Converse presented PBW's 999, Peanut Butter Wolf spinning videos at 9 clubs in the L.A. area, 9 days in a row in 9 area codes.
PBW's 999 | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Days 4-6 | Days 7-9
Day 3 was not really about 999 for me. Besides taking Paul to the airport, I spent the majority of the day preparing a much shorter and much more important set than my nighttime one. I was offered the opportunity to play a couple songs at DJ AMs memorial and believe me, I went through SO MUCH music to find the most appropriate songs. When you’re only playing a song or two at a service for one of the most influential DJs and people of our generation (which was attended by mainly DJs), that’s a harder “gig” than any other. So I went through a bunch of songs in my computer and listened to them start to finish.
Although I only knew AM for about a year, I was starting to gig frequently with him recently because we shared the same management. He instantly made an impact on me like he did on so many others. My first gig with him was at the Do-Over. Yes, the infamous “DJ AM killed it at the Do-Over” day. I played right before him, but nobody remembers cuz he DID kill it that day. I actually purposely decided to “stay in my lane” and play a set of obscure vinyl. I knew he was playing for the first time there and I wanted to do something completely different so we could both contribute in our own way. After that, he invited me to play at his Banana Split Sunday and I decided to do videos. That was the first gig where he really got to see what I do. Every other song, he was screaming “wowwwww” for me or asking me how I got that on video, which got me all the more into it. He was especially excited about “Ego Trip” by De La Soul. I noticed I started playing for him (and Cut Chemist who was also there) rather than the crowd. From there, I did a Grammy party with him which was a great time and most recently, opened at a Weezer party with him. I asked him to spin at the opening for 999 and he said he’d be honored and would do so if he was in town, but then he got a gig in Vegas so he said he’d still like to do the final night on September 9th if he was in town then. I know it sounds corny to dedicate 999 to him, but since when did I worry about feeling corny? Every DJ I know has at least one memory of AM and most have tons of em. Adam did so much for so many people and he never took the credit. He didn’t do it for props. He did it out of a simple compassion for others.
The memorial ended at around 10 PM and off to the hotel in Long Beach I went to check in, then went straight to the club. Although I had a general plan of the songs I was gonna play, I didn’t have time to put them in a specific order. I got to the club right after midnight, which is when I was supposed to start. The place was packed and everyone was so ready to party. I wasn’t ready to party that night, but I had a job to do and wasn’t gonna bail out. It ended up being the most receptive crowd yet. It’s strange cuz I didn’t have any expectations of Long Beach, but they really represented. And the recurrent theme I’ve noticed at all 3 shows is that people wanna hear underground/ “real” shit. The commercial/guilty pleasure shit from the 90’s hasn’t really been working as well as the real shit has. It makes me look forward to the rest of the nights more than I even planned and I think it has inspired me to slow down on playing the hits (although I’ll still throw a few in here and there).