The idea to make this retrospect looking back on the prior year came from my best friend here in Japan, Dave from Chicago. Every year he would write a letter just like this and mail it to all his friends and family. I think it to be a neat thing to do so I’m stealing a page out of his book so to speak (pun intended, we are both writing books).
Moving
The biggest news for me last year was moving. I’ve been in Japan since July 31, 2003 and I’ve really gotten around. I lived in various cities during my stay here including Tokyo (my Japanese hometown for 2 ½ years), Yokohama (my favorite home 3 ½ years), Nagoya (temporal satisfaction 9 months), and last year on April 1st is when I moved to Shizuoka prefecture, nearby to the Atami area.
DJ Antomattei’s Most Memorable DJ Events of 2010 (In order by date)
-Black History Month Tokyo 2010: First Friday’s Tribute to Black Dance @ Fiat Space, Aoyama (Tokyo) 2.5.Fri
Black people set the trends on a global scale for what’s popular today in popular music, dance, fashion, and in another facet of entertainment people like Will Smith add that bit of charisma, charm, and likeability you just can’t find from anyone else on the silver screen. But we aren’t just pioneers in entertainment only, we’ve accomplished a lot more. The biggest accomplishments are in the field of being righteous. Black humanitarians and activists have fought for the equality of not just their people, but people of any race and gender. In America from once being slaves who probably have served Presidents to being the President, a lot of progress has been made, but the mission isn’t over yet, there is still a long way to go.
This kick-off event to BHM organized by M&U Entertainment and presented by Tokyo Black Professionals was a showcase of black dance featuring Afro-Cuban/Nuyorican salsa, Afro-Brazilian capoeira, African, and African fusion dance. It also had me on the 1’s and 2’s spinning some classic soul, R&B, and hip hop tracks by the masters of the genres. The turnout was great, the Haitian ambassador came out and spoke, and people donated to the charity of helping victims of 2010 Haiti earthquake. I loved this event!
-Summer Party 2010 @ Café Liberte, Tokyo Hipsters Club, Harajuku 7.31.Sat
Kazutaka, an event organizer I work for once or twice a year always organizes some hip, upscale events that he asks me to DJ at. These include end of the year/Christmas parties and last year a new summer party. We always do these events big down at the Tokyo Hipsters Club building in Harajuku, Tokyo’s elite and most interesting people (Japanese/expats both) come out for these events. Thank you Kazutaka for always making me apart of these events. These are the ones I live for and am tailor made to do. I threw down my favorites in jazz, acid jazz, house, salsa, bossa, and lounge music at this event.
-Summer Breeze @ Pilequinho Beach House, Zushi Beach 8.13.Fri
Thanks to my friend Yuki Taniguchi for organizing a great weekend of partying at the beach. Thanks for hooking me up with the beach house to DJ at and the night of the event thanks for hooking us (me, you, and Dave) up with a one-night stay at a private beach resort hotel that had a Japanese hot bath inside. That was my first time to ever get butt-naked and share a Japanese public bath with other people. I don’t like the thought of my boys mixing with other peoples’ boys in the same water but I did what I had to do. OK experience for me, I survived it.
At the beach house party I met a group of Londoners that were mad cool. They were dental students with mad money to spend and were on a fully fledged trip all around Asia. I’d like to give a shout out to all of them now. Dany, Jason, Supriya, Sophie, and the rest of the gang that was with them. Me and Yuki kicked it with the London crew the next day as well. We stayed one night at Hotel New Otani which was cool. We swam in their super expensive pool (which we all got in free by the way!), which was cool too. It was a nice experience chilling in a use to be 5-star hotel (Michelin only gave it 4-stars in 2010).
-Sugar Cane @ Club MiDAS 11.28.Sun
If I can recall correctly this event featured 5 divas, 2 brothers singing, 1 poet, 2 reggae bands (which included “Lust” touring Japan from Jamaica), and myself on the wheels of steel. I don’t know if Tokyo ever had an event like this before which featured the city’s top black stars all together under one roof. If you ever wanted to experience live black music at its finest, this was it man! Sorry if you missed it, really don’t know when the next one will be. M&U Entertainment gone through great lengths to put this together.
New Events
January Events (THIS WEEKEND)
Sat.1.29 Brazilian Night @ BierVana, Akasaka (FREE EVENT)
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124929144239780
February Events
Fri.2.4 BHM Event 1: First Friday’s & Black History Month Kick @ Cohiba Atmosphere Tokyo, Nishi-Azabu
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=104344072974857
Sun.2.15 San Valentín Party♡ @ Polygon, Ometesando (Promoting)
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147610938625937
Sat.2.26 BHM Event 7: Tokyo Mardi Gras 2011 @ 57 Fifty Seven, Roppongi
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147449985309126
What’s in store for 2011?
I’m an official publisher as of this year. I have two books coming out, an annotated guidebook and companion guide to Miles Davis’ autobiography (read about it online over atwww.facebook.com/MilesDavisCompanionGuide) and a Tokyo Club Guide (never been done before) where I discuss the best and worst clubs in the city, and include my infamous section black listing the clubs and DJs that have problems (mostly be it racial). All will be exposed in time. You think you know and love these people and places, wait until you know the real truth. And because my book is all independently written and financed from the ground up, my opinions are based on my own high standards and my own integrity, so no place or person is buying a good word representing themself in my book. I’m the new Julian Assange of the DJ world and this book will be the DJ & Club version of WikiLeaks.
I’m calling 2011 “DJ Antomattei’s Tokyo Takeover”. Because I’m tired of sitting around waiting for what’s mine to come to me. I’m just going out there and I’m flat out taking it. So what is coming to me? “The world chico, and everything in it!”
I think in the past few years Tokyo has gained a lot of notoriety for having too many DJs (a lot of them bad ones) and the club events and music quality is becoming shittier and shittier. The whole scene is suffering and it just ain’t what it use to be. There’s only a few guys that I know that are still sharp as a tac when it comes to spinning out here but for many lesser people, they are just playing the same shit over and over again but on different weekends. Not many guys trying to change up the game here so the weekends have become very substandard and routine sounding and frankly rather boring.
I’m here to tell you I am here for you! I’m bringing grown & sexy back. You guys remember that don’t you? I do events and play music for adults (I’m looking at you late twenties, thirties, forties, and even fifties). I’m giving you a reason to go out again people. If you are tired of all this monotonous club music that sounds like noise, or the music which is overtly stupid or ignorant, I got the cure for you. Why don’t you try to make it a priority to come out to one of my next events and see if you enjoy yourself and see if my music doesn’t expand your mind.
And unlike all these other DJs that are only good at one thing, I’m the only guy I know like me to be connected up with the different crews in each genres musical circles, and I’m the only guy as far as I know here that plays everything meaning authentic hip hop, Black/Nuyorican Chicago/New York style house & garage music (not that tech-house BS), disco, soul, rare groove, R&B, jazz, reggae, reggaeton, salsa, merengue, bachata, samba, bossa, etc. Whatever your mind and heart desires I got you covered baby!
Lastly, I want to re-establish what my objectives are and what I’m here to do for those of you that either don’t know or maybe only heard me say it once. I see myself as an entertainer; I play real music for real people and I do like to cater and target my events towards an older and more adult crowd. I think the older generation of people have expanded minds and a greater capacity for appreciating good quality music as opposed to what the current generation is being brought up on now. How many records an artist sales doesn’t necessarily make them good. Justin Bieber could be platinum or whatever but it doesn’t mean he is better than El DeBarge. I don’t do top 40 and I don’t do request. When you come to my events you are coming to hear me play for you, not listen to your iPod. Come out and enjoy things like how I prepared them for you otherwise there ain’t really no reason to come. If you just want to hear the music listing from your iPod, you can do that anytime and anywhere for free.
Antomattei is back and I handle my turntables just like a fine, tender lady... I mount and I destroy.
"I look good, I smell good, I feel good, I sing good, and I make love good. This is a man's world!” -James Brown