Major – music industry
Music is a big part of my life, dj is the latest edition of my musical career, I used to be really into metal, and it wasn’t until my sophomore/junor year that I listened to top 40 hip/hop and crossed into house.
DJ gigs – My first one small little apartment party in Webb Tower – April 2009 – right before semester ended – 9/10 girls there – had a blast…came about. I love playing music for people that I like and other people will like. The reaction I like seeing in general. We throw parties on occasion and I’d throw something together. It started from there – and I thought maybe get into DJ’ing – I downloaded free program to do that, started to get into that, matchng beats. Getting more and more ideas of what to do. More ideas, upped my gear, started seeking more gigs actively, and getting paid for them.
DJ NAME?
Yiddish name – Alavei – I found it inspiring, people look at names , see nice car, why can’t you go drive it? When people see big names like EDC, you want to be that. The Yiddish word that means – the exact definition – it should be mine. Me and my girlfriend – she was looking up names for something – she was browsing through words –and she stumbled upon it and liked it decided to pass up on it. I saw it and it sounded different, the meaning sounded cool. The meaning to me is if you want something go get it. If you see a nice car drive by, work for it. Why does it have to be a wish, make it a reality. Instead of wanting to be on stage and do great things go work for it. It reminded me of why I am doing what I am doing, it motivates me.
HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN TECHNO TOMMY? WERE YOU ONE OF THOSE WHO TRIED TO ARRANGE IT LAST YEAR?
I did have a lot of influence on it. I was talking with one of the people here who books, she’s good friend of mine, we were talking about doing theme nights at Tommys place. 80s night, etc. thought that was cool. Why don’t we have an electronic night – plenty of kids who love electronic music, we have good electronic music festivals here. She got excited – an hour later, got an hour about it from Tommys – roster/line up…Tommys place is room next to traditions – school likes two separate things…I WASN’T involved in the event that got cancelled about…some management things…conflicts with this one as well.
USC has a whole policy against raves for some good reason…I think the school doesn’t want to be associated with term rave. The word rave came up once with original event. I got a message from Tommy’s management asking why its being called a rave? Its harmless. Nevertheless it almost got shut down again – fortunately were able to change it. This is not a rave, it’s a regular event at Tommys for electronic music.
People will show up in rave gear, etc, if thousands of people show up , people are definitely excited. 1200 people have rsvp’d – I have created many events – never had close to 1200 people. I think it speaks to the taste of kids here at the school, what they are into, electronic music is on the rise ehre.
DO YOU THINK ANY ISSUES WILL ARISE B/C OF NIKIAS’ LETTER…HIS FEELINGS TOWARDS “RAVES”?
For me, I appreciate what the man is saying. I respect him a lot. I think his perspective is flawed. People have been raving since the 80s. A rave – when you break it down – it is a really large concert, festivals. festivals that are geared towards rock and people bring drugs to there. Not E but other drugs, cocaine and weed etc. Raves that happen here are so huge because they draw thousands of people and get so much attention…as soon as something happens, the girl died, people are getting up in arms about it. Is that the raves fault, is that her fault, her parents fault, etc. I don’t know if you can point finger at the rave – lots of things that went into the rave. Ultimately it wasn’t the festival or music – it was the drug. You can get drugs anywhere, dorms, apartments. They are not that hard to obtain. I think it is about discipline. I go to raves and don’t do drugs and have a great time. I think it is a matter of perspective. I encourage Nikias to go to a rave and see what it is like.
People could walk on you when you are passed out – all sorts of things that kids are not aware of when their friends offer them drugs. Again I think it is more of a parenting issue … what will your kid do when offered something? Take it or turn it down.
-WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT ALL THE PUBLICITY THAT OCCURRED AFTER THE 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL DIED AT EDC?
I think media overhyped it. I don’t disagree that it wasn’t tragic – it definitely was. Again, anything like that, it is not one thing alone, combo of multiple things. I think responsibility should be shared – why did venue let her in…why was she taking drugs, who were her friends? Her parents and what have they taught her about drugs? Where was she when she died, what physical factors, etc… I don’t think you can point to one thing alone. I think it was so and so fault – cant do that. It’s the culmination of uunfortate events at one set time. I think what we can take from that is they can check ids and up the age.
IS THIS THE ONLY TIME TECHNO TOMMY WILL HAPPEN…OR TRY TO DO IT WEEKLY/MONTHLY?
-I would love to make it a regular night at Traddies. The venue is not living up to its potential. I come here on a Friday/Saturday night and theres 50 people, that’s it. The event has to happen…just from this one facebook event with 1200 confirmed if a small portion show up – line around to come in. So I would want to make this a regular night. There is a huge electronic scene at LA and USC…at USC theres a whole lot of djs who would want to perform. Freshman to seniors…I would like to see it as a regular night. Even if I am not involved every night, I think it is a whole genre of music that is not being tapped into tommys place. Rock bands here, student bands, get a lot of indie groups, etc…but there is not a whole lot of electronic music. And the small ones we have are not promoted well. To finally see a really cool electronic night and get promoted well – to make that happen is cool and to make it happen again, it’d be cool.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE OVERALL RISE OF RAVE CULTURE…OR DO YOU THINK ITS RISING OR HAS JUST ALWAYS BEEN HERE AND NEWS IS MAKING IT RISING IN PUBLICITY??
I would say that rave culture has been around forever since 70s and 80s. I think electronic music is on the rise, you see it on top 40s – tht music is heavily influenced with electronic. Brittney Spears’ new song. deadmau5 hosted VMAs. The genre is on the rise. In terms of rave culture, it is on the rise, it is becoming more and more popular. Demographics who didn’t listen to it are now listening to it. That’s on the rise as well. In terms of danger associated with rave – same as ever. People have died at raves before this poor little girl – not first time at happened. Won’t be the last time , hopefully not, but realistically, whenever you get a bunch of people together, there’s a security question.
the question is – all it takes is one person to do something stupid to make event go wrong. I don’t think its right to point at rave – it’s rave fault. Personal responsibility and bad timing. It only takes one person for it to go wrong. There are more things you can put in place to prevent that.
Techno Tommy, a student-organized dance event, was held tonight at Tommy’s Place, a venue adjacent to USC’s bar and restaurant, Traditions.
Several DJs performed throughout the night and hundreds of students were in attendance for Tommy’s Place’s first event geared towards a rising genre of music.