Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Set Fire To Me
I remember playing this proto deep house dub side at a club in Montreal a few years ago. I dropped the track early in the set, trying to feel the crowd, when a local party goer pushed his way up to the DJ booth and tried to get my attention, my vanity led me to assume he wished to find the name of this 1986 dollar bin classic, but instead it turned out that he wanted to share some friendly advice that went something along the lines that perhaps DJ'ing wasn't the best choice of career for me and maybe I should consider doing something else. It was clear to him that I wasn't very good and it could only have been a case of miscommunication or mistaken identity that had brought me to be playing dubby garage records at his techno nightclub. He had a sincere expression on his face, as though he were just trying to save me some wasted years and as such I took his freely given wisdom to heart.
Every time I hear something by New York salsa trombonist Willie Colon, which is now and again, I think back to those scathing remarks made to me and how perhaps one man's comment undermined my confidence and prevented me from quitting my video game industry job to follow my true passion and become a full time boogie record cataloging blogspot page editor. I could have been burning CD-r's with looped up edits of this or that, travelling a little bit, seeing America.
Posted by Black Shag | 17 comments
January 8, 2013 at 6:46 AM
Heard this one in a Joakim set a while back, been wondering what it was ever since, Cheers!
January 8, 2013 at 12:23 PM
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January 8, 2013 at 12:26 PM
I wish I could be reborn to listen and dance down the clubs to music like this I love it.
January 10, 2013 at 8:25 PM
I was playing some boogie on new years and a woman in her 20s walked up and with a smile asked if I "would mind playing GOOD music". None the less I asked her to leave and continued as I was. Everyone else was dancing, but it's always the overly vocal minority that tries to ruin everything.
January 11, 2013 at 8:18 AM
Just found this blog while watching old Bronx videos on YouTube! Wow! You guys are great - keep up the good work! Willie Colon has always been the truth! Montreal doesn't know what it's missing out on.
January 12, 2013 at 2:14 AM
Been diggin' this for long as i can remember; now after years of collecting vinyls i started to play and sure it feels good to get the crowd moving with some Willie...
Beat electric fellas, keep doin' what you're doin' 'couse you're doin'it allright...
January 16, 2013 at 9:47 PM
I get the same treatment every time I get the courage to DJ out in public. Oh well, just means more rad records for me to listen to in private.
January 18, 2013 at 10:29 PM
God, this is the story of my life! Dub and Reggae has such a following, just none of the real heads ever seem to be listening to my sets!!
January 25, 2013 at 2:10 PM
This record is incredible..cheers!!!
January 30, 2013 at 1:43 AM
That's a fucking great tune man, thx a lot. Don't listen to those ignorant jerks and continue to please our ears.
Listening to the first beats I thought "that s some awesome material for an edit", but after listening to the whole tune, I decided I would just ruin 10mn of pure dope.
February 3, 2013 at 12:15 PM
I've often dreamt of hearing this song in a set somewhere.. maybe it will happen on the right night, the right club, with the right DJ :) Who knows, maybe there were others there that night who had an unforgettable time...
February 9, 2013 at 1:07 AM
What a shame, people putting others down because of their personal preferences. Personally, I found techno pure hell, and still do. Give me some funky groovy or early house tracks instead. This is one great track!
February 12, 2013 at 2:29 PM
Now. I'm not a DJ by any stretch of the imagination. But I have 'played out' - and I Dig music (capital dee). I was once asked, 'got any Gary Glitter?'.....
This was pre 1997, but still not acceptable.
March 1, 2013 at 8:30 AM
i was playing in a half empty bar once as a youth some years ago when i was approached by two guys from california. they inquired about my scant credentials and then informed me via unsolicited lecture that their DJ friends in CA "fuckin' live for this shit" and chastised me for having a day job. i know haters will be haters but it really irritated me. i think repeated incidents like this often lead to the sort of snobby DJ attitude that so many people complain about. who shows up at a party to give the DJ shit? just leave!
i guess the moral of the story is that you can't let it get to ya.
March 4, 2013 at 11:33 PM
Very very sweet track. Thanks!
September 8, 2013 at 1:59 PM
This track's incredible... Going in my next mix. This blog is pretty special too. Great work!
September 19, 2013 at 2:05 PM
One of my favorite records; I used it in my last mix. Apparently it got some play in 80s Goa, where its expansive length and lush, psychedelic arrangement would have fit right in.
In any case, boo to genre purism :p