"Get a Shave, a Haircut, and Grow Up": Hipsters Criticized (movers, how much)
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Im going to give you a few examples of how the “knowledge class” is affecting the nightclub industry here in DC.
A well-known spot still up today has gone through so many identities. Most recently the head dj/producer left to concentrate more on the NY/Brooklyn electronic scene but still lives here in DC. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.
The second man up at that same place had every opportunity to take the lead and cultivate it and has been there and known the owners for several years now. I tried to give him ideas as not only nightclub consultant but a friend. Instead, he is currently off pursing is grad school degree. I told him he could start it and put others in charge but he said he had no time and had to study. That is knowledge class for you and the hustle isn’t in them. Nothing wrong with that but I am explaining the difference. Hungry creative art types would have jumped on that but now the place is ever since changing its identity every 2 months. One hint- (Peru)
Another dj started a night own his own with some dj friends and it went well the first week but he can’t commit because of his 9-5 commercial producing job so it went down the drain. Now, he is happy as an opening act playing dirt rug for other guest djs outside of DC. This is the knowledge class for you. Guess who had no time due to studies to dj and is now currently guest djing there with him as oppose to having his own thing at Peru? Yes you guessed it.... So that is what I am saying in that these are major venues and this is what is going on here in DC. It shouldn't be like this at all. Not in DC but unless you are part of the industry, you would never know it.
I can go on and on and on….
Sounds like your friends made the smart move. Unless you are a big time DJ in Vegas or Miami, there's not much of a career in DJing. The ratio of broke ass DJs to DJs earning enough to sustain a living is probably around 50,000 to 1. DJing is something you do for the love, not the money.
Sounds like your friends made the smart move. Unless you are a big time DJ in Vegas or Miami, there's not much of a career in DJing. The ratio of broke ass DJs to DJs earning enough to sustain a living is probably around 50,000 to 1. DJing is something you do for the love, not the money.
Is that your final answer? lol? Are you sure that is your final answer? Now don't take this personal but let's break your post down.
Who says you have to be out of job? Who says you have to be broke to dj? Who says you can't pursue a career by day whilst cultivating your home town scene by night? See, your post is the mentality of knowledge class that thinks for self and not about the scene....
And that is also why DC will never have a proper club scene. This is the disconnect you don't see. DC is a knowledge class city with many "trust fund" college djs with great 9-5 jobs that have been given keys to the clubs but are doing nothing to cultivate the scene. Where are all the resident 30+ (age) vets that are known outside of DC that people from other states come to see to a specific venue? Why are our DJs looking across the bridge to Philly and NY?
Most Miami local djs don't have IT or 80K jobs- many are in college with regular day time jobs but there are many 30+ vets as resident djs at the major venues. I watched many of Miami djs grow to what they are from 2004-2013. They worked at record stores, law equipment stores, and regular labor class jobs as many locals are blacks, hispanic from cuba and or south america. I was a 12 hour shift cop by day and held a weekly residency from 2007-2013 in South Beach So what were you saying again? I am here pursing my career in DC making 2wice as much with a weekly residency and have been since octber 2013 after moving here April 2013. So again, last chance, is that your final answer?
Nothing wrong with pursing your career or dreams outside of your art. But. when you hold the keys and have the opportunity to put others on in your venue and cultivate the scene but let it all go, that is a problem.
Last edited by halfamazing; 12-03-2014 at 06:37 AM..
Is that your final answer? lol? Are you sure that is your final answer? Now don't take this personal but let's break your post down.
Who says you have to be out of job? Who says you have to be broke to dj? Who says you can't pursue a career by day whilst cultivating your home town scene by night? See, your post is the mentality of knowledge class that thinks for self and not about the scene....
And that is also why DC will never have a proper club scene.
How does DC not have a proper club scene? If you're young, AA and if you're into hip-hop/ R&B DC has one of the best club scenes in the country imo. Maybe it doesn't have a club scene that you like or prefer. But when I travel around the country I meet lots of people that have been to DC and love the club here. Hell... I've been to MIA several times and if you're not into house, reggae or trance, Miami's club scene is nothing to write home about.
How does DC not have a proper club scene? If you're young, AA and if you're into hip-hop/ R&B DC has one of the best club scenes in the country imo. Maybe it doesn't have a club scene that you like or prefer. But when I travel around the country I meet lots of people that have been to DC and love the club here. Hell... I've been to MIA several times and if you're not into house, reggae or trance, Miami's club scene is nothing to write home about.
Not every city is good for every type of music. This is just life. EDM is not DC's strength. Even then music scenes change very rapidly in cities. Sometimes a strong community and scene happens under the radar, and emerges in short order.
There is also the issue of financial viability, a place may exist for ten years, and disappear overnight because of viability. Jazz and Rock venues tend to work longer because of a smaller scale, and the ability to supliment income with resturants/bars. EDM needs big spaces, and in a high-rent place like DC with limited places for a large venue, the viability becomes an issue. Hip-hop, R&B, and GoGo also seem to know how to scale down when necessary, and ride out downturns.
And that is also why DC will never have a proper club scene. This is the disconnect you don't see. DC is a knowledge class city with many "trust fund" college djs with great 9-5 jobs that have been given keys to the clubs but are doing nothing to cultivate the scene. Where are all the resident 30+ (age) vets that are known outside of DC that people from other states come to see to a specific venue?
DC is not that kind of town. Nodoby wants to come to DC during a random week (this week, for example) and blow thousands of dollars on entertainment. Vegas, on the other hand, is built exactly for that. That's the only reason it exists. Hotel clubs in Vegas that are the size of football fields will be packed tonight (with pool parties to follow in the morning). It's an entertainment city. Same goes for Miami and to a lesser extent NYC.
The problem with Richard Florida is what he terms the "creative class", is actually the knowledge class. It's not artists, it's engineers, scientists, lawyers, doctors, and analysts. Those with knowledge. This is DC's strength, it attracts smart people in droves, people who really should be governing, as dry as it might be.
This is not a city of the arts to the same extent as other cities. That's okay. This is not what the city needs to be. But it should attract bright people who are willing to sacrifice for the public good, which it does.
I fail to understand where artists aren't the smart people, who should be governing.
You want some robotic wasteland that's dictated by bureaucracy, fueled by stereotype of what an artist is because that's what you're describing.
Artists is a big term. Creativity is a big term. You're specifying that artists are just those who make pictures, but even that is something that brings value and can change the social ideas. Many histories have been changed by the artists, and the creative.
When the artist achieve a level of their own, they come to become deeper part of the history in governance than most people fail to realize.
We live in a socially aware world, and without the graphic designers, and UX/UI designers, nothing will happen. Engineers are just engineers until they become creative to engineer a feat that's impossible possible. Scientists can't progress without their creativity to see what's not there, to imagine the abstract.
The point of creatives are to instill the imagination for a better world in people. And sometimes, it takes an artist, a painting, a picture to make people realize the possibilities.
How does DC not have a proper club scene? If you're young, AA and if you're into hip-hop/ R&B DC has one of the best club scenes in the country imo. Maybe it doesn't have a club scene that you like or prefer. But when I travel around the country I meet lots of people that have been to DC and love the club here. Hell... I've been to MIA several times and if you're not into house, reggae or trance, Miami's club scene is nothing to write home about.
DC has a "moderate-sized lounges with loud music and bar" scene. DC does NOT have a real club scene anymore. When it had legit clubs like Dream/Love, H2O, Nation (I feel old), Fur, etc., sure, it had a club scene. There were great DJs and large spaces, and people came for the music. The bland posing stuff I see out at these clubs (essentially bars to me) here NOW is not the same energy as it used to be. I went to Midtown last Saturday and it sucked so bad--no one was dancing, there was no energy, no passion. The vibe is just not the same here anymore so we end up trucking it to NY or Vegas.
DC has a "moderate-sized lounges with loud music and bar" scene. DC does NOT have a real club scene anymore. When it had legit clubs like Dream/Love, H2O, Nation (I feel old), Fur, etc., sure, it had a club scene. There were great DJs and large spaces, and people came for the music. The bland posing stuff I see out at these clubs (essentially bars to me) here NOW is not the same energy as it used to be. I went to Midtown last Saturday and it sucked so bad--no one was dancing, there was no energy, no passion. The vibe is just not the same here anymore so we end up trucking it to NY or Vegas.
Same thing has happened in NYC. Most of the big nightclubs have shut down.
Megaclubs aren't the best use of land in high value real estate districts. That's why they are going the way of the dinosaur. The trend, in all cities I think, has been to shuffle that type of nightlife into hotels and restaurants.
You will never, ever see this in DC again. The nightclub techno/dance scene took off in the 1990s because the DJs were selling tons of CDs and doing world tours outside of their European cities. They were becoming superstars in the global music scene.
The electronic dance scene was always popular in places like NYC and LA. Washington, DC had a young international population that was more into techno/house beats than your typical American of the same age group. The DC club scene started to take off here because of the cosmopolitan environment. I remembered when embassy staff, university students, and IMF/World Bank workers would hang out in the DC dance nightclubs. Most of them were from the Middle East, South America and eastern European nations. Those folks were called "Eurotrash". But lots of white Americans would come from suburban VA and MD to party at downtown DC nightclubs too. LOL--back in the day when 20-something white people would travel from the suburbs into the dark, scary streets of downtown DC!
It was right when the White Gentrification period began during the late-1990s, the "Eurotrash" influence on DC music and club culture started to decline. I wonder what The Euros do for fun in Washington, DC? Where do the young foreign professionals and graduate students congregate during after hours?
You will never, ever see this in DC again. The nightclub techno/dance scene took off in the 1990s because the DJs were selling tons of CDs and doing world tours outside of their European cities. They were becoming superstars in the global music scene.
The electronic dance scene was always popular in places like NYC and LA. Washington, DC had a young international population that was more into techno/house beats than your typical American of the same age group. The DC club scene started to take off here because of the cosmopolitan environment. I remembered when embassy staff, university students, and IMF/World Bank workers would hang out in the DC dance nightclubs. Most of them were from the Middle East, South America and eastern European nations. Those folks were called "Eurotrash". But lots of white Americans would come from suburban VA and MD to party at downtown DC nightclubs too. LOL--back in the day when 20-something white people would travel from the suburbs into the dark, scary streets of downtown DC!
It was right when the White Gentrification period began during the late-1990s, the "Eurotrash" influence on DC music and club culture started to decline. I wonder what The Euros do for fun in Washington, DC? Where do the young foreign professionals and graduate students congregate during after hours?
And that is why I am so hard on DC but say it has so much FREAKING POTENTIAL. I can't put my finger on how come it didn't sky rocket from what it was back then. I was living here back in 1999 to 2001. I drove every weekend from quanitico. I went to these club= both DC live and zei and others for both hip hop and electronic. I followed a particular male dancer that eventually became a model dancing around dc clubs. It had the club vets. I really don't know what happened.
I was here when DC live had 3 rooms to include its top latin floor then downstairs for dc house/hip hop and the other side large room for hip hop but turned to house after midnight for guys like dj scribble. It was awesome. It was really great.
heck I was warned about U-Street but went anyways and enjoyed the all black events. Even drove to maryland for all black club events.
The scene is still good for partying. That is not the problem. Its the cultivation and those behind the scenes is what hasn't propelled it. DC can be such a powerhouse. The same ones that promoted for zei are the same ones that own lima.
Last edited by halfamazing; 12-04-2014 at 12:20 PM..
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Now don't take this personal but let's break your post down. 
