A few weeks ago, my friends and I attended the Art Walk Miami monthly event. It involves strolling from one art gallery to another in the Design District of Miami. At one of our stop we saw a female DJ spinning on one of the new digital system. How things have changed since I was a DJ back in college. We had turntables with vinyl records and worry about spinning the records just right to mix the beats. Now most of that is digitize.

I didn’t set out to be a DJ. My girlfriend, Miranda was the head of the Urban Contemporary segment and she recruited and trained me for the school radio station. Of course you can’t be a DJ without a cool name. I don’t think mine was so cool: “Sapphire.” There was so much to learn. How to use the control panel, set up the various advertisement tapes, setting the needle just at the right spot to transition from one song to the other. Most important one had to learn to have “No Dead Air.” This means there should be no silence for a long time.

I had a lot of fun being a DJ on the air and off. As people got to know us, they would request that we play at different events. Even though I was underage, I would get into the clubs because I was one of the DJs playing the event. I was getting paid for having fun. If we didn’t get paid, we got in free. Another perk was getting free drinks (don’t tell my son that part). When someone wanted us to play a request, sometimes they would buy us drinks. Is that considered a kickback or a bribe? I am in Miami now, I have to make sure I use the right terminology. Ha!

I did have some challenges as a DJ. I had a guy who would stalk me. Sometimes I would have the 2-4 a.m. shift, and he would be outside. He turned out to be harmless. Then I would get tons of fan mail, but a majority of them was from the prisoners from the county jail. My girlfriend enjoyed delivering the bags and dropping them in front of me with a smirk on her face. I must say some of them wrote really well and had beautiful penmanship! It was some of the content that was the problem.

My trip to the Miami Art Walk took me on a journey back to those DJ days; they are now fond memories. My poor mother is now stuck with a stack of crates filled with my vinyl records lining one wall. Maybe one day I will pull them out and see if her turntable still works. The biggest challenge would be to find needles that will work. I think one of the first records I would play is “Request Line” by Rock Master Scott. Click title to listen.

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