Susan Morabito: For the Love of the Music by JustCircuit.mag's John Kater for the February/March 2009 issue
The legendary DJ Susan Morabito recently spoke to JustCircuit as she winded her way from her Provincetown, Massachusetts home to a recent gig at Splash Bar in New York City. As one of the industry’s true legends in music, there’s not much that has gotten in her way on her road to success and personal fulfillment in one of the toughest and most changing industries any person could imagine. Except, that is, for the occasional school bus, which started off our conversation like this:
“Oh, shit I’m getting behind a school bus. I HATE MY LIFE>>>>OH, MAN…The guy in front of me let him go. Hopefully he’ll take the next exit off. You know how those school busses are…Oh, well. What was I saying?”
This is the Susan Morabito that few truly know. Tough as nails on the outside, but just like you and me on the inside. In the twenty-six years since she began her DJ career, Susan has settled into her very own “groove” that she really seems to like. It all boils down to making yourself happy first, before you can make others happy. Susan today sounds as if she’s ready to make the world happy all over again.
Susan recently moved to Provincetown from New York City. How does she like the transition? “I’m going on my second winter and I love it! It was a fabulous New Years…it went really well. There were fabulous parties. You don’t have to wait for a cab. You’re pretty much among friends at all times. Plus, I was only three blocks from the Crown and Anchor!” Susan regularly spins at Rick Murray’s Crown and Anchor.
“There was a time in my life where I was working every weekend. Now I’m working a couple times a month. It gives me an opportunity to be with myself. With the move to P-Town, a town that is very serene, quiet and relaxing, I’m able to now look ahead and figure out what I want…I do have an idea of where I want to go, but I don’t want to jinx it,” she sheepishly admits.
Where is Susan musically today?
“At this point in my career, and after playing for twenty-six years, I feel more comfortable and more polished as a DJ than at any time in my life. You only get better with time. I think that has happened to me. I don’t feel I have to prove anything to anyone. I’ve realized I can’t be what everyone wants me to be. There was a time in my career when I think that would have bothered me, but when you’re more yourself, you’re more authentic. And when you’re more authentic, you’re more true to yourself and you have creativity. I play what I believe in and what I want to play. I’ll always play what I want to play. I enjoy that. I’ve noticed recently that I’ll go through an entire evening really enjoying 95-98% of the evening. I’m really not doing the hit records at the moment. (She’s not a don’tcha kinda DJ we reminded her!) There’s so much wonderful music out there. Everyone has different tastes and likes different things. For me, I finally have earned that place where I have that luxury to play what I want to play.”
Those who have followed Susan are familiar with her unique style in the DJ booth. Some call it the Susan Morabito “groovy” sound. Some refer to it as soulful and melodic…at times it’s sexy. She’s been known to take you on a journey and tap into your emotions.
“It’s indeed a musical journey and a taste of everything,” she admits. “You have the tribal, the soul, the energy set, but it’s overall a journey with soul. People will talk to the younger crowd about me…and then I’ll get an email from one of the kids who says ‘You can’t describe it until you experience it…’ when referring to my style. You know, it’s like the feelings for the Saint…you can’t describe the feeling. I’m creating a journey by choosing the music, but they are absorbing the music by going on their own emotional journey. Music is a pipeline to your emotions. It can make you feel angry, it can bring up feelings of the past; it can make you feel joyful, tense and free. Music is an incredibly powerful tool. You can feel sexual, like you’re falling in love.”
“I was playing in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago, and two people who had never heard me spin before, both very young, came to me and said ‘You sound Fresh’…that was a nice thing to hear. I think sometimes I get pigeonholed because I’ve been around so long. A lot of the people on the Circuit think because I’ve been around forever that I play old records. I don’t…I play NEW records…just a different kind of new record.”
“I have always created a journey in the booth; a journey with a beginning, middle and end. You can do that journey with new, old or a little bit of both.” Reminded that she was quoted by Mickey Weems in his “The Fierce Tribe” book that “DJ’ing is like sex”, Susan explained it this way: “You have the FLIRT…at the beginning of the night…building up to the climax…I don’t know if it’s more sex than making love actually…and everyone can relate to that. Sex can be one way…but it can also have an array of emotions and feelings…it’s a three or four-part act. I start at slower beats per minute and build it up…and then come back down. It’s not a straight line…it’s more of a swivel.”
“My style has been refined and fine-tuned. Music is always changing. I’ve changed with the music; however, a Circuit anthem is one aspect of what’s going on today. It’s not the ONLY aspect of what’s going on today. The most exciting thing about this job is that the music is always changing. That keeps it exciting! I’m constantly buying new music, but I’m still playing classics. I can do a happy tea dance or I can do a Black Party.”
When asked about the changing New York City nightclub scene, Susan offers a telling observation. “I would like to think NY is going underground, but I don’t know…it’s not what it used to be. It’s changed on many levels…not only club levels but many other levels. The clubs have changed drastically. They used to have all the very best clubs and now they don’t. There was the day when there were more than a dozen that were very fabulous. Not anymore. Back in the days of the Saint, the Palladium and Twilo, they also had gay owners. That made a huge difference. That trend seems to be spreading throughout the country. I go to NYC once a month, as I am as we speak, and I quickly realize that all I really need is an airport!”
Susan sees a growing International Circuit audience. Will she ever expand her groove to Europe or Asia? “Unfortunately, the DJs at these events are also producers. There’s this assumption out there today that if you’re a producer, you’re a superior DJ. It seems to go a long way. I am simply not a producer. Not to take anything away from the title, it just seems that these International events cater to the producers. I’m not currently producing and I don’t think I have the interest in doing so. I do go back and forth on the idea, however.”
When asked if bigger parties and events were on her schedule, the answer was a clear no. “I don’t care for larger parties. The larger the party, the more face. I like the smaller, more intimate events. Larger events have groups in every corner with each wanting something different. My Odyssey parties, for instance, are smaller. NY Pride was one of the more recent larger events I spun as well as San Diego Pride two summers ago. There were between two- and three-thousand people there. Those were the larger events. They’re not really my preferred. I also have a tendency to compromise a bit on larger events to play differently, but for the most part, I keep consistent with my true style.”
Susan can’t name her most memorable party. “There isn’t just one. There is more than one, you know. I can think of so many parties at the Pavilion, as well as the Climax and the Equinox parties. I think of the Black Party and the Big Guns Intrepid Party. I feel very fortunate that I have more than a dozen I consider most memorable events. I have a great career!” she reflects. “I’m going to keep giving it. I’m just as passionate now as I was ten or twenty years ago. It’s the ever changing music with always something new and always a different way to put the records together that keeps my passion alive. The people who appreciate me keep me going. The work of a DJ is an emotional and spontaneous art form. It’s interactive. You never know what you’re going to do. I feed off the energy of my crowd. That interactive passion keeps it all going and all for the love of the music.”
Learn more about Susan Morabito and get a complete listing of her upcoming play dates and picks of the month by visiting SusanMorabito.com.
