the want to play.

I also think about the way in which a DJ is advertised is interesting. All it is is simply a line of text with his name. I can't help but think that he should have more space dedicated because of the large role that he plays.

3CupsOTea Review - Emily

I enjoyed reading Emily's review and I think that she makes some good points. She says that the novel is "easy to read" and this resulted from Relin placing verbs at the beginning of sentences to give clarity. I agree, yet Emily did not give an example of this, which I think would have added some validity to her point.

Emily goes on to write about a disconnect between Relin and Mortenson and how the novel fails to make the reader feel "engulfed in the culture". I think Emily is right in saying that Relin does not convey Mortenson's experiences as well as Mortenson could himself, but I do not agree this takes away from the ethnographic value of the novel. Emily writes "in terms of foreign relationships I think this book does an excellent job", and in my opinion culture can be seen through these relationships. What better way is there to access a culture than becoming friends with the people and being able to see their everyday interactions.

I thought that this review was well written and that Emily did a good job keeping her subjects clear and placing verbs close to the beginning of sentences. Sentences such as "Relin placed...", "Since Relin wrote...", and "However, in terms of foreign relationships..." all have clarity because of clear subjects and verbs. Finally on a whole I thought that this piece tied together nicely. Emily has two paragraphs one about form and one about content. The first flows nicely into the second paragraph and together I think they do a great job of expressing her ideas.

Three Cups of Tea!

Three Cups of Teas scores well as an ethnographic work of writing. The book emphasizes the people and the relationships that Mortenson soon forms. There are many different types of people that are described and each is done so carefully. The reader gets to see what the culture is like through the people of Pakistan that Mortenson discovers. Not only are the people described in detail but the beliefs, values, and behaviors of the Pakistani people are constantly shown in Three Cups of Tea. Mortenson is very observant of the Pakistan culture and one of the reasons he had such great success was because he valued the people and was able accomplish things in the Pakistan way not the American way. Thus the writing in Three Cups of Tea does an excellent job of portraying culture and the reader gets an in depth look through the expert on Pakistan culture, Mortenson.

Another technique the book uses to explore culture is through language. The writers often use bits and pieces of Urdu, Pashtun, and other languages throughout Mortenson's travels. I thought that this was a great technique and think it added to the validity of the work as a piece of ethnographic writing. By studying the language we are able to see deeper into the Pakistani culture and examine it through yet another lens.

I Am Writing a Letter

Dear Robin,

So... I am in a class this semester. Its a writing class, which normally do not intrigue me to much. However this one is going pretty well, I get to write a big paper on DJ culture in Nashville and do a lot of thinking about it. I like to have time to think before I write, I work better that way and that is why I have enjoyed preparing to write the final paper much more than another class I would have taken (sitting in front of google scholar sources late at night). Its a cool idea, and I hope that all my work turns out cool too.
I have made some decent headway, I have worked out a couple places that I want to go and observe DJs at, I have started creating a great list of DJ terms that are used by DJs in everyday conversation, I even got a chance to do an interview with a DJ, and it went super well. I think that interviewing is probably going to be the greatest insight into the culture. It is hard to gain access to DJs while they are in the club environment. I can observe how they act but with an interview I can hear them describe their actions in their own words as well as give information about their view of DJs as a whole in Nashville.
I have not spent much time writing on my own, aside from the assigned blog posts, but I hope to start getting some thoughts together after break. Even just some basic outlines maybe, anything to think about and guide me as I discover new information. I also need to get out to different clubs and start taking notes. I had no idea how helpful the interview would be until I did it so I also have high hopes for being able to observe DJs at work. With my new phone I think I will be able to take notes on it and that way won't look like a total idiot or creeper writing down stuff in the corner. People would definitely be a little weirded out by that!
I feel like I am putting together the pieces of a puzzle. Before I complete the puzzle I first have to find the pieces, then organize them, and then start completing the puzzle. I think that I am about to finish putting together all the edge-pieces right now.

Hope you can tell how excited about the project I am... I mean I don't normally write you letters about anything ;)

David

Interview Write-up

When I interviewed Randal Alexander, or DJ Illegal, I did not know what to expect. It was good to be able to get a look at how he described himself as a DJ and his thoughts of DJs in Nashville. When I asked him about his style he said that it was "a bunch of different genres all thrown in." He uses many different genres of music when he DJs ranging from "top40, to electro house, to hip-hop, to old school hip-hop, to dubstep, to some drum-step." I thought that this was interesting to hear because a lot of DJs will only specialize in one area of music. It is hard to have a vast knowledge of many different types of music and it is hard to be able to incorporate a wide variety of music into a set.
Randal also spoke about DJs and the club scene in Nashville. He states, "club owners are kinda taking the low ball DJs", the ones that will not charge much and do not have much experience. Randal even mentioned, "it gets really political" because the "low ball" DJs will come in and say, "yeah I'll do it for 50 bucks and some beer." I thought this was interesting because it also ties in with his statement about the talent in Nashville being great but that it was "more underground for the most part."



DJ community in Nashville. He said that "there are a lot of people that call themselves DJs" but there is not a large number of DJs who are the real deal.

Interview with DJ Illegal

Me: How long have you been DJing for?

Illegal: About three years, and the club scene for about two years
Me: Cool, and what got you into being a DJ?

Illegal: Well, I play different instruments, guitar and piano. And um, I can't really sing [laughs], so I wanted to be a rock star somehow. I was online, just watching a bunch of stuff, went out and bought me a pair of technics and learned it
Me: So what kind of equipment are you using now?

Illegal: I got two technic 1200s and then a mixer, I use Serrato Scratch Live, and then got, uh, a crappy HP computer (laughs).

Me: Thats funny, I do the same thing. How would you describe the type of music that you play? Do you do like mash-ups, remixes? What kind of style do you have?
Illegal: I would say my style is a little harder to put your finger on, its um, its mash-ups and remixes but its a bunch of different genres all thrown in. Ill go from top40, to electro house, to hip-hop, to old school hip-hop, to dubstep, to some drum-step. I'm kinda everything in between and I like to switch it up. Its just fast pace mixing.

Me: So what kind of places around Nashville are you DJing at now, or have been DJing at?

Illegal: Well recently its been um, Serrock and I was on the second floor Buckwild but I quit there because I wasn't in a very good environment and it wasn't taking me anywhere. And I was at Toofers which was Frayed Knot. Now I am probably going to be putting my foot in the door at Gilligans. And then Saturday I kinda turn into my travel day. Last Saturday I went to Jackson Missippi.

Me: Were you playing down there?

Illegal: Yeah, it was a pain in the butt. It was a six hour drive and my car broke down in five hours. And I didn't end up making more than 20 bucks.

Me: Do you go out and travel a lot to do gigs around?

Illegal: Um, I am starting to now. Before I was at the same place, just the same club every weekend. Now I am just kinda getting bored with it, just taking different gigs here and I don't really want to keep a residency. Coming up I got, well its next week, I am going out of town to Panama City. My buddy DJs at Levita, I am trying to weasle my way in. Yeah I am switching up my clubs.
Me: What do you think about the other DJs in Nashville?

Illegal: There are a lot of DJs and then there are very little at the same time. Like there is a lot of people that call themselves DJs but all the good DJs in Nashville know each other for the most part. And there is a whole lot of uh, it gets really political, and club owners are kinda taking the low ball DJs. They got DJs that come in and say yeah I'll do it for 50 bucks and some beer, and then there are the real DJs who are like I can't do that because that is how I am paying my rent. So uh, for the most part the little DJ community that I am in there is a bunch a good guys. There is a lot, a lot of very, very good talent in Nashville but its uh, more underground for the most part. Getting better though.

Me: would you say that most DJs have a similar style here? Or, I know in Nashville a lot of people come here for music and its very eclectic and diverse, would you say that each DJ has there own thing or are they kinda more on the same page?

Illegal: I would say that there is a lot of really unique and different styles like there are only a couple guys that are close to having my style. There are a lot of really good EDM DJs in town.

Me: a lot of good what?

Illegal: Electronic dance music, there is a lot of different unique styles in Nashville you just kinda drag it out and find it.

Me: Where would you say most of the good DJs are playing? Are they out at a not very known club, or doing parties? Where is the good scene to be?

Illegal: Well right now its just finding out who the good Djs are I guess, and then it will switch up. A lot of them are like me and will change scenery. Two very good DJs have a residency at Gilligan's right now in Murfreesborough. So every Thursday is good music there. Gilligan's is actually... I haven't heard a bad DJ in there yet. They are kinda getting there act together and you gotta have really good music to make a club good.

And blue bar has a really good DJ on Friday and Saturdays. And then Carma actually has a really good DJ Friday and Saturday, their resident there. And uh, Wednesdays at Gilligan's they got Wick-it... Wick-it the DJ. Mainly its just finding the DJ that you like and following them around because it changes up.

Me: Well cool man, closing up what would you say your mission as a DJ is? What is your goal and what motivates you?

Illegal: It started out a lot different than it is now, it started out I wanted people to like me like I guess like every DJ. But now its more, I really want to provide a sound that is something unique to me and really give somebody a great experience at a club.