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What makes a DJ a good DJ? Normally this is one of those subjective/ relative sorts of questions. Your answer depends on what kind of music you like. What sort of clubs you go to. Mush stuff like that. For those of you seeking a little more objectivity in your lives there is another way of answering questions. DJ's who win awards and stuff must be good, right? Just say yes. Now that we think of it, judging DJ contests would be a totally awesome job. SFist could create a sanctioning board. License DJ's and all that. They'd need our seal of approval to get gigs. Ok. We're clearly out of control with these musings.
There are however awards that DJ's can win. Lots of papers, like the SF Weekly and The Guardian have a Best DJ category (we can already hear you shouting, when will SFist have a "Best Of" guide to SF? Soon, soon) Vinnie Esparza has won a lot of those awards, which, in the objective sense makes him a good DJ. Back to the subjective world, and his brazilian, roots reggae, and hip hop music make him good in that way too. You can check him out spinning at parties like Hella Tight, Descarga and Dub Mission. Check out his SF native picks for the best of our fair city below.
Name: Vinnie Esparza
Introduce yourself in one sentence: I'm that DJ that dosen't have your
request.
Age and Occupation: 32 (Capricorn), Label owner (Dis-Joint Records), DJ, Kung Fu movie expert.
Home Town: Oakland.
How long have you lived in the Bay Area and WhereI've lived in the Bay Area all of my life except when I went to UC Santa Cruz for 4 hazy years. I'm from Oakland, but now live in SF. I've lived in Potrero Hill, The Mission and am currently in the Richmond District. I live here beacsue there is no better place to live in the US, that's why.
Favorite website: www.turntablelab.com
Favorite dot com or local business: The Groove Merchant in the Lower Haight.
What I'm currently Reading: Black Betty by Walter Mosley...and a whole lot of bills.
Best Deal in San Francisco: Vietnamese Sandwich at New Saigon ($2.50 for fat sammy).
Favorite mode of transportation: Anything but Muni (The insane asylum on wheels).
Best Band or Musician to come out of the Bay Area: Cal Tjader
Favorite local hangout: Dalva.
SF has the BEST: Taquerias.
You've never lived in SF until: You've been harrassed for change 4 times on the same block. That's livin'!
Favorite Bay area politician of past or present: Huey Newton.
Best solicitation from a pan handler: Give me 50 cents or I'll drop my pants. (Yes, I have him 50 cents).
You can tell someone is a local here IF: They say "Hella" like it ain't no thing.
SF would be soooo much better if only: We had a summer.
Best Burrito: Farolito's. Anything else just pales.
Best Restaurant: Los Jarritos.
Best movie scene filmed in or about SF: Vertigo. Just about every scene.
I want all the SFists out there to know: That the recent Presidential
election was a total fraud.
Tell us a San Francisco Story:
OK, so I'm chillin' at Walgreen's near the Prescription Drug pick-up window (I mean, c'mon...isn't that where all the cool kids chill?) and an older homeless woman comes in and sits down near by to read some magazines. She promptly gets told to leave by an employee as she had a strong odor about her. As if this was not heartbreaking enough, some other clown employee comes by and sprays waaaaaaay too much Wizard which ends up being much more offensive than the homeless funk. The scene quickly gets more and more bugged-out when a Muni driver with a bad case of the jitters and motormouth, leans over to me and says "I take about 100 of these a day" (referring to the drugs he has just picked up. Great...I want THAT guy driving around busy
streets in a big-ass bus). Then, the capper comes when he says to me..."You know what they should do with the homeless? They should make cookies out of them like in that Charlton Heston movie." "What?" I ask in disbelief? "You know," he replies, "humans taste like pork! So we should make cookies out of them!" Now, I don't know about you, but where I come from, folks don't eat "pork" -or for that matter "human" cookies. Maybe "pork chop-o-late chip" it's a southern thing or something. He then stares at me like he's waiting for me to agree with him or something. I simply tell him, "I'm never riding
Muni again" and I walk out. I don't think I'll be hanging out at Walgreen's anymore.
Question you'd ask if you were doing this interview: Do you believe
Rice-O-Roni is still the San Francisco treat.
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I have to give some props to V. for the best interview story yet. Hella fly! I also have to give him credit for the turntablelab, Huey Newton and Groove Merchant shout-outs. Best in the biz for the SF stizz, dig?
That said, Vinnie, lemme know when you're headed to the Alameda flea market -- let's hook up on that vintage vinyl grandma style.
jackson@sfist.com
Hey DJ Vinnie, just a question? Do you remember mixing down here in El Paso, Tx with my husband Joe Villa? If i am correct it was at the X Factory. Or it was called Digital Extacy, or Fuck Fest.? please write back.