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You Don't Know Jack About House
The past, present and future of Charlotte's underground dance music scene
By Ray Anderson
Page 3 of 4
The "it" of which Hurst speaks would be the "Chicago-n-Charlotte" events that she, along with D.T. and her DJ brother, have managed to turn into celebrations for local house heads. D.T. and Hurst first met in 2004, when D.T. was trying (without much luck) to get the house movement off the ground here. "We started bringing Julius about every three months or so," he says, "trying to usher in a whole 'house music era' here in Charlotte." After the success of Chicago-n-Charlotte parties, D.T., through his own event company DT productions, went on to launch a number of house-related events at spots like SK Net Café and Prevue, among others. And the results have been more than favorable.
Despite all of the signs that point to Charlotte's budding house landscape, there is a contingent of local tastemakers who disagree with the notion. Journalist Tonya Jameson and concert promoter Michael Kitchen, who were both introduced to house in the 1980s, have varying opinions on why they feel house ain't hip here.
"I don't think its growing here; I actually do believe it's died," says Kitchen, who promotes shows primarily for soul and hip-hop acts like Jill Scott, Nas and John Legend, among others. "It's just like it used to be back in the day; it's real underground. And you do have a lot of underground heads who look for good music. But as far as here, in Charlotte ... it was real popular when [nightclubs like] Mythos opened. And Tonic helped house music sustain. But after Mythos changed over, and Tonic closed, it was a wrap."
Jameson, who used to write about nightlife for the Charlotte Observer, adds: "The other thing [that killed it] was the rave/dancehall ordinance of the 1990s [Which was a provision aimed at parties that featured electronic music and attracted scores of teenagers to crack down on illegal drug usage at these gatherings. The ordinance stated that club owners would need to apply for a permit to stay open after 2:30 a.m. Clubs admitting teenagers, in accordance with the ordinance, would need to close at 11 p.m. during the week and at midnight on the weekends.] When they cracked down on raves, a lot of promoters were wary about bringing that kind of attention to them. But I agree with Mike, I think that nationwide, house has died, been dying since the mid-'90s. Like, the late '80s early '90s was it's heyday, when everybody was playing house, and you'd go to the clubs, especially the gay clubs and that was all you heard. Now? Even most of the gay clubs play hip-hop."
Despite his pessimism for the scene in his city, Kitchen still has a passion and love for the music, "I love house music. House music is a release to me. The driving bass, the incredible drums -- how can you not like it?"
The Future
The future of city's house music scene most definitely lies in the hands of DJs -- such as all the guys previously mentioned in this article as well as cats like Badala B and DJ Technics -- and the entrepreneurs ballsy enough to introduce new house-centric nightclubs such as HOM (which has been open for business for several months now) and the soon-to-debut Garden and Gun Club and Soul Gastrolounge.
Smack dab in the middle of Uptown (116 W. 5th St.), HOM boasts two floors of pleasure for the house seekers. Upstairs is the larger room, known as Play, where the more well-known, international DJs are brought in, such as Julius the Mad Thinker, King Britt and DJ Heather, as well as our very own local heroes like Arthur Bros and many more. The restaurant Feast provides the buffer between the two house havens, so reaching the lower level, Liv, offers a bit of relief. Not only because you've reached the final floor, but because this where the true house heads gather. DJs such as Johnnie Davis, Badala, and yes, That Guy Smitty have been known to keep the crowd moving down there until 4 a.m. HOM has created quite a reputation as the place for all things house.
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