DJ Spotlight
Michelangelo
BY Elizabeth Mitkos May 28, 2008 21:05
WHO Few people would turn down megastar marathon jock Danny Tenaglia when he comes calling to book an opening DJ. Surprisingly, fellow New Yorker Michelangelo did. In 2002, the budding star didn’t think he was quite ready to take on the daunting task, despite his love and knowledge of house music (at 10 years old, Michelangelo had been making mixtapes), and at the time of the invite had already been messing with the decks for five years. Luckily, the following year, Michelangelo received a repeat call from Tenaglia and accepted, playing with the legendary DJ at the famous Vinyl nightclub (which was later revamped and renamed Arc). The two played together another half-dozen times until the club’s closing in 2004, when Michelangelo branched out to play Miami and Las Vegas. He has also spun at Pacha New York as well as in Mexico earlier this year at the BPM Conference, where his energetic set caught the attention of Toronto favourite Matt C. Accepting the invite to our own city, Michelangelo says he’s thrilled to play the quarterly Treatment party this weekend and has been preparing both props and music for weeks, promising to pump up the night’s fun quotient by several notches.
WHAT “Timeless, modern and intelligent dance music,” says Michelangelo, who pulls inspiration from everywhere. “I’m all over the place. Some ‘80s new wave, dance, rock, late-‘90s techno and even trance as well as early-‘90s rap, before all the bling-bling nonsense.”
WHERE May 31 at Treatment’s Pimp & Ho Party with Matt C and Baby Joel at Footwork (425 Adelaide W.).
FAVOURITE RECORD OF ALL TIME “Man this is really hard, but I think it’s going to have to be Agoria ‘Sky Is Clear.’”
FAVOURITE RECORD RIGHT NOW “Jooris Voorn’s remix of ‘Dark Flower.’ You can hear it on my “Live @ Pacha” set on my site www.djmichelangelo.com.”
FAVOURITE WEBSITE RIGHT NOW www.ebay.com. “I have no patience for stores and love finding odd things — especially urban art.”
WHAT IS YOUR WEIRDEST DJING EXPERIENCE? “I had a barbecue a few years back that was like a carnival. I had a pony come and give people pony rides. The guy who I rented the pony from wasn’t as amused and thought we were ‘sick in the head,’ as he put it!”
DIGITAL OR ANALOG? “I prefer analog, but I’m surely not going to say no to a digital monster either. In fact, I don’t say no to a gig unless I feel the people or environment aren’t going to feel what I do and participate in making the party all it can be.”
WHAT GLOBAL ISSUE CONCERNS YOU MOST RIGHT NOW? “Terrorism, Agflation and energy independence.”
WHAT IS YOUR RING TONE RIGHT NOW? “’Lollipop’ by Lil Wayne. Just kidding. Standard boring nonsense.”
WHAT IS THE LAST GREAT FILM YOU SAW? “Not really big on movies but Man on Fire comes to mind.”
WHAT ACTOR WOULD PLAY YOU IN A BIOPIC? “Well my dad has been mistaken for Danny DeVito — but I’m not bald yet!”
WHAT ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW? The One Minute Manager Balances Work & Life by Ken Blanchard. “DJing is a hobby and passion of mine. I’m [also] the director of my family’s driving school, real estate development, commercial lending, t-shirt company (www.astrosauce.com) and… I think that’s it. I manage to always put more on my plate than I should, so this book makes a lot of sense for me right about now!”
625 Church St, 6th Floor, Toronto M4Y 2G1