When I was “coming up”, as the expression goes, as a young DJ and Lighting Designer I had the opportunity to work with a very colorful cast of characters that have influenced me a great deal. The other day I was going through my extensive CD collection and found a House mix from Justin Thomas.
Justin was the head lighting tech at Soup Lighting in New Britain, CT. They provided sound and lighting at a lot of the Raves and Residencies for Electronic Music in New England. Justin taught me so much about lighting for DJs and mixing as a DJ. Both, he said, are all about idiosyncrasies in the music. You must learn to float between the most minuscule of nuances in dance music to bring the floor to its peak. It is never about landing two huge bass lines on top of one another or strobing the place to death. You must be tasteful and damn near sensual in your approach.
We lost Justin in the Summer of 2004 at a Dead show in Jones Beach. We miss him so much and with the return of Phish coming this week I felt it was a perfect time to release this mix to the world so that Justin’s finest mix (which was his last) could ring out through the parking lot at Hampton and release his vibe back into the community that it belongs. This mix, clocking in at a little over an hour, showcases some House classics as well as some deep house treasures no one will be able to find. The end of the mix is the perfect descent to morning, so cinematic and nostalgic, it could be the soundtrack to an Apatow movie about the last party night in high school. For those of you in the know, the mix starts with Deep House and rolls like a train covered in Sass into Late Night Breaks to close the mix out.
Justin…if you can hear this…I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the wisdom you shared with me. I know you’re up there somewhere…playing an after hours party, selling straight-ass grams of chronic to Jesus. (back in the day we called em Cups! ) We all miss you.
3 Responses
sorry about the loss Wilbiest Wade. Thanx though for contirbuting the gift that really does keep on giving: MUSIC.
I’ll include to this Hampton 9-hr drive playlist for Friday.
cheers.
Nice – I’ll be blasting this at some leg of my journey after midnight on my way to Hampton.