Okay, so I fully admit to being un-cool, non-hip, square, out-of-the-loop, whatever. But there was a time (granted, it was about a decade ago) that I was the “It Girl” of the Maui Rave scene.
Back in the day, we’d party at The Lighthouse or Raceway until the wee hours of the morning, or until the cops came and hauled our asses home. I so don’t recommend tripping out on the flashing blue lights (although they are truly fascinating)—dead fricking giveaway.
Du-ude.
The dress code in the stone-ages for listening to mad house tunes in the middle of nowhere was copious amounts of body glitter, big pants, little tank tops and fully dilated pupils. I’m guessing times have changed, although the whole pupil thing is probably still in fashion. Some looks are just classic.
Anyway, I can’t tell you for sure who was spinning during those raves. I think maybe a guy named Augie, occasionally a girl named Beth and/or various other stoners. It was cool, but hardly anything to write home about. It was kinda like the jazz was only as good as the acid, not the other way around.
Fast forward a bunch of years and enter DJ Mark Farina. Farina has been spinning music since the 1980’s, which (through some simple mathematical calculations) makes him way older than me. The difference is, he’s managed to stay cool.
He started off spinning in Chicago while living the ultimate successful music person cliche—i.e. crashing at home with his parents. Eventually, he moved out to San Francisco where his smooth tunes gained popularity through a club called Jazid Up.
Farina labeled his music “Mushroom Jazz” as opposed to Acid Jazz because his mixes tend to be mellower than regular house. “The term ‘acid jazz’ was too abrasive,” said Farina. “I wanted something more organic.”
Like mushrooms… which are super, uh, organic… and stuff.
Over the past two decades Farina has gathered a huge following—he plays all over God’s green earth and was voted in the top 20 DJ’s of the world by MUZIK and BPM magazine. Not to mention his MySpace page—as of this issue of MTW, Farina has 8,206 friends and his profile has been viewed 72,585 times. Kind of makes you feel puny, doesn’t it?
Not only is Farina a world renowned DJ, he’s quite dramatic about it: “I look at my job as a modern day traveling minstrel—to bring new music to as many places as I can and expose obscure records that otherwise might go hidden.”
The next stop in his mission? Well, Hawai`i, of course.
Daniel J of Love & Light Productions is bringing Farina to Kauai, Maui and Oahu. You don’t want to miss this. Seriously, it’s gonna be phenomenal. Not to mention, maybe you can gain coolness points by association and then beg him to friend you on MySpace. Oh, the possibilities.
For more on Farina, visit his snazzy website www.markfarina.net. MTW
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