1997 August 30

Event: Tony Humphrey / DJ Magazine Party

DJs: Dino & Terry to start and then Tony Humphrey at around 2:00a.m.

Venue: Industry

Theme: DJ Magazine Party

Crowd:
Better than the usual Industry crowd full of beefcakes and bimbettes. A good mix of people: ravers, semi-naked gays, soul brothers, sophisticated ladies, Indies, Anglos, Italians, go-go dancers/ strippers, Asians are all proportionally smaller in number rendering the place more spaceous and less elbowing problem.

Sound:
As good as usual. Very live saxophone and drum sounds. Very standout but not put-offish bass sound. The best among clubs as per P.

Atmosphere:
Due to the suitably smaller crowd and well-mix of people, it was very enjoyable. Everyone was, as always at Industry, as into the music as you could expect in Toronto clubs. Everyone had a good attitude and very polite. Unlike some days when it could be too raunchy or tacky (the way they act or dress).

Memorability:
One guy in black plastic glasses, red Adidas track suit, danced like the Beastie Boys was always beside us. There was also one of those well-groomed black couples who danced well (as most of them do) and who genuinely enjoyed the music. The only thing less than perfect was the smaller no. of women compared to men. P. & I danced till we were tired and sat down for a drink and chatted for a while and found that sometimes the music continued to be good but when you are too tired to appreciate it on the dance-floor, it might be better to sit down and you could hear more of the greatness of the mix.

Tony Humphrey's mix was disco, N.Y. house mostly, with some Chicago house occasionally. He played house hits or anthems with a twist i.e. mixed with other killer basslines or dance beats. Lots of vocals but because he changed often with perfect timing, one did not find it "handbag" but very encouraging. Whether it was deliberate or coincidental I did not know but all the soulful vocals he picked were about freedom (e.g. Free by Ultra Nate), " you're free; free to do what you want to do...." or don't give up. Only one song is about "give it to me". He seemed to have avoided that overly meaty "I need your love" kind of songs. He also created a unique mix of jazz, saxophone sound and the quintessential disco keyboard riff. P. said earlier before we decided to go that maybe T.H. is too old school and he may not be that great. Although we agreed that the records he span might not be the latest but his suspicion was proven wrong. It was divine. Both P. & I had some "Moments" on the dance floor. This had been long overdue and much lacked this summer, just when we both needed it most it finally arrived. (I had a whole month of emotional and work-related turmoil) The only minor flaw was his tempo being a bit too slow. He liked to keep that relaxed kind of beat all the way through without being monotonous like some DJs tend to be. Compared with Danny Tenaglia who span last week, D.& T.layed a lot of slow, suffering, soulful gospel-like vocals and remained sparse and slow all through. It was very releasing at first but it got too predictable towards the middle of the set. Compared with Carl Cox (those British ones) T.H. is much more soulful and relax. A nice way to end the summer.