Influential house music DJs Steve Bug and Eddie Richards teamed up for an Othersound event in Los Angeles recently and, luckily for us, also stopped into Amoeba Hollywood for a What's In My Bag? video. The two mused over records that shaped their musical tastes and discussed how the DJ scene has changed over the years. "Nowadays everyone's just staring at the DJ, instead of listening to the music and getting into it," Bug lamented after finding a 12" single that reminded him of his first club experience in the late '80s. "At the time it was normal that people would dance facing each other," he continued. Richards shared the same sentiment, saying, "I'd prefer, actually, to be out of the way and for people to face one another." Between their stories and commentaries the two made for an interesting and educational interview.

British DJ Richards has been active in the dance scene since the 1980s and is sometimes referred to as the "godfather of house." At times going under the monikers Evil Eddie, Jolly Roger, and Kode, Richards became a prominent mover-and-shaker thanks to a residency at Camden Palace in London. He went on to perform at legendary events at Clink Street, Heaven, and Manchester's Hacienda. "Acid Man," released in 1988 under his Jolly Roger alias, reached number 23 in the UK charts and has become a club classic. He has released work via End Recordings, Hypervinyl, Matter/Form, SoCo Audio, Northern Lights, LHB, and through his own labels Lunar Tunes, dy-na-mix, and Storm. He spins regularly at London clubs Wiggle and Fabric.

There is no disputing the impact Detroit city has had on American music history. From Motown founder Berry Gordy to iconic Hip Hop producer J Dilla to the legendary rock band MC5, DJ Dez (aka Andres) is directly influenced by the Motor City's deep musical history. He received his first drum set from his father at age three and began studying percussion. He fell in love with turntables as a pre-teen and by the time Andres was in high school, he had already cut his teeth rocking underage house parties in Los Angeles. 

Fast forward to the '90s when Detroit was already on the map, making lots of noise with their local dance scene (rivaling the famed scene in Chicago). Andres finds himself working in a record store with house producer Moodymann. The two eventually go from co-workers to labelmates with Andres releasing three solid albums for Moodymann's Mahogani Music label. On top of the Moodymann credibility, Andres was tapped by J Dilla himself to DJ for the group, Slum Village. From Hip Hop to House music, Andres has become one of Detroit's modern torchbearers. He's since founded his own imprint, La Vida, which he launced with a his new 12 inch single titled "New For You." 

The Amoeba What's in My Bag? crew caught up with Andres on a recent visit to our Hollywood store. He found some really cool movies and picked up a few great vinyl finds. Andres grabs a copy of the documentarty film Searching For Sugar Man, a story about Rodriguez, a forgotten Detroit musician who, in some countries, is held in the same regard as Elvis. Definitely a must see! He also gets his hands on a vinyl copy of 24 Carat Black's Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth. Check out the full episode to see all his cool picks!      

INTRODUCTION TO DPS



Truancy is presumably exactly as old as education. Some 800,000 years ago in the Middle East, people learned how to start fires. Though an important skill and an entertaining subject, I’m sure that some frustrated student thought to her or his self, “Lame. I’m outta here.” Later truants organized parties during school hours. My research for this blog entry turned up accounts of actress Sharon Tate and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa frequenting them in the 1960s. I myself -- though something of an advanced ditcher of high school -- only attended one organized ditching event (it wasn’t really a party. The drumline I was in all went to a restaurant and played tabletop shuffleboard. My punishment was having to work in the school library for a spell).

In the early 1990s, a ditch party scene emerged as a phenomenon on LA’s Eastside (for clarification: the region east of the LA River). That is the subject of this entry. DISCLAIMER: This post is not meant to glorify drug abuse nor truancy; neither is it meant to suggest that I’m an authority on the subject. I didn’t even move to Los Angeles until well after the scene had faded. 

I have searched for firsthand accounts of the “Old School Ditch Party” scene but, aside from a couple of blog entries, and scanned images from Street Beat magazine, almost all of the information in this post is derived from the sensationalistic and comically disapproving FOX Undercover stories from the era. So far only one of my friends has told me about her firsthand experiences with the scene. So this isn’t mean to be taken as anything remotely suggesting a serious study but rather an invitation for readers to share their memories and help fill out the picture of this seemingly scarcely documented but fondly remembered era.