Ressurection
Tags: 80s, Transformation, True Story, Music, Dj

I was an 80’s San Francisco alternative rock DJ. From 1980 to 1994, I played records in clubs and on the radio, featuring of new wave, rock, goth, industrial and the like. Depeche Mode and New Order were as pop as I got.

A recent CV:

TC played records for the first time at The Lampost, Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard in 1979. It was a ‘New Wave’ night in a shot and beer bar. Sometimes people showed up. He worked out of a box of records that included first albums by the Clash, The Pretenders, Elvis Costello, Roxy Music etc.

He moved to San Francisco in 1980 to pursue his career, pure Horatio Alger. He made tapes and brought them around to clubs. His first gig was at the Berkeley Square and he made $29. Another early club gig was at Earls, a very hip and stylish French New Wave club. He brought a tape to Bernard, the music director, who told him, in a snarling French accent, “We don’t play ABC here.” Ted replied, “Who’s ABC?” Regular gigs ensued.

He spent a year incarcerated at Houlihan’s on Fisherman’s Wharf. A notorious pick-up joint with really good Irish coffee, where any nuance of a segueway between songs sent patrons scattering from the dancefloor like rats deserting a sinking ship, so, he learned to mix nicely to minimize the ‘scatter effect’.

He soon gave up waiting on tables (his day/night job) and began spinning records around the infamous (or maybe not) SOMA underground party circuit: Science Club, Anon Salon, Checkovs, and Medicine Ball to name a few. And when the clubs came above-ground, he came with them. Nine, I — Beam, Sub Club and the DNA Lounge where he was the music director from 85–90.

He won the 1988 Bay Area DJ Dance Mix Competition, was a reporter to the Billboard dance chart and broadcast at two seminal San Francisco radio stations, college station icon KUSF and Live 105 where he used to broadcast on-air while mixing live from the clubs.

And so, as things tend to do, the career (previous to the ‘djs earning $10,000 per night era’) petered out. I was getting older (nearing 40) and with so many eager kids just turning 21 that had talent, drive and were willing to work for pennies, I found that had priced myself out of the market. Club music trends were changing and it just wasn’t the same old scene.

I gave it up. Depressed, despondent, and without direction.

Needing to support myself, and thinking myself fairly smart, I resorted to playing poker for a living. I did pretty well and when I thought that learning to deal might make me a better player, I took a class at a local cardroom and was subsequently hired as a dealer, and soon after, because I showed a minimum of integrity (rare for that environs) they made me a dealer captain, kind of a manager, controlling which dealers went to which tables etc. I worked for about five minutes each half hour and played poker on the clock the remainder of the time. This was approved of by upper management, and I had a house account with funds available should I need it.

As I was being promoted, the old retiring dealer captain, who personally recommended me for the job, said to me, “ You have the job but you shouldn’t be here. Don’t make this your life.”

I didn’t think much of this, until I went home that morning (I worked the graveyard, 1:00 AM to 9:00 AM shift) and my girlfriend at the time said to me that morning, “You should go back to school.”

In the back of my mind, I thought about a Buddhist mediation class I attended regularly during that time where we discussed the eightfold path, a list of ‘rights’. I ruminated a bit on right livelihood and was aware that working at the cardroom was a method of facilitating suffering. With ten at a table, every time a winner of a hand was determined, there were nine that suffered. Multiply that by 20 hands per half-hour, the length of time a dealer was ‘down’ at a table and well, do the math.

Seeing the synchronicity of these three unrelated concepts, I drove to the local university and learned that I had a week to produce six essays to describe why I would want to pursue an MS in Counseling Psychology. I pounded them out on a tiny computer running Windows 95 (which was brand new at the time). I was accepted and received a scholarship. I applied for a student loan and wept when I saw the amount they were willing to offer me. Thank goodness I didn’t use all of it, but only what I needed for tuition. Working in the gaming industry (fancy description, neh?) put me through graduate school.

It took six years to go from my first class to licensure but I was determined and the persistence paid off. I have worked in venues at all levels of care including more than one psychiatric hospital. I have travelled the world providing support services to active duty military and civilian contractors at the behest of the Department of Defense. My last job was for a doctors’ group which was very satisfying for a long time, all the while maintaining a small private practice on the side.

When the pandemic hit in early 2020, I was able to convert my practice to telehealth and the doctor’s group encouraged working from home so as I told others, “I am thriving in the chaos”.

During the early, most intense, frightful days of the lockdown. A club dj I knew from the 80s and 90s created a Friday night dance party on Zoom, I thought, if she can do that, I can certainly produce a radio show. I had the gear, having created a small recording studio in my home office, as I had already begun producing some small chill projects for fun.

I create a pod and posted it on Facebook. Soon after, a woman that knew me from my club days, who happened to own an internet radio station, asked if she could play my pod on her station and invited me to produce them weekly. So, with no restrictions whatsoever and complete artistic license, I began.

When a slot opened up for live broadcast, I went for it. I struggled with new software issues (remember, I am from the ‘vinyl’ era and never went digital) but after that was sorted out, I began broadcasting live for two hours weekly. I have subsequently added another podcast, featuring chill, ambient, reggae, dub and downtempo.

I love it.

My love of music, old and new continues to grow. I feel enriched, enlivened and inspired. Welcome to my blog.