by jon bosworth jaxvillain@yahoo.com
I’m far from computer illiterate, in fact I consider myself savvy, but the video revolution and the whole You Tube thing is an anomaly I watch from a distance. I love to find cool and funny videos online and plaster them across my MySpace page (I especially love the A Good Word with T-Bird bits) but I always managed to keep my music fetish far away from my video fetish. Jaren Ash would like to change this.
“It’s just the future. Think about the Internet, it’s come a long way in a short time. You used to only be able to put six pictures on MySpace and now you can put megabytes of video.”
Ash is a DJ of a new breed. After spending years DJing hip-hop, indie, and 80s music in local clubs, he decided to evolve. Instead of just playing the songs that people love to hear at The Pearl, Ash has videos that play on the many screens in the club, correlating with the music. There are places doing similar stuff in larger cities, but in Jacksonville, Ash is a pioneer.
“I’ve had people come to the club from New York, where they do have video clubs, they come to The Pearl and are amazed. It’s fun. I used to buy records because I loved music and the physical experience of the record, but I was spending all my money and not making any.”
Ash will often rave about new video “mash-ups” that he has discovered or created. These are essentially the same concept as remixes, but instead of an artist taking parts of a song and mixing them with other songs, a mash-up takes video and music and mashes them together in an audio-video form, so that the club dynamic is enhanced. Not only can you dance to the tune, you can watch a video of it. Ash has been doing this at The Pearl for a couple of years and recently he has had some local pubs asking him to bring the video experience to their smaller venues. Ash has been happy to oblige.
“I’ve been approached by pubs to do it, and I kind of like it. I start early with Nancy Sinatra’s ‘These Boots Are Made for Walking’ and the people eating have never seen the video for these songs. People get up and start dancing.”
I caught up with Ash while he was at work to ask him a few questions about this new trend. He had a lot to say.
EU: What is a Mash Up?
JA: Mash ups are also known as “bastard pop.” It’s usually one horrible song and one good song that people edit together with beats, vocals and instrumentals. Originally it was a hip-hop thing, it would be instrumental from one thing with a vocal from another. One editor mixed Cannonball, by The Breeders, with Kelly Clarkson. You take a song that people hate, like Kelly Clarkson, and mix it with a song that people love. I edit video to the audio of the mash-up song. These songs are all over the Internet, I just add video and bring it to life. Sometimes I do my own live.
EU: What is the difference between a Video DJ and a VJ?
JA: I use DVD turntables, so I can scratch and mix music and video together. A lot of people with this sort of equipment don’t call themselves VJs, because that has house music connotations. There are visual artists that create images for house music, and they call themselves VJs. To separate ourselves from those people we call ourselves DVJs, digital video jockeys. I haven’t picked up on that because it’s confusing as hell. It’s so early in the game, it’s pretty undefined.
EU: How does video enhance the club experience?
JA: People can use more of their senses; seeing and hearing. If you’re there by yourself, you can sit there and watch something. People get caught up in it. Sometimes they are in a trance just drinking and watching. People at these pubs that usually get one beer after work and then leave after work, get caught up in the video and stay for several beers.
EU: What music do you play to help your audience have fun at Pearl?
JA: It’s kind of hard to play stuff that interests the young kids without driving away the new people. You’d be surprised what videos are our there. If they have a video, I pretty much have it.
EU: Can a video mash-up change my life?
JA: There is a lot of work going into converting rare music videos to a form that can translate into the club. People have been coming to me, wanting to do it on their own on their computers, but when you are projecting on a 10-foot screen, you have pixilated images and music that isn’t always club quality sound. I just did it because I thought it would be fun and it’s replaced my record addiction for a new addiction, but it’s still about my love for music.
Jaren Ash presents his audio-visual experience every Friday night at The Pearl in Springfield, just north of Downtown on Main Street. Go to myspace.com/jarenash for more details on this new type of club experience.
|
