#spacebar arcade

[djmossback]

Here in the Spacebar for a final time. On a Sunday. Having a Trail Pass on the couch in the new backroom that Will told me about back in July.

I’m sad that it has come to this. The fog of war, and the haze of recriminations and finger pointing, the broken relationships, and the inevitable mudslinging that happens if you dare to stick your head up, to do something, anything! more than sit at home and complain.

One of the things about trying is that you will make mistakes, miscalculate, and fail as often as you succeed. That’s part of the deal. Ironic that it happened in an arcade.

I will always be loyal to my friends. I was happy here, even though I didn’t fit in, I was welcomed, and I tried my best to contribute. I keep thinking I could have done more, helped more, played better music, served the cause in a way that would have prevented this end. No matter. I played a very small part in this enterprise, and I will always be grateful to Will for trusting me with a Saturday night,and letting me contribute to the dream, and for daring to have the dream in the first place. Even though my video game era was years in the past, I appreciated the energy, and the decor, and the constant parade of interesting wildlife coming through the door, and past the booth. Much love to DJ IGA for trusting me to take care of his idea and for making me spin records again. I truly love it.

What is next for me? I don’t know yet. There are not many places that my thing fits, and you got to get in where you fit in. So, it remains to be seen. I’m just going to get over it now, and see what turns up.

Careerist: I am not a careerist.

Mossback.

[djmossback]

Spacebar 07/20/24

Third Space Saturday

The Tracks

2100 hrs

Brothers Johnson, Strawberry Letter 23 (12 Inch)

Grace Jones, I Need A Man (12 Inch)

Junie Morrison, Techno-Freqs (12 Inch)

Wire, Ahead (12 Inch)

KC and The Sunshine Band, I’m Your Boogie Man (LP cut)

Judas Priest, Metal Gods (LP cut)

George Clinton, Do Fries Go With That Shake (12 Inch)

One Way, Cutie Pie (12 Inch EP cut)

Beastie Boys, She’s Crafty (LP cut)

Booker T. & The MG’s, Hip Hug-Her (LP cut)

Average White Band, Pick Up The Pieces (LP cut)

Foreigner, Urgent (12 Inch)

ZZ Top, Cheap Sunglasses (LP cut) (2200 hrs)

Emotions, Best Of My Love (LP cut)

Michael Jackson, Rock With You (7 inch)

Sanford and Townsend Band, Smoke From A Distant Fire (LP cut)

Dazz Band, Let It Whip (7 inch)

Gap Band, Outstanding (LP cut)

Robert Palmer, You Are In My System (7 inch)

Roots Manuva, Again & Again (12 Inch)

Sade, Hang On To Your Love (12 Inch)

Dillinger, Cokane In My Brain (7 inch)

Simple Minds, Don’t You Forget About Me (12 Inch)

Vince Staples, Norf Norf (LP cut)

Flying Lizards, Money (That’s What I Want) (LP cut)

Dry Cleaning, Scratchcard Lanyard (7 inch)

Mary Jane Girls, In My House (12 Inch)

Donna Summer, I Feel Love (12 Inch)

Berlin, The Metro (7 inch)

DEVO, Snowball (7 inch)

Tilt, Arcade Funk (12 Inch)

Eddy Grant, Electric Avenue (LP cut)

Toni Basil, Mickey (7 inch)

The Clash, Rock The Casbah (7 inch)

Cheryl Lynn, Got To Be Real (7 inch)

Lakeside, Fantastic Voyage (LP cut)

Steve Miller Band, Abracadabra (7 inch)

Run DMC, Walk This Way (12 Inch)

Nazareth, RAZAMANAZ (LP cut)

Amyl & The Sniffers, Some Mutts (7 inch)

Kingsmen, Louie Louie (7 inch)

Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love To Town) (7 inch)

Police, Roxanne (7 inch)

Go-Go’s, We Got The Beat (7 inch)

Bauhaus, Bela Lugosi’s Dead (12 Inch)

Madvillain, America’s Most Blunted (12 Inch)

Cameo, Word Up (12 Inch)

Skee-Lo, I Wish (12 Inch)

Pet Shop Boys, West End Girls (12 Inch)

Eiffel 65, Move Your Body (12 Inch)

Kylie Minogue, Can’t Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head (12 Inch)

J.J. Fad, Supersonic (12 Inch)

Ohio Players, Love Rollercoaster (12 Inch EP cut)

James Brown,I Got You (I Feel Good) (7 inch)

Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Mistadobalina (LP cut)

Kendrick Lamar, YAH (LP cut)

Leroy Sibbles Nicodemus, Rock Steady Party (12 Inch)

Barbara Lewis, Baby I’m Yours (LP cut)

0113 Finished

The scenery

TASTING NOTES

I spent the day not thinking about the set, preferring to head into Spacebar “cold” to see what developed. But, I had spent a fair amount of time since my last set combing through online lists and the singles section of the local Record Hut to find some fresh material. And, a lot of it found its way onto the decks and into the ears of the listeners at Third Space Saturday. I do love the format of the single. I’m not necessarily attached to the extended mixes; often I will play the LP cut included on the single, or the 7” mix if it is on there. I like the focus of the shorter versions, but sometimes the songs lend themselves to the stretched-out format. Just depends on the song, as always.

It is really hot in Boise – not just summer heat, but triple-digit temperatures every day for weeks on end. I got sweaty just loading the rig. When I got downtown, there was a huge event of some sort happening in Capitol Park, with several streets blocked, and I worried that I would have trouble finding a parking space. But I found a space really close, and rolled my gear into the elevator. Nothing worked. The door wouldn’t even close. I text Will, and am surprised when he appears at the elevator. We lug all my gear down the stairs, past the line going upstairs to the speakeasy. Evidently, the fire department had visited just before I got there, because the fog machine had tripped the fire alarm. Will is working the door, and I recognize absolutely none of the bar staff.

I’m later than I wanted to be, so after I set myself up, I hurriedly weigh my options. I usually start with a song that has kind of a fanfare intro, but tonight it seemed appropriate to ease into things, so I chose “Strawberry Letter 23” by the Brothers Johnson, a new 12” single I acquired last week. My first hour is a combination of 12” extended versions and LP cuts; going from Wire to KC and the Sunshine Band to Judas Priest to George Clinton sounded better in person than it looks on the page. The bar scene is ebbing and flowing as usual, but it’s summer, people are outside, or in the mountains, or hunkered down in the most air-conditioned spot they can find.

I put on a long Grace Jones single, and Will gives me a tour of the changes coming to the bar. The room that used to house the print shop is cleared out. It’s going to house more machines, and be a separate space within the space. The music will still be there, but there will be more options for people, and a better use of the space, which was not generating enough use before. It will be good to give people more places to hang, to be with their people. Our sound volume is lower, which I kind of like. It presents the music better, and makes things more comfortable.

My son shows up with a posse. He comes into the booth and greets me. I express my unease, how I feel like I’m aging out of such things as nightlife, and fun, but he is unconvinced. Says I’m fine. He heads out on the floor with his crew, and I lose track of him for a while. About a half-hour later he comes back up to say goodbye, introduces me to a friend, and they ask about the Grime record I played. Roots Manuva. They dig it. I told them I couldn’t see anyone reacting to the music one way or the other, aside from the kid who came up and scrolled through the new internet jukebox that’s on the wall by the bar. They assured me that people were vibing, even the youngsters. It was good to hear, and I noticed people moving to the beat after that.

After Sam leaves, I don’t see a single person I know come in for the rest of the night. I am ok with this. Not that I don’t love the support from people I know, but I’m also a realist. I know it would require great effort for me to be out downtown on a Saturday night, so I understand what it entails.

I’ve hardly played any 7” records, mostly concentrating on longer 12” mixes from my new acquisitions. It feels really good. I’m putting things together in the right places, there are very few technical gaffes from me, and I generally feel good about how I’ve put records together.

The Donna Summer 12” single “I Feel Love” is a record I’ve been looking for my entire adult life, and now it’s mine. The 8-minute version did not disappoint! The mechanized spine of the song, the repetitive bubbling riff, it was the first record I heard from her, and I instantly became a fan. The simplicity and directness appealed to me, as did the four-on-the-floor kick drum.

I put a different Nazareth track into the mix, RAZAMANAZ. (I don’t know, it just seems to work better in all caps.) I had it cued and ready to go, but I then reversed course, and instead of following it up with RUN-DMC (again with the all caps!) I switched the order, and played “Walk With Me” first. It worked. The Nazareth track is like Motorhead, with a “better” singer. I need to find a better copy of the record, though. It was kind of worn. So is the Bauhaus record I plucked from a dollar section a while ago. Even though it’s got an audible (and visible) scratch on it, it plays through, and the surface noise doesn’t detract – it kind of adds something to the sound of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” It’s kind of a gothic doppelganger to the Donna Summer record – repetitive, atmospheric, less busy and more organic. Music is amazing that way. Very disparate intentions coming through, and changing the way things sound. And you don’t stop/you go on and on/til the break of dawn.

The thing is, though, a lot of the old 7” records from the ’50s and ’60s still sound great, even with the wear. The record players they were made for were not like the Hi-Fi players for classical and pop records of the day, and by pop records, I mean things like Doris Day, Johnny Mathis and other adult music. I’m fascinated by how time takes language and meaning and metamorphosizes it to fit the needs of people, of audiences, of commerce. You don’t/can’t control it, but you can ride it, and see where it goes.

That is the essence of what I am trying to do: follow the through line, and paint pictures, express myself, play things that sound good to me, communicate a feeling and vibe to people. I didn’t put Amyl and the Sniffers next to the Kingsmen and follow it up with Kenny Rogers to be a clever show-off, I did it because I thought it would sound good, that they were all good records, and the juxtaposition would make a listener reconsider what those songs were about.

Or, they could just vibe to the beat.

I’m so happy I get to do this, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to contribute to Spacebar Arcade. I sometimes feel I should be doing more – get on the microphone and get the party started, as it were. It’s just not me. All I can do is show up until they tell me not to. It’s a tough business. It’s not complicated, but it is unpredictable. You can do everything right, and still fail. Luck is underestimated by our culture. Being in the right place, at the right time, doing something you love and believe in and being rewarded? It’s not a given. Trust this: it’s just business. Pivot. Change course. Listen. Be true to yourself.

Next Third Space Saturday for me is on September 21st, 2024. I’m taking August off for Holiday. Just like a European.

[djmossback]

“I will stay here, playing the third Saturday of every month, for as long as they want me. So, I will be back next month, 17 February 2024 at 9pm. Hope to see you then.”

Well, I didn’t see you. I missed that gig because the state yanked the bars beer and wine license, and they reduced their hours to work around it.

So I stayed home. I’m bummed not to be playing, but I understand. I will do whatever they ask of me. But they are in a really tough spot. Going without a liquor license is hard, and merely having a beer and wine license after having hard alcohol is not ideal.

Zack and Will continue to fight though. Crowdfunding and advocating for themselves in the media and statehouse. It’s an uphill battle, the old boys network is hard to penetrate.

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All of this came to fore right after Will gifted me a team jacket. It was an honor to receive it.

I am back in the booth on the 16th of March, my traditional pre Treefort weekend set. I will be playing music in the festival with my band, eL Dopamine. I hope I have energy for it all.

[djmossback]

Spacebar 15 April 2023

620 W Idaho St, Boise, ID 83702

(THIRD SPACE SATURDAY)

(PICTURED) Bike, São Paulo Brazil. Track is BOCA DO SOL, from the QUARTO TEMPLO lp

2100 to 0100 0153

TASTING NOTES

My first Third Space Saturday in the new Spacebar, and it took me a minute to get situated. Even though I was there on 18 March on the opening weekend in the new digs, I was sharing the booth with DJ IGA, and collaborative sets unfold in different ways than solo sets. The way we do split sets is more fluid, and IGA’s presentations make me see and hear things differently, and changes my point of view. He is more technically proficient with the decks and mixer than I am, so his precision combined with my freewheeling sloppiness makes for an interesting listening experience. I didn’t share that set list here because it was a spring training game, and the results don’t count in the standings. It doesn’t matter what happens in March, the games start in April.

Truth of the matter: I forgot to take notes.

I have several records I use for an opener, but this night I wanted to do something different. I thought about opening with my newly acquired 12” of Amii Stewart Knock On Wood, but went with the Bowie instead. The extended mix has more saxophone, and the 12” mix kicks harder than the 7” I usually play, so I was pleased with that. I wanted to save Knock for later in the set.

I was having difficulty getting the volume and sound balance right, and it’s something I will have to keep working on.

I intended to throw Link Wray on, but chose Bill Justis Raunchy instead. Did I run out of time, or miscount the bands on the comp I was taking it from? I don’t know, but it worked.

The first half hour was shaky, in my opinion, but I am still kind of rusty, and it took a while for things to resemble a groove. I never plan out sets. I have records I bring, and construct the set from those records, and try to make something listenable out of it. I’m not there to inflict myself on an unsuspecting audience, I’m there to share, and to provide the vibe, to give people an enjoyable environment to relax in, be they patrons, or my colleagues in the bar, who are unbelievably supportive. I love seeing them nodding their heads as they do their job, because all of us who work, or have worked in the service industry know how oppressive bad vibes are.

I did include a couple of friends bands in the set. Sun Atoms, and Bike, who I both saw and met at Treefort. The bands sound great, at the festival, and on the record.

I went an extra hour because I didn’t know how to end it, and I was feeling it, and my brother by law came by late to hang. So, starting with the Pet Shop Boys, I brought things down a notch (for me,) and stayed away from super uptempo bangers.

I played a lot of records.

Next set is a short one, at the Record Store Day after party, Earth Day, 22nd April. Trying to craft an approach that’s different than my usual set.

I’ll bring a lot fewer records.

THE SONGS

David Bowie, Let’s Dance (12 inch mix)

Pointer Sisters, He’s So Shy (7”)

Bill Justis, Raunchy (LP)

Police, Message In A Bottle (7”)

Maytals, Monkey Man (LP)

Dazz Band, Let It Whip (7”)

Cameo, Back And Forth (12”)

GQ, Boogie Oogie Oogie (7”)

Billy Squier, Everybody Wants You (LP)

Judas Priest, Metal Gods (LP)

ZZ TOP, Sleeping Bag (12”, 45RPM extended mix)

J-Kwon, Tipsy (radio mix)

Beastie Boys, So Whatcha Want (LP track)

Soho, Hippy Chick (12” extended mix)

Shreikback, My Spine (Is The Baseline) (promo 12”)

Sun Atoms, Half Robot, Half Butterfly (LP track)

Wire, Ahead (12 45RPM)

Skee-Lo, I Wish (12” vocal)

Cheryl Lynn, Got To Be Real (7”)

Prince, I Wanna Be Your Lover (7”)

Bobby Brown, My Prerogative (7”)

Junior, Mama Used To Say (12” extended mix)

Cure, The Walk (ep cut)

Toto, Hold The Line (LP cut)

Nazareth, Hair Of The Dog (LP cut)

Amii Stewart, Knock On Wood (12” disco mix)

Bee Gees, Jive Talkin’ (7”)

PJ Harvey, Down By The River (7”)

Cramps, What’s Inside A Girl (12” 45RPM)

Stooges, Loose (LP cut)

Presidents Of The USA, Lump (LP cut)

Jay-Z, 99 Problems (LP cut)

Ruts, Out Of Order (LP cut)

Stanley Clarke, School Days (LP cut)

Thundercat, Them Changes (LP cut)

Kendrick Lamarr, Yah (LP cut)

Bob Vylan, Big Man (LP cut)

Dry Cleaning, Scratchcard Lanyard (7”)

Bob Seger, Ramblin’ Gamblin Man (LP cut)

Cyndi Lauper, Girls Just Want To Have Fun (7”)

Alan Jackson, Chattahoochie (7”)

Moon Mullican, 7 Nights To Rock (LP cut)

Sparkletones, Black Slacks (7”)

Otis & Carla, Tramp (7”)

Taste Of Honey, Rescue Me (LP cut)

Positive K, I Got A Man (12”)

Time, 777-9311 (LP cut)

B-52’s , 6060-842 (7”)

Tommy Tutone, 866-5309 (7”)

INXS, The One Thing (12”)

Joe Jackson, TV AGE (12”)

Orb, Little Fluffy Clouds (12”)

Human League, Human (12”)

Average White Band, Pick Up The Pieces (LP cut)

Rufus Thomas, Walking The Dog (7”)

Killing Joke, Follow The Leader (LP cut)

Malcolm McClaren, Double Dutch (12”)

Abbysinians, Declaration Of Rights (LP cut)

ZZ Top, Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers (LP cut)

Vince Staples, Big Fish (LP cut)

Bike, Boca do Sol (LP cut)

Zapp & Roger, Mega Mix (12”)

Pet Shop Boys, West End Girls (12”)

TLC, No Scrubs (12”)

Scritti Politti, Sweetest Girl (12”)

Herbie Hancock, Chameleon (LP cut)

Sade, Hang On To Your Love (12”)

Heatwave, Groove Line (7”)

Michael Jackson, Rock With You (7”)

Patrice Rushen, Forget Me Nots (7”)

Junior Murvin, Police & Thief (7”)

Next THIRD SPACE SATURDAY SET:

20 May, 2023

Special thanks go to Will for providing this awesome place for us to hang in. Thank you, my brother.

DIRECTIONS.

[it8bit]

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