SWAMP THING:
February 11, 2000.

Corinne, Laura, Stef and a random boy named Aaron go the Orpheum theater in Boston to see Beck in concert. They dance, ululate and sing with the assembled crowd of highly alternative college students. Beyond the thrill of seeing Beck boogie up, down and every which way, the Hanson fans in the crowd are all too aware of the gentleman sharing the stage with him. It would be DJ Swamp, the very same DJ Swamp who did the scratching on In the City.

February 12, 2000.

While he's in town, DJ Swamp arranges to speak for a group of students at Berklee College of Music. Corinne is a student at Berklee College of Music. Corinne and Laura decide that it might be wise to attend. Dividing his time equally between talking, taking questions and spinning some truly eclectic beats, Mr. Swamp speaks for about an hour and a half.

The Audience Demographic :

About 35 boys, many of which are DJs themselves. They know about things like faders and brands of needles and sequencing. Four girls. Two of them are Corinne and Laura. They know nothing about DJing, other than that it sounds wicked cool and that some exists on the new Hanson album.

And then, halfway through the presentation…

Corinne's hand flies up in the air. She asks… ::nervous:: Um, Who else have you done guest work for recently? (Notice the rather leading "recently" pegged on at the end in at attempt at eliciting a Hanson answer.)

DJ Swamp says…

"Well, I worked with the Chemical Brothers. Uh. (Hesitation. Grin.) Hanson. (Bingo! Corinne and Laura have a fit of silent hysterics. Moderate laughter from the assemblage of Future DJs.)"

He continues…

"When I went in there, I thought they were puppets. I was as skeptical as anybody. I thought it was like the Jackson 5… Their Dad was running the show or something. But they're pretty in charge. I got in there and they were giving me the cues. It wasn't a song that I would have thought needed some scratching, but yeah…"

Translation : Don't pick on Hanson. They're pretty cool.


Other things
  • He's actually quite cute in a I've-never-brushed-my-hair-in-my-life kind of way.
  • At the concert, he wore a t-shirt that featured a pair of women's breasts. Naked ones. This is a man who is one degree of separation from Hanson?
  • He didn't wear it for the lecture. He had a yellow t-shirt on.
  • For someone who wears naked breast t-shirts, you'd think he'd have this big bombastic personality. He was in fact, quite the opposite. Humble and moderately soft-spoken with a lilting midwest accent. Quite charming actually.
  • Wanna be a DJ? Get yourself a big pile of coordination and talent and vision and maybe you'll have a shot. This is not a career for the rhythmically challenged.
  • Besides the Hanson references, the presentation was most amazing. I walked away almost hopeful for the future of music and art and innovation and all sorts of warm fuzzy things like that.
Bottom line:
DJ Swamp = My new boyfriend. And if you don't have Midnite Vultures, for gosh sakes go get it. Isaac likes it. There. Now you have a reason. Go. Tell them Laura sent you.