Two Sunday nights ago wasn't your ordinary Easter feast rap up. While many Twin Citians were glued to the tube watching the holiday episodes of Fox's the "Simpson's" and "Family Guy," or the NCAA Woman's Basketball finals, or playing catch outdoors before the Yankee's vs Red Sox game, I decided to take a different route. A fellow SotaRico staff member and I attended the grand opening of First Avenue and 7th Street Entry's "Record Room."
The festivity was hosted by First Avenues' booking agent Sonia Grover, who presented a speech commemorating a brand new "retro styled, comic-strip collage" mural by artist Greg Gossel, who was inspired by the historical venue celebrating its 40th anniversary. Grover also gave special recognition to the room's history and how its carries another branch of representation to the venues popular status. She proclaimed the room as a space showcasing the richness and strong movement of local and international DJs who have drawn an impact towards the Twin Cities music and night scene.
(Photo courtesy of First Avenue and 7th Street Entry)
In honor of the renaming of the VIP room, I caught up with Twin Cities based DJ Verb X. Verb X is most known for spinning and hosting every Thursday's "The Bungalow," one of the venues' most popular nights. The expansion of what's now the Record Room has so much history! Out of all people, I felt it was appropriate to acknowledge what DJ Verb X thought about the room's transition, development, accomplishments and memories.
Maria Isa:
When did you begin spinning @ the former VIP room?
Verb X:
It was in late 1998, during its "Erotic City" night. At the time PopTop was the DJ and we came across networking through music. He really was the one who gave me my opportunity to spin.
At the time, a former booker at First Avenue was highly impressed and I got the chance to kick off the "Bungalow" in March of 1999. I came up with the marketing, the name, establishing a crew to help promote through the One Love Movement. In the beginning it was strictly all reggae and slowly I incorporated playing hip-hop, which was mostly played during a promoted night in the room called the "Barbershop."
