Venue Spotlight will focus on some of the venues and places that I've performed at over the years. I thought I'd start at the very beginning for me. My first regular bar gig was circa 1999 at the Raintower Tavern in Rockaway, Queens. Rockaway has undergone a transformation the past couple of years. Unthinkable just 10 years ago, 85th to 105th Street is the home to some awesome beaches. They are clean, have great food and ample parking. A much better value than the 45 minute trip to Jones Beach if ask me. Back in 1999 Rockaway was home to many places like the Raintower tavern, a complete and total dive in every sense of the word. You had to travel up a flight of stairs to get to the bar. There were about 4 bar stools, pool table, bathrooms and that was about it. The perfect place to launch a DJ career, lol. The dj booth doubled as a closet and my equipment consisted of 2 Sony Cd players and a broken down Numark mixer. Not exactly top quality stuff. My lasting memory of the Raintower was my 21st Birthday party which was raided by the police. Drunk as hell and on another planet I was in the bathroom when the raid occurred. After, coming out of the bathroom not realizing what was going on the only thing I noticed was that the music was no longer playing. I proudly proclaimed in a loud voice "Who turned the music off?", ahh youth. Anyhow after a fun filled year doing Friday & Saturday nights the bar closed down. It is now an apartment where the occupants probably have no idea of the shenanigans that went on there. I remember it fondly and gained valuable experience in working a crowd with a wide variety of music. Pop, Dance, Hip Hop and Rock & Roll ruled the playlist there. My opening song was always "Eye Of The Tiger" and somehow I remember playing Dmx's "What My Name" almost every night. It was a steppingstone to what would come next. It ended right before i would go on to my long run at Gantrys and the beginning of the radio years at Q104. Good Times.
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