Last Week Two DJs Saved My Life

Praise for the mix

I am not a dance music person. I don't listen to EDM, techno, house, drum n' bass, or any of the other dance genres. I have been to two raves in my life. I will take a bar or concert over a club any night. I mean, I did back when I was young, and that was a nightly choice. But I still have friends pushing 50, who hit the dance floor till 5 am weekly. They have wonderfully supportive spouses.

I do love to dance. Give me a groove and a floor and I will go. A wedding a bar mitzvah, a party, I am down to get down (trigger warning: the Dad jokes are gonna be rampant today). My Mom loves to dance. Put on Aretha or "Mustang Sally" and watch out. My son does too... though exclusively breakdancing. He is the #1 streamer of "Pump Up THe Jam". Dancing is the best. It is the most purely beautiful human thing we do.

I danced twice last week. Once at the Fun Fair at my kid's school, and a few nights later at a house party across the street. Both had DJs. One was a parent at the school. He is a professional DJ, sponsored by Red Bull, touring clubs around the world. He spun everything from Bob Marley to Sabrina Carpenter and had kids, teachers and parents shaking. The other was a friend of my neighbour. He used CDs to DJ and had an ecclectic mix - think Fela Kuti and Bell, Biv, DeVo. But everyone was grooving, late into the summer night.

We are awash in music and playlists. Everyone has a speaker and infinite tunes. The algorithms are really good at making playlists. I've found some great music on Spotify. But when you go to a place where a human who knows music is selecting records, or CDs or even MP3s, and they read the crowd and make choices and have a point of view, that’s when you get a fucking party!

Curation matters. Taste matters. Vibes matter. DJs matter.

Dance ON