Greetings from Hollywood California…
And no, it"s not that pleasant here in sunny southern California at the moment, unfortunately. So name is Barry; and I DJ/Perform now as AstralDust.
Once upon a time, II started/learned how to DJ old-skool beat-mix on vinyl, after i had just moved to Phoenix, AZ in 1996 to attend ASU. I was influenced with electronic music the previous several years while living in Florida; where the first big mega-raves were starting to go off on the U.S. East Coast. I recall attending the 1st annual
“Zen Festival” at the Central Florida fairgrounds back in 1992, where i vividly remember seeing Sascha & Digweed playing together during their first time in the United States. For the most part, i spin TechHouse, Drum n Bass, DeepTech and House, and have just started to get into producing. I also play bass guitar, so anything and everything i encompass is ambitiously musically influenced, derived, motivated, and driven. Cause after all - “It’s all about the music”.
Anyway, i dropped out of school at ASU and moved to Los Angeles in 1999 where i landed a job at DMC Records on Melrose, and was fortunate enough to connect with few solid promoters and mesh fluidly into the dj scene there to the point in which i was playing enough gigs to actually pay my rent with Dj revenue for 2-3 years. At points in time i held residencies at the “Exchange” in DTLA, the “Catch One” on Pico Blvd, and the swanky “Foundation Room” atop the late great House of Blues on Sunset Blvd. As well, i was signed with Terrence Toy’s “HouseVibes” label during that period. This was in the very early 00’s, when Terence Toy, along with Tony Largo and Marques Wyatt, had residencies at LA’s longest running (still to date) afterhours - "“DYMK” (Does Your Mama Know) at the famous Coconut Teaser’s on Sunset Blvd and Crescent Heights.
That all being said, here’s where it gets kinda interesting via the dynamics that can happen at any given time in Los Angeles (specifically living in Hollywood for over 20 years). So everything seemed to be going rather smoothly and going to plan as far as continuing and progressing as a Dj during this initial phase. At about the time of 2004-2005, when DJ’s & electronic music were at the early initiation of becoming mainstream, along with the first wave of digital Dj gear and media players being produced; I became entangled in a profound sequence of twisted events and circumstances (beyond the scope of discussion here) in which almost overnight, i found myself fully incorporated male talent as part of the adult video industry, which continued on for 12 years until 2016. (For clarification “Yes”, i was full blown doing the total Porn Star thing, performed in hundreds of scenes with all major companies/productions, nominated for 5 AVN awards, and blah blah blah). I’ll digress there, if that sounds intriguing, then you can message me privately and i can answer any questions, give ya a link to my IMDB, etc. But this isn’t the platform for discussion beyond that, obviously. Lol. So I can’t say that i’m necessarily proud of it any of it, and very rarely do mention it anymore, as i have always tried to remain humble and remember that it’s not always about me. Sometimes i even forget i even was embedded in that industry for such a long time. I am thankful and have gratitude, and as i look back in retrospect it was transitional period in life which i learned some very deep things about myself, other people, and about life. All within a positive narrative.
The point being, with that said, being side-tracked and imbued into the world of the adult industry indefinitely put a significantly progressive pause with my love and ambition of music and becoming a Dj. Obviously i tried to stay with it, and i still occasionally played some vinyl on the 2 decks and mixer i always kept and would never let go of, but ultimately i couldn’t balance the DJ vs PornStar lifestyles, and for the most part, via the digital dj movement increasing, i was pretty much left in the dust. Not complaining, but was just quite challenging, being in the adult biz making much more money, trying to focus or commit to anything other.
Nevertheless, i still kept all my records and would play them occasionally and in 2016 when i checked outta the biz, i was a bit behind regarding the digital dj era, and chose to go back to school and completed my Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degrees in 2018.
Fast forward a 1.5 years, and out of the woodwork emerges a pandemic that changes everything and will alter the world for years to come indefinitely. Out of all the unfortunate, sadness, and misery it has created all over the world, i did notice early an inevitable change taking place in regard to music related events and venues. Not just electronic festivals and Dj’s but ALL music aspects. It wasn’t even possible to walk up to the Hollywood Bowl and see the LA Philharmonic perform Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.6 in B minor.
People still love music and want to hear it, watch it, see it and listen in. As a repercussion, we see the concept of online streaming performance become quite significant and start to take off. Unless one was already a huge world class star Dj, this drastic switch to streaming as a performance, from my perspective, was basically a reset for all other of the majority of DJ’s around the world. It’s almost like - everyone back to the starting line with most having a fair an even chance in which to succeed (even if just by enjoyment/satisfaction determinant on one’s definition of succeed), so i determined if there was anytime to dive back into the one thing that i love the most, now would be the time.
So i took a few thousand dollars that i had been saving and basically blew all my money on a new equipment & digital dj setup. So i am new to dj streaming, just started a few months ago as i’ve rigorously been practicing and bringing myself up to speed with performing in a digital format/fashion.
I don’t know what’s gonna happen from here on out for me, i just know that i love to play music and share it with others. Anyway, that’s my story; and the concept for the Slipmat platform to seems like a really engaging and promising platform for DJ’s . I very excited to be here.
So let’s always to our best to stay optimistic, have gratitude, be thankful, and respect one another. Big thanks to Uninen for getting this concept up and running started, and thanks to all of you who’ve chosen to be a part of it. Super-cool stuff.
Cheers.
.