I just went back and re-read the quote. interestingly, only half the later half is a direct quote, the previous paragraph being the writer's explanation of the concept, therefore highly suspect...
but- i think the premise here is that of primalism (a word used by the writer later on in the piece). I've often heard DJs talk about not really thinking about what they're playing- it just pouring out. that's where the 'no ego' thing comes in. i've often seen rich go into those zones where he just seems possessed. and i've certainly experienced those moments where you lose all sense of self/group/listener/dj/whatever on the dancefloor. i think that's the premise here. which of course doesn't disqualify your theory tristan. in fact, i believe the moment you describe usually comes right after the moment i'm describing- when you return to your 'self' and become aware of the communial nature of the event. so i think you and rich are really just examing two points on the same highly fuzzy late-night timeline. > > It's a fair enough point. I mean, I've been caught up in bullsh*t like that > as much as the next guy - not to say that I think I'm right, just that I > think it's bullsh*t, being fully aware that I am just as likely to be wrong > as the next guy. > > And because I think I end up sounding like a twat more than a hippy most of > the time, I'll tell you what I think people should be making a big deal of > (if they want to intellectualise about the clubbing experience): the > communal vibe. In my experience, few things encourage as much excitement as > when you get people in numbers getting off on the same thing, whether that's > political rallies, a small black church on the east side of Detroit, > sporting events or the rave. It's when community becomes nearly tangible - > especially if everyone is witnessing with the same spectatorial vocabulary. > It's like a controlled (or sometimes not) hysteria. The numbers don't need > to be massive, but of course if the connection and numbers are there > together, it all goes off in grander fashion. For me, this tends to happen > in smaller venues more often than not (but I'm not trying to resurrect that > debate), and few things make me happier than either going into myself with > the volume up, closing my eyes and feeling nothing but the pleasantness of > everything around me, or looking around at my friends when 'The Wipe' comes > on, knowing that we're all equally happy that some bloke in the DJ booth > knows how to make us happy. It's yet another kind of fulfilment when you're > in the position to guide this along, especially when you don't know the > crowd at all, and you're just hoping to God they'll dig your sh*t - it's one > of the few things that makes me a humanitarian and an optimist, despite the > troves of evidence to the contrary. And I love both sides of the booth. > > So if I were ever going to consider how DJs should big themselves up > (especially if I was trying to claim that ego had nothing to do with it), I > wouldn't be spouting about how my ego is no longer a part of the process. > I'd be spouting about how the barrier between performer and audience is > eradicated when the right crowd is assembled for the right DJ in the right > place on the right night - which requires a good crowd, a good venue, a good > owner, a good promoter and a good DJ. None of which happens without the > right people, dedication, planning, fingers on the pulse, ground work, > experience, history, execution and the right wax. When that happens, it's > pure f*cking magic. In my mind, that's what must be happening in Berlin, > because I know that's how good nights happen in London. We might not get the > same kind of international press or have the same people migrating in > droves, but for at least the last few years, all of these ingredients have > come together with regularity here, and I bet it's not that much different > in Holland, Tokyo or Berlin. > > $.02. > > Tristan > ======= > http://www.phonopsia.co.uk > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >
