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STEP UP
***image1***I was perusing the latest J Spot [J Spot, Oct. 12: "
"], a lovely little attack on house music (which, for the record, I have nothing against), and it got me thinking about the state of the music scene in Santa Fe, and what is or isn't wrong with it. Because, since losing Paramount/Bar B, the scene seems to be in a kind of liminal state. On the positive side, there seems to be more good, vital, interesting music out there than ever. On the negative side, no single venue has stepped up to fill the role of Paramount/Bar B. There's no one place where you can go and see dance music that transcends the typical 4/4 monotony, cutting-edge local acts, as well as the few national artists that Santa Fe manages to attract. Yes, a number of smaller venues have really stepped up and given the more interesting local artists a space to play; however, small venues simply lack the space and resources to be what the Paramount/Bar B was. And, for every small venue that gives local acts a space and an opportunity, there's another venue that takes the safe way out and opts for "dance music" (read generic house) or something from the bluegrass/blues/roots nexus. Which is frustrating as hell, from both the standpoint of a band trying to get gigs in their hometown (I speak with bitter experience here) and from the standpoint of someone who wants to hear something a little less generic, without taking the trip down to Albuquerque. I don't blame venues for making the easy choice. Generic house or generic blues will get people dancing-and to some extent, that's all that matters. But there's a lot of folk out there who want something more, who want to feel more than a well-shaken booty, who want music that nourishes something deeper and fills them with a rare joy. That music's out there, and the Santa Fe community needs to do a hell of a lot better at supporting it.
Akira Watts
Santa Fe
HOUSE PROUD
I was 14 years old when I stopped playing my Fender Stratocaster and mail ordered my first set of Technics turntables to New Mexico. I remember that because at that time it was much more popular in America to bang a guitar in band then try to move people with a bunch of records. And after reading "A House Is Not A Home," I see nothing has really changed for some people as to the appreciation of what I've worked my whole life for…my Art.
Jonanna talks of Swig and Paramount, drugs, Felix da Housecat, Frankie Knuckles, Paul Oakenfold, club owners and even gays, as if they meant anything to my art, what she calls "house music." Whatever you would like to call it, it's a bit more then the "thump thump," as she describes it.
Most don't, and will never, understand it.
As much as she would like to think this is about a style of music, a DJ, drugs or clubs, it's not!
This is about a feeling…a true feeling of unity and togetherness that comes from a spontaneous experience of some sort of spirituality.
It has no exclusivity to any one style, or sound, or even to one group. It does however involve having a direction a true artist can bring out with one's music to journey somewhere…a spirit of creativity, openness and tolerance. This is about people. Bringing them together in a fashion that is truly unique. The brilliance of this art comes from its participants collectively involved in its outcome.
You are not the first to tell me my art is dead! I watched those baseball fans burn all those records in Chicago, only to have to hear them again on every TV commercial lately. They played the wrong ones then and you mention the wrong ones now.
As if Swig or Paramount represents real house music in Santa Fe? If a few misguided and badly run galleries close…do you scream "Santa Fe art is dead!"?
Criticize all those poorly run, overpriced establishments that ride on claiming they play "house." They don't know what house is and unfortunately you don't either.
DJ Eldon
Santa Fe
FAMILY AFFAIR
Regarding Jonanna's diatribe about house music, my family has a message for her-it's fitting that you hate it because you've never been the intended audience from the beginning. House music was never meant for the white, rich, affected and downwardly mobile, so don't believe the hype. House was created by and for the queer, broke, minority and disenfranchised. Paul Oakenfold and Felix da Housecat are no more relevant to true house music than Coldplay and Gwen Stefani are to indie rock. And I hate to have to tell you that Swig is no house mecca-it's called Circuit Party, hon, and it's usually done on rented cruise ships instead of the Plaza. It's amazing that your article will split hairs over the difference between NuGrass and alt.country, but you can't be bothered to learn the truth about a movement that has sustained a community over 25 years throughout racism, backbreaking poverty and disease. My family and I play this music in tribute to our history and our survival. As does my colleague Adam Gibbons from Pachanga, who brings the love weekly, and who I can only hope will find it in his heart to give you the late pass…
Quela Robinson, aka DJ Quela
Santa Fe
DEEP UNDERGROUND
First off, I'd like to explain that this response to your article is coming from the mind and heart of someone who has been deeply involved in the underground electronic music scene for nearly 15 years now. From the very first warehouse raves, to the grand scale events that ruled the mid- to late-'90s, to the clubs and now back to the warehouses, I've been there. Electronic music is something that either affects, enters you, or you don't understand it. Therefore, you put it down. In my eyes and ears techno/house/breaks/electro/jungle/whatever requires a much larger use of your senses to actually hear it. Your so-called "cat vomiting" bass beats of an uninteresting house track may seem dull and boring, but I would love to know what your reference point is. If what you have is a certain Swig DJ, or the microscopic electronic music selection at Hastings or Borders, then yes: "cat vomit." Agreed. I would suggest doing your homework on these subjects and not being just another scene-hopper looking for acceptance. If, as you say, house music is dead, then we don't need another bad DJ in an already flooded market who never seemed to have cared for the music in the first place.
But then again, I don't know you that well and I may be wrong.
Tim Hackett, aka DJ Flobug
Santa Fe
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