Sqratch Karnival

DAMN THAT DJ MADE MY DAY!
By Dj Crop Diggie

They say the third times a charm and this definitely held true for Sqratch Karnival 3. First off the usual Voltron formed when the SuperStarDjs get together was not completely intact that day! I stepped straight into the Karnival fresh off a minor back procedure which had me worried about even making it through the door that night. Spin was out celebrating his wife’s b-day down in SA (Happy Birthday Regina). So things were not the norm from the jump.

The setup provided the first challenge of the evening. We plug the multiple table setups into the mix board; do a little tinkering and bam we are ready to go! Or a least we thought we were ready to go. One set up was too loud with some serious humming going on, one set up was too low with a lot of hissing and the other set up had the Allen and Heath sounding like it was broken with one channel bleeding over into the next one when ever you moved the cross fader. So were standing there trying to figure this crap out, just wishing Spin was there, he’s the technical guru of the crew. So we in there in sort of a panic thinking the brand new A& H, was already on the frits. It seems as though the technical gods were looking down on us laughing when in walks NickNack to save the day. Nick jumps on the board and starts to help us figure things out and Rodney starts taking apart the A&H seeing if it was a fader problem. It turns out just some imbalanced levels and a phantom power problem.

45 minutes later we finally get the Karnival started. Like clock work heads start to roll in carrying strictly the essentials….record bags over in one hand and six pack of there favorite brew in the other. foos were ready to get crunked up in Room 35. Initially, it seemed like no one wanted to be the first on the cut, but once things did start, but before you knew it there were cuts coming from every direction. Once again the Karnival was on!

There were some new faces Dj Protégé, Dj Tats and the Mad god Chris Martin(thanks guys for coming out) and some of the usual faces Nick Nack, Evan(welcome back) Souniq, Florok and some cats who were M.I.A., Taboo and the Ice Man(missed you cut fiends). But fun was had by all!

The most memorable moment of this session, at least for me was, improve symphony (thought it was the brew at first) that erupted at around 12:15 or so. What sounded to me like a hip hop symphony was actually four djs on the decks creating an ill concoction of beats and melodies with nothing but turntables. Dj Evan was on the beat, with the kick and the snare going crazy. NickNack chimes in with these crazy ass baselines, while at the same time changing up speeds by using the slider pitch control and switching back and forth from 33/45.Dj Rodney comes in with a horn type sound every two seconds or so over the bass and the kick filling the ear drums with more richness then godiva chocolate and Chris the Mad god Martin starts cutting these word phrases that brings it all together.

If you did not know anything about djing and what these cats were doing, you would swear someone was under the table beating the shit out of an MPC drum machine, but dudes were doing all this on the fly. Making something out of nothing…the essence of hip hop in its truest form! This went on for at least 30 minutes or so with djs switching in and out, including my self. It was an amazing thing to see. Who needs a band when you have a dj? Run DMC displayed it best, with Jam Master Jay (RIP) back in the day when dudes rocked Here We Go (Live at the funhouse). Jay was going back in forth on the Billy Squier Big Beat break, never missing a catch. Damn those were the days.

Damn that dj made my day! On to Sqratch Karnival 4!