Tuesday,.Mai
fuesday, May 30, 2000
AGGIES
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Way
Tane 3
THE BATTALION
ollege Statioj
ssident found i
Carolyn Diane Casey,a2;|
College Station residecil
nd dead in her apartmel
junday morning whenfel
were called to the seel
jse a blaze at Doux
?rtments.
College Station Police!
nt Chief Ed Feldman sai:l
ise of death is currently
mined; the case has;
ed as a homicide pendin
come of the autopsy;
; body was discovered!
fire was contained,
jnty’s medical examin
; is scheduled to relea;
ts of the autopsy today,
‘There are several pos|
spects at this time, , 'l
n said.
College Station Policel
tment spokesperson!
Scott said arson is alst
investigated.
Casey attended A&M (
ed High School and/
ted Methodist Church.
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The Battalion
hen most people think of a DJ,
they think of the guy at their fa
vorite club who stands behind
two turntables and plays music, but few peo
ple realize the time, effort and expense in
volved in becoming a professional DJ.
DJs as entertainers have gone largely un
noticed, though several have made their
mark on the musical world. Hip
-Hop DJs have been visible
since the early '80s
when Jammaster J first
made his name as Run
DMCs DJ.
More recently, DJs
have surfaced in genres
other than hip hop. Fatboy
Slim and Moby have made
their way onto the pop charts,
1 and underground DJs such as
Carl Cox and Sasha can draw
10,000 people to a show.
Ryan Locker, a DJ and se-
r :i: : nior political science major,
said there is far more to being a
successful DJ than just playing
records. Locker, also known as DJ Ryland
Hunter, said the first step in becoming a serious
DJ is to decide what type of music to play.
"You have to start off listening to everything,"
Locker said.
"Whether it's techno or trance or hip hop,
you just have to listen to a wide variety and
decide what it is you want to play. The
tracks you play are your identity behind the
decks; they're what people will remember
you for first."
Locker said this time-consuming process
involves numerous trips to record stores and
Websites with soundclips of various music
types. He said this may be time-consuming, but
that the biggest factor in many peoples' decisions on
becoming a DJ is money.
"A good pair of (turn) tables will cost you anywhere
from $600 used to $1000 new," Locker said. "Most DJs will
only play on Technics 1200s, so you have to plan on get
ting those and using them religiously."
However, Locker said the resale value of turntables
is relatively high, with a lightly used pair of 1200s
selling for nearly their original price.
Turntables are not the only expense —
record collections can cost thousands
of dollars. Trey Cruz, a resident
DJ at Club 2010 in
Bryan and a Texas A&M graduate, said he has between 350 and 400
records, which each cost approximately $10 — making collections
like his a hefty investment for any prospective DJ. The next big pur
chase is the mixer, which Cruz said can cost between $150 and $500
depending on what the DJ wants. Lower-end mixers may do the
job, he said, but higher-quality mixers provide better sound quali
ty and longevity.
Locker said the next step in becoming a DJ is practice. Combined
with perseverance, practice is the first major step in a beginner's
trek to becoming a top-notch DJ, he said. "I can't count the number
of hours 1 have spent behind the tables," he said. "Just learning to
match beats takes months. It's easy to get frustrated at the begin
ning and feel like quitting, but you have to hang in there — as your
skills improve, the more fun it gets."
Locker said beat-matching is the most important aspect of be
coming a good DJ.
"You have to be able to mix songs together perfectly, or any tricks
you do will be lost in the mess," he said. "Most electronic music is
written in common or six-eighths time, and so you have to be able
to match the speeds of the records so they'll overlap like one song.
After that, you're only limited by your imagination."
So with that the once God-forsaken amateur is now ready to
play his first show, but unfortu
nately, he does not know how
to get one. Locker said the
quickest route to a booking is to
meet people.
"Go up to DJs and promoters
and club owners," Locker said.
"Ask them for a chance to play;
give them a tape of your mixes; go
to parties and meet the people
who are in the scene. More often
than not, they will be happy to
give you a shot if you act like a pro
fessional and have a good tape."
Cruz added he got his DJ job
at Club 2010 when he met anoth
er resident DJ, DJ Sirius, at a
house party. "I started spinning at
house parties ... and Joey (Sirius)
asked me to play at 2010," Cruz said.
"I started spinning up there early once in a while, and that's
when I started to promote the club and everything, and now I am a
member of FM2 — the crew of resident DJs at Club 2010."
Jimi Pineda, a Disc Go Round employee electronic music en
thusiast said that while College Station may seem like a town with
only two kinds of music — country and western — it boasts a sur
prisingly vibrant, if small, electronic music community.
"During the school year, there's like 50 or 100 locals who come out
to every party," he said. "Then there are the big events like North By
Northgate that can bring out 400 people or more."
So to the "wannabe DJ,"the cardinal rule to remember is being a
DJ is difficult, expensive and often misunderstood,
but for those who do it, there's nothing like selling
a pint of blood for some new vinyl. j|y||
“The tracks
you play are
your identity
behind the
decks; they're
what people
will remember
you for first”
— Ryan Locker
DJ and senior
political science major
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i the Last Laugt
e Driving course
surance reduction.
classes taught
College Station
: Bobby Bernshausef
:akeit.com
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; :iii;y^iT:!^ : Ryj ; and,'Huoter/spins for the crowd at North By Northgate 2000, Locker, a senior political
3 fdyf-turntable battle set as- part of jjpii battle tea m v Toxin!, •
nion Editor
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irr, Jessica Crutcher,
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jnnye Owens, Amber
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th O’Parrel I, Ryla
radley Atchinson,
Bad Religion
The New America
CD Courtesy of Atlantic Records
Bad Religion fans may not have
nought the band's album The New
McNally, Kelley Stoll f America yet, but they have heard it
aefore.
While this album is called The New
America, there is nothing new about it
xcept the insert. The album is filled
i Higgs Libby with punk songs that sound so cliche
Calcaneo, Matt R 0 ^ ^ e y cou ld have been picked from a
>n Henderson, Kels e i
uellar
slew of other bands.
The highlights of the album are
lad Religion's trademark activist
livision of Student Media, 3111 ', . lyrics and vocalist Greg Gaffin's nev-
)hone: 845-3313; Fax: 845-2 » er .] : ) e f ore .]- iearc j vocal range. Gaffin
fh'ts new highs both lyrically and vo-
lion. For campus, local, and 11 ■ .. , „ . ..
es are in 015 Reed McDonald cally with this album as he urges hs-
; Bteners to improve their lives with
a single copy of The Battalia 11 ' lyrics like, "It's a long way to the
spring semester and SH-SOi 0 R) rorn i sec i j anc ^ jf we W ork we might
and spring semesters and
it Texas A&M University. P eri0 , (
i,Texas A&M University, lL^
find it here. There's no substitute for
enlightenment, there's no reason for
bridled fear."Despite these high
lights, there are no surprises? and
few good songs on this album. While
Bad Religion's members should be
applauded for their motivational
and activist views, those views
would have been better voiced in a
spoken-word album. (Grade: D+)
— Jason Bennyhoff
Si instant cii
assic B = acutabove
C = averageâ„¢
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t F - burn in effigy
Various Artists
Til We Outnumber 'Em
Courtesy of Righteous Babe releases
Until his death in 1967,
singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie,
epitomized the plight of the blue-
collar romantic with folk ballads
meant to stir the heart and the mind
of the common man.
Thirty-three years later, 'til we out
number 'em, boasting a cast of per
formers ranging from the always en
tertaining Tim Robbins to "The Boss"
himself, conducts a proper eulogy of
the idolized folk artist by re-creating
a cache of his most famous songs arid
poetry.
However, just as a funeral is tai
lored for those who knew the de
ceased, this album will most likely
only appeal to those who already
have a special place in their hearts for
the staple melodies of true folk mu
sic. Evfcn with performances from the
harmonious Indigo Girls and the im
passioned Ani Difranco, the reincar- â– â– 
nated ballads remain true to the grit
ty, mellow style that characterized
Guthrie's work.
For those who were wearied on
the soda-pop tunes of Michael Jack-
son, Garth Brooks or Heavy D, this
album would probably be no more
attractive than a recording of cats in
heat. But for those who love to relive
fantasies of strummin' a guitar on the
open road or making love and not
war, this album is a dream come true.
(Grade: C+)
— Stuart Hutson
MxPx
The Ever Passing Moment
CD Courtesy of AM Records
MxPx hits close to home with its
latest album of fast-paced soon-to-
be-punk-rock-anthems produced by
legendary punk guru Jerry Finn of
Rancid and Green Day fame. In this
album, MxPx stays true to its punk
sound with a decidedly unpunk
theme.
Vocalist Mike Herrera tries to
find himself in this album and takes
the listener along for the ride
through songs like "My Life Story,"
"Two Whole Years" and "One Step
Closer to Life." This album strays
from the familiar punk cliches of
girls and beer and into the band's
struggle for survival in the cutthroat
musical world and the personal
tragedies that occurred on its road to
stardom.
However, while the theme is dif
ferent from the prototypical punk
band, the sound is not, aside from
the fact that Herrera is one of the
few punk vocalists who can carry a
tune. The songs still average two-
and-a-half minutes at 160 beats per
minute, and some have no dis
cernible quality, with AM Records'
apparent single-to-be "Responsibili
ty" among them.
While MxPx does not think like
the stereotypical punk band, it does
not break any new ground with this
album, either. The band manages to
go through 15 songs and sound the
same throughout; while it is good
for continuity, it is not innovation.
However, The Ever Passing Mo
ment is still an album full of catchy
songs and is more worthy of $15
than most of the tripe out there.
(Grade: B-)
— Jason Bennyhoff