Wow..all very good and interesting stories.. A true DJ is ALWAYS SACRIFICING something in their life to keep their craft sharp and fresh.
Sacrifice is part of the DJ culture, without it you cannot be a DJ in every sense of the word.
Sacrifice like traveling the 5 boroughs of NYC to get the latest vinyl release, humping 500 records to a club gig, telling your girl "Sorry babe..I do love you but I gotta mix"...things along that I am sure we all have done one time or another.
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So true Tony, right now, I must admit, I am so obsessed with the mix, that I will admit I am loosing quality time with my wife and son, which isn't right, but I am addicted to the turntables like a drug. I am going to the gym less, and I could be studying for tests I need for my career, but instead if have spent hours on the decks. You know me personally, so you know how passionate I am about my music.
With my above story, it actually was killing me when I couldn't dedicate the time I needed to become really good and well known, my job and family took precidence. Thats why I wish i started when I was a young teenager instead of when I was 21...I could of been great by the time I was 21. Then after 5 years of djing I joined the CG, which of course was a great move for my life, but djing was put at a standstill for 5 years....now I am back, but still it takes a back seat with family and my life at sea. Now I am 31 and I feel like I missed out on my true calling. If I could I truly would of rearranged things in my life to be a great dj where it was a full time job.
I will ad this, a Dj who does it just for the money, isn't a true dj to me. I have met many, who do it simply do it for the money, these are the same dj's I commented on who back in the day made 30 mixtapes with a bunch of sucky "filler" songs in the middle so they could sell more mix tapes instead of just having a few killer ass ones. And so thousands of these tapes were sold in the city, and you can just tell from their mixes there was no "love" felt when they were making it, they just wanted to throw songs together as quickly as they could to get their tapes out...lame...
If anyone remembers Dj Fox from Philly, he truly had great mix tapes back in the day, you can tell he did it for the love, he was great in my eyes, or should I say ears.
Right now I am obsessed with simply getting a sweet set together just for my friends to hear and to put on the DL site. And your right, djing does take you to another place away from the daily stresses of life. I always called my decks the "time machines".
P.S. I wish I knew you when you threw away all that vinyl...
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...greg.