JustCircuit recently visited once again with the legendary Susan Morabito, who will be among the guest DJs for the upcoming Phoenix Rising::New Years Day in Fort Lauderdale event, presented by JustCircuit.com and VooDoo Lounge.
JC: You've had a long career and as many in your industry have had your ups and downs. Your career seems on be on the upswing again, however. Are you doing anything differently or are people just rediscovering your talent?
SM: I’m not exactly sure. If I ask myself if I’m doing anything differently, the one thing that’s consistently different as each year goes by is the selection of music I play. To elaborate on that, the most exciting aspect of DJ’ing is that the music constantly changes, and each week an abundance of new music is offered for purchase thru downloads. Whether it’s any good or not is subjective. So in that regard the influx of new music is what always changes. I still have the same style of playing which is taking the dancers on a journey, or an act of traveling from one place to another. I approach an evening in three or four parts. The beginning, the build up, the climax and the end, each part having a different feeling. Musically, I like to take the crowd to various places by playing amazing new songs mixed in with familiar and improvise my performance to exactly suit the moment. My style is my approach and it’s the same as it’s always been.
What might be different is what I choose to play. It’s what I choose to play that sets the tone and how I string a variety of genres seamlessly and subtly together to make a cohesive connection from song to song taking them on a journey, which hopefully is a better place.
The one thing I have noticed in the past six months or so are the younger men who are into my sound. When I say younger, I’m talking around twenty-five to twenty-seven years old. Lately I’ve had this particular age group approach me during or after a performance in addition to writing me to express how different, sexy and exciting my music selection is and that they’ve never heard music like this before. Considering I’ve been actively playing in the Gay scene for over two decades and have been a part of and lived through all the various changes, I’ve been both delighted and extremely fascinated when hearing or reading some of the comments from these twenty somethings. I’m not quite sure what this is about but these young men are two generations subsequent to my generation. I’ve wondered if it’s a generation thing. Do they want something different than the generation directly before them? I don’t know what the answer is but with the recent spark of interest among these young men, it makes me wonder if my talent is being rediscovered.
JC: You'll be doing Dark Shadows VIII this year. Doing an event eight straight years is pretty impressive! Tell us about the origin of this party and how it's evolved.
SM: The party started in 2000 during Halloween weekend at 735 Club during the peak of the Circuit. Some would say it was “The Party of the Weekend” and the energy was so intense they “would be hanging from the rafters”. It’s one of those parties that continue to be referenced when I meet various men around the country, and especially when I meet the men from the south or west coast. There are about a dozen parties in a DJ’s career that the people who attended will always remember and reference for whatever reason it was that made that party special to them. “Dark Shadows” has been one of my dozen.
In 2005 Katrina came down upon New Orleans and had a tragic impact on millions of lives. Of course that year the Halloweens in New Orleans was cancelled. Since that time, the Halloween weekend in New Orleans hasn’t completely recovered. This year, promoter Mike Mazer (owner of the original Club 735, who created the event, moving it to it's current location after selling 735 and post-Katrina), myself and Jonathan Bray from the Bourbon Pub & Parade” feel Halloween in New Orleans in addition to Dark Shadows is going to make a strong comeback.
JC: Is there anything special or different you have planned musically this year?
SM: Apart from fun and uplifting sounds, I think this year I’ll incorporate some of the older vocals I’ve played at the past Dark Shadows with the new stuff I’m playing now. For me it's all about taking my audience on that "musical journey" while we feed off of each other's energy to create a happy, uplifting experience.
JC: What other big events do you have coming up for 2009?
SM: On Saturday, November 28, 2009, I’ll be back in Philly with the original cast from the Blue Ball Days doing "Blue Redo”. On New Years Day, Friday, January 1st, I’ll be playing the "Phoenix Rising" party in Ft. Lauderdale and working the 8am to 2pm shift. I haven’t been in Ft. Lauderdale in about three years and I’m looking forward to playing there again in addition to seeing the sun and visiting with all my South Florida friends on New Years Day during the event, which will serve to benefit the Florida Breast Health Initiative and the Broward House.
