Houston Fixed Gear, a Montrose-area custom fixed gear bike shop and parts retailer is celebrating its anniversary on Friday, January 27, 2012. HFG has teamed up with local pop-up gallery MegaHost Gallery to kick off ALWAYS ON MY MIND at the bike boutique located on 2309 Dunlavy Street.
The event features bicycle-themed work from a number of Houston-based painters, printers, and photographers. New works included are by: ACK!, BRIKS, Chris Henry, DUAL, Eric Castorena, EYESORE, Jessica Reiswig, Michael Rodriguez, Naomi Song Bear, Nicky Davis, Pam Cantu, RED, Shannon Reiswig, Shelby Hohl, Shreddi, and Wiley Robertson. Thanks to Black Swan Studio for the prints, limited edition T-shirts from DUAL and The Bamm Collective will be available for the event.
Music is provided by some of Houston’s best DJs Dayta and Elroy Boogie. Plus, delicious bites courtesy of NABI and Goldsprint racing by Black Gold Cycling. CHROME is also sponsoring cycling gear for the event.
As some of you know, Chris and I have already been affected by this invasive sound ordinance. And it seems that the trend is more pervasive than originally thought.
A couple of the bar/club establishments on Washington have become an easy target for police enforcing the new ordinance. Over the weekend some of the working DJs on this strip have gotten slapped with $1000 tickets for loud noise without warning. This isn’t some one-off festival or event. These are DJs that work weekly for their livelihood. These bars/clubs are local establishments that open their doors to our community to run a business. And this kind of subjective enforcement does not make quantifiable sense.
If you are in the local music industry, own a venue or play music, please join us on Tuesday at Fitzgeralds to formalize a coalition to take actionable next-steps to change this sound ordinance. With the holidays (and festivities) only a week away, it is important that we plan for the year to come while perhaps neutralize or prevent more tickets being issued.
Click thru this FB link to find out more about the Coalition and how we can make a change. http://www.facebook.com/events/338256122856529/
While I’m off DJing soft openings for newer watering holes, Houston’s ultimate tropical crew is ready to warm it up at the next installment of DUSTY CRATES with sultry ritmos Americanos.
And staying true to the night’s concept, these guys are not only bringing their extensive digital music collection to play on Serato, but they’re also dusting off their record crates to bring you more eclectic downtempo and world beats on vinyl.
After a sensational DIRBversary! at The Lot last weekend, we are gearing up for another gigantic night with DJ Platurn this coming Saturday, March 12. The self-described “real-deal hip hop DJ who rocks the party the original way” just needs two turntables and a mixer to pull-off some classic DJing with top-notch selections and skills to back it up.
The Icelandic jock by way of the Bay is on a quick tour of the Texas region courtesy of all the SXSW festivities, but is making Houston his home-base for the duration. Platurn recently joined DJ Sun for a 45 session at Onion Creek last Wednesday before heading out to Corpus Christi today, then back to Houston to rock the decks with us at DIRB! Saturdays at The Lot on Washington (4212 Washington, 77007). More DIRB! deets and RSVP here.
But here’s how he’s sized up his trip so far:
Dusty Crates: You still play vinyl 45s and you rock on Serato. Do you have a preference?
Platurn: No preference, but 45s will always have a special place. You gotta know how to rock it with whatever format presented, be it analog or digital.
DC: Looks like you’re on a mini-Texas tour at the moment (hope your tall-ass is going first-class on that Greyhound). Where have you been and where are you going next?
Platurn: New Orleans, Mississippi, Houston, Corpus Christi & Austin. Lovin’ the South!
DC: If you could choose a song that represent each city/night you’ve been to since arrived, what would those be?
Platurn: Trip can be summed up in 3 songs so far:
Professor Longhair-Big Chief
Outkast-Spottieottiedopalicious
Archie Bell & The Drells-Tighten Up
DC: Who’s got better Mexican food: Texas or Cali? Don’t answer that! We awwready know.
Platurn: Pretty sure Texas whoops Cali’s ass, but I think it’s safe to say we place in the top 3. Can’t fux with our produce yo!
Keep It Rockin’
If you can’t make it out to see him this week, you still have one more chance. After all the Austin gigs, Platurn will be back for Rock Steady’s Bay Area Invasion on Monday, March 21, with OM’s J.Boogie and DJ Sun again.
Our next edition of Bombon tomorrow night brings in SA import Sonora of the infamous Peligrosa All-Stars. This DJ/producer has worked with a few fellow Texans, like Mexicans with Guns, and is working on an upcoming EP with Brooklyn’s baile queen, Zuzuka Poderosa.
I caught up with him just before SXSW gets 4Loco next week for a quick Dusty Crates interview. This is what’s goin on in Sonora’s world:
DustyCrates: What kind of sabor do you bring to your music? Sonora: I’ve been told by numerous people and also [a] dude from Generation Bass dubbing me ”Mr. Multi-Genre”. It really doesn’t matter what kind of track it is, it can be a disco edit, or a hip hop track I’m working on, it will always have some sort of Latin flavor or influenced sound built around [Latin].
DC: Who (or what) are you currently working with in the studio? SL: At the moment, I have a few projects im working on. I’ve been working with Zuzuka Poderosa via the Internet for this new collab/remix EP. But will be hitting the studio up with her when she gets to Texas for SXSW to record a
couple tracks with her.
I’m also doing projects with two different producers, Orquesta from Dublin, Ireland, and a local here in San Antonio who goes by LeDoom. And in the middle of all that I’m still working on a full length LP; it’s definitely
not going to be for the club, it’s leaning more towards the hip hop side of things with lots of melodys/textures layers, live instruments, and samples from old vinyl.
DC: Where do you get your inspiration? What did you grow up listening to in San Antonio? SL: My inspiration comes from a lot of things: my daughter, of course, or digging for old vinyl at the pulgas and spending hours analyzing tracks and getting ideas.
I grew up listening to a variety of things especially living in the house with three sisters. So, my mom and dad would play a lot of tradicional cumbia, bachata, salsa, and of course, tejano. My sisters had a lot of hip hop playing, like Biggie and Nas, or Michael Jackson. And later in the years, I started making beats in my bedroom and selling them at school! Haha! That led to making screwed and chopped mixtapes. I grew up appreciating so many things that, at the moment,
it plays a big roll in my production. [Check out more of Sonora's sound here.]
DC:What’s the SA music scene like? SL: The scene here as far as live shows go sometimes frustrates me. The city has so much raw talent here and great events going on that SA will sleep on it. But more recently things have been picking up, more crews establishing their names, and people actually travelling out a little further to go catch a gig that isn’t on “the strip”.
But all the producers here are really great. It was awesome to see a good friend of mine, Ernest Gonzales (aka Mexicans With Guns), plant his music seed a ways back, and to see it pretty much grow into something huge. [I'm] proud that his success happend here in this city. SA is definetly something that nobody should sleep on.
DC:Some Houstonians have been out to see you rock it at Peligrosa in Austin. But for those who haven’t, what you bringing with you to Bombon? SL: At Peligrosa’s, I always make sure to keep up with throwing in tradicional jams or blending it with a big beat, it’s always nice to sneak in some old merengue and mambo, too. But I’ll also be playing some tracks of the new Zuzuka EP, and a lot of my new productions, so Houston will get to hear it first!
Bombon Asesino en Houston
Be one of the select few to hear Sonora this Friday, March 11, at Avant Garden (411 Westheimer, 77006) with Bombon DJs Navo, OG Bobby Trill, myself (Gracie Chavez) upstairs and Cashless downstairs brining more tropical, Afro-Latin, soca, dancehall heat! No cover, 21+ from 9pm-2am.
Doin It Real BIG About two years ago, or thereabouts as the story goes, DIRB! descended on Washington Ave.
Nowhere near as epic as the history behind Washington on the Brazos, the DIRB! crew of Texas DJs–Gracie Chavez, Squincy Jones, Antonio, Dayta and Jep to name a few–came to take over at least part of the now popular bar and nightlife strip in Houston. And while we almost retreated and then lost a few good DJs along the way, we managed to keep DIRB! (Doin It Real Big! for those not indoctrinated) each and ever Saturday night at The Lot on Washington since.
Sabado Gigante
And although we ain’t quite two yet, this Saturday night, March 5th, we’re doing it extra LARGE for our DIRBversary! at The Lot (4212 Washington, 77007) with yours truly, Gracie Chavez, Squincy Jones and Dayta. We even recruited our dude Shaun from Caught in Customs to press up some fresh DIRB! shirts to giveaway for this special soiree. So get there early to cop you one! There’s never a cover, and it’s always 21 and up.
¡Gracias!
We want to give thanks to the staff at The Lot for taking a chance a bunch of DJs with wild styles, out-of-the norm tastes (mostly for drinks) and a need to showoff our moves (lookin right at you, Dayta)! Thanks goes especially to Sunshine, Jeff, Cam, Jay Dub, Kat, Eric, Big T, Edgar, plus all the lovely bartenders that quench our thirsts and the security dudes that protect us from bad requests after 1am.
And thanks to the aforementioned DJs (past and present) that gave this pseudo ice house a spin to help it achieve it’s lofty regular club-going aspirations, including DJ Mel, Witnes, Good Grief, DJ Raize, Empanadamn (XXL thanks for the flyers, dude), El Roy Boogie, OG Bobby Trill, G.Wizz, Cashless, Nonsense, Leo, Sizzle, cameos by Karina Nista and Wine-O, and last but not least, the infamous Go Go Garcia.
The DIRB! fam raises a Lone Star can up to you, our Texas-friendly friends! Let’s DIRB! this Saturday awwready!
Watch really carefully and get step your cumbia game up!
Then, try your new moves this Friday, February 4th, at Bombón – Houston’s Hottest Tropical Night (Avant Garden, 411 Westheimer, 77006). There will be FREE cumbia/salsa lessons with a dance instructor from 9-10pm.
Then, things heat up with guest the legendary DJ Comp 1 putting down some Latin funk and your Bombones upstairs weaving thru a mezcla of hot tropical soundswith DJs Tonio, Gracie Chávez, Navó & OG Bobby Trill.
DustyCrates.com is the blog for DIRB!, a DJ collective and movement originating from Houston, Texas. Started in 2006, DIRB! is made up of Matt Sizzle, Gracie Chavez, Antonio, El Jeffe, Squincy Jones and SDF-One who all share varying tastes in dance music: club, electro, drum & bass, dubstep, hip hop, house, world beats, etc.
