Thank You DJ Am!

I first met DJ AM during Magic of '05. I was Djing in the Bongo Jeans booth with my partner DJ Spider.
(Let me backtrack & mention that at the time I was working a 9 to 5 editing DVDs & my only DJ work was on Saturday nights at an Indian restaurant in Silverlake, which I made $150 a night).
So, we loaded up Spiders 4-Runner with about 8 crates, turntables, speakers, & made the drive from LA to Vegas. Little did we know this trip would change our lives forever.

I had been hearing about DJ AM for sometime, about how much he was making in Vegas & the high profile gigs he would do. I would go on his website & read his resume & just be amazed at how far ahead in the game he was. I just felt an aura about him & I hadn't even met him yet.

Through some weird fate my cousin Dari who does the marketing for Bongo had just hired Nicole Richie as their spokesperson. She asked me to come DJ & told me that AM agreed to spin a set in the booth. I can't tell you how excited I was to finally meet the man, the myth, the legend.

So Spider & I are spinning wax in the Bongo booth while random people are showing clothes to buyers & in walks AM with just a backpack. WTF? Where are his crates? How is he gonna spin? He proceeds to break out his Laptop & school us on this new program called Serato. He then tells me he has every Ultimate Beats & Break record ever made, right there on his computer. MIND IS OFFICIALLY BLOWN. He proceeded to do his set as Spider and I stood there and our jaws dropped in amazement. He finished his set & I handed him a couple of mix CD's I made, praying he will listen to him, but thinking he must be so busy how could he find the time.

Fast-Forward a couple months later. Another Bongo event, this time a meet & greet with AM & Nicole, at his brand new Hollywood club LAX. I went there hoping to see him again & say hello, hoping he would remember me. I saw him sitting at a table with Nicole, she's was noshing on mini-cheeseburgers and he was shaking hands with everyone who wanted to meet him. I approached him & told him who I am & he immediately remembered! Not only that but he says he liked my Mix CD & even called out a couple of transitions I did. Once again MIND BLOWN. So I'm on cloud 9 and proceed to walk 2 the DJ booth to introduce myself to whoever was djing. The DJ turned out to be Uncle Kev, aka Kevin Scott. I handed him my mix Cd's, he looked at them and says to me "Oh, you're AM's homie, he told me a lot of great things about you." I'm thinking to myself "AM's homie? I barely even know the guy."

To me, that sums up who DJ AM was. He made anyone who ever met him feel like they were his best friend.
I am honored & privileged to have known him. Anytime I would show up to see him spin, like clockwork, 10 minutes later he would play one of my remixes, he never had to do that, he always showed so much love. For that, he will forever be in my heart. I will tell my children's children how special and great a man he was.

I often struggle with Djing. I'm always 1 bad set away from quitting. I know AM wouldn't have wanted me to quit. I'm going to try my best to represent Djing & Music through your inspiration and I want to say once again. THANK YOU.

I always loved AM's Attention Deficit Mixes on his Myspace page. Here is a tribute I made:

ATTENTION DEFICIT ( DJ AM TRIBUTE )

Here are some great posts from a few others:
Eli , Roctakon, Diplo, Mike B.