I’m a pretty lucky person. In my line of work, i get to collaborate with a lot of great people. A lot of those people end up becoming my friends, naturally. This weekend turns out to be filled with 3 consecutive collaborative shows with 5 different bros of high merit that I would consider friends. CALGARY – EDMONTON – TORONTO here we come.

Thursday in Calgary, I’m rocking with a DJ I met 12 years ago. In my first trip to a national DJ competition, my best friend and DJ-partner-turned-lawyer “Kuttin’ Kracker” and I went to Montreal for the Canadian ITF finals. It pitted 2 winners from 5 regionals (Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal & Halifax) against each other in a head-to-head, 2-minute showdown. Yes, Kracker and I went to Montreal to DJ for 2 minutes each. I guess I got 4 minutes: first the qualifying round and then I got smoked by DJ Wax in the first bracket. I did pull out the ‘Bastid foot trick’, never to be seen again. Pretend you never heard about it. But it was a great experience: my first trip to Montreal and a chance to meet some great DJs from across the country. I got a free t-shirt and wore that thing into the ground. Have a look at this line-up by clicking on the image to enlarge:

World DMC Champion (and future household DJ name) DJ A-Trak, future World DMC Champion DJ Dopey, DJ Grouch from the Turnstylz, DJ Wax & DJ Krisp (who are both still DJing in western Canada), P-Love (who works with Kid Koala), Precise who never showed up, two kids from Nova Scotia taking up a lot of space on the marquee, and a guy named DJ Pump from Calgary. Pump is a bad man on the turntables. I forget whether I had seen this routine of his before the competition or not, but below is his famous “Big Payback” routine. One James Brown record, one Dirtstyle record. First time I had seen that. Needless to say, he was a heavyweight at the competition:

Pump made a trip to the DMC world finals the next year, and then I started seeing him when I was touring out west for club shows. He also put out a double disc Golden Era mixtape that kicked ass (which I had to try SO HARD not to overlap/repeat when I was making my mix for Sneaker Freaker). Consider this a mini installment of “Someone Else’s Mixtape”.

Golden Era (90-94) Disc 1 by DJ PUMP
Golden Era (90-94) Disc 2 by DJ PUMP

And so, Thursday night I’m back at it with DJ Pump & some more great friends SMALLTOWN DJs (that’s another post of it’s own, but I’ve gotta spread this babble out) at a party called God of Snow at Smalltown’s very own club, The Hifi Club, 219 10 Ave SW in Calgary. Check the Facebook Event for more info.

Friday & Saturday I’m playing on 4 turntables with 2 great DJs from Toronto, but in 2 different cities. Friday sees me sharing the stage with DJ Wristpect for the very first time — long overdue for how long we’ve been talking about it — and it’s EDMONTON that gets the treatment. Wristpect is one of the hardest working DJs that I know, and makes great mixtapes, has traveled the world playing clubs, and holds down residencies in Toronto. We’ll be playing at Grant McEwan University. On Saturday, DJ P-Plus and I will be doing another Midnight Mix party at one of my favorite spots in Toronto – Revival @ College & Crawford. P-Plus and I have done about 4 of these and we always have fun playing just about anything under the sun, totally freestyle and based off the vibe in the room. The only way to play? No. But one of the best, if not the most important, in this world of pre-programmed ‘disc jockeys’.

I’ve got great friends! See you this weekend.

Last month, I participated in a program put together by my colleague and comrade Sammy Bananas called DJs Against Climate Change. Here’s the concept:

DJs Against Climate Change 2011 from sammy bananas on Vimeo.

I agree with Sammy’s take on the issue. Traveling in my career is a necessity, and therefore leaves me putting down a larger-than-average single person carbon footprint. As a result, I need to take extra steps to clean up after myself. No one likes a litterer.

Here’s is his summary of this year’s drive, taken from the DJs Against Climate Change website:

What a year! 2011′s DJs Against Climate Change year-end-drive was our most successful yet. 18 DJs banded together to offset 457,000 LBs of CO2, over one million miles worth of air travel. With these contributions we more than doubled our total offsets since the start of DJACC four years ago.

This year’s accomplishments can’t just be measured in carbon offsets. 2000 people watched the web video we created as a call to arms for the project, further raising awareness about the global issue of climate change, and helping demonstrate how individuals can join their communities, whether they be physical or digital, to take responsibility for their CO2 emissions.

Thank you to all the DJs that participated this year, including first timers in bold.
A-Trak, Anna Lunoe, Apt One, Chris Devlin, Cousin Cole, DJ Ayres, DJ Day, DJ Benny C, Mike the 2600 King, Morse Code, Pete Emes, The Hood Internet, thee Mike B, Treasure Fingers, Skinny Friedman, Skratch Bastid, Sammy Bananas, Willy Joy

My contribution offset 42,750 pounds of carbon emissions. It’s a small contribution towards a very big problem, but I believe in leading by example and hope that other people who travel as much as I do take similar steps to help clean up their own mess.

If you’re a DJ who would like to get involved, visit the website & get involved. Gotta run, flight is boarding…

Hello, and welcome to 2012 in Bastid land. 2011 was a fantastic year – lots of travel, new cities, new friends – and I can already see more of the same in the near future. To kick off the new year, I’ll be doing some shows in some of my favorite Canadian ‘delicacies’ – little bundles of joy known as ‘mountain towns’, whose residents have either evaded major cities or couldn’t get too far away from a mountain. Makes for a great mix of people.

From there, I’ll be running around more easterly parts of Western Canada (we’re that big) – From the Mountains to the Prairies – with a Toronto gig thrown in to wrap it all up. Here are the dates below. You can always check my dates page for upcoming shows, or stay on top of EVERYTHING by subscribing to my newsletter, but I felt like this excursion deserved some special attention to get the hay bail rolling.

Jan 12 – Whistler – Garfinkels w/ DJ Rich-A
Jan 13 – Castlegar – Element
Jan 14 – Fernie – Northern
Jan 15 – Revelstoke – Rivercity Pub & Patio Revelstoke
Jan 16 – Golden – Rockwater Lounge
Jan 19 – Calgary – The Hub @ Mount Royal University
Jan 20 – Saskatoon – Scratch Nightclub w/ The Gaff
Jan 21 - Regina – Pure Ultra Lounge
Jan 27 – Edmonton – Grant MacEwan University – w/ DJ Wristpect
Jan 28 – Toronto – Revival – Midnight Mix w/ DJ P-Plus

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Carrying on with the “someone else’s mixtape” series, I thought it would be appropriate to feature a DJ that I’m playing with this weekend in Toronto. This Friday, I’m teaming up again with T-dot’s finest, DJ Starting From Scratch, and we’ll be rocking alongside New York’s DJ Spinbad. 6 turntables, 3 mixers, 3 DJs. If you don’t know the man and what he has brought to the table, I think his mixes are a great place to start.

The first thing I had ever heard from Spinbad was his remix of “Hip-Hop vs Rap” by KRS-ONE. “Hip Hop vs Rap” was a DJ favorite for a few reasons – it’s a banger, it was only ever released on 12″ (it was the B-Side to “Sound of the Police”), and it has an acapella. The acapella is just screaming to be cut up, as the second half of KRS’ verse is all popular (and I guess at times not-so-popular) quotes from other songs. Among other things, Premier cut it up for KRS’ “MCs Act Like They Don’t Know“.

Spinbad basically made it so that no one else can ever make a remix of that song ever again. Maybe take a phrase or two, but nope, no remixes! The way he flipped all of the different beats to the songs that are referenced and transitioned between them blew my mind. It made me think differently about attention to detail in remixes – each of the little beat pieces thrown in last for a few seconds but in the grand scheme of things makes a huge impact. A little can go a long way. (Listen to the track at the bottom of this post)

This track kicks off a mixtape built entirely of ‘blends’ (or acapella remixes) that was recorded by Spinbad and DJ JS-1 (no slouch either, Rahzel’s tour DJ among other things) – “The Cold Cutz Remixes”. Recorded in 1996 to an analog 4- or 8-track, it sounds pretty grimey 15 years later, but it doesn’t take away from the quality of the effort. The tape hiss & cue burn are just things you had to live with in 96. Though the first track is my favorite, many other tracks have that touch that reward those listening close.

Click here to go over to Spinbad’s main mixtape (19 of them!) page on his website. But don’t stop there – his ’80s Rock The Casbah’ mix (and the follow-up) is widely regarded as a mixtape gamechanger, crossing genres well before the term ‘mash-up’ existed and cutting up many 80s & 90s records which had never had the treatment before. You should probably just do yourself a favor and grab everything on the page.

If you’re in Toronto this Friday, be sure to stop by Revival. Needless to say I’m excited to share the stage with Spin & SFS and we’ve got 6 tables setup, so it’s guaranteed to be a once in a lifetime show. Who knows where the music will go…

See you there!

Additional info:

Taboo Events + Shaman + SFS Ent. Invite You To…

——- DOOWUTCHYALIKE ——-

Spinnin’ Wutchyalike, Jus’ How Ya Like…

The World Famous…
DJ STARTING FROM SCRATCH

With Special Guests…
DJ SPINBAD (NYC/Spinbad.com)
&
SKRATCH BASTID (SkratchBastid.com)

Hosted By…
THE LIFE OF THE PARTY (Hip-Hop Vs House)
WAN LUV (The Main Ingredient)

And Special Guest Host…
KARDINAL OFFISHALL – Canada’s Hip-Hop Ambassador!

Friday, Dec. 23rd, 2011
REVIVAL – 783 College St (W of Bathurst @ Shaw)
COVER: $20 B4 Midnight * $25 After
2 Floors All Access – Dooinit Til 4am!!!

Also Featuring…
DJ J-CLASS & JAMES REDI in The Stone Lounge

$15 Adv Tix @ Play De Record, Home Base & Livestock

Thanks To:
TO FLO, ReFresh Ent, Hyped?, FUSICOLOGY, & Play De Record

Info: DoowutchyalikeTO@gmail.com

RevivalBar.com, TabooEvents.com, StartingFromScratch.com, Spinbad.com, SkratchBastid.com

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So we’re almost halfway through December and I’m calling it now: BEST MONTH EVER. I hit up Bermuda the first weekend of this month for a few shows, made my way through the depths of Canada via Thunder Bay, ON and Brandon, MB last weekend, en route to this week’s INCREDIBLE Red Bull ThreeStyle World Finals in Vancouver. I’ll be judging each night & performing on Wednesday, December 14th, with Peanut Butter Wolf.

When I get home, I have the pleasure of rocking the stage with my good homie DJ Starting From Scratch (your favorite entertainer’s favorite DJ) & one of my favorite mixtape makers Mr. DJ Spinbad. Dec 23rd we’ll be gracing one of my favorite rooms in Toronto, Revival (783 College Street). We’ll have 6 turntables setup. I don’t think you’re ready.

Then it’s off to Halifax for the holidays. I’ll be making the rounds in the Maritimes – PEI gets a taste on Dec 28th at Globe, I’ll slip Moncton the tongue under the mistletoe at iRock on Dec 29th, and then THE BIG ONE: New Year’s Eve at the World Trade & Convention Centre in Halifax for Making The Wish 2011. This is my third year in a row and I can honestly say it is THE place to be on the East Coast for New Year’s Eve – packed room of 2000+ all celebrating for the good cause of granting the wish of a child in need to visit Disney World. Great party, great night. DO NOT MISS! I mean, Jonathan Torrens is going:

Check out the flyers below and get your ass to a show! ‘Tis the season.