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Years DJing: I'm a veteran. I started on college radio 24 years ago and started mixing vinyl in the San Francisco Bay Area five years later. I've been doing community outreach by training women and other underrepresented turntablists pro bono since 2006.
Genres: I have been researching and writing books and articles about music since the '90s, so I listen to everything from calypso to prog at home but focus on the global Black diaspora in my sets, from D.C. go-go to Afro-Latin freestyle. Since my years of living in West Africa, I've been mixing lots of Afro-funk and pop into sets based in hip-hop and boogie. DJing in the South over the past few years got me integrating lots of R&B. Nothing makes me happier than doing an extended dancehall set.
Where you can catch me regularly: Dig a Pony has been really good to me, and I've loved playing with the Beat Happening Collective at my favorite local record store, Future Shock. I do a regular turntablism lab as community outreach at S-1—contact me if you want to get involved. I love mentoring emerging women DJs.
Craziest gig: I spent a couple years living in rural Appalachia for a job and took up throwing a monthly funk dance party for kids called "Kinderjams" at the organic farm up the road. The pigs were loose on the side of the dance floor, and I got paid in kombucha and duck eggs!
My go-to records: I always need my Tino's Breaks on hand (Volume 5 is my fave); Luther Vandross' "Never Too Much"; Blo's "Because of Money"; Alicia Meyers' "I Want to Thank You"; Pato Banton's "Don't Sniff Coke"; Meters' "Clap Your Hands"; and my stash of secret white labels I've collected from all those years of working at record stores in the Bay Area—a favorite rarity is Al Jarreau's album of Bill Withers covers.
Don't ever ask me to play…: As a femme who reps for femmes enjoying music, I just don't have a problem with people asking me to play stuff that others don't find cool. With vinyl, I have a natural limit to my set. If it's in my crates, it doesn't suck, so ask away! If you're a guy asking me to play obscure stuff in the middle of a rocking set, just to try to one-up me with your musical knowledge, don't bother—I've got this under control!
NEXT GIG: Dr. Dakar spins at Future Shock, 1914 E Burnside St., for A Beat Happening, on Thursday, March 29. 6 pm. Free. All ages.
