Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History.












 

The lucky hat


You know how they say “right place~right time”? Well, that’s what happened to me in San Francisco. I was shopping for some Saturday night dancing boots in 2000 up in good ol’ SF and found a slithery pair at the Buffalo Exchange but wanted to keep shopping to see if I could find something a little different. I walked around the Haight all day but no luck. Or so I thought. So I went back to the Buffalo Exchange and had just enough time before they closed to snag my sexy black boots. The sales lady asked me to proceed to the counter quickly since they were about to close and

VOILA!!!!

There it was! The hat that would change my life forever! It was one of those sexy black lambskin Russian looking hats that just had to come dancing with me that Saturday night at Release in SF. Well, mind you, this is before I’d even had my first DJ gig although I was working on it. So later that evening, inside the THUMPING 1015 Folsom, a bartender, Russ from RussFoto.com, asked me if he could take my picture for Mixer Magazine. My first thought was “You’re not getting in my pants” Then he proceeded to offer me free drinks for the night so, being a humble DJ-in-training, I accepted and posed away, standing on the bar.
;-)

A month later Russ ended up sending me a copy of the pics and we chatted a bit about my aspiring DJ career and his role as a roving club photographer. He told me that I should come to Vegas with him and meet up with the Giant people as they were hosting a big phat weekend at the Hard Rock with Timo Mas. (Once again “You’re not getting in my pants” came to mind ;-) So I asked my buddy Veronica if she would rally and go check it out with me and see what these Giant peeps were about. We gathered up our funkiest costumes at the time and drove to sin city in my little red sports car.


Groovin’ Goddesses

Russ got us in the club and took good care of us, introducing us to Dave Dean and Johnny Jos who were the main Giant people. Giant at the time was the biggest club on the west coast and it was GROWING and groovin’. I gave Johnny a cd “Believe” (my first one) and told him to listen to it and BOOK us. He got the point then we all had a fun time dancing to Timo Mas.



PERSEVERENCE is KEY to SUCCESS

Now the fun begins. Johnny was the man in charge of new artists for Giant. I called him and he invited me to come to LA and check out the club. Veronica rocked it up there with me and although it was a bit difficult finding Johnny at first, we managed to connect and he showed us around. We danced and grooved the night away, in awe of the massive sound system, lasers, and crazy dancefloor! At the end of the night, I said goodbye to Johnny and he said he’d be in touch. Well, being the impatient little goddess that I am, I kept calling him and reminding him to listen to my cd and BOOK us. After many no’s and waiting for him to call me back with a positive answer-

RRRRRRRring!

Hello, Valerie, This is Johnny from Giant, I’d like to book you for the Saturday after Thanksgiving (2000).” Ummm- cool. YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I thought to myself. I was figuring that I was going to play from 9-10 pm in the mini-side-room as it was my first time there and that would only be like my 7th gig ever. Johnny said “You’ll be playing from 11pm-1am in the main room right before Grant Plant”. Ummm- the main room? Isn’t that for the really big DJs? Oh my god! I need to get the Tribe together in FULL FORCE!!!!!!!


Thanks for “Believing” in me Johnny

!

Johnny said “I’m taking a BIG chance on you- I’ve never even seen you perform- so you better be GOOD!” Ahhhhhh- Umm- OK I’ll do my BEST!


Giant Tribe!

Needless to say, that night was a great success for Valerie and the Vibe Tribe as we rocked the night away and made a good impression on Giant and the LA scene. THANK YOU!!!!!

 



Rock Rock Rock Rockin’ Da House!!!!

Johnny booked us many more times and we eventually became residents at Giant Park Plaza (until it shut down :-( Johnny also “Believed” in me and booked me 2 years in a row for Slamdance in Utah ( an off-shoot of the Sundance Film Festival) Because of that, Karim from Egypt saw me DJing with Veronica as my “uni-Viber” (they didn’t have a budget for the Tribe) and he booked us to perform in EGYPT on the NILE for the Summer Solstice 2001 !!!!!


Thanks so much Karim- I love you!!!

So, the point of this little story is that even when you think your luck is not there- it may actually be in disguise- you just have to look!

Thanks Lucky Hat!!!


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more about Valerie

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