Off The Wall

D.A.N.C.E., you’re always there for music and me

June 4, 2008
By Erin Rolfs

There's this fabulously infectious song by Justice, called D.A.N.C.E., I first heard on NPR two months ago (I can hear Alex V. Cook rolling his eyes in the blog next to mine). Its mellow bass line struts behind disco-inspired violins that bounce through childlike voices as they spell out the title in cheerleader unison. It has been my four o'clock anthem at work for several weeks, playing on repeat until the quitting bell sounds. Despite the fact that I am threatening my already tenuous standing among co-workers, I can't get enough. This addiction is fueled in part by the song's role in a reoccurring daydream where I am a dancer; "D.A.N.C.E." in the background, Paula Abdul (before her neurological system shorted out) is in the foreground and I am in middle, legwarmers and braided sweatband, just putting everyone to shame. That's where I go at the end of the day, a choreographed Janet Jackson video circa 1986.

But unfortunately I can't stay there. The real world chimes in, and I must exercise these delusions elsewhere. 'Elsewhere' just so happens to be Wednesday nights at the Spanish Moon for the sweet madness of DJs OttO and The Real Steven's dance night, VELCRO. The music sounds just like the name suggests: a textural cohesion of beats that seamlessly reinterpret a time when we danced so much our shoes needed the high-tech bondage of nylon wire lest they fly off into the ether from jump kicks of David Lee Roth proportions. This hoedown, above all others in late-night rotation, gets me. VELCRO started as a symbiotic component to '80s night. On the top floor DJ OttO hosted an alternative to the play list being spun downstairs. From there, with the encouragement of the Moon's booking agent Aaron Scruggs, VELCRO evolved into its own place to be. Its independent debut in December was scheduled to run for a month, but due to widespread addiction kin to my own it has continued into the summer of 2008. To understand why I cornered DJ OttO (Orellana) downtown one day and ask the doctor for a diagnosis.

"VELCRO taps into everything. It is a merger of many different types of music; it's not exclusive," he said. "Another thing is there might be a cover charge, but it really doesn't cost anything to actually dance."

In addition to dancing being free, it frees. The communal, physical and primal nature of it draws all those tasty endorphins to the surface. The result is a therapeutic release Orellana confirmed.

"The location has something to do with it," he said. "The Spanish Moon isn't too clean, it has a history of debauchery. That makes it easy to take the vibe of a house party and bring it out for everyone to experience. The Moon can appeal to everyone."

True, it would be harder to pin down a poster child for the Moon than say for Fred's or Red Star. But Orellana humbly avoids what I suspect is the most important part of my VELCRO fanaticism: He and The Real Steven (Webber) are killer DJs. The latter having started his career in 1999 and the former in 2004, they are absolutely amazing at the call-and-response form of audile stimulation.

"There is definitely a merger of music now that makes it easier for people to listen and dance," Orellana said. "We play a type of music that comes from independently supported sources like online blogs, where there is a whole community of people downloading and mashing up music to be uploaded back into (system)."

It may be that the inclusive and communal feel of VELCRO starts there, with the DJs themselves opening up their creativity for fellow music mixers to take advantage of. And on Wednesdays the good vibrations continue their ever-expanding path into my eager ears.

Comments

Posted by aimeest on June 9 at 11:41 a.m.

On a recent drive to BR from Hot Springs, at the 7th hour, over the Atchafalaya, my eyelids were heavy. D.A.N.C.E. cured me. And in turn, I kept driving all the way to New Orleans.

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