SIPA Sessions Are A Must!!

Whoever thought you could learn how to DJ, make beats, and record music for free without being a hot girl or having a Dj in your family or circle of friends. Well people this is your chance to learn it all. Come to SIPA (Search to Involve Pilipino Americans) Sessions, where the love for music brings together men and women of many different races, ages, class levels, and religious backgrounds to do one thing, make dope music.

Learn how to DJ from Laurent with opportunities to learn more from seasoned vets like Linotype, Jeffrey.Soulspeak, Phatrick, Waxstyles, and myself, Spingineer. Feed off each other in roundtable type mix and scratch sessions. Making beats your thing? Soulspeak and Phatrick are there too provide priceless knowledge in making beats, recording tracks, and so on. With a good amount of MCs that make their way to SIPA for every session are always down to freestyle with you over some hot beats.

So make your way to SIPA Sessions at the corner of Temple St and Dylon St every Monday and Thursday from 5PM-8PM. This also a great place to network for those DJs, producers, and MCs who already know a little something about the business. I was a DJ for almost 11 years when I first got to SIPA Sessions and the networking opportunities are never ending.

DJs currently affiliated with SIPA:
Linotype
Jeffrey.Soulspeak
Phatrick
Waxstyles
Laurent (Don’t know his alias)
Matt (His either)

MCs/Producers currently affiliated with SIPA:
Budda Baboon
Proda-Gz
Phazze Beats
Queen Herstory

SIPA Sessions Official Flyer

Shots from previous SIPA Sessions:

4x4 Session

Making Beats

More Session

New Mix Posted: Post-Diggin’ Sunday 11.16.08 Update

So Diggin’ Sunday was fun. The guy who runs the monthly open turntable jam session took a break and let Mike “Waxstyles” and Maya “equanimous1″ run the session. A good amount of people showed up to spin including author Ruben Molina, who laced us with some old soul 45s. Ruben wrote “The Old Barrio Guide to Lowrider Music: 1950-1975″ and “Chicano Soul: Recordings & History of an American Culture.”

Old Barrio Guide to Lowrider Music: 1950-1975 by Ruben Molina

Chicano Soul: Recordings & History of an American Culture by Ruben Molina

The big difference with this Diggin’ Sunday and those of the past was the inclusion of Serato Scrtachlive. Waxstyles decided to bring it along and it was not welcomed with open arms by the regulars but helped me to express myself the best way I knew how without the use of the limited selection of records I have. Don’t get me wrong, I have about 1000 records but I came up as a working DJ and most of the stuff is not fit for Diggin’ Sunday. I wanted to get down like they got down. The “Yes on Serato Scratchlive” speech is coming…But for now, I will try my best to use the records I have at Diggin’ Sunday. It will be a lot of 90s hip hop though…

My Record Collection with matching Ikea Shelf Converted into DJ Table

Here is a mix inspired by the chillin’ on a Sunday afternoon style that you get at Diggin’ Sundays at Tribal Cafe. It is a real loungy/downtempoish sounding mix and I had to pump it out after coming from Diggin’ Sunday last night. Enjoy.

11.16.08 Loungin’ Mix (Click to Download)

1. 7 Samurai – Uptown Rankin
2. 40 Winks – Soulful Sensitivity
3. Dean Zigoris – The Seasons: Barcarolle
4. Bjork – I Miss You (Dobie Sunshine Mix)
5. Everything But The Girl – Mirrorball (DJ Jazzy Jeff Sole Full Remix)
6. Freddie Cruger – Over the Ocean feat. Desmond Foster
7. Dela – La Bonne Attitude
8. Nujabes – Reflection Eternal
9. Kruder & Dorfmeister – Ocean Beat
10. J Dilla – Sometimes (Instrumental)

Here are pictures from Diggin’ Sunday.

Oooooh, Nice headphones

One Way of Lounging at Diggin' Sunday

Yours Truly on the 1s and 2s, Taken by Matt Nailit

Donald Byrd is Dope. Matt in the Background is as Well.

Ruben Molina Spinning and Discussing Life with Joel

Ruben Molina Spinning

Maya, Equanimous1

Best Weekend in a Long Time

I didn’t plan to do much this weekend as is true of most weekends. But I felt I needed to do more things without my girlfriend (meaning with friends, my girlfriend is always fun to be around), so this weekend I partied it up on my own.

The weekend started off good on Friday night at Foot Work at the Terrace in Pasadena. The Come Up resident DJ Linotype is also a resident DJ at this club. I heard that this club used to pack all guys with nothing but 90s hip hop and was strictly on that head bobbin’ tip. It was totally different when I went. There were a lot of women in there and even though 90s hip hop was played, a lot of danceable music was played too. The crowd was pretty diverse as well, where The Come Up has a mainly Asian following. This party seemed like a place that I would want to spin at and I already expressed my interest to Linotype.

Foot Work, Every 2nd Friday

Linotype, Business As Usual

Footwork Partygoers

Not feeling so good the next morning due to excessive drinking and wasting a morning shopping for clothes that didn’t fit (need to shed some pounds) in Glendale, I attended The Scorpio Party at the Oiwake Restaurant in Little Tokyo. Again, DJ Linotype was spinning along with Waxstyles and The Optimist. The party’s proceeds from the cover charge went directly to the Tuesday Night Cafe Project. The bar was a different story since the fundraiser did not take home a percentage. So instead of spending most of my money at the pricey bar, me, Gabe, and Come Up DJs Dumlao and Mike Deuce decided to swig whisky in the car. It didn’t save me much though. I paid the $5 cover, had a $9 hen and coke, $5 sake bomb, and a 22 oz. Sapporo of unknown value, but I took $40 out of the ATM and had $4 when I left at the end of the night. I tip too much…

The Scorpio Party

Waxstyles is for the People

The Optimist Back From SF

Finally, I woke this morning to another hangover but I was still determined to spin at Diggin’ Sunday at 1PM. I stayed up until 4AM after getting back from the Scorpio Party choosing music for Diggin’ Sunday. So now that I am sitting in Tribal Cafe with my first set done I am a little dissatisfied with my performance. It is real hard to hear the output and the beginning of my set was pretty bad, awful actually. But I am ready to go on again if I can and maybe I’ll play more soulful stuff. I actually just got mad props from one of attendees here who wanted more info on where I spin at and if I got mixtapes.

Diggin' Sunday, Every 3rd Sunday at Tribal Cafe

More pictures to come from Diggin’ Sunday, 11.16.08