DJing in New York City is simultaneously a very humbling experience and also extremely rewarding. For years, once a month, I DJ’d at this dive bar in Brooklyn that was notorious for a few things: drug use in the photobooth (and the evidence being stuck in the wall next to it, [like this](https://imgur.com/a/ZuQlprG) — I took a photo of this after the last gig I played there before COVID), some nasty bathrooms, and a dancefloor where a DJ could play almost anything and everyone went there looking to dance and/or fuck (okay that’s all fairly normal for most bars, but whatever).
It was hipster-extreme, and it was my refuge from the cookie-cutter bottle service clubs in Manhattan where it was the same 200 songs every night, give or take 30. At this place in the same party, well after midnight, I could play Paul Simon, A$AP Rocky, Taylor Swift, M83, old Britney songs, Franz Ferdinand, Migos, Ini Kamoze, Prince, the theme from The OC, and people would belt out every word for hours straight. It’s the best crowd in the whole five boroughs in my opinion — Black, White, Latino, Asian, gay, straight, trans, hipster, bros in frayed lacrosse hats, girls from Long Island in short dresses and heels “slumming it” for a night — the crowd just rocks and it’s a gig I miss terribly since COVID.