The
lucky hat
You know how they say “right
place~right time”? Well, that’s what happened to me
in San Francisco. I was shopping for some Saturday night dancing
boots in 2000 up in good ol’ SF and found a slithery pair
at the Buffalo Exchange but wanted to keep shopping to see if
I could find something a little different. I walked around the
Haight all day but no luck. Or so I thought. So I went back to
the Buffalo Exchange and had just enough time before they closed
to snag my sexy black boots. The sales lady asked me to proceed
to the counter quickly since they were about to close and
VOILA!!!!
There
it was! The hat that would change my life forever! It was one
of those sexy black lambskin Russian looking hats that just had
to come dancing with me that Saturday night at Release in SF.
Well, mind you, this is before I’d even had my first DJ
gig although I was working on it. So later that evening, inside
the THUMPING 1015 Folsom, a bartender, Russ from RussFoto.com,
asked me if he could take my picture for Mixer Magazine. My first
thought was “You’re not getting in my pants”
Then he proceeded to offer me free drinks for the night so, being
a humble DJ-in-training, I accepted and posed away, standing on
the bar.
;-)
A
month later Russ ended up sending me a copy of the pics and we
chatted a bit about my aspiring DJ career and his role as a roving
club photographer. He told me that I should come to Vegas with
him and meet up with the Giant people as they were hosting a big
phat weekend at the Hard Rock with Timo Mas. (Once again “You’re
not getting in my pants” came to mind ;-) So I asked my
buddy Veronica if she would rally and go check it out with me
and see what these Giant peeps were about. We gathered up our
funkiest costumes at the time and drove to sin city in my little
red sports car.
Groovin’
Goddesses
Russ
got us in the club and took good care of us, introducing us to
Dave Dean and Johnny Jos who were the main Giant people. Giant
at the time was the biggest club on the west coast and it was
GROWING and groovin’. I gave Johnny a cd “Believe”
(my first one) and told him to listen to it and BOOK us. He got
the point then we all had a fun time dancing to Timo Mas.
PERSEVERENCE is KEY to SUCCESS
Now the fun begins. Johnny
was the man in charge of new artists for Giant. I called him and
he invited me to come to LA and check out the club. Veronica rocked
it up there with me and although it was a bit difficult finding
Johnny at first, we managed to connect and he showed us around.
We danced and grooved the night away, in awe of the massive sound
system, lasers, and crazy dancefloor! At the end of the night,
I said goodbye to Johnny and he said he’d be in touch. Well,
being the impatient little goddess that I am, I kept calling him
and reminding him to listen to my cd and BOOK us. After many no’s
and waiting for him to call me back with a positive answer-
RRRRRRRring!
“Hello,
Valerie, This is Johnny from Giant, I’d like to book you
for the Saturday after Thanksgiving (2000).” Ummm- cool.
YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I thought to myself. I was figuring that I was going to play from
9-10 pm in the mini-side-room as it was my first time there and
that would only be like my 7th gig ever. Johnny said “You’ll
be playing from 11pm-1am in the main room right before Grant Plant”.
Ummm- the main room? Isn’t that for the really big DJs?
Oh my god! I need to get the Tribe together in FULL FORCE!!!!!!!
Thanks for “Believing” in me Johnny
!
Johnny
said “I’m taking a BIG chance on you- I’ve never
even seen you perform- so you better be GOOD!” Ahhhhhh-
Umm- OK I’ll do my BEST!
Giant Tribe!
Needless
to say, that night was a great success for Valerie and the Vibe
Tribe as we rocked the night away and made a good impression on
Giant and the LA scene. THANK YOU!!!!!
Rock Rock Rock Rockin’ Da House!!!!
Johnny
booked us many more times and we eventually became residents at
Giant Park Plaza (until it shut down :-( Johnny also “Believed”
in me and booked me 2 years in a row for Slamdance in Utah ( an
off-shoot of the Sundance Film Festival) Because of that, Karim
from Egypt saw me DJing with Veronica as my “uni-Viber”
(they didn’t have a budget for the Tribe) and he booked
us to perform in EGYPT on the NILE for the Summer Solstice 2001
!!!!!
Thanks so much Karim- I love you!!!
So,
the point of this little story is that even when you think your
luck is not there- it may actually be in disguise- you just have
to look!
Thanks
Lucky Hat!!!
Click
the links below to learn
more about Valerie
